A\N: This chapter further develops Matt and Gabby's relationship.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Spoilers: None

Warnings: None

Chapter 6

The way Matt had been invited to the Dawson family BBQ had all been very innocent. He had been watching Tommy and Sophia the previous day and when it was time to say goodbye Tommy asked Matt if he could play with him the following day at the BBQ. Matt had gently explained to him that he wouldn't be there. When Tommy had gotten upset, Gabby told Matt her parents told her to invite him but she hadn't been sure it was a good idea. Matt wasn't quite sure about the idea either but he loved seeing how happy it had made Tommy when he agreed to go.

Now, he sat outside of Gabby's parent's house in his truck trying to get over the nervousness of going inside. He told himself he didn't need to be nervous, although he knew that wasn't true. He and Gabby still hadn't talked about the kiss on the cheek a week ago, and Matt was falling in love with Gabby. what he didn't know was if she felt anything similar. He was just about to text Gabby to let her know he had arrived when he saw Gabby and Tommy walk out from a gate at the side of the house. When Tommy saw Matt, he ran towards the truck.

"Matt! Matt! Come play in the sprinkler with me!" Tommy took Matt's hand as soon as he got out of the car, "Grandma is setting up a mini pool too," He excitedly explained.

"Wow, wow, Thomas," Gabby looked at her son, "I know you're excited for Matt to be here but remember that we talked about? He needs to meet Grandma and Grandpa first and then he may want to talk with the adults. How about you ask him if he can play with you later?"

Tommy pouted but did what he was told, "Matt can you play with me later?" He asked.

Matt walked to the back of his truck and got out a bag, he had brought a case of beer and some popsicles "If you help me meet your grandparents we can play even sooner," He suggested.

Gabby eyed Matt and laughed, "Are you using a four-year-old to help you because you're nervous? My parents aren't that bad right Thomas?" Gabby started walking back into the backyard. Just looking at Matt she could tell he was nervous and all kidding aside she wasn't sure how that made her feel.

"Grandpa! Grandma!" Tommy took Matt's hand and happily led him to the deck, "This is my friend Matt! He's a firefighter," He announced proudly

"Hello, I'm Ian and this is my wife, Maria," Gabby's father stood up and put his hand out, "We've heard a lot about you, it's about time we met."

"Hi," Matt shook his hand, "It's nice to meet you both; I've heard plenty of things about you too."

"Matt!" Tommy interpreted, "Let's play now!"

Matt knelt and looked at the young boy, "I'm going to talk to your Mommy and Grandparents for about as long as you can watch your iPad. After that, we can play. How about you go and play with Diego?"

"Okay," Tommy walked off to go play with his best friend and cousin./p

Over the next half an hour, Matt talked with Gabby, her parents, Antonio, and Laura. At first, Matt was a little nervous but, as soon as Gabby sat beside him with Sophia on her lap he started calming down. Sophia crawled over to him and she sat happily with him for a little while before going off to play.

"Matt, I have to say you're even better with Thomas and Sophia than Gabby mentioned," Maria spoke, "If you ever get married are children something you'd like to have?"

"Mom," Gabby looked at her mother with disbelief, "I don't think that's where we want this conversation to go," She had explained to her parents she and Matt were just good friends but they said they had concerns and Gabby hated to admit that they made sense, as she had them too. Thomas and Sophia were getting closer to Matt every day and he was becoming a consistent figure in their lives, if he and Gabby dated and broke up what would happen? She didn't tell her parents or anyone else; she was starting to develop feelings for Matt which made her feel guilty, was she ready to move on?

"It's okay Gabby," Matt smiled, "I love kids and I'd love to have my own but right now I love hanging out with Thomas and Sophia." He answered. "Now please excuse me but I'm going to go and play for a while," He stood up from the table and walked over to where the kids were playing with Antonio in the sprinklers.

Matt snuck up behind Thomas and easily lifted him over his shoulder so he was hanging over his shoulder, "Oh no," Matt over dramatically looked around, "I just saw Tommy! Where did he go? He must be invisible."

"Matt!" Tommy laughed, "I'm right here!"

"Oh!" Matt acted surprised, "Do you want to have a height advantage with your water gun?" He asked.

"Yeah," Tommy said happily.

Matt lifted Tommy so he was sitting on his shoulders. Tommy used his water gun to get Diego even more wet.

"Dad! Please lift me?" Diego looked up at Antonio "I need help!"

"Alright Diego but we're not going to play this all morning. Antonio lifted Diego on his shoulders.

After the family had sandwiched for lunch Gabby took Sophia inside to have a nap and the older kids went inside to play to get out of the heat. After checking to see if he could help clean up after lunch Antonio suggested he watch Eva, Diego and Tommy play in the basement.

The furnished basement was filled with toys and Eva went to play with Barbie dolls while Tommy and Diego played with LEGO. Matt sat on the floor and watched the kids while they played. Everything was fine until Diego told Tommy about a father-son day he and Antonio were having.

"Daddy's taking me mini golfing and you and Eva can't come." Five-year-old Diego told his cousin.

Tommy glared at his cousin, "I can go with Matt!"

"No, you can't! Matt's not your Daddy," Diego informed him.

Angrily Tommy pushed Diego and he fell into the bin of LEGO's causing everything to fall out. Diego pushed Tommy back and was just about to hit him when Matt stepped in between them.

"No fighting boys!" He picked up Tommy and stood in front of Diego and placed Tommy behind him so the boys were separated. He had never seen Thomas and Diego fight although he had heard it was something that did happen, he was very grateful when Antonio walked into the room.

