There is a scene that was inspired by an interview with Jesse and Taylor at the 2016 Monte-Carlo Television Festival, let me know when you pick it.
Thanks for Rebecca for editing and to Junko for letting me rant when I was trying to write this chapter ~Em
Week Twenty Six
~ Candidate is nearly as long as a zucchini ~
Gabby took a deep breath as she stepped out of her car and surveyed the very large baby store in front of her. Having a random day off that coincided with Matt's in the middle of the week was rare. With that in mind, Matt had moved his construction job that he was supposed to work until his next clear day and stashed all of his alderman paperwork away for later in the evening. And now here they were. On the hunt for baby items.
"Ready?" Matt asked as he came around the car, his hand outstretched ready to take hers. Gabby nodded as she ran over in her mind what she wanted to get today. People had advised her to do her research and not to rush into buying things. And that there were certain things that she needed to get new. Many of the mothers around her had offered to pass on their clothes, shoes and toys that were still good, so Gabby had struck many of those items off her purchasing list. What she really wanted from today was a crib.
Hurrying towards the door in an attempt to get out of the cold, Gabby made a beeline for the baby furniture. Matt froze faintly, he had been organising with Antonio and Kelly to make the crib, change table and rocking chair, Miguel had even managed to organise all of the wood for them and plans for them. How was he supposed to discourage Gabby from purchasing one?
"I was thinking..." he started somewhat hesitantly. "That maybe we should start with the car seat?"
"Why?" Gabby asked spinning around on the spot. Matt's eyes widen slightly at her quick turnaround and at the price of the item she was looking at. That much for what was effectively a piece of wood? If he hadn't already been thinking about making one, he most definitely would be now. Just because it had a baby tag on it, it seemed to become so much more expensive. He knew that babies were expensive, but that much? How did people on smaller incomes cope?
"Well we are going to need more than one seat," started Matt thinking on his feet. "And… I've been thinking Gabby…" he reached out a hand towards hers. "I was thinking that it might be time for a new truck. One that has back seats. We can't have only one car…" Gabby was in shock; Matt had never mentioned anything about changing his truck nor had she wanted to bring it up. But it would be nice if they did have the option of taking either car, plus she wasn't too sure if it was even legal for the car seat to be in the front seat. She was pretty sure it wasn't.
She jetted slightly forward to plant a kiss on his lips. "Thank you," she whispered against his lips. Matt pulled back his head slightly to look down at her, giving her a slightly confused look an eyebrow cocked ever so much. He wasn't too sure how she was going to take the news but hadn't expected a kiss out of it. Matt could see the excitement shining in her brown eyes and he knew that he had won her over and they would be moving away from the dangerously expensive cribs. "Come on then," she ordered marching towards the car seats.
Even though Matt was aware that there were many different varieties of seats on the market, he wouldn't in a million years have believed that there were quite this many. May be he should have done some more reading.
"So you're looking for a car seat?" the voice from behind them drew them out of their stare at all of the options in front of them. Gabby turned and nodded slightly at the assistant a small smile on her face.
"I was thinking a good convertible car seat would be the way to go, don't you think Matt?" Gabby mentioned. Matt looked at her with shining eyes, not sure what to say. He gave both the sales girl and his wife a confused look. "Are they the ones you generally sell the most of?"
"Yes, technically you could just start out with a convertible car seat that accommodates infant sizes, but what do you do when your baby falls asleep in the car the second you park at your destination? Infant car seats are awesome because you can simply take them out of the car with baby still in it, and pop it into a stroller or take it into your home. And anything that doesn't wake a sleeping baby is gold in my book!" the sale assistant gushed to Matt pointing out different car seats.
Twenty minutes later, after listening to the lady point out the pros and cons of all of the different seats Gabby had become fed up. "Matt," complained Gabby sounding like she was almost whining. "I really just wanted to find a cot and rocking chair," she told him, a hand going to support the underside of her belly. This was becoming much too hard; she knew rationally that it wasn't the lady's fault. But she was becoming tired of standing for that amount of time. In her mind she would be able to sit in those comfy rocking chairs. There was a wingback rocker in a soft grey fabric that she could see out of the corner of her eye. She could just imagine relaxing into that chair and putting her feet up, if only for a few moments.
