Matt put a protective arm around Gabby's shoulders as they entered 51 that morning, she told him last night she was going to speak to the chief about counselling but wouldn't ask for time off unless her mind set affected her job. Matt has agreed that he would allow her on truck only if the chief agreed.
"You alright?" He asked as they walked through the open doors, it was warm outside and all the shutters were up only the fresh air and warmth fill the station.
"A little nervous" she replied. "What if Boden benches me?"
"Then he benches you." He stopped and turned to face her "Gabriela, you have to do exactly what he says ok? Do you want me in there while you talk?"
Gabby nodded. Matt took her hand and they both walked towards the chiefs office. They knocked and waited for him to finish the phone call he was taking before he waved them in.
"What can I do for you guys?" He asked. Gabby froze and stared at the chief, all words stuck in her throat, she looked at Matt for help.
"Chief, Gabriela and I were hoping she could have a word."
"Gabriela what can I do for you?" Boden looked at her, he could see she was nervous, "take a seat." He said pointing to the chairs in front of his desk.
They sat down, Matt still holding tightly to Gabby's hand, he gave it a squeeze for reassurance.
"Chief I'm sure you heard about what happened the other night." Gabby started, her voice shaking slightly. Boden nodded that he did, "well I've not been sleeping great, and I've been having some anxiety and was wondering if you could put me in touch with the councilor. Matt and I had originally talked about me taking time off but I hate being alone at the moment. And feel being here is better than home alone." She paused to check his reaction before continuing. "I understand if you want to bench me sir, but I feel capable of the job and comfortable here. I can do my job and leave everything else at the door. But I do need to speak to someone."
Boden listened and eyed both Matt and Gabby up, he was trying to judge what Matt thought about her being out on truck when she was so emotional. He sat back and rubbed his face with his hand, trying to work out what to do. Gabby looked at Matt for reassurance, the silence was making her nervous. Finally he spoke.
"Casey how do you feel, as Dawson's Lieutenant, is she fit enough for truck?"
"I think she is sir, she's very good at compartmentalizing so I think truck is where she needs to be. Otherwise I feel she may sit at home alone over thinking things and as her Lieutenant and her fiancé I feel that's not healthy. I trust her to tell me if the job gets too much, and I'll be the first to bench her if needs be chief. As her Lieutenant I can make sure she is constantly on the hip of a higher up, maybe Hermann would take her back on his hip for a while to keep an eye?"
Boden thought for a moment "very well, I will talk with Hermann and see what he says, I will say this though if he is not comfortable doing this I will have to bench you Dawson. Do you understand?"
"Yes sir" Gabby squeezed Matt's hand again.
"Alright, Dawson you can leave I need to speak with Casey over his return." She looked at Matt nervously, was the chief still mad? Casey gave her a reassuring squeeze "I'll be fine." He said.
She left them in the office and headed for the locker room. Rounding the corner she walked face first into Cruz, who gave a her a big hug.
"Welcome back Candidate, how you doing?"
"Not to bad thanks" Gabby replied. "Have you seen Shay?" She was desperate to see her friend and let her know she was ok.
"Out on call" Cruz said.
"Oh ok, thanks."
She continued into the locker room, as she stood in front of hers she hesitated taking her shirt off, she still had bruises from the attack and she wasn't ready to let anyone see that just yet, she headed to the washroom and locked the door behind her. As she lifted her top up and over her head she turned slightly to look in the mirror, all up her left side was a huge black, blue and purple bruise from where she'd hit the floor, she winced as she pressed around the rib area, although it was just bruising it was extremely painful. Reaching into her bag she grabbed a tube of cream designed to help bruising and applied it generously before slipping her truck shirt on and tucking it neatly into her pants.
Truck 81, Squad 3, ambo 61, Battalion 25 man in need of assistance, trapped at oil refinery.
Everyone jumped into action and headed towards the refinery. Matt kept looking over at Gabby to make sure she was ok, then realising they were on shift and the chiefs warning from this morning rang in his ears.
