A/N: Hey! Who else is still screaming from the last episode and the promo for the season finale? (Maybe that's just me.) I am not even a little prepared for what is going to happen next week. Not at all.

Thank you for all the feedback from the last chapter! You're all little angels and make my day. And thank you to all those for the personal support. It's been tough, but I'll be okay, and I will keep trying to push these chapters out (on all of my stories) for you all.

This one only has one flashback because I felt the current time was more important right now. The next couple chapters will be the same with only one or two flashbacks, and mostly current time story now that most of the past is filled in.

I promise you an update to 'Headlong Towards Disaster' will be up soon! I'm working on it now!

(Quick Question: How are you guys liking the lyrics being mixed in with the story? I personally love it. I think it gives the story a lot more depth and emotion when song lyrics can tie in so easily with the characters emotions. But that is just me, so let me know what you're feeling with it!)

(S/O to The Fray for being one of my favorite bands of all time. Absolutely love this song. So powerful and beautiful. All cred to them. Check it out!)

I own nothing. Sad day, I know.

Chapter 7: Never Say Never
The Fray

Some things we don't talk about
Rather do without
And just hold the smile
Falling in and out of love
Ashamed and proud of
Together all the while

When Leslie Shay showed up at her best friend's apartment she was fully intent on a little pizza, ice cream, and girl talk. She never expected to find Matt Casey leaving the apartment or Gabby wrapped in nothing but a bed sheet. It was obvious what had been happening before she arrived.

She pushes the blonde man back into the apartment and shuts the door and Gabby and Matt are both too shocked to say anything at all. She pushes Casey into one of the kitchen chairs and after giving Gabby a silent glare she followed into a seat as well.

The blonde woman paces in front of them, at a loss for words. She'd practically given up on her quest to catch them in the act weeks ago. She'd kept a close eye on them, but once she had gotten nowhere with catching them in the act at the firehouse she'd just deemed her efforts fruitless. She never expected to show up here and catch them like this. She had a feeling of accomplishment floating through her at finding them out without having tried, but she was also full of confusion, wonder, disappointment, and maybe a little anger.

She finally stops pacing and looks at the two people in front of her who have their heads bowed in shame. "I… what? How? When?" She stutters, not knowing where to begin.

Gabby meets her eyes and shakes her head. "Shay…"

"How long has this been going on, Dawson?" Shay questions her almost desperately. This was her best friend after all. She was disappointed, but also concerned at the mess she had gotten herself in.

A look is passed between the couple in front of her that she doesn't miss and Gabby shrugs her shoulder and looks away. "A while… it's… Shay, it's a long story. It's complicated." She whispers.

"Well uncomplicated for me!" Shay hollers growing frustrated.

Matt sends her a glare for the outburst. "Hey, this isn't just her fault…" He defends.

Shay is cutting him off quickly, throwing an accusing finger at him. "Yeah obviously. Hey, how's Hallie Casey?" She replies sarcastically.

"Stop, both of you!" Gabby interjects and they both silence, staring at the brunette.

"Gabs…" Shay pushes after a beat of silence, needing to get some sort of understanding on this.

Gabby takes a deep breath and she can already feel tears swimming in her eyes. "Okay… You, uh, you know that relationship, back in college that I told you was complicated?" She says softly and Shay nods her head remembering the short conversation about the relationship that Gabby had not been willing to talk much about at all.

"Yeah, the one that made you skip town for six years." Shay quips. Matt bows his head in shame and Gabby gives the blonde woman a pointed look. Realization hits Shay like a ton of bricks. "Oh my God!" She looks back and forth between the two. "That was… You two? Back then… With… I, wow… Oh my God… that was you… with the baby…" She whispers, looking from Gabby to Matt as they both nod sadly. "You guys…" She breathes out. She'd known for a while now that Gabby had a miscarriage with a guy she dated in college, but she had no idea it was Matt. That these two had such a history. Her heart broke for them, but she still couldn't shake the disappointment at them. Gabby's tears cascade down her face at the mention of the baby and Matt's hand reaches out to grasp her smaller one, squeezing it in his own. Shay doesn't miss that action, and can't help the small smile that graces her face. She'd thought maybe this was just sex, it clearly wasn't.

