Burning Flames (Chicago Fire Fan-fiction) - Under Editing

Chapter 16: Heart to Heart With Hally and Mariana

Burning Flames

Chapter 16: Heart to Heart

I look at her and say, "Well, I'm Gabriela. My friends call me Gabby."
I walk over and she wraps me in a tight hug, then says, "I'm cooking a pot roast, cherry cobbler, loaded baked potatoes, roasted asparagus, and homemade yeast rolls. I made everything from scratch and everything but the cobbler and pot roast is done."
A timer goes off and she turns the oven off. She pulls out a huge pot roast and delicious looking cherry cobbler. Casey walks over and says, "Damn, your sister needs to cook dinner for us sometime."
Mariana laughs and says, "I am."
"No, I mean me and Gabby. Maybe you could cook for us next Valentine's Day." He tells her, and then kisses me on the cheek.
As he walks off Mariana stares at him and says, "Damn, I was going to try and get a date with him, but I guess you already got him. Oh well."
A memory flashes in my head. One that I had pushed down with alcohol and crying. I feel tears start to form as I think about it. I walk off and head to the bathroom.
I stare at the mirror trying to push it back down. I wipe my eyes when I hear a knock at the door, and Shay walks in and rubs my back.
"Are you alright?" She asks.
I shake my head and she pulls me into a hug. I pull away and quickly wipe my tears away, and fix my makeup. I walk back out to the commons where everyone's lined up to fill their plates. Casey's smiling and laughing at something Otis had said, and then looks at me as I get in line. His smile fades as he sees me. He turns back around and starts talking to Severide.
Shay pats me on the back and we move forward in line.
Once it comes our turn Mariana asks, "Are you alright, did I say something wrong? If I did I'm sorry."
"No, but what you said drug up some old memories." I tell her with a weak smile.
Shay adds quietly, "More like memories you drowned in wine and tears."
Mariana's smile fades, and she rubs my arm and says, "Sorry."
I go sit down and start to eat. When I finish I get up and put my dishes in the sink.
"Let me be the first to say. That was amazing. I haven't even cooked like that in a while." I say.
She smiles and says, "Thank you, so Gabby I was wondering if we could go get coffee sometime. Get to know each other?"
I nod and reply, "That sounds good. I'll bring Antonio. My brother, or our brother. How about tomorrow at about 9:30. The CFD café. Meet me here at 8 and then I will drop you off to meet Antonio. I've got some stuff to do before we meet. Antonio will know where it is."
She nods and says, "Well I will be back tomorrow and I will pick up my pans then."
She waves and walks out the door.
"We need to hire that sister of yours to just cook for this shift." Herman says as he goes back for seconds.
I smile and say, "I don't think that would work, but I'll tell her that you all want her to cook for us again."
I walk off out to the engine bay and pull out my phone. I scroll through my contacts till I reach my dads number. I hadn't called him since the day Antonio and I had gotten a letter from him with this phone number in it. I click it and it rings three times before it sends me to a voicemail. "This is Miguel Dawson leave your name and number and I will get back to you." I hear then it beeps.
"Hi, this is Gabriela Dawson I'm not sure if you know who I am and I know you left for a reason, but if you would please call me back I'd be very happy. Antonio and I would love to talk to you, bye."
I walk back inside and head back to the lockers when a hand reaches out and takes mine. I'm about to hit whoever the hand belongs to when I see its Casey. I'm about to say something when he pushes me into the wall and kisses me. I wrap my arms around him and pull him in tighter when I hear Otis and Cruz coming. I pull back and walk down to the other end of the lockers to where my locker is. I grab my wallet and pull out money for dinner.
I head back to the commons and put the money in the dinner can. I mark my name off the board and sit down. Suddenly Herman stands up and says, "I've been offered a good deal on an old bar, but I don't want to go in on this alone. If I can get at least two more people to put in a base of say maybe 1500 dollars or more the guy is going to give everything to us. He completely owns the bar and he's retiring to Florida."
I think about it and then say, "I'm in. I need something new and this sounds like it could be it."
Herman smiles, and then Otis says, "Me too. I like it it sounds like it's going to be a lot of work and fun."
"Yes!! I will get everything arranged. Don't worry." Herman says as he walks off.
After a few more hours of no calls and hockey I head to bed since it's getting late.