a/N: Ok so I've done chapters where they have to tell the kids that Matt was injured but since I didn't want to make it too redundent, I decided to take a slightly different approach to this one. Hope you will like it.
Three weeks later
Matt walked into Med helped by a walker. He had woken up with less pain than he had felt in a while and had been able to walk instead of using a wheelchair. Rehab had been a long road up but his therapist was pleased with his progress. He still had to wear a brace around his pelvis to make sure he was stable enough but he was still getting used to it. Gabby had been back on shift for the past week but only after they had argued about it loudly. She didn't want to go back until she was sure he was good enough to not need help anymore and he had argued that she couldn't put her life on hold for him forever. He took the elevators to the third floor where the PT department was on but was pleasently surprised when the elevator stopped at Gabby floor and she was waiting on the other side of the doors.
"Hey babe." She smiled as she stood next to him, the doors closing again.
"Are you on break?" They kissed.
"Nah, but Nathalie is covering me with the kids."
"Are you sure that it ok? You won get into trouble?" He questionned her again.
"It fine, she the one who insisted I come and be with my man. Those were her words." She chuckled as the elevator dinged. "Come on, let get you all sweaty." She teased him.
"I can't wait to get out of this brace." He sighed as they walked in, his therapist already waiting for him.
"Matt, glad to see you out of the wheelchair."
"Let try to keep it this way. I want to get back to my real life."
"She doing all the heavy lifting huh?" He laughed lightly.
"Let just say that I don't like the fact that she has to work and take care of five over excited kids while pregnant."
"Oh wow, congratulations to the two of you. Alright, let get you into fighting shape so you can get back to helping your wife." Gabby sat against the wall close to the door while she watched Matt work hard for the next sisty minutes. He refused to take breaks until he made real progress and by the time they were done, he was out of breath and his body was tired. Gabby stood as he took a long pull of the water bottle he had brought.
"Hey, how're you feeling?" Gabby was concerned that he was pushing himself too much and she didn't want him to relapse due to sheer stubborness.
"My muscles ache but I'm actually feeling pretty good." He wiped his forehead with a towel.
"I don't want you to overdo it Matt, it's not worth it."
"I need to help you out more Gabby." He insisted, his brow furrowing. "You should be taking it easy in your first trimester, not work more."
"Matt, baby Casey and I are perfectly fine." She smiled reassuringly at him, her hand coming to rest on the tiny buldge that was her belly. It was still small but since this was her third pregnancy, anyone who looked at her could tell that she was pregnant.
"Baby Casey." He placed a hand on hers. "I like the sound of that already. Feeling any symptoms?"
"Still nothing, it going to be ok Matt." She promised him.
"But you'll tell me if there's anything right?"
"I promise." She pushed herself on her toes and kissed his lips tenderly. "Did Kelly drive you here?" Matt still wasn aloud to drive until his physical therapy was over.
"No, he's on shift. Christie took me."
"Alright, let's wheel you back downstairs." She tried.
"I'm feeling good Gabby, let's walk." He insisted. "I'll see you on Thursday Jake." He called over his shoulder.
"Looking forward to it Matt. We're getting close, I'm telling you."
"I'm counting on it." He put his coat on and both he and Gabby were off to the elevators and down to the ground floor. Matt was walking slower than when he had walked in but the fact that he was sore was a big factor in that.
"Call me if you need anything." She insisted as they walked outside, Christie waiting for him in the curb.
"I'll be fine Gabs, I promise." He leaned down to kiss her. "Have a good shift babe."
"We will." She kissed him and waved at Christie before going back upstairs to the kids in her care. The rest of shift was rather uneventful but only a few hours later did Gabby recieve a text from Matt with a picture of him in bed taking it easy, settling her worries. The ride back to get all five kids was seemless and when they all tumbled inside the house, their voices a chorus of shouts. "Keep your voices down, daddy might be sleeping." Gabby said as she helped Valentina with the zipper of her coat.
"Did dad have physical therapy today?" Emma asked as she placed her shoes neatly in the front closet.
"Yeah, he worked really hard. He's doing lots of progress."
"When will he be able to drive us around again? You can't do everything all of the time." Luis countered.
"I am doing just fine." She chuckled under the kids concerns. "He just needs to concentrate on getting better." She ushered the four oldest into the kitchen so they could get their homework done before dinner while she prepared it, leaving Matt to rest some more upstairs.
"It's so quiet down here." Everyone turned around to see Matt leaning against the wall, a cane in my right hand.
"Matt." Filippe yelled, jumping off his chair, bouncing his way for a hug. "Mom said physical therapy went well." He looked up to meet his eyes.
"Yup. I'm getting better every day and mom came to supervise while I was up there." He gave her a cheeky grin.
"Just looking out for you." She said over her shoulder.
"I should be the one doing that." Filippe had gone back to his homework as Matt walked slowly towards Gabby, wrapping an arm around her waist and kissing her temple. they had decided on waiting before giving the kids the news about a new sibling but with Gabby's bump showing a bit more with every week, they'd have to reconsider that decision.
"Enough of that, we're doing just fine." She shooed him away.
"Fine, I'll check on the homework."
"We're all done." Grace was starting to close her books.
"Not so fast missy. I'm going to check to make sure you did them properly."
"Aww come on dad." She sighed heavily. "You know we do them properly, this is useless." He didn't miss the eyeroll she threw his way.
