Gabriela Dawson
Full Name
Gabriela Dawson
Paramedic on Ambulance 61 (Formerly)
Firefighter on Truck 81 (Formerly)
Ambulance 61, Firehouse 51 (Formerly)
Marital Status
Ramon Dawson (Father)

Camila Dawson (Mother)
Antonio Dawson (brother)
Laura Dawson (ex sister-in-law)
Eva Dawson (niece)
Diego Dawson (nephew)
Unborn Child † (with Matthew Casey)
Louie Thompson (former foster son)

Matthew Casey (Ex-Husband)
Jay Halstead (ex-boyfriend/fling)
Peter Mills (ex-boyfriend)

Kelly Severide (Close friend)
Leslie Shay † (best friend)
Sylvie Brett (best friend)

Stella Kidd (best friend)
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
First seen
Last seen
Appeared in
137 episodes (see below)
Portrayed by

Gabriela Dawson was a Paramedic on Ambulance 61 and the former Candidate of Truck 81. Gabriela is the ex wife of Matthew Casey. She was one of the main characters of Chicago Fire as a paramedic in charge (PIC) on 61. She is now assigned to Puerto Rico to help give medical attention to the needed.


Dawson tends to quickly lose her temper, a behavior regularly getting her in trouble with her hierarchy.

During the first two seasons, Dawson was the Paramedic in Charge (PIC) of Ambulance 61. In Season 2, she was accepted to the Chicago Fire Academy, where she initially failed her physical agility test by several seconds after spraining her ankle. While at the academy, she met Rebecca Jones. Dawson caught Jones cheating during a written examination and took a disliking to her. Jones eventually graduated from the academy and was assigned to Truck 81 as a firefighter candidate. The two started to get along after Dawson discovered that Jones' father, a chief officer, was against her career choice and wanted her transferred to an administrative position. When Jones committed suicide, she left a letter to Dawson, who was deeply affected by it.

After making a call, Casey is successful in getting Dawson readmitted to the academy to retake her physical agility test. In Season 2, she graduated from the academy and was assigned to Truck 81 as a firefighter candidate. She completed her candidacy on 81, and then became a firefighter. After taking in her foster son, Louie in Season 5, she decided to transfer back to the Ambulance. She now serves on Ambulance 61 with Sylvie Brett.

She has one brother, Chicago PD Intelligence Unit detective Antonio Dawson.

She co-owns a bar called "Molly's" with Christopher Herrmann, Otis, and Leslie Shay. After saving the precedent owner from a fire in the bar, Herrmann came up with the idea of buying the business and looked for co-owners. Otis and Dawson accepted to join on this project. They soon discovered that the place came with a passive associate, Arthur. He wanted at first 25% of the benefits but Herrmann managed to lower the new associate's part to 1%. Arthur is revealed later to be a mobster under the watch of the undercover detective Jay Halstead. Knowing at first neither his undercover assignment nor his relations with Arthur, Dawson started a romantic relationship with him until he decided to join the Intelligence Unit. In season 4 Dawson saves a boy Louie in a house fire and she wants to foster him, which causes tension between her and Casey. In Season 5, we see them happily enjoying family life together. In the episode "One Hundred", Casey and Dawson get married. In Season 5 Dawson and Casey see their foster son taken away and Dawson takes back Ambulance 61. They later get divorced when Dawson leaves for Puerto Rico.

Relationships Edit

Leslie Shay Edit

She has a close friendship with her co-worker Leslie Shay. The two have been seen together often and are one another's support both on and off the job. Gabriela often shares what has been deemed 'eye-sex' with Shay and there has been speculation about their feelings for one another. They have acquired the ship name 'Shawson' which is a mash-up of their surnames. This relationship takes a turn in the second season after a traumatic case caused Dawson to "accidentally" blame Shay and it sends her into a self-destructive phase in which she pursues a party-hard woman that she met at a party.  Shay stops communicating with Gabriela and even goes so far as to transfer out of Firehouse 51. However, Dawson tracks down Shay after she spirals into depression after a tough case and they rekindle their friendship. It ends badly after Shay dies during an explosion from a head injury at the scene. She's deeply upset and disturbed by it which isn't initially shown until it's revealed that she's been going to the department's psychologist for a month. She reveals that she told Shay to switch places with her just before the explosion so Shay could get some PIC experience. She feels extremely guilty that if she hadn't told Shay to take her place, she wouldn't have died.

Matthew Casey Edit

At the beginning of the series, Dawson had a huge crush on Matthew Casey. This relationship comes to a semi-climax at her family Christmas party, to which Dawson brings Casey as a 'casual' date. He appears to have shown interest in her only to kiss her on the cheek when she goes to kiss him.

