Hi Guys! I'm here with another chapter! Thank you so much for all of your amazing reviews, it made me write so much faster! I just want to adress a few comments so you guys can guess where this story is going.

This is definitely going to be a longer story, I don't know how long yet, as I'm posting while writing.

Someone asked how Brett could be happy to see Gabby, as she betrayed her badly. I absolutely agree with you there, still I feel like that was the response Gabby expected from Sylvie and she would have known something was up.

I wanted to address the conflict of Brett and Casey being together, that's why they are still together in this story. One thing that has bothered me for a long time is that Gabby and Matt only started dating after Hallie died, like she was some kind of backup. I hated how Matt kept going back to Hallie and turned Gabby down, I always wanted him to CHOOSE Gabby. So I want Matt to choose Gabby this time.

I don't hate Brett, I liked her when Gabby was still on the show, I dislike her for being with Matt and honestly can't even watch their scenes without cringing. She's not going to be the villain of this story though.

Also there is a little surprise mention at the end, I would love to know how you feel about it.

If you want to get some updates on when to expect new chapters, you can follow my twitter believer0077.

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 2

The evening was coming to an end as it was nearing closing time and Gabby had to admit, despite Matt's showing up, it was the most fun she had had in a while. Matt was still sitting next to her, the group chatting as if Gabby was never gone. They hadn't talked directly to each other, but overall, things felt pretty normal, all things considered.

"Well thanks guys. This was fun but I should be heading home." Gabby said, getting up from her seat at the bar. Brett knew it was now or never.

"I'm gonna head out with you." She said, They both said their goodbyes, heading for the door. When they were outside, Brett cleared her throat.

"Gabby, can I talk to you for a second?" she asked timidly.

"Yeah, sure…" Gabby replied. She was slightly tipsy but she still didn't miss the nervous tone in Brett's voice.

"So… I don't really know how to say this." Sylvie started, feeling Gabby's puzzled glance on her. "I want you to know, I didn't make this decision lightly… But Matt and I… were seeing each other…"

Gabby's mind started spinning. "You and Matt…" she whispered and felt the strong urge to throw up. How long has that been going on? Did Matt cheat on her? Did everyone know and just pretend nothing was up? A million other questions shot into her head but her throat felt like it wanted to close up.

"Gabby, please say something?" Sylvie begged. "I'm so sorry, it sort of just happened. I've been…"

"How long?" Gabby finally cracked, interrupting her mid-sentence.

"Almost a year now." Brett replied and Gabby just continued staring into the distance. Her mind was racing. Sylvie had been her best friend for years, after Shay died, she had quickly become her rock. She was feeling beyond betrayed, never in a million years had she expected Brett of all people to make a move on her ex-husband.

"You were my best friend." Gabby wanted to cry but she was trying her hardest not to. She didn't want to show any weakness in front of Brett, not after what she had just told her.

"Gabby, I'm so sorry. I really didn't mean to hurt you. Please, you have to believe me." Sylvie begged.

Gabby didn't know how to feel. She hadn't really kept in close contact with Brett, their contact limited to texts and the occasional phone call. They're friendship surely wasn't as strong as it was when they were seeing each other almost every day at work. But Brett and been there the day they had gotten married for crying out loud. She was right there cheering for them, holding Louis in her arms like she was actually happy for them. She'd been there all through her relationship with Matt. And now she was his girlfriend? She couldn't help feeling betrayed but also couldn't fight the feeling she could have prevented this, had she just been a better friend and made more of an effort to stay in touch.

It was hard for her to believe that Brett just happened to start developing feelings for her ex-husband after she was finally gone.

"I don't know what to say, I need to get out of here…" Gabby said, just wanting to get away, get a chance to clear her head.

"Gabby please, I'm so sorry…" Brett begged, tears filling her eyes. Gabby really didn't want to hear any more of this. Now suddenly as she was back, Brett started being sorry, after messing around with her ex-husband for a year, without having the decency of at least letting her know.

