Matt Casey's Most Heartbreaking Moment On Chicago Fire

As the "One Chicago" series that kicked off the multi-show line up of Chicago-centric procedurals on NBC in 2012, "Chicago Fire" has never been reluctant to subject its heroic first responders to the most emotionally wrenching scenes imaginable. And this certainly applies to fan favorite, former Firehouse 51 captain Matt Casey (Jesse Spencer). Before departing the show in the 200th "Chicago Fire" episode in 2021 to take up another firefighting position in Oregon, Spencer's Matt Casey would endure a variety of psychologically taxing plot developments, from the memory of his mother killing his father when he was a teenager to the tragic death of his fiancée Hallie (Teri Reeves) in the series' first season.

But as he works to recover from Hallie's loss, however, things begin to look up again for Casey in Season 2 when he strikes up a relationship with Paramedic in Charge Gabriella Dawson (Monica Raymond). The two begin to date, and as Dawson helps Casey deal with his grief their bond ripens into a full-on love affair. Eventually, Casey proposes to Dawson and it looks like their initial attraction will solidify into a stable, long-term romance. So, with his life appearing to be on a positive track, how does his affair with Dawson result in what could be considered the most heartbreaking Casey moment in all of "Chicago Fire?"

By the close of Season 2 of "Chicago Fire," Matt Casey and Gabby Dawson, ship-named as Dawsey, have their coupledom certified when Casey seals the deal by proposing — only to have Gabby fail to answer him when they're suddenly called to a structure fire. But when fellow firefighter Leslie Shay (Lauren German) is killed when the building collapses, Gabby puts off committing to Casey as she struggles with her grief over her friend's death. As time goes by, however, Dawsey again appears to be headed for better days when Dawson tells Casey she's pregnant with his child.

But early in Season 4, Gabby is rushed to Gaffney Med with serious abdominal pains. In surgery, it's revealed that she's had an ectopic pregnancy, and there will be no child for her and Matt. After all the optimism of the previous episodes and the joy both parents felt at the prospect of welcoming a child into their lives, this tragic development cast a shadow not only over the immediate scene, but over the remainder of this relationship, which Gabby will eventually abandon when she moves to Puerto Rico. And this makes the loss of the child he'd hoped to have with Dawson stand as the most heartbreaking moment for Mathew Casey in all ten seasons of "Chicago Fire."