He wasn't sure what he had expected, but anything more than their shared credit card. There was only a short letter, Gabby apologizing that it had been in her wallet when she had left and that she had not used it.

Sitting at the kitchen table, he held the letter in his hands.

Tears welled up in his eyes. In no way had he expected that the letter would be the answer to all the sadness and misery he was feeling. But as kind as it was for Gabby to send it back, he had hoped for something more. After all the weeks he had longer for her, all he wanted was a sign that one day, things were going to be okay again.

A sign that might never come.

He was well aware that she had left for a reason, that she wasn't happy with him anymore and there was large chance that it would stay that way.

But he still hoped for a different outcome, as hopeless as it seemed.

Holding the credit card in his hand, instead of giving it any hope, he just felt even more miserable.

The following shift he went to work as if nothing was going on. The people at firehouse knew of course that Gabby had left, but nobody had dared say anything about it to him. Walking through the common room, he greeted them shortly as he paced through to his office.

For some of the previous shifts he had been able to keep up the act that he was fine, but with each passing day he missed her more and more. It got harder as time passed by and he seemed to miss her more and more.

He had always been told that time would heal all wounds, but for so far it didn't seem to work.

In his office he grabbed his laptop. He knew he had to be at the briefing in 15 minutes. But something had been weighing on his mind all night as he had been tossing and turning

As the laptop was booting up, he paced around the office. It seemed silly that he was even thinking about this, especially now that he had to work.

As soon as the laptop had finished booting up, he sat down and signed in on his profile. Opening a browser he opened Google, only for the laptop to shut down again, right at the moment Kelly walked into his office.

''Stupid laptop crashed again, still haven't gotten a new one after three years of working this piece of crap,'' Casey said as he threw the laptop onto the bed.

''Call the IT department,''

''No, they will just tell me to turn it on and off again,'' Matt tried to brush it off.

''Yeah, because that usually helps. Come on, I'll do it,'' Kelly offered, holding out his hand. He knew how helpless and inept Matt was with any form of technology and the last thing he wanted was for his friend to get upset again, like he had that morning in the common room.

''Fine,'' Matt handed the laptop over to him after grabbing it from the bed, only to feel his stomach sink as he realized as soon as the laptop had restarted it would show what he had been searching for before the laptop had crashed.

''Just don't look at what I was doing, okay?''

Kelly looked up, a bit concerned.

''Matt – I don't want to kno-''

''It wasn't work related,'' Casey admitted, Kelly clearly waiting for an explanation.

''I was looking at tickets to fly to Puerto Rico.''

''That's…good?''

Matt sighed, sitting back on his chair, crossing his arms. He was clearly not ready to talk about it either, but Kelly was just glad that he was looking at going to Puerto Rico.

''Alright, I will take a look at it after the briefing,'' Kelly promised.

Walking to the briefing with his friend, he just hoped that Matt would book the tickets. No matter what would happen, he knew that he couldn't carry on like this. Even if their marriage couldn't be saved, he knew that Matt needed some sort of closure.

The following shift, Kelly was surprised that Matt was not there, nor was his car while he was usually the first to arrive. Even a while later, when everybody was here, Matt wasn't.

The last time he had seen his friend he had helped with the laptop during the last shift, only for Matt to tell him he would look at the tickets at home.

Walking towards Connie, he hoped that nothing serious was going on. He saw Matt doing worse and worse and he worried about him.

''Where is Matt?'' Kelly asked concerned as he walked to Connie.

Annoyed she looked up at him.

''He called in sick, now I got to look for a replacement, if you don't mind leaving me al-''

''What did he say what is wrong with hi-''

Before he could finish his question, he was interrupted by the glare he received from Connie.

''Sorry, lemme know if you can't find anybody. I know some captains that might be able to substitute for Casey.'' Kelly said as he backed off, walking back to his office as he took his phone from his pocket. He tried to call Matt, concerned as Matt hadn't called into work sick a day in his eleven year career at the CFD.

When he had been off work because of the head injury, he had been back the first minute he could.

When Hallie had died, he had been back the first day he could.

When he and Gabby had lost their baby, he had been back the first day he could.

The fact that he was here concerned Kelly, and he tried to call his friend. Nervous he paced around his office, only for the call to end with Matt's voice mail.

''Hey Matt, I hope you are doing okay, I am a little worried about y-''

Kelly stopped himself, he knew that Matt would just blow him off, no matter how much he would tell him that he worried about him.

''Just, call me back when you hear this, okay?''

Ending the call, he put his phone down on his desk and walked to the meeting room as it was almost time for the briefing they had every shift.