"Casey, you were with Hallie in college…" Shay states in confusion and he nods sullenly.

"I know…" He whispers and Shay shakes her head. This was all unbelievable.

"God, you two are a mess. Does Hallie know anything? Does anyone know anything?" She asks throwing her hands up in frustration.

They both shake their heads in the negative and Matt quickly interjects. "I was on my way to tell Hallie when you showed up."

Shay looks at him shocked before resting a hand on her hip and pointing to the door. "Well, what are you waiting for Casanova? Get out of here." A small smile plays on her lips and Matt is up from his seat and kissing Gabby's head and out the door soon after.

Shay gives her friend a once over and shakes her head and lets out a little groan. "What am I gonna do with you girl?" She smirks and Gabby smiles softly back, put at ease by Shay's smile. She pulls Gabby up from the chair and pushes her towards her bedroom with a swat on the butt. "Go get dressed, and shower! You smell like sex. I'm ordering us pizza and then you are talking me through this mess."

You can never say never
While we don't know when
But time and time again
Younger now than we were before

When he steps through the door to his house it's like he feels a shift in the air. It's nearly 8pm and Hallie called him nearly 3 hours ago. Between getting wrapped up in Gabby and then Shay's whirlwind intervention he'd gotten a little side tracked in getting home to his wife.

Wife. The word sounded so foreign to him anymore. He and Hallie hadn't been happy for a while and they really had no one else to blame but themselves. They'd stopped communicating. She started picking up more hours at the hospital. They weren't the couple they once were and he realized today that he was only still in this out of obligation and he really hated himself for that.

He should have let Hallie go a long time ago and it would've been better for everyone. He and Gabby could've gotten together and been happy, maybe not have gone through so much heartbreak. Hallie could've moved on from him and been happy with someone who could give her his full heart, something he hadn't been able to do since he was 21 and running into a 19 year old Gabriella Dawson.

It kind of amazes him just how much time had passed. Close to nine years now. Sure they spent 6 of those years apart except for one chance meeting, but nine years was still a long time. Then he remembers that he and Hallie have been together for 13 years and he heaves a sigh.

When did life become so complicated?

It was supposed to be easy. Meet girl. Love her. Propose. Marry her. Start a family. But it had never been that easy. Now he was married to a girl he fell out of love with and sleeping with the woman that had always held a bigger piece of his heart than his wife ever did. He wonders why it all couldn't have been so easy to figure out back then. Now he is seeing it all clearly.

Back then he had tried to be noble and do the right thing by Hallie, and he realizes that every time he tried to do the right thing for Hallie he was breaking Dawson a little bit more. Ruining her hope in love and him just a little more every time he went back to Hallie.

He's sick to his stomach thinking of all this and he decides that he really needs to talk to Hallie, now. He needs to get this all out. He looks around the house and doesn't spot her anywhere and when he walks into the bedroom she is fast asleep and he sighs heavily.

He sleeps on the couch that night, he just can't sleep next to her when he knows what the morning will bring.

He wakes up and can hear the sound of cupboards closing and smell the coffee and when he warily walks into the kitchen he is met with an angry glare. "Hey." He says softly and is met with a huff and another icy glare. Something he'd grown accustomed to the past few months.

He poured himself a cup of coffee and stood across from her, preparing himself on what to say.

"What time did you get home?" She asks agitated.

"About 8." He says simply, though he knows there is nothing simple about where he had been or what he'd been doing. He goes to say more but she is cutting him off.

"God Matt, were you home at all this weekend this place is a mess." She grumbles.

"Hallie, we need to talk…"

She scuffs. "Well that would be something new."

"Says the girl who picks up any extra shift that the hospital has." He retorts.

"Coming from the guy who works 24hour shifts and then works construction job all day so he doesn't have to come home to his wife?" She bites back.

He sighs heavily. This isn't how he planned this going. "This isn't solving anything." He sighs, exhausted from the sleepless night on the couch and the weight of the conversation they need to have.

