I love you all, your reviews/favourites make me so happy, please keep them up!

Any one else a little saddened by the way Gabby talks about Matt. She 'was' in love? I dunno, I'm hoping she is fooling herself and just wants to believe she isn't anymore…

Sorry this took a while; kinda hit a wall once I wrote the middle part, I do hope you like this though :D

Chapter 29 – The Light At the End...

Taking the same seat he had taken every day for the last two weeks, Matt rubbed his eyes, he was tired, yes he had been sleeping but it wasn't great, between the nightmares of Gabby dying in his arms and the then stress of being on shift, it was becoming too much for him, although he wouldn't want to be anywhere else than with Gabby during the day and with James at night.

Looking over at Gabby's form, she hadn't moved, clearly but she looked the same, the brown glow of her skin had definitely disappeared, a light, pale complexion taking over instead. She was skinnier, he could tell by the curve of her collar bone, the feeding tube doing enough to keep her alive and in good health but he knew that the fact that she hadn't had a burger or chips or pizza in a while was getting to her.

He laughed gently at the memory of the first time he had seen her eat a burger. He, Gabby, Shay and Kelly had gone out for dinner one night, before he and Gabby had gotten together, the four of them just enjoying their time together as James had been at a friends house. Matt loved the way the first thing Gabby had reached for was the chips, shoving more and a few into her mouth all at once before setting up on the burger. He had laughed at her at that time as well; stating that he was just impressed that she was eating it like it was saving her life.

She had a good body, he loved it, she wasn't stick thin which he liked, she had meat on her bones, a small amount of baby belly still hanging around 10 years later which she had just not been able to get rid of, she had complained about it on multiple occasions but he didn't care, his girl could eat and she was happy with how she looked for the most part and that was all he cared about.

Lifting up the control he turned the TV on, the beeping of the heart monitor was enough to drive him insane and so he needed something to distract him, happy that he had found an old Hawks game NBC had decided to show. Setting into watch, he had become so engrossed in it that he didn't hear the door open and the nurse come in until she was in full view. "Sorry hun, just gotta change the dressing." And with a short nod, he rose, knowing that she wanted him to leave so she could do it, he waited outside the room for the nurse.

It was only about 5 minutes between the nurse doing into the room and then coming back out again. "You know, I think it's amazing that you're here so much by her side. She will be happy to know you've been here when she wakes up." She placed her hand on his arm, squeezing it lightly, causing Matt to mumble a 'thanks' in reply before moving back into Gabby's room, the game quickly forgotten as he stared at her sleeping form.

Matt must have fallen asleep, tiredness having taken over him, although he had no idea how long he had been asleep, but there was movement in the room that had caused him to start awake, his mind clearly instantly when he looked over at the bed, the heart rate monitor beeping at an insane rate. Jumping up quickly he took Gabby's hand in his and held it tight, "Gabby…" when that did nothing to calm her, he placed his other hand on the side of her face, "Gabby, you need to calm down...Gabby..." he was trying to calm her down, he could tell her was scared, her heart rate too increased for his liking, her eyes searching around the room, terror coming over her features.

Within an instant her eyes snapped back to stare back at him, those beautiful brown eyes he had longed to see again were staring at him, tears coming to his eyes as he smiled down at her. She was awake, but she was confused and her heart rate was not slowing down, even Matt knew that wasn't good for her and so with one last sentence he rushed from the room. "...You're going to be ok Gabby. I'm so happy your awake...I'm going to go and get the doctor..."

As the nurses and doctor ran into the room, Matt stood by the door, he could see Gabby's face from there, the hole between the nurses giving him a full view of her. His tears had fallen as the full realisation that she was awake finally came to him. She was awake. He could hear the doctor talking to her but it was clear she didn't comprehend what was happening and that was when Matt heard them say they needed to sedate her, her heart rate wasn't falling, in fact it was still increasing. Not knowing what else do to, Matt crossed his arms over his chest, not even bothering to stop the tears that were falling or the smile that had come to his face.

He watched on as the nurse injected the sedative and instantly Gabby's eyes locked with his, confusion, fear and a small amount of happiness crossing her features before her eyes started to slip closed once more, the drugs taking over and the loud, increased beeping started to rapidly slow, the sedative doing its job in decreasing her heart rate.

She was awake.


