"Hey, how was work?" Gabby greeted her boyfriend. "It was good, how has your day been?" It's been okay, got some laundry and cleaning done." She replied rather unenthusiastically. "Gabby…" He responded softly. "What?" Gabby replied back in a harsh yet confused tone. "We should talk."
"There's nothing to talk about, Matt." Gabby practically yelled out. "Yes there is. When we talk you can barely look at me and when I tell you I love you, I get no response! For this to work you need to talk to me. I know I hurt you. Brett and I both did, it's not just going to go away because you don't want to talk about it!" "Fine! You wanna talk? You wanna know how I'm feeling?" I'll tell you exactly how I feel if that's what you really want." Gabby answered sharply. "Yes I do!" Casey yelled back. "Fine! How do you think I feel? You were fucking my best friend and you didn't even stop for one second to think how that would effect me when I found out. I mean you're a man, so I guess I understand how you wouldn't give two shits about girl code, but I mean come on, Matt! It's common sense, a best friend doesn't go off and screw, let alone date their best friend's ex husband." Gabby yelled. "I'm sorry if I didn't ask permission before I went off and dated other people after YOU left and YOU gave up on us!" Matt yelled back. Gabby couldn't believe he just said that to her. He knows she didn't just leave because she didn't want to be with him anymore. He didn't even see what she was suffering through leading up to her going off to Puerto Rico to help with aid relief. "I gave up on us?! Gabby questioned. "Yes! Yes you did. You just left and gave up on us at the first sign of complication. When you found out you weren't able to have children, you ran. When I gave you the idea to adopt, you shut me down. When I tried to explain how I felt about losing the love of my life to something that could be avoided, you still shut me down and decided on YOUR own without us discussing it that you wanted to take the risk. You did exactly what you did with Louie and Bria when it came to the next step in us building a family. You went off on your own and decided what was best for you, not us!" His anger only intensified as he spoke further. "Do you remember what you said to me when you proposed for the first time, at Boden's wedding?" Gabby asked. "Yes, I said you were the strongest, most single-minded woman I knew and that I was a lucky man to have you in my life, which is still true by the way." He said, his voice actually starting to calm down a bit. "If that were still true, you wouldn't still be holding the Louie and Bria situations against me! We're supposed to be moving forward and working things out, not picking back up where we last ended. We're exactly where we were a few years back soon before the divorce. I was willing to risk my life for you to get what you always wanted, a family! I mean do you even know how it feels to not be able to give the person you love the most the one thing they've always wanted in life?" Matt just stood there, having no idea how to answer. "Exactly! You don't understand. You also clearly don't understand how gut wrenching it was for me and still is after losing Louie." Gabby replied rather harshly. "Gabby, how can you even say that?" "Of course I understood and I still do. I think about Louie every damn day, I've never forgotten about him. Also look you're right, Gabby's eyebrows furrowed at his latest words, "I am holding that against you, but I'm really trying not to. I'll never not love that about you. Hell, it's part of the many reasons I fell in love with you in the first place. I'm sorry to keep bringing those situations up, it's wrong and I'm sorry." Gabby nodded understandably. "And I'm sorry too. I would never want to hold you back from being happy. I knew when I left and we divorced, that you were going to move on at some point and I really wanted that for you, because as long as you're happy that's all that matters to me, that's all that ever mattered and always will. I just never ever thought in a million years that the one person who was going to do that for you was my best friend. It wasn't a shock when I knew you had moved on, I just didn't expect that's who the moving on would be with. Maybe that's selfish of me, but I can't help it." Casey looked at her with those shiny blue eyes she fell in love with all those years ago. "I know and I'm truly sorry. If I'm being honest I didn't even mean for it to go so far with Sylvie. I mean we made a clear connection after you left and got around to becoming pretty good friends. Then it turned into more. Did I love her? Maybe. But one thing I know now, is that I love you and it's always been that way, that has never and will never change." "I feel the same way. Look I'm really sorry about these last couple weeks, you're right about everything. I'm trying really hard, I am, but I just can't stop thinking that if I just wouldn't have left, would all this be happening right now? That doesn't matter anymore because there's just one thing I'm certain of and that is, I love you." Gabby finished off with a smile. Matt couldn't help but fall in love with her all over again. This was the first time since they got back together that she had told him she loved him and he couldn't be happier. "I love you so much, now come here." They both took the necessary steps forward, Gabby leaning into his embrace the moment they closed the space between them. "Do you forgive me?" Casey questioned half jokingly. "Of course I do, I could never stay mad at you for long, I love you too damn much." Casey smiled once more as he leaned in to place a kiss on Gabby's head. They just stood there holding each other as the night went on.
It had been about a week since Gabby and Matt had a long awaited chat and were able to properly move on from their rocky past. They loved each other and they didn't get this new chance for nothing so once they were able to work it out, it was truly a breath of fresh air. Casey and Gabby had a good and busy weekend with the Darden boys. It was nearing Halloween so they decided to go out and get some decorations since there wasn't much there in storage, they also decided to get some pumpkins to carve and put around the house as Halloween neared. Now that that was over, it was time for Matt to go back to work and the boys to go back to school. While the boys were all at work or school, Gabby had some time alone for the afternoon. They started to put up the decorations Sunday afternoon, but after getting back from the rest of their errands a little too late they didn't get very far before calling it a night. Since the weather was near 75 she decided it was the perfect opportunity to get some of the outside decorations up. They had some orange, purple, and black string lights that she decided to wait on Matt to be home to help her because some of the areas they were putting the lights on required a ladder and Casey didn't want his girlfriend to be up that high. She started off with putting a mix of regular pumpkins and fake ones of all different sizes throughout the yard and the sides of the garage and house. She also put some hay barrels in the empty spaces where pumpkins were not.