His second alarm goes off on his phone and he knows he needs to leave for work now and he sighs angrily. He'd wanted to have this talk before he seen Gabby again. "I have to go. We still need to talk." He grumbles.

She rolls her eyes. "Yeah well I'm not really in the talking mood!" She bites back.

He whirls around, his frustration taking over. "Too damn bad! We need to talk, Hallie! I'll see you tomorrow." He barks. Letting the door slam closed behind him as he makes his way to his truck, trying to calm his erratic heart rate and his anger.

Don't let me go, Don't let me go
Don't let me go, Don't let me go
Don't let me go, Don't let me go

The girls sat curled up on Gabby's couch, pizza and wine in hand after Gabby had taken a shower and changed. Her feet in Shay's lap as they sat across from each other on the couch.

"So tell me… what is all this between you two? Is it sex, or is it…" She trails off, not knowing how Gabby would feel about that 'L' word.

Gabby had told Shay the majority of the sordid romance of the past nearly 9 years. From the first meeting, to the break up and where she learned about Hallie, to Brad and learning of Matt's engagement, to the winter dance that brought them back together, the baby that they were both excited about, the planning of telling Hallie and finally being together, too the loss of their baby and the story of how she decided to leave town after it. She told her about the chance meet up that happened 2 years after her departure and how she left Matt in the hotel room and she told her about showing up at 51 on the first day and not expecting to see Matt. How she hadn't known he'd been married until that first meeting again and how she'd tried avoiding him because she didn't want to get pulled back into it all again. She told her about the kiss they shared and how she pushed him away after and then she told her about the night after she was held hostage by the gunman. The night they shared together and the 'I love you' that they shared and how that night started it all again. How she tried acting like it was just sex. How she would bolt at any sign of it becoming more than sex, though she knew all along that it was. And then she told her of the 'I love you's' that they had shared only a few short months ago and how they started sharing them more often. How they stopped pretending it was nothing and started to actually show each other their feelings.

Shay looks at her shocked by the end of it all. "Wow… you really love him." She whispers.

Gabby smiles shyly and her cheeks blush as she nods her head. "Yeah… I really do Shay."

Shay squeezes her leg and smiles at her friend. "It's good to see you happy Gabs." She whispers. Gabby hadn't looked this alive for years Shay noticed. Since high school really. Not since before the loss of the baby Shay quickly realizes. She wishes she could've been there for Gabby through all of this. That she wouldn't have to have dealt with it all alone. "I wish you would've told me all this sooner… Like maybe 8 years ago sooner." She jokes lightly.

Gabby nods. "I know… Some days I wish I would've… but I just, if I would've told you I was sleeping and falling in love with a taken man how supportive could say you would've been?" She scrunches her nose up, knowing she wouldn't have been supportive of the idea at all. The only reason she was supporting it all now was because Matt was home telling Hallie the truth and because Gabby had gone through enough over the years she now realizes, and she doesn't need Shay's judgement. "Exactly." Gabby says looking at the answer written all over her face.

"Fair enough." Shay agrees.

Gabby takes a sip of her wine and looks over at her friend, grateful to not see her judgmental eyes, instead her blue eyes hold concern and love, and maybe a little disappointment, but mainly just support. Support that Gabby didn't realize she'd needed all along till now.

"It was all just really hard… It still is." Dawson whispers.

Shay squeezes her leg and smiles at her friend comfortingly. "But he is leaving Hallie, right?"

Gabby nods, tears gathering in her eyes. "So he says…" She whispers and Shay quirks a brow in question. "It's not exactly the first time we've been in this situation, and here we are still nearly 9 years later Shay."

"Gabs…"

She shakes her head, wiping at her eyes before they can fall and giving Shay her best smile. "It's different this time…" She tries to reassure herself, and fails miserably.

Shay nods, pulling her friend into her arms and holding her close. "Yeah, Hun, I'm sure it is."

Picture, you're the queen of everything
As far as the eye can see
Under the command
I will be your guardian
When all is crumbling
I steady your hand

Gabby slips into his office during the afternoon and shuts the door behind her, leaning up against it as she looks down at him as he sits in his chair. They hadn't gotten to talk yet today and she'd seen his blinds were pulled and she knew he was inside and she had some down time. She'd needed to see him.

