Boarding the plane, he walked to the window seat at one of the middle rows. He had just had some yogurt on the airport, his stomach turning around with every bite. Again, he felt so silly for being nervous, compared to how adventurous Gabby had been through all of this.
He felt worse about himself, knowing that flying was nothing compared to what he did as a job. But the fact that it was his first flight and he had no idea what to expect he did worry.
An older couple took the two chairs beside him, greeting him.
Matt didn't say much as he looked out of the window, staring as the plane pulled back from the gate and started making its way to take off.
Grabbing some chewing gum, he nervously sat back as the engines of the plane roared alive and the plane started speeding for takeoff.
Gripping into the armrest, he tried to be calm as the plane soared into the air.
''It's okay, all normal,'' the woman beside him suddenly smiled at him.
A bit embarrassed, he turned to the window.
It was so silly how hard this was, when he was running into burning buildings for a living. Looking out of the window, he looked as the plane went above the clouds and Chicago disappeared from view.
Later on the flight, as he had just had lunch, he leaned with his head against the side of the window, staring out into the clouds. He barely listened to the music from his headphones.
He started to feel more and more nervous, and in turn more nauseous. Just like the last few days, his stomach had been playing up and he was not sure if it was from sadness or nerves.
Only a few seconds later, his stomach turned around as the plane started to shake.
Getting up, he was quickly let out of the row as he darted to the back of the plane, making it to the bathroom right before he threw up lunch again.
He barely got a moment to catch his breath as there was a knock on the door, a flight attendant telling him to go back to his seat as they were expecting some turbulence.
Walking back to the row as the flight attendant told him to sit down, he was panting and his eyes were still tearing up. The couple let him into the row again and he sat down.
''First time flying?''
Concerned, the woman reached for the bag at her feet, taking out a pack of tissues.
''Yeah,'' Matt admitted as he thought it was sweet the woman, he didn't even know, was so concerned about him.
''Oh dear, hopefully you get to relax when you are on Puerto Rico,'' She smiled as she held out the pack to him.
''It's a long story,'' he said with a wry smile, grateful for the tissue that he had been given by the woman. He dried his eyes, his head hurting from throwing up and his eyes still tearing up.
'' I am visiting my wife – well, my ex. She left me, but I hope we are going to be okay. We've been through a lot the last few years,'' Matt said as he thought about all the tears they had shared. Shay's death, losing their child, losing Louie, Gabby's parents divorcing and all the problems they had had at work. Of course, there had been many happy moments as well, but thinking back about all of it their marriage almost seemed doomed to fail.
He felt a bit embarrassed telling some stranger all of this, but he felt relief as soon as he spilled it all out.
''She must be so happy to see you.''
''I hope so, she doesn't know I am coming,'' Matt admitted. Now that he was saying all of this out loud, he realized how bad it all sounded.
''You really love her, I can see that. I can't imagine that it is not the same for her,'' the woman smiled.
Matt just nodded, hoping that she was right about that.
In the hotel room, he put his stuff down. He was just glad that he had arrived now. The journey had not been easy, everything new for him. The flight had been bumpy, but he was grateful for the kindness the woman beside him had shown him. It had made it all a lot easier.
But the longer he was on the island, the more he started to doubt if he was doing the right thing.
It was dumb he was doing this, Gabby had no idea he was coming and he had no idea where she was. Sure, Puerto Rico wasn't that big of an island, but he knew that there was no way to find her.
He called Kelly to let him know that he had arrived, glad to not be looking at his phonescreen for 10 minutes in the hopes that Gabby would text him back. As soon as he hung up, that was his reality again though.
Checking his phone again, he saw that there was no message from Gabby. He knew that there was only a small chance that he would get a message, as he didn't have her new number.
Taking the flyer that she had shown him when she had talked about going, he sat down on the edge of the bed.
Turning it around, he read all the words as if he hadn't done that a thousand times over.
On the back he noticed the address of the hospital that would be helped and he knew it was a good place to start tomorrow.
Parking the rental car by the hospital, he took a second to get a hold of himself before he got out of the car.
He hadn't slept much, the idea that Gabby was probably not so far away from him made him want to get in his car and go see her straight away.
Nervous, he walked towards the hospital on the flyer. He was fumbling it up in his hands, too nervous to focus on anything else.
Walking inside, he looked for a desk where he could ask for her, not wanting to impede in any way.
As he got to the desk, there was nobody there. Sitting down on the bench against the wall, he sat for a few minutes, hoping that somebody would show up that he could ask if Gabby was here. Looking around once more, he got up, carefully walking to the large door just to the right of the desk.
Walking down the large hallway, he didn't have to look long.
There she was, standing in between two other nurses. She was wearing blue scrubs, her hair in a high ponytail and it was like nothing changed. She was just a beautiful as the day she had left.
He spotted her, leaning against a wall, talking to two other nurses. She laughing, looking vibrant. There was a smile on her face and her hair danced as she spoke and moved her head. Just like the first time she had walked into the firehouse, he thought that she was so incredibly beautiful. Every time he looked at her, he just seemed to fall in love more and more.
As hard as it was to see her, he was relieved that she was so happy. No matter how it would go once she would see him, didn't matter to him anymore. He was just happy to see that she was so happy.
Leaning against the wall, he just looked at her for a second, as he had no idea how to approach this. Looking at her, he started to doubt everything about himself, as well him coming here. She had left him and she had been done with his marriage. As sure as he had been before that he had done the right thing, he started to doubt more and more now. She seemed so happy here, and he was worried about ruining that.
More and more he had the feeling that he had done wrong by coming here. She was chasing her dreams and he felt like he might be ruining that for her now. He respected her so much and the last thing he wanted, was to get in-between her and her dreams.
He was so deep in thought, he hadn't even noticed that Gabby had seen him standing there, silent, turned into himself as he was in thoughts.
Looking up, she was walking his way, looking confused and surprised.
''Matt? What are you doing here?''
She didn't look upset, but concerned that he was suddenly here.
''Gabby, I am sorry, I just had to come and see you,'' He said as she stood in front of him, both of them now lost for words.
Well, he is on Puerto Rico and he has found her! I hope you enjoyed this chapter once again and hopefully until the next. Thank you for all your responses!