I felt very inspirited today, so I decided to write and post a new chapter. I hope you like it and don't be mad at me after reading it ;-) I'm already on the next chapter, so you won't have to wait very long.

Enjoy reading,

Miss Eliza

Gabby

The alarm clock rang shrilly and Gabby, barely awake, put her pillow over her head. No way it was already 7am. "Matt" She mumbled. "Make it stop. It's annoying." But nothing happened. The alarm clock kept ringing. "Geez, Matt. How can you sleep through this?!" She wanted to reach over him to turn the annoying sound off. That was when she realized that he wasn't there. She was alone. In Puerto Rico. And it was indeed 7am. Gabby sighed. Sleeping safely in his arms, feeling the warmth of his body, it had been a dream. Reality hit her like a punch in the gut. There was a meeting scheduled with John Carter today, so he had to be punctual. Pushing aside the sheets she got up and walked into her bathroom. Maybe a refreshing shower would help her getting the tiredness out of her system. She got into the shower and wanted to grab her shampoo bottle when she started to feel dizzy. "Great" She thought. "This is exactly what I need. Getting sick while planning this important project." She decided to ignore the symptoms, maybe it would make the bug go away. After getting dressed she took her keys and left. It was a short drive to the station but she wanted to be prepared for the meeting. This hospital was the most important project and if she handled it well, she probably would get a raise and maybe even a promotion. She parked the car in her usual spot and walked into the building. Since it was very early most of the team members hadn't arrived yet. Gabby walked into her office and started her computer to have one final look at her presentation.

"Morning, Dawson" Gabby looked up and saw Mike Hunter, the former architect of the hospital, in her doorframe.

"Morning, Hunter. What can I do for you?"

"I want to know why you took the hospital project away from me." He looked a little bit pissed. "It's our most important project."

Gabby took a deep breath. "I know. And that's why I decided to let some real pros handle it. You have absolutely no experience with planning and building hospitals and yet you did a great job. But what we really need is someone who has experience."

"And money." Hunter said bitterly.

Gabby nodded. "That's right. The Carter foundation has the money and the experience to help us building this hospital."

"Guess I can't argue with that" He shrugged. "So what'll I be doing instead?"

"You'll help build new homes for the people who lost everything. You have a lot of experience with planning apartment buildings."

"Really?" He couldn't believe it. "I still get important work to do?"

"Of course, Hunter. You're a great architect." Gabby smiled. "I'm sure you'll do a great job."

"Thank you, Dawson." He laughed. "I came in here to yell at you for taking away my job but instead I ended up with a better one."

"You're very welcome." Gabby wanted to focus on her computer again but he coughed slightly. "Yes?"

"Maybe" He blushed. "Maybe we can have a drink together after work? Someday?"

"Um" Gabby didn't know what to say. "Maybe. I'll think about it." She focused on her computer again and Hunter left her office. "What the heck did I just say?" Gaby said to herself. "I can't do that. I just can't." She thought about last night's dream or should she say every night's dream? It was always the same. She fell asleep just to dream about sleeping. In the arms of her husband. And every morning when she woke up she felt miserable. This wasn't moving on, this was clinging to the past. It had to stop but she didn't know how to stop it yet. Maybe going out with Hunter would help. Maybe this was the therapy she needed.

Matt

"Severide, can I borrow your pen?" Matt was sitting at the table in the common room next to Kelly who was busy solving a crossword.

"Nope." Kelly didn't even look up. "Get yourself one. There are plenty on the kitchen counter."

Matt got up and grabbed a pen from the counter, when Cruz came walking into the kitchen. "Captain? I need to ask you something."

"Sure. What is it, Cruz?" He looked at him. "And don't tell me you want furlough at Thanksgiving. That's not gonna happen."

"No, no" Cruz hurried to say. "It's…you remember the woman I got out of the fire? Chloe? The one with the dog?"

Matt nodded. "Yep."

"Well, she asked me out on a date"

"And you want my permission, because…?" Matt was curious.

"No, it's not that. It's…she has a friend and… and…well….she said we would only go out when I would bring someone for her friend." Cruz bit his lip and looked at his Captain.

"You're asking me to be your wingman on a double date?!" He couldn't believe it. "But you do realize that I'm married?"

"Yes, but…" Cruz wanted to say something but he cut him short.

"No buts." Matt walked back to the table and sat down, looking at the construction plans in front of him. Kelly put his crossword aside and looked at his friend. "You should go."

