A\N: Wow! I know it's been a few month since I've updated. I was really busy at first, then I had writers block. After that, I had a really severe personal problem that I'm still trying to deal with. This chapter wouldn't be possible without the amazing help of my friend from Twitter who was an amazing support system and even help me write this chapter. I'd also like to thank all of my friends on Twitter who have been an amazing support system for me over these past few weeks. You'll never know how much what you're doing means to me.

Spoilers: I don't own anything.

Warnings: None

Chapter 21

Matt sat nervously in the Oval Office. He'd made an appointment to meet with Gabby's father, but as he'd expected he'd been kept waiting. It had now been almost half an hour and he was getting to nervous just sitting on the couch waiting, Standing up he looked around the room at all of the pictures on display and smiled. You could clearly tell by the pictures in the room that the President very much values his family.

Taking one lap around the office Matt sat down on the couch again and tried to focus on the history in this room. Decisions affecting the entire, world and decisions that were in history books were made in this office. If these walls could talk they'd have some amazing stories to tell.

"Matt," Eduardo Dawson stepped into his office and closed the door, "I'm sorry to keep you waiting for so long. But barring a world crisis we have an hour to talk before I have a meeting. What's on your mind?" He asked as he moved to sit opposite Matt on the other couch, "I'm so pleased you were able to come and help out Antonio and your friend as well."

"I didn't mind waiting Sir," Matt said first, "Working with Antonio had been great and my friend Kelly has been enjoying it as well. Antonio is in meetings now for a few hours so…" Matt tried to calm down his nerves a little, "I have a question that I want to ask you." He took a deep breath, "I'd like to ask Gabby to marry me. But I know how important her family is to her so I wanted to ask first for your blessing."

"Son," Eduardo sat on the couch opposite from him, he didn't want to give away his answer by smiling so he tried to be as serious as he could. "I love my daughter, after everything that has happened recently I can't think of something better for her." He smiled and stood up walking the few steps to the other couch to shake Matt's hand, "There's one condition though, you need to call me Eduardo now that we're going to be family."

"I'll try," Matt still couldn't believe what had happened, "I was going to ask her to marry me when we're in Europe.

"I think that's a great idea," Eduardo smiled.

Kelly and Matt stepped into Stella's office to see her and Antonio already working on something. They'd been in sessions and meetings all day and it was now almost three o'clock. Matt and Kelly had both spoken before two of those committee's and then went out to do a bit of relaxing and sight seeing.

"I'm never going to make another joke about a politician," Kelly tried to bring some humour into the room. "I'm guessing you two won't be able to get away for dinner?" He asked.

"No," Stella shook her head, she looked a bit disappointed, "I think I'm just going to go home and work a bit there. Maddie hasn't seen me in about a week," She ran a hand over her head. "You okay if I take off Tonio?" She turned to her cousin and asked.

"Of course," Antonio nodded his head. He knew how much Stella tried to be as supportive for Maddie as she could. Unfortunately over the last two years, with the nature of her job as a Senator it had become harder and harder. Antonio sometimes wondered why Stella has chosen to run knowing it would cause he to be away from her daughter. Although seeing Stella in action made him realise she was a born politician.

One thing that had been suffering for a long time however was Stella's romantic life. This wasn't something Antonio usually liked to get in the way of but he knew how much Stella liked Kelly. If what Gabby had to say was anything to go by Kelly was a good stand up guy.

"Why doesn't Kelly go by your place and see Maddie?" Antonio suggested. He saw, even though Stella was packing up her briefcase she was trying to hide her blush. It was a good thing they weren't alone, as she'd probably have some words to say as well. Antonio took confidence in what he was sating so he continued, "Didn't you mention she wanted to see him again?"

"Uh…" Stella nodded her head, not able to get any other words out. "Yeah she did. But I'm sure Kelly doesn't want to spend an hour in the car with me."

There was nothing to Kelly would rather do. Well actually there were a few things but he figured, or hoped those would come later. Right now he needed to come up with an answer that didn't seem like he was too desperate. "Yeah sure, I could go for a home cooked meal." Kelly shrugged his shoulders. "What were you going to make?"

"I'm not sure yet," Stella responded.

"Mom!" Maddie shook her head and sighed heavily, "This isn't fair and you know it! If you weren't going to show up in the first place then why did you even confirm?"

Stella tried to tell herself Maddie was just overly upset. She'd just had to cancel speaking at career day at her school, something she was looking forward to. However there was an emergency meeting on a bill and she needed to cancel. As expected Maddie was taking this hard, and on the night where Kelly Severide was coming for dinner she didn't need to be having an argument with her daughter. Kelly was going to be there for any minunte and she didn't want to be in the middle of an argument with her thirteen-year-old daughter. Kelly was different than any man she'd ever met, he was kind and funny and didn't appear to want to take advantage of her in any way. More importantly he seemed completely fine and unthreatened by her career.

"Tio Antonio had to cancel too, you know that."

"Yeah but Eva has her grandfather coming!" Maddie reminded her as she slammed her laptop shut, "And he's the President! So that doesn't count at all! She's already Ms. Popular and-"

"Maddie," Stella sighed as she ran a hand over her face. She couldn't keep track of the on again off again friendship between her daughter and niece. The two girls were usually inseparable best friends and joined at the hip. However they were very different, there different, And lately here differences only seemed to be pushing them further and further apart. "Go upstairs and do your homework. We'll talk later."