And there it was that incessant beeping she knew all too well. Gabby was in hospital, she had spent a bit of time there growing up, after the car accident, going off the rails, fining out she was pregnant and clearly now, also being a paramedic, she recognise the sound of the hospital the instant she heard them. She knew the process, waking up sore and stiff but this time she was just unsure as to why. She let her eyes flutter open slowly, the harsh light always too bright in these places but once she was able to get her bearings, she stretched a little. She tired to think back to why she would be here, was there an accident while on the scene? Was she in a car accident? Was James all right?

Slowly she started to panic a little, she had no answers to the billions of questions running through her mind and it was starting to scare her. Turning her head slowly, Gabby noticed she was alone, Antonio wasn't there, no was one. This was when her heart rate started spike, fear taking over her as she couldn't remember anything, especially where her son was. Struggling to keep her breath in check, the machines tracking her heart rate started to beep widely, showing just how freaked out she was.

However the noises around her began to fade away as her fear continued to spike, she didn't even know what hospital she was at, let alone what happened to her. Where was her family? Her friends? How come no one was there with her? How long she had been there? With each question that was raised in her mind, a little part of the world around her fell away until there was pressure on her hand, tightening around hers, a voice, so very far off that it barely seemed really. "Gabby..." Her name miles away from her, the soothing words of the person by near side barely heard as she continued to panic.

"...Gabby, you need to calm down...Gabby..." And just like that the world snapped back into focus and Gabby turned her head to the side, her eyes connecting with the bright blue of someone she wasn't expecting ever see. With her heart rate still spiking, she couldn't understand why there was a watery smile on his face and tears in his eyes, why his hand was tightly clasped around hers and why his other hand was placed gently on her cheek. "...You're going to be ok Gabby. I'm so happy your awake...I'm going to go and get the doctor..." And with that he left the room, leaving Gabby just as confused and scared, as she had ever been, her breathing tacky, she was hyperventilating.

It was barely a minute that passed until there was a rush of nurses and a doctor in the room, each of the moving around her bed, talking to her, trying to calm her down, but nothing seemed to work. Yes they were talking to her but none of them were telling her anything. And so with her heart rate still spike, she suddenly felt herself begin to relax, her body becoming heavy and she knew they had sedated her for her own good, logically she knew her elevated heart rate wasn't good but she couldn't help it, she was scared.

As she body began to relax under the sedative, Gabby's eyes found the same person by her bed moments ago, he was standing by the door, letting the nurses do their things, his arms crossed over his chest. She was still confused as to why he was there but at that moment it didn't matter. He was crying, his smile wide but the tears ha begun to fall and as her eyes finally slipped closed, it was his face that was the last thing she remembered.


Gabby was awake. Simple as that Matt didn't even care about the rest if it all except that fact that she was finally awake. He was able to look into her beautiful brown eyes once more. He couldn't help the tears that had started to fall when he realised it s true and it wasn't just another dream that he had had, a dream that consisted of gabby finally opening her eyes. He wasn't stupid, he didn't expect her to wake up, forgot him and they would ride off into the sunset but a world without Gabriela Dawson in it was not a world he really wanted to face and so having her finally open her eyes was enough for him.

Originally he wasn't going to go back into that room after getting the doctors, he knew that he was the last person she wanted to see, the last person she wanted around her but needed to see her, needed to know that it had been real, that she had woken up and that she was going to be ok. But now that she was awake, he knew what he had to do, pulling his phone from his pocket; Matt began with the phone calls to her brother and Shay, the two people in the world that he knew she would want by her side.

"Hey man, Gabby's awake...yeah about 10 minutes ago...they had to sedate her because she started to panic, they couldn't get her heart rate down but the doctors seemed happy with everything...alright, well it's pretty much end of school, you come here and I'll go and pick up James..." And with that Matt hung up the phone and made his way out to pick up James.

God that kid was going to be so excited to have his mum awake. All he had been doing as spending as much time at the hospital as Antonio and Matt would let him. They had even given him time alone with his mum, but Matt hadn't gone far, he was able to hear everything that James was saying to her and it broke his heart at how sad he was, how much he wanted her to open her eyes, but the little monster had even talked about them getting back together, saying that all he wanted was for Matt to come with them both. He hadn't had the heart to tell him that when Gabby was out of hospital that matt would be going back to his own home, at least not yet, he would tell him before Gabby did come home though.