"Excuse me?!"

"You heard me. You should go." Kelly was serious. "How long has it been since she left? 4 weeks?"

"No." Matt shook his head. "More like three weeks, five days and eight hours."

"Wow." Kelly wasn't really impressed. "This has to stop. Enough with the pity party, Casey. Let's face it, she isn't going to come back. She changed her cell number so you can't get a hold of her. She left you. It's over."

"Believe it or not, Severide, I know the facts" Matt felt his blood starting to boil. "But that doesn't mean I'm ready to move on. She's the love of my life! She always was the one for me. How am I supposed to forget her in 4 weeks?!"

"Calm down. I didn't tell you to forget her, I told you to move on. Have some fun." He gestured towards the construction plans. "All you're doing lately is working. When you're off shift you're doing construction jobs like 24/7. You deserve a nice night out with Cruz and some hot chicks."

Matt didn't say anything. He just grabbed his plans and left the room with an angry expression on his face.

"Wow" Mouch looked over to Cruz and Severide from his spot on the couch. "You two really pushed his buttons." He shook his head at them. "Inviting him for a double date, 4 weeks after his wife left him? Really, Cruz? What did you think? And you?!" He pointed at Severide. "That was the crappiest relationship advice ever."

"Why? I just told him the facts." Kelly defended himself. "He has to face it. Dawson won't be back."

"And what makes you so sure of that?" Mouch raised an eyebrow. "He is your best friend, you should be there for him instead of telling him to meet other women. Guess, I'll have to fix this." Just as he stopped talking his cell phone started to ring. He looked at it and got up to leave the common room.

Gabby

She walked into the conference room, where a tall guy with dark hair was waiting for her. He was dressed very casually in khakis and a white T-Shirt. When she entered the room he got up from his seat and shook her hand. "Gabriela Dawson, I assume?" She nodded. "I'm John Carter. Nice to meet you. Carol told me very good things about you."

"Nice to meet you too, Mr. Carter. We're very lucky to have you here."

"Oh please, Mr. Carter is my dad. It's John or just Carter."

"Okay, Carter. In that case I'm Dawson. Shall we get started?" They sat down at the conference table. "Carol and the rest of the team will join us later. I'm sure she already told you a lot about the project?"

"Yes" Carter took a folder out of his backpack. "She told me exactly what you want and I'm happy to announce that it fits perfect into the kind of project the Carter foundation likes to support." He opened the folder. "I have all the important paperwork in here."

"So that means you'll really help us building this hospital?"

"Well, you have to show me your concept first but as long as it's a good one, and Carol already said it is, I don't see any reason to deny help." He smiled at her.

"Happy to hear that." Gabby opened her folder and they talked about the details of the project before they invited the team to join them. Afterwards Carter invited Gabby and Carol to a coffee in a nearby café. "Gabby Dawson, this is one hell of a project and I'm very happy to be here and work with you. Carol, you didn't exaggerate when you told me she's not only a badass paramedic but a great project planner."

"Told you so." Carol winked at him. "It's so good to see you again. How's Kem and more important, how is Grace?"

"Kem is doing great. She worked in a HIV clinic in Kongo for 6 weeks, she is one of the founders of the clinic." He explained to Gabby. "And she likes to go back and see how it goes there. And Grace is very happy her mommy is back. She is used to us being away for some time due to our jobs but she still doesn't like it. Neither do we. But we can't take her with us. It's too dangerous. When she's older she can join us on some of our trips."

"Sounds like you two finally worked everything out." Carol was happy for him. She looked at Gabby, who was listening to them very interested. "They met in Kongo, then came back to the US only to split up and suffer until they were reunited again."

Carter laughed. "Well, that's the short version. What did you run away from?"

"what? I?" Gabby stuttered. "Why.. how…what do you know?"

"Nothing." Carter answered. "Everyone who does this kind of job for the first time runs away from something. Either a boring job or a toxic relationship, or…oh looks like we have a winner. Toxic relationship?"

"Kind of. Don't want to talk about it now."

"That's okay. I just want you to know that this therapy only works temporarily."

Gabby shrugged. "I know. But thanks for the advice. I can see why Carol likes you. You seem to be a very good guy, John Carter."

"Right back at ya, Gabby Dawson."

"Hey, what about me?" Carol complained smiling.

"Oh come on, you know we love you." Gabby laughed. "I think I'll try a new kind of therapy tonight."

