It's Complicated - Chicago Fire Severide Fanfic

Memory Sharing

8:45 pm, May 24th, Navy Pier

"Did you enjoy dinner?" Kelly asked Stella as they walked together through Navy Pier.

"Yeah, it was great." Stella said, being cutoff by Kelly's phone ringing.

"Sorry," Kelly told her before answering. "Hello?... I know, it's okay, you're okay... yes, I promise I will... okay, I love you too... goodnight Hannah."

"What was that about?" Stella asked as Kelly shoved his phone back in his pocket.

"Hannah. She gets scared sometimes because of monsters under her bed. She made me promise to check when I got home and make sure no monsters got in while she slept."

"So, what ever happened to her mother? I mean, you don't have to tell me, I'm just curious."

Kelly took a deep breath. "That woman is batshit crazy. It was a short-lived relationship but we didn't know she was pregnant when we broke up. I didn't know Hannah existed until about a month before she was born. We did a paternity test to make sure she was mine and it came back positive. So, I told her I'd take care of the kid because it's my kid, I can't just forget about her. We had an agreement to where I'd get the baby every other week. But, a week after Hannah was born, she was left on my doorstep with a note saying that she couldn't do it and she'd signed away her parental rights."

"Wow."

"Yeah, but I'm glad she did. I mean, it's hard parenting alone, but I'm learning as I go. And besides, she's the light of my whole world."

"She's so lucky to have a dad like you."

Kelly smiled.

"So, I asked a question. Your turn." Stella joked.

"Alright. Your family."

"What about 'em?"

"Everything. I wanna know all about you; your family, where you grew up, your whole life."

"Fair enough. But I wanna know the same about you."

"You first."

"Alright. I am an only child, my parents both worked, they owned a bakery together. My dad died 4 years ago from a heart attack and my mom moved to Florida with her sister. Typical childhood, ya know. I lived in the same neighborhood as Gabby and the whole Dawson clan. I can remember, in high school, Gabby and I had Spanish 2 with Antonio. And the teacher made some stupid comment about Antonio being stupid and he called that teacher a low-life, no good piece of shit, all in Spanish of course. That got him suspended, but all Gabby and I did was laugh and rat him out to their parents the second we got home."

The two laughed. "Sounds a lot better than my teenage memories. One of my favorites is, after my dad left and my mom died, I was staying with April Sexton and her family. One summer, the two of us, and Noah, of course, were all down by the creek. And we were swinging off a rope and jumping in the creek, pretty typical, right? I bet Noah that he couldn't get across the creek by swinging from the rope. He did it. Naturally I had to out-do him. I tried it and got so close, but ended up face-planting into a jagger bush."

Stella laughed. "Ouch, that one had to hurt."

"Oh, like hell. But we were all laughing at the time."

"Gimme more."

"What?"

"Another memory, come on. Dig deep." Stella told him.

"Alright. Peter Mills, you've heard about him, right?"

Stella nodded.

"Well, our dads were both firefighters, so we knew each other. We were at the Firefighters' Barbecue one summer and they had water balloons for the kids to play with. I was 9, mind you. So, we're playing with the water balloons and some older kid came and threw one in Pete's face. Now, we weren't your typical kids, we fought back and we fought back hard. Plus, Pete was only 6. So, I grabbed the kid by the arms and let Pete punch him for awhile. We were both in so much trouble, but it made a damn good memory."

"And you wonder where Hannah gets it."