Hello there everyone! So as asked and promised, I update this story.

I wanted to apologize in advance for any mistakes because I decided to "translate" this chapter exclusively by my own (no google translate, nothing, just my head). In exactly three months, it will be a year I began to "learn english" by writing fanfictions. So I'm very proud of my job, although I still writing some things wrong :-)

Please tell me what you think by letting a review. It helps me to write the next chapters :-D

Oh, and don't worry: I let Gabby for a while in this story but it was "wanted", and she will "appear" more often.


CHAPTER 16: A decision to make

Three days had passed. Three long days of reflection for Antonio. He had to make a big decision but he was afraid. He was afraid that things would go wrong. Although his sister was stable and was getting better every day, there was always a risk, a risk that this wouldn't happen as planned.

"Mr. Dawson?"

Irina was taking care of Gabby, but she was preoccupied with Antonio. He jumped a little and blocked his eyes on the nurse. He didn't say a word.

"You look elsewhere for several days. Something's bothering you?"

He sighed, closing his eyes and passing his hands over his face.

"I went to see Matt", he admitted.

"Uh... Your brother-in-law, right?"

He nodded slowly.

"How is he?"

He sighed once again.

"He... How I could blame him..."

Irina didn't understand, but said nothing. She wanted Antonio confesses to her. She finished nursing Gabby and sat on the chair near him. Without even realizing it, Antonio began to tell everything.

"I blamed for... For pushing my sister. I blamed him because she is in a coma and not him. I thought if he hadn't pushed her, she would certainly be in the same shape as Matt, but she would be... She would be conscious".

Irina listened attentively this man. He was secret, she knew it. She had immediately felt it. But even so, he indulged in her.

"When I arrived at the door of his room, I... I froze. I knew he wouldn't recognize me... And I wondered how I would see him. And I fell on his sister".

Irina took his hand, stroking it friendly.

"She told him who I was, who was Gabby, his entire life. And even if he didn't remember Gabby, when he realized that she had been seriously injured... He panicked. He wanted to get up when he couldn't, he ripped the breathing tube out of his mouth despite his condition. He... I don't know".

He passed his hands over his face again, letting out a sob.

"Body and mind are two different things. If mind doesn't remember, body does. His body reacted to the news. I am sure that he also didn't understand why he reacted like this".

"I know, but that's not the worst".

There were worse according to him. Something he had understood by seeing Matt.

"Matt loves my sister more than anything, even if he doesn't remember her. He would do anything for her. He protected her by putting his life in between. And in doing so, he... He was so badly injured that he can't be a fireman unless a miracle happens".

"His doctor ran neurological tests?"

"Yes. He... he is achromatic in his right eye, but I don't know what it is".

"It's the loss of color vision. He sees in black and white and shades of gray. It's genetic in normal times, but after a serious brain injury, it can happen".

Antonio nodded. He was finally able to put a definition on a word he didn't know.

"He also has difficulty understanding long sentences and complex ones. He lost nine years of his memory and... And can't breathe on his own when he's unconscious".

"You mean he depends on the ventilator when he sleeps?"

"Yes. But Matt's nurse had a great idea I think. Matt can now breathe on his own and talk when he is conscious, and is dependent on the ventilator when he sleeps".

"Tracheostomy?"

He nodded again. Irina smiled.

3This nurse is... Really Awsome".

Antonio smiled back.

"Yeah..."

Antonio pulled himself together, shaking his head and exhaling deeply.

"I don't even know why I'm telling you all this", he finally said.

"Because you needed it, no doubt. I am a nurse and I take care of your sister, but I'm also an ear for the relatives of my patients. And you're her brother".

"I have to make a decision, but I'm afraid to not take the good one".

"A decision?"

"Either Gabby stays here in Lakeshore, healing slowly but surely. Or I transfer Gabby to Chicago Med so Matt and her are close to each other and could ger better together".

Irina didn't understand the decision he had to make.

"I don't understand".

"Gabby needs Matt to get better and wake up. I know it, I feel it. And Matt also needs Gabby to recover. They need each other. So why leave them in two different hospitals?"

The nurse understood the motivations of Antonio.

"And... I don't know what to do".

"Well... As a nurse, I would say that this is not a good idea because even if Gabby is stable, there is always a risk. As a human being, I will tell you to follow your heart and transfer her to Chicago Med so Matt and your sister can get better. They must get through this together".

Antonio thought for a few moments, and finally smiled.

"Thank you Irina. I know what decision to make now. I know what I must do".


In Chicago Med, it was also three days of slow recovering for Matt. He began to eat some liquid meals even if he didn't finish them. Surely, very slowly, he relearned to talk with Kelly, Shay but especially Christie. But as Kelly and Shay were still on shift, and Christie left to eat in the cafeteria, Matt was alone in the room. He was becoming increasingly lucid, he was in less pain despite the steady reduction of the dose of morphine. The thick fog that was lodged in his eyes was disapearing with time. He was better. But something was bothering him for several days. He looked for the nurse button to call Emily, and after a few seconds, he managed to push the button. Almost immediately, Emily was there. He smiled.

