Thank you so much for your reviews on the first chapter. Here's an all new chapter for you. Some of you may notice that some characters of ER are in this chapter. I chose to use some of the ER characters for my story because they fit in very well and will be important for the next chapters. I hope you'll like this chapter.

Enjoy reading,

Miss Eliza

Gabby

It had been two weeks since she left Chicago to work here in San Juan and if somebody asked her how she was, she would say that she was happy. Helping all these people by coordinating first responder and construction teams all over the island was her dream job. Though she was no construction expert she managed well. She had learned a lot from watching a certain someone over the years. Gabby leaned back in her chair and watched the people outside her office through the window. She really liked her new office, it remined her of Chief Boden's office back at Firehouse 51. It had a large window and a glass front so she could see what was going on in the bullpen. Mike Hunter, their architect, was looking at a plan on the white board. It showed a new hospital, they were planning on building and Carol Ross, the nurse manager, was talking to him. It looked like they had an argument about something. Gabby smirked, when Carol turned around and walked towards her office. She liked the other woman. Carol opened the door. "Dawson, you have a minute?"

"Sure." Gabby put her pen aside. "Come in" Carol closed the door and took a seat in the chair opposite the desk.

"What can I do for you, Ross?"

"It's about the plans for the new hospital. Hunter may be a brilliant architect but he doesn't know anything about hospitals. I get it, that he works for free but if we let him have his way, we'll end up with some kind of fancy hospital for rich people and that's the last thing we need." Carol sighed. "We need a hospital for people without any insurance, it doesn't need to be fancy, it needs to be functional."

"I agree." Gabby nodded. "So what do you have in mind?"

"Well, the budget is tight, but maybe we could get some help from a private investor…well…more like a foundation."

"Let me guess, you know someone?" Gabby was curious.

"Yes." Carol looked at her. "We haven't had the chance to talk about personal stuff yet, but you have to know that I used to live in Chicago too. I was the nurse manager at County General, before I left to live in Boston."

Gabby's eyes grew wide. "Wow. That sounds like a long story."

Carol nodded. "It is and I would be more than happy to tell you everything but in a more private setting."

"Sounds great. Let's have a coffee at my place after shift. But now tell me about your idea regarding the foundation." Gabby flipped her pen in her hand. She was really curious now. Money was always tight and they really needed a functioning hospital.

"Well, there was this doctor at County, his family is very rich and when his grandmother died she left him everything. But he never wanted the money, he used it to build a clinic for people in need. But there was still money left so he and his wife founded the Carter foundation to help even more people."

"Oh wait, I think I've heard of him. His name is John Carter, right?" Gabby was excited. "And you think he would help us?"

"Yes, absolutely." Carol answered. "He's a great guy. Shall I give him a call?"

"Yes, that would be great." Gabby got up and hugged Carol. "You're a lifesaver. You saved us from getting a fancy hospital and you saved Hunter from losing his head."

"He won't be happy about this" Carol sighed.

"We'll give him another project." Gabby looked into her computer. "He can help building new homes for the people who lost everything. Just give this Dr. Carter a call and tell him to come here as soon as he can."

"Will do." Carol assured. "See you after shift?"

"Yes, 2 pm at my place? I'll text you the address." Gabby promised.

"See you later." Carol left the office

Matt

It was a sunny day in Chicago and second shift of Firehouse 51 started their shift with roll call as usual. Matt stood next to Kelly as they were waiting for Chief Boden to approach. The door opened and Sylvie Brett entered the room. The only free place was the chair in front of Matt but she didn't take it. She turned around and leaned against the wall on the other side of the room. Severide raised an eyebrow. "What's that all about?"

Matt sighed. "She's avoiding me, but I really don't know why. Guess I need to talk to her later. Gabby gave me something for her."

"Yeah you have to. Chief doesn't like this kind of tension in his firehouse."

