All I Need

A Dawsey Christmas.

Completely A/U. Gabby never lost the baby. I actually started writing this before last Christmas but obviously forgot about it. I was going through some of my old writings and stumbled upon it. This was supposed to be a one-shot but it got so long that I kept writing and writing so I'm making it a two part story. I'm posting the first part right now and immediately going to continue working on the second part. It's a mushy story. I just wanted to do something with no drama for once. If you've read any of my other fics, then you know I like the drama. So...Enjoy! And...Review?

"…Merry Christmas to all and to all a goodnight!" Matt shut the book and looked down at his three girls. With one tucked under each arm and the youngest cuddled in his lap, he could barely move. "The end."

Aubrey, the oldest at six, tilted her head back to look up at him, "read it again, daddy! Please?"

"Yeah!" Five year old Mia added, "just one more time! Pretty please?"

"More time!" Eliza chimed in, following the lead of her sisters. Her eyes were wide with wonder as she turned around in her father's lap and glanced up at him. "Pease?"

With their smooth caramel skin and curly, jet black hair, all three girls held their mother's most dominant features. But if you looked close enough, you could see little hints of their father in each of them. Eliza had her father's bright blue eyes, Mia had her father's infectious grin and besides her brown eyes, Aubrey's facial features mirrored her father's.

Matt shook his head, "nope, no more. It's bed time," he checked his watch, "it's actually past your bedtime." That was already his second time reading Twas the Night Before Christmas. "Santa won't come if you girls are awake."

Matt climbed out of the king sized bed he and the girls had settled into and sat the book down on the night stand. "Last call to board the Daddy Express!"

Mia jumped up, "my turn to be the caboose!" She scrambled to the edge of the bed and waited for her daddy to sit back down on the bed so she could jump up on his back. She wrapped her arms around his neck and jumped on.

"Gotta hold on tight, ok, Mia?"

Mia nodded, "I got this, daddy."

Matt smirked, she'd definitely gotten her determination from her mother. He turned around so he could see his other two girls and held his arms out, "ok, only two spots left, hurry before they're gone!"

Aubrey giggled, "there's only me and Eliza left, daddy!"

"I don't know, your mommy might need a lift."

"No!" Eliza scrambled up, "me, me!"

With one arm, Matt scooped up his youngest daughter and in the other, he held his eldest daughter. "Let's go. Who is the engine?"

In unison, all three girls started chanting, "choo, choo!" over and over.

After tucking all three girls into their individual beds, Matt headed back downstairs where he found Gabby sitting on the living room floor with her feet tucked underneath her and wrapping presents. Her hair was piled atop her head and she had on one of his Blackhawks hoodies; a look of complete concentration adorned her face. He'd been surprised when she had mentioned that she hadn't started wrapping anything—usually she was done at least a week before Christmas—so he'd offered to read the girls their bedtime story and put them to bed.

That had been an hour and a half ago.

"How's Santa's little elf coming along with the wrapping?"

Gabby glanced over her shoulder just long enough to give him an annoyed look, "well Santa's helper will be wrapping presents all night if she doesn't get some help."

She wasn't going to admit it to Matt, but Gabby had only been wrapping presents for about half an hour. As soon as Matt had taken the girls upstairs, she had taken the opportunity of being alone to dig out the two pregnancy tests she'd bought when she'd stopped at the grocery store that morning to buy sprinkles for the sugar cookies her and the girls were going to make.

The possibility of being pregnant had only hit her the night before after dinner at her parents' house had immediately unsettled her stomach. There had only been a few times in her life—three to be exact-that her mother's traditional Dominican cooking had made her nauseous. She knew her mother had immediately sensed something was wrong but she'd quickly brushed it off by saying she'd eaten too much at Molly's while helping Herrmann prepare food for a Christmas party.

She knew her mother hadn't bought it. But she also had questioned her any farther.

Matt didn't need to be told twice and settled down on the carpeted floor next to her, "ok, what do you want me to help with?"

Gabby motioned to the small stacks directly to Matt's right, "I have your sister's kids' presents separated in individual piles."

Matt nodded, "got it."

Besides the faint sound of the radio app on Gabby's phone playing music, the parents sat in silence as they wrapped the presents. Scooting towards Gabby, Matt glanced over shoulder, "is my present somewhere in that pile?"

Gabby smiled, "I thought we'd decided we weren't doing presents this year?"

"We say that every year and we always end up getting each other something." He saw the look of seriousness on Gabby's face and his smile faltered, "wait, you really didn't get me anything?"

