New Beginnings: A Stellaride Story

Unexpected Possibilities

"Beep, beep, beep, beep." Kelly rolls over, turning off the alarm. The one thing he always hated about a shift day was the early morning alarm. He rolled back over, thinking he would lay there in the warmth for a few more minutes.

"Good morning," Stella says as she rolls over in bed, snuggling in and kissing Kelly. "Morning, babe," Kelly replies. "Are you feeling okay?" he asks. "You tossed and turned all night, and I think you may have hit me in the face a couple of times," Kelly jokes.

"I'm kinda feeling a little off," Stella says. "I think I may have drunk too much wine last night. A couple of aspirin, and I should be fine," Stella continues.

Kelly sits up and tenderly kisses his wife before making his way out of bed, saying, "I'll go get the coffee ready." Stella nods laying back in bed for a few extra minutes, before following Kelly downstairs to the kitchen.

Stella makes her way downstairs, her ill feeling playing on her mind. She walks into the kitchen, where Kelly is waiting for her with a cup of coffee. He says, "Hey, so you don't think you're..." He pauses for a split second. "pregnant?"

Stella looks at Kelly, processing what he just said, before saying, "No, I mean, I don't think so. It's not possible."

"Yeah, you're right. It was just a thought. I'm gonna shower," Kelly says brushing it off.

As Kelly walks away, Stella can't help but wonder, even though she is pretty sure Kelly's wrong, what if he is right?

"Hey, you still don't look so good," Kelly asks as they pull up to the firehouse. "Go home, I'll get Chief to bring in a relief lieutenant."

"No, no, I'm fine. The aspirin just hasn't kicked in yet," Stella replies.

"You sure, babe?" Kelly asks.

"I'm sure," Stella says. "You'll tell me if you start feeling not fine, right?" Kelly asks, with a little worry in his voice.

"I promise," Stella says, trying to reassure him. They both share a loving look before heading into the firehouse.

As the shift progressed, Stella's ill feeling didn't seem to disappear. She had thought about calling it a day and going home to try to sleep it off, but there were only a few more hours of the shift left, and she thought she would be able to push through. Luckily, 81 had no calls for the rest of the shift, so she could take it somewhat easy and hole up in her office. However, she felt like the end of the shift couldn't come quickly enough.

Kelly had been thinking about his wife all shift. As the end of the shift approached, he couldn't help but feel a little worried, as he couldn't quite figure out what was going on with her. Ready to leave, Kelly headed towards Stella's office to see if she was ready to go.

"Hey, I'm almost ready," Stella says as she sees Kelly walk into her office. "I don't have to be at the academy until later, so I thought maybe we could go get breakfast at the new spot near home," Kelly suggests.

"I mean, that sounds great, but I don't think I'm up for it. I'm still feeling a little off and think I just need to go home and sleep it off," says Stella.

Kelly pulls up in front of the house. Before getting out, he asks, "Do you want me to stay home? I can skip my class at the academy."

"No, don't do that. Go, I'll be fine. I'm just going to sleep it off," Stella responds. Kelly looks at her with worry in his eyes and says, "Okay. Well, I'm going to head into the academy now then. If you need me, call me."

"I will, I promise," Stella says, leaning in and lovingly kissing her husband goodbye before getting out of the car. Before Stella closes the door in the most loving way possible, Kelly says, "I love you." Stella turns around and says, "I love you too," before closing the door and walking into the house. Unable to shake his worry, Kelly waits for a few seconds, watching his wife walk into the house before heading off to the academy.

Stella tried to sleep but was unable to. All she could think about was what Kelly had said in their kitchen yesterday morning. It wasn't like it was something they hadn't discussed; they had. They both wanted kids, but they were so focused on their careers and being a married couple that they decided children would come later when they felt more ready. Stella knew there was only one way she could be certain, so she headed to the pharmacy to get herself a pregnancy test.

After returning from the pharmacy, Stella couldn't quite bring herself to take the test just yet. She knew that to try to keep it from her mind, she had to stay busy. Two months ago, she and Kelly had moved into their forever home in Wicker Park, but between busy shifts, a trip to Saint Paul to visit Jennifer, and weekend trips to the cabin, they hadn't found the time to unpack anything but the essentials. Stella knew that finally unpacking was the perfect way to take her mind off things.

A few hours after Stella started unpacking, exhaustion started to kick in, and although she didn't want to, she knew she needed to take a break. Looking over at the pregnancy test sitting on the kitchen counter, even though she still didn't think it was possible, the only way to ease her mind was to take the test. So she did.

Kelly comes home, and the first thing he notices is the fact that Stella had unpacked almost everything, which seemed a little strange considering they had been putting it off for so long. He knew something wasn't right. He walked into their bedroom, looking for Stella, and saw her standing there in their bathroom, staring at the mirror, looking more stressed and scared than he had ever seen her. He rushed into the bathroom, full of concern, and asks, "Hey Stella, babe, what's wrong?" Stella turns around, her eyes all red and puffy from crying, and places the pregnancy test in his hand. Kelly looks down at the test he was just handed, stunned, trying to process what he was looking at.

Overwhelmed with excitement and happiness, Kelly says, "You're pregnant," before looking up and realizing that Stella didn't share the same feeling as he did, as he saw the tears roll down her cheeks. "Hey, talk to me," Kelly says, trying to calm his wife. "Kelly, I'm scared. I don't think I'm ready for this," Stella says, her voice shaking.

Kelly pulls Stella in towards him, wrapping his arms around her and wiping her tears away, saying, "I'm here. I'm scared too. We've got this, we're in this together," trying to reassure her. Kelly pulls Stella in closer, kissing her on the forehead, and whispering, "I love you," and in that moment, Stella knew everything would be okay.