"Oh yes?" Carol was curious. "And what is that?"

"Hunter asked me out and I think I'm taking the offer. Excuse me, I have to make a call. See you later. Thanks for the coffee, Carter." She got up and walked back to the station while dialing a familiar number.

It rang a few times before someone picked up. "Randall McHolland?"

"Mouch? It's me. Gabby."

"Oh my god, Dawson. I'm so happy to hear from you. How are you?"

"I'm fine. Are you at the firehouse?"

"Yes"

"Can anybody hear you?"

"No. When I saw the number I had a hunch it could be you. What can I do for you?"

"I needed to hear a familiar voice." Gabby admitted. "My new job is great but I don't feel so good lately."

"I can imagine." Mouch chose his next words very carefully. "Dawson, have you thought about calling Casey, lately?"

"Yes"

"Then why didn't you?"

"I'm afraid. I want to move on but at the same time I can't. I don't want to come back to Chicago, Mouch. But I miss him a lot."

"Maybe you should just tell him that?"

"I can't. It would only hurt him. He wouldn't understand."

"Oh Gabby" Mouch sighed. "But what you're doing now isn't good for the both of you. You have to make a choice. Either to move on or to save your marriage. You can't have both."

Tears were rolling down her cheeks and he could her that she was crying when she answered. "I know. How is he?"

"You broke his heart, Gabby. Or you broke each other's hearts, I'm not the one to judge. He's miserable. Just like you. You have to make a decision and you have to tell him about it. You can't leave him hanging, that's not fair."

"Don't you think I know that? But I don't know what I want, Mouch. Part of me wants to move on but the other part dreams of him every night."

"Listen to your heart, Gabby. As corny as that sounds, but the answer is inside of you. Try to find it and for God's sake give that guy a call when you know it."

"Thank you for listening, Mouch. I will do that. Please don't tell anybody I called you."

"Of course not. Feel free to call whenever you need something."

"I will. Bye." Gaby hung up the phone. She chose to call Mouch because he always had been the only one at the firehouse who could keep a secret. Maybe Herrmann was better at giving advice, but he probably would have told Matt about her calling him. Without thinking she dialed another number. "Hunter? It's Dawson. I would like to have a drink with you tonight."

Matt

He was pissed, like really pissed. How could they talk to him like that? Like his marriage was over? Like Gabby would never come back? He refused to believe that there was no chance for them. She just needed time to heal, to recover from the awful things he had said to her. God, he would do everything to take his words back. But he couldn't. He had apologized like a hundred times but he was sure she had not forgiven him. Not yet. The empty apartment reminded him every day of how bad he had screwed up and so did the empty beer bottles in the trash bin. There was a knock at his door and Kelly walked into his office. "I'm sorry, man. That was bad advice." He sat down on Matt's bed. "I just don't want you to be miserable. I thought maybe a nice night out would cheer you up."

"I know." Matt scratched his head. "I probably shouldn't have blown up. Maybe you're right. Maybe she won't come back, but I'm not ready to face that reality yet. Part of me still hopes she'll be back."

"And that's okay. But it's no reason to make your life a living hell."

"you know what?" Matt realized he could need some distraction and he definitely needed Kelly to stop giving him relationship advice. "Maybe I should go on that double date with Cruz. Maybe Chloe`s friend is nice. I mean I don't have to pull a Severide and sleep with her at the first date, right?" He joked but deep inside he was sad. He hated dating meaningless women, but maybe he should get used to it. Maybe he would even start to like it.

"Definitely not." Kelly was surprised. "Are you sure?"

"Yep" Matt got up. "I'll tell Cruz." He walked towards the apparatus floor where Cruz was playing cards with Capp. "Hey Cruz, count me in on that date."

"Thank you, Captain. I'll call Chloe." When Matt turned around to go back into the firehouse he saw Mouch in the driveway talking to someone on the phone. He got a little bit nearer. "Of course not. Feel free to call whenever you need something." Mouch hung up the phone and turned around, facing his Captain. "Casey! How long have you been standing there?!"

"Only two seconds, why?" He wondered.

"Oh nothing, it just was a private conversation." Mouch shrugged and walked past him. Matt raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything. Something about this phone call seemed odd. He wanted to go back into the firehouse to get some paperwork done, when the bells went off.

"Truck 81, Squad 3, Engine 51, Battalion 25, Ambulance 61, multiple car accident, Interstate 94"