Disclaimer: I own nothing except my imagination.
a/n: Thank you everyone for the reviews, they mean a lot. And even to those who follow but don't review, thank you. Also, this chapter will contain a little bit of mild language so I hope it wont offend my younger reader
Abbey's POV
Out of all the people, Dawson was the last person I'd expect coming out of the house. The curse falling from her lips indicated that she thought she would have been able to slip out un-noticed by anyone.
"Hey Dawson." I said of an unsure tone.
"Abbey." She said politely and moved around me quickly and headed for her car. I slipped back in the house and it was quiet except for the shower I could hear running. I walked in the kitchen to grab a glass of orange juice and sat at the table to wait for Mills to come down from his shower. He came down a few minutes later dressed in sweatpants and a plain white t-shirt.
"Good morning." I startled him.
"Abbey, hey. What are you doing here so early? I thought you'd still be at Casey's." If I hadn't known him as well as I did I wouldn't have noticed it but I did. He was slightly stammering, sign that he knew he'd been caught.
"So Dawson huh?" I took a drink out of my glass.
"Uh yeah, about that."
"Came face to face with her when I got home. Looks like I missed some things after I left. How did that happen?" I asked smirking. If it was an embarassing story with Mills in it I was always willing to hear it.
"Uh yeah, about that." He seemed to be at a loss for word. "How did it go with Casey?" He tried to change the subject.
"It was great. I'm glad I had the courage to kiss him. We're going to take it slow, see where it goes. He's coming over for diner tonight."
"I'm glad you're happy. I just didn't want him to break your heart."
I eyed him suspiciously. "Did you have a big brother/best friend talk with him?" I air quoted.
"It might have slipped into a conversation yes." he smiled at me taking water out of the fridge and pouring himself a glass.
"I can defend myself you know that right?"
"Yes but you're my best friend and I don't want any guy to break your heart."
"Thanks for looking out. So now I ask again. How did it happen with Dawson last night?" I pushed the subject back on the table. I wanted to have the scoop.
He looked down at his hands that were holding the glass and tried avoiding looking me in the eyes. "It didn't happen just last night." He still didn't look up at me.
"WHAT?" I practically yelled which got his attention. "How long has it been going on?" I lowered my voice but I was starting to get angry. I wasn't stupid enough but I wanted to hear it come out of his mouth. Whatever they were having had been going on for a while.
"A few months now." he had managed to look at me at this point.
"What the fuck Mills?" I was really angry now. "How come it's the first time I hear about this?"
"We wanted to keep it a secret so we could just enjoy ourselves without the whole house nagging us." he tried to defend himself.
"Oh so I'm the whole house now?" I got up ready to walk out and disappear up the stairs.
"No but." he trailed not really knowing what else he could add.
"But what Mills? I know it's technically not my business who you date or screw around with but I'm you're best friend. Doesn't that give me dibbs to know about these kinds of things?" I turned around facing him I was so mad.
"It does but."
"Again with the but. So you get to go all big brother on Casey about breaking my heart." I pointed at my chest furiously. "But you keep you relationship with Dawson that's been going on for MONTHS from me? We live together for crying out loud."
"Abbey, let me explain." He tried again but was met by me turning around and heading towards the stairs. I was too mad at this point. I headed directly to my room to pack a bag. I put all my necessities for tomorrows shift in there and walked out the door withought giving Mills enough time to stop me. I jumped in my truck and started driving without much of a destination. Without even realizing it, I ended up in Matt's neighbourhood. I parked my suv in front of his house, walked up his stair and rang the doorbell. I leaned against the brick wall and waited for him to answer.
Matt's POV
I was cleaning up a bit when the doorbell rang. I wasn't expecting anyone so I wondered who it could be. I opened the door to find Abbey leaning against the wall, her head down.
"Abbey, what are you doing here?" She looked up and her eyes were red. "What happened?" I ushered her unto the house.
"I got into a fight with Peter." She simply stated.
"Alright, sit on the couch and i'll be right back." I walked to the kitchen and put some water to boil to make her a tea. I glanced a few time in the living room to make sure she was ok. I walked back a few minutes later with a steaming cup that i put on the table in front of her. "What happened?"
She looked up at me and the red eyes she was sporting were full of anger. "He's seeing Dawson." She blurted out.
"Good on him." I smiled. "Looks like we're not the only two who slipped out early last night." I leaned forward and kissed her gently. She quickly replied but didn't seem to be in the mood, she had more to say.
"Not last night. The last few months. And if I hadn't come face to face with Dawson this morning I still wouldn't know about it."
"Wow! I didn't see that one coming. Is this why you're mad?"
"Am I nuts to be mad about this?"
"Considering your history with him no." I took her hand and played with her fingers.
