A\N: A huge thank you to all of you for reading, reviewing, favouriting and alerting this story, it means so much to me. I holt you all enjoy this chapter just as much and please remember to review :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Chicago Fire, Chicago PD, NBC or Global

Spoilers: None

Warnings: None

Chapter 2

That Monday at school Violet was not herself, and if Gabby hadn't written a note explaining some of what was now going on she'd be calling home.

"Violet!" Annabelle impatiently pulled on her hand as everyone rushed past them, it was first recess and Violet was walking at a snail's pace.

Violet didn't respond, she had barley talked all morning.

"Violet!" She tugged her arm again.

"Let go of me!" Violet pulled her hand away and ran down the hallway disappearing out of sight.

Annabelle watched her friend runaway not sure what to do. She knew Violet was upset but she didn't know why. Should she go after her? Tell a teacher? They were always told that when something happened they couldn't deal with to go to an adult, but how did you know when you couldn't deal with something. Annabelle didn't know.

"Annabelle," Mrs. Chatwick saw the girl standing not far away from the classroom. She was headed to do some photocopying but backtracked when she saw the girl.

"Violet ran down the hall!" She blurted out using her finger to point the way. "She was upset. What's wrong?"

"Oh," Mrs. Chatwick sighed, "Go outside and play Annabelle. I'll go and see if I can find Violet."

"No, I want to help," Annabelle countered.

"No, no Annabelle, go outside." The girl wasn't moving, "Now please." Annabelle slowly turned around and walked into the playground.

Making she was safely outside Mrs. Chatwick sprinted down the hall and towards the main office, to her relief she found Violet in the office. "Violet," She approached her, "Sweetheart are you okay?" She asked the girl, she had been crying.

Crossing her arms Violet frowned at her.

"She hasn't' said a word. Is she in your class?" The secretary asked.

"Yeah, her names Violet Casey. She ran away just as the kids were going out for recess, another child told me and…"

"Right," The secretary clapped her hands together, "What do you propose we do?"

Mrs. Chatwick didn't like the idea of discussing Violet when she was standing right beside her.

"I think I should talk to her Aunt and Uncle. See if they know why she's acting like this."

'I'll pull up the number." The secretary typed some information on her computer and said, "Home number?"

"Yeah try that first."

She nodded and dialed the number, as the phone was ringing she handed it over to Mrs. Chatwick.

Seeing Violet's school name appear on the caller ID made Gabby's heart sink. Was something wrong? What happened? A thousand thoughts were running through her mind as she snatched up the phone, "Hello."

"Hi Ms. Dawson, this is Eloise Chatwick, Violet's teacher."

"Yes, she is okay?" She asked urgently.

"Yes, she's fine we're just a bit concerned about her. I received your note and I appreciate you writing it. Violet just hasn't been herself today she only talked this morning during attendance and during reading. She just ran to the office instead of going outside for recess."

"Do you want me to come and get her?"

"Only of you think that's appropriate Ms. Dawson. I'm just calling to let you know what's been happening.

"No, I think she should stay in school. Thank you though, for calling me."

"You're welcome Ms. Dawson," With that, both woman hung up.

Gabby walked back into the living room where Matt was sitting on the floor playing with Rafael and Javier. He looked up at her as soon as she entered.

"Everything alright?"

"Yeah, that was the school. Violet's not having a good day. Instead of going out for recess she ran away to the office."

Matt shook his head in anger. He had been afraid that Violet's encounter with her father would cause her to relapse, it sounded though like she had gone all the way back to when she first came to live with them.

"Are we going to go and pick her up?"

"No. I think that's what she wants; She needs to learn that even though it may be hard she needs to go to school. They have all the supports there to help her. Plus, we have that appointment at the lawyer's in two hours and my Mom's coming over to watch the boys."

"Right," Matt would have gone to pick Violet up in a heartbeat but he knew and understood Gabby had a stricter parenting method. Still, he sometimes wished she'd console with him first, especially in matters dealing with Violet, who in all intensive purposes was his biological niece and thus not blood related to Gabby at all. He never spoke a word of this though, for fear that it would only cause an argument, one that he knew neither wanted to have.

"Well I'm going to go have a quick shower," Gabby said.

"I'll feed Thing One and Thing Two," Matt chuckled lightheartedly as he looked at his son's who were staring innocently up at him.

"Matt…" She didn't hesitate to hold in her laughter at the nicknames. Still smiling she disappeared up the stairs.

"Ma," Rafael let out a soft cry.

"Mommy will be back," Matt soothed lifting the five month old onto his lap.

As if understand everything he had said Rafael looked up at his father and smiled.

Smiling back Matt took Javier into his arms and stood up carrying both boys. "Lets go and see what we have for lunch today," He spoke and carried them into the kitchen. He set them both in high chairs and proceeded to go to the fridge to find baby food.