Matt wanted to say something but the doors opened again and Chief Boden walked to his usual place in front of his firehouse crew. "Morning, everybody. I have some announcements to make. Dawson has finished her probation in San Juan and Chief Hatcher told me, she's doing a great job. Meaning she won't be back anytime soon. Sylvie Brett will be our new PIC and a new paramedic is starting today, her name is Emily Foster. Speaking of her.." He looked around. "Where is she?"

"Apparently not here." Brett rolled her eyes. "I'll tell main to take 61 out of service, before we get a call." She grabbed her radio but before she could say anything a women came running into the room and slammed her bag on one of the tables in front of her. "Sorry, sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm late. Headquarters gave me a wrong address." She walked up front and shook Boden's hand. "Chief Body, nice to meet you."

Boden's expression was neutral when he answered. "It's Boden. Nice to meet you too, Foster. Brett will show you around." He looked at his crew. "That's it, dismissed. Casey, I need to talk to you in my office."

Matt left the briefing room and walked through the bullpen followed by Boden. When they reached the office, Boden closed the door behind them and gestured towards the couch in the corner of his office. "Sit down." Matt took a seat on the couch while Boden settled himself in an armchair. He looked at his captain with a concerned expression on his face. "How are you? And I don't want to hear that you're fine, because you're not. I can see that."

"What do you want to hear?" Matt raised his arms. "You said it yourself, she won't be back. She loves her new job and I'm proud of her."

"How did you two leave things?"

"I don't know, Chief. She came back to pack her bags and the next morning she sneaked out of the apartment like a thief. I never heard from her since then, it has been two weeks now. You want to know how I feel?" Matt shook his head. "Let's just say not great."

Boden looked at his captain with a warm expression on his face. "I'm sorry to hear that. But I guess she must have had her reason to leave. All I'm asking you is to not be angry at her if she calls you. You may regret it afterwards."

"Chief, like is said, there had been no contact in the last two weeks. She changed her cell number. I can't reach her, even if I wanted to." He covered his face with his hands and sighed. "I just want to get over it and focus on my job."

Boden nodded. "That's probably the best thing to do. But do me a favor: Don't close your heart for her. Reserve a small spot for her in case she changes her mind and comes back, so there'll be still a chance for you two."

Matt got up from the couch and laughed. "Don't worry, chief." He walked towards the door and opened it. Before he left he looked over his shoulder. "My heart belongs to her completely. That'll never change." With that he left and Boden couldn't help but smile. These two crazy kids. He shook his head. They were so in love, he was sure they would find their way back to each other. Matt made his way through the hallway and saw Brett in front of the bathroom. "Brett, do you have a minute?"

"Yeah sure." Sylvie looked down. She wasn't sure what to say.

"Are you avoiding me?"

"No…no…of course not. Why would I?" She could feel herself blushing.

"I don't know." Matt reached into his pocket. "Listen Brett…" He wanted to say something but got cut short by the bells. Everyone walked towards the apparatus floor, ready to face whatever was waiting for them.

Gabby

It was almost 2 pm and Gabby was a little bit nervous. When she first came to Puerto Rico she had sworn to herself not to get close to people here. But with a permanent job she was in need of some friends. She had tried to call Sylvie a few times but she had never picked up. Probably because Gabby had called without caller ID. She was afraid Sylvie would give her new number to Matt. She wasn't ready to talk to him yet. It was complicated and she didn't know what to do, it still hurt so much. Most of the time it felt right to be here but when she was alone in her bed at night it felt like the most stupid idea she ever had. The doorbell brought Gabby back from her daydreaming. She walked into the small living room and opened the door.

"Hey Ross, I'm glad you came."

"Dawson, I'm glad too." Carol walked into the apartment and looked around. "You have a nice place."

"Thank you" Gabby closed the door. "I have a request."

"Alright, let's hear it." Carol was curious.

"Last names are for work. Please call me Gabby."

"Sure. I'm Carol." The two women laughed and Gabby gestured towards her couch. "Please have a seat. I'll get the coffee and some cookies." She walked into the small kitchen and came back a minute later, carrying a tablet with two cups of coffee and a bowl of her homemade cookies. While Gabby placed everything on the coffee table, Carol looked at her hands. "You're married?" Crap, she knew wearing her wedding band would raise questions but she just couldn't take it off yet.