"Oh but wait. You know what he gave me as a reason why he didn't tell me?" I shook my head no as a response and let her continue. "We wanted to keep it a secret so we could just enjoy ourselves without the whole house nagging us." She pulled her hand from mine and did air quotes. "All the while going all big brother on you about not breaking my heart."
"He's only looking out for you."
"And what? That makes it ok for him to lie to my face?"
"No. It's not ok but I'm glad he did. He made me think about my feelings for you and look what happened last night?" I was trying to make her relax. I knew this was huge for her, she felt betrayed but all that anger wasn't going to do any good tonight.
"I can't complain about last night, no." She finaly took the cup of tea and brought it to her now smiling lips.
"Ok so how about I cook tonight? We could open a bottle of wine and pop in a movie."
"And what about Griffin and Ben?"
"Christie said they wanted to have diner at her place again so we could go get them after we're done eating and we can watch a movie with them. That sound ok to you?" She put her cup back down on the table and leaned into me.
"That sounds great. Sorry I went all ballistic on you."
I chuckled lightly. "That's fine. I know you and Peter are close and this is hurting you so it's fine." I ran my fingers absentmindedly on the arm as we sat there quiet for a while. It felt good to hold her like that, her body seemed to fit perfectly against mine.
Mill's POV
That look in her eyes, it was all fire. She was pissed and I was the only one to blame for that. I had debated for a long time about telling her that Gabby and I were seeing each other but for the sake of in house professionalism, we both decided not to tell a word to anyone just yet. I was still somewhat new so I didn't want it to bring tension in the house. I paced for what felt like the thousandth time when I heard my phone beep in my pocket. I quickly removed it from my pocket to see a text from Gabby. - How mad is she? - I haven't seen her like that in a long time. Thought I'd give her time to cool off before calling her. -Ok tell me how it goes. Love you. I love you too. I'll call you later. A few hours had passed when I decided to try her cellphone. Unfortunately, it just rang for what seemed like forever before it went to voicemail.
You've reached Abbey, you know what to do. I felt stupid leaving a message on her voicemail but figured she was avoiding me. I was hoping we could get this fixed before shift tomorrow. "Abbey, it's Peter. Look, I know you're mad at me and you have every right to be but please come home so we can talk about this. I hope you know I love you and I never meant to hurt you by not tell you." I ended the call and threw my phone on the counter. Tomorrow would be a very long shift if I didn't fix my mistake.
Abbey's POV
Matt and I were busying ourselves in the kitchen a few hours later. Matt wanted to make his ribs with oven potatoes. Although he specifically told me to stay away from cooking, I managed to be able to make a salad and set the table. As I was pulling the plates from the cupboard, my phone started vibrating on the counter. I noticed it was Mills and silenced it. I was in no mood to talk to him.
"Mills?" he questioned.
"The one and only. I don't feel like talking to him though I'm just so mad at him." Just then it dinged signalling I had a voice message. I had no doubt it was Mills trying to get me to talk to him. We didn't usually get mad at each other and if we did, it was never for a long period of time but this was way beyond our usual fights. They usually consisted in a few choice words and me generally sulking a few minutes before realizing our fight was stupid and going to make up with him but this wasn't one of those times. At this point I didn't know if I was going to crash at my moms house for the night. I wasn't much up to talking about this said fight and going to mom's would result in just that. Unless I sneaked in when I knew she'd be asleep. I'd have to think about that one more later. Right now I just wanted to enjoy a quiet evening with Matt and later with the boys. We sat down about half an hour later and half a dozen next phone calls from Mills and enjoyed a quiet diner together. We talked about next shift and how we were trying to figure out the new two ambo dynamic at 51 and avoided the subject of Mills all together. After eating, we washed the dishes. I was cleaning and Matt was wiping them down.
"Do you think we should tell the boys about us tonight or we wait a little bit?" I asked absentmindedly looking out of the window.
"We can do it tonight if you want. They'll be happy to hear it. They asked me the last time you came if we were dating and told me I should ask you out." He laughed taking the next plate from me to dry it.
"Than tonight it is. Are you ready to pick them up?" I handed him the last piece of dishes and wiped my hands dry.
"Yeah let's go."
"I'll drive if you don't mind. I find it outs my mind at ease."
"Sure." We walked out the door and drove in the direction of his sister's house. The ride was mostly quiet except for when Matt gave me directions. We quickly picked the boys up and made our way back to his house. The boys wanted to play a game of Rizk so I obliged. That game was my favorite growing up. My father had taught me how to play it and I loved strategizing to conquer the enemy. Matt was leaning against the doorframe of the kitchen looking at us play. He smiled and winked at me.