"You miss me?"

"Mh..."

While his friends and family were there to help him talk, it was still very difficult. And he knew he couldn't speak ASL with the nurse. He had to make the effort to speak.

"P-ppppppp..."

"You want to write it? It would probably be easier".

He shook his head. He wanted to talk. He wanted to succeed, and Emily saw it.

"So take your time to explain what you want".

She came and sat down on the chair that Christie used most of the time. She stared at Matt and smiled.

"Or try to spell it".

This time he nodded. He took a good inspiration but not much.

"P... A... P... E... R".

"Paper? You want some paper?"

He smiled. Kelly, Shay and Christie had done a remarkable job with Matt so he could use the letters of the alphabet to spell a word if he couldn't say it.

"P... E... N... C... I... L".

"Some paper and a pencil then. I bring you this rigth now. What do you want to do?"

"D... R... A... W... I... N... G".

"Ah... Some memories?"

"Mh..."

Emily smiled. She left the room to bring him what to draw. She decided to also bring back a colored pencil set and what to hold the paper on a tray while he was drawing. She returned a few minutes later in the room, straightening the bed a little, not too much because of his pelvis, but enough so he could easily draw.

"I brought you a colored pencil set".

He smiled and opened his mouth.

"Th-thhh... An-annnk".

This time it was Emily who smiled as he began to take the pencil in his left hand and draw. She left the room, allowing him to focus on the drawing.


At the firehouse, everyone was tired. And everyone wanted to hear from Matt. They all wanted to see him.

"Why we can't visit Casey, Severide?" Hermann asked.

He wanted to see his lieutenant, his lieutenant he had trained formed right out of the Firefighter Academy. He had seen him grow, succeed his lieutenant test, becoming the officer in charge of truck 81. He was proud of him, but he was worried too. He wanted to see him for reassurance, but he couldn't.

"Because he is still in ICU and as long as he's there, he can't have so much visitors at the same time", Seveirde answered simply.

"And above all, people who are not family doesn't have the right to visit him", Shay said.

"Then why you had the right to go see him? And Severide too?" Otis asked this time.

"Because I said I was Matt's sister and Kelly said he was his brother".

"It's not fair! It's cheating!"

Shay began to laugh. It was cheating of course, but she felt the need to. And especially Kelly: he needed her to get through some very difficult times. Hermann bit his lips. He had something in mind.

"And if we try?"

Shay became serious for a moment. She knew what he had in mind, and she knew she couldn't stop him.

"You don't think what I think Hermann...", Kelly said.

"Yes I do. We all need this, and Casey too".

Kelly sighed. He wouldn't succeed in stopping Hermann.

"Okay, here we go. But don't you dare crying on me if it doesn't work".

They came on their trucks to go to Chicago Med. Once there, they parked their trucks and entered. The receptionist looked at them from head to toe. She recognized Shay and Severide.

"We're here to see Matt Casey", Hermann launched.

"He's still in ICU and only the family can go see him for now".

"We're his family. We are his brothers".

Firefighters were looking at her very seriously. She knew the firefighters considered themselves as brothers, but she hadn't doubted for a moment to fall on the most persevering firefighters in the city of Chicago.

"I'll call Dr. Riley to see if he gives you the green light, but I guarantee you nothing".

She grabbed the phone and dialed the number of neurology while firefighters expected a positive aswer.


Half an hour passed for Matt. He had something in mind and wanted to draw this thing to show it to Christie and to told him what it was. He had just finished the drawing, colored it, satisfied. At this time, Christie entered. She stopped, seeing that Matt was doing something.

"Hey! What are you doing?"

He smiled and returned the paper on which he had drawn. Christie opened her mouth, but no words came out. What she saw was totally beautiful. It was a face perfectly well designed, with good size, good color. That face he had drawn was smiling. Christie didn't know that her brother knew so well how to draw. Especially when she knew that at school, it was in drawings he had the worst notes. She didn't understand, she was so confused.

"W-who?"

He asked who it was. Who had that face. He had drawn a face without even knowing who it was?

"Matt, deep down, I think you know who it is", she finally said.

He seemed to think. He didn't really know who this person was. But what he knew was that seeing this face made him feel better, made him smile. Made him happy. Christie approached a little more, sitting on the chair, watching her brother carefully looking for the answer to his question.

"Think about it Matt".

Deep down, she was happy, and sad. Happy to know he had drawn someone's face whose he didn't remember, but sad that he didn't remember who had that face. Matt sighed, and his head fell back on the pillows behind him. He really didn't know.

