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

a/n: As always, thanks for the response the previous chapter has gotten. I know there's a lot of delay between chapters but work and home are getting crazier every day but hopefully with spring things will quiet down and I'll be able to write more. Here's the second half of the SL, enjoy.


Silence filled the room as Matt and Gabby looked at each other. Gabby's fingers came to crush the tears that were still rolling down her cheeks, Matt taking a few steps into the room.

"I'm sorry." He hung his head low.

"Why did you do it Matt?" He looked back up at the hurt look on her face.

"I." He started but he didn't have an explanation.

"You can't keep doing that Matt." She sniffled. "Do you not trust me?" Matt's expression turned to a hurt look of his own.

"I trust you with everything in me." He took a seat on the side of their bed.

"You don't act like you do. I've seen you jealous Matt, but never like that."

"I don't know what came over me." He tried to take her hand in his but she recoiled from his touch. "Gabby?"

"I gave my heart to you Matt. You know how scared I was to move on after Alberto and you understood. You understood not to push me and I trusted you with everything I have by saying yes when you asked me to marry you."

"I know." But Gabby simply raised her hand, telling him to interrupt her.

"But you can't act like that every time I talk to a man and you need to trust me as much as I trust you."

"I'll do better I promise." She finally let him take her hand in his. "Let me prove it to you." He nervously played with her engagement ring.

"I just need some space." The hurt look on Matt's face broke her heart but she needed some time to let go of the anger and pain she was feeling in her heart right now.

"I mean it Gabby, I'll make it up to you."

"Please." She pleaded with him.

"Okay." He sighed. "I have a construction job this afternoon so I'll give you all the time alone you need." He stood up and kissed her temple. She watched as he grabbed a fresh set of clothes and headed towards the bathroom down the hall, the one the kids used. Only when she watched him make his way down the stairs did she find the strength to pull herself out of the bed and into the shower, hoping the water would give her some fresh perspective. She changed into some yoga pants and v-neck and let her hair in ringlets around her face.

She quietly walked down the stairs, knowing Matt was down for the count and she slipped out the door and towards the diner where Shay had asked her to meet for a late breakfast. She walked inside and found her friend in a booth in the back.

"Hey sweetie, how are you?" She wrapped Gabby in a tight hug that she returned and they sat down.

"I'm still mad, disappointed, hurt." She wrapped her hands around the fresh cup of coffee the waitress had brought them. "I thought he trusted me more than that." Gabby's tears reappeared in her eyes.

"Oh sweetie, he trusts you more than anything. I think it's just his insecurities that are coming out."

"I haven't given him any reason to be insecure about us." Shay moved her hand across the table and took Gabby's in hers.

"I know Gabs but the two of you need to talk about this misunderstanding. You can't let something that silly pull you apart."

"I know I just, I told him I needed a bit of space."

"Gabby." Leslie warned. "Tell me you didn't kick him out."

"I didn't do that, I just asked for some space. He said he has this construction job this afternoon, that he'd give me all the space I needed."

"Talk to him when he gets back from his job, work it out. I need my Dawsey to make it down the isle." Gabby laughed candidly at the nickname Leslie insisted on using when she refered to the two of them.

"You have no idea how much I want that."

"So after we're done here, you are going to go home, talk it out and have some make-up sex."

"Les." Gabby blushed a deep shade of red and nodded. The girls ordered and spent a few quality hours together.

It took Matt about twenty minutes of tossing and turning on the couch before he fell in an agitated sleep. The muscles of his body kept tensing as images danced in front of his eyes. Gabby figured in most of them, the two arguying, Gabby walking out each time. His arms were crossed over his chest and his leg gave a twitch, his eyes moving faster behind his eyelids, the next nightmare even more taxing on his body and his mind than the previous ones. His body started thrashing for a few long minutes before he woke up in a cold sweat, his breathing heavy and his heart pounding away in his chest.

He took a few deep breaths before getting off the couch and walking towards the bathroom. He splashed some water on his face and placed his hands on each side of the sink, looking at his reflexion. Each time he blinked, Gabby's face appeared, doing nothing to relax his body. He still had laboured breaths and his eyes were red, colour of blood. He splashed his face one more time, getting rid of the water with a towel and went in search of his phone. He found it lying on the ground next to the couch and he dialled Gabby's familiar number. It kept ringing but the sound only made his ears ring loudly.

"Pick up." He whispered under his breath but it went to voicemail. He closed his eyes as he listened to Gabby's voice. "Gabby, baby. Please call me so I know that you're ok, please." He pleaded into his phone before hanging up.

He knew he had to get to his job but the need for another shower to clear his mind was necessary. The water was cold against his skin, his hands against the shower walls, his eyes trying to blink his last nightmare away. He looked at his phone as soon as he wad done getting dressed but there wasn't any missed calls waiting for him so he Grabbed his things and left, leaving a note for Gabby on the table in case she returned home before he did later that afternoon. He looked back inside the house one more time before he left, locking the door behind him and making his way towards the house across town that had hired him to redo their porch and shed roof. The owners weren't there but he had access to the garage where all his supplies for the job were.