Gabby had recently started blended the dinners together and feeding that to the boys while they joined the family at the table. He found the leftovers from the previous nights dinner and decided to feed the boys some of that. He poured some of it into a bowl and heated it up for twenty seconds.

"Here we go boys," He carried it towards the table where the boys were sitting. He put the bowl on the table and turned the high chairs so he could sit and face both of them. Using the baby spoon he put a little bit on it and offered it to Javier.

He turned his head away; he was becoming the stubborn one and didn't like to do things unless he wanted to.

Matt offered the spoon to Rafael and he ate it eagerly. "You like that huh," He got some more food onto the spoon and Rafael ate it.

"Hey," Gabby appeared in the kitchen. She was wearing a black skirt with leggings and a light blue button-up silk top, "I'll finish feeding them if you want to go and get ready."

"Yeah okay," Matt stood.

As he had a shower in the morning, after taking Violet to the bus stop it didn't take him long to get dressed. In fifteen minutes he came back down the stairs wearing dress pants and shirt tucked in. Seeing Gabby's mother walk up the steps he unlocked and opened the door.

"Hi Esmerelda, thanks so much for babysitting," He led her in and kissed her cheek.

"No problem, now where are my beautiful grandsons."

"Gabby's just feeding them," He led the way into the kitchen where Gabby was still feeding both boys. "Babe," Matt walked up to her and held out his hands, "Your Mom's here, I'll finish feeding them. We have a few minutes before we need to leave, catch up with her."

Gabby nodded and smiled, "Thanks."

Matt took over feeding the boys but he made sure to ask, "Has Javier ate anything?"

Gabby responded, "Yeah I was able to get him to eat a little bit."

"Alright," Matt nodded, "I'll try and get him to eat more."

It turned out that Javier only wanted to eat a little bit more and Rafael had now decided he wanted to eat. He finished off the rest of the blend and Matt washed them up and carried them into the living room.

"Oh let me hold them," Esmerelda outstretched her arms.

"Lets go see Abuela," Matt carried the boys over to her and she took them and placed them in her lap.

"Oh they're getting so big."

"Yeah," Gabby agreed, "Thanks again Mom; now we'll be back around four but if we're not I told Violet you might be picking her up at the bus stop."

"No, no don't rush. I can pick her up, it'll give me an excuse to take the boys out for a walk."

"You sure?"

"Yes."

Gabby hugged her. "I love you Mom, really you're the greatest."

It took Matt and Gabby around an hour to drive from their house to their lawyer's office downtown. When they got there they were brought into his office by a secretary and only had to wait a few minutes until Tom Begaly came in.

Tom Begaly and his partners were known as the best family and private law firm in the Midwest. An older aging man Tom had three adult children and four grandchildren and seemed to understand the importance of family.

"Mr. Casey, Ms. Dawson," He took a seat at his desk. "Now I've talked to Jim Reynolds's lawyers and he has indeed sued for custody of Violet. The preliminary court appearance is scheduled in two weeks. This unfortunately means that the adoption process will have to be put on hold for now.

Matt shook his head, putting his elbows on his knees and clasping his hands together he asked, "What are his chances? I mean he gave up custody can he really get it back?"

"Legally the courts usually prefer for the child to live with a parent but considering what happened I'm not sure what'll happen. The judge might not even have it go to court, if they don't think they have a case then we win…"

"Do you know what his agenda is? I don't believe he wants her back for nothing."

"Right I know very little. But I would advise you that its not it your best, and especially Violet's best interest to play this dirty. Custody cases can in their nature get ugly but that's never to the benefit of the child. I know they may play that game but I'm going to advise you both not to give in."

"What do you mean? They're going to play dirty?" Gabby asked.

"Mr. Reynolds's lawyers are known as… well professionally I can say they don't like to loose. They're not very well liked in the world of private law. I don't know what they're going to do but please don't fall into their traps. All I can say is that they spin things around and you could end up looking like the bad ones."

"Oh wonderful," Matt let out a sarcastic puff of air, "What are we supposed to tell Violet? Will he be allowed to see her?"

"Not right now. Until the court hearing in two weeks he's not supposed to go anywhere near her. After the incident at the house you told me about I was able to get a temporary restraining order."

"But after the court date…."

"I don't know what'll happen Mr. Casey."

Getting off the bus at the bus stop Violet was, disappointed to see Gabby's mother waiting for her. Looking down at her shoes she walked solemnly towards the woman.

"Hi Violet," Esmerelda looked at the young girl, "How was school?"

"Okay," She shrugged; she was disappointed that Matt and Gabby hadn't made it back in time to pick her up.

"Well that's good. How about you help me start dinner when we get home?"

"No. I'll just go to my room."

"All alone?"

