Where I Belong
Gabby was in the middle of her lunch when Matt walked up to her, a piece of paper that had the official logo of the Fire Academy in his hand. Oh, crap. How did he find that? I had that hidden in my locker, she thought to herself. "Gabby, what is this?" he queried.

"It's nothing. It's garbage," she responded as she went to take it away.

"Garbage?" he repeated. "Gabby, you got in! You were accepted!" he stated. I don't understand. Why is she acting like this is no big deal? he wondered. Granted, he hadn't even known that she was wanting to be a firefighter, but that didn't mean that he wasn't happy for her.

"Yeah, and I'm not going," she replied.

"Why not?" he asked. "And when did you decide to do this? I mean, I never knew that…" he started to say.

"When I first started on 61, I wasn't sure if I wanted to be a doctor at some point or firefighter so I've been pursuing both," she interrupted. "I've put in the hours for medical school and the Academy. But to be honest, thanks to help from Hallie, I've fallen in love with medicine. I mean, she's always been right there, helping me with something I don't understand, explaining procedures, stuff like that," she told him. If she was being entirely honest with herself, Hallie had been a God-send, helping her figure out which classes would help her apply what she learned out in the field and would work with her schedule. She hadn't gotten any of that from the Academy, except for an occasional check in from Eric Whaley, a friend of Kelly's.

Matt nodded. "So this?" he asked, handing her the letter of acceptance.

"Can be trashed or shredded. I'm staying right where I belong," she answered, pulling him close and letting the letter drop to the floor. She then kissed him and he moaned, leaning into the kiss, relief filling his body. When he had found that letter, he had panicked, thinking that he was going to lose his girl to another house. Not that he wasn't proud of her, because he was. He just wasn't sure if he could have taken it if she had moved on. But he wouldn't have to worry about that. No, as she had said, she was right where she belonged: in his arms.