Matt hmmed in response, what was he going to do? He had to think of another way to get Gabby off of this furniture kick without somehow telling her what he was planning to do.
"Gabby - I think this is an easier decision. What do you think about the infant seat?" After hearing what the sales lady had to say and about what he already knew about them he was leaning towards one of those.
"Honestly - I was thinking about buying a convertible car seat because it saves money and lasts through toddlerhood, and it's completely sound in terms of safety," Gabby told him. She had been going back and forth about which car seat she wanted to buy. "Do you mind giving us some time to work this out?" she turned her attention back to the sale assistant.
"Certainly - if you do go with the infant seat system or you just want to check them out, the stroller and seats are in the stroller aisle rather than with the rest of the car seats. I'll be over there if you need anything else," she advised. "Oh…" she came back towards them as a thought came into her mind, "Once you think you have your car seat installed you will need to get it checked out by an expert. Your local fire department or police station should have a car-seat-safety expert, who can make sure everything's in place," she advised. Matt and Gabby gave each other a sideways look and started to laugh. The lady looked somewhat perturbed, she couldn't work out what be at all funny in that statement.
"Sorry," apologised Matt. "We're a first responders' family." Upon that comment the assistant gave him an appreciative look. Seeing the look on Gabby's face - she looked like she was ready to go all 'Gabby Dawson' on her. "My wife here," he grabbed her hand, "She's a firefighter. And my brother-in-law's a police officer. I think we're set here… Thank you," he quickly said. The sales assistant nodded quickly and headed off, muttering a quick apology in Gabby's direction.
Gabby led him over towards the rocking chairs. "I know that you've done your research Matt. What do you think?" She settled down into a comfy looking chair as she waited to hear what Matt had to say.
"And I know you have as well. It sounded like you wanted that convertible car seat…" He sat down in response on the footrest section of the chair, leaning over to grasp her hands in his.
"I just think it's a bit of money to be able to buy an infant seat and then to have to buy another seat in a few short months… By the way this chair is really comfortable."
Matt ignored the comment about the chair, filing the image of it away in his mind for later use. Rather he focused on the seat, "Babe, we've got the money. Between my lieutenant's pay and the slight pay rise that you had for when you became an instructor, we'll be fine. Not to mention when you take maternity leave it will still be at the PIC wage. If you want this, we can do it…" Matt watched as the wheels turned in her head. What he wasn't about to tell her was that by making their larger items they would be able to splurge somewhat on other items. Plus, he was seeing a lot of sale tickets up around the store. They could make this work; he was sure of it.
Gabby let the idea roll about her mind for a while, she sat further back in the chair letting her head fall back. She had decided over a week ago when Matt had been at work on the type of stroller that she wanted. As usual Gabby had done her research and read reviews, making her think hard about what she wanted and what was going to work well for their lives, not to mention what was going to be the best value for money too. Now that Matt was suggesting that it wouldn't be a stretch on them financially, it was making her rethink what it was she really wanted.
"It would be nice to have the ease of being able to transfer Smudge in and out of the car without waking him," she confessed with a tiny smile.
"Right," Matt smiled. "I knew you had done your research. Let's go have a look…" Matt offered her a hand up. "Maybe let's do one big purchase at a time?" he questioned, proud of himself for finding a way out of the cot. "Let's do the stroller and car seat today… And then the rest later?" Gabby simply nodded and allowed him to lead her over to the strollers.
She loved how quiet the store was, she had been dreading coming in on a weekend or after she finished work for the day. But with very few people in she was able to take her time and not worry about being jostled about. She took a step back as Matt read the tags and additional information about each of the different strollers that lined the aisles. She watched as he frowned and hmmed, pulling and pushing each display item as he walked by, finally pulling out the strollers that took his eye.
"Which ones did you like?"
Gabby smiled, yes she did have two in mind that she wanted to try out. The reviews were good, but she wanted to try them out for real first. "There's the Britax B-Agile Travel System and the Baby Trend Expedition Jogger that I think I liked the look of…" she trailed off as Matt found the two she was looking at.
