Chapter 8
Gabby pulls her car in front of the familiar apartment building; she takes a deep breath as she wipes away the tears that have been falling since she left. So many things had crossed her mind, had she been selfish for following her dreams? Could her Matt work this out? What was she going to do now? She began to fill lightheaded as her mind continued to race in circles with these never ending questions. She slowly took her keys out of the ignition as she gave her a small pep talk. She reached across the street and grabbed her bag and purse and then opened the door. As much as she didn't want to explain what she was doing here, she knew she was going to have to. As she walked closer to the door, she could fill her bile begin to build up in her stomach, knowing that if Matt and her couldn't find a way to work this out, this was the conversation was one she was going to have to have with everyone she knew. The worst part of it all, she knew the more people she told, the more it would make it feel real.
She knocked on the door with a light knock hoping that Shay or Severide would quickly answer. She waited a few seconds before knocking again and within a moment Severide opened the door with a smile on his face and a beer in his hand, "Dawson," he said with his smiling disappearing as he took in her appearance.
"Is Shay home?" Gabby asked doing her best not to let tears fall.
"Yeah," he said as he nodded his head and opened the door wider. "Come on in and I'll get her."
Gabby shoved her hands into her coat pockets and moved past Severide. She looked around to find Shay sitting on the couch watching TV, "Who is it?" Shay asked turning around to find Gabby standing in the kitchen.
"Hey," Shay said as she stood up from the couch and walked over to her best friend. She could tell that something was off with her Gabby, her eyes were fighting back tears, and she was biting her lower lip, and trying her best to avoid eye contact. "What is it?" Shay asked with confusion on her face.
"Casey and I are over," Gabby said as her voice broke.
Shay instantly pulled her into a hug, "It is going to be okay." She then looked up at Severide, whose expression read one of complete surprise.
Gabby nodded her head as she stepped away, "I need a place to stay."
"Say no more," Shay said. "You can stay with us as long as you want."
"Yeah, you can have Otis' old room," Severide added.
"Thanks Guys," Gabby said as she wiped her face with the back of her hand.
Three Weeks Later
Matt sat at the head of the table reading the morning newspaper doing his best to look busy or just trying to show everyone he was fine. After his break up with Gabby, he could see the looks of sadness on everyone's face, he knew that they all meant well, but he didn't needed to be reminded of what he loss. He knew the moment she left their apartment what he had done and since the moment it came out of his mouth he regretted it. There were so many times he went to pick up the phone to call her and tell her that he was sorry, but he was stopped by the fact that she chose being a firefighter over him.
The hardest day was when he came home from his shift; he found all of her things boxed up. She left him a note on the table telling him she thought it would be easier if she did this when he wasn't here and that tomorrow Antonio and Severide would be over to get the rest of her things. He remembered walking into the bedroom that they shared and on the nightstand where she kept her lotions and jewelry, it was empty. Tears sprang to his eyes as he sat on the bed where she use to lay and reached for her pillow, he brought it to his face and breathed in her scent. It hit him hard that she was gone and not coming back. That night he drank more then he had since he was in his early twenties.
He was brought of his thoughts when he heard his name being called. He set the newspaper down to find Severide sitting in the chair next to him. "So a couple of the guys and I were thinking of having a poker night tomorrow, you in?"
"Where is it going to be?" Matt asked already knowing the answer.
"At my place," Severide said.
"Thanks for the offer, but…"
Before he could finish his sentence Kelly quickly cut him off, "Dawson isn't going to be around, she is bartending at Molly's with Otis."
"This has nothing to do with Gabby," Matt says knowing that it has everything to do with Gabby.
"Whatever you say, but Matt you can't hide away forever. You two have the same mutual friends you guys are bound to cross paths."
"I know that," Matt says as he runs his hands over his face. "Alright fine, what time do I have to be there?"
"Around 8," Kelly told him.
Matt nodded his head and then he cleared his throat knowing that he had no business to ask his next question, "How is she doing?"
"She is…" Severide searched for his words, "She is Dawson, you know? She really doesn't say much when she is home and when she does it's usually about work or Molly's."
Matt nodded his head again, "thanks man."
"No problem," Severide gets up from the table and looks around the empty room. He then turns back around to see confusion on Matt's face. "You should call her," and with that Kelly turns again and leaves the kitchen area.
Through the whole night of serving beers, Gabby felt sick to her stomach. She told Hermann to keep his sick self home the other day, but he made a big fuss about the new shipment of beer coming in. With each movement behind the bar, the nausea made its self known.
"Otis," Gabby called him over as she threw the rag into the sink.
"Yeah," he turned to face her as he placed two beers on the counter for the costumers.
"I'm not feeling so hot right now. Would you mind if I took off?"
Otis looked around the bar at the fifteen or so patrons, "go home."
"Thanks," Gabby said with a small smile. She went into the back room and gathered her things. She quickly put on her coat and took her keys out of her purse. She just wanted to go home and sleep in bed. The drive back didn't take too long and as Gabby opened the door to the apartment, she heard laughter coming from inside. She took her jacket off and walked into the kitchen area to find Capp, Tony, Severide, Cruz, and Casey playing a game of cards. The room became silent as her heart froze as she made eye contact with Matt.
"Dawson?" Severide asked with confusion on his face. "What are you doing home so early?"
Gabby cleared her throat and turned her gaze from Matt to Kelly, "I umm… I wasn't feeling well, so I decided to come home," she said as she wiped the beads of sweat from her forehead.
"You don't look so good," Severide said as he noticed how pale her skin was.
"I don't feel good. So I'm going to go to bed and hopefully break this fever before shift tomorrow. Bye guys and good luck with your game," Gabby said with a wave of her hand as she quickly moved towards the stairs and began to climb up them.
It took everything in Matt to not follow her to make sure she was okay. He could feel an awkwardness come over the group of men as they waited for someone to break the silence. He opened his mouth to tell the guys to play, but Severide beat him to it.
They played a few more hands before calling it a night. As Matt put on his jacket to leave, he look over to the stairs hoping that Gabby would come down and tell him to take her home with him, but she never came. He knew that he had made the bed he was in and now he had to lie in it.
Author's Note:
Thank you for all reviews! I also wanted to say that I can't wait for the new episode this week. I saw the sneak peaks and it looks good!
