Chapter 4

"Why the hell am I here?" Matt asked. "Well, Matt, if you don't remember, you kind of have a history of brain trauma. They must have put you to sleep because your brain had been through so much trauma already," said Shay. Matt was shocked to see himself so battered and bruised. He then saw Severide in front of his room, tapping his foot almost as if he was waiting for someone. He kept looking at his phone nervously.

All of a sudden, he heard someone running towards Severide fast with a suitcase behind them. Matt would have recognized her from anywhere; it was Gabby. "Dawson, I would have picked you up from the airport," Severide said. "No, no, I wanted someone with him until I could get here," she said. She immediately placed herself in front of his door, and her face was filled with worry. Kelly put his arm around her and gave her a tight squeeze. "He's going to be ok!", Severide said. "Ethan's going to come and give you the full medical update, and the rest of the house had to go back to shift. Just breathe, Gabby", he said. Gabby nodded and tried to steady her breathing. She took one last breath and then turned the nob of the door.

"I know Dawson would always come if you were in trouble, but why is she learning all your medical info?". Shay asked. "She's in charge of my medical decisions still," he said. Shay's eyes widen, and she had a smirk on her face. "Oh, and you're over her," Shay said in air quotes; what a joke Matt," she said while laughing.

Kelly followed Gabby behind the door. She immediately took a seat next to him and grabbed his hand, and started stroking it. "Kelly, can you get Ethan now!" Gabby asked. Kelly nodded and went to go get the doctor. Gabby got up and kissed Matt on the cheek, and whispered in his ear. "Please be ok; I don't want to live my life without you anymore," she said. She then went back to holding his hand. Before she knew it, Ethan and Kelly were in the room. "Gabby, it's good to see you. I am sorry it's under such challenging circumstances," Ethan said. Gabby nodded. "Ok, I will give it to you straight. When Matt fell through those stairs, part of the staircase fell on him—causing him pretty serious brain damage. We went in and saw he had a minor brain bleed. We corrected that, but when we were in there, we saw his brain was swelling pretty badly still. So we decided the best thing to do would to put him in a medically induced coma. That way, his brain could heal, and we minimize as much damage as possible. When he wakes up, he will have to be put on bed rest for two weeks and not left alone. There could be some memory loss or some slurred speech, but he will be ok, but that's all fixable. The thing is, we don't know when he will wake up; it just depends on how much rest his brain needs," Ethan said.

Gabby nodded, "Thanks, Ethan, can I see his charts," Gabby asked. Ethan nodded and handed them to her. "We followed your directions by putting him under ASAP. You are in charge of all his medical choices throughout this process. We just need you to sign some paperwork that's under those charts as well", Ethan said. Gabby nodded and gave a sloppy signature on the paperwork. She then handed it back to Ethan. "If you have any questions, Gabby, please ask, and you can stay in his room as long as you want," he said. Gabby smiled and said, "Thank You!" "I'll check on him again tomorrow, but nurses should be here every three hours checking vitals, medication, etc.," Ethan said as he was walking out the door. Gabby nodded. Before they knew it, it was just Kelly and Gabby in the room again.

"Kelly, why did he go back in for some box Chief was telling me about it?", Gabby asked still clutching Matt's hand. "We rescued a guy from a house fire who had alzheimers. Had been with his wife for over fifty years and was terrified of forgetting her. So he ran back in to get this memory box the guy made of her. Casey put it under his turncoat so it won't get ruined. He dropped it as he was getting the guy out. He ran back in to get it, and then the stairs fell on him. Thank God squad got him in time", Kelly said. Gabby nodded. "Sounds like Matt," she said with a smile.

"Yeah, most Matt thing I've seen him do in a long time!" Kelly said. "Why do you say that?" Gabby asked with concern. Kelly got nervous and started getting quiet. "Gabby, I don't know how to tell you this!" Kelly said. "Kelly, whatever it is, you can tell me!" Gabby said with a stern look.

"Matt and Brett have been talking a lot. Brett's birth mom came back into the picture, and he was there for her through all that. I think Brett wants more, and I'm nervous Casey's just going to do it because he thinks he needs to move on. But then I heard him listening to that voicemail you left after that fundraiser the other day, and I just got so pissed at him. You guys obviously still love each other so, why aren't you together?" Kelly asked. Gabby was silent, and she had tears in her eyes.

