Chapter Text
"Mmm... " Stella hummed to herself as her eyes were laser focused on the article she was reading on her laptop while sitting on the dining table one fine, early morning. The brunette had been stuck doing that since she had woken up and gotten dressed early. She was so into reading the articles on her laptop that she barely noticed her husband, Kelly Severide, who was finishing putting on his long sleeved polo shirt after having walked out of their bedroom.
"Hey! Good morning!" He greeted to his wife when he passed by her on his way to the kitchen which soon got her attention when she heard the sound of his voice and she quickly stood up to pull him for a quick kiss after responding with a "Oh Hi! Morning!" of her own just before she turned back and used one of her hands to slam her Macbook Pro shut, hoping that he wasn't able to see what she had been researching.
"Sure is a surprise to see you facing your laptop this early in the morning. What were you up to anyways?" Kelly briefly looked up and pointed his chin over to her laptop while asking her as he was busy filling up his tumbler with water from a pitcher that he had taken out from the fridge. "Eh, nothing. Just looking up things on the internet like shopping promos and stuff. You know, like women do all the time." Stella fibbed as she quickly stuffed her laptop and charger into her bag and making sure she cleared the table of anything she might've still left. "Okaay." Kelly replied while looking at her suspiciously. He soon finished filling his tumbler up and after locking the cap and checking to make sure it wasn't leaking, he quickly stuffed into his bag just as Stella suddenly exclaimed "Oh gee, I.. uh, I gotta get going!" as she swiftly zipped up and slung her backpack into her shoulder before she started to head out to the door.
"Wait, what? What's with the rush? There's still plenty of time." Kelly asked her as she paused by the door to grab her keys. "Ah, well. I just remembered I'm gonna go meet up with Kylie. She said she had some Girls on Fire paperwork she wanted me to have a look at. I'll ah, just see you at the firehouse!" Stella once again lied with the hope that Kelly would buy it this time since she thinks that based on the look he was giving her a while ago, he didn't really buy into her previous fib. Her husband however just looked at her with furrowed brows before he replied "Okay. See ya." as he hurriedly went over to grab his shoes just as Stella quickly left before he could even look back up.
"Sure is a surprise he actually bought that lie you told him." Kylie commented out loud as she followed Stella down the sidewalk they were walking on. The two women were on their way to stop by a pharmacy just before shift would start. "Well.. I'm actually hoping he buys it this time as my first lie didn't seemed like it worked. But, just remember, if incase he doesn't buy it and starts asking you about it, just try to make up something about the paperwork I told him you needed me to go over." Stella says as she led Kylie inside a pharmacy they both found.
"Okaaay... if I have to ask, so why me? I mean.. aren't you supposed to be doing this sort of thing with either Brett or Violet?" Kylie asks her mentor as they both went through the aisles until they reached the one that had different kinds of pregnancy tests hanging from the pegs. "Well, first of all, Violet's told me she hasn't been feeling that well since the other day and she suspects that she's probably having her period and secondly, Brett can't keep a secret to save her life. Plus it's more believable if I lied to Kelly by telling him I had something Girls on Fire related to do with you. I'm pretty sure he'd see through my lie if I'd tell him Herrmann wanted me to stop by Molly's to do a quick inventory considering that it's shift day." Stella replied as she quickly scanned through the various pregnancy tests on the pegs in front of her then she muttered "Damn. I didn't know there would be this many types of tests. I was hoping this was gonna be a quick grab and go kind of thing. Ugh, I wish I should've really brought Brett with me. She would've known which one to choose."
Kylie looked her over and said "Well, just grab a couple and let's see what happens." The brunette lieutenant did as she was told and quickly took a couple of tests off the pegs then she soon headed off towards the counter with Kylie hot on her heels.
A couple of minutes later, the two women found themselves standing besides each other inside a women's restroom. Stella didn't know why she was feeling quite nervous as she looked at the tests she was holding in her hand. Part of her thinks that once what she had been feeling for quite some time already would be proven true, it's going to change both her and Kelly's lives forever and for someone with anxiety like Stella, knowing something like that is gonna happen and she's not prepared for it just seems to add to the anxiousness gnawing inside her. "Come on, what are you waiting for? Let's get on with it and see if it's for real." Kylie says as she sees Stella feeling unsure of what she was doing. Sighing, the brunette woman finally gave in and said "Fine. It's just a test. I mean there's nothing wrong with giving it a try right? Besides, there's always a chance it's a false positive."
She then proceeded to rip the tests open from the packaging after giving the instructions a quick read then she headed into one of the stalls as Kylie pulled her phone out and started fiddling with the timer app. A little while later, Kylie looked up just in time to see Stella coming out of the stall with the tests in her hand which she dropped into the table besides the young lady. "Okay. Wiw, I'm really doing this huh." Kylie nodded her head as she started the timer app on her phone. "Can.. you just tell me what's in it when that timer rings?" Kylie gave her a questioning look at first then she slowly nodded her head in understanding when Stella pushed the tests towards her and she took them while she watched as Stella leaned with her back to the sink and huffed several breaths out.