Pulling up in front of the school, Matt looked at the time, there was still half an hour till school finished but he didn't want to wait, he didn't want to wait to tell James his mum was awake and so he made the short distance to the office area, they had come to know him quite well over the last few weeks and so he just had to sign in and make his way to the classroom he knew James would be in.

Matt couldn't understand why he was so nervous, his hands were shaking as he knocked on the door and stepped inside. Clearly there was a look of euphoria on his face because the teacher just smiled at matt, bright and wide, she understood that gabby was finally awake. Matt laughed as he looked over to find James with his head bent over next to his friends, they we're working on what looked to be an art project. "James..." all it took was for Matt's voice to ring out through the classroom for everyone to look up.

The last time he as there, James had cried for what felt like forever, but this time, as all young eyes fell on Matt, James face broke out into a smile. "Come on buddy, I know of someone who really wants to see you..." He jumped her his chair and rushed to Matt's side. Matt already had picked up his bag so all they had to do was leave but James needed to hear it first.

"Matt, is mum awake?" And with a bright smile matt nodded, his arms wrapping around James tightly as James' smile matched his. "Mums awake!" He yelled before he grabbed for Matt's hand and pulled him from the room quickly, he just wanted to get to the hospital. The short walk to matts truck consisted of James running ahead, stopping and calling to matt to hurry up before running ahead again, bouncing excitedly on his feet as he waited for matt to open the door for him.

It had been a long time since matt had seen James so happy the way he was, if he was honest, it had even been before gabby was in hospital, he recognised the sadness in his eyes long before she as hurt. Laughing to himself, matt jumped In the front of the truck, he was just happy she as awake and that James would be happier from now on.


Antonio sat by the side of Gabby's bed as he watched she sleep, he had done this many times over the last few weeks but this was different. The doctor had come in and spoken to him, telling her that they couldn't see any lasting damaged and that is all went to plan over the next few days she would be out by the end of the week, which meant that she would still be in hospital for another two days but at this stage he didn't care, he was just glad she was awake. The doctor had told him that while she was in the coma, her body had started to heal very well so there was no need to keep her in too long now that she was awake. They had also told time that it was a very small dosage of a sedative they gave her so she would no doubt be awake very soon again; they just needed her to calm down.

He had gotten to the hospital no more than 10 minutes after Matt had rung him, grabbing his jacket from his desk and rushing out the door, he remembered the looks that the rest of his team had given him as he did so but had only yelled 'Gabby's awake" over his shoulder and he knew that were fine with him leaving. And so now here he sat, waiting for his sister to open her eyes once again.

"You know, you keep staring at me, I'm not going to want to open my eyes..." Gabby voice was hoarse, she had spent so long asleep but she hadn't used it. Antonio jumped at the sound of her voice, leaning over and smiling. He reached for the ice chips that were waiting for her, handing them to her.

"Yeah well I figured my ugly mug would be the first thing you would seen when you finally woke up." The joke in Antonio's voice caught her off guard. The first face? Had Matt not been the one she had seen when she had woken up? She still remembered the feel of his hand on her cheek and the smile on his face, had she imagined it? Yeah that was probably it. Why would he be by her side? He didn't want her out of the hospital; he sure as hell wasn't going to be sitting by her side while she was in hospital.

Shaking those thoughts from her mind, gabby smiled back at Antonio; finally she would get the answers she was wanting. "What happened? Where is James? How long have I been here for?" It was a rush of question and it made Antonio smile.

He rubbed his hand across her cheek, their eyes connecting as he spoke. "James is fine, he is on his way, don't worry he was been well looked after..." Now he turned a little more serious' "...you were at a call, treating a patient on scene from a car accident and he wanted to leave but you wouldn't let him. He pulled out a knife. He stabbed you, doctors had to remove a small part of your liver that was damaged before they could repair the rest. You then fell into a coma during the surgery, which you finally woke up from...two weeks later."

Antonio didn't want to stop talking as he spoke, he wanted to get it all out for her to know and process but it was still hard for him to talk about. He also knew that matt didn't want her to know he had been staying with her. Antonio had tried to argue the point but matt had just said that gabby would do be under a lot of stress when she woke up and he didn't want to add to it, so Antonio had left out Matt's names while telling her what had been happening.

