Thank you so much for the feedback on the first chapter! I'm glad you all are interested in this story and I hope you all continue to enjoy it.

Before getting into the chapter, there's one thing I want to address. I got a review concerned that this was going to be an anti-Gabby story and I just wanted to clarify that this story is in no way that. Gabby is and will forever be my favorite character, I love her more than anything. Matt's point of view is the only thing we've seen and he's upset and angry over her leaving, which is why some things may seem harsh towards Gabby's character, but believe me this is a Dawsey story and I could never write anything that's anti-Gabby.

Hope you enjoy chapter two!

Chapter Two

"Severide? I need to talk to you… About Gabby."

A lump formed in Kelly's throat as the words sunk in, his mouth seemingly going dry the second he heard the voice on the other end of the line. He glanced around the locker room, trying to make sure no one else was around. He had no idea why they'd called him about Gabby, but he was sure he didn't want anyone else hearing this conversation.

"Severide?... Kelly, are you there?" Clearing his throat, Kelly hurriedly walked out of the locker room, intent on getting to his office.

"Uh, yeah. Hold on." Kelly found his voice as he walked through the halls of Firehouse 51.

"Are you on shift? If this is a bad time-"

"No, no it's okay." Kelly told him, turning the corner into the bunk room. He silently cursed as he saw Casey leaving his office, the blonde noticing his friend immediately.

"Aren't you getting lunch?" Matt asked him, starting his walk across the large room.

"Yeah, in a second. Just gotta take this real quick." Severide spoke, pointing to the phone up to his ear. Matt gave him an understanding nod, leaving the bunk room as Kelly slipped into his office, shutting the door behind him.

"Was that Casey?"

"Um, yeah." There was a beat of silence between the two men. "Is there a reason you called me and not him, Antonio?"

"Me trying to have a conversation with him would get nowhere. If my last conversation with him was any indication, the only person he might hate more than me is Gabby." Antonio spoke bitterly, Kelly blowing out a breath.

"You know he doesn't hate her. If he hated her, this wouldn't be affecting him so much." Kelly tried to defend his friend, but he also knew talking about Casey was not why Antonio called him.

"So...you wanted to talk about Dawson?"

"Yeah… I know you were probably surprised I called you, and I wouldn't have if it wasn't important." Kelly's interest piqued as he listened to Antonio's words. "I don't want to keep you long, but I just need to know if you've heard from Gabby recently."

Kelly's eyebrows furrowed as he processed Antonio's words. Gabby hadn't kept in touch with any of them, surely Antonio knew that, so him asking now was strange.

"Or do you know if Casey's heard from her?" Antonio asked when Kelly remained silent.

"Uh, I haven't heard from her, not since before she left. And I don't know if Casey's heard from her, I'd assume he hasn't though."

"Do you know if anyone else has heard from her? Brett? Or Kidd, maybe?"

"I don't know, Antonio. But I wouldn't count on it. She pretty much cut ties with all of us. Casey was the only one she talked to once she first left, and I don't know the last time they spoke." Kelly didn't know why this was so important to Antonio, surely if anyone would have the easiest time reaching her, it would be him.

"Could you please ask Matt when he spoke to her last?"

"Antonio-"

"It's important Severide." The sudden urgency in Antonio's words caught him off guard. Kelly remained silent for a few moments, waiting to see if Antonio would give him any insight as to why this was so important, but the other man remained just as quiet.

"What's going on, Antonio? Why do you want to know if anyone has heard from Gabby?"

Antonio blew out a sigh from the other end of the line, Severide sensing the hesitation coming from him.

"Nothing's going on, I just would appreciate if you could ask Casey if he's heard from her." Antonio spoke lamely.

"Something's obviously going on, Antonio-"

"Thanks Kelly."

"Antonio-" He was cut off by beeping, Kelly huffing out a frustrated sigh as he pulled his phone away from his ear, tossing it onto his bed.

He ran his hands over his face, a million thoughts racing through his mind. Something had to be wrong, right? Why else would Antonio come to him, insistent on him finding out if Casey had heard from her? Kelly had heard from Matt months ago, shortly after Gabby left for good, that the only other person in Chicago that Gabby kept in touch with, aside from Casey, was Antonio. And if the bitterness in his friend's voice was any indication, the conversations between the brother and sister happened much more frequently than those between the former couple. So surely there had to be a reason behind Antonio seeking him out for information about Gabby, he just wished he knew what that reason was.

