Woot! I remembered this week... In the interests of sharing about my week - we had our sports carnival this week, glad that is over. However, two days later I am still hobbling around my classroom after being roped into running in the teacher vs students relay race. Note to self: stretch next time.

As always thanks to R for everything! And to everyone for reviewing - I'm always happy to receive long reviews and hearing what you liked and didn't like. As a side note can we just pause a moment to appreciate the tweet that Jesse posted this week in front of Truck 81

Week 10

~ Candidate is about the size of a prune ~

"Did you know that Smudge's elbows are working this week, even though he's only the size of a prune? And that tiny buds of baby teeth are forming under the gums? Can you believe that Smudge is only ten weeks old and he has teeth?" Matt spoke up from the couch in the bedroom on their second day off as he flipped through a book that Gabby had left lying around on the table. "Babe? ...Baby?" he called out, looking around for the absent Gabby. He was certain that she had still been around when he had walked back into the room. Rising up, he found Gabby standing in front of the full sized mirror on her side of the closet, her top pulled up.

Gabby had found herself in front of the mirror turned sideways, looking down at the slight roundness that she found. Gabby had never been a skinny, skinny person and she liked that. Her pants were starting to become a slight bit snugger, but nothing that she wasn't able to wear. She didn't know if she could handle having to buy maternity clothes just yet, she was only 10 weeks. Her body was getting slightly bigger and when she got out of the shower this morning, she decided that she was going to embrace the pregnancy and have a proper look in the mirror.

A gasp became stuck in her throat, there was this roundness in her lower abdomen, a slight firmness that she cautiously ran her hands over. This hadn't happened last time, they had lost the baby so early that they hadn't seen any physical changes in her body. It was all suddenly becoming more and more real with every passing day. However, looking over in the mirror again, Gabby decided she didn't look pregnant at all, it was more like she had eaten a rather large meal or was just bloated. Allowing her t-shirt to fall back down into its normal position, she smoothed the shirt down, turning left and then right staring intently at her stomach. She was quite grateful that with the shirt on it wasn't at all noticeable. Pulling at her shirt again, the sight made tears pool in her eyes, not that the near constant tiredness and increase in breast size wasn't enough of an indication to herself that they were expecting a child.

Gabby was so intent on looking at her belly that she didn't even see Matt in the mirror. A shiver went down her spine as Matt unexpectedly came up behind her, placing his large warm hands over her belly, tucking his chin over her shoulder. They stood for a moment or so just gazing at the mirror, taking in the sight of a very little swell.

Leaning down he whispered into her ear, "And brain tissue is rapidly rapidly, muscles forming, fingers and toes becoming defined. Smudge even has started to grow fingernails."

Gabby turned to look at him, her mouth wide open, "Of all the things that you could say, Matthew," she grumbled as she pulled away from him to finish getting herself ready for the day. "Where do you find all this information anyway?" she called out from inside her closet. Matt stuck his head in the small room, a book in his hand. Gabby shook her head slightly at him before making her way down into the kitchen to start making breakfast.

Not long later they were sitting outside on the deck, enjoying some relatively warm sunshine as they finished breakfast. Gabby watched as Matt finished his coffee, before placing her own glass down on the table. She had been thinking of what they were going to do with themselves after the baby arrived, it had been playing on her mind for a week or so now, but hadn't been too sure how to bring it up with Matt. She was worried about the reaction she was about to receive.

"Matt?" she cautiously started, not sure what he would be thinking about the situation. "I've been thinking… about the baby and the job."

Matt's eyes snapped over to her. He too had been thinking about this, not that he would have said anything to her. Rather he had been waiting for her to bring it up just as he had with telling the house. Honestly, he would have preferred that Gabby take a different job within the department, but he wouldn't be saying that to her face... Well, not just yet! He could still clearly remember telling her before she had become his candidate that he worried about her every time she went off on the Ambo and that concern had indeed increased ten-fold when she became a firefighter. But now she carrying his child, every time the bells went, he could feel his blood pressure rise a little higher each time.

"It was different with Louie, Matt. He wasn't a newborn when he came into our lives. Transferring over to Ambo was the right thing to do, he needed me to come home safe every shift to him. I would have done anything to make sure that that was going to be his reality. But Matt, I just keep thinking about our lives as first responders and once I had the taste of firefighting, that's all I wanted to do. I wanted to run headfirst into burning buildings, I wanted to fight fires and save people from burning buildings. There is a rush that we all get from doing our job. And I do miss it, Matt," she told him, grasping onto one of his hands. Looking down, she rubbed her other hand over her belly, "But baby, I don't think that I want to go back to Truck, not at 51, not anywhere… Not just yet," she confessed.

