June 1997...
Gabriela Dawson is a Junior in High School. Antonio Dawson is in the process of completing his training at the Chicago Police Academy.
Fast forward to 2013 (Mid-season 1 of Chicago Fire)
Antonio is a top Detective in Vice. Gaby is...
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September...
School had just started again. Eva was in her last year of Junior High and for the first time, she was excited to go to school. She had been transferred to a school closer to home and she was ready to make new friends and start fresh. She had also had more time to adjust to having a step-mom. She actually liked Josie. Josie didn't try to replace her Mom. Having a step-mom wasn't anything like what the kids at her other school had said. Josie took time to get to know her. Josie actually treated her like she was her own. Diego had no problems adjusting. He moved to a school closer to home too. Xavier and Zoë walked them to their buses every day before heading to Holy Trinity. Once school was out, Xavier and Zoë would go and meet Diego and Eva and walk them home. Their family was starting to make everything work.
Josie wasn't working a desk in Intelligence anymore. She was officially on Maternity Leave. She spent her days working on getting the new nursery ready and catching up on some of the books she'd meant to finish reading. Antonio was still working out kinks in Intelligence. Having his father-in-law as his boss was a huge adjustment. It was even a bigger adjustment to see Hank and Dixie trying to make their own relationship work.
It was the weekend and Antonio was enjoying one his rare days off. He had actually been able to sleep in and hold his wife. He woke up a little while after 9 and just stared at Josie as she slept in his arms. She was radiant. She'd gotten quite a bit bigger over the last few weeks. He put his hand on her belly and smiled as he felt the twins move against his hand.
"Mmm." Josie groaned. "Antonio?" Her eyes fluttered open slowly. "Hey."
"Hi, beautiful." He kissed her. "How'd you sleep?"
"With my eyes closed." She giggled.
"Oh boy... you've been talking to my brother too much again." Antonio laughed. "That was always his answer when Mami asked him that question."
"Oh, well... it's also the answer your two sons give me when I'm asking them that same question each morning before school."
"Well... maybe it's a genetic response." Antonio smirked. "I love watching you sleep."
"That sounds eerily like stalking, Detective." Josie batted her eyes at him.
"I don't think I can stalk my wife." He kissed her again. "Seriously... How was your sleep?"
"Good." She smiled. "They didn't keep me up too much. They're active this morning though."
"Probably my fault." He said quietly. "Sorry. I just love... love this feeling."
"It is pretty spectacular... especially considering that there's two of them in there... I'm pretty sure they think my bladder is a punching bag."
Antonio rolled her over onto her back and talked to the twins. "You boys are taking after Daddy, aren't you?"
