Hi Readers: What did you guys think of the surprise that I had for you guys? Do you guys like that we're back in Chicago now? Let me know what you guys think in the comments. But for now, it's time to reveal the surprise to their friends.

Chapter Forty-One
Welcome Home

The couple were both really happy at the moment, happy to finally be home; home where they belong with each other. Home with their friends. The place where they both belong. It's just perfect, and them being pregnant at the same time is even better; God, just them having a baby here in Chicago is going to be incredible. So far, their life back here has been nice; and it's even better that her brother agreed to move home too. He understood why they had to move back too. They needed to move back because the hospital would be better suited for a twin pregnancy. That, and she wants to have her friends around her as they go through this pregnancy. God, that has to be the best part of being home, the fact that they're going to go through the rest of the pregnancy with their friends. "So, do you need to talk to Chief Boden tonight?" Matt smiled. "I told him that we were coming, so he's going to bring me some outfits." Gabby agreed with Matt, smiling.

"If you want me to hold on to them while you share a drink with Severide, then I can." Matt agreed with Gabby as he kept his arm wrapped around her shoulders, holding her hand with their fingers intertwined. "Are you sure baby? I don't need to drink if you don't want me to drink. I can just concentrate on you and the kids, which I know you want me to do." Gabby laughed when she heard Matt say that. "Baby, we both know that you've been dying to have a beer without having to worry about my brother being around." Matt agreed with Gabby when she said that, well aware of exactly what she was talking about; he then took a breath, sighing as that was not something that he looked to think about. "I hate that I have to do that Gabby, but I just want to do whatever I can to make sure that he recovers." Gabby agreed with Matt when he told her that, smiling. "And that's why you're such an amazing brother-in-law baby, and he appreciates that a lot. He's going to like it."

Matt agreed with Gabby when she said that. "I'm just glad that we don't have a pool here in Chicago, I still can't get what he did to us out of my head. Heck, I've come to lock the door more often when we want to take a bath with each other." Gabby laughed when she heard Matt say that, well aware that he was still nervous over the idea of her brother walking in. "I know exactly what you mean. But I promise, I'm going to make sure that he stays away. And he's not going to bother us when he really needs to be working on his sobriety. Plus, he still needs to find a job if he moves. I'm not sure whether he wants to go back to Intelligence if he does move back, because Voight was causing him stress." Matt laughed when he heard Gabby say that. "Well, that's the thing. You need to stay away from him while you're pregnant. He's bad news, and I'm not putting you at risk." Gabby agreed. "And you need to stay away from investigations Captain." Matt agreed.

"Except for OFI investigations. I promise, if you're ever starting to get too worried…you just tell me, and I'll transfer to OFI. I promise babe, we're going to put your pregnancy first. If fires stress you out to much, then I'm going to switch." Gabby agreed with her (loving) husband when he said that. "I'm going to keep that in the back of my mind, because I'm sure that I'm going to need to worry about that at some point." Matt shook his head. "You're never going to have to worry about that, because I will talk to Stella and make sure that she keeps me alive; I'm going to meet our daughters." Gabby agreed with Matt when he said that. "It's going to be nice having my best friend on Truck with you." Matt smiled when he said that. "And I'm sure that Severide's going to do the same for me and keep me safe." That's when Matt heard his best friend's voice. "Yeah, if you're the newest transfer onto Truck 81…then you better bet that you're not going to have me keeping…"

That's when Gabby turned to look at the Lieutenant, letting go of Matt's hand in the process. "What's this about you not making sure that my husband survives to meeting our twins!"

The women both smiled as they got close to each other, sharing a tight hug as they were happy to be reunited in person for the first time in a while; Stella having missed her best friend while she was on her trip, and then in Puerto Rico. "When the hell did you move back? I thought you were staying in Puerto Rico." Gabby smiled. "Yeah, we changed our minds. There was just something about the idea of raising our kids with our best friends, and Matt's family nearby that made us happier." That's when Matt walked up to his best friend and looked at him. "I believe you owe my wife an apology." The lieutenant was a bit confused when he heard his captain say that. "What are you…" Matt then went to pinch his arm. "What, OW!" Matt just looked at him, trying to get him to say what he has to say. Meanwhile, Gabby crossed her arms and just looked at the squad lieutenant. "God, you really are useless at times." Kelly then realized what he was trying to say. "Oh…."

