Disclaimer: I own nothing except my imagination and the kids names.

a/n: Thanks to all you amazing people who took the time to write a review for last chapter. A special shout out to a guest from Switzerland who wrote a beautiful review and as long as you guys want me, I'm more than willing to write 60 more chapters to this story ;) Now I'm really not sure about this particular chapter but I want to thank Whitney and Emily who constantly let me bounce ideas off of them and that shut my insecurities up sometimes.


Over the next few days, Kelly went over his idea of a special top secret project for Matt's return home, even enlisting Antonio and Boden into his crazy plan.

"So what exactly is the plan here Severide?" Antonio looked around to make sure no one was looking as both he, Kelly and Boden stood in front of the new house his sister and her boyfriend had bought.

"Ok so Matt told Luis that when he'd get out of the hospital that he'd finish their rooms and build the tree house but I know that there's still a few things that need some work inside the house and I figured that we could all pitch in and finish everything before he get's out of there."

"And why are we breaking into their house Severide?" Boden gave him a funny look. "Couldn't you have asked Gabby for a spare key?"

"I thought that we could surprise them both with the finished product. I figured that we could look what is left to do in there and do the rest of it. What do you guys think?"

"You're lucky I'm well connected because otherwise we'd get into trouble for breaking and entering."

"Well technically it's not breaking and entering if you know who's house it is." Boden prompty laughed at his lieutenant, seeing no real logic in what he was saying.

"Stop finding a way around it Kelly and let's get this done." Antonio gave one last look around them before he used his tools to get inside the house without a key. They removed their shoes and walked through the house, starting to the upper floors. Almost everything was done up there so they wouldn't have to do much of anything except add things both Antonio and Boden had promissed.

"Oh, I got what I promised Matt for the boys room." Antonio said.

"The same for me, it came in during last shift."

"That's perfect then." Then they walked onto the main floor where once again where everything was done.

"There isn't anything left to be done here." Antonio eyes the rooms.

"This was the first floor Matt worked on but I think there's nothing done in the basement and Matt was talking about making two rooms down there for when the twins would want their own rooms down the line."

"That makes a lot of sense. Let's go see if something is done at all down there." Boden led the other two men as they walked down the stairs only to find that walls had already been mounted, leaving the electricity and the drywall left to close them up, leaving a big enough room for the playroom. Antonio also walked into a three piece bathroom.

"Damn, did Matt sleep at all?" He looked back at the two men.

"That's exactly why they got into a fight in the first place." Kelly pointed out. "She was saying that he was wearing himself too thin by working here almost every day he was off at the firehouse."

"I'd be angry too." Boden said. "No wonder he was being recklace."

"So basically we have this basement to finish up and the tree house outside right?"

"That sounds about right." Sevride nodded.

"So got any plans on who can help us with all of this?" Antonio pointed at the almost empty space.

"Well Mouch does electricity and I can take care of the drywall, Capp or Joe might be able to help there so we can go faster."

"I can work on the tree house." Antonio offered.

"I can help too and I'm pretty sure that Herrmann would be up to the task." Boden pitched in.

"That would be perfect and whoever wants to help is welcome. Now all we need to figure out is move all of the stuff in here without them knowing it?" That was the trickier part in this whole crazy plan.

"What about planning a day at Christie's place, I'm sure she'd be more than happy to help occupy them." Kelly hadn't thought about asking Christie to help them out but that was actually a perfect idea. They could get Matt on a day where he has therapy and then spend the day at the house with all the kids and Violet, that could definitely work.

"I'll run this by her but I'm sure she'd be more than happy to plot this with me."

"Ok so we have a plan." Boden smiled. "I can talk to the house on next shift and you can talk to Christie about it in the meanwhile."

"Alright, let's get out of here before someone calls the cops on us." Antonio turned and started to walk back up the stairs. They left the house, making sure it was locked from the Inside and they went their separate ways. Kelly knew that Matt still hadn't been discharged from the hospital so he knew that going back to his place to talk it over with Christie was safe right now so that's what he did.

Matt was sitting on the side of the hospital bed, trying to shift so he could put some weight on the leg on his good side, no one in sight to help him. He was tired of lying down on the bed and frustration was starting to rise. He knew Gabby was supposed to come back soon and he could have waited for his lack of patience was evident. He grunted as his foot hit the tiled floor, an electric shock moving up from his toes to his hip.

"Are you looking to be stuck in here longer?" Gabby rushed to give him a hand, annoyance evident in her tone.

