The Anniversary Journal

Paper

I started this fic sometime last autumn... maybe October time, shortly after S11 started, and it was meant to be posted at the end of s11 on their first anniversary...

Well, as we kinda know,...things didn't go quite to plan....so the year I thought I'd be writing about didn't turn out even remotely like I had thought or hoped....

A lot of us hated the way S11 was written, and especially the post Sev eps with so much left unsaid or intimated that didn't make sense.
So I picked this fic back up and decided maybe if I got into Stella's head, I could make it make sense....

This is snippets written from Stella to Kelly about the first year of their marriage.....the bits we know about....and some bits we dont...... and a few bits that I changed from what we saw on screen ..

Most of the dates are made up because we all know the CF timelines dont ever make any sense....

There's one scene where I substituted Carver with Boden....for no other reason than it shouldn't have been Carver she called!

Whether this anniversary journal will have a year 2 ......Cotton and beyond...is in the laps of the gods..... the show..... and the actors.

But shall we carry on, hoping?

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27 May 2023
Year 1 - Paper.

"I can't believe it's been a year already." She whispered against his mouth. "It was such a magical day." Her sigh was nostalgic and happy.
Happier than she had been for what seemed like a long time.
Her husband was home, they were lying in their bed, and Mouch was going to be o.k.

"It was special......eventually!" He smiled, remembering the shock of learning that they didn't have a venue for their wedding......and then Casey saving the day by securing a boat and finally Stella walking towards him on Boden's arm. His breath had caught somewhere around his heart when he first saw her after having spent an hour with her circumventing around behind him so that he didn't see her dress. And when he had...

He had never told her that he had just wanted to cry huge sappy tears as she stopped in front of him overwhelmed by how beautiful she looked but more than that just by her, promising to light up all his tomorrows.

Kelly brushed his lips against hers gently.

"I love you....." It was that simple for him.
He pressed another kiss against her lips, licking her lower lip, smiling softly. "And I got you a gift."

" I thought we decided we wouldn't do gifts and just spend all day together. Anyway, you coming home was more than gift enough."
Stella pulled back from him slightly and traced his features with one finger. He had got back to Chicago two days ago, and finally, all of the separation was behind them.
They had done a 360 and gone straight to Med as soon as they had got home to check on Mouch learning that he was experiencing sudden internal bleeding and rushed into an O.R so instead of a romantic reunion they had sat with her head on his shoulder with the rest of shift 2 and Trudy until finally after hours Doctor Marcel had come out with a tired smile to tell them that Mouch was going to be o.k.

Kelly took her hand and kissed it.

"I know... but I saw something when I was in Alabama... and thought it was perfect......." pushing her down suddenly, he rolled on top of her, pinning her to the bed."Unless you don't want it?"
He looked down at her with a mischevious grin, sleepy blue eyes dancing.

Stella frowned, dropping her lower lip in a pout. " That's mean!... You can't tease me on our anniversary! "
She couldn't stop drinking him in, still not quite believing that he was back.