Disclaimer: I own nothing except my imagination.
a/n:THANK YOU to everyone who reviewed last chapter. For the first time since I started writing, last chapter got more than ten reviews all to itself. I also want to thank everyone who favourite and follow this story, it means the world to me as well.
There will be a tiny flashback scene in there and it will be in italics.
I know that I haven't updated in a while but I had a big week of work while on maternity leave (three days) and my body was claiming for some rest so thank you for being patient with me.
The day started like any other day on shift. They managed to have some breakfast before all hell broke loose and things became out of hand rather quickly. The first call was a structure fire a few blocks from Lakeshore and when they arrived at the scene, the fire was already out of hand. Severide and Casey quickly instructed their respective compagnies with the task at had right after a woman came out screaming about saving her three young children, her husband being at work.
"Shay, Chilli, be ready in case the kids are in bad shape." Shay had been given a new partner and Chilli as she wanted us to call her was a sweet girl.
"We'll be waiting Casey." They masked up and went into the house of smoke. His radio crackled to life a few minutes later, Severide saying he had found the kids and was bringing them out safely with his team. Herrmann was right behind Matt when their radios came to life again.
"You have less then a minute Casey, the smoke is turning black." Boden's voice echoed in his ears.
"We gotta get out of here Herrmann." He looked back and he nodded, following behind him. He walked ahead of Casey while going down the stairs and just as Matt set foot on the final stair, it gave under him and dropped him down in the basement, fire falling with the debris.
"Firefighter down." Herrmann screamed before he faintly heard his pass alarm ring and the world turn black. When he woke up, he was being put on a gurney by Shay, Chilli and a couple of guys from Truck. Matt's coat had been removed and the pain in his right side was starting to be too much.
"Don't worry Casey, I gave you something for the pain, it should kick in soon." Shay patted his shoulder.
"What happened?" He tried getting up but Chilli pressed down on his chest to keep me from moving.
"Staircase gave under your feet, the fire burned through your gear lieutenant." Cruz filled in the blanks.
"We're taking you to Lakeshore lieutenant." Chilli smiled at him as they loaded him in and Shay stayed with Matt in the back of the ambo.
"How bad is it?" As promised, the pain was starting to lessen thanks to the IV pain meds that Shay had given him.
"It looks like second degree burns but you should be ok, it looks pretty clean." She smiled at him. He knew the girls would freak out when I would return home because they weren't used to seeing him injured and he would probably be given at the very least the rest of shift off. The ambulance came to a halt and Shay and Chilli brought the gurney down and headed inside.
"What do we have?" A nurse asked as they came in.
"Firefighter, 32 years old, fell through some stairs, fire burned through his gear, it looks like second degree burns." Shay gave her report.
"Bring him in three." She pointed where Shay needed to bring me. She settled the gurney in the small space and the nurse attached the IV's to a pole, taking Matt's vitals. Chilli had already gone to start her incident report. The curtains were pulled closed and both of them were waiting for someone to come see Matt, Shay was still at his side.
"So, Severide tells me there's a mystery girl." She teased him, taking a seat on a very uncomfortable looking chair.
"Not anymore. She's married with three kids." He know he had promised everyone that he would try to move on since Hallie's departure but it had proven to be difficult.
"That sucks, I'm sorry Matt."
"Wasn't meant to be I guess." He shrugged but deep down he hadn't felt like that for someone since Hallie and now it was just moot.
The curtain opened quickly and another nurse walked in, her head in the file. "Lieutenant Casey, let's look at those burns." She finally looked up to meet her patient when our eyes met. She seemed stunned and clearly rooted in her spot, not expecting to see someone she knew of as a patient. She stayed silent for a few seconds before he spoke.
"Gabby." He exclaimed. "I didn't know you worked here."Clearly something was going on between the two and Shay had noticed it, reminding herself to ask about it later.
"It's my first day actually and I don't usually work the ER. I just go where they send me." She looked in the file and wrote something down. Shay cleared her throat behind Matt, bringing the two's attention back to her.
"Oh sorry. Leslie Shay, Gabby Dawson Ramirez." He introduced the two girls to each other and they both shook hands. "She's the twin boys mother the girls can't stop talking about."
"It's Gabby Dawson actually." Matt looked at her, wondering where the change had come from but didn't have time to dwell on it when she spoke again.
"Let's look at those burns Matt." Clearly they both knew each other enough, even after one real meeting at the school, to address each other by their first names. "On a scale of 1 to 10, where would you say your level of pain is situated?"
"Maybe a 3. Shay gave me something for the pain, it's working really well."