"Matt, look at me".

Matt looked at his sister.

"That face, what do you feel when you see it?"

He smiled slightly, closing his eyes. He began to sign.

I don't know. I'm just happy. To see that smile. To see that face. But I don't know why.

Christie remained impassive, but inside her, she cried for joy. She wanted to cry.

When I look at this face or I think of this face... I feel much better afterwards. Christie, tell me who this person is. Please.

Matt still didn't understand. Christie sighed, biting her lips.

"That's... The person you love most in this world".

She wanted him to discover by himself who this person was for him. He thought. It was neither his sister nor his mother, nor Hallie. No woman he knew, and it wasn't Shay. One Person corresponded now. One person he had never actually seen, and he loved above all without knowing why.

Gabby?

In seconds, Christie's face lit up. And she allowed herself to cry.

"Matt, you drew the face of the woman you love without even knowing her", she said between sobs.

Matt opened his mouth but nothing came out, not even a sound. Nothing. He saw his sister cry with joy. There was a knock on the door, someone opened it.

"Knock Knock!"

It was Kelly. Christie turned to him, in tears. She got up and ran to him to hold him in her arms. He didn't know what to do. Or what to say.

"Christie? There is a problem?"

But without warning, she laughed. Apparently it wasn't really a problem.

"Look what Matt just made!"

She approached the bed, taking the paper and showed it to Kelly. His eyes widened.

"It's..."

But no words came out his mouth. He was speechless.

"Yes Kelly. He drew her face without even knowing who she was".

But there was not ust this that left Kelly speechless.

"But... From what I can remember... Matt didn't really know how to draw. And... And he is right-handed. Then... Then how..."

"I don't know. Emily may have the answers".

Kelly went out into the hallway to find her, and came back a few seconds later with her.

"There is a problem?" She asked, seeing that Christie's eyes were red, as if she had cried.

Christie pointed to the drawing done by Matt.

"Oah, that face is beautiful..."

"That's Gabby. He drew her face without even knowing who that face belonged to".

"Well... It's... It's very good news! This means that your brain heals slowly!"

"This is't the problem here Emily", Kelly interrupted. "The problem is that Matt is right-handed and doesn't know how to draw. At least, from what I know".

"Ah".

She ran her eyes on Matt: he seemed not to understand what was happening. She smiled and approached him.

"You have drawn this with your left hand?"

Matt smiled, almost laughed.

I didn't draw with my feet! Of course I have drawn with my left hand!

This time, it was Christie who laughed. Emily turned to her, knowing that Matt had said something funny, something that the nurse didn't understand.

"He just said he didn't draw it with his feet", she said, laughing. "It seems obvious that he drew it with his left hand".

Emily chuckled. She had been stupid on this one: his left arm was the only member that Matt could move.

"Well, it seemed that Mr. became an artist because of the accident! And his brain has decided to change its dominant side!"

"Its... Its dominant side?"

"When you're right-handed, your dominant side is the right and your dominant brain hemisphere is the left. It's the opposite for lefties. Dr. Riley had noticed that most of his brain damage were mainly in the left hemisphere".

She didn't finish her sentence. She wanted to see if Kelly and Christie understood. And if Matt did too.

"Wait... If the damages are in the left hemisphere, then... His brain made him a left-handed?"

"The brain can be amazing! It's just a theory, but... Maybe the brain did it to let his left hemisphere heal faster?"

"And then for drawing? Matt couldn't draw before, but now apparently he can!" Kelly stated.

"Sometimes after a brain injury, patients develop a talent for something that was lacking before. Music, singing, mathematics... Drawing".

Kelly and Christie understood what was happening now. But not Matt. He made it know by clearing his voice.

"Oh! Sorry Matt! I explain. Your brain balances your injuries. It makes it heal by itself, by making you work more with the parts of the brain that are not injured".

I still don't understand.

"Matt, the left side of your brain is damaged. This is the one used the most by righties. You get it?"

Yes. So it's the opposite for lefties.

"That's it Matt. It's the opposite for lefties", Christie confirmed.

"So, since your left hemisphere is damaged, the brain makes sure that you use your right side".

As to compensate?

"To compensate?"

Christie questioned. The brain compensated?

"Yes Matt, your brain compensates your injuries. We can see it like that".

She smiled. And came back to the question that was in her mind since she came in the room.

"By the way, what's this crowd at the door?"

Christie was surprised too.

"Oh that's right. Matt?"

Matt turned his attention to Kelly.

"There are people who wanted to see you. You're ready?"

He didn't know what to expect, but taken by curiosity, he nodded. Kelly walked to the door, opening it a little.

"It's good, you can come in".

Slowly, Matt's eyes widened in astonishment. One by one, his colleagues came in the room. One by one, smiling. They came for him, for the first time in two weeks. His second family. He couldn't help but shed a few tears.