Matt nodded carefully, "And right now?"

"I'm happy where I am Matt," she insisted. "Being around our fire family, it's what I need right now. And I know that when we tell them, they'll be there with me, with us, with you Matt, every step of the way. We have this inbuilt support system, that is something that we couldn't buy with any money. They've been there for so much in our lives, the highs and the lows. And I don't want to lose any of that... not right now." Gabby glanced up to study his face trying to work out what he was thinking, but it seemed to be unreadable, even to her.

"Would I prefer that you weren't still on Ambo? I can't lie to you Gabby, I do want you to be behind a desk. But Gabby I will support you all the way, until Doctor Peterson recommends that you can't be. And then whichever way you choose to go, whichever job you decide to take, I'll support you," he told her rubbing a thumb over the back of her hand.

"Baby I think I'm saying that I may never want to go back to the Truck. I wonder if my firefighting days are over?" Gabby mentioned as she started to draw patterns with her finger on her leg. She had never thought that she would ever feel this way. Pre-pregnancy she just thought that at some point she would be stepping back onto a truck sooner or later. That shift she had done a few weeks ago had made her seriously re-consider it. There was nothing like running into a burning building, but now every time Gabby thought about it, her mind would go straight back to their kitchen chalkboard filled with pictures, automatically focusing on their ultrasound. She just couldn't imagine doing it again, rather she was imaging sitting on the floor playing with her child.

"And that will be fine Gabs… No one wants you to make a decision about the rest of your life… About our lives right now," he comforted.

Gabby stood to take a seat on Matt's lap, running her hand over his cheek, the other going to the back of his neck, massaging it lightly. "Thank you," she started. "Can we table the discussion about what we're going to do after Smudge arrives for another day?" she sniffed, trying to push down any more emotions she was feeling about the whole situation.

"Hey, hey, hey," Matt cupped her cheek as she continued to sniff, "Where's this coming from?"

"I don't know… I think… I always knew that I wanted to go back to Truck one day… It didn't matter that you weren't going to be my lieutenant anymore… I just wanted to be back on a truck," she whimpered, "But now… I just don't know Matt… Am I going to want to go back after the baby comes? …I always thought that nothing would stop me working… But this baby… I just want to spend as much time as I can with her... or him," she told him before breaking down completely.

Matt pulled her closer to him, rocking her gently. Ugly tears streamed down her face, as she hiccupped and tried to pull herself together, still unsure what it was that was causing her to even feel this uncomfortable feeling. She had always been so sure of herself. Matt, on the other hand, had had a feeling that this may have been on the cards. He knew that Gabby was going to be an amazing mother, he had seen it first hand when they were fostering Louie. This baby was much wanted and waited for in the Casey family.

"Gabby... Baby…" he spoke up, playing with her curls, "we don't need to know what we're going to do right now. Smudge here," his hand covered the one that was resting on the swell, "isn't going to be here for a while. Let's not make any decisions right now, we've got plenty of time for all of those decisions. And I'll support you whatever decision that you make Babe... One step at a time."

Dawson tapped on Casey's door lightly before sticking her head in. "Washing Lieutenant?"

"In my locker," he responded without looking up from the reports that had been piling up on his desk. "Come in, take a seat, I'll just be a minute. You look exhausted."

"You haven't even looked up for over an hour since you arrived back from that last call. How do you even know what I look like?" she shot back.

Still without looking up, Casey held up his left hand.

"Yes, that is your wedding ring... That won't help you," Dawson mentioned deadpan. "You might also lose it if you're not careful."

Even that comment didn't raise Casey's eyes from his paper, rather he simply motioned to his watch. "It's way past 8 o'clock, there is no way you aren't dead on your feet right now. Doesn't matter how quiet the shift may have been. You are tired Dawson." Despite herself, she gave a small grin knowing that he was right. Her body seemed to be working on a routine these days, come 7:30 in the evening and it was like a switch flicked off and she was instantly exhausted.

"Why is the laundry in your locker?" she mumbled as she settled herself onto the rather uncomfortable bed. Grabbing the spare pillow that was under the bed, Dawson fluffed it and slid in under her hip sighing slightly as she tried to make herself comfortable, maybe she could make it slightly more comfortable than her own bunk. Casey had managed to make a nice indent in his mattress, one that Dawson fitted into well.