"We heard yelling, naturally we figured you two got into a fit, I see we were right," Antonio looked at Diego and Tommy with displeasure, "What happened?"

"Diego.." Tommy tried to talk but couldn't and just started crying.

"Diego, come here, now," Antonio ordered, "You and I are going to have another talk, let's go to the other room. Matt, are you okay here?" He asked.

"Yeah," Matt nodded his head, he picked Tommy up and carried him over to the couch. He sat down and set Tommy in front of him.

"My Daddy did die," Tommy looked at Matt with a look that broke Matt's heart, "Mommy says…says…" He started crying again. "He's not here. I want my Daddy."

Matt gently placed his hands on Tommy's shoulder, "Your Daddy was very brave and he died a hero. If anyone, even your cousin says anything you tell him that. I know you miss your Daddy but if Mommy says it's okay maybe we can spend more time together. I'm not your Daddy but I do love you very much."

"I love you too," Thomas hugged Matt.

Now, I know you know you don't push people right. You should have asked me for help, I'm always here for you Thomas." Matt told him. "Right now I think you and Diego should play separately." When he heard the door open, Matt stopped talking and saw Antonio walk out with Diego.

Diego took a few steps toward Thomas, "I'm sorry Tommy. I know you miss your Daddy. You can come and play with me and my Daddy. We can all play together," Diego attempted to apologize.

"I'm sorry, for pushing you," Tommy replied, "My Daddy is a hero."

"Yes he was, he was a fearless man and I miss him too," Antonio told his nephew, "He'd be very proud of you for talking through your problems with your cousin.

"Matt said we could do things together," Tommy continued.

"If Gabby says it's okay," Matt quickly interjected.

"I'm sure she'll be okay with that," Antonio smiled. He knew Gabby cared about him; he could see that Matt cared about her and the kids. "Diego you're coming upstairs with me, you need to tell your mother what you said. Then your mother and I are going to talk about your punishment for your fight with Thomas,"

"Daddy," Eva looked up from where she was quietly playing with her dolls, "Do you wish you had two daughters? Girls are not so mean."

"Sometimes I do Eva, but your Mom will have her hands full in a few years," He responded, "For now you just stay eight years old and play with your dolls."

"I'm playing fashion makeover with Barbie," Eva informed him.

"That's boring," Diego told her.

"I'll tell Gabby what happened, I'm sure Sophia's asleep by now," Antonio told Matt before leading Diego out of the room.

"Thomas, you sit here and wait for your mother to come and talk to you. I'm going to play with Eva." Matt told him.

"I'm sorry for pushing Diego," Thomas apologized again, "I'm sorry."

Matt looked at him, he'd never be able to understand the trauma Thomas had been through at such a young age. When his father died he was told what happened but at three he didn't quite understand. Matt knew it had been a hard year for all of them and Thomas had been having trouble properly regulating his emotions. As he got older he'd only have more and more questions about what happened to his father.

"Your Mom told me your therapist Jessica suggested practicing breathing when you get upset and using fidget toys to help calm yourself down. My friend's son has a fire truck popper. Would you like me to ask my friend where they bought it? Maybe, you could get a police car too. It's okay to need help calming down sometimes. I know I get upset a lot because of my job."

Tommy looked up at him, "You get upset?"

"Yes, sometimes," Matt explained, "Maybe we could practice some of your breathing exercises together."

"I think that would be a great idea," Gabby walked into the room, "I know you talked to Matt Thomas but I still want to talk to you," Gabby told him, "Let's go upstairs and talk."

"Matt," Eva asked, "Can you stay and play with me? Mommy hasn't come down yet."

"Sure, I said I'd play with you anyways," Matt told the eight-year-old as he sat beside her, "So is Barbie going to wear many different outfits for her fashion show?"

"Only cute ones," Eva responded.

Matt looked back to where Gabby was standing with Thomas. "She knows about fashion already?"

"Yeah, probably more than you do," Gabby teased, "Have fun, I'll come back later and take pictures of the outfit you pick for Barbie to wear. Eva might need to approve it first."

"Good idea Auntie Gabby. I'll be in charge of the fashion show."

For the next hour, Matt played with Eva and when Sophia woke up she wanted to play dolls too. She was too little to play with Barbie dolls so before Matt could suggest another game Eva said they were going to play Beauty Salon. Matt was rather thankful when Laura came downstairs and took over for Matt's supervision of the game.

Later on in the evening after dinner and a bonfire, both Thomas and Sophia were asleep. Matt carried Tommy to Gabby's car and put him in his car seat. He then helped load up the car while Gabby got Sophia in her car seat. He followed Gabby in his truck back to her apartment building carried Thomas to his bedroom and tucked him into bed.

Once both, Thomas and Sophia were asleep, Gabby joined Matt on the couch. "Thank you again for all of your help today." She told him, "And thank you for helping Thomas out when he and Diego had that disagreement. I appreciate what you told him, about wanting to spend more time with him."

"I meant it, I'd love to do more to help you out." Matt told her.

"I know," Gabby began nervously fidgeting, "And I also want to thank you for being patient with me; when I married Michael I never would have imagined what would happen to him; I'm not sure if I'll ever not love him. However, as much as I feel guilty I do have feelings for you, I see how you are with Tommy and Sophia, you love them. I think maybe we could start dating but maybe very slowly. I don't want something to happen and for Tommy and Sophia to lose you." She admitted.

Matt moved a little closer to her and took her hands in his. He turned to face her and to Matt's surprise she kissed him, and he happily kissed her back.

"Do you want to stay and watch a movie?" Gabby asked after they stopped kissing.

"That would be nice," Matt told her.

TBC

A\N: Please review if you can.