Matt then went to slap the back of Kelly's head. "Yeah, idiot!" Kelly then went to look at Gabby, walking over to her before going to hug her. "Of course, you can count on me to make sure that your husband survives." Gabby agreed with Kelly when he said that. "Good, because if he doesn't…then you don't get my blessing to marry my best friend." Kelly just laughed. "Who said that…" Matt then looked at his best friend, digging his nails into his arm to tell him to shut up. "Ow!" Matt then looked at his best friend, wanting him to get the message. "Matt, can you talk to him? I'm going into the bar with Gabby." Matt then stopped her. "No, you aren't!" Gabby turned to look at Matt. "Excuse me?" Matt sighed. "People are going to rush you, and I don't want you to get overwhelmed. And what if Brett's in there? Just because she got fired doesn't mean that she might be hanging out at the bar." Gabby then thought about it. "Right, that makes sense." Matt agreed with her.

He then looked at Gabby, extending his hand. "Come here and we can talk to Kelly together." Gabby agreed with Matt, proceeding to walk over to the man of her dreams. She then intertwined their fingers and smiled as she got close to him. Wrapping her arms around his, Gabby smiled as she kissed his arm and just cuddled up to him. Turning his head, Matt sighed as he kissed the top of Gabby's head. "I'm sorry baby, I just had to make sure that you're safe." Gabby agreed with Matt when he told her that. "Hey, take a breath and relax baby…I understand your reasons, and you made good points. Just take a breath and relax okay?" Matt agreed with his beautiful wife when she said that, turning his head to kiss her forehead softly. "So, you don't think you need my blessing to marry my best friend?" Kelly nodded. "Yeah, I need her dad's blessing. But he's not in her life, so that means that I don't need any blessings." Stella then went to join Kelly too, smiling.

"I think you should still get Gabby's blessing. Last time I checked, she's going to pick out my engagement ring." Kelly then turned his head, thinking about it. "God, how do you ladies just think with one brain?" Stella smiled as she looked at Gabby. "Not sure, all we know is that we have idiots as significant others." Matt just looked at Stella when she said that. "Careful Stella. Remember, I'm back….so that means that I'm your Captain again." Gabby turned to look at her husband. "And remember who she is. She's my best friend, are you threatening her right now? Because I can threaten your sex!" Kelly then went to add on. "And she's my girlfriend, I can always not co-operate…." Matt smirked. "With your captain. Oh, sorry buddy, but you can't do that." Gabby then added on. "Especially since, I'll kill you if my husband dies before he gets to meet our twins. And I'll make sure that I get away with it, so that my kids aren't orphans!" Kelly gulped when he heard that.

"Now, if you don't mind us…we're going to go make our triumphant return to the bar, and I'm going to get my money. Girl, what happened to the cheques?" Stella gulped as she turned to look at Kelly. "Someone was missing his friend, and decided that it meant he got more sex." Gabby just shook her head, before turning around and leading Matt away so that they can walk into the bar together. At the same time, Kelly turned to look at Stella. "I'm screwed already, aren't I?" Stella then proceeded to step close to the man she loves, putting her hands on his chest. Meanwhile, Kelly moved his hands to her hips as he leaned in and proceeded to kiss her softly. Slapping his chest, Stella smirked. "Hell yeah. You do realize she's coming back to shift right? She may not be working, but she will be at the firehouse so that she and Matt can relax together. Matt's going to want to be involved as much as he can in the pregnancy since this is his dream come true, he wants it."

Kelly agreed with Stella when she said that, proceeding to grab her hand before intertwining their fingers. "Do you want kids in the future?" Stella thought about it. "Not sure yet. All I know is that I want to go inside and spend some time with the two of them." Kelly smiled, agreeing with his girlfriend as they both continued to walk into the bar. "And I'm going to get me and Matt a beer." Stella just looked at her boyfriend, moving to slap the back of his head. "Idiot, she's pregnant. Husbands don't drink when their wives are pregnant, especially not when she doesn't like driving in the winter." Kelly agreed with Stella when she said that, continuing to walk into the bar with her so that they can both relax with their best friends. "Maybe we can buy them nachos or something then?" Stella agreed with Kelly when he said that. "That's more like it." Kelly smiled, wrapping his arm around Stella as he led her into the bar where they already hear screams.

