One Chicago: Health First Part 3

Chapter 1034

A couple hours later, after another Call:
Gabby's POV
As I stood in the washroom after our latest call, I was exhausted. Since we finished talking to Severide, we have been on call after call. We haven't stopped for at least the past 5 hours. It was now 4:30 and I prayed to have a little break. That's when I saw Stella come into the washroom. "What you doing in here? You seem to be hiding from all of us?" I turned to look at her and sighed. "I'm trying to find the one place where I can hide from that stupid speaker."

Stella laughed and smiled. "Trust me girl, me too. It's much harder now a days with all the protections. I find that it takes me at least an extra minute to get the PPE on to keep everybody safe and that's honestly a minute that we don't have." I nodded and agreed. "One thing I am glad about though is that I decided to step breastfeeding a couple months ago. Trust me, that would not have been fun. Being a paramedic and breastfeeding do not go together."

Stella looked at me confused. "Okay, I get what breastfeeding is but...I don't get how it relates to making the job harder?" I sighed and looked at her. "You know when you're not wearing a bra. You look bigger and...." Stella nodded and finally understood. "Ah, that's what you mean. God, Matt must've loved that part of the first few months of Matteo's life." I nodded and chuckled. "Word of advice, when you get pregnant...enjoy the showers. It's hot and so relaxing."

Stella laughed again and nodded. "I already told Severide I want to wait until we are married. That way, I can get some stuff from Brett considering she's going to get stuff from you." I nodded and agreed. "My brother is going to need it. Believe me, the stuff has gotten much more expensive now a days." Stella was confused. "It's only been a few years since you...had that pregnancy." I chuckled. "Stella, my niece and nephew are basically adults now. I bought something for them when Antonio's ex-wife had a baby shower. It wasn't as expensive as the stuff comes now." Stella then understood. "How expensive we talking about?"

I smiled when she asked. "You been looking at wedding gowns?" Stella nodded. "To get everything you need for a baby, it's like twice the price of a wedding gown." Stella then glared. "$2,000!?!" I nodded and sighed. "Oh, and that's just when you get the baby. Then every other month you have to spend $200 on clothes and then, when they get to college...that's another $50K-$75K." Stella then got nervous. "Dang." I nodded and smiled. "So trust me when I say this. The minute you guys get married, start your savings." Stella nodded and agreed.

"Honestly, I could see Severide as a great dad. Your son just brings out the fun side in him. I mean, the appropriate fun side if you know what I mean." I groaned and nodded. "I know exactly what you mean. Remember? We lived with him for a while. More specifically, when he was married. He was way worse than we ever were when we were newlyweds. Didn't help that we had kids though." Stella nodded and agreed. "You keep in touch with the little guy anyways?"

I then bit my lip and looked down. "I am trying not to but, I want to look at his dad's FaceBook page just to get a picture of him. We saw him before but, it's all a blur. I was still in the recovery phase from when my dad attacked me." Stella then sighed and looked at me. "God, you guys still dealing with that?" Gabby shook her head. "I'm debating talking to him just to see how he's doing but, then I remember how much he's hurt me and Matt. I am not ready to talk to him yet."

Stella stepped close to me and nodded. "Sorry, am I allowed to get this close?" I nodded and went to hug her. "God, my hormones are just getting so much more pronounced." Stella chuckled and smiled. "Called being a mom. Trust me when I say this, I've seen your whole emotional state change. You are much more tense and less relaxed. Girl, you need to take advantage of your hunky husband. Let him take you to your happy place sometimes."

 I laughed and nodded. "Trust me when I say this Stella, enjoy the sex. Once you have kids, your sex life goes down the drain. Especially when you have a newborn. The only reason me and Matt even got close when Matteo was so young was because of how much I missed him. It was hard." Stella nodded and went to rub my arm. 

"Listen, sometime we are going to have to talk about why you didn't tell me. Girl, I could've kept your secret. I've known you way longer than Matt." I nodded and sighed before going to hug her. "God, look at me. I'm a hormonal mess. Let me just adjust my makeup or else I will look ugly." Stella was about to say something when I heard Matt come in. 

"That's impossible Gabby, we both know you could never look ugly." I turned to look at him and smiled. He then walked over to me and kissed my head before walking away to go to the washroom. "Stella, how about you go sit in the common room? Maybe get some cards out, I'll be right out." Stella nodded and agreed before walking out.

Matt's POV
Once Stella left the washroom, I turned to look at Gabby and sighed. "Want to tell me why you're crying?" Gabby turned to look at me and smiled. "Just that time of the month." I finished doing my business and then walked over to her to wash my hands. Looking into her eyes, I smirked. "Gabby, I'm your husband and we live together. You can't pull that on me. I know when your cycle is. And it's not until the middle of the month."

Gabby sighed and nodded. "I've been hiding something from you recently. It started a conversation with Stella that brought back some old emotions." I then looked at her and stepped close to her while putting my hands on her hips. "Gabby, what's up?" Gabby then bit her lip as she looked up at me. "Recently, I've been looking at Andres' FaceBook profile to get updates on Louie. And we also talked about some other bad stuff I hate thinking about."

I nodded and understood, moving to wipe her tears with my thumb. "Gabby, are you having second thoughts about us trying to go through with another adoption? Or would you rather do surrogacy?" Gabby sighed and looked frustrated. "I don't know Matt. That's the problem. I keep going back and forth because I'm scared. I say that the surrogacy is the safer bet, yet my humanitarian side says we should adopt people. I know, we said hospital and stuff but...it's scary. And then I get all emotional because of the bad memories it brings back."

I nodded and understood what she meant. "More specifically, the bad memories that relate to Louie." Gabby nodded and just went to hug me. "What makes it worse is that should've been one of the happiest times of our lives. We were newlyweds and it should've been easier for us." I nodded and rubbed her back as I felt her arms tighten around my shoulders. I then leaned back and went to kiss her softly. "I'm here for you, you know that right?" Gabby nodded and agreed.

"I am just scared Matt. What if it happens again? I'm scared that I will do the exact same thing and run away again. I mean sure, Matteo will be here but...what if I'm miserable. What will it do to us?" I nodded and then looked at her. "Gabby, I am in this with you this time. You aren't alone in this. If you feel this way, you need to tell me this." Gabby nodded and agreed. "And you also need to promise that you can't run. Instead, you can ask me to leave with you."

Gabby smiled when I said that and went to kiss me while moving her hands down my back. I then moved my hand to her neck and kissed her slowly. "We are in this together, forever." Gabby smiled and agreed when I said that before hugging me again. "How about we go back to your office and we can change my mind by giving Antonio a call to check up on Matteo?" I nodded and liked the idea as I went to kiss her head. "Sure, then we can sit out in the common room." Letting Gabby go, I then moved to reach out for her hand so that we could go to my office.

Grabbing my hand and intertwining our fingers, I felt Gabby wrap her arms around mine before following me out of the washroom towards my office.