"Hmm?" he muttered before turning his head slightly to watch her twist and turn in her spot on the bed. Casey quietly placed his pen down and spun so he was sitting sideways on his chair. He continued to silently observe her, watching as she pulled up the pillow from behind herself, punched it into shape and tried to stuff it behind herself whilst pushing back on it. Still fidgeting around she tried to move the pillow under her hip into more comfortable position, all the while looking for something else in the room, not at all noticing that Matt was watching her intently. Rising silently, Matt crouched down next to the small table that was next to his bunk, reaching into the small cubby hole where he stored a few items pulling out an older jacket. Gabby looked over at him as he passed over his quilted lieutenant jacket, knowing that this just might be the perfect 'comfort' item.

"I wondered where this had disappeared to," she mused as her fingers danced over the yellow stitching announcing lieutenant to anyone who saw it. "This was one of my more favourite jackets," she told him, laughter dancing in her eyes.

"Hmm… That's why it's in here. I knew you would be stealing it if you could get your mitts on it," he laughed as he draped it over her, tucking it around her upper body before squishing the back pillow down slightly. "And here I thought you'd be warm, having your own little heater in there," he spoke up, brushing his hand over her stomach briefly, before she raised her eyebrows at him, giving a warning glance towards to windows. "Shh… You just rest there and I'll get to the laundry."

"No, I want to do it. Need to keep busy, keeps me awake," she told him.

Casey laughed slightly, "Ok, how about you rest, I'll finish my reports and then I'll help you with the laundry?" he compromised as he pressed a kiss to her temple. She was out like a light before he had even sat back down at his desk. Smiling to himself he picked back up his pen and started back on his reports.

"Hey, Casey?" Severide's voice boomed from the door. Casey looked up, motioned towards the sleeping figure on his bed and raised his eyebrows in question towards Severide. "Just wondering if you had the files from the last call we went on last shift? I was sure that I finished that report, but I can't find it. Figured it might have been caught up with the rest of the reports from that shift," Severide questioned, his voice lowered a considerable amount.

Casey paused, his face scrunched up in thought, "Check with Connie," he finally deduced, "I gave her all of my reports, so you probably did too. Otherwise Boden would be on your case about unfinished reports… Not that that's out of the norm," he teased.

Severide glared at him before nodded in thanks, "Everything ok?" he questioned, jerking a thumb in Dawson's direction. "Dawson seems slightly off." Casey's head jerked up to look at his friend's concerned face, if Severide could pick up that something was off it wasn't going to be long before the others in the house started to question what was happening. It was not like Sev was the most observant person in the world. Casey had to pull himself out of this little dream world, he just wanted to tell his best friend his good news, but at the same time, he needed to respect his wife's wishes. That and if he did spill Dawson would kick his ass. But he was desperate to tell somebody. He might just outrank her at work, but with her mood swings, there would be no telling what she might do. Plus, she would argue that they were in different chains of command - just a technicality in his mind. "Case?"

"She just hasn't been sleeping well," Casey confirmed. "Told her to sleep here, we can shut out some of the noise in here," he finished lamely.

"Hmm… You should let her get some more sleep at night," he teased, ducking behind the door frame and out of sight as Casey threw an eraser at him.

An hour later, Casey finally placed his pen down for the last time, pushing his paperwork away from him. Turning around he found Gabby still asleep, contemplating what he could do, he didn't want to jinx it but where was he going to sleep if he didn't wake her sooner or later? There was no way he would be slumming it in the bunks. What would his company think of that? No, that would not be happening. And there was still washing to do. He busied himself collecting his laundry from his locker where he had stuffed it earlier. Casey had intended to throw his clothes in before they got their first call out of the morning, but when the bells sounded he had decided to store his clothing in his locker.

Casey placed his items into the washer as he heard Dawson sing out to him, "Mine in there too?" He turned around with a sheepish look on his face. "You forgot my clothes?"

"Couldn't find them."

"You mean; you didn't look for them… On my bunk, in the basket," she told him, pointing back into the bunk room. As she turned back to Casey she took a deep breath, placing a hand onto the washer to steady herself.

"Hey," Casey took a step towards her, watching as she placed a hand over her mouth. "Everything okay?"