"I found this Chicco Cortina too," announced Matt as he brought all three strollers over for Gabby to look at. "You have a play around here; I'm going to see if I can find the car seat parts for these…" he wandered off.
Over the next half an hour or so Gabby and Matt played around trying out the different items they had found. They put the strollers up and collapsed them, they put the car seats onto the stroller part and even wheeled them around with the supplied weights in them. Matt even managed to hold his tongue as he watched Gabby lug a closed stroller around and try and lift it off the ground. He knew that she would be the one to use it the most and would have to be able to lift it into the car with ease, but he would have preferred if she wasn't doing it at this stage of her pregnancy.
The Chicco had been the first to be eliminated when they both found it harder to go around corners with the four wheels. Knowing Chicago's terrain and the walks that they would hopefully be going on, something with easier handling would be good.
"So?" questioned Gabby. Her legs were getting tired and she was ready for a decision to be made and then finding something to drink. She fished about in her handbag whilst waiting for an answer, however she came up empty handed as she remembered that she had left her water bottle on the kitchen table.
"I like the Britax," confessed Matt, "That click and go system is so easy to use, so easy that even when we're the most sleep deprived we could still do it. I guess that transferring the seat will be easy. And I was thinking, this means that I can get a base to go in my truck and we don't need another seat for Smudge in my vehicle…"
"True, I hadn't thought about that. I like it too, it's easy to fold up and I can do it with one hand. Let's get it," she decided brushing the hair out of her face as she nodded along with her words. Matt was impressed that even she could fold it up one handed with ease whilst six months pregnant.
"Red one?" Matt asked with a cheeky grin on his face.
Gabby sighed audibly, "Yes, the fire truck red one… You get that and I'm just going to pick up a few articles of clothing that I saw on the way in. I'll meet you by the cash registers?" Matt nodded and watched her walk away towards the front of the store.
It didn't take much time for Matt to get the assistant and collect what they were after, ready to pay for the items waiting for Gabby to turn up. He had a good fifteen minute wait for Gabby to turn up with more than just a few items.
"You call that a few items?" he asked incredulously. "Is there anything left in the store?" he teased.
Gabby swiped at his arms playfully, "There is a new year sale on, so I've gotten bigger sizes and then just some plain newborn clothes. And…" she started excitedly. "There was this," she held up a large box. "This is supposedly one of the best baby monitors on the market according to Donna and Natalie and it's on sale. It's 50% off Matt… We need to get it. It's got all of these features. It's got a camera and sound, it's Wi-Fi and an inbuilt thermometer…" she rambled on, keen to impress on Matt why this was such a good buy.
Matt leant over his boxes pressing a kiss to her lips effectively shutting her up. "Let's get it," he wisely told her.
Gabby rubbed her temples trying to soothe the headache that she had developed over the past half an hour or so, she certainly needed a drink of water. Matt was putting all of the items she had managed to convince him to buy into the back of her car. She took a deep breath as she leant against the side of the bonnet, leaving a hand on her belly. Closing her eyes, she rubbed circles in the spot that Smudge had just kicked her. "Hey Smudge, give Mamá a break. I'm hot and I'm really tired," she whispered looking down.
"Hey…" Matt came up, placing his hands on the car, resting them on either side of her. He slowly leant forward, trapping her between his body and the car before placing a gentle kiss on her lips. "This used to be much easier," he teased.
"You Matthew Casey," she accused playfully, wriggling a finger in his face. "You… you're tripping." She moved her body around slightly trying to figure a way out the current trapping she found herself in. Matt watched her eyes dart around before bring one hand to rest lightly on her hip.
His own eyes too darted around to see if there were any people around before bring his other hand to the back of her neck and pulling her closer. Leaning his forehead against hers, Matt paused for a moment. Gabby shivered slightly at the warm breath of his that she felt around her cheek, licking her lips in anticipation. However, Matt was insistent on making her wait, enjoying having her in his arms. Gabby finally grew impatient of waiting and pushed herself up onto her toes and captured his lips. Matt grinned against them and deepened the kiss slightly.
