Afire Love

Chapter 40

Matt's POV:

Today's the day. I keep repeating this to myself. Today, after shift, I am going to propose to Gabby. I've been thinking about it for a while now, and I finally know what I'm going to do. It's going to be perfect, I know it.

All morning, Gabby says I'm acting strange. I'm trying to keep my cool, but I can't wait for tonight. Also, I'm not too good at keeping secrets.

We eat breakfast before going to the firehouse, then we drive there. "Matt, are you okay?" she asks me for the billionth time. I chuckle and respond, "I'm perfectly fine baby." She gives me a look and responds, "you're acting weird." Trying not to blow anything, I respond, "I'm fine Gabby, nothing is wrong." She nods her head, but I know she's a bit suspicious.

Once we arrive, we change, then head to the lounge. It's been calm at the house lately, we haven't had many calls. We watch television for a bit, then the alarm goes off. 

Firehouse 51. Truck 81. Squad 3. Ambulance 61. Structure fire. 1414 Jefferson's Square.

I get up from my chair and run to the truck along with the others. Then, I grab my gear and get into the truck's passenger seat. Cruz hops in and we head off to the destination.

While on the way, we all joke along. Gabby is in a great mood for some reason, so she's laughing along. "Dang Dawson, you're in a great mood! Does that have something to do with the Lieutenant? I mean, you guys had all day alone yesterday while off shift," Otis jokes.

I chuckle because we did indeed have some fun yesterday. That's Gabby and my business though. "At least I'm getting some," she responds while laughing. That causes the rest of us, including me, to laugh along with her. Otis's face turns red and he doesn't respond.

When we arrive, I get out of the truck. While getting my gloves on, I walk up to Chief and Severide. "You know anything?" I ask both of them. They are about to  respond when a woman runs out of the house and towards us.

"Help! My sons are in there. They're so young, you have to help them!" she begs us. I nod and try to calm her down. "It's going to be okay ma'am, we will get them," I tell her. She nods and Chief brings her over to the ambulance to get checked out.

Then, I give Severide a nod. Afterwards, I head over to my truck. "There's two boys in there! Squad is searching upstairs, we have downstairs! Dawson, you're with me! C'mon, let's get go!" I yell.

We hurry into the house and before we go in, we put our masks on. "Ready?" I shout to Dawson. She nods her head, then follows me into the house. The flames look like they started downstairs, so flames cover the whole level. So does the smoke, which makes it hard to see.

"Dawson!" I shout, trying to get her attention. The others went to search different rooms. Dawson and I were to search the living room. "Living room!" I tell her. "Copy that!" she responds.

We reach the living room and both Dawson and I shout for anybody to call out. It's silent for a second, but then we hear a cough. "Call out!" I tell the voice. "Help!" I hear weakly. From the sound of his voice, I can tell that he is one of the boys.

I follow the voice, with Dawson right behind me. We find the boy in the corner. He is covered with burns and is coughing. "We need to get him out of here Casey!" Dawson shouts to me. I nod and lift him in my arms. "My brother is upstairs. You have to get him!" the boy chokes out.

I nod and talk into my radio. "Severide, there's another boy upstairs!" Seconds later, he responds, "we got him."

We are about to exit the building when suddenly there is a blast. I find my self being knocked back and on to the floor. A minute later, I get up and look around. Luckily, I am okay and I didn't hit my head.

The boy is right next to me, and I check my pulse to see if he is okay. I feel for his pulse. He has a weak one, and I am about to lift him, when Mouch and Herrmann enter the room. "Where's Dawson?" Mouch asks me.

My heart skips a beat when I realize that I haven't seen her since the blast. I quickly scan the room and find Gabby on the floor, motionless.

"Oh my god," I mutter to myself. "Mouch, Herrmann, get the boy, I'll get Dawson!" I order. Then nod and take the boy out of the house.

Then, I sprint  over to Dawson. Her body is lifeless, still. Without thinking, I grab her body and carry her out of the house. I know that I can't check her in the middle of a burning house.

When we get outside, I carefully lay her down on the pavement. Her helmet must've fallen off during the blast because she doesn't have it on right now. "Gabby!" I yell, but there is no response. I feel for her pulse as Brett and Mills, along with the rest, crowd around us. She has a weak pulse, but she has one.

"Gabby!" I shout again, shaking her, trying to wake her. "Damn it Gabby! Wake up baby!" I yell again. Mills and Brett are about to respond, when suddenly I hear Gabby cough.

Relief rushes through me as I realize she's up and okay. Her eyes flutter open and she looks into my eyes. She doesn't say anything, she just keeps coughing. "Are you okay?" I ask her, still worried. She nods and between coughs she says, "I'm okay Matt."

I help her get up, and besides from coughing due to the smoke, she seems okay. The blast just knocked her out, but from what I can tell, she's okay. My girl is okay, and that's all that matters.

As soon as she gets up, I hold her tightly in my hands. It takes me a second to calm down from my previous panic. "You scared me," I admit to her. She smiles and responds, "I'm okay Matt, I'm not going anywhere." I kiss her forehead and release her from my arms.

Then, Mills and Brett take her to the ambulance to make sure she's okay. I crouch for a second and take deep breathes. I try to calm my heart, which is beating extremely fast.

I then walk over to the ambulance. "How is she?" I ask Brett, who just finished looking at her. "Might have a few bruises and cuts, but besides that she's okay," she says while smiling. I laugh, out of relief, and walk up to Gabby.

Chief walks up to us and says, "I'm proud of both of you. Great job today. And I'm glad you're okay Dawson." She gives him a warm smile and responds, "thanks Chief." I shake his hand.

After we all take a breather, we gather our stuff and get back to the truck. The hoses have already started to pour water on the house to put out the fire. I'm about to get in the truck when I realize that Gabby's helmet is still in the house.

"Wait!" I shout to everybody. I hear Gabby ask where I'm going, but I just get my helmet on and run into the house. I find her helmet on the ground, so I grab it and run back out of the building.

"What the hell?" they ask me when I get back into the truck. "I had to get this," I say as I hand the helmet to Gabby. "Every firefighter needs their helmet," I say while winking at her.

Thanks for reading, I am extremely grateful. And by the way, I have over 10K reads, so thank you very much! I'll continue to update. Please comment and tell me what you think of the story so far!!!