He smiles as he looks up at her. "Hey you." He says softly. Taking her in. He wonders if a day will ever come that Gabriella Dawson won't stop his heart with her beauty. He's positive it won't when she flashes him a smile back.

"Hey." She whispers and takes another moment to stare at him before quirking her brow. "So?" She asks a little too eagerly and he raises a brow in confusion. Her faces falls slightly and she looks at him pointedly. "How'd it go… with Hallie?" She asks warily.

He sighs heavily and turns his chair to face her completely. "Gabby…" He starts and her eyes slip closed and she can already feel her throat tightening.

"No…" She whispers. She can't do this again. She can't go through the heartbreak of his promises broken again.

"Hey…" He whisper, pushing his chair forward and grabbing her hand, pulling her down onto his lap. "It's not like that, I promise… Hallie was asleep when I got home last night and this morning we got into it before I could even tell her anything. We were too busy hollering at each other." He says frustrated.

She looks at him warily and he sighs. Squeezing her thigh that his hand rested on. "Gabby baby, I promise you that I'm going to tell her. Okay? This isn't like last time…" He promises gently. Needing her to believe him, to believe in him, in them.

She stares at him for another moment before sighing in frustration and standing from his lap running a hand through her hair as she turns away from him. "You said that last time…" She says softly, almost accusingly, not meeting his eyes as she turns to face him again.

He stand from his chair and lets his hands rest on her cheeks, forcing her eyes to meet his. Giving her a pleading look. "And I mean it this time Gabby…" He tells her.

Tears sting her eyes and she shakes her head. "You should've meant it all the other times too Matt…" She says and his arms leave her cheeks and rest on her shoulders and she shivers at his touch. "God, Matt, it's been 9 years…" She walks away from him again, needing to put some distance between them to help her get through this. "I… I just don't know if I can do this anymore."

"Gabby…" He whispers. How could she be giving up, they were so close to the finish line. Sure they'd almost been to the 'finish line' many times before, but he was sure this time. He wanted Gabby. He was leaving Hallie. Why couldn't she just trust him on that?

"Matt I can't be the girl that waits around for you anymore… I can't be the girl waiting for you to leave your wife. This is the 5th time I've heard the 'I'm leaving her' speech and it's 5 times too many." She whispers, somehow holding those tears back, but her voice breaks at her next words. "I'm tired of being the girl always waiting for the guy, Matt… I, for once I just…. I want it to be me… and it, it never is." She cries softly, and he is standing in front of her again in seconds, his hands running through her hair and resting on her cheeks. His throat tight and his eyes burning.

"It's always you. God, Gabby. It's always you, and it's always going to be you… God baby, please… please don't do this…" He pleads and her tears spill over as she looks up into his blue eyes. "What can I say to make this better, Gabby… please…" He whispers.

"It's not what you say Matt, it's how you show it…" She cries, pushing him away lightly and walking back towards his door.

He turns slowly, his own tears slowly spilling over. "You're walking away, again…" He whispers breathlessly. Not believing this is all happening.

She turns slowly, taking a step towards him and kissing his lips tenderly before pulling away and not bothering to wipe the tears off of her cheeks.

"You ever think maybe I'm just waiting for the day that you'll actually chase me?" She whispers just as breathlessly and then she is out the door and he is stuck in his spot a moment longer, as her words hit him hard.

He's to his door a moment later and being cut off by Shay as she steps in front of him and he spots Gabby rounding the corner and out of his site. "What the hell did you do?" Shay growls and he sighs.

"Shay…"

"No don't make excuses. Just fix it. She loves you Casey and she's tired of being runner up. Make a choice… and do it before she gets hurt anymore."

"I did! I chose her, she just doesn't want to hear it. Okay? It's her. I just haven't got a chance to tell Hallie yet." He says softly, frustrated.

Shay looks down the hall and that's when he spots Hallie stalking towards them. Shay gives him a look and pats his shoulder before turning away. "Well, here's your chance."