Dawson drew in a shaky breath as she lowered her hand, "Yeah, just a bit dizzy still. Must have gotten up too fast," she told him, as she pulled Casey's jacket closer to her body. Casey began to rub his hands up and down her biceps, a concerned look still across his face.

"Are you sure?"

Dawson gave him a small smile, "All normal," she told him in a soft voice.

"What's all normal?" interrupted Kidd as she strode into the laundry breaking the mood in between the couple.

"That the minute she found my lieutenant's jacket again, she would take it, like it belonged to her," Casey teased, covering up their conversation. Kidd looked from one to the other, not sure if she actually believed what her lieutenant was telling her.

"My laundry basket is on my bunk Casey," Dawson hinted, giving him an out.

"Yeah, right," Matt commented, clapping his hands together, "I'm just going to…" as he disappeared out of the small room.

Kidd turned on the balls of her feet to find Dawson rubbing the heel of her palm into her forehead, the exhaustion evident in her friend. She looked on as Dawson took a few deep breaths trying to steady herself. Frowning for a moment or two, Kidd wondered what has going on with one of her closest friends, Dawson had been acting weird for a few weeks. Brett had even mentioned how Dawson had slept through the bells just a few shifts ago, something wasn't right. Kidd began to tap her fingers against the next washing machine as the wheels turned around in her mind.

"Gabby," she gasped. "You're not!" Kidd began to get excited. Dawson looked over at her friend's excited look, willing herself not to react. "You and Casey... there's going to be…"

"I don't know what you're talking about Kidd," Dawson brushed her off. Kidd opened her mouth to say more only to be cut off by the bells.

'Ambo 61, suspected heart attack West Cullerton Ave'

Dawson took off in the direction of the apparatus floor, "Saved by the bell," she muttered under her breath as she went through the break room.

"Yo Dawson," Otis called out as she jogged through. "Get a promotion that we didn't hear about?"

"Huh?" she skidded to a stop, wondering what on earth Otis could be talking about

"Jacket," Herrmann supplied from the couch, grinning at her confused state.

Dawson looked down finding herself with Matt's jacket still on, lifting her head she glared as her previous truck buddies before shedding the jacket and tossing it in Casey's direction. "I want that back later," she threw over her shoulder.

Dawson glanced down at her watch, finding that it was well past the end of her shift, everyone else on Second Watch had already left and it seemed that Third Watch was out on a call. After that suspected heart attack, she and Brett had been called out no less than five more times that night. If she had been exhausted last night, then she couldn't even begin to describe what it was she was feeling right now. They walked over to the incoming PIC, passing him the keys to allow him to gas the Ambo up.

"I think," Brett yawned. "I am going to head home and just pass out," she farewelled as she closed her locker. "I'll see you later." Dawson barely lifted her hand in response before making her way into Casey's office.

"Hey," she greeted, tossing her bag onto his desk. Matt was already out of his uniform, that quilted jacket around his shoulders.

"Hey," he responded, jumping up from his bunk where he had been reading to wrap her up in his arms. "How are you?" he questioned, pressing a kiss to her hair. Gabby yawned unable to answer. They stood there in silence, enjoying the calm after what had been a hectic shift.

Out of nowhere Gabby gasped as her hand flew down to her left hip bone area, flexing at her hips.

"Gabby? What is it? What's wrong?"

"I don't know," came her worried response, "Something hurts though, it's feels like a pulled muscle on my left side… Something's wrong, though, I think." Her words were coming out fast, stabbing Matt's heart much like the physical pain she was feeling. Gabby found herself unable to breathe, everything around her became a blur, it couldn't be happening again, she wouldn't be able to take it. As she straightened up again, she felt another crampy ache shoot around her lower body, and she began to sob. "I can't do this again Matt... I can't lose this baby too!"

Without hesitation, Matt gathered up both of their bags and picked her up bridal style before rushing out of the door intent on arriving at Med as soon as he could.

Matt glanced around the waiting room at Med as he helped Gabby through the door, her bag still slung over his shoulder. The pain had lessened on the ride over, but Gabby was still feeling crampy and her anxiety levels were rising with every passing moment. As they passed through the door, Matt spotted April and he by-passed the desk.

"April," he hollered out.

"Lieutenant Casey?" She approached him, a confused look across her face. "What's the…" The pained sight on Gabby's face caused her to stop the sentence mid-way. "No time, let's get her into a room, SOMEONE GET ME DR MANNING… Okay Gabby, let's move," she ushered them into a room as Natalie Manning brought up the rear.

"Matt?" Gabby called out.