"Matt your a great Lieutenant, but I'm still very disappointed in your behaviour last week." Matt nodded, he knew he'd messed up and he had a long way to go to gain the chiefs full trust again. "I'll be watching closely to your every move Casey and if I feel personal is getting before professional I will have no choice but to remove Dawson from truck and put in for a transfer for her." Matt opened his mouth to speak but the chief continued "I told you last week what will happen to you if it happens again. And I'm not going to lie allowing Dawson back on truck today knowing her personal emotions are high is a difficult decision. I'm trusting that you've made the decision based on her professional attitude and not just because you want her close."
"Yes sir" Matt replied. "I can separate my personal and professional, trust me I don't want to repeat that mistake chief." Boden nodded "I'm only just sitting again." He joked.
"Casey if it's something I have to repeat that'll feel like nothing. I mean it!" Boden's eyes narrowed in on him, making him feel very nervous. He knew the chief meant every word.
They had agreed with Hermann that he would take Gabby on again while she was overcoming her anxiety and the attack. He'd also agreed to keep an eye on Casey to make sure he didn't over step again and bring his personal feelings into a fire. The call was a strange one, a guy had managed to get his head stuck in the safety railings in the walkway over the oil tanks, no one knew how he'd done it and he wasn't saying how. The guys on truck were trying to guess his reasons all the way back to the station, and hoped they'd get some answers when Ambo 61 returned.
"Dawson" Hermann shouted as she jumped out of truck and headed towards the locker room. "Where do you think your going?"
"Erm just to freshen up a bit!" She shouted back still walking.
"Not yet candidate, I'm starving."
Dawson groaned "can you not wait 10 minutes Hermann" she said spinning round to face him with her hand on her hip.
Everyone paused to see what he would do, staring at the both of them.
"Five Dawson, that's all you get. Then in the kitchen. And after that the showers haven't been cleaned all week." He winked at her, letting her know he wasn't going to play easy. And she would be treated the same as any other candidate still. She smiled, she'd asked him before the call went off if he'd still treat her the same as she didn't want everyone treating her like she may break. The guys didn't realise it, but she'd deliberately answered him in that way to see what he'd do. He grinned at her and whispered in her ear as he walked past.
"Told you no special treatment".
Two hours later and Shay was sat on the floor in the shower room chatting with her bestie, it was good to have her back at the station but she was as worried as Matt about if it was the right thing to let her do or not.
"So you smart mouthed Hermann, knowing you'd get extra cleaning duties just to prove he'd still treat you the same?" Shay shook her head "you crazy girl."
"Well it was the only way to make sure he meant what he said." Replied Gabby. "Tell me about your morning, you've been out a lot?"
"Minor things really, Guy fell down the stairs and twisted his ankle really badly, don't think it was broken but we took him in just to be sure. Then we had the little girl who had fallen off the swing backwards and broken her collarbone. She was in so much pain, but she was so sweet. We've been out to the call with you guys and then the last one was a suspected heart attack, turns out the guy just had indigestion. We gave him some anti reflux medication and he was fine. How about you, apart from your smart mouth comments getting you more cleaning duties, hows your first day back going?"
Gabby sat down and looked at her best friend "honestly, I love being here and it's taking my mind off everything, but I jump every time someone walks into the room. Cruz hugged me earlier and inside I felt sick. I mean it's Cruz, not like he's going to wait outside a club and slam dunk me." Gabby shrugged her shoulders, "I'll deny it if you tell anyone but I'm not sure coming back was a good idea." A tear trickled down her face, Shay shifted her position so she could place an arm around her shoulders. Gabby rested her head against her and sobbed. "I hate feeling like this! Damn I hate that some guy has made me feel like this."
"Gabby it wasn't your fault! He's a creep and he'll get everything that's coming to him."
"Gabs!" Matt rounded the corner to see Gabby wiping a tear away from her eye "you ok? Hermann's not being too hard on you is he?"
"No no" she said sitting up "to be honest, I was testing him anyway and he past." She explained what she'd asked earlier on and how she'd planned to test him to make sure he'd follow through. "What's up anyway? Shouldn't you be doing paperwork not checking on me?"
Matt grinned "always got time to check on you candidate. But the reason I was here was Antonio is in the conference room, he brings news."
"Oh, ok. Give me a few mins he can't see me like this." She got up and looked down at herself all covered in suds, and in the mirror at her tear stained face.
