Hey everyone!

Huge huge huge apologies on the delay for this chapter! School has been crazy busy and now, I'll be working this story along with my new story 'What We Have.' I hope you guys check out that one also:)

I want to thank you all for your wonderful reviews, for your dedication to this story and to me, and for undertaking these journeys with me. I'm glad that people out there love reading my work as much as I love writing it.

In this chapter we'll see Matt and Gabby talk more about moving out and Shay and Gabby attending a rough scene.

For the end of this chapter, just note that the writing in... (Bold - Gabby, Italics - Shay, Underline - Main)

Also, if you guys have any suggestions about this story I'd be happy to hear them too:)

I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!

Hannah

oxoxox

Casey

Gabby stood, growing increasingly frustrated, with her hands on her hips watching as Kelly balanced on a step-ladder, pinning fairy lights across the ceiling before the front door.

"Kelly," Gabby scolded for what had to be the fifth time already, "The lights need to be higher unless you and Matt want to hit your heads on them every time you pass through!"

Kelly, who was growing increasingly immune to Gabby's complaints, rolled his eyes and lifted the lights higher. Gabby huffed, "No Kelly, higher!"

He groaned in annoyance and finally pinned the lights into place, turning to Gabby for her look of approval. She nodded and Kelly sighed in relief, finally able to climb down from the ladder.

Shay and I watched on as she decorated the dinner table with a red cloth and christmas candles, along with a santa bowl with treats. I however, was busy decorating the mantle piece and the mirror above it. We both laughed as they butted heads over fairy lights, earning us a glare from Gabby.

"You're just too picky Gabs," Shay chuckled as she filled up the bowl with fudge and toffee, placing a sweet between her lips as she did so.

Gabby huffed and slapped her hands against her thighs, "If I wasn't picky then all we'd hear throughout Christmas is Matt and Kelly complaining about knocking their heads against the lights!"

Shay smirked and turned to me, "Look at her, three weeks into old age and it's already hitting her hard!"

"How we'll cope with age twenty-six I'll never know," I replied back, aware of Gabby's glare on the both of us.

"Hey!" Gabby exclaimed, slapping my chest, frustration etched into her face.

Shay shook her head and hugged Gabby quickly, "Cheer up Gabs, it's Christmas!" Shay smiled as she went off to scold Kelly about colour-coding the Christmas tree so it didn't look like 'drunken sick' as she so eloquently put it.

After Gabby helped me with the tinsel and the mantle piece, she quickly excused herself to the bathroom as soon as she knew that I was about to ask her what was wrong. I'd noticed that she'd been quiet and agitated lately and whilst she brushed it off as 'girl problems', I knew that there was something more too it.

I followed her up the stairs and found her leaning against the sink in the bathroom, wiping her eyes. When she noticed me leaning against the door frame she smiled and brushed her hair from her face.

"Hey," she murmured, her throat a little scratchy.

"Hey," I answer quietly, crossing my arms loosely across my chest.

Gabby expected me to start asking questions, but I stayed quiet, waiting for her to talk instead. I knew that when something was eating at her it was easiest to let her talk when she was ready, rather than try to push her.

After a while she took a deep breath and rubbed her face, "It's been three weeks since we said about moving out and we still haven't told them."

I had figured that this was what had been bothering her.

"I thought you wanted to spend Christmas here?"

Gabby shook her head, "I do, but... I just..." her throat clammed up and upset overwhelmed her, tears soon slipping down her cheeks.

I quickly take to her and wrap my arms around her body, "Baby, if moving out is not what you want then that's okay... Gabby talk to me..."

Shaking her head again she swallows and wipes her eyes before replying, "No, Matt it's what I want. I want you, I want this," she confirmed, clutching her hands into my shirt and gazing up at me with those brown eyes.

I brushed her hair from her face, cupping her cheeks, "Then what's wrong?"