"Let's get you home and out of this cold weather," he told her after breaking apart, watching as Gabby placed a hand on her chest trying to catch her breath. Ever the gentleman, he held the door open for her and made sure she was in comfortably before he made his way around the back of the car. Sliding his cell out of his back pocket he fired off a text to Kelly and Antonio making plans to get started on the nursery furniture. Matt didn't know how long he was going to be able to hold Gabby off for.
"Babe?" Gabby called out from her spot on the floor downstairs. Pausing for a few moments as Matt made his way downstairs, he found that she had a few baby books and bits of paper scattered around her. Gabby herself was flicking a pen around in her hand, whilst wriggling her legs on the floor. Matt couldn't work out how she had managed to even get down to the ground, it was only last week that she had mentioned that her bump was getting to the size where physical things were starting to becoming a chore. She had mentioned that she couldn't even get down onto the floor with her candidates constantly either. However, he suspected that that was more to do with having to bend down to each candidate and then back up before going to the next person and repeating the cycle – the up down, up down cycle would be murder on her back.
"Do you ever think our house is slightly too big?" Matt questioned as he drew near to her. "What have you got there?" he continued as he placed his mug on the coffee table. Taking in the sight before him, he wondered what it was she was trying to achieve down here. He didn't think that he would be able to move across the room without stepping on at least one sheet of paper.
"Do you need a hand to get off the floor?" He held out a hand for her. She gave him a withering look, staring at his hand.
"Don't condescend to me," Gabby grumbled as she tried to shuffle herself towards the chair closest to her. It wasn't so much that she couldn't sit on the floor; it was more that she was feeling tired. But she wasn't about to tell Matt that. She was going to get up off the floor by herself, even if it took her twice as long as it normally would have. Over the last week she had noticed that she was struggling to bend over with ease, she missed that. To be honest she had dropped her pen and because it had taken so long to get down she decided to just stay down there, but she wasn't going to be telling Matt that.
Matt tried his hardest not to smirk as he watched her attempt to pull her feet underneath herself, trying desperately to find a way to boost herself up. For over five minutes she squirmed, it shouldn't have been this hard. If at 26 weeks it was a struggle, what was she going to do at 36 weeks?
"Come on babe," Matt offered his hand again, "You probably haven't had enough sleep. I heard you tossing and turning all night." He was right, she had been in a pattern of sleeping for 3 hour spurts - she was closing her eyes, sleeping for a bit, waking up and needing to pee and back to bed, then the cycle started again. This was seemingly her life now, although Clara did mention that it might let up for a few short weeks.
Gabby gave him a look as she finally huffed and held out her hand for some extra help up, this hadn't been this hard ever before. Shoving a pillow or two behind her, Gabby wriggled until she was comfortable in her spot. "Why don't we have this couch upstairs?"
Matt shrugged, knowing better than to even attempt to answer that minefield of a question. "So what's with all the paper?" he asked, bending over with ease to gather the loose sheets all the while Gabby shooting him a murderous look at his freedom. Gabby held out her hand for them, making a few more marks before motioning for Matt to join her on the couch.
"I was thinking that we could nail down some names for Smudge here," Gabby told him her fingers tapping the edge of her belly. She was wondering how she could bring up the fact that she was hoping to give their child a Spanish name just as Antonio had done.
"Was there something special that you were thinking of?" Matt inquired thinking rightly that there was something playing on her mind.
"Did you ever have a family tradition, like a family name that is passed down. Or just names that you connect with your family? Why are you named Matt?" she questioned. Matt shrugged, he had never thought to even ask. But it led him to his next point.
"So you would like something Spanish then?" Matt questioned. Gabby gave him a wide eyed look; how did he even get to that point – knowing exactly what she was thinking? One where he was pretty much reading her mind? If he was honest he didn't mind what name their little miracle had. He had always personally thought that Gabby would probably be right down the middle when it came to tradition. She would likely want to keep her culture and tradition but she would also want to make sure there's definitely room for being unique and one of a kind. The Dawsons were a very traditional family, and even though they lived in the US now, Matt could see tradition in all of the family members.
Gabby nodded slightly. She hadn't been too sure how Matt would react to that particular idea. It had always been her dream to pass on her culture, the one that she and Antonio had grown up with. The same one that he had shared with both Eva and Diego. And to some people it might only be a name, but it to her, it was important for their child to have something to connect them back to her culture.
