Disclaimer : I own nothing except my imagination and the kids names.
a/n: Thanks to everyone who left on the review on the last chapter and I hope you guys like this second part of it.
As everyone from 51 was getting ready to head home after a heavy shift on Friday morning, Matt, Gabby and their whole brood was heading towards the lake, hoping to soak in some quiet time away from the city.
Gabby brought all the suitcases out by the car before she put them in herself, Matt clearly not liking this. "Gabby, you shouldn't be doing all of this by yourself." He huffed as he made it down the stairs of the house.
"You can't exactly do any lifting Matt, it's fine." She put the last of the things in there and closed the door.
"I hate this." He grumbled as he helped Valentina buckle up in her seat.
"I know Matt but you'll be all healed up soon and you'll be able to do all of this again." She walked back to him where he was struggling to settle in the truck. "Let me help you." She helped him lift his lower body up into the truck and he sat up straighter, Gabby closing the door and jumping in the driver's seat. "You're going to be just fine Matt." She leaned across the middle console to kiss him under a slew of eewww's coming from the back of the truck, both of them laughing.
"Alright, who's ready for the lake?" He turned to look at the kids as they cheered.
"It'll be good for them too." She patted his leg before she started driving. The drive was about an hour long, Valentina, Grace and Luis asleep in their seat while Emma and Filippe were playing a game. Esmeralda and Edouardo were already waiting for the by the time they arrived, helping Gabby get everything out of the car. Matt easily slid down from the truck and onto his good leg with the help of his crutches. He tried to take one of the bags but was having so much trouble with it that Emma ran his way.
"Let me help you daddy."
"Thanks Em." He ruffled her hair before she bounced off towards the cabin. He hated that he needed all this help, specially from the kids but he hobbled inside on his crutches. He helped the kids settle themselves in the room and then he went to the room that would be his and Gaby's for the next two days where he found her unpacking their bags.
"Hey babe, how's your side feeling after the car ride?" She looked at him with a smile as he sat down on the bed to take a few breaths.
"My side's fine but maybe it wasn't a good idea for me to come this week-end, I'm totally useless."
"You're not useless, where is this coming from Matt?" She stopped what she was doing to take a seat next to him.
"I couldn't even bring one bag in Gabby, Emma had to help me bring it in. That's pretty useless if you ask me." He looked at the ground.
"Matt." She gently placed a hand on his cheek and made him look at her. "You got hurt Matt. You can't expect to be back on your feet right away. We came here to relax and for the kids to have some fun. Don't beat yourself up over this."
"I'm sorry I put you in this position."
"We talked about this before Matt, it's fine. We'll get through this. Why don't you come with us by the lake, the kids are starting to make a rukus in the living room." Matt listened and chuckled as the kids were getting steadily more noisy.
"Alright. We wouldn't want them to start breaking things at your parents cabin."
"No we wouldn't." Gabby changed before giving Matt a hand to get back up on his feet and they went to get the kids that were running around in circles in the living room where her parents were trying to calm them down.
Matt watched as Gabby took the kids by the lake, leaving him on the deck with her dad. "How are you feeling son?" Edouardo asked as he watched Matt move uncomfortably in his chair.
"Apart from the fact that I have no real position where I'm comfortable, I'm good."
"I hope this serves as a lesson." Matt suddely looked at his future father-in-law, not sure what he was getting to.
"I'm sorry?" He tried his best to sit straighter.
"Gabriella talked with her mother about the fight that the two of you had before all of this happened."
"I was stupid to push her away that day but all I wanted was to give them a good home so we could stop living in close quarter in the house we're in."
"You can't push a good home Matt. Gabby's not going anywhere, I hope you know that."
"I do but she deserves everything and I was just trying to do good by that. This won't happen again." He had done a few reckless things in the past and more so before the girls were born, no real consequences other to himself and he had been far more careful since having them but since meeting Gabby and her kids, all he could see was their future in that house and it had blinded him recently, causing the fight and the subsequent accident, leaving him in these crutches.
"You're a good man Matt and I know that the job you do is dangerous and it has its risks of injury but Gabby has gone through too much and I couldn't stand for her to be hurt again."
"And I would never do anything to intentionally hurt her, I love her too much."
"I'll hold you to that Matt." Matt nodded and simply went back to watching the kids swim with Gabby and her mom, Edouardo doing the same. The kids stayed in the water for about another half hour before it was time to get out and put Valentina down for a nap while the kids ate a snack.
Matt helped in the kitchen for dinner because that was the easiest job he could do sitting down and when everything was ready, they sat down to eat, having their first real quiet moment of the day as the kids stuffed their face with food. The kids played a board game in the living room while the adults cleaned the kitchen and they were soon taken away to get cleaned up and ready for bed. Gabby's parents didn't stay up very late and they left the younger couple alone for a little bit. They stayed quietly wrapped into each other's arms in front of the fire until Gabby spoke up.
"I'm sorry about my dad." She looked up at him. He didn't look at her immediately but when he did a smile was on his face.
"I deserved every bit of it and he's just looking out for you." He kissed her forehead.
"Still, he shouldn't have said those things."
"If a boy did something like that to either Emma or Grace, I'd have done the same thing and I'm pretty sure Alberto would have done the same for Valentina. I promise it won't happen again."
"I just want you to be safe out there Matt and come home to us. The rest, we can deal with it together." She pushed herself up a bit and kissed him. It started slowly but as soon as Matt ran his fingers through her hair, it heated up and Gabby had to control herself because she'd be straddling him but she had to be careful otherwise they wouldn't be able to be intimate for even longer. They enjoyed the little quiet time they had until Matt yawned and Gabby helped him to their room and into bed, the two snuggling closer before falling asleep.
