TW: Harsh language and physical abuse. Be wary please.

This update is a lot earlier than I expected but I love to procrastinate and I also love to update for you all. I hope you guys enjoy it and I will work hard to get the next update up by next weekend.

I love you all and thank you for all the reviews, favorites, follows and just reading my story in general.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot.

Gaby

I had a choice to make here.

I could royally slap the shit out of this woman for thinking that she could touch me like that or I could keep my cool and move away from the situation.

I'm not that nice.

Trust me, I'm not.

So when Matt's mom Nancy went for my throat, I resisted the urge to pull that woman down with me. Instead Severide and I moved out of her reach just as the movers were bringing in more furniture.

Hallie looked at us in awe and could only stare at Nancy in shock. I smirked as I took her in. There's no way Matt was into her. My life was not a Lifetime movie and I was pretty sure that Matt wasn't leading some double life or something. Granted, Kelly just complicated things by saying that I was Matt's fiancée but if it made Matt's mom cringe, then I was all for it.

"Ugh, do you even speak English?" Nancy complained.

She had stopped her advances and was now looking me over once more in disgust. I was always taught not to disrespect people who were older than me, especially someone else's mother but this was just too much.

"Look, lady. I do speak English and even better I'm marrying your son. So, too bad, so not sad, I am going to be your new daughter in law." I answered back confidently.

Even though I knew this was a bad idea, going along with this ruse that Kelly ignited for me felt so good. My heart twisted at the thought of marrying Matt and even though we had only been dating for seven short months, I felt like I was already starting the rest of my life with him. I could only hope that he felt the same way.

"Why don't we just call Matthew and have him explain what the hell is going on here?" Nancy replied, pulling out her phone.

I could only hope that Matt played along or else I would look so stupid. She had the nerve to put the phone on speaker and I could only smirk as it went to voicemail after only two rings. She looked back at me and glared me down once more before moving to sit at the counter.

"We'll wait for him here."

I merely shrugged and nudged for Kelly to follow me over to the couch, leaving Hallie standing there. She looked between Kelly and I and her supposed mother in law before moving to stand by the counter as well. I almost felt bad for her but the fact that she had the nerve to call herself Matt's fiancée when I knew for a fact that she couldn't be, hit me hard.

I knew Matt kept a lot of secrets regarding his old life, but this one just couldn't be one of them. I felt my courage suddenly slipping but I was holding onto the belief that Matt was mine and I was his. There was no way he could ever lie to me about something major as having a fiancée waiting for him back in Florida. There was no way.

"Hey, stop thinking so much. You know who you are." Kelly whispered.

I nodded, not wanting to outwardly voice any doubts about me and Casey anywhere near his mother. All she needed was one word and I knew she would twist it in any way she could.

"Look at her, probably sleeping with his best friend." Nancy muttered.

Kelly and I looked at her in disbelief but before I could get up to say something, Casey walked into the apartment and stopped dead as he took in the scene before him. From the look on his face, there was pure fear but when he held out his hand to me from across the room, I dived to grab it, not wanting to be far from him.

"Mom, what are you doing here? Hallie? What's happening?" He questioned the two women.

He rubbed his thumb reassuringly over the top of my hand, and kissed my temple lightly. The kiss sent love up and down my spine and I could feel myself standing straighter and my smirk taking full effect.

"Well, we were just here to visit you and we happened to walk in on your maid with your supposed best friend. Now, I'm not here to tell you what to do, but I would fire her immediately." Hallie responded.

And here I was thinking that this bitch wasn't too horrible, and then she had the nerve to try me. Matt merely laughed bitterly and rubbed his eyes tiredly. I knew this was going to be a long conversation but I was going to stand right by him until the end.

"She's not the maid, she's not the help, she's my—"

"Fiancée." Both Kelly and I added, cutting Matt off in the process.

If he was surprised he didn't show it, because he went along with it perfectly.

"And nothing is going to change that. Our lives are going to be spent together from here on out." Matt continued.

Nancy rolled her eyes, while Hallie merely scowled.

"You said that to me too and look where we are now, Matt. I had to chase you halfway across the country to get you back." Hallie retorted.

Matt sighed heavily, tightening his grip on my hand. A sinking feeling erupted in my stomach and I knew that I would probably be crying myself to sleep tonight.

"Hallie, that was different and you know it. Our engagement was broken a year ago, and I apologized for putting you through what I did. But that doesn't give the opportunity to come and ruin what I'm building for myself here."