"What do you have in mind?" he questioned
"It's common for many Spanish or really Hispanics to have two given names, plus a paternal surname and a maternal surname," Gabby informed him. Matt's eyes widened slightly, it seemed to him that every day he seemed to learn something new about her Spanish culture. "Mamá and Papá just decided with Antonio that they would give us three names with a surname instead. It isn't that traditional or the norm in all Spanish families, but it's something that our family has done…"
"So that means?" Matt's mind was racing, how many names was his child going to have - and how many names was he going to have to shout out when telling him off? Either way it was going to be a mouthful.
"It would have meant that my name would have been Gabriela Leonora Dawson Reyes. Mamá had one of the most common surnames in the Dominican…"
"But why?" Matt questioned, in his mind the elder Dawsons were fairly traditional and a tradition that had lasted centuries didn't seem to be one that they would change lightly.
"Coming to the United States had a large impact on them, I think," replied Gabby. "The Hispanic preference for using the first surname from the father over the second surname from the mother occasionally results in serious legal problems in English-speaking countries. Just because laws operate on the assumption that each person has a first name, middle name, and last name, where the last name is normally inherited solely from the father and is assumed to be the only surname… It's not as big a deal as it used to be. Many years ago when they were married, it caused much confusion. So to help stop that confusion, Antonio and I only have our father's surname. Even Mamá changed her name, that's was definitely going against tradition. She didn't do that when they first got married, but it's much easier here in the States. She had problems getting a passport because they didn't understand how Spanish names worked." Gabby laughed, "I know she's had to defend my choice to take on your name and drop my own…"
"Gabby, you know that I would have understood if you wanted to keep Dawson. Hell, you use it at work."
"I did that because it would be too difficult to separate two Caseys at the same firehouse…" she defended her choice. "And," she ducked her head slightly, "it is going to be really nice that all of us are going to have the same last name," she gave him a small smile.
Matt took her hand, rubbing a thumb over it and playing with her rings. He never knew what her response was going to be these days. Gabby might have a seemingly never ending supply of energy, which had been a nice touch during her second trimester, but Matt had started to noticed that she was being more emotional recently, there were tears in her eyes where once there wouldn't have been. But Matt was pleased that she was comfortable showing this to him - to think a few years ago she would have simply shut down and pushed down everything she was feeling. Now, whether it be that she couldn't control her hormones or whether it was she was just embracing them - Matt saw it as progress. Gabby brushed the tears off, running a finger under her eyes.
"You know I meant nothing by it. I'd love you no matter what your name is. But Baby I'm glad that we're all sharing my name… Come here," he beckoned. Gabby turned and wedged herself between Matt's legs. He dropped a few light kisses on the crown on her head before pulling his phone out from his pocket.
"So," he started after scrolling for a few minutes. "The most popular names at the moment include Olivia, Ava, Mia and Isabella. And if Smudge is a boy… Jackson, Aiden, Lucas and Noah…. Oh what about Sophia? That's a Spanish name isn't it?"
"I don't want anything too common… So nothing like Sofia," she warned. "And the rest of those were the most popular American names Babe."
"Gabs…" Matt groaned slightly, "You have one of the most common Spanish names out there… You and Antonio… Even I've got a common name." Matt didn't know much, but he knew that.
"All the more reason to pick something special for our child. Think about it, you just confirmed that we both have common names. Let's give Smudge something slightly different… I'm not saying that we should choose something such as Addis…"
"Addis?" taunted Matt, laughter evident in his words. Gabby rolled her eyes.
"But rather something special to us…" she finished ignoring his comment.
Matt smiled and leant over to kiss her soundlessly. "Okay, so how are we doing this? Just looking through some websites and those books?" he questioned looking at the books spread around the floor.
"I suppose so… I have one more request, with the three names… I know it's a lot, but I just want to keep the family tradition alive. And if we have a girl, I want her middle name to be Leonora, it's my middle name and Mamá's too."
"And for a boy?"
"Diego is the family name," confirmed Gabby. "Antonio went a bit beyond it to have it as his first name. But Eva and Diego don't have the three names like we do, Laura wouldn't hear of it," she screwed up her nose at the thought quietly.