"I couldn't stay lying there anymore." He sighed.

"I know it's not easy being in here and not being able to move around the way you want to but your stubborness has gotten you in enough trouble so far. Please ask for some help." She pleaded, helping him to sit down on the chair in the far corner of his room.

"I'm sorry." He rubbed his sore side.

"Are you in pain? Do you want some more meds?" She looked at him concerned.

"Doesn't hurt as bad anymore. I guess my body is getting used to it. How are the kids?" He changed the subject.

"They're great. My parents are looking after them with Laura an Luis says he has a surprise for you." She smiled, sitting on the bed.

"How's he doing?"

"Better. Seeing you awake gave him more energy. Did the doctor come by yet?"

"No. Julie says that he'll be by early afternoon. I hope he has good news."

"So it's Julie huh?" She said, a teasing glint in her tone.

"She has nothing on you I promise. Come here." She slid down the bed and came to sit on his lap.

"Sweet talking your way out of it huh?" She wrapped her arm around his neck.

"Everybody knows your my girl." He rubbed his nose against hers and kissed her.

"Eeewwww." Matt chuckled and turned around, the kids huddled around the door to his room.

"Mark my words, in a few years, you won't be saying that." All the kids came in quietly, Gabby's parents and Laura behind them, Gabby getting off of his lap so the kids could hug him. Once all the hugging was done, the kids started talking louder and soon it became too much for the small room.

"Alright the four of you, you need to be quiet so Matt can rest." Edouardo's voice was even and he didn't need to scream for the kids to immediately lower their voices.

"We made some drawings dad." Grace bounced his way with a giant rainbow on a sheet of paper.

"And I know exactly where I'm going to put them." He bent down and pulled her on his lap, Gabby's body moving forward out of habit to help lessen the weight on his still tender body. She knew the burns on his arm still stung and she didn't want him to be in pain but he gave her a smile and a wink so she knew he was fine. All the kids took turn to show him their drawing and they did small talk until everyone left again, leaving Matt and Gabby alone again.

"Are you ok?" Matt had done a lot of moving in the short time the kids had been there.

"I'm good. The pain isn't really as bad as it was before, I can manage it."

"Are you sure?"

"Gabby." He chuckled. "You're doing it again baby."

"I'm sorry." She blushed. "I just don't want you to be in pain and I know how stubborn you are and you probably won't admit it."

"I think I'm over that. I promise I'll tell you if I don't feel ok. I just hope that I can get out soon."

"We'll see how you're healing first." The surgeon said as he walked into Matt's room with his chart.

"I feel fine doc."

"Feeling fine and being fine is two different things Matt. Let's take a look first ok?" They both helped him back on the bed and the doc lifted his gown up and gently pulled on the new dressing the nurse had put earlier in the morning, a much smaller one than when he was all bandaged up the day following thr surgery. "It's a bit more red than I'd like it to be but it seems like it's healing properly."

"He lifted the kids up earlier, could that be a reason why it's redder now?" Gabby asked, looking from Matt to the doctor.

"Well we recommend a minimum of strenuous activities but in this case, that's not likely but I'd like to keep you another couple of days at least with an IV to lower the swelling a bit more before I send you back home but I think we can also get you to see the PT just to see the kind of exercises you can do."

"Would I have to come for PT once I'm out?" He clearly didn't want to come back at the hospital unless it was for a surgical follow-up.

"No. I just want you to meet with them so your body doesn't lose tonus by not doing anything." He closed the dressing again and proceeded in looking at the burn on his arm, finding the burns healing properly. "This will leave a minimum of damage and once both your side and your arms are healed up, there should be no problem to clear you for duty."

"That's something I like to hear."

"But please tell him he won't be able to do any kind of renovation of any kind for a while."

"I highly recommend you avoid that for now so you don't full anything the wrong way. I don't think you want to have a recovery setback."

"I don't."

"Maybe this time you'll listen to doctor's orders." She teased, the doctor laughing at them.

"If you have anymore questions, feel free to ask to page me but I'll swing by later tonight."

"Thanks a lot doc." He wrote a few things down on the chart and left again.

"Please tell me you brought me some clothes because I'm fed up of wearing this blue gown."

"I have everything you need in here." She chuckled. She helped him change and they spent the rest of the evening together until it was time to go home, visiting hours being over. The doctor came back later in the evening as promissed and they chatted about what Matt would need to look for once he was back home and then he left Matt to rest up.