He would look at his phone ever so often, hoping Gabby had at least sent him a text to ease his mind but half way through the afternoon, still there was nothing. His nerves were starting to get the best of him and with every blink of the eyes, the vision of Gabby stuck in a fire was eating at him. The sun was starting to set when Matt packed all of his tools in his truck and headed home, still no missed phone call from his girl. He was lucky not to get pulled over on the way home for speeding but as he parked his truck in its spot, he noticed that Gabby's car still wasn't there. He waited to be inside before he dialed Shay's number, finally getting a answer.

"Shay, please tell me Gabby's with you and that she's ok?" Sorry Matt, we split up after lunch but she was fine why?" Nothing, thanks." He hung up without giving her any explanation. He paced the kitchen floor for minutes, running his hand through his hair. He tried Gabby's phone again, the call going to voicemail again. "DAMN IT." He yelled throwing his phone angrily on the kitchen table. He turned around as the door swung open and five kids came running Inside, the girls ramming into him with force.

"Daddy we missed you."

"I missed you too." He locked eyes with Gabby and she recognized the look.

"Alright everyone, the basement is calling your name." All four older kids looked at her with questionning looks. "And bring your sister." She told her sons, not bothering to give them an explanation, everyone knowing not to argue, Luis taking Valentina with them, giving Matt and Gabby time alone.

Matt bridged the distance between him and Gabby, pulling her against his body, his arms securing her tight against him. "You're ok." He breathed in her sent, glad to have her back home.

"Matt?" She didn't quite understand where this was coming from.

"I haven't been able to get a hold of you all day." He held her at arms length and looked her up and down, trying to see if anything was wrong with her.

"My cell phone died. Is everything ok Matt?"

"I had this really bad dream and I couldn't reach you and I was just about to go insane today." He leaned down and kissed her hard, wanting to feel her, know she was ok. She moaned against his lips, her hands lingering on his hips

"Matt, you're scaring me." She looked at him up and down, taking in the state he was in.

"I. I'm sorry, I was stupid and I don't ever want us to be mad at each other, it's not worth it."

"Matt, what happened?" She was starting to be worried.

"I dreamt I couldn't save you."

"In a fire?" He wasn't making a lot of sense so she asked more questions so it would become clearer.

"In a fire in our house." He kissed her again. "And I woke up and you were gone and you didn't pick up your phone all day and I was worried."

"I'm fine Matt." She promised him. "My phone died during breakfast with Shay and then I went to my parents house and to the park with the kids. I'm sorry I scared you."

"It's ok now." He hugged her again.

"How about we get the kids washed up and in bed and we can sit quietly in the living room and talk?" Matt simply nodded and squeezed her against him again.

They called the kids up and sent them for their pj's while Matt made the basement up with sleeping bags and pillows, popping a movie in for them. He knew that they'd fall asleep quickly, specially after a visit to his future in-laws and the park but he wanted to make sure that they'd have fun until sleep took them. All four kids came running downstairs, Gabby hot on the heels with Valentina in her arms.

"So who's ready for a movie?" All five kids instantly became excited and they got into their sleeping bags without having to be told and hugs were given out before Matt and Gabby went back upstairs, settling on the couch with a beer in hand . Gabby rested her legs on top of Matt's lap, who had his legs up against the living room table, quiet coming over them.

"Talk to me." She whispered to him after observing him, staring at the black television screen.

"It took me a while to fall asleep after my shower. I tossed and turned for I don't know how long before I fell asleep." He kept staring at the same spot on the television. "And after that, all I dreamed about was us fighting. You kept walking out, every single time." He recalled, the images vivid in his mind. Gabby kept watching him as he peeled the label off his bottle, clearly it had affected him a lot.

"And what happened in the one with the fire?"

"We got the call and when we got there, the fire was fully envolved. The kids weren't there but when I tried to get to you, it's as if I could never reach you. Every time I thought I had made it to you, it's as if just out of reach I woke up in a cold sweat."

"But I'm fine Matt. Where is this coming from?" She stopped his hand from scratching the label. He looked up at her and held eye contact before he answered her.

"You were so disappointed in me when I came in this morning. I gave you every right to be mad at me and I deserved every bit of that anger."

She took the beer bottle from his hand and placed it on the table before she straddled him, her small hands cupping his cheeks, making him look at her. "I was mad at you yesterday and I didn't understand what I had done to deserve the words you said to me and seeing you with that girl, it just set me off. We need to trust each other Matt, fully."

"I trust you baby." He pulled invisible lint on her shirt. "I guess that deep down, I have this fear that I'm never good enough for you and that you deserve so much more."

"I don't ever want you to think that." She dipped her head and gently pressed her lips to his. "You made me love again and you gave us this beautiful home that we share with our beautiful kids. I say that because Emma and Grace are as much mine now as my own kids and I know you consider Luis, Filippe and Valentina as if they were your own and all I want now is be married to you, so all of this is official. I want to be Gabriella Casey and I don't want to wait anymore."

"That would make me the happiest man on earth." Her words had lifted a weight off of his shoulders.

"Than what do you say Matthew Casey? Will you marry me? Not later but now?"

"You really want that?"

"More than anything."

"Than yes, yes I'll marry you." He flipped them around and settled his weight against her, their lips locking in a pationate kiss. They spent the rest of their evening, lying against each other on the couch, the two finally falling asleep, their fight behind them and their future looking up.


A/n: So Here it is, I hope you guys enjoyed it. Please take a few seconds to leave a review before you go, your thoughts are always apreciated - Sarra