He nodded as he swiped his phone to unlock it again. "Got it, so we need to find three names and Casey or Casey-Dawson? Or will it be Dawson-Casey? Do I get to go first since I'm the man? Or if it's a girl do we switch the order... Can you imagine hyphenating the double-barrelled name? ... I mean, either way lucky kid when it comes to learning their name and then coming to write it," he teased only just managing to get out his words for the laughter, earning him a poke in the side.
"Just Casey Babe," Gabby told him as she snuggled into his side, flicking open a book. "I took it when I married you and I want our kids to have it too." Matt smiled as he dropped a kiss on the crown of her head.
"Hey what about Hannah? It's a palindrome, those are cool right?"
"Really? Matt… we can't have a palindrome for a name. I just don't like the sound of it," Gabby grumbled. "I mean people are so proud of their palindrome names… And I don't get it."
"Fine… I'll keep looking!"
A short while later they both had a short list of girls and boys names. But nothing had stood out to them enough to say yes that's exactly what they wanted, at least on the girls side.
"What about Marcos?" piped up Gabby as she let a pen drop from her hands.
"Marcos?" Matt repeated. "Marcos Casey… Marcos Diego Casey…" he let the name roll off his tongue, trying it out. "I like that. It works quite nicely Gabs," he complimented. "That might be the one…What do you think Smudge?" Matt leant down towards Gabby's belly, "Do you like the name Marcos?" Matt waited until he felt movement under his hand, Gabby laughing at the sight she was witnessing. "Now just for a girl's name."
But nothing was clicking enough with the surname Casey. Matt left a hand resting on Gabby's belly feeling what was now becoming a familiar fidget. Enjoying the feeling Matt let his eyes fall shut and leant his head against the couch.
"Gabs…" he spoke up after a sudden thought. "What about Antonia?" he questioned. Gabby moved to look him in the face, confusion evident in her eyes. "I know how close you are to your brother. Antonio has been there for us through thick and thin… Even when I maybe haven't deserved it, but he still gave me support. And it would be nice to have another family name if we have a girl."
Gabby twisted in her spot and gave him a searingly hot kiss. Running her tongue along his lips, she begged for entry which was willingly given. She didn't have the words for how grateful and appreciative she was to Matt for this suggestion. Matt pulled her deeper for the kiss, tangling a hand into her hair.
"Thank you," she spoke quietly, her chest heaving once she finally pulled away. "That is perfect Matthew… Perfect," she finished before leaning in for another kiss.
"Woozers," spoke up Otis as Casey and Dawson walked through the door into Molly's, his eyes glued to the quite prominent baby bump that Gabby was sporting. Gabby looked very self conscience and smoothed her long top over her bulging belly. "That is a bump!"
Matt glared at him whilst Herrmann leant over the bar to slap him up the backside of the head.
"You can't say those things…" Herrmann warned. Gabby shook her head walking past her ex-workmates and fellow Molly's owners. She hadn't thought that it had been that long since she had seen her friends. But evidently by that tactless comment she was obviously growing rapidly. Although Otis wouldn't be Otis without those types of comments. It was a surprise to everyone that it wasn't Severide.
"Don't listen to him Mamá," shouted out Cruz, "You looking stunning," he complimented.
"Gabby!" called out Stella from a back table. Gabby turned to catch Matt's gaze. He nodded towards their friends, motioning that he was going to go to the bar and get them something to drink.
Reaching her friends, she found a rather crowded table with Stella and Kelly sitting down, along with Sylvie, Will and Natalie. Even Cruz had pulled up a stool arriving at the table just before she had. They had pulled over a number of extra stools around the table.
"Kelly," Stella prodded her boyfriend. "Get up!"
"Huh?" Kelly drowned what was remaining of his beer.
"Up, up, up." urged Stella. Kelly shook his head as he stood, moving so that Gabby could sit.
"Mrs Casey - your seat," he exaggerated. Laughing along with him, Gabby took a seat, shifting her hips as she settled down as well as she could on the stool. Will and Natalie's eagle eyes watched as one of Gabby's hands went to her belly and the other to the side of her rib cage, all seemingly unconsciously as she started a conversation with the people around her.
