The Fear of the Past

The Beginning

Stella's POV:

As Stella's clock changed to 6:30, the blaring alarm went off. Stella awoke with a start, "huh?" she gasped looking around.

"Where am I?" she thought to herself, "Oh right, I'm crashing at Kelly's. This is going to take some getting used to." she thought, shaking her head. She looked at her clock, "ugh, why do we have to go to work so early?!" she exclaimed.

"Because fires don't follow our schedules, we follow the fire's schedule." Kelly said as he walked by her door.

"Because fires don't follow our schedules, we follow the fire's schedule." she mimicked.

"I heard that!" Kelly called.

"Good!" Stella Yelled back.

As Stella emerged from her room, she watched as Kelly looked her up and down as she approached her. "Good morning," he said looking up at her and grinning like a little kid, "did you sleep well?"

She lowered herself to his eye level "Oh I slept very well."

She grabbed a cup from the cabinet and filled it with coffee. While most would think that she liked it black, she actually preferred her coffee with a little milk, and two teaspoons of sugar. "Well if you will excuse me," she said raising her mug, "I'm going to go take a shower."

As she turned and walked away, she could feel Kelly's warm gaze on her back as she retreated to her room. While getting ready for work, Stella's mind wandered back to the guy she will always remember crashing through her skylight, singing with a six pack of beer and a rose in his mouth. "Ah, Kelly Severide," she chuckled, "what am I going to do with you?"

Severide's POV:

He watched Stella walk out of the room, turning back to his coffee, "What have I gotten myself into?" he laughed to himself.

As he walked back to his room, he heard Stella muttering to herself. He heard her chuckle "Ah, Kelly Severide, what am I going to do with you?"

"I have a few ideas." He said through the door.

He didn't wait to hear her response as he made his way back to his room. As he pulled on his shirt his mind drifted back to Stella. "She's always been there for me." he thought to himself, "There is no one else I'd rather have by my side to make me feel better. I don't know what I'd do without her."

His thoughts were interrupted by Stella's voice calling through the door: "Let's go pretty boy, don't worry your reflection will still be there for you to look at when we get back."

Kelly shook his head and chuckled "Oh Stella, don't ever change."