Matt's POV: As I stood back to let Gabby get all the hugs that she wants to get from our friends, I smiled due to the fact that this is exactly what I want for her right now. "God, it's so nice to see you again Gabby." Gabby agreed with Herrmann when he said that. "By the end of the night, I want a paycheck." Herrmann looked at her when she said that. "What?" Gabby then put her hands on her stomach, smiling. "Hello, these babies aren't going to pay for themselves." Herrmann then looked at her, smiling. "Oh god, this is incredible. I am so glad that you guys are pregnant." That's when I heard Boden walk over to me. "Mind if we talk for a minute while Gabby gets her hello?" I agreed with him. "Yeah, I'd like that." I then turned to look at Gabby. "Gabby?" Gabby then looked at me. "Yeah baby?" I smiled. "You're okay right?" Gabby nodded. "Yeah." I smiled at her. "I'm going to talk to Boden for a minute." Boden smiled at Gabby as he walked over to her. "First, welcome home and congratulations again." Gabby smiled as she wrapped her arms around him. "Thanks chief." She then looked up at him. "Keep him safe for me and the babies?" Boden nodded as he kissed her forehead softly, and that could only mean one thing. She just asked him to keep me safe. Just walking away, I sighed because I knew that this was going to be a hard conversation. I have been going back and forth about all of this, and I hate that I've been doing this to Boden.

And that's why I need to talk to him, I need to apologize for this mess that's been happening. But, we just didn't know what we wanted; and I wanted to give him an explanation. Walking back over to me. "You said that you wanted to talk to me?" I sighed and agreed with him, proceeding to walk over to the seating that was by the window booth here. And as if on cue, I watched as Herrmann came to join us. "Only the finest on tap to welcome the Captain back." I turned my head when he said that. "Herrmann, I have a pregnant wife. And I'm driving tonight. Get me and Gabby nachos though and a bunch of water. I want her to have Nachos stat after a long day of travel." Herrmann agreed with me, before looking at Chief. "You want it Chief? It's your favorite." Chief smiled as he reached for it. "Of course. Thanks Herrmann." Boden then grabbed it and proceeded to take a sip of it. Meanwhile, I took a breath and sighed; deciding to start with something easy. "Gabby just asked you to make sure that I stay safe didn't she?" Boden sighed when I asked him that. "That predictable?"

I shrugged when he asked me that. "I understand why. She's worried, and I get that." Boden agreed with me when I said that. "Yeah, so a bunch of decisions you made recently. First, you quit the CFD; and then you want to come back a couple weeks later, not the best for a Captain." I took a breath when I heard him mention that. "Yeah, that's why I wanted to pull you aside, and just give you a bit of background as to why we did that." Boden agreed with me, clearly able to see that there was something on my mind at the moment. "What's going on Captain?" I took a breath, sighing. "Just recently….like a couple weeks ago, we went on a tour of the hospital in San Juan." Boden then started to realize why this was happening. "And what we saw in the maternity ward wasn't something that we particularly enjoyed. So, we thought hard about it…and we were just worried. We were worried as to whether we would really be okay with her giving birth there, especially when it's not the best there. And we both agreed that we weren't going to be comfortable with her giving birth there."

I took a breath. "Especially based on our specific scenario." Boden was a bit confused when I said that. "What do you mean?" I sighed. "After our last experience, I didn't want a hospital that wasn't that up to date. The way it looked, and the NICU just didn't look as good as I really felt….comfortable letting my wife giving birth in if that makes sense." Boden agreed with me. "After that happened last time, I just wanted to be in a hospital with a good NICU. A NICU that can give both my wife, and our twins the best chance of surviving this." Boden put his hand on mine when I said that. "After all the work we did on our marriage, and all the work that we continue to do on our marriage; I don't want it to go to waste by us loosing our kids. So, that was my main reason to move back and just be here when we give birth. And then we decided that, if we were moving back to give birth; then we needed to have jobs for health insure." Boden laughed, agreeing with me.

"And then I said that, I wouldn't be okay with doing what I did to you all over again; and I wasn't letting her take the twins away from me. So basically, me and Gabby had no other choice other than to move back based on the scenarios. We needed a good NICU hospital, I needed a good job for health insurance, and I couldn't leave said good job after already doing it once; especially not when I'm kicking a Lieutenant out of a job. I wouldn't be comfortable doing that again. It's not fair to ask you to be so accommodating to us, just because we need to switch it up." Boden smiled when I said that. "However, that doesn't mean that everything will go to the same as before." Boden was confused. "What do you mean by that?" I took a breath. "I don't want you to sign me back up for the chief courses again." Boden was shocked. "Really? I thought you would want to go back to it all since you're moving back." I sighed and shook my head.