"Look Brett, I don't want to hear any of this. Do what you want, you obviously haven't felt sorry this past year, so don't start now on my account. I wish you a nice life." Gabby said, looking her former best friend right in the eye. Her eyes were hard, while Sylvie looked like she was about to burst into tears.

It didn't matter now. Brett had made her choice and now she had to live with it. What did she expect to happen if Gabby ever found out? She couldn't be so naive as to believe that Gabby would just be happy for them and continue being her best friend after basically being lied to for a year. Gabby might have even been happy for Sylvie, had she been honest with her from the beginning. She wasn't a monster, she had always wanted to see both Matt and Sylvie happy, even if that meant seeing her ex-husband with her best friend. What Gabby didn't appreciate was being kept in the dark because she wasn't right there to witness it.

Lucky for her, her Uber pulled up a few moments later. She got in wordlessly, giving Brett one last look. Brett looked after the car sadly, unsure if she could ever fix their friendship.

Matt saw Sylvie re-entering the bar, wearing a sad look on her face. She came up to him, answering the question she knew he was going to ask.

"I told her." Sylvie said.

"How did she take it?" Matt asked.

"I think you already know the answer to that." Sylvie replied.

It was true, Matt did know Gabby was never going to take this well. He should have told her sooner. He knew he should have called her the second it happened. She could have hated him then, but at least she would have been in the loop.

Lately he wasn't even sure he should have gone for the relationship with Brett. He just didn't miss her the way he expected to. It was nothing compared to the way he missed Gabby for months after she went to Puerto Rico. And now with her back in Chicago, he just wasn't sure he should even be with Brett anymore.

He also knew he wasn't thinking rationally right now and that was a conversation to be had another time.

"I'm gonna go home." Sylvie interrupted his thoughts. "Are you staying with me?"

"I think I'm just going to get a hotel for tonight," he replied. "Sorry, I just need to clear my head. This has been a lot."

"Yes, it's fine, I get it." Sylvie said harshly. She gave Matt a quick peck on the cheek, turned around and left.

"Damn, that is some mess you got yourself into here." Herrmann commented.

"Yeah, I know, thanks Herrmann." Matt said, gritting his teeth. "I'm just gonna go. I'll swing by the firehouse tomorrow." The guys said their goodbyes and Matt headed out, calling a cab and directing it to a hotel he had stayed at once or twice before.

Once he was checked in he looked at his phone, contemplating what to do next. Should he call her, or should he just wait until morning. Considering she left not too long before him, he was almost certain she wasn't sleeping yet. He decided he was just going to try, so he unlocked the phone and dialed the familiar number he had only called a few times in the last couple of years.

Gabby stared at her phone for a long while after it started ringing and she saw Matt's contact show up on the display. A couple of days ago she would have probably been happy about a call from him, but now, she didn't know if she could handle talking to him.

She had gotten to Antonio's apartment about an hour ago, glad her brother seemed to already be asleep. Quietly, she had made her way to the guest room to gather some clothes and went into the bathroom to take a shower.

She had been lying in bed for a good while now, not able to make her head shut up, way too worked up to even think about sleep yet.

He was about to hang up when she answered his call at last.

"Hello Matt." she said simply.

"Gabby, hey. I didn't think you'd actually answer."

"Well, here I am. What's up?" Gabby asked harshly.

"How are you doing?" he asked.

"I'm fine. You can do whatever you want, we haven't been married in a long time, Matt." she told him, the hurt in her voice still very obvious to Matt.

"I still don't want you to be hurt." Matt revealed.

"Well I'm not. So carry on." It was obvious she was lying, you didn't have to know Gabby as well as Matt did to figure that out, but he knew she was stubborn and would never admit it.

"Look, why don't we catch up over breakfast tomorrow." Matt offered.

"I don't think that's a good idea."

"Oh, come on. It's just breakfast. I just wanna know what's going on in your life."

"Okay, fine." Gabby agreed reluctantly and they agreed on time and place before hanging up.

