There was silence in the room as everyone looked at Matt who still looked as if he had been punched in the gut.
The doctor asked again, "Who is the next of kin for Nancy Casey?"
Christy came from behind Matt and said her voice quivering as she realized her worst fears were coming true, " I am her daughter and this is my brother."
Clearing his throat the doctor explained that Nancy had succumbed to her injuries and then asked if they would like to see her. Christy's husband Jim walked into the waiting room and Christy ran into his arms sobbing.
Chief Boden then stepped forward since Matt was still too stunned to talk, "We are also here for Gabby Dawson who was brought in about 10 minutes ago. Can you get us an update on her condition? This is her fiancé Matt Casey."
The doctor looked at Matt then at the chief then back at Matt who held his gaze, "No but I can have a nurse check for you to see if there are any updates. Sorry for your losses sir.
Matt finally manages to speak but is still visibly shaken but trying to keep from spiraling out of control from grief, "Thanks, please don't forget to send someone out to update us on Gabby, my fiancé."
Shay goes up to Casey and wraps her arms around him since he looked so lost. Severide and the Chief retreat into the chairs as the sobs of Casey and his sister fill the room. After the sobs subside a pall settles over the waiting room when Matt finally speaks up clearing his throat, "Shay, what did Chout say that Gabby collapsed from? I mean I just don't understand since she was doing so well."
"Casey, she was making her memorial speech and she start acting like she was going to pass out. I don't know because I saw her on stage 15 minutes earlier and she looked fine. I just don't know." Shay shakes her head since she is as baffled as everyone else. Then Antonio walks into the waiting room and headed straight for Matt who filled him in on Gabby's status as well as the fact that Nancy died. A nurse entered the waiting room looking around, "The family of Gabby Dawson?"
Matt recognized her as a nurse who worked with Halle while both he and Antonio stood up, "Yes, that is us."
The nurse recognized Matt and walked over to sit beside him, "Right now she is stable but it looks like she may have been exposed to some kind of poison or toxin. We are running blood work right now to see what was given to her. The doctor will be out to talk to you in a few minutes. In the mean time try to think where or how she could have been exposed to something toxic."
Antonio speaks up as he and Matt exchanges glances as the grim reality that Gabby had been poisoned sets in, "Thanks we may have additional information for the doctor later. I am a detective with the Chicago Police department. We are opening an investigation into this. We suspect foul play so anything you can add with your toxicology report will be helpful." The nurse nods and leaves as Antonio gets to his feet looking completely pissed.
"I thought we had her protected today, Damn it, How the hell did this happen?" Antonio says through clenched teeth as he runs his fingers through his hair.
Matt then remembers the text message that he received from Danny and walks over and shows Antonio the text message, "Antonio, I received a text from Danny when I was at mom's. "
As Antonio reads the text message from Danny to Matt he begins to shake his head. "But we cleared Danny when Gabby was in the hospital. We have the guy on tape going into Gabby's room. So you mean there were two men involved not just one stalking Gabby?"
The chief had been listening intently and decided to interrupt, "Casey, I didn't want to say anything right now but considering everything. The other shift of 51 responded to a fire at your house. From what I understand the fire is out but there was a lot of damage. It sounds like maybe whoever is doing this may be targeting you too. I can call in a favor and have arson investigators over there to see if they can find any evidence."
Both Matt and Antonio look at each other in stunned silence not sure how to even comprehend the latest bit of information. Then Matt turned red in anger as the weight of all of the events from today began to sink in. " What the hell is going on? I am going to kick Danny's ass as soon as I get a hold of him."
Antonio interjects shaking his head and puts his hand on Matt's shoulder, " You need to stay clear of this whole thing and let me take care of nailing Danny's ass to the wall. Trust me I am going to make sure that these charges land him in prison for so long that he will never breathe fresh air again. You need to take care of my sister and the business of burying your mom."
Matt nods to Antonio and asks, "So what is the next step in finding this piece of shit Danny? We need to make sure he doesn't come near Gabby again."
" I am going to go call Jay and Erin now and see if there is video of the memorial service to see if we have proof of him poisoning Gabby. I am going to send a detective over to arrest him and get him behind bars until we can question him. My bigger worry is his accomplice since we still have no clue who he is."
"Yeah that worries me too." Matt nods in agreement with Antonio still wondering how everything had spun out of control so quickly.
"Listen you are welcome to stay with Laura and the kids since you are out of a place to live for a while. You are family. Speaking of family I have to go call my parents who are visiting family in New York they are going to want to get back here."
"Yeah, thanks Antonio. I should probably go check on my sister and see how she is doing." Says Matt as he looks for Christy who left without him noticing. He leaves the waiting room to look for her and finds she and her husband in them ER hallway. With a deep sigh Matt asks Christy, "How are you doing?"
"OK just not ready to start talking about funeral arrangements right now." She answers as she leans against Jim, her husband.
"Look Gabby is in the ER too I need to go see how she is. I promise you to come to your house tonight to discuss the arrangements for mom after Gabby is stable." Matt says torn between wanting to comfort his sister but also needing to be there for Gabby
Christy looks at Matt and says shaking her head," Matt she was our mother we need to take care of this now. I need your help making the arrangements for mom. I mean, Gabby is just a friend."
Matt cannot believe what he is hearing and rakes his hand over his face in frustration, "No Gabby is my fiancé and I need to be with her right now. Once she is stabilized we will talk about the arrangements for mom, I promise."
Shaking her head Christy yells back pointing a finger at Matt, "I am not going to do this all by myself. You need to take responsibility for this. It was your idea to get mom out of jail not mine."
