Chapter 56: Battlefield (finale of part 2)

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1 month later with Gabby working
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"Maybe you should reign your guys in, uh Casey?! They need to stay out of our way!" Severide yells.
"Yeah, and maybe you and Squad should respect my guys more! I mean Capp taking over a job one of my men was perfectly capable of doing is basically telling us that Squad is better than Truck!" Casey yells as everyone gets out of the trucks.
"Hey! Severide, Casey, stop drawing lines between Truck and Squad! It never turns out good. It hurts this family." Shay says giving Severide a deadly glare.
"This doesn't involve ambulance, Shay." Severide says calmly.
"Yeah, well it involves my fiancé and my family. We are all involved in this, Kelly." She says glaring at him.
"Keep your guys away from Truck." Casey says then turns around.
I stare in shock at him as he and the rest of Truck follows him.
"I have to go after him." I say as I start forward.
Severide puts an arm out and says, "Squad, do not interact with Truck crew on shift."
"Lieutenant, my fiancé is on Truck." I say as my mouth drops.
Severide shrugs his shoulders and sits down. I stare at him with my mouth agape.
"Kelly!" Shay says putting a hand on my shoulder.
"No, Shay. He gave me an order. That's the end of it." I say shucking off my gear.
As I finish hanging up my gear Tiffany Sommers walks in.
"Hey, Tiffany. I would take you to go see Truck, but lines have been drawn and words have been said so Squad and Truck crews aren't associating on shift. Shay, can you take her in to see everyone?" I ask running my hand through my hair.
"Sure. Come on, Tiffany." Shay says and her and Tiffany walk off as I sit down in my usual seat beside Severide.
"Gabby, I didn't mean..." Severide says trailing off as he watches them walk off.
"You gave an order, and I intend to follow that, Lieutenant. I'm as much a part of Squad as Capp and you and Kyle and James are. Just because my fiancé is on Truck doesn't mean that I get special treatment. It's not like it'll kill me." I say rubbing my eyes.
"Alright then." Severide says picking up a firefighter magazine.
"Hey, Dawson, you cooking tonight?" Kyle asks.
"Mills is. I have stuff to plan, arrangements to make, and now that lines have been drawn most likely a wedding to save." I say standing up.
I get to the door when Severide says, "Dawson."
"Yes, Lieutenant?" I ask turning around to face them.
"I'm sorry." He says.
I nod and walk inside. When I am about to go into the commons I am stopped by the fierce glares from the Truck crew. I sigh and walk around the commons to the bunks. I sit down on my bed, and the legs at the foot of the bed come off making me yell.
Mills and Shay come in just in time to see the other set of legs fall off making me shout and kick the bed.
"Dammit. I'm not going to bother with this damn thing. I'll sleep in the commons." I say running a hand through my hair.
"What the hell? Who attacked your bed?" Mills asks kicking it with his boot.
"Well considering most of the guys on Truck know their way around a tool box- scratch that- considering Herman and Casey know their way around a tool box pretty well I think it was Truck. Especially since the god damn bolts are missing." I say throwing my hands up in exasperation.
"Go sit in Casey's office. You don't usually use your bunk anyways." Shay says.
"No. I'm not going to be working on the plans for anything right now. Uh, has Tiffany left?" I ask.
"No she's talking with Cruz and Otis." Shay says.
"Alright... uh, Mills do you want any help cooking?" I ask.
"If you want, yeah that'd be great." Mills says.
I nod my head and pick up the legs to my bed.
"What are you going to do with those?" Shay asks.
"Put them on Truck's table. Come on." I say.
Mills and Shay exchange a look before we walk to the commons. I set the legs in front of Casey and say, "Reign your men in, Lieutenant."
Then, I walk over to where Mills is getting ingredients out.
"What are we making?" I ask lowly.
"Lasagne." He says.
I nod and start getting ingredients out with him.
"Oh come on. Isn't it enough that we have to sleep in the same room with Squad? Now, we have one of them cooking for us too." Otis says.
"Okay I won't cook. Tiffany, how about we go outside and you can talk to Squad." I say leaving the kitchen area.
Tiffany nods and follows me out. I refrain from slamming the door shut, so I don't scare Tiffany.
"I landed in the middle of a firefighter turf war, uh?" She asks as we sit down at the Squad table.
"Yep." I say handing her a candy bar.
"What happened?" Capp asks.
"Well, let's see. First the legs on my bed fell off. Then, when I started helping Mills cook dinner Otis had the comment of, 'Oh come on. Isn't it enough that we have to sleep in the same room with Squad? Now, we have one of them cooking for us too.'" I say.
"They took the legs off your bed?!" Severide asks angrily.
"They are sitting in front of Truck's lieutenant now." I say then add, "Tiffany, I think it would be best if you went home, now. This is about to get nasty."
Tiffany nods and leaves as Severide storms in to the commons. Squad is on his heels the entire time.
"Who took the legs off of Dawson's bed?" He asks creepily calm.
Herman laughs and asks, "Why's it matter?"
"Because you are messing with one of my firefighters and it's my job to protect them." Severide says in the same deadly calm tone.
"Yeah, whatever." Mouch says turning his attention back to the TV.
"What the hell is going on here?! I heard the yelling from my office!" Boden shouts from the door way.
"Nothing, Chief." Casey says.
"That's a bunch of bull shit. Someone from truck to the legs off Dawson's bed, and when she started helping Mills cook Otis' comment was 'Oh come on. Isn't it enough that we have to sleep in the same room with Squad? Now, we have one of them cooking for us too.'" Severide says.
"Is this true, Brian?" Boden asks shooting everyone in the room a glare.
"Yes, Chief." Otis says looking down at his feet.
"Who took the legs off the bed?" Boden asks.
"I did, Chief. It was supposed to be-" Herman is cut off as Boden says, "I don't care what it was supposed to be, Herman. It should not have happened. This stops. Now. If I get wind of it again there will be severe punishment dealt out. Do I make my self clear?!"
"Yes, Chief." Echoes through the room and he leaves.
"Dawson, can I talk to you?" Casey says standing up.
"Sorry, Lieutenant, but I have some stuff to take care of." I say glaring at him.
"Fine... Dawson, my office. Now." He says pointing towards his office.
I give a sharp nod, and walk to his office. I sit down on the couch, and fold my hands in my lap where I stare at them. After a few minutes Casey comes in and says, "Gabby, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have let it go this far. Can we talk about?"
"As far as I am concerned, Lieutenant, there's nothing to talk about. Now, if you would please excuse me I have to go fix my bed, and try and figure out if I'm going to go through with my plans for the future." I say standing up and opening the door.
I slam it shut and walk out to the apparatus bay. I get a tool bag off the Squad truck and walk back through the commons. I grab the legs off the table and ask, "Shay, you want to come help me?"
"Yeah, sure." Shay says standing up and setting her coffee down.
"Want any help, Dawson?" Herman asks.
"No." I say as Shay and I walk to the bunks.
We reach my bunk and set everything down. Shay lifts the bed up and I stick the bottom right leg on, slipping the blot in as Shay asks, "What did you mean about figuring out if your going to go through with your plans for the future?"
"I don't know if I want to marry a man that's going to sit there and act like I'm his enemy and let his friends ridicule me. I mean, who does that?" I ask as I slip on the bottom left leg and slip in the bolt.
"You love him, though, don't you?" Shay asks as she sets the bed down and we both pick up the bed moving it forward a few feet.
"If course I do, but if Severide sat back and let Squad criticize and ridicule you acting like you were nothing to him would you still marry him?" I ask as she lifts up the bed and I attach the left leg.
"Well... well... probably not, but I mean what are you going to do?" Shay asks as I slip the other right leg on.
"I don't know. We haven't sent invitations off yet, so I could easily cancel. I could return the dress, or you could take it..." I say.
"Gabby, maybe you should take a little bit to think about this." Shay tells me.
"I know, Shay. I was just talking... for now. I'm going to take a day or two to think about this." I say.
"You are going to have to decide fast. You live with him." Shay says as she sets the bed down.
"I know... let's not talk about that right now. We need something else to talk about." I say sitting down on my bed.
"Well, how about the fact that you have been out of the hospital for exactly one month today." Shay says excitedly.
"Oh yeah! I almost forgot." I say.
"Come on, Mills made you a small cake. Just big enough for me and you. It's in the fridge. Come on." Shay says pulling me to my feet.
We walk to the kitchen to find Herman and Mills kneeling in front of Casey. When Herman sees me he says, "You can go ahead and give him the ring back. Might as well stop acting like you care. He heard the whole conversation between you and Shay."
"What?! Obviously not the whole conversation. I told her I was just talking." I say pushing past Herman and kneeling down in front of Matt.
"Matt, baby, I'm not ending it over a petty argument at work. This... this is just a job. What you and I have... that... that is so much more." I say.
"That's not what it sounded like, Gabriela. It sounded like you were planning on leaving me, but waiting until we got home to do it so I wouldn't have to act like this in front of the guys. You said you were going to think it over for a day or two. We are obviously not everything to you." Matt says pulling away from me.
"You aren't getting this ring back that easily, Matt. I'm not going to blow this over a silly fight on the job." I say standing up.
"Fine, break my heart again when we get home. I don't care." Matt says as he stands and walks off.
"Dammit, Matt." I say kicking the wall.
"I don't feel like celebrating anymore, Shay. Share it with Severide." I say as I head to the bathroom.
I switch the sign to female and walk over to the end shower stall. I don't take a shower I just sit down. I pull my knees against me and put my head in my lap. I don't cry I just twist the ring on my hand around my finger, until I finally fall in to an uneasy sleep...