Maddie was about to argue when the doorbell rang and she went to answer it. She knew it would be Kelly Severide. "Hi," She grinned as she opened the door, "Hi Kelly,"

"Hey Maddie," Kelly greeted the young teen, "Your mom here?" He wondered.

"Uh she's just in the kitchen," Maddie stepped aside letting him come in, "Is that wine? I love wine," She informed him. She wanted to see if she'd get any kind of response,

"You're too young to drink," Kelly simply stated as he walked into the kitchen. "Hi Stella," He looked at her, even in jeans and a t-shirt she looked beautiful. "I bought some wine. I hope that's okay."

Stella turned around. She was still trying to get dinner ready and a part of her wished Kelly had come a little later. "Of course," She took the wine bottle.

"Thanks for the invitation," Kelly leaned against the counter as he watched her finish. "Thanks for the invitation by the way," He smiled as he looked around the kitchen. So far Stella's townhouse wasn't anything like he'd pictured and he was surprised to found she didn't live in a big house. "Anything I can do to help?" He wondered.

"You can go and get me some cigarette's," Maddie spoke up from the kitchen table.

"Madeline!" Stella's head snapped around. She narrowed her eyes in anger and glared at her twelve year old, "I swear if I ever so much as suspect you of smoking I will send you to boarding school." She threatened

"Ooh I'm so scared," Maddie rolled her eyes. She knew her mother would never do it; she'd been threatening her with that since she was eight years old.

"I didn't know they still had boarding school." Kelly spoke up trying to break some of the tension in the room.

"Mom went to an all girls school when she was a teenager," Maddie spoke, "She was more wild then I was. Now she has fun being a bully and-"

"Dinner's ready," Stella interrupted her daughter, "You can eat here an be nice Maddie or you can go upstairs."

"Stay here," Kelly spoke up. If he and Stella were going to be spending more time together he knew he needed to get to know her daughter. That wasn't too hard considering Maddie reminded him of that kind of teenager he was. ''Did you have school today?'' Kelly asked Maddie and she nodded.

''Yes, I had a long day today.'' Maddie said softly, not really wanting to elaborate much more. She was still upset about her mom not being able to go to career day.

''Dinner is great.'' Kelly complimented Stella. She had made pasta with creamy sauce and shrimp, and it was really good. It was a lot better than he was able to make.

''Thanks, Maddie saw the recipe on Facebook, glad she shared it with me…and glad you like it too.'' Stella smiled at her daughter.

'Good job you.'' Kelly complimented Maddie and finally the girl seemed to warm up a bit. She smiled and ate some more of the pasta. After she finished she stood up "Mom can I be excused?"

"Are you going to do your homework or text your friends?" Stella asked her daughter.

"Not that its any of-" She could see the looks on both her mother and Kelly's faces, "I'll do my homework." She stood up from the table. She put her dish away in the sink and then went up to her bedroom.

''Want to open that bottle of wine soon?'' Stella offered.'

"That sounds good…pinot Grigio, heard it was Maddie's favourite.'' Kelly joked as he helped her clear the table.

''Oh she told you that too.'' Stella rolled her eyes. ''I hope she didn't give you the wrong impression; she is a great young girl. Just, the age is not easy on anybody. And her and her cousin Eva used to be best friends but they're having some problems lately."

"I know, don't worry. I went through a really rebellious phase as a teenager, although if you got sent to boarding school apparently you were worse."

"Yeah," Stella wasn't sure she wanted to talk about her experiences at boarding school, or what led her parents to send her away. "Do you think we could talk about something else?"

"Yeah sure," Kelly got out the wine and poured them each a glass. Stella began to tell her about how she had to cancel the carer day plans with Maddie. She felt awful as she hardly ever got to participate in any school events.

''You know what, I brought Maddie a gift, is it okay if I bring it to her?''

''Of course, thanks Kelly, you are the best.'' Stella smiled as Kelly got up. He walked up the stairs, hearing music from one of the rooms. He walked into the room and saw Maddie sitting a desk. She had her textbook opened and her computer opened but she was on her phone as well as tablet. "This doesn't seem like studying," He stepped into the open room.

Maddie looked up and eyed him. She knew she should have closed her door. "This is how I study alright!" She replied angrily, "I'm talking to friends in the same classes as me and-"

"I'm not here to argue," Kelly held up his hands in surrender, "I just wanted to give you this," He handed over a copy of a popular teen fashion magazine, "I know its not wine or cigarettes but at least its something," He added smiling as Maddie chuckled a little.

"Thanks," Maddie placed the magazine on her desk.

''You know, your mom told me that she could not make it to career day…I just wanted to offer that if you need somebody short term…I would love to come speak at your school…I know I can't replace your mother, but my dad never showed up at mine, and I know how it feels to have nobody there, even though it is not your mom's fault.''

''I know, thank you, I would love that.'' Maddie said with a smile. "I'll get my mom to text you the details.

''Glad I can help, alright I will go back to your mom, let us know if you need anything or you want to join us for a board game.''

"I'll be down after I finish my math homework."

"Alright," Kelly wasn't sure if Maddie was being honest or it she was just being polite. He turned and left her room and walked back downstairs.

Telling her friends she needed to go Maddie turned down the music and got to work. She'd secretly always wanted a normal family life like the one Eva had. She was looking forward to the rest of the evening and she hoped her mother and Kelly stated dating.

TBC

A\N: I hope you liked it. Please review.

Up Next: Matt and Gabby head to London, England.