Kelly stepped out of the bathroom, rubbing his tired eyes as he headed towards his office. The entire house had just gotten back from a long call, one that had them fighting a warehouse fire for nearly five hours. The building was a powderkeg, one that claimed many lives as 51 and other houses did all they could. It was one of those calls that Kelly wished he could just forget the moment they left it, although he was sure what he saw today would stick with him for awhile.

Now that they were back and he had spent the past ten minutes scrubbing the soot from his face, all he wanted was a well deserved nap. And he was intent on getting one.

Kelly swung the door open to the bunkroom, slowing down his steps towards his own office when he looked up and saw Casey in his. The conversation hours ago with Antonio was suddenly at the forefront of his mind. Mere moments after Antonio hung up on him was when the house got called out, so he hadn't gotten the chance to speak with Matt yet. And truthfully, he had no idea what to say.

He had seen what Gabby leaving had done to Casey, how broken his friend had been since she left. The topic was a sensitive one, and for that reason Kelly never brought her up, he always let Matt be the one to offer up information about how things were going between them. So he wasn't exactly sure how to bring this up, and what he was going to tell Matt about why he wanted to know. Bringing up Antonio was sure to make things worse, and telling Matt the half-information he was given seemed like a bad idea as well, knowing his friend would automatically jump to the worst-case scenario.

Deciding he would just play it by ear, Kelly changed his course and headed for the office beside his own, stopping in front of the closed door.

Matt sat at his desk in his office, his mind running through every decision he made the past few hours. He knew there was nothing he could do now, and that he did all he could while at the fire, but he couldn't help but feel like maybe if he'd done something different, less lives would've been lost.

He knew that was a dangerous game to play. Once you finished at a call, it was important to leave it there. He couldn't let this hang over his head, but it was proving difficult to follow his own advice.

His eyes flickered to the photo sitting to his right, perched in a prominent space on his desk. The photo that had been in the same spot for years, another memory of her he couldn't get rid of. He took a minute to admire the photo. To admire her. Her smiling face and bright eyes looking back at him calmed him, Matt knowing if Gabby was here, she'd be in this office right now. The two of them cuddled on the bed together, Gabby doing her best to help him move on from what they all witnessed, move on from the lives they lost. How she'd run her hands through his hair, assuring him that he did all he could. That this wasn't his fault.

Matt was brought crashing back into reality as his eyes came into focus, remembering he was here alone and Gabby was thousands of miles away, unaware of anything he was going through. He looked back to the photo of her, blowing out a breath as he wished he could hear her voice, or hold her, just for a second. She had a way of calming him like no one else ever could, and in this moment he needed that.

In a split second decision, he pulled his phone from his pocket, opening up his contacts and finding her name. He stared at the photo of them, her name in big bold letters in front of him. He knew he shouldn't call her, not the way their last conversation ended, but the selfish part of him knew that if he just heard her voice, he'd feel better.

His phone buzzing pulled him from the internal debate he was having, his thoughts shifting as he saw the same unidentified number calling him again. Barely waiting until the second ring, he answered the call.

"Hello?"

He was met with silence, but he heard soft breathing on the other end.

"Hello?" He tried again, wanting to know what this person wanted from him.

When they gave him no response, he continued, hoping to get this person to speak to him.

"I know you were looking for me, is there something I can help you with?" He was met with more silence.

In most situations, he'd assume this to be a prank, or something vaguely threatening, but for some reason he wasn't feeling apprehensive about this caller. He couldn't explain it, but he wasn't weary of this person who was on the other line, he just wanted to know what they wanted.

"You have my home phone and cell phone, and if this is the same woman, you were asking to speak to me last night." Casey prompted, hoping to get them to talk. He opened his mouth to say more, but was cut off with loud knocking on his door. Looking up, Casey waved Kelly in.

"You got a minute?" Severide asked, Casey hearing the line on the other end of the phone go dead. Releasing a soft sigh, he nodded, putting his phone back into his pocket.

"Yeah, what's up?" Kelly came and sat down on the edge of his bed, Matt turning his chair around to face him.

"I just wanted to check in with you, it's been a long day, with the call and with…" Kelly trailed off, nodding towards the box of Gabby's belongings that sat on the ground near the door, the box Kelly nearly tripped over as he'd entered the office.

Matt followed his gesture, his eyes landing on the closed brown box.

"Yeah I'm fine. Can't wait for this day to be over though."

Clasping his hands together, Kelly tried to think of a way to bring Gabby more prominently into the conversation so he could ask if he'd heard from her, but he was coming up blank. Any attempt of him trying to be subtle, Casey would surely see through. So without any other options, Kelly decided the best course of action was to just be blunt.