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Matthew Casey's POV
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I slam my office door shut and sit down in my rolling chair. She had sounded so series when she had been talking to Shay, but I had also just broke her in the process of trying to pull myself above the water. I had saw it in her eyes. As soon as the words had left my mouth I had seen each one get embedded in her heart. I don't know if I regret what I said or not, but I certainly felt like I had hurt her.
"Casey?" Shay knocks on my door.
I wave her in and she shuts the door behind her.
"What is it, Shay?" I ask looking out my office window.
"She meant every word she said about not actually ending it, you know. I don't know why you had to go and hurt her like that............ That's all. Bye." Shay leaves just as quickly as she had come.
A few minutes later Gabby walks in to my office her face completely blank. She sets the diamond ring down on my desk and says, "You can have it back. I'll get my stuff packed as soon as we get off shift and get out of you hair, Matthew."
Then, she walks out. I stare at the diamond ring for so long that my vision starts to blur, by tiredness or tears I don't know. Herman walks in and I hold up the ring, "I blew it, Herman. I'm now single."
My voice cracks on the last word and Herman says, "I'm sorry, Casey. You need anything?"
"Nope, not unless you have something that can't rewind time, and let me fix this." I say setting the ring down on my desk.
Herman nods and when he opens the door I hear someone crying softly and Shay trying to soothe her.
I stand up and lay down on my bed. I face my back to the door and tears slip down my cheeks as I fall asleep...

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