"Of course I got you something, Matt!" Gabby laughed, "but the look of dismay on your voice was absolutely priceless."

Matt scowled and poked Gabby's side, effectively making her jump. He slipped his arms around her waist and pulled her into his lap. "Meany," he mumbled against her soft skin. Slowly, his lips trailed from the back of her ear and down her neck as he pulled at the oversized t-shirt, causing it too fall from her shoulder.

"Matt, we have to finish wrapping these presents."

"After we're done?"

"Mmm...if we have time," she said, allowing herself to relax in Matt's arms. "But we still have to do Santa's presents to the girls, our presents for my family, and our presents for Kelly, April and Wyatt."

For the first couple of years of Kelly and April's relationship, there had been a lot of non-committal behavior between the unofficial couple; that was, until April got pregnant. When they welcomed Wyatt Andrew Severide into the world, the definition of their relationship had changed in seconds. Now, Wyatt was three, April was six months pregnant with a little girl and she and Kelly were engaged to get married in May.

On her way out of the bathroom Gabby turned off the lights and quietly made her way back into the bedroom. She glanced at the infra-red time on the clock on the night stand next to Matt's side of the bed. It was a little after six and if they were lucky, they had another hour before the girls started to stir from their sleep. Her hand brushed over her stomach as she realized she couldn't wait any longer to tell Matt.

She climbed back into bed and smiled down at Matt; he was facing her side of the bed sound asleep with an arm outreached towards her pillows. Seeing him sleeping so soundly, she hated to wake him but she couldn't wait any longer to tell him. She was honestly surprised she hadn't spilled the news to him last night. She'd originally thought about telling him as soon he'd stepped into the living room but there was something magical about revealing the news to him first thing Christmas morning.

She ran her fingers through his blonde hair, "Matt," she whispered.

He stirred and reached up to grab her hand, linking his fingers with hers. "The girls awake?"

"No, just me."

"Why?" Matt asked, briefly opening his eyes to look at her.

"Because I wanna give you your Christmas present," she whispered, laying down next to him so her nose was almost touching his.

"Oh?" He laughed, "I thought last night was my Christmas present?"

After they'd finally finished all the presents and getting them situated under the tree, Matt had wasted in time in throwing Gabby over his shoulder and carrying her to their bedroom.

Giving Matt a coy smile, Gabby shook her head, "well I guess this gift technically won't be here for another seven months or so, but I figured you'd like a little bit of a heads up."

"Seven months? What are you talking…" his jaw dropped and his words seemed to escape him as the realization hit him. "You're pregnant?" Gabby nodded and grinned as she watched the happiness and joy completely take over Matt's features. Matt shook his head in disbelief and looked back up at Gabby, "but I thought the doctor said you couldn't…"

Gabby shrugged, her smile widening from ear to ear, "I guess you could say it's a Christmas miracle," she quipped.

"I'll say!" Matt reached out and swiftly pulled Gabby into his lap, earning a surprised shriek in response. He moved his hands up to her face and cupped it, showing his excitement with a passionate kiss. "This is the best present ever!" He pulled back and searched her eyes, a brief moment of uncertainty dampening his excitement. "And you're sure? You're absolutely sure?"

"As sure as I can be without going to the doctors. I'm late, like, really late. I guess with all the stress of the holidays, it just hadn't occurred to me. I took a test last night and I just took another one."

"Both positive?"

Gabby nodded, "both positive?"

"And last week, when you weren't feeling very well?"

"Probably morning sickness. The signs have been there, I've just missed them." She sighed, sobering up with the realization that her pregnancy would be considered high risk due to the complications with Eliza's difficult delivery. "But if I've done the math right, I've got a few weeks before I start my second trimester and I don't want…I don't want to jinx it."

Matt nodded, his smile faltering just a bit as he thought back to Eliza's emergency delivery when they'd made him leave the operating room. "You want to wait to start telling people?"

"Yeah." She took a deep breath, "as soon as I can, I'll make a doctor's appointment so we can get an official positive."

"Good, that's good." He grinned and kissed her again. "Did I mention this is the best Christmas present ever?"

Gabby laughed, "maybe. But it never hurts to hear it again." She tilted her head to the side in amusement, "although I'm sure you might change your mind come next Christmas when we're celebrating the holiday with our newest addition."

It was Matt's turn to laugh, "ok, you've got a point. But every Christmas you manage to outdo the previous year." He sighed happily, "I love you, you know that? I seriously don't know where I would be without you. You've given me a family that I never in a million years ever dreamed I could have. You're seriously like a super wife and super mom. I can't even explain it and I'm just rambling at this point. I just...I just know every day with you just makes sense."