"Hey guys. How would you feel about Abbey and I dating?" He knew what their answer would be but he wanted to get a rise out of them.
"YAY!" They screamed at the same time.
"I didn't say we were. I just asked how you'd feel about it." I laughed at his back pedalling.
"Yeah you did. You asked us how we'd feel so that's pretty much a given that you are." Griffin replied in a matter of fact way which made me laugh out loud. He was a bright kid.
"Ok so we are. Ok, time for teeth and bed guys. We have shift tomorrow and you have school. Both boys got up without complaining and went upstairs to get ready for bed.
"You just made their day." I got up and went to him to wrap my arms around his waist.
"Never imagined they'd be that happy. So what are you planning to do tonight? You can't avoid your house forever." He moved a strand of hair from my eyes.
"I can try. I was thinking of going to my moms but then I figured I'd get an interrogation from her and Ingrid since there's no way Mills hasn't told them about our fight. Maybe I'll ask Shay if I can crash on her's and Severide's couch. I don't know yet." I shrugged. I wasn't in such a hurry to get out of here, I still had time to figure it out.
"Spend the night." He suddenly said.
"No I can't." I tried to object. "We just started dating and the boys are here. I don't want them to think i'm intruding on your boys only dynamic."
"Come on, they'd never think that they love you. Ben even said you were really pretty." He leaned down and kissed me tenderly. "I can't say that he's wrong." he smiled at me as air became an issue.
"Fine. But no fooling around lieutenant, we have an early day tomorrow." I laughed and kissed him again.
"You drive a hard bargain. Come on, we'll put a movie in before going to bed." We sat down on the couch and picked a pay per view movie. I'm not sure how much of the movie had gone by before I felt my eyes becoming heavy. I leaned against Matt's shoulder and fell asleep. My sense of time was so out of wack that I woke up to an alarm clock emitting a shrieking sound. I looked at it and it indicated it was morning I grabbed my toiletry bag and my work clothes and headed for the shower. I quickly got ready and headed downstairs to the smell of fresh coffee.
"Good morning." I walked in taking the cup he was offering me.
"Morning sleepyhead." he smiled as he was making lunch for the boys.
"When did you get me in your bed? Last I remembered we were watching a movie." I sat at the breakfast bar, sipping on the dark liquid in my cup.
"You were easy to move." He shrugged. "Ready for shift?" He knew I didn't want to see Mills but I had to stay professional today at the very least.
"Nope but I will be professional."
"Come on guys, it's time to leave." He screamed at the boys who were upstairs brushing their teeth. "I'll see you during shift?" He kissed me before locking the door.
"Yes I'll be there." I kissed him back. "Have a good day guys." I called after them before stepping in my truck and driving towards 51.
Mill's POV
Last night, I had expected her to sleep at our mom's house but when I called this morning, my mom confirmed that she hadn't been there at all. I parked my car in its usual spot and spotted her truck farther up the street. I walked in in search of her when I came face to face with Matt.
"Good morning lieutenant." I tried, hoping he would give me something.
"Morning Mills. She's here somewhere." He offered and walked away. I walked to the locker room and the bunk area not finding her. I tried the back of the house but she wasn't there either. I finally saw her as I entered the conference room. She was sitting in the far corner surrounded by a few of truck guys and a couple from Squad. When our eyes met, hers still held the anger from yesterday. I figured I'd try to corner her at some point during the day so we could talk. I took my place in my usual spot but missed her sitting next to me. Chief Boden made his way into the room to do his pre-shift speech.
"I hope all of you had a good day off. As I told you earlier this week, we were given an extra ambo so Abbey could be a paramedic at 51. I also said we'd have a new PIC to run that ambo. So I'd like you all to meet Sylvie Brett." Everyone clapped and she smiled sweetly. She was blond and looked a little bit like Shay. She looked like the kind of girl that Abbey would get along with. As soon as chief was done, we started heading out but he called the four girls to stay a bit longer. I exchanged looks with Gabby and headed out the door.
Gabby's POV
"Ok girl so as of right now, we have two ambo's and two PIC's so I'll let the four of you talk about how we could make this work. Dawson, I leave you in charge of bringing back to me what you've all decided." I nodded and watched him walk out of the door.
"Gabrielle Dawson." I extended my hand to Brett who took it and gave me a warm smile. "This is my partner Leslie Shay and your partner Abbey Mitchell." The both took turn shaking her hand.
"I'm glad to be here." she smiled again. "Although it's the first time that i've seen two ambo's in one firehouse."
"Yeah, it's a first for us too. Ok so here is my idea. "I thought we could take turns responding to ambo calls and we both head out each time it's in response to a fire. Does that sound good to all of you?"
"Yes." the three of them replied.