As busy of a shift as it was, Kelly couldn't help but think about Matt all of the shift.

After his shift, he doubted for a second about going home. Instead, he drove the other way, towards Casey's apartment. Parking the door, he walked into the shared hallway. There was no sign of Matt being home, and it worried him as he pressed the doorbell. He did hear the muffled bell, but nothing to let him know that Matt was home.

It worried him, he had seen Casey collapse over the past few days and although he knew Matt was a grown man, he had been dealt a lot of bad hands in life. It worried him.

Banging on the door now, he started to get more and more worried about Matt. He knew his friend had been through a lot of hardship and he had always come out stronger. But Gabby leaving him seemed to have defeated him.

''I'm coming!''

Relieved Kelly looked as Matt opened the door.

''I am sorry, I meant to call, but-''

Kelly didn't mind, he was just glad to see Matt.

''Just glad you opened the door for me,'' Kelly interrupted him, not wanting Matt to apologize and worry too much.

''How are you feeling?''

''Like crap, I haven't slept well in weeks and my stomach is really upset,'' Matt admitted as they walked to the living room, Matt sinking down on the couch again. Kelly knew it was an honest answer, as Matt looked horrible. His face puffy and red and although Kelly would never say anything about it, he knew Matt had been crying.

''She send a letter but it was just to send me our shared credit card she accidentally took. Told me she couldn't cancel it from Puerto Rico and asked me to put in on my name or get rid of it,'' Matt mumbled upset as he pointed at the credit card on the table.

''We were really happy… I thought. Keep on thinking about the fact I may have missed something, that I did something wrong. That maybe she wasn't as happy with me as I thought she was,'' Matt sulked.

Kelly sat down beside him on the couch, looking at emotional mess his friend was.

''You think that could be true?'' Matt asked a little worried as Kelly wasn't saying anything.

''Matt, I don't know, I don't think she was unhappy with you.''

''Are you sure about that?''

''You are not exactly the most observant person, Case, it took you ten years to work out your sister was vegetarian,'' Kelly admitted to him as he put the letter back in the envelope.

''Vegan, she's vegan,'' Matt corrected Kelly.

''Doesn't really change my point, you are not very observant sometimes, I am not the person to tell you if she was unhappy or not. I don't know if she ever let on she was unhappy, I can't tell you.''

''I told myself I would never feel this lost again after I lost Hallie. I am halfway through my 30s and I lost a fiancé and my wife left me. I feel like a failure.''

''You are not a failure.''

Kelly wanted to comfort him, but knew that nothing he could say to make it all right for Matt. Even while he wanted to. He could only imagine the weight that weighted on his friend, knowing that in the last few years, he had lost his fiancée, only to fall in love again, get married and now lose his wife once more.

''I feel even worse not going to work either, but I just-''

''It's okay Matt, if you are too tired and you got stomach problems, you can stay at home,'' Kelly said worried that it seemed that Matt felt even worse about missing a shift.

''Kelly, I think I just want to be alone for a bit,'' Matt told him, he had been open about his sorrows for a bit, only to close down now again.

''Alright, I'll leave you be. Call me if there is anything I can do, or anything you need.''

Lying in bed, he couldn't sleep. For hours, he had been looking at the ceiling. Turning around again, his body met the cold side of the bed. Taking his phone from the nightstand, he was blinded by the screen for a second.

There was a new message from Kelly, telling him that he would bring over some food tomorrow and he ignored it for now, as sweet as it was.

Instead, he made his way to his texts with Gabby.

Looking at her picture for just a second, his thumb caressed the screen. He didn't even do it on purpose, it just happened as he looked at a picture of the person he loved most in the whole world.

Tears welled up in his eyes as he looked at the picture.

Swinging his legs over the edge of the bed, he got up, walking to the window.

There wasn't much of a view, as it only looked at the small little patio behind the unit he had shared with her. With Louie. With all the memories.

Opening the sliding glass door, he walked outside onto the patio, the cold tiles freezing under his feet. Leaning back against the glass door, he looked up at the stars. Even with the amount of light pollution in Chicago, some of them were bright and easy to spot. Looking up at the stars, he hoped that Gabby was looking at these same stars, all of those thousands of kilometers away.

Looking at the picture on his phone again, he took a deep breath. For a few seconds, his thumb hovered over the call button.

Taking another deep breath he pressed the call button and put the phone to his ear, leaning against the window, his heart was racing as he hoped for Gabby to pick up.

Thank you so much for reading the first chapter and returning for this second chapter! I really hope you are enjoying this story as much I am enjoying writing it. I would love to head what you think and if you would love to read more!