"Yes please."

"What are you going to do?"

"I don't know."

Esmerelda knew what had happened over the weekend and why the six year old was so unhappy. A part of her wanted to try and cheer her up but she knew that Matt and Gabby had been encouraging her to me sad and express her feelings; Still she was a little uneasy when they reached the house and after putting her lunch bag and used containers away, going upstairs and staying there.

Dinner was on the stove keeping warm at five thirty when Gabby and Matt walked into the house. They had called her and told her they were going to be late so she went ahead and made dinner. When they walked in she was just getting ready to blend the food for Javier and Rafael.

"Yum, smells wonderful Mom," Gabby complimented walking into the kitchen, "Violet doing any better?" She asked hugging her mother.

"No."

"Well Matt's gone upstairs to talk to her," She explained, "Hopefully he'll be able to get through to her.

Upstairs Matt knocked and then entered Violet's room. She was lying on her stomach gently brushing a doll's hair.

"Hi sweetheart. I hear you didn't' have a good day?"

"No."

Closing the door he walked further into the room, "Wanna tell me about it?" He asked.

"No," She turned away from him, "I'm still mad at you," She informed him.

"Violet," Matt took a deep breath. His first instinct was to be angry with her for saying something like that to him; she had every right to be angry though and he knew that both he and Gabby had encouraged her to express her feelings before. If he scolded her for it now he feared it would only make things worse.

"I'm sorry you're mad at me Violet," He said, "Can you come downstairs and eat though?"

"My throat hurts," She told him.

He knew she wasn't lying as he had seen her rub her throat a few times when he was in the room. He figured it might be hurting from the side effects of her crying. He wondered if she'd eaten much of her lunch. He'd need to check when he got back downstairs.

"I want baby food," She turned around and faced him, "Like Javi and Rafe have. It's soft."

She was problem-solving; Her doctor's had told him and Gabby that once she started to learn how to handle her own feelings and self-soothe in a way other then seeking adult comfort; this would make it easier for her to talk herself out of bad moods and towards doing something that made her feel better.

The doctor's said it wouldn't happen over night, it took years of therapy and help to be able to properly calm herself down and do it on a regular basics. That wasn't only her either; developmentally speaking self-awareness of feelings was something children learnt between the ages of five and eight and learning how calm themselves down fully wasn't mastered until ages ten to thirteen.

Not wanting to discourage her but also not wanting her eating baby food to become a pattern he suggested, "How about we make you a smoothie. Those are soft and you can pick what you want in it."

"Can Aunt Gabby make it?"

"I'm sure she'll be happy to," He reached out his hand for her to take. She didn't take it but she did walk out of her bedroom.

Matt followed her all the way into the kitchen where Gabby was beginning to load the dishwasher.

"Aunt Gabby?"

Hearing her voice Gabby turned around, heart broken by the redness of her eyes, a clear indication she had been crying a lot. "Yeah sweetie?"

"Can we make a fruit smoothie? With lots of fruit and I'll eat it. My throat hurts."

'Well then I think a fruit smoothie is a great thing to have."

"Yummy," Violet attempt at a small smile was viable to Gabby and she appreciated the effort the girl was making.

"You go downstairs and pick two bags of fruit you want alright?"

Violet nodded her head and a few minutes later she returned with a bag of frozen strawberries in one hand and a bag of frozen raspberries in the other hand.

"Good, Now do you remember how much we put in of each kind of fruit?"

"Half a cup," She responded proudly.

"That's right, you think you can find it in the drawer, it's a one then a dash and a two.

Violet dug through the drawer of measuring utensils looking all of the different amounts; "I can't find it," She looked back at Gabby and frowned.

"Here I'll help," She finished setting up the blender and walked over to the open cupboard. She found a half-cup measuring cup and showed it to her, "See. The One and the dash and the two; I know it's hard to understand now but in a few years you'll be able to make smoothies on your own."

Again Violet tried to smile, and again Gabby appreciated the effort. He watched ad Violet poured the strawberries into the measuring cup until it was full and then dump it into the blender, she did the same for the raspberries. "Yogurt," She walked towards the fridge and found some vanilla yogurt and poured it in.

"Here, sweetie," Gabby knew what she would get next, "I'll get the milk. It's pretty heavy. You can pour it in though alright?"

Violet frowned, Gabby knew she was capable of carrying milk; she'd done it before. Why did it matter if it had just been opened? "No."

"Violet. It's really heavy and if you drop it-"

"I won't drop it!"

"Violet." Gabby looked at her sternly, "You can't talk to me like that."

"Yes I can!" She screamed, and walking towards Gabby she kicked her and stormed off back up to her bedroom this time slamming the door.

TBC

A\N: So, what do you think will happen? Please leave a review and let me know. Next chapter will focus on more of the characters too.