"No, I need to have more time at home. I promised Gabby that, if we moved back; we would prioritize our marriage. We learned from our mistakes, and we've both vowed that we aren't going to let it happen again. So, that means that I need to just concentrate on my marriage, and our future family at the moment. Sure, would I like to be a chief in the future? Of course, I would like to be a chief in the future, it's a dream of mine. But my biggest dream in life is to be a father. And that means that I need to concentrate on Gabby, and it also means that I need to have a strong marriage if I ever want more." Boden laughed when I said that, agreeing with me. "There are times that I have regretted starting a family so late." I agreed with Boden when he said that. "And me and Gabby aren't done after this, we're going to have a big family; I can see it. So, I promise that we're going to stay for a while. However, I'm just not sure what Gabby wants to do for now. Right now, I think she would just like to relax and take it easy; and we already spoke about it, and we both agreed that she's not going to go back to OFI after what happened last time." Boden sighed. "Yeah, that was a traumatic experience." I agreed with him. "However, I would like to ask you a favor." Boden agreed. "What is it?" I smiled. "Would you be okay with Gabby coming in to shift with me? I just want to be there for her if she needs me, and that means she needs to come in with me."

Boden smiled. "Of course she can come in to shift with you Matt, we'd love to see her there each and every day." I smiled when he told me that. "I know this has been a lot of changes but…I think we really needed it Boden. We really needed this time away, as it really made our marriage stronger. I'm not proud of how bad it got at the end there, and I'm just glad that we're much better than it was when we left. So, that's what I really took away from it. But now, we're home; and I'm ready to get back in service tomorrow." Boden agreed with me. "I have the uniforms for you. Want to go put them in your car?" I thought about it. "No, I still have some at home. I unpacked already." Boden agreed with me, smiling. "Right, this isn't the first time we've seen each other. Just the first time we've had a chance to really talk." I nodded. "And I'm really sorry about that. I am, and we should've talked. But we just needed time to figure things out before I really could talk to you Chief."

Chief agreed with me when I said that. "Hey, don't even worry about it Matt. I completely understand that you and Gabby needed to take that time to figure things out. And the truth is, I'm glad that you guys took that time away to go what you needed to do for the sake of your marriage. Some men aren't that open to saying that they need to take a step back, especially when they're in such good jobs as you are. But for you to tell me that you needed to take a step back, and just get away with your wife; that really impressed me, and I'm glad that you did. And from what it sounds like, you and Gabby had a great time." Turning my head, I smiled as I watched Gabby laugh with our friends. "Yeah, we got to see a bunch of the country, I got to explore Puerto Rico; and we got to do a bunch. Now, I do want to say this. Me and Gabby are going to stay involved with the charity." Boden looked at me when I said that. "Oh, and how's that?" I smiled at him.

"Me and Gabby are taking charge of fundraising for Chicago. So, that may mean that we need to take time sometimes. Like, if there's a fundraiser in Chicago; we agreed that we would help out. So, I need to tell you that's part of a deal we already made with the charity. And we can't really back out of it, as they paid for our residence while we're there. They had to pay a fee to get us out of our rent, and they helped us move; so we're kind of stuck in helping them. I know, this is probably a lot to ask, but I am going to need that shift off if it…" Boden stopped me. "Hey, I understand. You made that commitment before you came back here, and it's something that you agreed to. So, I understand; and we can work it out Casey. I mean it when I say that, just like we'll work out the appointments. We'll make sure that you can go to all of them." I smiled when he said that. "Thanks, this truly has always been a dream of mine…so you have no idea how much I appreciate that."

Boden agreed with me when I told him that, smiling at me. "But listen, as much as I want to talk to you…can we do it on shift tomorrow maybe? Gabby will be there, and we'll bring some pictures from Puerto Rico. But right now, I need to get Gabby some food for her and the babies." Boden snickered. "Are you happy that you're having twins?" I gulped. "I'm both happy and scared." Boden was confused when I said that. "How?" I sighed. "My wife is a Latina, she has a personality…and that may mean that my kids are sassy, and talk back a lot." That's when I heard Gabby speak to me. "And your wife is going to withhold sex if you don't stop complaining that your kids are going to be half-Latinx." I gulped when I heard Gabby say that. "I love you Gabby." Gabby just snickered when I said that. "Get me food, now." I agreed with her. "Yes honey." I then turned to look at Boden. "Oh, next appointment is on the 26th. So, I need the lieutenant to be there stat. It's at 9:30."

Boden agreed with me, smiling. "I promise, now go get her food." I agreed with Boden when he said that, getting up so that I could get my gorgeous wife some food.