The following day, it was back to work for everyone else at Firehouse 51 and Boden used the pre-shift meeting to enlist a few people from the house to help with their top secret project for the Casey and Dawson's new house.

"We're going to need your help to set all of this up for when Matt goes home and recovers."

"How do we do that without them knowing it?" Otis asked the question everyone had on their minds.

"We know that the doctors gave him a strict no contracting work order yesterday so that'll give us the oportunity to work without him being suspiscious of anything." Severide said from the back of the room.

"And I talked to Gabby's parents and they'll invite them and the kids over at the lake for the week-end and that's when we'll move everything to their place. So when they come back, we'll just come up with something to bring them to the new address instead." Shay smirked next to Severide, both of them pretty happy with the plotting they had done with Christie and Gabby's folks.

"Alright everyone, let's get to work and we can figure out scheduling during shift." Everyone stood up and left the conference room, going in different directions.

Between calls, most of the members of the house were trying to figure out when they'd go to the new house during their next 48 hours and who would do what, trying to organize everything as quickly as possible. Christie came by and made lunch for everyone, giving them an update and the spare key to the house she told Kelly Matt had just given her a few days back.

Everyone was exhausted once shift was over and after getting a few hours of sleep, they headed in small groups to Matt's house to start getting the work done. They were lucky that Matt had already bought all the material they needed, saving them some precious time in the process. They seperated and started to get to work on the basement and the tree house, doing as much work as they could before nightfall, everyone going back home to get some much needed extra rest.

Matt woke up on the second extra day, happy to find Gabby snuggled in his side, not noticing when she had squeezed herself there the night before. Today he was getting his walking papers after breakfast since he had already met with the PT the evening before.

"Morning." She mumbled.

"Good morning." He leaned down and gently kissed her lips.

"So today's the day huh?" She smiled up at him.

"Today's the day." He repeated with a smile of his own.

"I packed all your things last night and there's the wheelchair waiting for you too."

"And some crutches."

"I can't wait to see you move around the house in those." She chuckled.

"Laugh all you want lady but you're the one who's stuck with me." He grinned. Breakfast came at 8 and as soon as he was done eating the toast, both him and Gabby deciding on breakfast at their favourite place, just the two of them before going home was the way to go.

While the kids were waiting for them with balloons and decorations at the old house, most of 51 were finishing up the treehouse and the four girls were putting the finishing touches on the playroom in the basement.

The first afternoon back home was hard for Matt since he had to move around a lot in the house and navigating those stairs was hard for him even though Gabby tried to do most of the things for him. Her parents had been a great help in taking care of the kids that day and both Gabby and her mother prepared dinner for the whole house, everyone sitting down to eat at six sharp.

"You must be glad to be back Matt. esmeralda smiled at him as he sat down.

"I am. I hate being in hospitals for too long."

"Well you know what to do then don't you." Gabby smirked.

"I promise I'll behave from now on." He leaned to the side and kissed her on the cheek.

"Why don't you come to the lake this week end, it'll help you take it easy, we can take care of the kids." Edouardo added.

"I haven't been to the lake in a long time. You're going to love it over there babe."

"I'm in then." They all ate and Gabby was helped again by her parents in getting the kids ready for bed, Gabby insisting that Matt stay on the couch and take it easy.

Later that night, Matt laid in bed, Gabby getting ready in the bathroom. "How are you feeling?" She asked from their door as she was applying lotion on her arms.

"Tired." He was shirtless to avoid the friction a shirt would add to his side, his fingers tracing the wound over the bandage. "But I can't wait to get to the lake. I think a change of air will be good for us." He watched her walk towards him and sit on her side of the bed, pulling the covers over her legs.

"It's great there, you'll be able to relax more."

"But you won't. You'll be taking care of all five of them again."

"Matt it's fine, my parents will help me and I know you'll be back on your feet in no time. Please don't overthink this." She propped herself up on her elbow, resisting the urge to snuggle against him.

"I swear you're too good for me Gabriella Dawson." He pushed past the sting he was feeling in his side as he turned to kiss her.

"We're a team, that's how it's supposed to be." They spent the evening quietly in bed until Matt fell asleep from exhaustion, a hand protectively over his side.

Tomorrow they would pack for a few days and head over to Gabby's parents lake house, hoping that time away was what Matt needed to heal faster.

TBC


a/n: Alright so I know that this is yet another two part chapter but I was struggling to write some quality stuff and I didn't want to post crap so I'm splitting this in two, hope you guys aren't mad about that. As always, please take a few minutes to write your thoughts down in a review, that always helps me. - Sarra