Matt sighs as he thinks of the girl he loves that has walked away from him, and then of the girl he should love that is walking towards him, and all he can think of is his wedding day.

You can never say never
While we don't know when
Time, time, time again
Younger now than we were before

"Hey, you ready?"

Matt's snapped out of his thoughts as Severide walks into the room.

Matt nods slowly and takes an audible breath. "Yup." He says softly and Severide walks up to him, his best man.

"Nervous?" He asks cautiously as he sees the look on his friends face.

Matt shrugs. "Yeah, I guess." Truth be told his mind had been on a brunette that he hadn't seen in two years, not on the brunette that he was going to be saying 'I do' to in a few minutes.

Severide looks at him warily. "Hey, you okay?" He asks carefully. Seeing that look in his friend's eyes. It was a look he caught often, but one he never explained.

Matt's eyes met his and he took a deep breath. He wasn't really sure if he was okay or not right now. The truth was he'd been holding on to a girl that had left him in a hotel room two years ago and he was pretty sure he loved her more than he could ever love the woman he was marrying. He'd promised himself that if he never got a sign, if he never heard from Gabby again before his wedding day, that he'd let her go.

He'd try and just let her go completely and he would devote himself to Hallie fully. It wasn't fair to her to keep another girl in his thoughts when he was marrying her.

Now it was only a few minutes before vows were said and all he could think about was what a wedding to a different brunette would be like. One with caramel skin and deep brown eyes.

He knew his friend wouldn't understand any of this so he simply gives him a forced smile and nods his head and they take their places at the front of the church minutes later.

When the music starts and people begin walking down the aisle he feels like the room might be closing in on him. None of this feels right, it all feels so wrong and he's wondering if maybe it's not too late to call it all off.

Then the march is starting and the doors are opening and he is sure he is dreaming when the girl that has held his every thought is walking down the aisle toward him in a stunning white dress. He smiles brightly. She's breath taking.

She's standing in front of him and then she is across from him and words are being said, but he is in his own little world with her. A ring is being slipped onto his finger and he is smiling so brightly he is sure all his teeth are showing as he stares at amazement at the girl he thought he wouldn't see again. Words are leaving his mouth and then he hears someone calling his name and he is snapped out of his daydream when he looks at the priest who hands him a ring and when he looks back at the girl in front of him he takes a raged breath because it's no longer the girl he'd been thinking it was before.

It's the girl he actually proposed too, it the girl he cheated on and lied too, it's the girl who has helped him through a lot in his life, it's the girl who loves him and has never wavered or left him. It's the girl that has given all of herself to him, and he has to take another breath to calm his racing heart.

It's no longer the girl that broke his heart multiple times over the years in front of him. It's not the girl he fell so deeply in love with that he broke all of his morals just to be with her. It's not the girl that he made a baby with and then lost, breaking both their hearts and breaking them as well. It's not the girl that held such a big part of his heart. It's not her. It's not Gabriella Dawson. It's Hallie Thomas.

The girl standing in front of him isn't the girl that left him in a hotel room 2 years ago. She isn't the girl that he fell in love with 6 years ago.

But she is the girl he fell in love with nearly 10 years ago. She's the girl that promised him the future and she is the girl that he loves. She might not be the girl. But she's the girl he's marrying.

Sometimes the people you're meant to be with aren't the people you end up with.

He vows to himself to try and forget Gabby. To give himself fully to Hallie once again. Gabby wasn't here. Hallie was. And she deserved to have the full version of him.

So he says 'I do' and when they kiss to consummate the marriage he doesn't feel the sparks that he always did when the other girl kissed him and his heart doesn't to a complete flip and in a lot of ways it feels like everything is closing in on him, but he pushes that all away and stares at the girl in front of him. She looks happy, and he decides that maybe that is enough to make him happy.

He loves Hallie, he does…

He just hopes that love is enough.

Don't let me go, Don't let me go
Don't let me go, Don't let me go
Don't let me go, Don't let me go

He realizes now that he was naïve to think that he could ever get Gabby out of his mind, or that he and Hallie could live off 'love' for the rest of their lives. Gabby came back into his life and effectively ruined all the thoughts he'd had of 'getting over her', like he could ever really do that. And within the first year of marriage, before Gabby had even reentered his life, he had started to fall out of love with her.

