Questions And Answers...

His

What is the difference between being possessive and being territorial? Kelly and Stella both have their insecurities put to the test.

S12.... maybe..
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Stella was shattered. Shift had been full on, and she hadn't gotten much sleep afterwards, unable to really settle into a decent sleep. Molly's was busy, and she had been pulling beers from the fridges and shaking cocktails all night. Shift 2 were scattered across Molly's, and Kelly had just arrived and sat down in front of her, the soft smile that he reserved just for her, lifting his mouth.

"Hey."

"Hey." She got a beer automatically and put it in front of him. He had been back from the arson gig a couple of weeks now, but she was still getting used to seeing him sitting at the bar like he used to. Things were kind of slipping back into place for them. Kind of.

Kelly held the bottle of beer to his mouth, taking a long sip. He felt unsettled. There was definitely a guardness in his wife's eyes that had been there ever since he got back, and no matter how much she tried to pretend it wasn't there, she couldn't hide it from him. He knew this because from day one of 'them ' there had been a complete inability to prevent their feelings from showing around each other, whether it was love, lust, misery, or total red mist, so he knew that there was something eating at her.

"You o.k?"

"Yeah. Sure. I'm a little tired, I guess. Will be glad when it's closing time."

"Drop some shifts working bar, maybe? We could get away for a couple of days?"

He slid his hand across the counter to hers and took her fingers between his, rubbing his thumb over her wedding ring, seeing that smile that managed to flip his insides every time.

Stella squeezed his hand back, sighing softly.

"Yeah.. I'd like that."
They shared a moment of companionable silence where each told the other they wished they were just at home, hanging out. But it was broken by someone needing a beer, so Stella reluctantly pulled her hand away from Kelly's and turned towards the guy with a tired smile.

Kelly continued to watch her, anxiety gnawing at his insides. He had this feeling that something was bubbling inside his wife but not quite sure what. A few days away would be good. It felt like they hadn't had that forever.

"So this is where you hang out."
Both Kelly and Stella turned at the same time towards a teasing voice on the left of Kelly where a dark-haired woman had come to stand, putting her hand on Kelly's arm.

"Lauren! Hey!" Kelly looked visibly startled.

"Hello, Lieutenant Severide." The woman's wide mouth curved into a laughing moue, dark eyes twinkling with mischief.

Stella's fingers tightened imperceptibly around the bottle of beer she was holding, unable to stop herself from staring at the stranger who seemed unnecessarily familiar with her husband.

"What brings you here?" Kelly seemed unable to tear his eyes away from the woman, who now was flicking her long dark hair away from her face.
Well, at least that's how Stella was seeing it, her wife radar on alert.

"Well, you kept telling me about this great bar owned by a couple of firefighters from your house, so I thought I'd come and see what all the fuss is about."

"But you live in Austin? Chicago isn't exactly around the corner!"

Kelly seemed bemused, Stella thought, absently serving the guy in front of her, barely hearing his attempt at making small talk.