"Have you heard from her at all?" Kelly asked, Matt's head snapping up at the question. Neither of them said anything for a few seconds, Kelly waiting to see how Matt would respond to the question.

"No, not since we signed the papers." The words tasted bitter as they came from his mouth, the ever present reality of his and Gabby's situation settling in the air around him. "Why?"

Kelly shrugged in response, not missing the slight bite to Matt's tone. Severide knew he was treading into dangerous waters.

"Just wondering. I know it's been a rough day, for a lot of reasons, and thought you might have wanted to call her." Now it was Matt's turn to shrug in response. Although Kelly was right, and he had just nearly called Gabby, he wasn't about to admit that out loud.

"I haven't heard from her, I'm not expecting to hear from her."

"It couldn't hurt to reach out…" Kelly trailed off as he was met by a hard look from his friend. "Sorry, I know you don't like talking about it. But it's been, what, two months since you've talked? Maybe it'd be good for both of you to have a conversation."

Matt stayed quiet, and Kelly took that as a good sign.

"I know she hurt you, but the both of you loved each other for so long. You were apart of each other's lives for so long, it might be good to catch up. See what she's been doing, how she's been doing. I know you still care about her, and who knows, maybe it'll help you to talk to her. Now that all the dust has cleared."

Matt continued to remain silent, Kelly not sure what all was going on in his friends head. But the next words out of his mouth were not what Kelly was expecting.

"I doubt she wants to hear from me." Matt met his friend's confused expression, knowing he needed to explain more.

"Our last conversation didn't exactly end well. In fact it ended pretty ugly." Matt admitted.

"What happened?"

"I called her, about the divorce papers, and… long story short, she thought we were rushing into signing them. I said some things to her, things I probably shouldn't have. She asked for more time to think about things and I kind of lost it."

"Wait- so she didn't want to sign the papers?"

"She wanted more time. I told her no. Admittedly, I handled it in the worst way possible." Matt blew out a sigh, his hand coming up to rub over his temple. Every time he thought back to their last conversation, he felt ashamed. He was embarrassed by the way he acted, and he wished he could take back the harsh words he said to her. "After she signed, I told her we shouldn't talk anymore, and that was basically it." Matt told him, seeing the look of pure shock covering Kelly's face.

Matt looked away from his friend as Kelly digested the information. He hated reliving that day and the things he said. It had been two months since it happen, but there wasn't a day that went by where he didn't regret his actions and his words, the guilt and hurt having yet to fade away.

Severide watched his friend closely, trying to process what all he had just learned about their split. How it was less amicable than Casey made it seem. Up until now, Severide was led to believe that things between Matt and Gabby had ended on good terms. On as good of terms as you can be with an ex-spouse. But clearly, that wasn't the case.

"Do you, uh- do you know why she was wanting more time?" Kelly hesitantly asked, almost afraid of the answer. If Gabby had been asking for more time, did that mean she had been rethinking everything? Had there been a possibility she was wanting to come back before Matt blew up at her? Based on the look covering Matt's face, the same thoughts had crossed Casey's mind at least once.

"I don't, she never explained it." I never let her explain it. Matt looked away from Kelly, his eyes finding the ground as different thoughts raced through his mind.

"I'm sorry Casey, I never knew all that had happened." Severide told him, Matt simply shrugging in response.

"It is what it is. Her and I are over, the only thing I can do now is move on." Matt told him, Kelly giving him a sympathetic smile. He knew it wasn't that simple, but he also knew now wasn't the time to voice that.

Kelly could see his friend was struggling, as he had been the past five months since Gabby first left. But this was something different. Since she left, Kelly had seen varying emotions from Casey, most of which was anger. Especially after she came back to tell him she was leaving for good, he'd been blinded by rage. And Kelly would never fault him for that, there was no right way to deal with what he was going through. But this, this was something new entirely. Kelly saw no anger anymore, all he saw was regret.

Taking a deep breath, Kelly stood up from the bed, deciding now was the time to give Casey some space. He patted him on the shoulder as he passed, knowing he didn't need to say anything else. Severide shut the door behind him as he left, watching as Matt spun back around to face the wall, his eyes automatically drawn to the picture of Gabby sitting there. No matter how much he tried to hide it, Severide saw right through the facade. Matt was still broken over Gabby leaving him, and a part of him probably always would be.

And there's chapter two! I know there's a lot of things that need to be explained, and trust me those explanations are coming. But I'm really enjoying writing this so far, and I hope you all are enjoying reading it.

Thanks again for all the supportive and encouraging reviews! Until next time xx