"Don't give me those eyes Grace." He looked at her sternly. "Go help mom finish dinner instead." He looked through her things out of habbit to make sure she hadn't missed anything but all four kids were good students and he was happy that they didn't have to worry about that part. They cleared theoir books away and helped set the table so they could eat as a family.
Matt's legs started hurting so Gabby forced him to rest in bed while she took care of getting the kids cleaned up and ready for bed time. Valentina was always first since Gabby still had to wash her so Matt played with her while Gabby changed into some pj's
"You know, maybe we should tell the kids." He said as he watched her dressed in nothing but a bra and a pair of underwear, displaying her bourgeoning bump.
"Tell us what daddy?" she managed to breathe out between two fits of giggles.
"How about we wait for your brothers and sisters to finish shower time and then we can tell everyone." She smiled at her daughter as she pulled one of Matt's CFD t-shirts and a pair of boxers before she sat on the bed with them. The kids started filing in about fifteen minutes later and Gabby was starting to have butterflies in her stomach at the thought of sharing their good news with all five kids. Matt gave her hand a gentle squeeze with a smile.
"What's up mom?" Luis was starting to get impatient now that Valentina had told everyone that mommy had something to tell them.
"Actually, we have a surprise for you?" Both Grace and Filippe jumped off the bed with excitement.
"Where is it?" They asked simultaniously.
"Well." Matt looked at Gabby. "It's not a surprise that you can actually see right now but in about eight months time, you'll finally be able to meet him or her." Matt gave Gabby's hand a sweet kiss and winked at her. It took the kids a few minutes before Emma made the realization first.
"Are we going to get a baby brother or sister?" She raised higher on her knees, a smile on her face.
"That's right." Valentina was sporting a smile but Gabby wasn't sure what was going on in her little head of hers but the other three had pounced on her now.
"I want the baby to sleep with us." Grace said over all the noise.
"Hold on just a minute." Matt said, the kids taking a step back on the bed. "Now I know that I'm not much help lately but I need you guys to help mom and be extra nice to her because sometimes she might be more tired than usual or have less patience, which is all normal. I'm going to get back on my feet as fast as I can so I cen help her more."
"But not too fast." She gave him a scolding look. "We're going to have to think about the sleeping arrangements a bit more down the road but we have a lot of time to do that." Valentina was still behind everyone and it started to worry Gabby. "You ok baby girl?" She took her in her arms and sat her on her lap.
"This baby, replace me?" Gabby's eyes started welling at her daughter's admission.
"No, never." She kissed her cheek. "This baby is not going to replace any of you. My heart is only going to have some extra love for one more of you, I love you all the same." She promised her.
"Alright, let's get everyone in bed. We have lots of time to talk about all of this." Is was a bit later than their usual bed time but telling them about the new baby was a special occasion. Once the four oldest ones were tucked in, Gabby and Matt walked towards Valentina's room, the smallest Ramirez in her mother's arms.
"All ready for bed baby girl?" She lied her down and pulled her blankets over her chest.
"Where is the baby momma?"
"It's in my tummy and it's going to grow in there until it's ready to come out." She brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes.
"Does it hurt?"
"No." She smiled at her, Matt looking at the two as they interracted together.
"But you know what? How about if you talk to the baby with me a little bit before you go to bed every night? Would you like that?"
"Can it hear us?"
"Absolutely. When you were in my tummy, I talked with you all the time and you kept kicking everytime but when daddy talked to you, his voice would calm you down in a second. You were daddy's little girl even then." Matt was now sitting next to her and ran a comforting hand against her back. "So now, you can become best friends with the baby even before we get to see it, how does that sound?"
"Good."
"Alright, I love you."
"I love you too momma." Gabby gave her a tight hug and kissed her forehead before Matt did the same and they left her to fall asleep under the night light. They walked back to their own bedroom and settled under the covers.
"I think that went pretty well." Gabby snuggled into his side.
"Better than well. You're a great mom baby and they'll be realize it more as the months go."
"I know, it was just hard to hear her say those words out loud."
"She's a Dawson, she'll be more than ok." He promised her as they laid together in bed. "I was thinking while I looked at the both of you in her room."
"What were you thinking about?" She turned on her side to see him better, a smile forming on her lips.
"I was thinking that we haven't talked about the adoption in a while. Do you still want that? Because I do, more than ever."
"So do I." She pushed herself up and kissed him. "It's just that a lot of things have been going on lately and I figured we had time to talk about it again."
"It's just that watching you with Valentina just now." He started, emotion getting caught in his throat. "I want us to be a real family."
"I'd love that. Maybe you can take care of the paperwork while you're rehabbing."
"Absolutely. I'll call my lawyer in the morning to get everything ready." He pushed a strand of hair behind her ear.
"We'll have to talk to the kids again too."
"Don't worry your head about it, we'll figure everything out, I promise." He pulled her back down to him.
"I love you Matt Casey."
"I love you too Mrs Casey."
"Come on, let's get some rest." He kissed her head as they both drifted off to sleep together, their best laid plan taking form.
A/N: Ok so I didn't know how I was going to have them tell the kids but as I wrote this chapter, It only made sense so I just wrote it. I hope you guys liked it and please take a few seconds to leave a review before you go, I always love to read your thoughts.- Sarra