"Right here baby," he rounded the bed, holding onto her hand peppering it with kisses. "I'm right here, everything is going to be okay," he promised before looking up at Dr Manning.

"10 weeks?" April confirmed with Gabby. On her nod, April continued, "10 weeks pregnant, came into Med for unknown causes as of yet."

Natalie nodded, stood opposite Matt and looked over at April, "Get me the ultrasound and page her OB… Now Gabby what's the problem?"

"Her OB is private, Dr Peterson delivers here, but she isn't in today… I'll see who else I can find," informed April before disappearing out of the small room.

"I... I…" she hesitated. Matt pressed another kiss to her forehead. "We'd just finished shift. And suddenly Gabby was holding onto her side, she was in some pain and we just don't know what happened," he finished for her.

Will Halstead poked his head into the room, bring in a machine for them, nodding in greeting to the two firefighters. Pausing slightly, he leant down and whispered something into Natalie's ear before exiting swiftly. Natalie's eyes widened upon hearing what he had to say.

"What?" Matt demanded, snapping at the seated doctor.

"Dr Halstead was just filling me in on Gabby's history. Knowing that, what type of pain were you experiencing? Is it a constant pain?"

Gabby bit her lower lip and shook her head. "Not constant, not feeling it now. It was a sharp pain, almost like a stabbing pain at one point. After that it was just like a cramping pain… What's happening, is the baby okay?" she whimpered.

Natalie gave her a soft smile, "A pain along your lower belly?" she questioned as she ran a gloved hand along Gabby's hip bone. Upon the next nod, her smile became slightly wider. "Gabby, I think what you're experiencing is round ligament pain…"

"But that usually doesn't come around until the second trimester," Gabby interjected.

Natalie gave her a quick smile, "Yes, but you're close at 10 weeks. And whilst not common, it isn't unusual for women to experience it at your stage of the pregnancy." Turning to Matt she continued, "Round ligament pain - During pregnancy, the uterus expands from about the size of an apple to the size of a watermelon. The ligaments that surround and support the uterus and connect it to the groin, these are collectively called round ligaments, have to stretch and thicken to accommodate that change. So the pain may be sharp pains or just aches and pains. During my pregnancy, they were much more stretchy feeling and crampy, though still painful. But it's all normal, annoying, but normal."

"Are you sure?" Gabby asked, still feeling her heart racing and the worried edge still hanging around. Natalie nodded before turning to the small machine that Will had dropped in.

"Sorry April wasn't able to find the ultrasound machine in a hurry. But I'm sure this will do the trick for now," she chatted as she pulled up Gabby's shirt and placed the Doppler onto her skin, moving it around for a moment or so, trying to detect what she was searching for. If this wasn't accurate enough she would go in search of the actual ultrasound machine, but she wasn't willing to worry the young couple with that, not just yet.

Soon a loud thump-thump filled the small room. Gabby turned her face towards Matt's tears streaming down her cheeks. Matt, himself couldn't have ever prepared himself for the love that he was feeling at that moment, the first time he heard his child's heartbeat. It had torn him into pieces that they hadn't been able to experience this the first time and now here it was. Loud, strong and clear. He bent himself down to capture her lips in a passionate kiss before pulling back to wipe away the tears that were still falling down her face, obvious to those that were streaming down his.

Resting his head again her forehead, he squeezed his eyes shut tight, letting the thump-thump wash over him.

"Seems like baby is doing fine, Mom and Dad," Natalie broke into their thoughts, "They're…"

"Smudge," interrupted Matt, turning to look at her. Gabby burst out laughing at the confused look on Natalie's face.

"He's calling our little candidate baby 'Smudge' because that's what it looked like on the first ultrasound," Gabby informed her. She had decided to just go with whatever Matt wanted to nickname the baby, in a sense he was right, the baby did look like a smudge. However, she personally, would have probably nicknamed it Candidate, that would have made more sense. She shook her head slightly before turning back to Natalie. "Sorry, you were saying?"

"Smudge," Natalie began again, a smirk firmly planted on her face. "Is doing well. Strong heartbeat, 130 beats a minutes. Right on track for this point in your pregnancy," she finished as she began to pack things away. "I'll be back in a few moments."

Natalie turned as she reached the door, "Oh and by the way congratulations!"

~ She can stretch her spine. Her eyes and eyelids are more developed and her eyebrows are beginning to grow ~

Hope you enjoyed the latest week, let me know what you think

~Em