Super sorry for the delay! I've been working like crazy and to be honest, I had kind of lost motivation for a bit. As always, thanks for all the reviews, alerts and favorites! You guys are the best!

How Will I Know

Chapter Fourteen

Matt tucked in his long sleeve polo shirt and slammed his locker door shut before hurrying out of the locker room and towards the common room. His eyes met chief's as Boden headed towards him with a cup of coffee in his hand. "Morning, chief."

Boden nodded, "morning, Casey. Meet me in my office in five minutes."

"Yes, sir."

"Dude," Severide said as Matt walked up to the counter, he glanced behind him to make sure Boden was out of the room before turning back to Matt. "What the hell did you do?"

He shrugged, "I have no idea." He made himself his own cup of coffee, needing it with what little sleep he'd managed to get last night. His whole plan to do laundry…yeah, that never happened. In fact, he'd woken up to Gabby's alarm and silently cursed as he had realized he'd fallen asleep with her in his arms instead of heading back home like he'd intended to do. He'd scrambled out of bed, pulled his clothes on from the previous day and gave Gabby a quick kiss before hurrying out of her apartment and across town to his own.

Severide chuckled as Matt started towards Boden's office, "it's like getting called to the principal's office!"

Matt ignored Severide and continued on towards Boden's office. Despite the door being opened, he knocked anyways. "You wanted to see me, chief?"

Boden nodded, motioning for Matt to come in. "Shut the door behind you, Casey." He waited until Matt took a seat across from him to continue. "Guess who called me this morning?"

Matt shook his head, his mind running a mile a minute. Still, he came up empty. "I don't know. Who?"

"Thomas Dawson."

"Oh, shit. I mean, sorry…" he stuttered, "I completely forgot. Listen, I did not ask him to ask you for Saturday's shift off…."

"Casey…"

"He basically took it upon himself and to be honest…"

"Casey…"

"I was really too afraid to say anything, I mean, he'd just met the guy who has been sleeping with his daughter for the past several months and I…"

"Matt!"

Eyes wide, Matt had realized he was rambling. "Sorry, sir."

Boden smirked, "you have nothing to be sorry for. A heads up would have been nice but I understand."

"So Saturday's shift is covered?"

"It's covered."

Matt sat up straight, "great! Gabby will be happy to hear that." He frowned, "…maybe."

"What do you mean? Have you guys hit a rough spot?"

"No, no. Nothing like that. It's just, her parents visit was a complete surprise and I know it kind of threw Gabby for a loop."

Boden nodded. He knew a little bit about Gabby's sometimes tumultuous relationship with her parents but tried his best to stay out of it. Thomas Dawson was a good friend of his and Gabriela was probably one of the better paramedics he'd ever had the pleasure of working with. "So you're treating Gabriela right?"

"Yes, sir."

"And the boys?"

The grin that spread across Matt's face was like one of a proud father. "They're great, sir. Eli is really doing well in school and Gus…" he shook laughed, just thinking of some of Gus' antics, "that kid is on a mission and there no slowing him down."

"Just like his mother," he quipped. "Do me a favor? Get Gabriela to bring them by once in a while? Now that Ross has been transferred out, she can stop keeping her distance."

Matt nodded, "will do." He scratched the back of his head, trying to figure out the best way to ask his next question. "Uh, have you heard anything about Ross?"

"Put it this way…nothing bad, nothing good."

"Well let's hope he keeps his distance. Not sure you'll be able to pull me off of him next time, chief."

"And I'll have no problem looking the other way."

With both boys taking an afternoon nap down the hall in their room and her mother in the kitchen on the phone with her father, Gabby took the opportunity to look at her own phone. She smiled upon realizing she had a text from Matt. Her smile grew even more as soon as she read the text.

Remind me again never to skip breakfast. I'm starving.

Gabby wasted no time in responding. Well then maybe someone should wake up on time.

Not my fault you kept me in bed all night. Before Gabby could even think of a response, Matt had sent another message. Come by the station with the boys tonight?

You just want me to cook dinner.

Always a plus. ;)

We'll see.

"Who are you talking to?"

Gabby jumped at her mother's voice; she hadn't heard her come back into the living room. "Matt," she answered simply. She gave her a mother a look, silently daring her to say something bad about Matt.

Even before Gabby had started falling for the bad boy type as a teenager, Marie Dawson had never approved of any guy she'd been even a little bit interested in. That included Carlos Rodriguez who Gabby had met at church. According to Marie Dawson, every time Gabby turned her attention towards a relationship, she was losing focus on her future and her plans of becoming a doctor.

Which, Gabby supposed her mother had been right. After having Eli, she knew her plans on becoming a doctor had been scrapped. But she was ok with that. She was happy where she was in her career, she wasn't working two part-time jobs and barely keeping food on the table. She was a nurse. Yeah, money was still tight but Gabby wasn't disappointed in herself in terms of her career. Nor did she blame her children for not becoming a doctor. If Gabby was honest with herself, becoming a doctor had always been her mother's dream for her, not her dream for herself.