"Than it's settled. Welcome aboard again Brett, I think you'll like it here."
"Thanks." She smiled politely and exited the room. I exchanged looks with Shay so I could talk with Abbey a few minutes; I wanted to clear the air. She left and closed the door behind her.
"Abbey." I tried but she didn't seem too happy to exchange words with me.
"Are you trying to score points with your boyfriend by trying to explain it to his best friend?" She crossed her arms on her chest and waited for my reply.
"Look Abbey, he called me last night. He was upset that you were so mad at him."
"Upset I was mad at him?" she hissed. "He's the one who lied to me. He only has himself to blame for me being mad at him."
"I know it was wrong but we didn't want the whole house to bug us knowing that we are together." I tried reasoning with her.
"Again with the excuse." she exclaimed. "Am I the whole house now? Me Abbey Mitchell, am I the whole house?" She pointed at her chest starting to be red in the face.
"Abbey." I tried again.
"I don't want to hear it. I respect you Dawson and the work you do here and I will respect the chain of command. I will work with you but do not talk to me." She exaggerated her last words and walked out slamming the door shut. She walked past Mills and was out of sight. Peter walked in the door after witnessing the end of our talk.
"Sorry Pete, I tried to talk to her but I think she's still too mad at us for lying." I sighed.
He looked behind him to make sure no one was looking and then bent down to kiss me. "It's ok. It's my mess, I should be the one to fix it not you."
"Ok, I just thought I'd give it a try." I kissed him one last time and we left the conference room.
Abbey's POV
As soon as I left the conference room, I went to the kitchen to fix breakfast for everyone. I did scrambled eggs with bacon and called everyone to chow. I filled a plate for myself and went to sit at the round table. I knew Mills would sit at the Squad table so it was one way I could avoid him. I quickly ate and left towards the apparatus floor so check out the new ambo. I opened the back doors of the brand new 44 rig, hopped in and took the pad to start doing inventory. I closed them to add privacy but that privacy didn't last long because the doors started to open and Mills was standing on the other side.
"Can we talk?"
I looked back down at the pad before adding. " I have nothing to say to you." 51 was not the place to hash this out so I tried to avoid confrontation at all cost but he seemed to be determined to talk to me.
"Come on Abbey. Just let me explain." he tried again.
"Explain what again?" I lifted my head from the pad, anger rolling off my body. "How you fucking lied to my face about having a relationship with 51's PIC and not telling me about it?"
"I didn't lie to you, I just kept it to myself."
"And that's different how? I'm your best friend and you didn't have the common sense to talk to me about this? I would have been happy for you, you know that." My screaming had grabbed a few of the guys attention including Casey and Severide.
"That's not what we were trying to do I swear. We just wanted it to be our thing. Come on Mitchell, don't stay mad for this." He smiled but it only fuelled my anger.
"Come on Mitchell don't stay mad for this? You've got to be kidding me right? You're the one who lied to my face when we talked about me hooking you up with some girls and you want me to not stay mad? Get out of my face Mills." I yelled some more but at this point, Chief had heard enough.
"Ok you two, knock it off." he ordered, snapping me out of my angered state. "Mills, my office. Mitchell, go walk it off." Mills retreated and headed back inside and towards Boden's office and I jumped down the dig and banged the doors shut, walking out of the firehouse. I locked eyes with Casey before walking away but was met by Brett's voice as I leaned my hands against my truck.
"Are you ok sweetie?" She put her hand on my shoulder.
I took a few deep breaths before answering. "I'm fine thanks." I turned around and leaned my back against the truck this time crossing my arms on my chest.
"I know I'm new at 51 but if you need someone to talk to, I'm there for you.
"Thanks Brett." I smiled at her.
"Come on, lets go back inside." She wrapped her arm around my shoulder and we walked together inside.
Mill's POV
After chief had ordered me to his office, i walked past everyone and stood with my arms behind my back, waiting what was probably a lecture from Boden.
"Sit down Mills."
"I'm sorry about all of that chief. It's all my fault."
"Peter, I was young once and I'm not blind." I was not expecting that. "As much as you tried to hide it, I know about you and Dawson and I trust you enough to be able to seperate your personal life from your professional one."
"I screwed up chief."
"That you did." He chuckled. "Just give her some time to cool off, let her come to you. I've known you two since you were little and it will take more than this to keep you apart." He removed his glasses and smiled at me.
"Thanks chief." I got up and exited the room. I just hoped he was right and that she would come to me by herself.
a/n sorry it took so long for me to update this story. With all the New Year celebrations and two kids running around it's harder to get time to myself. Thanks again for all the reviews and the follows and I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Next up, we'll see if they can move past this secret that blew up in Mills and Dawson's face.