Oh the mess he'd created.

"What are you doing here?" He asks in frustration. After his emotionally draining conversation with Gabby the last thing he wants is to have another with Hallie. Really all he wants is to go after Gabby and prove to her that he wants to run after her. That she was wrong. That he will run after her every day for the rest of his life if that's what she needs from him to believe that she is the one.

She sets her purse down and turns around to face him with angry eyes. "You said you wanted to talk, let's talk."

"Hallie…" He pleads. He doesn't want to do this now. He doesn't want to do this at his work place. He pushes the door closed, the last thing he needs is one of the guys hearing this conversation.

"No, you said you wanted to talk Matt, so we are going to talk! We ignore each other at home, we hide behind work. So talk. Let's talk." She fires. She's riled up and he doesn't really know what has gone down since this morning that has got her like this, but it isn't helping his mood at all.

"Here? At my work. Do you want me to get fired?" He hollers back. His frustration is high and he's not really sure if it's directed at her or at Gabby or at this entire situation. Maybe it's all of it.

She scuffs. "Hell, maybe you'd be home then. Maybe we'd see each other more than a couple times a week!"

He growls out in frustration running his hands through his hair. He's tired of this fight. He's tired of it all. "I'm never home?! Dammit, Hallie, neither are you! Don't just blame it on me!"

"Why? Why shouldn't I?! You've been distant for months now! Hell, you've been distant for much longer than that if we're being honest here!" He can't find words to reply to that. He'd always wondered if she noticed his distance. If she ever took note of when he stopped being able to give all of himself to her. Apparently she had, he just wondered how long she'd been noticing it all.

"You've been just as distant." He growls out, because she had. She'd been pushing him away for months, maybe longer.

She ignores his words and continues yelling and he feels his anger and frustration and so many emotions boiling over. "…I mean God, Matt, where the hell have you been? You're never around, and when you are you aren't really there. You're off in your own little land! We hardly communicate. We don't… we don't have sex. What the hell has you out all the time?! What…"

"I've been seeing someone!" He yells, cutting her off and shocking the both of them. She takes a step back and her eyes are hard, angry, hurt, confused. But the one emotion he is missing is sadness and he's confused by that as he briefly thinks of all the sadness he always see's in Gabby's eyes when they are fighting. The sadness that was in her eyes when she found out he hadn't told Hallie yet. Now here Hallie is and there isn't an ounce of sadness and he tries not to think about that too much. "I'm seeing someone… I, I've been with someone…" He says quitter now.

AMBULANCE 61, TRUCK 81, SQUAD 3… HOUSE FIRE ON…

He looks at Hallie as she stares back at him. His eyes ashamed and apologetic, her eyes cold and angry.

"I'm sorry…" He whispers and he's rushing out the door of his office.

We're falling apart and coming together again and again
We're growing apart but we pull it together, pull it together, together again

He rounds the corner and he bumps in to Gabby in the coat room and before he can stop himself he is pulling her too him before she can walk out. They are the only two left in there and he can still see the upset look on her face, and it spurs him on. He knows there is a call waiting, but he just can't leave this room without saying this. There is always something getting in the way with them, and he's not going to let it happen in this moment.

He pushes her gently up against the wall and he kisses her long and tenderly, putting as much passion and love into that kiss that he can manage.

When he pulls away her eyes are confused and he cups her cheek and rests his forehead on hers. "It's you. Okay? Don't ever doubt that again, please." He pleads and she nods gently. "I promise you, Gabby. And I mean it this time. Everything is going to be okay. Okay? Soon the whole world will know you're my girl." He whispers with conviction, kissing her softly and when he feels her smile into the soft kiss he can't help the relief that washes over him.

He hears one of the guys calling his name and his brushes his lips against hers gently one more time. "I love you. I love you, so much." He winks and pulls away from her and turns to the door.

"I love you, too!" She calls after him and they are both stepping into their separate rigs and rushing off to the scene.