Marie nodded, removing the basket of clean, unfolded close from the other side of the couch and taking a seat. "Tell me more about Matt."

Gabby's smile faltered and she looked at her mother in slight confusion. "You want to know about Matt? You've never asked about the guys I've dated in the past."

"That's because they've never been worth asking about." She shrugged, "you've developed a routine, Gabriela. Pick a guy at random, hook up with him and get pregnant. But after talking to your brother, he seems convinced that you've finally picked a good guy. So, like I said, tell me more about Matt."

Gabby scoffed and was quick to defend herself. She completely ignored her mother's comment about Antonio being convinced that Matt was a good guy and instead focused on her mother's criticism about her past choices in men. "I have not just picked them at random. I understand that I don't have the best track record but please don't sit here and criticize me."

"Gabriela!"

"No." Gabby stood up and slipped her phone into her back pocket. "This is exactly why I don't pick up the phone and call you. You can't go five minutes without throwing in some backhanded comment."

Marie frowned, trying to meet her daughter's eyes but failed due to Gabby's refusal to even look her way. "You're not pregnant, are you?"

"What? No!" She shook her head, hurt that her mother still had very little faith in her.

"It's a valid question, Gabriela. You have a track record."

"Well like I said, the answer is no." She checked her watch, "don't you have somewhere else you can go besides sitting here and insulting me?"

"I am not insulting you, Gabriela. I'm insulting your choice in men."

"Well just stop."

A few hours later, Gabby pulled up behind Matt's truck next to the firehouse and sighed, trying to get herself in check before going into the firehouse where both Shay and Matt would immediately be able to tell that something was bothering her.

After the little argument with her mother, she wasn't surprised when Marie had suddenly remembered she was supposed to stop by Laura's Bakery and immediately left.

Gabby leaned her head back against the seat and sighed. She had never been extremely close to her mother while growing up but she'd always been able to talk to her when she needed to. She missed that and she wanted it back. She just didn't know how to get it back. Even simple conversations turned into arguments.

"Finally! It's been forever!"

Gabby pulled herself from her thoughts and glanced back at Eli through the rearview mirror as she turned the car off. "It has not been forever," she insisted.

"Well it seemed like it."

By the time Gabby got out of the driver's seat and pulled Gus from his car seat, Eli was already standing next to her and anxiously awaiting his long awaited return to firehouse 51.

"Longtime no see, chica." Shay was the first to see them and jumped out of the bag of the ambulance. She grinned at Gus and Eli. "And you brought the babies!"

Eli's face scrunched up in disgust, "I'm not a baby, Leslie! I'm five!"

"Well doesn't your mom always tell you that you'll always be her baby?"

"All the time," Eli mumbled.

"Because it's the truth." She sat Gus down on the ground and took a hold of his hand, "come one, let's go find everybody else."

"Do you know where Matt is?" Eli asked Leslie as he walked next to her.

Shay shrugged, "maybe his office?"

"I'll check!" Before Gabby could protest, Eli took off into the firehouse, knowing the layout by heart and headed straight for Matt's office. "Hi Kelly, Hi Mr. Herrmann!" Eli said as he passed the two men in their quarters before continuing on to Matt's office.

"You ok?" Shay asked, taking the very brief opportunity she had to ask.

Gabby nodded and managed a smile, "just another conversation with my mom that turned into an argument."

"Aw, sweetie, I'm sorry."

"It's ok. I'm used to it."

Still keeping an eye on Eli, with Gus in her arms, Gabby walked with Shay over to Severide and Herrmann.

Severide chuckled, "Hey, Dawson, aren't you missing a kid?"

Gabby rolled her eyes, "funny, Severide." With enough adults around, Gabby let go of Gus' little hand and watched as he slowly followed his big brother towards Matt's office.

"And there goes the other one," Severide quipped.

Herrmann shook his head and stood up to pull Gabby into a hug, "ignore him, Dawson."

Gabby grinned and pulled back, "I always have. In fact, I believe that might have been one of the first things you said to me when I started at fifty-one and I quote, 'hey kid, Kelly Severide is a womanizer, you're better off ignoring him.' I listened, too."

Shay busted out laughing, "that's some pretty good advice."

"Hey," Kelly whined.

On the other side of the quarters, Eli ran into Matt's office. "Hi, Matt!"

Matt jumped, startled out of the paperwork he was attempting to finish. "Hey, Eli!" He stood up from his chair just as Gus came running into his office. "Hey, Gus!" He scooped Gus up, perching the one year old on his hip and looking back down at Eli. "When did you guys get here?"

Eli shrugged, "just a little bit ago. I think mommy is talking to Leslie."