"Stop," she whispered, ducking her head to hide the tears that were threatening. "You're going to make me cry."

"But it's the truth. I mean, you gave up your career to raise our kids and sometimes I feel so guilty because it wasn't exactly fair-"

"Well it only made sense, Matt," she said, interrupting him. "I mean, it was only a couple of months after I got back on truck after Aubrey was born did I get pregnant again. It wasn't fair of me to keep asking chief to save me a temporary spot on truck. Besides, I keep myself busy."

Though she'd ended her career as a firefighter in favor of raising their family, Gabby helped out at the academy and taught paramedic classes but her first job would always be raising her kids. She'd started a program in honor of Shay that went around some of Chicago's toughest high schools teaching first-aid classes. A program she'd spent almost a complete year convincing different Chicago business and boards to help her fund.

Then, of course, there was Molly's. After letting Otis and Herrmann man the bar for the first couple of years, she'd realized she needed to have more of a behind the scenes presence and had started coming up with different items to add to their menu.

So yeah, she might've given up being a firefighter but by making that decision, she'd gained so much more. She was a mom. To three….soon to be four kids. She had the best husband a girl good ask for. A beautiful home that Matt was constantly updating or renovating-last month it was the kitchen and she was sure she heard him mention something about finally finishing the basement. She was so damn grateful.

"You sure about that?" Matt joked. "I think you might still have enough hours in the day to start a catering business or something."

Gabby laughed, "making dinner for you and the girls is more than enough cooking for me."

"But you make the best dinner. It's just another thing to add to the list."

She titled her head, "what list?"

"The list of all the reasons why you're perfect."

She shook her head as she felt the warmth on her cheeks; all these years later and he still knew how to make her blush. "When you say things like that…it's no wonder you've gotten me pregnant four times in seven years."

At some point during their conversation, Gabby had climbed off of Matt's lap and curled into his side. It wasn't long after that did she fall back asleep, briefly leaving Matt alone with his own thoughts. He soon followed Gabby's lead and fell asleep with a huge smile on his face.

Neither one of them stayed asleep very long though as the stampede of three pairs of feet down the hardwood hallway floor pulled both parents from their sleep.

"Here they come," Matt whispered, burying his face in Gabby's hair.

Gabby smiled and in seconds all three girls were running into their bedroom and climbing up into their bed.

"It's Christmas, mama and dada!" Eliza exclaimed, immediately settling on top of both her parents and looking down at their closed eyes. "Wake up!"

Gabby winced and gently shifted Eliza's weight onto Matt. Opening her eyes, she met her youngest daughter's joyous gaze. "Are you sure it's Christmas?" she teased.

"Yes!" Both Mia and Aubrey shouted as they settled at the foot of their parents' bed.

"It's time for presents," Mia added. "I think Santa got us lots of stuff!"

"Lots of stuff, huh?" Matt asked. "Are you sure? Have you been good this year?"

"Very good!" Aubrey answered, jumping out of the bed, "come on, let's go!"

Gabby took a breath, with all three girls on their bed it was bouncing nonstop and her stomach was starting to turn. She pushed herself up and swung her legs over the side, "I'm going to go to the bathroom and then I'll meet you guys out in the living room, ok?"

Matt's eyes met Gabby's and she gave him a reassuring nod, letting him know she was ok. He turned back to the girls, "who wants a ride on the Daddy Express straight to Present Land?"

All three girls simultaneously jumped up with their hands in the air.

It wasn't too long after Matt and the girls had settled around the Christmas tree did Gabby walk in with his Blackhawks hoody on and her face with a little less color in it. Matt could tell she was putting on a brave face, "ok, are you girls ready to see what Santa brought?"

Again, the cheers were simultaneous.

Matt stood up from his spot in front of the couch and intercepted Gabby before she got to the tree. "How about you sit and I hand out presents?" He handed her the digital camera, "you be the photographer this time?"

Gabby nodded appreciatively, "thanks, babe."

The last thing he wanted was for Gabby to already be feeling miserable and running low on energy. They had an extremely busy day ahead of them. After they finished opening presents, they had to get dressed and would be heading to Matt's sister's house for brunch. It would be his niece, Violet's first time back to Chicago since going away to school at Ohio State University on a full ride scholarship and he couldn't wait to see how she was doing. Right before he and Gabby had found out they were expecting Aubrey, Christy had gotten remarried to a teacher who had two kids of his own—a now fourteen year old boy (Roscoe) and a now seventeen year old girl (Ruby). But wanting to make their family a complete one, they'd since added two more kids. Casey had just turned five two weeks ago and Penny would be four in a week. From what Matt understood, his mother would also be attending the brunch with her new boyfriend.