"Yes." Gabby sat down next to Carol.

"Me too." Carol raised her left hand with a golden wedding band. "That's why I left Chicago. To be with him."

"Well, I kind of did the opposite. I left Chicago to get away from everything." Gabby swallowed.

"Yeah I suspected something like that." Carol took a sip of coffee. "You have this sad look in your eyes, even when you smile. May I ask what happened?"

"I married the greatest guy ever and it was wonderful until we wanted kids and found out that a pregnancy could kill me." Gabby looked down, it was hard to talk about this but she had Carol had become very close over the last two weeks. She was her favorite colleague. "We had an enormous fight and I left."

"Oh Gabby" Carol hugged her. "I'm so sorry to hear that. And you haven't talked since then?"

"Yes we have. We had talked everything out via Facetime the first time I was here and I went back to Chicago two weeks ago to get my things. There's no bad blood. He told me, he's proud of me."

"He never tried to stop you?" Carol wondered.

"No, because he knows me like no one else. He knew he couldn't stop me and he loves me, so he let me go." Tears were rolling down Gabby's cheeks, it was still very hard for her to deal with what was left of her marriage.

"Gabby, this sounds like you love him too. Why the hell did you leave?"

"Because I… I… " Gabby had a hard time not to start sobbing. "I felt like we needed some space and I was only planning on coming here for two weeks but then I started to love this job and they offered me a permanent spot."

"And you never want to go back to Chicago?" Carol very wisely avoided the word husband.

"I don't know yet. I'm happy with my new job. I guess I need some time to think about everything."

"I understand that, better than you think." Carol took Gabby's hands. "But promise me not to wait until it's too late. And make sure there's always a spot in your heart for him."

Gabby had to laugh. "You don't have to worry about that, Carol. My heart belongs to him completely. That'll never change." She pointed to Carol's left hand. "I told you my story, now I want to hear yours."

"We worked together at County and we had some issues with a superior, so he had to leave. Got a great job in Boston and before I knew I was alone. Pregnant and alone."

Gabby couldn't believe her ears. "He left you? And he knew you were pregnant?!"

Carol shook her head. "No, neither of us knew when he left. I found out a few weeks later and made the biggest mistake of my life. I never told him. I waited until the twins were born, then I gave him a call."

"Was he mad?"

"No. Not at all. He was disappointed and sad. Told me he would have been there for me, but I didn't let him. I wanted to do everything on my own. Told myself I didn't need anyone."

"But now you two are married?" Gabby really wanted to know the whole story.

"Yes, a dying patient got me thinking about my own life and how stupid I had been. I took my baby girls and got on the next plane to Seattle. That was nine years ago. We got married a few months after that."

"Wow." Gabby took a deep breath. "Your story definitely is more interesting than mine. But what brought you here?"

"I'm here for four months to work with FEMA. To be honest, John Carter asked me to do this. He wanted to come himself but couldn't get away from his clinic and his family."

"But he can do that now? To help with the hospital?"

"Oh, right. I almost forgot." Carol reached for her phone. I called him earlier this day. He loves the idea to help with the hospital. He'll be here in two days. Kem, his wife, just came back from Kongo, where she worked for doctors without borders. So she can take care of their daughter now. She's four and a handful."

Gabby was very relieved. "Oh I'm so glad about that. I'm great at coordinating first responders but I really don't know much about construction. I learned a few things from Matt but not enough to coordinate all the work."

"Your husband is a contractor?"

"It's his side job. He's a firefighter."

Carol laughed. "Oh, the good old cliché. Paramedic and firefighter."

"Yep." Gabby winked. "Couldn't help it."

Matt

"Oh holy mother of god…." Herrmann looked out of the window of Truck 81. "Captain, this looks bad. Really bad." One of the highest buildings of Chicago was on fire. Thick smoke were coming out of the windows. Otis stopped the truck and Matt jumped out, searching for Boden. When he found him the two men looked at each other, before Boden began to speak. "Casey, let's find out what's going on."