Later on, in season 2, the two reconnect when Matt realises his feelings for her. He turns up at her door one night and spends the night. After this, the two enter into a relationship. However their relationship enters trouble when Dawson trains go become a firefighter, before completing her training she realises she will not be allowed to work under house 51. As Dawson prepares to transfer out of the house, on her last shift as paramedic, Leslie dies and her death causes Dawson to stay on as a paramedic for 6 weeks extra. Their romance progresses and Casey eventually asks Dawson to move in with her. They start looking for apartments but Dawson is dragging her feet.

In Real Never Waits, Casey proposes to Dawson at Boden's wedding. She doesn't have time to answer because a call comes in. He proposes again to her and she accepts. They can't get married and try to hide their relationship since Dawson works under Casey as a candidate and she can't be married to the leading Lieutenant.

In the Season 3 finale it is revealed that she is pregnant with Casey's baby. At the beginning of season 4 ,Dawson experiences pains in her lower abdomen and is rushed into hospital. Matt meets her there and supports a confused Gabriela. The former is rushed to surgery and Will Halstead informs Matt the pregnancy is not viable and that the baby doesn’t have a chance. When Gabby comes around Matt proceeds to tell her this information however she doesn‘t seem fazed. It’s then shown that there is a problem with the surgery and a second one is needed to fix the mistakes. When Gabby comes around a second time this time realises what had happened she breaks down and Matt supports her. In season 4 at the mid-season finale it’s shown that Casey and Dawson are engaged and are more in love than ever. In Season 5, Dawsey gets married. in Season 6, Casey is honored in a ceremony. He seems to have survived the building fire. Towards the end of season 6, Dawson tell Casey she wants to try having children again. They then divorce when it is discovered that Dawson has an aneurysm from her first pregnancy and therefore could die.

Peter Mills Edit

She shares a love of cooking with Peter Mills. The pair share a home cooked meal, supposedly as friends, but it turns into something more. In the 'morning after' scene, Mills says that he won't tell any of their colleagues, because what happened was between them only. They appear to continue the secret relationship, as Gabriela comes to like Mills more and more. Then Gabriela decides it is best if the two come out as a couple. They break up later on when she tells him about the affair between Boden and his mother since she didn't tell him for a long time despite knowing. They break up for good when Dawson is unable to tell him that she doesn't have feelings for Casey.

Season 1 Edit

Dawson saves a young girl in a possibly dangerous procedure. Though the procedure succeeds in saving the girl's life, Gabriela gets into legal trouble concerning her level of training and her ability to have performed that procedure safely. A known hot-head, her temper gets the best of her and nearly costs Dawson her job. Dawson has a "Wall of Fame" in her kitchen which is seen in the episode It Ain't Easy. This wall features pictures of Mills and her nieces and nephews. Casey seems to be jealous of the picture of Peter so proposes that the two take a picture to put up on the wall of fame. Casey takes his phone out and snaps a shot and the two share a moment soon after the photograph is taken. Gabriela is in a serious accident in the rear of her ambulance with her partner Leslie Shay. The two are injured, but Shay much more severely so. Dawson is distraught and worries for her as she is admitted to hospital while still unconscious. She later visits Shay in the hospital and the two have a short but sweet conversation before being interrupted by Kelly Severide.

Season 2 Edit

In part 2 of season 2, we see Dawson train to be a firefighter at the Academy. There she meets Rebecca Jones and they bond over being the only females in their class. At the academy, Gabby struggles with the physical tasks, having troubles breaking 7 minutes on the physical agility course.

Season 3 Edit

In season 3, Gabby stays at Firehouse 51 after Shay's death. This causes her to lose her spot as a candidate for Firehouse 105. She instead becomes a candidate on Truck 81 under her fiancée Lt. Casey. The dynamics of the solution cause problems at home and work for the couple. This comes to a head when Gabby breaks off the engagement in Let Him Die.

Season 4 Edit

In season 4, we find out that Dawson is pregnant. She ends up leaving Firehouse 51 to take a desk job with arson. In Your Day Is Coming, Gabby is rushed to the hospital after collapsing at the office while doing research with Chief Boden. We later learn that the pregnancy was never viable, and she loses the pregnancy. She and Casey take the pregnancy hard but after some time Dawson goes back to truck.

Dawson finds a small boy on one of her calls, getting attached to him she asks Casey about fostering him which he doesn't want right then. She takes matters into her own hands and fosters Louie on her own until Casey comes back into the picture.

Season 5 Edit

Dawson fosters Louie but things don't go the way she and Casey have planned after Casey is accused of using his political status as alderman to fast-track fostering him. Things escalated when DCFS told the couple that Louie would most likely be taken from them and placed back in a home because of the way he was fostered, as it caused pa public backlash.