A lot had definitely happened in the past seven years.

Brunch would be immediately followed up with a trip to Gabby's parents' house where Santa had left more presents for the Casey/Dawson family. It wasn't often that Matt had both Christmas and Christmas Eve off so the entire family was definitely taking advantage of the rare time they all got to spend had even managed to get the holiday off.

Laura and Antonio had reconciled and had officially called off the divorce around the time Aubrey had been born. Eva was now twenty and in the middle of her junior year at Northwestern; she was taking Pre-Med classes. Diego, at seventeen was a junior in high school and had recently started expressing interest in joining the Air Force once he was finished with high school. In his mind, he saw it as an eventual stepping stone into Law Enforcement; one that would pay for his education.

It was delicate topic in the Dawson household; one that people usually avoided.

"Daddy, can you fix my hair?" Mia asked, holding out the red bow for him to take.

"I can try," Matt said, taking the bow from his daughter's hand. "But mommy is a lot better at fixing your hair than I am."

"She's doing Eliza's hair. You can do it, daddy," Mia encouraged. "It just goes on the top of my head so my curls will stay out of my eyes."

Matt nodded, "ok. You got your brush?" In an instant, Mia's other arm was stretched out, showing the brush she'd been holding onto. Matt laughed, "always prepared. You're definitely your mother's daughter."

"Well, duh. And I'm your daughter, too!"

"That's right." Using the brush, he motioned towards the couch, "come on, let's make your hair look beautiful."

Taking a seat on the couch, Matt positioned Mia so she was standing directly in front of him. He handed the bow back to her, "can you hold this for me while I brush?"

"Yep." Taking the bow, Mia tilted her head downward so Matt could brush through her curls. All three girls had inherited their mother's dark, curly locks and Matt had no idea how Gabby managed to keep up with all the hair. .

"Ok," after gathering some of her hair, Matt discarded the Doc McStuffins brush on the couch and reached in front of Mia for the bow. "Bow, please?" Without moving her head even the slightest, Mia handed her father the bow. "Thanks."

He struggled a bit trying to clasp together the clip underneath the bow. The clip was so small and his hands were…well, not and he was finding it difficult attach it. Finally, he got it. "There we go." He leaned back so he could get a good look at her new up-do. "Hmm…that actually looks pretty good."

Mia giggled and turned around, "of course it does, daddy! You know how to fix everything!"

"Well I don't know about everything," he mused, his smile just as wide as his daughter's.

"There you are," Gabby said as she came into the living room with Eliza in her arms. She raised a brow, noticing Mia's hair. "Did daddy do your hair?"

Matt inwardly winced, taking the raised brow as a sign of how horrible it looked. "Well, I tried."

Gabby nodded and continued on into the living room. She sat Eliza down on the couch next to Matt, "it looks really, really good."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," Gabby grinned, "I'm impressed, Matt."

"Well don't sound too impressed," he quipped. He grinned, pulling Eliza into his lap and earning a giggle in response. "Hey there, Princess! Looks like mommy got you all ready." Her curly hair was in a similar style as Mia's only the bow was a glittery silver that matched the trim on her red dress.

Eliza grinned and lifted one of her legs up, "look, dada! New shoes!"

"I see that. They go perfect with your dress." Matt glanced behind Gabby, expecting to see their eldest daughter making her way into the living room. "Where's Aubrey?"

"Trying to decide which shoes to wear. The black sparkly flats or the platinum white flats. I told her she had five minutes before I was back upstairs deciding for her."

Despite the obvious look of annoyance on his wife's face, Matt couldn't help but let out a little laugh. "Can't decide what shoes to wear? Hmm…I wonder who she gets that from?"

Gabby shook her head, not amused by Matt's remark. She started gathering the girls' coats, "we don't have time for her to fuss over which shoes to wear. We're going to be late getting to your sister's house."

"Ok, ok…" Matt sat Eliza back on the couch and stood up, reaching for Gabby and trying to calm her before she got all worked up. "You go get dressed and I'll make sure that by the time you're done, all three girls are bundled up in their coats, hats, gloves and ready to go, ok?"

Gabby took a breath and nodded, "ok."

Review? Any suggestions? Second part will be up later this week.