Two week, she had been in a coma for two weeks. Gabby dropped her eyes from Antonio's, shock coming over her as she realised that she had lost two weeks of her life, that she had been so close to not waking up and that James would be left without a mother and a father. A small tear made its way down her cheek but Antonio was there to wipe it away. "Hey, it's alright. You're going to be fine. The doctor said you should be out of here in a couple of days because your body has had time to heal. James is doing really well. He's being picked up from school and is coming here."

As soon as the words let his mouth the hospital room door burst open and James ran through it, "Mama!" His voice echoing in the quiet room as he jumped on the bed his arms wrapping around his mothers neck as she held him close, both of them crying slightly at the realising that she was going to be ok. After a few moments, gabby looked up to the doorway and smiled widely.

"Damn girl you look like hell!" Shay stepped closer to the bed, her arms then mimicking James and holing Gabby close, Shay had her best friend back. "I'm so happy you are awake babe. You scared the hell out of us!"

Gabby just smiled in return; her arms never letting James leave the bed, she as thankful for having her family by her side right now. "Thanks Shay, and thanks for picking James up from school." As she spoke a confused look crossed Shay's face, James head popped up from his mother's side but it was Antonio who stepped in to speak.

"Yeah I asked Shay to come and pick him up when the doctors rang me to tell me you were awake. Figured he would be the first one you wanted to see." Shay seemed to get the idea instantly and she nodded, agreeing it's everything that Antonio had just said, but they both knew that James was still going to open his mouth so Antonio reached for him. "Hey kid, let's go and get you mum some of that jelly we saw in the cafeteria..." He reached out his hand for his nephew who nodded happily, seemingly have forgotten about what had just happened between the adults.

As they walked down the hallway towards the cafeteria Antonio stopped, "Hey about what happened in there, I know that Matt was the one who picked you up from school but Matt asked me not to tell mum that he has been here ok. I know high probably not understand but he has asked that we don't mention him to her. Do you understand a little bit?"

James watched his Tio for a moment, he did understand, he knew that Matt had said his mum didn't want him around her and that she had seen him kiss someone else but James thought that maybe now that would change but still he nodded. He didn't want to upset his mother so he agreed that he wouldn't say Matt's names, although he didn't like lying to his mum. "Thanks buddy, when she is out of hospital we will tell her that he has been here while she was asleep but we want her to get better first.

Again James just nodded.


"When do you get to come home mum?" James had spent the next afternoon with his mum, Antonio having picked him up from school to bring him there, as Matt had to work. James sat on the bed with his mum, both of them watching Beauty and the Beast while Antonio sat quietly next to them, shocked at how his adult sister could still love watching Disney movies,

Gabby rubbed her hand over James' arm as she smiled down at him, "Probably tomorrow kid. They are happy that I have been healing well and the wound from the surgery is healing really well." Just as she finished, Shay and opened the door wide, shocking those inside the room. "Shay what are you doing here?" Gabby could have sworn Shay had shift today.

"Chout and I dropped off a call here so I thought I would come and see how my girl was doing." She smiled and came to Gabby's side, hugging James before placing a kiss on Gabby's head.

"Awe, thanks love. I'm doing all right, just looking forward to getting out of here really. I can't wait to go home." She smiled widely as Shay nodded, knowing exactly what it was like to want to get home after being in hospital.

They were silent for a moment before Shay turned to Antonio; she needed to talk to him about Matt but didn't want to do it in front of Gabby so she hoped that Gabby wouldn't question why she needed to talk to him. "Hey Antonio, do you have a second?" Shay nodded her head towards the door, hoping he would get the idea, thankful that Gabby was too caught up in something they James had started telling her.

Silently they moved from the room, leaving James and Gabby alone for the first time since she had woken up. "Hey baby…how are you?" She kissed his head once more, receiving a smile in return, she continued, "Have you good for Tio Antonio?" As far as she knew James had been staying with Antonio while she was in hospital.

James looked up at his mother suddenly, confused, "Why would I be good for Tio Antonio?" He didn't understand what his mother was trying to get at.

With a raised eyebrow, Gabby smirked, "Well have you been behaving while staying at his house?" She knew her son was just trying to rile her up, pretending to have been cheeky.

But the confused look on James' face didn't fall, "I haven't been staying with Tio and Tia, I've been staying at home with Matt. He has been staying with me since your accident." James shrugged and turned back to the TV, missing his mother's shocked look. it was the first time someone had mentioned Matt's name since she had woken up.