Matt gave a soft smile as he placed her soda down. He shook his head at Will's offer of a seat, rather preferring to stand next to Gabby slinging his arm around her shoulders.
"Sylvie Brett," Gabby started not long after fishing for her phone. "What was this message about?" she accused looking for a message, flicking rapidly. Stella reached over to grab the phone from Gabby once it was outstretched. Upon reading the title of the article shown she burst into gales of laughter.
"What?" Sylvie defended herself. "I was browsing and came across it…."
"What were you browsing to even find something like that Brett?" Cruz questioned once he had noticed what was being passed around.
"Looking for baby presents for Baby Casey… And then I thought Gabby might like to see that…"
"It's not a bad idea," mused Natalie. "It would have been nice to know at least 30 things you need to do before you have a baby," she claimed as she scrolled through the article.
"Although, I'm not so sure about this one that tells you go and jump on a trampoline," observed Will reading over her shoulder. Laughter echoed around the table as Gabby tapped Matt on the side of his leg, pushing applying some pressure to persuade him to stand directly behind her.
He got the hint and as soon as he was in place, she leant back into him trying to stretch out her back. "You okay?" Matt questioned quietly as possible.
Gabby nodded and moaned slightly. "Smudge's feet are pushing up under my ribs," she complained lightly.
Natalie and Will shared a knowing look, Natalie's memories of these uncomfortable feelings still quite fresh. "Gabby, if you can manage, try standing for a bit," she advised. "Everything is expanding and sitting down can make all that pain you're feeling worse since being seated compresses your internal organs. It may also make baby move into a new position too," she offered.
Grumbling slightly, Gabby stood up rolling her hips slightly with the hope of getting Smudge to move. Matt looked over her head and mouthed a quick 'thank you' to the two doctors. Once settled into a new position of Matt sitting and Gabby leaning into his chest the conversation started again.
"What's this I see about greeting your partner at the end of a long day with a big kiss and a hug and giving him your undivided attention?" Matt asked tongue in cheek.
"Doesn't she do that every day anyway?" Kelly joked back. "I'm sure I witnessed many stolen kisses in that lieutenant's office."
"So…." drawled out Stella noticing the redness that had started to creep up Gabby's face. "What was it specifically that made you send it Sylvie?"
"Oh…" she wriggled her fingers holding her hand out for the phone. "This one," she announced, "wear all your dangly earrings… We all know how much Gabby likes her earrings."
Gabby gave a wide grin as she lifted her hands to ears pretending to model her current dangly earrings. Matt shook his head ruefully as the conversation moved towards a different topic.
"Did you know that we're down into double digits finally?" Gabby questioned as Matt slipped his arms around her waist, pulling her close in an attempt to shield her from the cold as they slowly made their way to his truck. He leant down a touch lower than he normally would have to press a kiss to the top of her head.
"Huh?"
"We've got 93 days left until we meet Smudge," Gabby informed him snuggling her head into the side of Matt's chest.
"93 days…" mused Matt, slowing his walk down to a pace that he knew Gabby would be able to keep up with for an extended period of time. "Wow," he breathed, "it seems so far away… but at the same time it's going to fly by. I'm sure that Smudge will be here before we can blink." Pushing her gently up against his truck, he leant down to kiss her on the cheek. Brushing away her hair from her ears, he gently nipped at her earlobe, "I can't wait to meet our little guy," he whispered.
Gabby laughed at the tickling breath against her skin. Pushing his shoulder away slightly, she laughed again. "What do you mean to meet our little guy?" she chuckled.
"I mean…" he emphasised, placing both of his large warm hands on either side of her belly. "In what seems likely to be a very short time we are going to be welcoming our little Smudge into our family," he spoke. Bending down he rested his cheek against her tummy and whispered, "And Daddy is willing to bet that you can't wait to meet us either, hey champ?" Smiling at the thump he caught in the face, "And you're going to be one hell of a firefighter too!"
~ Her eyebrows and eyelashes are well-defined; plus, she has more hair on her head this week ~
Hope you enjoyed this instalment. Please let me know what you think.