Chapter 2
Silence reigned over the inside of the ambulance as the sirens on the outside continued to blare loudly.
"Do you wanna talk about it?" Shay asked with a sigh a few minutes later when the quietness got too much for her to bear. Gabby shook her head stubbornly, not even looking at Shay but the road ahead. Shay sighed again while muttering a sarcastic 'alright'. When they reached the location of the call they immediately got to work checking the vitals of the elderly man who took a nasty fall before loading him into the back of the ambulance and driving him to Chicago Med to get him checked out.
After the paperwork was filled out, they headed back to the firehouse. Gabby not wanting to answer any questions about her unexpected visitor from earlier. She was too pre-occupied rubbing her eyes from exhaustion to notice the unmarked cop car parked on the road opposite the firehouse when they pulled in.
Gabby jumped out of the ambulance first with Shay trailing a few feet behind before Gabby stopped in her tracks at seeing the man dressed in a leather jacket standing in the lobby of the firehouse, waiting for her. Gabby internally groaned at seeing her brother waiting for her and an anger was building inside of her at the betrayal of people that she thought of as family.
Antonio never said a word but gestured his index finger for her to come forward before leading her into the conference room. Shay shot them a glance before continuing into the common room and silently taking a seat at the long table, the rest of the people in the common room unusually quiet as they waited for the siblings to talk.
As soon as Gabby passed through the double doors of the conference room, Antonio slammed the doors shut with considerable force, letting Gabby know exactly what mood he was in.
"So I got an interesting call earlier," Antonio started as he walked over to the table and pulled out a chair and then gestured for Gabby to sit on it.
"Oh yeah? who was it?" Gabby replied in a voice laced with anger while she walked over to take the seat offered by her brother. Antonio ignored her question and continued to stare at her from a few feet away, still standing up. Gabby felt like one of Antonio's criminals in interrogation with the way he was staring at her.
"Normally I don't care who visits you but now imagine my surprise when I heard that your visitor was a young Hispanic male gangbanger," Antonio said, barely suppressing the anger he felt.
"You know a name does come to mind when I think about Hispanic male gangbangers," Antonio continued with sarcasm as he paced in front of me. I raised one of my eyebrows while looking at my brother, not impressed with his little act.
"So what I want to know Gabriela is... Why the fuck is Leo Santiago visiting you?!" Antonio started off calmly before dropping the act and shouted the question loud enough for the entire firehouse to hear.
"You might have a problem with Leo but I do not! He needs help!" Gabby answered immediately back with anger in her voice also, not at all scared of her brother's anger that started boiling over.
"Help?" Antonio rhetorically asked while letting out a disbelieving chuckle as he rubbed his forehead in aggravation.
"Here's a newsflash Gabby, you're not helping him! He's just dragging you down into the gutter with him." Antonio said loudly as he tried to get through to his stubborn sister.
"He's not! If I won't help him who would huh?" Gabby fiery shot back as she got up from her chair, tired of being the criminal in Antonio's game of cops and robbers.
"I tried to help him, years ago! And look where he is now huh? He's one of the highest ranking members of the Latin Kings!" Antonio shouted back, pulling at his hair in frustration.
"I know who he is! But despite that he's still family!" Gabby yelled back.
"He's NOT FAMILY!" Antonio completely lost it, kicking a chair over to vent his anger and what his sister had just said. Gabby jumped back at the sudden rage that filled Antonio's eyes as he yelled loud enough for even the people on the street to hear. Gabby decided to shut her mouth as she could see that there was no getting through to Antonio when he's this worked up. A few minutes passed as the siblings just looked at each other in silence, trying to understand why the other won't just back down but unfortunately those words were not in the Dawson dictionary.
Gabby thought that the people in the common room must think that they've killed each other by how silent the room they were in just got.
"If you want to help Leo, then fine you do that, but do NOT come crying to me when he disappoints you like I know he will." Antonio said in a much quieter calmer voice after a few minutes. Gabby attempted to say something but Antonio just held up his hand, not wanting to hear anymore words coming from Gabby's mouth. Antonio soon brushed past Gabby to get to the door and left without saying anything else. Gabby stared after him for a few seconds longer before letting loose a groan and proceeded to kick a nearby chair over in frustration at the situation.
Gabby took a few minutes to take deep breaths in an attempt to calm down before remembering that someone at the house went behind her back and called her brother and that this whole confrontation is their fault. Gabby narrowed her eyes in anger before storming out of the conference room, down the corridor and into the common room where she found all of 51. Her presence quieting down the few conversations that were taking place inside the room.
"So which one of you or ones of you thought that it would be a good idea to call my brother?" Gabby asked in a low voice, barely controlling her anger and hurt as she crossed her arms over her chest, resisting the urge to punch something.
"We were just a little concerned-" Cruz started to talk but Gabby held her hand up, hearing enough.
"Why don't everyone mind their own fucking business hmm?" Gabby said in a louder tone as she clenched her hands that rested in the creases of each elbow. Everyone was dead silent as they stared at Gabby in shock, knowing that she rarely swore at all.
"Clearly there's a loyalty problem here, since you guys thought you could go behind my back and talk to my brother about who I'm speaking with!" Gabby shouted, not impressed with what she thought happened.
"Leave them alone, It was me that called your brother." Mills interjected, standing behind the cooker in the kitchen. Gabby let out a small chuckle in disbelief.
"Oh that's even worse, now I have my boyfriend spying on me for my brother." Gabby angrily snapped, trying to keep the rage back.
"It wasn't like that! I was just concerned-" Mills replied quickly, trying to calm Gabby down but Gabby wasn't having any of it.
"About what? Cause he's a gangbanger? He didn't do anything to you! He wasn't rude to you was he? He wasn't aggressive in any way was he? He didn't so much as swear at you!" Gabby cut off Mills before he could fully justify his reasons.
"He's in the Latin Kings Gabby!" Cruz interjected, trying to justify their concern but Gabby didn't care.
"For Fuck's sake I know!" Gabby shouted in exasperation. Just before Gabby was about to talk again, everyone's eyes focused on a figure standing behind her. Gabby turned round to see Chief Boden looking at Gabby unhappily, probably hearing the screaming match all the way from his office.
"Dawson take this shift off." Chief Boden demanded in a non-nonsense voice as he stared into the unhappy eyes of his PIC who was a hot head undoubtedly but he could definitely say that he has never seen her like this before.
"Gladly," Dawson replied while turning round to take one last look at the guilty face of Mills and the other faces of the rest of the house who didn't want to look her in the eye except Casey who was frowning at Gabby in concern but Gabby just brushed it off.
"I have some business to attend to." Gabby threw over her shoulder as she walked out of the common room and down the corridor to collect her bag from her locker, not even bothering to get changed into her other clothes as she rushed to leave the one place she thought she could always rely on. She hurriedly walked back down the corridor, not sparing the common room a glance as she travelled past it, also ignoring the calls of her name by Mills. Gabby didn't even slow down when she got to her car, she quickly put it into gear and pulled away fast, causing her tyres to squeal in protest.
It wasn't till later that night, when she was a six pack of beer in, did someone knock on her door. Gabby groaned, at the thought of getting up off the couch and of the thought that it was someone that she would have to talk to. She carefully manoeuvred herself off the couch and unsteadily walked towards the door, unceremoniously flinging it open so that she could lean against its side. Gabby looked at the figure in surprise.
"What are you doing here?"