Me Plus You

Surprise Me..

Stella surveyed herself in the mirror for the dozenth time, her teeth worrying her bottom lip. Did she look o.k? Did she look 'normal?'  What was  'normal,' even supposed to look like? Her dark brown eyes stared back at her, reflecting her nervousness. The broken arm and cracked ribs had healed Her neatly braided hair was perfect. Her uniform was a little looser than it had been since she had last worn it but she looked like a CFD firefighter. And butterflies were in full flight in her stomach.

"Stella! You ready?" It was Emily hollering for her from the living room.

Giving herself a last mental shake she turned and walked out of her bedroom. She was ready for her first day back on shift since the kidnapping.

Brett came over and hugged her.

"You look perfect honey. We're so happy you will be back in the firehouse. "  Her pretty face was lit up with affection.

"You look smoking!" Emily came and joined the two girls for a group hug and some of Stella's anxiety disappated. She loved these girls and the way they had fussed over her in the six weeks she had been living here since being discharged from Med.

Stella was overjoyed to be returning to work.  She had really missed it.
There was a collective roar when she arrived at 51.. In seconds she was enveloped in  bear hugs by all of shift 2. 
There was teasing from Hermann.

"Welcome back Kidd! Its never been so quiet around here....I actually got a word in!"

Stella giggled and Capp joined in.
"I saved all my station chores for you to do to help you get back into the swing of doing them....."

Ritter and Gallo hi- fived her and Mouch scrunched uo his face before hugging her. Cruz picked her up and swung her around.

"Kidd.... welcome back."
As Chief Boden's booming voice carried over the apparatus floor, everyone parted from around Stella to give the Chief access to his returning firefighter. His smile was welcoming but he had his "duty of care" eyes on her, looking for any indication of discomfort.

"Thank you Chief." Stella held his gaze, determined not to give him any reason to not approve her for shift today.

He nodded. "Desk duty for a couple of shifts Kidd just as a gentle entry back."

Stella had expected that.  She had been off for two months so she knew that she would be assigned to admin duties to start off with and she was cool with that.

As she walked past the squad table, she saw Severide leaning up against it waiting for her. Their eyes met and she experienced the now familiar flutter in her chest.  Of course he had not moved to join in the group greeting. That was Severide.  But his eyes now spoke volumes and his slow and ready smile made her heart skip a beat. 

"Hey Kidd." 

"Lieutenant." Stella responded lightly.

She had stopped in front of him and for a moment she thought that he was going to play 'cool and detatched firehouse Severide.'   But then he stepped forward and enveloped her in his arms, and whispered in her ear.

"Welcome back Stella Kidd."

And that's when she knew she was home.

Later that morning Boden called her into his office.  Kylie was on vacation so Stella had been assigned to clearing out junk emails from the station email inbox.   The rigs were all out on a multi vehicle pile up.

"Kidd, take a seat. " Boden indicated to the seat in front of his desk.
"How are you doing?" He leant back but despite his wide smile  his regard was penetrating.