Don't let me go, Don't let me go
Don't let me go, Don't let me go
Don't let me go, Don't let me go

All he could hear was the creaking of the floors and the groans of the building. Chief had said he had one minute, 2 minutes ago, but he had to go back. There was a baby trapped in a room and he wasn't leaving without her.

He'd sent Hermann on his way with the baby's mother and now he was fighting his way through the flames trying to find his way out of this building.

The flames were hot and he was positive the flames had burned through in a few places of his gear, but he tried not focusing on any of that. He could hear Chief calling for an update, but he didn't have a free hand to call through the radio. Too busy gripping the baby to his chest and trying to keep it safe.

"Casey! I need a report!" He hears the Chief call and in the background here hears Hermann talking about what transpired inside the building, and he hears another very distinct voice talking to herself. Gabby. He hears her very clearly. Her voice pleading softly. "Come on, come on…"

He tries to push her from his thoughts as he hits the bottom floor, but she is all he is thinking about. Pushing himself forward. He needs to get out of here. He needs to get to her. To make her his, finally. Once and for all. He rushes forward only to feel the ceiling cave in, a beam coming down and hitting his head, pinning him in place.

Smoke floods out of the entrance to the building as a crash is heard inside and Gabby feels her heart leap. Oh God.

"Mayday! Help Casey!" Chief and all the guys are rushing inside pulling on masks and she is left on the outside with a tear trailing down her cheek. Please God. Please let him be okay. Come on, Casey.

She hears them shouting through her radio as they reach Matt, his radio still on live.

It feels like an eternity until he comes stumbling out of the building, but when she spots the blood in his mask and he falls to his knees it does nothing to ease her worries and she plops down in front of him, taking the baby from him and passing it off to another medic before putting her sole focus on Matt as the rest of the guys come rushing out of the building behind him.

"Oh God…" She breathes out as his mask is pulled off and she is holding his head in her hands, his dazed and confused eyes meeting hers as they flutter as he slips in and out of consciousness. "Come on, Matt…" She cries softly, feeling his racing pulse.

He's being lifted on the back board and they are all rushing him to ambulance. Her and Severide jump in the back and Shay is speeding off as they rush in the back to get him on the monitor.

His eyes open cautiously and he breathes out her name. "Gabs…" Her hand is in his in and instant, giving it a reassuring squeeze, not caring if Severide sees the action and not caring about the tears in her eyes or the desperation in her voice.

"I'm right here, I'm right here… Stay with me." She whisper, using her other hand to brush the hair from his face, looking for the source of where all the blood on the side of his head was coming from.

His eyes slip closed once again and she assumes he's slipped back into unconsciousness. "I love you." He whispers softly and Severide's eyes snap to the both of them and she is looking at Matt in desperation, but has no time to reply before his body is convulsing roughly.

"Dammit." She cries as he flails on the cot. She tries pulling the mask onto his face, trying to give him oxygen as he continues to convulse, the heart monitor skyrocketing. "Dammit Matt come on." She cries, the tears flowing freely. Severide trying to help hold him down, his own tears resting in his eyes, and looking at the two of them confused. "Come on, Matt. Not like this. Not like this!" She cries pleadingly.

She wasn't ready to lose him. She couldn't lose him, they were just about to get their chance. They were going to be together. This couldn't be happening. Not like this.

Don't let me go, Don't let me go
Don't let me go, Don't let me go
Don't let me go, Don't let me go

Don't mind me while I go hide from all of you…
For those that wanted some Casey whump, you got it!

So Shay was disappointed, but of course supportive of her best friend. They've known each other basically all their lives in this story, how could she not be? How'd you guys feel about her reaction? Was it the typical Leslie Shay behavior that we all know and love?

Those darn bells, always ruining a good convo, huh?

Things are definitely heating up all around, hope you're all still with me on this ride!

Review, Review, Review please!

(And can I just say how excited I am that a lot of the writers on here are out of school for the summer! Hopeful that you all did great on finals and are ready for a long summer hiatus of the show with lots of FanFic updates to tie us over! I adore all your stories! Looking forward to a summer full of reading!)

XxXx