"What do you need to build? You have a life ready for you in a beautiful state, the perfect fiancée, and the perfect career. You'd throw it all away for what? For that?" Nancy replied, pointing directly at me.

Matt stepped protectively in front of me, just like Kelly had done before but I wasn't having it. We had to be on equal ground for her to take us seriously. We weren't kids and I didn't need to be protected from the monster he calls his mother.

"That was the life you planned for me. Mom, I don't want to be stuck in an office making plans for other people all day. I wanna help people. I wanna use my hands and my mind and my ideas. I wanna love a beautiful woman who challenges me every day. I wanna be tired after a long day and know it's because I did hard work rather than be tired because I'm sick of living a life that I did nothing for!" He yelled.

I had never heard his voice rise so high, nor had I ever seen him so red. He had never spoken to me about this feeling before or at least as in depth as he was getting. I put a reassuring hand on his shoulder in hopes that it would let him know that I was there for him.

He took that other hand in his and looked at me cautiously. I had no plans to leave him now and he needed to know that. He needed to see that. I looked him right in the eyes and nodded as if to tell him that it was okay. That I was here.

"You wrote me in a letter. You couldn't even tell me face to face how you were feeling. Now you're rubbing this bitch in my face? That's so pathetic, you coward." Hallie hissed.

The hatred in her voice was evident and with the new information, I couldn't really blame her. A letter is a low blow and if she really loved him, her heart must've broken into pieces after reading his words of goodbye.

"But you knew that I wasn't happy. You knew that at some point I gearing up to leave!" Matt argued.

His whole body shook and the tension in the room was sickening. Kelly was smart not to utter on word but at the same time, the heat of the situation was really taking its toll on him as well.

"Just like your father. Making decisions without concerning other people. Not caring who you hurt or how you hurt them, is this what you want for yourself? A life of misery and self-destruction?"

Matt let go of my hand and stomped towards his mother. Their faces were inches apart and I couldn't help but hold my breath as I wondered where this was going.

"The only self-destructing I was doing was letting you tell me who to be. Do you see her? My life is so much brighter and simpler when I'm with her. I believe in myself because of her. And the day she officially says I do, will be the best day of my life. The only misery I feel is looking into your eyes and knowing that I am a product and not your son." He whispered.

Nancy's face stayed stoic and the calm that surrounded her was so eerie that when she finally raised her hand to slap Matt across that face harshly, I didn't even see it coming.

"You forgot to add the fact that the product was faulty." She replied, getting up steadily and moving to the door.

My hands were stuck covering my mouth as the shock hit me like a ton of bricks. Sure, my parents would give me a tap from time to time as a child but never something so heartless and brash like what Nancy had just done.

Matt was frozen in place as both Nancy and Hallie moved to leave the apartment. I didn't move an inch and neither did Kelly as we tried to process the situation. Any feeling of anger that was about to stir in me was no longer towards Matt. All of it was steered directly at his mother.

The second the door closed, Matt collapsed into the chair that his mother once occupied and stared into space. He was very quiet and the fact that the mark on his face only looked angrier and angrier as time went on.

I took one small step towards him before leaping towards him and covering him in my embrace. I had no words for him, only feelings of love and the urge to call Voight to ask him to ruin that woman for me but mostly for Matt but I doubt that would ease Matt's mind and heart.

He rubbed his hand absentmindedly on my arm but said nothing. Kelly approached us carefully, offering to get Casey a beer. He shook his head in response and kept holding onto me for dear life. It was sad but I think we both needed something to hold onto.

"I think I need to be alone right now." Matt whispered.

The request wasn't shocking but it was a bit heartbreaking and I didn't want to leave. But I gave him a kiss to the forehead and moved to leave with Kelly. We both gave Matt one last look and I whispered a heavy "I love you" just for him.

Kelly and I walked down the stairs quietly, not daring to say a word. The walls felt heavy and I felt like all eyes were on me now. Once we were out of the building, we made on our way to Kelly's car and that's when the damn finally broke.

Kelly held me tightly and all I could do was scream. I couldn't pinpoint why I was angry, I just knew that I was. I hated the vulnerability that I felt and I hated the way that being Matt's fiancée made me feel. This is not the way I thought being the future Mrs. Casey would feel like. But nothing in me told me to give that title up.

"Gaby, what are you getting yourself into?" Kelly asked as my crying died down into whimpers.

I shook my head and shrugged. "I don't know, but I do know that I'm not backing down."

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Nessa