5 reasons why Chicago Fire will miss Gabriela Dawson

2. She’s one-half of the biggest ship

The huge question mark surrounding a Dawson-less Chicago Fire is that it ostensibly means the end of Dawsey. And Dawsey isn’t just the ship that Chicago Fire hangs its hat on, but it’s also the first ship in the whole One Chicago franchise, and still its most popular and most high-profile.

It’s very, very unlikely that these two aren’t over somehow in Chicago Fire season 7. It’d be hard to have Casey continue to be married to someone that he (and we) never see. And especially given the current explanation for her exit—that she’s leaving him behind and going to Puerto Rico—he would be understandably upset, even more than he was when we saw their last scene together. Nothing says “I love you” like leaving you and going someplace else without you.

There’s nothing that can be done about that unless Monica Raymund can be persuaded to come back and wrap up her story, but it’s a frustrating end to a relationship that helped build the whole One Chicago franchise. Dawsey was a clear part of Chicago Fire‘s plan from the first season; even when Casey was back together with his ex-fiancee Hallie Thomas (Teri Reeves), Hallie just felt like a speed bump on the road to his dating Dawson.

They’re one of the few couples that consists of two main characters, who’ve gotten all the way to the altar. Other characters have gotten married, but to recurring characters; other main characters are together, but except for Platt and Mouch, we haven’t seen them put a ring on it. So Dawsey’s given us a unique cross-section of a marriage where we’ve gotten a lot of screen time devoted to it, and watched it grow and watched it struggle. Fans will be sad to see it end, but no one will be more disappointed than Casey. Where does he go from here?