Matt is at his breaking point and yells right back, "What the hell is this? I just told you my fiancé is in critical condition and you want to argue with me? Yeah, I got mom out because I thought she deserved a second chance. Too bad we can't all be perfect like you and never make mistakes. I will call you to make arrangements for Mom when Gabby is more stable." And with that Matt walks away to try and find out Gabby's condition leaving Christy and Jim standing in the hallway. Matt was walking so fast that he did not realize that he almost ran into Kelly and Leslie.
"Hey the doctor just came in looking for you. They still don't know what the toxin is that Gabby was given. They are pumping her stomach and giving her an iv to try to counteract any poison in her system right now." Shay says looking up the hallway at Casey's sister and husband leaving the ER.
"Damn it, I wanted to hear what he had to say." Matt still obviously mad from the encounter with his sister shouts.
"Hey, take it easy Matt we all want Gabby to be ok. Look until you find a place to stay our place is open. Just consider our invitation open ended". Kelly says as he puts a hand on Matt's shoulder.
"Sorry, Christy and I just fought over something stupid. Thanks guys you are more like family than my sister right now." Matt says as he watches his sister walk out of the hospital with her husband. Shay, Severide and Casey all went to find out what room Gabby was being taken to.
Claire arrives at the hospital and tries to make tears fall from her face. She goes into the ER to find Shay and Severide standing talking to each other in the hallway with no sign of Matt in sight. As soon as Kelly sees Claire he heads to intercept her.
"What are you doing here?" Kelly asks as he steps in front of Claire.
"I was at the memorial and I heard that Gabby collapsed so I want to see how she is doing. Is she dead yet?" Claire says as she pretends to be upset.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Shay pipes up getting directly in Claire's face and poking her in the chest hard with her finger.
Kelly puts a restraining hand on Shay and says to Claire." Leave now Matt doesn't need to see you or anyone right now. He is dealing with enough right now."
Claire tries to step around Kelly but is not successful in doing so as she ignores his request to leave, 'Alright let me say this one more time before I call security. You need to leave now." Kelly says as he squares his shoulders and stares directly at Claire who walks away not wanting to arouse any more suspicion.
Shay and Kelly look at each other as Shay says, "Kelly there is something not right about that girl."
Severide nods his head in agreement, "She is obsessed with Casey. If Danny wasn't already the suspect I would say that she is the one who is causing all of the problems."
"Yeah I still think that we need to keep an eye on her. Maybe we could get Otis to talk to herr?
Across town the police have found Danny barely breathing with an apparent suicide note lying next to him. As they begin to search the apartment they find a bag containing read spray paint, Gabbys underwear and a "to do" list. Antonio Dawson reaches the apartment along with Jay Halstead.
"Did you find any trace of the guy on the video?" Antonio asks Jay as they look around at the apartment?
"This is the damnedest stalking case I have ever seen. Nothing was found in the search of Danny's apartment except the underwear and the red spray paint found in a duffle bag . Another weird thing is that we found a few pieces of a torn picture of Gabby in the bottom of the duffle bag. If Danny was a fan why would a picture of Gabby be torn up? This entire case makes no sense."
"Apparently we missed something so I want you to go over this case with a fine tooth comb. I want the other guy caught before something else happens to my sister. Also I need you to contact arson unit at the fire department on the Matt Casey fire and the homicide detective on the Nancy Casey murder. I have a funny feeling that all of this may be linked."
"If all of this is linked then either our boy Danny is Houdini or there is a second person involved. So do you want me to maybe call in Voigt on this case?" Jay suggests to Antonio
"No I don't want him anywhere near this case unless we have to . There is too much bad blood between Matt and Voight. I don't need to be playing referee between those two. "
"Ok well I will work all the angles on the case to see if we can catch a break. I already have the video from the cameras at Morningside being looked at to see if we can see who was talking to Gabby right before she collapsed. Don't worry Antonio we will get the guy who did this to your sister. Go back to the hospital and be with Gabby, Erin and I will keep working the case until we find something. " Jay says to Antonio knowing how close he and Gabby were. Gabby and he were not dating but he wanted to make sure that she recovered and the bastard that did all of this was caught.
Antonio nods as his teeth clench in anger, "Yeah I am ready to head back there now. God help the guy who did this to Gabby after all that she has been through. I am going to make sure that he never gets to see daylight again. "
Antonio leaves to go to the hospital where he meets Matt who is ready to head up to Gabby's room since she has been admitted.
"How is she?" Antonio asks Matt as they walk toward Gabby's room
"Still unconscious, they found out that she was given an overdose of some kind of tranquilizer. The doctor said the next 24 hours are touch and go for her." Matt says as he takes a deep breath and rubs his hands over his face.
"How the hell did we miss this Matt? I mean we did everything we could to keep Gabby safe. But being here in the hospital seems like déjà vous with Gabby hanging on by a thread." Matt just shook his head as Antonio continued to talk. "Jay and Erin are looking into any links between the fire, your mom death and Gabby. I think all of the cases may be linked. "
"Well either that or I pissed off someone really badly. The most important thing now is to get Gabby well and to keep her safe." Matt says grimly as he and Antonio turn the corner into Gabby's room. They both intended to make sure this time they kept Gabby safe.
The next day at 51 Chief Boden was in the briefing room and calls everyone to be quiet,. "This morning I received a call from Casey, Gabriella died this morning at 2 am. Gabby's family and Casey have requested that everyone give them privacy since they are obviously devastated by the loss. Also an update on the suspect Danny, he is still unconscious but showing signs of waking up. I know this is hard for everyone here, Just remember to send all your thoughts and prayers toward Casey and the Dawson family at this time. We need to all pull together as a family right now. If any of you need to talk we will have counselors on staff. "
Don't hate me for this update.. Please stick with me!