"I don't want to spring it on them last minute... And in all honestly I'm terrified of telling them, especially Shay... What if she thinks I'm an awful friend?" Gabby asks with a shaky voice, her hands tightening their grip on my shirt.

"Hey, ssh," I soothe, trying to calm her overwhelming tears and fears, "Shay will never think that okay? I promise you that Gabby."

She nodded and pressed her warm body against mine, "After shift..."

"What about it?" I questioned quietly.

"We'll tell them after shift tomorrow. Before we meet everyone tomorrow night we'll go for dinner and tell them."

I nod my head and press a kiss to her head, "Okay... I love you Gabby," I assure her.

I can feel her smile against the skin of my neck, "I love you too Matt."

At 6pm that night we were sat in the break room just settling in for the shift ahead of us all. Everyone was here, except for Gabby and Shay who were in the locker room still complaining about our 'worst scheduled shift.'

"...Oh and I should take advice from you? The expert in side businesses?" Mouch grumbled at Herrmann, who was feigning abash.

"Hey, I've never pretended to be an expert... But in my expert opinion, you're heading into a dark hole my friend," Herrmann gruffed back, rolling his eyes as he tucked back into his newspaper.

Cruz shook his head in confusion and turned to Mouch, "So Mouch, walk me through this again... This woman approached you and-"

Mouch sighed, "She said that if I signed up to this programme it entailed paying a small monthly subscription fee and at the end of each year, you'd get a surprise electronic reward at the end."

Otis frowned in exasperation, "What a crock-of-crap..."

Clarke clapped Mouch's shoulder from the other end of the sofa, "Mouch, tell me you didn't sign up to that thing."

Mouch dug into his pocket and reach out a business card, "No, but I have her number incase I want to."

Cruz rolled his eyes and grabbed the card, analysing it with Herrmann reading over his shoulder. Mouch grunted in complaint and pushed off the sofa, rushing towards Cruz to snatch the card back. Cruz threw himself backwards and shoved the card into his mouth, chewing awkwardly on the piece of card.

"There," Cruz explained with a mouthful of card.

Mouch narrowed his eyes at Cruz, who lay on the floor chewing the card with a look of distaste. The others laughed and Herrmann clapped Mouch on his back, "It's for your own good buddy. Trust me."

Pouch then barked as she scampered up to Mouch's legs, as if she was agreeing with Herrmann's words. Mouch's anger evaporated as Pouch fussed around his seat and soon the card was forgotten about, long before Cruz had the sense to spit it in the bin.

Gabby and Shay then rounded the corner, talking about something that had them both smiling, but as soon as they sat down the alarm went off.

'Ambo 61, stab victim on...'

Shay nodded to Gabby as they quickly sprang to their feet, "Let's rock and roll baby!" She cheered as she tapped Gabby's ass as they rushed out the doors.

Kelly looked at me just as I turned to look at him, both smirking at each other and shaking our heads at their ways.

"Well damn, Peter Mills, I think that this is the best meal you've cooked so far," Kelly grinned with a mouthful of food.

Mills shook his head, "You say that about every meal I cook Lt."

Cruz laughed loudly and clapped him on the back, "Be grateful that he's complimenting you Mills, when Otis started as Candidate all Severide did was complain about his cooking!"

Kelly quickly sprung to defend himself, "Hey, I was only voicing what everyone else was thinking! The food was awful!"

"HEY!" Otis exclaimed with insult written across his pouting face, "Sitting right here!"

"Sorry buddy," I said whilst shrugging my shoulders, "But we can't lie."

Otis was about to reply when Capp came rushing in, pointing towards the communications section of the firehouse, "Guys, I think you best come listen to this!" He said as he took of back from where he came.

Confused everyone left the table and followed Capp quickly to the radio coms. A live radio was placed on the worktop and it was 61 on the other end, "It's 61 and Main," Capp explained to our curious faces.

Chief approached from out of nowhere, having heard the quick movments and commotion.

It was then that Gabby's voice screeched through the radio, calm yet fierce, "Damn it Main, I need a police escort! We're losing her!"