"Brett really wants more with him?" Gabby asked, still holding on to Matt's hand. "I haven't talked to her about it, but Stella talks about how Brett talks about Matt all the time, and it makes her uncomfortable.", Kelly said. "I just don't get it, Gabby; he will spend all this time with Brett, but then in his room at night, I can hear him playing your voicemail, and he still keeps all those pictures he had of you on his desk in the top drawer of his dresser. I see him pull them out when he thinks I am not looking", Severide said. "Then when I heard you guys slept together at that fundraiser, and he didn't call you back. Hell, I was pissed at him; you don't deserve to be treated like that, Dawson. Frankly, if you want nothing to do with him, I can take care all over this", Kelly said. "You can go back to Puerto Rico; from what you've been texting me, you sound really happy there!" Kelly said.

Gabby took a breath. "Kelly, Matt's always going to be my family regardless of what has happened. Am I pissed at Brett? Absolutely!" Gabby said. "But Matt, I get it; we both do stupid things when we are hurt, and I think this was his stupid thing!" Gabby said. "Kelly before I left," Gabby said, pausing before she spoke again, still clutching Matt's hand. She also looked like she was about to cry. "Dawson, you don't have to tell me if it's too much," Severide said.

"No, I want you to know it's time to talk about it and fix it," she said. "Before I left, Matt and I found out I had an aneurysm from my miscarriage. We were going to try for another baby, but I had a 10% chance of dying if we did. Matt didn't want to risk it, but I did. He wanted to adopt, but I didn't. Kelly, after losing our baby, Louie, and almost Matt in that fire, I couldn't bear to lose someone else too. I wanted something that was ours that no one could take from us. We had a fight, and Chief Hatcher offered me the opportunity to go to Puerto Rico, and I took it. I felt like if I couldn't give Matt the thing he wanted most in the world, maybe it was better if I left and he could have it with someone else. Gabby was almost sobbing at this point. "I wanted to be a family with him so bad, I thought if I couldn't do that, I would do the second-best thing and help people," she said.

Kelly was stunned. He was shocked that he didn't know this about his best friends. They were suffering at such a profound level. "Dawson, I didn't know…" Kelly said. "We didn't want anyone to. It's too painful to talk about", Gabby said. "You know he wants you in his life over anything else, right?" Kelly said. "Gabby, he's been really lost since you left, definitely not the same," Kelly said. "You guys would have figured it out, though! You're Dawson and Casey; you've been through a lot, and the universe would have given you a kid at some point", Kelly said. Gabby laughed, "Kelly, we were so caught up in our own pain we got so lost in it! We eventually lost each other," Gabby said. Kelly nodded. "I'm gonna just focus on getting him better, and I'll deal with the rest later," Gabby said. Kelly nodded, and his phone beeped. It was a text from Stella.

Stella:

Hey, just got off shift. The House is heading to Med. Be there in 15. Love you

"Ok! And Gabby, I am here with both of you through all of this, know that!" Kelly said. Gabby smiled, "Thanks, Kelly!" she said. "House is going to be here in 15, so I'll give them updates", he said. "Do you want to let people in here?" Kelly said. "Yeah! He would want that, but I'll go to the cafeteria when Brett comes in. I just can't see her," Gabby said. "I get it," Kelly said, nodding.

Before they knew it, the room went quiet, and they couldn't hear anything anymore. They just saw Gabby sitting there crying and holding his hand. "Why can't we hear anything ?" Matt said. "That's all I can give you for now! But Matt, are you sensing a theme here?" Shay asked.

"She never told me any of that. Shay, I could still never live with myself if something happened to her. If us not being together is what keeps her alive, then I've made the right choice!" Matt said. Shay shook her head! "You run into burning buildings for a living, yet your petrified of a 10% chance of death with her carrying a baby?" Shay said. "I can't lose her, Shay!" Matt yelled. "News flash Casey you already did!" Shay yelled back! If this is what you really want your life to be like Gabby Dawson less, I'll show you what life has is in store for you". Shay said. She then grabbed his hand, and they were going to their next destination.