It still took her a while to fall asleep, mind still racing, so when she woke up the next morning, it felt like she hadn't slept at all. Damn her for agreeing to meet Casey. She definitely still had a very soft spot for her ex-husband.

It wasn't even that she was mad at Matt. Surprisingly, she really wasn't. It was Brett she was mad at. For Matt, Sylvie had just been a person he knew and hung out with because she was friends with Gabby when they were together. Sylvie on the other hand was the person she confined to when things got hard in their marriage.

Sighing, she got up and went to get ready. First order of business was to brew some coffee, because after the night she had, there was no way she'd get to the diner in one piece without any caffeine in her system. She put on some light makeup, hoping it would conceal her dark circles and tired eyes at least a little bit.

It wasn't a long drive to the familiar diner, they had been here countless times before and during their marriage. When she walked up to the diner after parking her car, she saw Matt already waiting for her in front of the building, hands stuffed in his jacket pocket. His mouth twisted into a nervous smile when he spotted her.

"Hey." he greeted her nervously. "Thanks for coming."

"Sure, no problem." she murmured as they made their way inside, sitting down in one of the booths at the window.

"So, how have you been? How are Ben and Griffin?" Gabby asked once they were settled in and had ordered coffee and some food.

"Well, they are doing better now. I think Griffin is glad I'm there and Ben is starting to open up a lot more. When I first visited them, Gabby you can't even imagine. The place was an absolut dump, Ben was skipping school, and doing god knows what…" Matt explained. "Well as for me… I guess I'm still adjusting. I never lived anywhere outside Chicago and Oregon is a lot slower. But I had no choice, they would have ended up in seperate foster homes had I not agreed to be their guardian."

"Well that's very noble of you. What happened to Heather?"

"She's back in prison. Another DUI. She won't be out for a while."Matt sighed. Heather never recovered from losing her husband, and he still felt responsible for Andy's death. "So, what about you? What have you been up to? And why did you move back?"

"Well, I just graduated med school actually." Matt almost choked on his coffee, his eyes widening. He had thought the medical school topic was off the table for good when she went to the academy. "Anyway, I'm still figuring out where I wanna do my residency, and with Antonio back here, I figured I wanted to be closer to my family again."

"Wow, congratulations." Matt smiled sincerely. "I always knew you had it in you."

They were both hit with a wave of nostalgia, thinking back to the times after they had just met. She was dead set on becoming a doctor, but eventually had to abandon that dream and went to fire academy instead. She was one hell of a firefighter, but Matt knew, this was what her heart was set on.

"Thanks." Gabby grinned.

"So you wanna talk about what Sylvie told you yesterday?" Gabby's grin fell off her face immediately.

"I really don't." Gabby spat. "I'd rather you spare me the details."

"Okay well, I just want you to know, we didn't do this to hurt you. Not that it undoes anything, but it's actually not going too well and I'm considering ending things with her. I actually came back to see if there was still a point… But I guess now I have other things on my mind."

"Look Matt, I really don't want to talk about this. But you moved on, it's fine. We've been divorced for years. You can date whoever you want."

"It's not that simple for me anymore, Gabby."

"Well, it should be." Matt knew he should be over her. He thought he was. Seeing her here proved he wasn't. All he really wanted to do is pull her in and kiss her right there. He knew he couldn't but he still couldn't fight the feeling.

"Well, it should be." Gabby said, knowing the words would sting. They did, they stung her, too. She would never admit it to him, but when she came back for the fundraiser, it was entirely to see him and she came hoping they could patch things up. He had hurt her by not calling after and leaving without a word.

"I missed you. Up until yesterday, I missed you. Gabby, you were not only my wife, but we were friends long before that, and I still miss my friend. I wanna be your friend, if you let me…"

"Matt, I'm not sure that's a good idea…" Gabby said. There were just too many feelings left on her part and the last thing she wanted to do was Matt and Sylvie together.

"Please Gabby."

"You're not gonna leave me alone until I say yes anyway, won't you?"