They must have been with the same stab victim they were called to an hour ago.

"Escort's on its way. Traffic is bad due to a large road accident. Could take some time!" Crap, they were stuck behind an accident. I knew how bad the roads could be after an accident and with nowhere to move, they must have been stuck in awful traffic.

"Time is something she doesn't have! Come on, Ellie, stay with me now. Come on!... Main, tell Lakeshore we have a 19-year-old female. Stab wound. Critical. Prep them for surgery."

"Got it 61."

I could hear by the increasing emotion lacing Gabby's voice that she was becoming stressed and fearful, and I ached with the feeling that this wouldn't end well. The others noticed her stress too, by the grim looks on their faces. We'd all been there, on the brink of losing a victim and everyone knew how hard it was.

"Gabs I've got nowhere to go. These cars aren't moving. How's her BP?" Shay asked with a much calmer tone, yet it was clear she was just as concerned as Gabby.

"Low. I can't keep her pressure up. Ellie, come on, keep your eyes open for me please. Damn it, come on! Shay I can't stop the bleeding. Shay-" Gabby cried, her voice shaky and shrieking. She was obviously losing the patient and with Shay unable to move the ambo, Gabby knew that the chances of that were high.

I ached knowing that I couldn't help her, couldn't stop her from going through this. This job was everything to Gabby, all she ever wanted to do was help people, but it was cases like this that she really took to heart.

"Gabs, focus. You can do this..." Shay said calmly, trying to focus Gabby's panic, "Pack the wound. Pressure. IV. Mask... How's her heart rate?"

"Slow, but she's still with me," Gabby answered, her voice now a little steadier than before.

"61, escort is approaching your location. ETA 5 minutes. Traffic still bad."

"5 minutes? She doesn't have 5 minutes! We need to move now!... Ellie? Damn it Shay I'm losing her!" The panic rushed back into her voice once more, the annoyance, the fear, the anger all lacing her tone. I felt Kelly's eyes on me so I looked at him, he was just as worried as me. He knew how Gabby would take this one to heart. We all had them now and then, those cases that just stay with you for longer than they should, or that you care to admit. But it came with the job, there were good days and there were these days.

"Heart-rate?"

"Thready. Gonna defibrillator. Come on Ellie, charging!... Damn it, come on! Charging! Ellie, stay with me! Charging! Come on!" Hearing Gabby like this felt like ice seeping through my body, I couldn't stand to hear her this upset and not being able to do a thing about it. All I could do was stand with our 51 family, listen to the radio and wish that the worst wouldn't come.

"Gabs?"

"No pulse, switching to CPR. Main where's my escort?..." Gabby asked a little breathlessly, "Come on Ellie... one, two, three, four, five... Ellie, stay with me sweetie... one, two, three..." Gabby begged as she forced compressions into the girls' chest, counting with every compression.

"Gabs? Has she got a pulse?... Gabs?" Shay called when she didn't reply, as Shay was obviously in the driver's seat and had to clue as to what was going on.

"..." All we could hear was static. Gabby was silent. It was then that I knew that the worst was coming.

"Gabs?!" Shay yelled loudly, worry the only emotion in her voice.

"Main..." Gabby said almost shakily, her voice quiet, "tell Lakeshore to stand down... She's gone..." Her voice then switched to an oddly calm tone, as if she was so stunned as to the past few minutes that it had overwhelmed her so much.

"...I'm sorry Dawson." Whoever on the other end of the radio replied and then the line went dead.

I rubbed my face with my hands, exhaling deeply, How would they be when they got back? How would Gabby be?

I looked up at Chief after he cleared his throat, but for a moment he just stood, a hand over his chin and mouth, trying to put his words together. After a few seconds, he finally spoke, "Don't let them go through this alone. Be there for them... This job is tough, but we stick together. Make sure they know that."

Cruz, without missing a beat, replied with, "We will Chief."