The next morning, Kelly, Christie and Violet went to get the moving truck and met up with pretty much everyone from 51 was waiting to empty Matt and Gabby's old house, getting everything ready for when they would return from their week end at the lake to their new house completed. With everyone there giving a hand, the house was quickly emptied and then everybody drove to the new house to unload everything there. Violet helped to finish the decorating in the kids room and added something that she had done herself in each room. Pizza was ordered for everyone for a late lunch before they finished putting everything in the house, Matt and Gabby scheduled to come back later that evening, Gabby having shift in the morning.
Everybody stood in the kitchen as the last pieces were taken in the kids rooms before they made sure that everything was clean and in its place before they did their final phone call.
"I just texted my parents to say that we're done and all we need to do now is give Gabby a call and put our plan in motion." Antonio smirked.
"Do you think they'll buy it?" Kelly wasn't so sure that particular plan would work.
"Oh they'll buy it." He pressed on the number one speed dial and waited for his sister to pick up.
Gabby heard her phone ringing somewhere in the distance while the kids playing tag and she shuffled things around in her purse, sure she had put it in there. "Damn it, what did I do with my phone?" She growled.
"Language baby." Matt smirked as he made his way towards her, eying the object in her back pocket. "Is this what you're looking for?" He pulled it out of there, Gabby turning when she felt tugging on her back pocket. "It's Antonio."
"Hey Tonio, what's up?" We have a problem down here Gabs. "Antonio." She warned. "Is everyone ok, is anyone hurt?" No but I'm on my way to your new house, there's been a call about a break-in. "What? What do you mean a break-in? Is anything missing?" She looked at Matt with frantic eyes as she heard her parents moving around trying to get the kids things ready. I'll know more as soon as I get there but is there any way that you can come back here as quickly as possible? "Uh yeah, mom and dad are packing the kids stuff right now." Please make it quick Gabs. "We'll be there as soon as we can. Thanks Tonio." She hung up, her heard suddenly in her throat.
"What did Antonio say?"
"He says that he's on his way over there but he wants us to come as soon as possible."
"The kids things are all ready and in the car dear." Esmeralda told her. They were lucky that they had started packing after they had eaten breakfast so the move now was quick.
"Thanks so much mom. I'm sorry we have to leave so quickly."
"We're going back with you." Edouardo put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I'm sure everything is fine and that Antonio will catch the people who did that." She nodded, needing to believe that their new home hadn't been damaged.
They got all the kids in the truck, each a different question to ask about their things but Matt tried to reassure them as much as he could during the drive back into town. Gabby was in such a state that she didn't notice the cars that were on the street around her house. She parked the car and she and Matt met up with Antonio in front of the house.
"What does it look like in there?"
"Most of the damage was done in the basement and in the yard but Matt, you'll probably be able to say more about what it means for you guys."
"Let's go have a look." Matt started going up the stairs with his crutches, Gabby, Antonio, their parents and the kids behind. They walked through the living room and down the stairs to the unfinished basement. In a sense, Matt was glad that he hadn't had time to finish it because otherwise it would hurt even more to know that it had been trashed. He turned on the lights that led down there and he slowly started making his way down but neither one of them were ready for what was waiting for them.
"SURPRISE!" Everyone shouted as Matt turned on the lights. Their whole families were standing in what Matt noticed to be a completely finished basement.
"ANTONIO!" Gabby yelled and she repeatedly hit him on the arm. "HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME?" She kept on screaming at him.
"I'm sorry baby sis." He tried to protect himself as best as he could under her assault as he laughed, happy to have fooled her.
"You guys did all of this?" Matt went in farther with his crutches.
"We figured that you guys deserved it after everything that's been going on." Christie hugged her brother. They let them move around the basement, the two new rooms empty but finished and the playroom full of toys and storage units so the kids could put all of their things away. Matt slowly started going up as everyone did the same, everyone separating to find out what was new for them. The kids were excited about their new rooms that were now fully furnished and Valentina was specially excited about her new princess themed room.
"There's one last surprise for everyone out back." Kelly clapped Matt on the shoulder as he made it up the stairs. The kids rushed down the stairs and into the yard where they saw what was waiting for them, Matt and Gabby only hearing high pitched squeals from upstairs. Everyone made their way back down and towards the back of the house where the yard was waiting with a brand new tree house. As Matt and Gabby made it to the back, the kids were already up in the tree and away from sight, giving the adults some time to mingle together.
Everyone left early since everyone had shift in the morning and for Matt and Gabby to try and put their excited brood to bed. Once the house was finally quiet, they retreated to their own oasis, Matt needing to rest his body after all the effort the house visit had taken him.
"I can't believe our families did this for us." She came back out of their en-suite, putting cream on her hands.
"It's pretty amazing. We can finally start that new adventure now."
"All we have to do now is sell the old house." She settled in bed next to him.
"I'll give Nate a call in the morning." He kissed her.
"Today was great."
"The best. Now all I need to do is get back on my feet and we'll be all set." He pulled her against his side and lowered them against the mattress. "I love you."
"I love you too baby." They kissed again, falling asleep soon after. Even though Matt had his recovery to focus on, they were moving forward together in this new house with their little family and life was good.
a/n: So here's the second part of the secret project and I hope that you guys enjoyed how it ended. Please take a few seconds to review before you go, I always love to hear your thoughts - Sarra