"Alright." Matt looked at his men. "Grab extra oxygen tanks and follow us." They walked into the lobby of the building. People came running down the stairs, coughing. The janitor tried to get control of the elevators but wasn't successful yet. "Mouch, get over there and help him" Matt ordered. "Can you tell us which floors are on fire?" He looked at the janitor.

"Fire is on the 21st floor, some people said its already really bad up there."

"Casey, have 81 do a primary search on 22nd and 23rd floor. Squad 3, you take 24th and 25th floor. And Casey, check out that fire." Boden took the finger from his radio and looked at Matt. "Take Mouch too. I'll try to work on the elevators."

"Copy that, Chief." Matt walked towards his men. "Let's get up there. We have to take the stairs, elevators are still out of control." They made their way up to the 21st floor.

"Alright, everyone. Mask up!" Matt walked towards the fire door and opened it. When he did so, a giant fire ball came out and he hurried to close it again. "Chief?" He was talking into his radio. "Fire on 21st. is out of control. No primary search possible. Send 51 up to keep it from spreading."

"Copy that, Casey." Boden's voice came through the radio. "I have Jay Halstead here. His dad his living on 23c."

"If he's still there, we'll find him" Matt answered. "Mouch, come with me. Herrmann, Kidd, do a primary search on 22nd and Otis help Cruz get people out of here."

Everyone did as they were told and twenty minutes later they had evacuated the building. Matt walked out of the lobby, carrying a victim. It was Jay's dad. He was complaining, but Chout and Rafferty got him into an ambulance and took him to the hospital. Matt coughed and looked at the building. The fire had spread and it was getting dangerous in there. He reached for his radio. "Chief, I don't think we have much more time. You see the smoke?"

"Yeah. All entities, evacuate the building. I repeat, evacuate the building immediately." Boden ordered. Matt wanted to walk back into the lobby to help getting the victims out but a hand on his shoulder stopped him. He turned around and saw Brett. "Sit down and let me check you out or I'll report you."

Matt raised an eyebrow but turned around and sat down on the back of the ambo. He opened his jacket, so Brett could put her stethoscope on his chest.

"Take a deep breath." He did as he was told. "Lungs sound clear." She handed him a bottle of water. "Drink this and you'll be fine."

"Brett, talk to me. What is your problem? Are you angry at me?"

"Why? Why did you let her go? Why didn't you stop her?!" Brett had teary eyes.

"Believe me. I'm angry, sad, frustrated, but I couldn't stop her. There was no way I could have stopped her." Matt took another sip from the water bottle.

"Maybe, if I hadn't had this stupid fight with her…" Brett started to say but was cut short by him.

"No, Brett. Stop it. It wasn't your fault."

"But you got a chance to say goodbye. I didn't. I just got a weird phone call."

Matt reached into his pocket and got a picture out which he handed to her. "Gabby gave me this. I wanted to give it to you earlier, but got interrupted by the bells."

Brett turned the picture and on the back there was a message: "Love you partner, and always will. Gabby"

"Thank you, Casey." Brett put the picture into her pocket and wanted to continue her work but he stopped her. "What did you say? She called you?

"Yeah, it was very short. She just told me that she didn't leave because of me but I didn't believe her. She hasn't called me since then. I wanted to reach out but the number isn't working anymore. She must have gotten a new one."

"Yeah, she must have." Matt shook his head. "I can't get a hold of her either. And she really didn't leave because of you. Let it go, Sylvie." With that Matt got up and they continued their work on the scene. When they came back to the firehouse everyone was exhausted. After taking a shower Matt laid down on his bunk and closed his eyes. He had meant what he had said earlier. He was sure Gabby had left because of him. Because of the hurtful things he had said to her about not being able to carry a baby. The words had come out wrong, he had been so afraid to lose her. He could never forgive himself, if she died giving birth to his baby. But things had taken a turn for the worse. Now he was alone. Sure, they had talked it out but she was still gone and he didn't know how to fix the hole inside of him.