"Ok, I'll see you in there." Matt turned and left leaving Shay and Gabby stood there.
"I'll clean this up" Shay said "go change your top and see what he's got to say"
Gabby nodded and walked out to the locker room.
"Hey bro!" Gabby smiled as she walked into the conference room "what's going on."
"Always so straight to the point" Antonio laughed pulling her in for a hug. "Sit down sis." Gabby took a seat next to Matt and Antonio sat opposite them.
"The guy who attacked you he was in front of the judge today, looks like you aren't his first victim." Gabby stared at him open mouthed and reached for Matt's hand. "In fact several other girls have come forward. Gabs I've got to ask you something..." he paused looking at Matt and Gabby seriously. "Did he, Erm, did he... you know?"
"Did he what?" Matt said, looking at Gabby.
"Did he try to 'rape' you" he whispered the word 'rape' struggling to even say it himself.
"He grinded against me, and tried to put his hands on me, but I pushed him away and when he tried again his mate dragged him away. He didn't do anything else, well apart from knock me unconscious and call me a slut."
Matt's face changed "he what?!"
"Matt it's fine, he just didn't like being rejected." Gabby said quickly before turning back to Antonio. "He didn't try to rape me no. Why has he done it before?" Gabby suddenly felt very sick.
"He has been accused by five separate woman, three of which say he full on raped them, the others are claiming indecent assault, and then there's you." He reached out and touched his sisters hand "he's going away for a long time if everything sticks, which it should. The three girls claiming rape, had a rape kit done and we have the DNA of the person. If it matches him he's banged to rights."
Matt felt rage rise up in him, this guy had wanted to push himself on her, his sweet and wonderful Gabby, he'd made her this shaky wreck that had been walking around for three days. If he could get his hands on him.
"Matt please don't do anything silly." Both Gabby and Antonio were staring at him, he realised he'd let go of Gabby's hand and had clenched his fists tightly together.
"Sorry, it just makes me so mad thinking what could have happened." He hugged Gabby tightly "I'm never going to let another person ever hurt you again." He kissed her forehead.
Antonio finished up talking to Gabby and Matt and then swung into the chiefs office to let him know what was going on, before heading back to the precinct. The rest of the shift was pretty quiet, Gabby busied herself in the kitchen, doing grocery runs and cleaning things. As the sun began to set all the guys started heading into the bunk room to try and catch a couple of hours. Gabby stayed in the common room flicking through the channels she settled on some documentary and sat back to watch it in peace.
"Nooooo! Get off me" she screamed.
Someone was rocking her and saying her name "Gabby, Gabby. It's ok!" Her eyes flew open and Matt was standing over her "Gabby your at the station, your safe." She must have dosed off watching tv as it was still on but not the documentary she'd been watching, now it was something about cars and there was no way she'd have left that on. She looked at Matt wide eyed and scared.
"It felt so real." She said moving up so he could get in next to her.
"I know baby, I know." He pulled her in close and kissed her forehead. "What are you doing out here anyway." He asked looking around the common room.
"I didn't feel sleepy so thought I'd watch some Tv for a while but I must have dosed off because I certainly wasn't watching anything about cars."
Matt chuckled knowing that she definitely wouldn't have watched it if she'd been given the choice. "Do you want to sleep in my office?" He asked.
Gabby shook her head "I'd love to but I don't think it's wise, Boden wouldn't like it." Matt agreed, part of him didn't care but he knew she wouldn't let him risk it.
"Ok" he said "I'll sit by your bunk until your asleep ok?"
"Ok" she said.
He lead her through to the bunk room and helped settle her in her cot, Stroking her hair. She was asleep very quickly but he sat there for a while watching her and making sure she was sleeping soundly before retreating to his office.
The rest of the night was quiet, ambo 61 was called out twice, truck once and squad once. Gabby tried to sleep as best as she could but woke several times in a cold sweat, each time Matt was sitting next to her. The other guys pretended they hadn't woken but in truth the whole house had heard her screams and although they knew what it was about they didn't want to embarrass her by showing her they'd heard. At 8 o'clock the next morning they all packed up, changed and handed over the next shift.