"Well what do you say we go find her?"

Eli took a hold of Matt's hand, "I know where she is, silly."

Matt laughed as Eli tugged at his hand. "Well then lead the way, buddy."

Gabby sighed and shut the refrigerator door. Hands on her hips, she turned around and looked at the men who had eagerly gathered around the kitchen to see what she was going to cook. She narrowed her eyes, "when was the last time anybody even went grocery shopping?"

Cruz shrugged, "Otis and I went last week."

"Well that explains the assortment of frozen pies and chocolate milk."

Otis looked sheepish, "they were on sale."

With Gus in her arms, Shay joined everybody in the kitchen. She rolled her eyes, "Matthew Casey! Did you really ask Dawson to come over just so she could cook dinner?"

Matt looked up, like a deer caught in the headlights. "That's not the only reason. I'll take any opportunity I can get to see Gabby." He pushed his elbows off the counter and sat up straight, reaching an arm out and wrapping it around Gabby's waist, pulling her into his side.

Shay smirked, "oh, trust me, I don't doubt that."

Gabby couldn't help but blush, not used to being affectionate in front of so many people. "In his defense, it has been too long since I've stopped by."

Herrmann nodded, "you're right. It's been way too long. It's been even longer since you've made an appearance at Molly's."

"That involves finding a babysitter and I hate constantly asking my brother and his wife to watch the boys."

"Nonsense, nonsense. Cindy can watch them. After five, what's two more?"

Gabby shook her head in awe. "You're ridiculous, Herrmann." She sighed, "but it would be nice to have an adult night out soon."

Shay grinned, "that sounds like a yes to me!" She walked around the counter and handed Gus off to Matt, "here, Mr. Augustus has a fresh diaper on now."

"So what's the verdict?" Mouch asked, anxious to pull everybody's attention back to the original topic. He'd definitely missed Gabby's cooking. She didn't even have to actually cook for her food to be amazing. Heck, her peanut butter and jelly sandwiches were magical.

"The verdict is that if you want dinner then I have to go to the store." Making a mental list of the ingredients she needed, Gabby figured she could probably just go to the small market a few blocks away from the station. "I'm sure I can make do with a trip to that little market not too far from here."

Cruz grinned, "ah, Mr. Howard's? He's good people."

"Didn't you sleep with one of his granddaughters?" Otis asked, vaguely remembering the conversation he'd had with Cruz not too long ago.

"Water under the bridge," Cruz insisted, though the look of fear in his eyes said otherwise.

Severide shook his head and stood up, "anyways, we'll watch the boys so you can go get whatever food you need." He ruffled Eli's hair. "Promised Eli I'd show him some of my Squad training the next time he came by."

"But what if you guys get a call?" Gabby asked, almost like she was asking for Matt's permission to leave the boys here. Basically in his care. She'd never left the boys completely alone in his care before. It wasn't that she didn't trust him, because she did—a lot. She just didn't ever want Matt to think she was using him for free daycare. When it came down to it, the boys weren't Matt's, therefore he held no real responsibility for them.

Matt shook his head, completely missing Gabby's point. "Boden's assistant's got like twenty grandkids, she won't mind watching them for a few minutes if we get a call."

Gabby rolled her eyes, "Matt, you can't just assume someone will watch them, you have to actually ask."

"Right," Matt nodded. "I knew that."

"Don't worry, Gabriela," Boden's assistant said as she came walking into the kitchen just in time to hear the end of the conversation. "I'll gladly watch Eli and Gus if they guys get a call." She refilled her mug and grinned at Eli. "You probably don't remember it, dear, but we go way back. In fact, I'm pretty sure there's still a coloring book and crayons buried somewhere in one of my desk drawers that has your name on it."

"Great," Shay grinned, looping her arm through Gabby's, "We'll take the rig. I'll come with." She looked at Gabby for her approval, "you'll just have to tag along if a get a call. For old time's sake."

Gabby shook her head, not missing another one of Shay's attempts as subtly trying to get her to come back to Ambulance 61. "Well, let's go."

Giving both boys a kiss and making Eli promise to be on his best behavior, Gabby was practically dragged out of the kitchen by Shay.

She'd just pulled her seat belt on when she looked up to see Matt hurrying towards them.

"Lover boy has to say good-bye," Shay quipped.

Matt motioned for Gabby to roll her window down and jumped up on the step beneath the door of the ambulance. "Hey," he grinned.

"Hey," Gabby repeated.

"You ok?"

"Nothing that I can't handle."

Matt tilted his head in confusion, "doesn't exactly answer my question." He kissed her lips. "But we can talk more later."

Again, I apologize for the delay...and the short chapter. I'm already working on the next chapter. Should be up sometime early this week. I've also got a few other ideas floating around in my head and have been jotting stuff down different scenes that have come to mind. As always, review, please! :)