Susan Weller helps sort the problem shortly before Casey finds out she was responsible for the whole thing in the first place and fires her. Gabby starts the adoption process but is told it will be difficult to adopt Louie by listing that she will be with Casey as boyfriend and girlfriend as they aren't married. Casey is slightly hurt that Gabby will have to list herself as a single mother.

Casey and Dawson make the decision to marry each other, with the rest of 51 following behind. They are married and things go smoothly as the adoption process begins.

However, soon after, Louie's birth father, Andre, finds them and is extremely upset that he won't be able to be with his son. Casey and Gabby put him off as neglectful until they find out that he is a soldier and was on duty and wasn't told about Louie and only found out when he returned recently. Gabby hesitantly gives him a chance to meet Louie, but Andre fails to show up and tells them the next day that he has to go on duty again in a few days. Gabby makes the decision to still allow Louie and Andre to meet out of guilt. However, after meeting Louie, Andre is guilt-ridden and loves his son clearly and no longer wants to be out of the picture. Andre has a loving family, who all show Gabby that they will love Louie and protect him. The two sides fight for custody with their lawyers but Gabby says she can't live with herself if she separates him from his family that clearly can do a lot more for him than they can and makes the decision to let Louie go. She is very upset to let Louie go, but the loss hits Casey a little harder. He always wanted to be a dad ever since the beginning and he got the chance taken away from him he lost it. In the Season 5 finale, Casey tries to tell her that he loves her for what was supposed to be the last time on his radio.

Season 6 Edit

Dawson and Casey reconnect after Gabby almost loses him in the fire that ended season 5. Gabby meets a girl named Bria in a fire, she finds out her father is addicted to meds and tries to help her, after not talking to Casey about it and instead of talking to Severide, Casey finds out what they are up to and is upset. Dawson decides to let Casey help with Bria.

Dawson's old fling, Cordova, comes to the firehouse since Otis was hurt, things get crazy with Dawson. She doesn't tell Casey right away, which makes him mad when he finds out. When Otis is allowed back on truck everything goes back to normal, or that's what Dawson and Casey think.

Dawson gets a call from Bria asking to help her with some "girl problems" so Dawson does, she helps Bria get ready for prom, Casey decided that they could ride in the truck so with Stella driving, Bria and her date ride to prom in the truck. While watching the truck pull away Dawson tells Casey she wants to start trying again. After trying for a while Dawson wants to get to the doctor to make sure everything is okay and to move the process along faster.

Finding out Dawson has an aneurysm that could burst with pregnancy, Casey and Dawson stop trying. Dawson tells Casey she wants to take the risk but Casey says no, not wanting to lose her. He brings up adoption which sets Dawson off since she doesn't want to go through the same thing as they did with Louie.

In the last episode, Dawson is offered a job in Puerto Rico which she turned down at the beginning of the episode. During the episode Brett and Dawson fight on one of the calls and then Dawson and Casey fight when they get home. Dawson ends up leaving and asking about the job in Puerto Rico and leaves the show at the beginning of season 7.

Memorable QuotesEdit

  • , , . "If saving a girl's life is a criminal offense, then maybe it's your damn protocol that's out of wack and the wrong people are making the rules!"
  • "5 min break"
  • (Chief Hatcher to Dawson): "I need you to remember what happened to the best of your ability"

(Dawson to Chief Hatcher): "Like what? That I kicked a belligerent jack ass with one foot or two?"

  • (Dawson to Shay): "I'm sleeping with Mills" (S01E14)

(Shay to Dawson): "I knew it, you skank you kept it from me this whole time" (S01E14)

  • (Dawson to Shay): "We agreed to keep it cool at work" (S01E14)

(Dawson to Shay): Bitch, please

  • (Hermann to Dawson): "I'm going to make a firefighter out of you"

(Dawson to Hermann): "That's exactly what I want"

  • (Dawson to Borelli): "I swear to God if we run out of food, I am eating YOU first." (S04E11)
  • (Dawson to Casey): "You know who I am, you knew it when you married me, I haven't changed. It used to be the thing you loved about me." (S06E23)
  • (Dawson to Casey) "I've never known anyone as good as you, Matt Casey. I never will" (S07E01)


  • It was mentioned in A Problem House that Gabby has an Aunt who used to be a mystery shopper, going into bars and restaurants to test their customer services.
  • Gabby leaves in season 7 and returns briefly in the winter finale for season 8.
  • Monica Raymund is bi in real life, and has been dating Teri Segal.


Season 1 Appearances
Season 2 Appearances
"One More Shot" "Real Never Waits"
Season 3 Appearances
Season 4 Appearances
Season 5 Appearances
"Sixty Days" "My Miracle"
Season 6 Appearances
Season 7 Appearances
"All The Proof" "What Will Define You" "The Solution to Everything" "Always A Catch" "Inside These Walls"
"The White Whale" "I'm Not Leaving You"

Image GalleryEdit