"That's good." She lifted his shift up higher so she could listen to his lungs, she didn't want to make him move even if the pain was bearable. "Breathe for me." She instructed, Matt taking deep breathes, trying to control his emotions. Gabby wasn't actually touching him but her skin close to his was making his body hum with excitement, an excitement that couldn't go any farther due to her personal circumstances. She put on some latex gloves and looked at the wound where Shay had cut his grey polo shirt to make a first assessment. "You did a great job there Shay, it's looking pretty good." She smiled at the blonde paramedic, already feeling a sense of attachment to her.
"Thanks." Shay was feeling the same way, sensing a quick bond between them.
"The doc will come check you out to make sure everything is ok and you should be good to go." She smiled at the both of them before leaving, knowing she'd have to come back once the doc had checked him out. He came just a few minutes later and looked at his chart before looking at the wound.
"Everything looks good lieutenant. Ms Dawson will come patch you up and I want you to be off heavy calls for the remainder of your shift." It hadn't been lost on Matt that the doc said Ms and not Mrs and he wondered what had changed since his meeting with her at the school.
"Thank you." The doc smiled and left, Gabby returning moments later, sitting on a stool next to the bed.
"Alright, let's patch you up." She smiled at him, butterflies flying away in her stomach as she took out everything she would need. He simply nodded and let her do her job. "So how are the girls?" She looked up from what she was doing to look at him.
"They are great actually. They couldn't stop talking about how much fun they had with your sons." He smiled. The girls hadn't been able to stop talking about the boys since they came back from visiting the school with him a few days prior.
"It was so much fun daddy." Emma exclaimed. She had been excited since the moment we stepped foot outside the school and all the way back to the house.
"Filippe and Luis are so nice." Grace gushed, almost giggling. "Can we play with them sometimes dad?" She was almost begging. Matt hadn't seen his daughters this excited about possible friends in a long time. Sure they had a few in our neighbourhood and at daycare but these two boys were on a whole new level.
"I'm sorry but you'll have to wait until school starts. I don't know their parents but if I see them again I'll ask for sure."
"Thanks daddy." They squealed and came to hug their dad.
Gabby laughed candidly. "Mommy, the girls we played with at school are pretty, can we go to the park with them? I think those were their exact words if I remember correctly."
"Looks like these boys have great taste. The Casey twins are the cutest things." Shay gushed next to Matt.
"You're just biast because you're their godmother." Matt poked her in the ribs, making her laugh.
"Maybe." She shrugged.
"Alright, you are all good to go." Gabby gave Matt some extra dressings with instructions of how often to change them and a pain medication prescription to go along with that. If she wanted something to happen, she had to make a move now but she was extremely nervous. She placed his file on her knees and parked up some courage. "I was wondering if maybe we could exchange phone numbers?" This was a bold request for having seen him only twice but her boys seemed to be getting along great with his daughters and she didn't want to keep them away from the opportunity to make friends. When He looked her in the eyes, her resolve faltered and she started stuttering ever so slightly. "I was thinking that maybe the kids could have a playdate or something like that, maybe go to the park sometime?" Matt couldn't believe his ears. She was offering a phone number trade so their kids could play together and subsequently himself to spend some time with her and he knew that it was making this sudden attraction even more complicated by not being to have her while being so close to her for the sake of his kids but he jumped at the occasion to spend more time with her and know more about her.
"Sure. You have a pen and paper?"
"No but I have my phone." Gabby didn't usually keep her phone while at work but it was her first day back at work and she wanted to make sure she could be reached if there was a problem with the kids." She pulled it out of her pocket and handed it to him, giving him a few minutes to enter his information.
"And now I have yours too." He smiled gently, pressing send on the text button so he could have hers as well.
"Give me a call when you're feeling better." Gabby smiled at Matt, Shay taking all the interactions in, ready to make her own speculations when she was alone with Matt.
"I will." He smiled at her again before she left.
"So she's your mystery woman." Shay said proudly. "You so have the hots for her."
Shay always liked the dramatic effect she had in situations like this one.
"Nothing's going to happen Shay." He said cooly before they left and drove back to 51.
Gabby spent the rest of her shift getting back into life in a hospital, everything coming back naturally as if she hadn't been away for so long. Matt went back to 51 and Boden confined him to paperwork and taking his role while Boden took his until next shift but Matt and Gabby had one thing in common: They couldn't keep their thoughts away from each other.
a/n: Alright so here is the big meet-up at the ER. I hope you liked it.
Next up: Matt tells the girls what happened on shift and tells them the good news about arranging a playdate with the Ramirez twins.
I hope that this chapter was worth the long wait I put your guys through and please leave a review, I always love to know what you thought about it - Sarra
