One Chicago: Health First Part 3

Chapter 1033

Severide's POV
When I asked Matt why it would be so bad if Stella knew that the proposal was coming, he seemed shocked that I would even say that. "Severide, you're kidding right? The whole point of a proposal is to surprise the girl. Trust me when I say this...even if a girl says just do it, they want a real proposal. And I speak from experience." I was confused when he said that. "With Hallie or Gabby?" He smiled when I asked. "With Gabby. The first time around, she came here to talk to me and said 'ask me...ask me again'. I was shocked and just stared at her." 

I nodded and just went to lean back in his chair. "I wanted to do it right. That led to us going to the fire academy. Trust me when I say this...I am glad that I never have to propose to another woman ever again because I don't think I could ever top that proposal!" I laughed when he said that and nodded. "Then again, you wouldn't ever to one related to the fire academy. I mean, your situation is a bit different. You are both members of the CFD. Oh and about that, how exactly did you get the exemption approved for married couples?" 

Matt sighed. "I have no clue and didn't ask. Chief did it for us. And honestly, I am glad he did. Believe me when I say this Severide, it allowed me to save my marriage a few times. We were able to talk about stuff. You have no clue how bad it was sometimes in our first marriage." I was shocked when he said that. "Really? Because you guys looked like the picture perfect couple." I sighed. "On the outside. We had a lot of disagreements that you didn't know about."

I sighed and looked at him. "And now? Has stuff changed?" Matt nodded. "We've learned from our lessons and we are making a real effort to not make the same mistakes. We have a lot more at risk this time." I nodded and agreed. "Totally, I doubt she would ever want to get married at third time if you screw this one up yet manage to win her back after you divorce." Matt shook his head and sighed. "I am not talking about that Severide." He then turned to look at the picture of Matteo he had on his desk. I then understood what he meant, they had a biological child now.

"Stuff is different now. It's not how it was when we had Louie. Yes, we were going to adopt him but...he wasn't ours yet permanently. Matteo is always going to be ours because he is our biological child. Stuff gets a lot more complicated when you have kids." I nodded and agreed. "By the way, you haven't given me an update recently on your search for a surrogate or foster child. What are you guys leaning towards anyways?" Matt sighed and looked at me, scared.

"We are flip flopping back and forth. I just wish I knew where Gabby's head was at. Sometimes, I feel like she's pushing it to the side because she's scared to relive what happened when we had Louie. We keep saying that we specifically want a child who was given up at the hospital." I was confused. "What do you mean by that?" Matt sighed again. "In Illinois, there's something called a Safe Haven law. It allows a teenage girl to go to a hospital and give birth. She can then leave the baby there and not get in trouble for abandoning their baby."

I nodded and somewhat understood. "Why so specific?" Matt smiled. "To protect us from getting hurt. We don't want to bond with a baby and then have it taken away from us. With this law, all parental rights are relinquished and no information is collected. So, the state has no way to find out who the parents are." I nodded and smiled. "That will save you and Gabby a lot of heartache. I remember how hard she took it when you lost Louie. God, I wish Shay would've been there to help." Matt then sighed. "I didn't help though. I should've taken time off to help her."

We both agreed when he said that when I saw Gabby come up to the door. "What you guys talking about?" Matt then smiled at her. "Various things. Nothing important." I nodded and agreed. "You want to talk to him for a bit Gabby?" Gabby nodded and smiled. I then got up and went to shake Matt's hand. "Hope it works out for you this time around." Matt nodded and sighed before giving me a glare because now he was going to have to talk about what we just talked about with Gabby. I decided to walk out before I could get yelled at.

Gabby's POV
As I went to sit on our bed, I looked at Matt. "Okay, now the truth. What were you talking about?" Matt sighed and sat up next to me before wrapping his arm around me. "I mentioned to Severide how we were looking at adoption again. How we are looking specifically at newborns who are relinquished at the hospital." I nodded and went to put my hand on his knee. "We need to talk about it more. But, we should also wait a bit. Matteo is still young."

Matt agreed with me and sighed. "We keep saying that Gabby but, we already sent in those papers. What if Tina calls and says that she has a kid? We have the nursery ready for Matteo but, that would mean that we have a newborn. Or, we have a young kid. I guess we should've talked about this sooner but...what are we going to do if we get a call like next month? What if it's a newborn. We can't work again. Well, one of us can't. And then one of us won't be able to come home. Gabby, we both know that you would be devastated if we loose another baby."

I sighed and thought about it. "Honestly, I doubt we would even be considered for adoption right now. I mean, they look at where you work. We work as paramedics. That is not the safest job right now. So, the odds that we are placed with a child is unlikely." Matt then looked at me. "That's not true Gabby...I mean you were a firefighter and got a placement before." I then sighed. "Matt, think about the currently health situation. Paramedics may deal with COVID." Matt nodded. "Well then listen, let's just wait. Anyways...I don't want to repeat the mistake we made last time. We literally did it right when we got married. We've only been married for 4 months."

I nodded and agreed, smiling at him when I thought about something. "Think maybe we have time to call Antonio?" Matt was about to grab his phone when we heard a call. "Ambulance 61, cardiac arrest, 875 Porter Blvd." I then got up and went to run away. Matt just ran after me as we prepared to get to work.