She didn't even want to think about him, he had clearly made up his mind about her, she had seen everyone from 51 since she had woken up the afternoon before except him, no one had even said that he had asked how she was. That's what had upset her the most; he didn't even care enough to have bothered to see how she was, even as a friend. Antonio had told her James had been staying with him and yet James, who had no reason to lie to her, had told her that he had been staying with Matt the whole time.

Before she was able to say a thing, Shay and Antonio walked back in, noticing the sudden change in Gabby's mood, Antonio stopped, unsure of what had caused it. "Hey Shay, why don't you take James back to the firehouse with you, I'm sure he will love to see everyone." She looked back at James who hesitated for a minute. "It's alright baby, I'm tired anyway so probably just going to sleep for a bit. I need to talk to Tio for a minute anyway." And so with a hug and kiss James followed Shay out of the room, happy to be going to the firehouse for at least a few hours.

Silence filled the room between Gabby and Antonio, who took his chance to sit next the bed, the feeling of uneasiness coming over him the moment he looked back at Gabby. "Has James been good while he has been staying with you? He hasn't been any trouble?" The tone of Gabby's voice told him to tread lightly, it was the same tone their mother used to use.

Thinking for a minute, Antonio had two choices, he could lie and hope that Gabby didn't actually know that James hadn't been staying with him or he could bite the bullet and admit that he had lied the last time she had asked. Looking down he sighed, "He has been staying with Matt since the night you were admitted." There was a glare in her eyes that he had only seen once, he continued as she crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm sorry we lied to you, we just…James was traumatised and he wanted to stay with Matt, so we agreed that it would be best to keep him as calm as possible and have him at his own home. Matt's been staying in the spare room."

When her glare didn't lift, Antonio figured he should try and ease her worry. "Matt is the reason that James is holding up so well, he has been taking him to school, picking him up, making sure he is doing his homework, he has keep him grounded this whole time, making sure life went on as normal as possible for him. And I agreed it was the best thing for the kid."

Gabby watched Antonio closely, unsure of how to respond. Matt. The one person she had longed to see, the one person she wished she never saw again had been taking care of her son and yet he hadn't even bothered to come and see her, his actions were confusing her. "Tonio, you know how I feel about Matt and considering he hasn't even asked how I am, I am really no impressed that he has been staying with James-"

Antonio cut her off, clearly she didn't remember the moment she woke up, "Gabby, Matt has been here every day since you were admitted. He has been here during the day that he wasn't on shift and then went home with James at night. He was here when you woke up first, he is the one that called me and he picked up James from school. He was outside the door the whole time Shay and I were here with James yesterday. He wants come and see you; I've been talking to him since you woke up. He just doesn't want to upset you."

Gabby blinked as Antonio finished his rant; Matt had been there the whole time? Had he really been there with her? She was even more confused then before, maybe he did care about her, he was looking after James but- shaking her head she sighed, "Yeah well I'm sure he just feels guilty about what happened and is trying to make himself look better. I'm tired I think I'm going to get some sleep. I'll see you tomorrow, I'll call you when they tell me what time I can go home." And with that Gabby rolled over on to her side and sighed, trying to close her eyes and block out the fact that she knew Antonio was still in the room.

Antonio tried to speak; she really didn't believe that he wanted to be with her? After everything that had happened, how could she not see it but she was his sister and a Dawson, which meant she was stubborn and when she had her mind set about something it was very difficult to change it. Sighing, Antonio stood slowly, placed a kiss on his sister's head before making his way out of the room, knowing that he wasn't going to speak to her now.

After a few minutes of silence, Gabby rolled over once more and looked around the room, this time she was alone and so she tried to think, think back to the day before when she had woken up the first time, she had thought she had seen Matt, even when the nurses and doctor were by her side, she could have sworn he was standing not too far away, a teary smile on his face as he watched her, happy that she was awake but she couldn't be sure. Had she just imagined it? Had it been real? There would be no way she would be able to know now and due to the sedative she was given when she did wake up she would probably never know.

Sighing once more, she slowly rolled over, her wound on her stomach might have been healing well but she was still in pain, the stitching would be coming out next week and she would still be off work for another three weeks after that. Part of her was thankful she had been asleep for a few weeks, it meant less time sitting around doing nothing while she healed, although it had terrified her to have woken up to find out that she had been in a coma for two weeks.

Turning her head back towards the TV, she flicked to play button so she could finish watching, she had always loved Beauty and the Beast.

Happy thoughts? :D