She went on with this for about two hours before getting hungry, so she headed inside to make herself a quick sandwich and after she did some laundry she decided it was time to make dinner since Casey would be arriving home shortly after the boys do. She decided to make her absolute favorite dish to make, her very own arroz con pollo picante, a dish Casey had grown to like over the years. They decided last week to do a week of carryout so she thought she would make his favorite for the first home cooked meal they had in a while. Once she prepped all the ingredients and started to heat up the stove, she started to put the dish together. It takes her about two hours to put it all together and extra time to cool down before it's ready to eat. When she started to make the first batch, Ben came home from school. "Hey Ben." Gabby greeted him as he came in. "Ooh, that smells so good, what is that Gabby?" "It's Matt's favorite, arroz con pollo picante." "I do not know how to spell or say that, but one thing I do know is that smells soo good." Ben replied. "That's basically what Matt said the first time I made it for him. You want to hear the story behind that, it's a good one?" "Yeah that'd be nice." "Okay so about 10 years back I needed to get a window in my apartment fixed, and keep in mind this was when I had a huge crush on Casey, they both let out a laugh as they were reminded of those days many years ago, "so I was super scared to ask him myself right, so Shay knowing that Casey was good at that stuff and how I felt about him she ran her big mouth, Gabby biting back a laugh as she spoke of her late best friend, "and ended up telling him about my window. He came up to me during shift and offered to help me out. So long story short he comes over and I made him my dish the one I'm currently making for us now, we ate together and just had such a great time, as always. So yeah that's how we came around to him trying said dish." Gabby finished off with a wide smile as those amazing memories flooded her brain. "Well thanks for sharing, seems like a great time." "That it was." She finished off with a smile. "I have some homework, do I have time to get started before dinner is ready? When will Matt be home?" Ben asked Gabby. "Of course you do, he should be home soon he'll text me when he's close to done." Matt ended up taking a construction job mid shift so he was able to get a relief captain while he got a head start on that, his first major project. He was offered a job to fix up one of his firefighter's sisters backyard, a job that would take some extra time compared to normal, so he wanted a head start. That's how he was able to come home for dinner instead of breakfast in the morning. "Okay just call for me when it's ready, thank you for cooking Gabby." Ben said with a smile. "Always Ben."
Ben went upstairs to get some homework done and it was time for Gabby to start the next step of making their dinner. About 20 minutes later, the garage door opened as Griffin was returning home from his final class of the day. "Hey Gabby!" Griffin greeted as she came into his sights. "Hey bud, how was school?" It was great, glad it's over though, just a reminder I have no in person classes tomorrow, just one online." "I remember, thanks for letting me know." It was no secret Griffin and Gabby had a great relationship. Ben loves her too, but it's so obvious that Griffin has a slightly better understanding of both Matt and Gabby, but Ben has been opening up to them more and more as time goes on. "Is Matt going to be home soon?" "Yes he should be calling me soon to let me know he's on his way." Gabby responded softly with a smile. Griffin took a seat on the love chair and proceeded to pull out his phone.
Gabby's phone started to ring in her back pocket and she went for it right away assuming it was Matt. When she flipped it over it was in fact her boyfriend calling. "Hey baby, I was expecting your call." "I'm glad, I wanted to let you know I just finished for the night and I'll be home in about 20 minutes." "Sounds great, I have a surprise meal for you when you return." "Oh, do you now?" "I do, just you wait." "I can't wait, I love you." "I love you too now be safe and hurry home I miss you." Casey smiled at her response. "I miss you too, see you soon!" They hung up the phone, Gabby wanting to make sure she wasn't distracting him while he was driving in the dark.
"Hey I'm home." Casey walked in and called out as he entered their kitchen after putting his coat and keys away. "Oh hey." Gabby greeted him as she grabbed his shift bag from him, Casey pulling his girlfriend in for a quick kiss. "Hey Matt." Griffin greeted him as he got up from his seat to start setting up the table as he noticed dinner would be ready shortly, wanting to help out. "After you do that Griffin, can you go upstairs and get your brother?" Gabby asked him. "Yeah for sure." "Great thanks for setting the table for me." "It's not a problem." Griffin replied softly. "Thanks Griffin." Casey also thanked him for setting the table. "Wanna test it out babe, see if it's spicy enough?" "You know I would." Casey answered with a chuckle. "So?" "It's wonderful baby, like always." As Casey wiped the corners of his mouth he gave Gabby a quick kiss on the forehead before walking to the fridge for two beers. "Here you go." "Thank you, cheers."
Oh babe, before I forget." Matt started. "Mm?" "You know how we talked the other day about a possible opening for the pic position back at the firehouse?" "Yes I do." Gabby answered. "Well, it's yours… if you want it."
There's another one! I'm so sorry it took me so long to update, I've had a busy month, but I had sometime this weekend so I decided to finish it off. Matt and Gabby had a much needed and long awaited conversation. Now that they had that they can finally get started on their new chance. Now that Gabby has had one main conversation with each of her boys, you should be reading more group conversations throughout the story. I hope ya'll enjoy, thanks for reading! Review, review, review!