"Not a chance." he grinned.

"Okay fine, friends." she sighed.

They moved on to some lighter conversation while finishing up their breakfast.

It was nearing noon, they had finished eating a while ago, settling for a few refills of coffee. Matt checked his watch.

"I should get going. I promised to swing by the house today." he said.

"Oh." Gabby said, a little disappointed when a thought popped into her head. "Well, friend, what do you think about picking up some food for the guys, and I'll cook some lunch at the house." she said with an evil grin, she knew he hated grocery shopping.

"Okay, sure, let's do it." he agreed. 'Wow' Gabby thought, 'he must have really meant what he said'.

They started heading for Gabby's car, she was endlessly glad Antonio had been able to get it for her so quickly. He had secured the deal before she even set foot on American soil again, thrilled to have his little sister back.

They pulled into the nearest Walmart, Gabby making Matt get a bunch of stuff while he was complaining playfully. It was almost scary to see how quickly they were falling back into a routine. It was still fragile, but it was definitely there.

When they reached the firehouse Gabby stopped for a second. "You wanna go in first?" she asked.

"Why would I do that?" Matt asked, confused.

"Well your girlfriend is in there and you wouldn't want to make her jealous?" Gabby offered.

"Don't be ridiculous. We're friends. She can get used to the thought." Matt said. "Besides, there's way too many bags and if we both come in with some of them, they'll just think we're hiding something."

He did have a point with that.

"Okay then let's go." Gabby said, opening the car door and helpling Matt get the bags out of the trunk, carrying them towards the firehouse.

The squad guys roared and clapped when they saw Gabby and Matt enter the garage with Walmart bags in their hands. All companies were parked in the garage.

"It's a good day when Gabriela Dawson brings the food." Cruz said, padding her shoulder playfully. The group walked into the common room, where they were greeted by the rest of the house. Stella shot Gabby a suspicious look, raising her eyebrows, looking between her and Casey before getting up and giving her friend a hug. "Hey girl!" she squealed. "Didn't expect you back so soon."

"Well, I thought I'd feed the hungry bunch with some decent food." Gabby grinned.

"And I see you've recruited a helping hand, too." Severide laughed.

Gabby quickly went to work, the common room filling with some delicious smells while Matt went off to a quiet corner with Brett.

"So girl, what was that about?" Stella asked when Brett and Casey had disappeared.

"Nothing. We were just catching up."

"Okay, well he looked cheerful." Stella stated.

"I guess."Gabby just murmured, checking on the chicken in the oven while adding the spaghetti to the now boiling water. She sat down at the table, setting a timer for the pasta on her phone.

10 minutes later, dinner was ready, and everyone was gathering to get their plates filled.

"So, what are we having?" Kelly asked.

"Special Chicken Parmesan recipe. Mills told me to make it for all of you when I'm back." Gabby revealed and the heads of all those who remembered Peter Mills turned towards her, while the newer members of firehouse 51 just looked confused.

"You're still talking to Mills?" Herrmann asked, surprised. As time went by, contact with Mills had become scarce, him seemingly finally moving on with his life in his new home.

"Well, yeah. We're good friends actually." Gabby said, catching the suspicious look Herrmann was giving her. "Not like that Herrmann. He's actually married and has an adorable little daughter now. I'm her godmother actually." she added proudly.

For a while, she had considered moving to North Carolina, having liked the place on the few occasions she was visiting. She had ultimately decided against it, wanting to be home and closer to her own family after all those years apart.

That revelation had shocked Matt. She'd left out that detail, when they were catching up earlier. He'd assumed she hadn't talked to her ex-boyfriend in years. She had never mentioned him when they were together. A pang of jealousy hit him, thinking about Gabby and Mills together. It hurt, knowing she had been talking to Mills all this time, while they stopped talking almost completely after the divorce.

His eyes were fixed on Gabby when they all sat down to eat. He tried to conceal his jealousy but didn't succeed as Sylvie caught the look he was giving Gabby.

Thoughts?