"You know, it's so funny how I run into burning buildings everyday with no fear and yet here I am, scared of a pregnancy test." Stella amusingly tried to crack a lame joke at herself in an attempt to help calm her nerves as the timer on Kylie's phone soon dinged and the young girl flipped the tests over to take a look. "Well... what does it say?" Stella nervously asked her mentee who was giving the quartet of tests a look to make sure they all have the same answers. A huge smile soon crept up on the young girl's face then giving Stella a kind of coy look that was making the brunette truck lieutenant feel even more nervous than she already is, she then handed them over and said "Why don't you take a look at them yourself?"
Stella eyed a smiling Kylie questioningly as she took the tests from her. Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath knowing that the results of the tests would probably end up changing her and Kelly's lives forever, Stella mustered all the courage she had and flipped the tests in her hand. "Oh my God." was all she could utter when she saw they all had the same results. Two red lines. She quickly turned around and dropped them all into the sink as she tried to process what she thought was one of the biggest shocks of her life, second only to Kelly suddenly dropping down on his knee to propose to her while they were trapped inside a burning restaurant they were trying to get out of. When she finally look up after the inital shock had worn off, she saw that Kylie was giving her the biggest smile the young girl could ever have.
"So.. should I start congratulating you now or should I wait till Severide sees it and I congratulate you both together?" She teasingly asked to her mentor who was seemingly looking like she's had a deer caught in headlights kind of look on her face. "Great. How nice of you to do that." Stella sarcastically replied to a smug looking Kylie which made her face start to drop when she saw her mentor staring at the pregnancy tests that she had dropped into the sink, seemingly deep in thought. Looking at her in concern, Kylie asked "Er, what's wrong? Aren't you supposed to be happy about it?"
Stella huffed a breath out without looking back at her as she tried to control her swelling emotions then turning to Kylie, she said "Well.. actually, I am happy or I guess I should be.. but.." she paused as she tried to gather her thoughts then she continued "Look, I get that Kelly and I wanted to have kids but.. we didn't expect it to happen so soon!" Something then clicked into Stella's mind which made her turn to Kylie and said "Okay, fine. Now that this thing's for real.. I've got a couple of problems to deal with." Kylie gave her a quizzical look as Stella went on to rapidly ask her "So, first of all, I really have to find a way to hide this while I figure out how to juggle between planning a party and finding the right way to tell Kelly about this! And secondly, how am I supposed to do that at the firehouse?!" as a lot of thoughts soon began running in her mind. "Well.. I think that's something you'll have to figure out soon.." Kylie slyly replied back to her while shrugging her shoulder which earned her a groan from Stella.
"So.. we got organic carrots, some corn and what are these?! Vegan hotdogs?" Gallo asked out loud to Ritter as he picked up the groceries the two guys were sorting out on the kitchen table at the firehouse. "Mmm.. hmm.. those are all the healthy options we got. If you want the not so healthy ones, there's some meat ones here and I also got these.." Ritter says in return as he lifted up a big cold pack of fatty meat. "Is that a beef brisket?" A bewildered Gallo asked to his friend when his eyes went wide open when he saw the pack of meat he was holding. "Mm hmm.." Ritter replied as he began putting away the frozen food into the fridge.
"Okay fine. Look, I just gotta ask, since when did we start being into all these healthy and organic stuff?" Gallo questioned out loud only to be answered by Mouch who spoke up saying "Well.. that's since the ladies started thinking of getting us to try eating all the healthy stuff. Besides, there's nothing wrong with it anyways. Even Trudy's getting in on the health craze everyone seems to be into these days. She's told me that she's apparently even starting to get Burgess to convince Ruzek that they're gonna be stocking on frozen yogurt in place of ice cream at home for Makayla."
The older firefighter had been busy watching TV while sitting on the couch when he overheard the conversation two younger firefighters were having. "You know what? If I were you, I'd start putting those away before we get a call." Ritter muttered to Gallo after he nudged the latter's shoulder in an effort to get him to start putting the groceries away. Elsewhere inside the locker room of the firehouse, Sylvie Brett was just finishing putting her things in the locker alongside Stella who was seemingly stuck staring at the pregnancy tests in her hands while facing her locker. The newly pregnant brunette decide to shake herself out of her thoughts by pulling her phone out to secretly take a couple of pictures of the pregnancy tests before she shoved one of them into her pocket while hiding the rest inside a zipper in her bag.
After she was done, the brunette truck lieutenant huffed a low sigh out as a thought ran through her mind then out of the blue, she turned around and nervously asked her best friend "Hey Brett, can I ask for your help with something that I've been trying to plan?" The blonde paramedic looked back to the brunette truck lieutenant with intrigue while she was finishing putting her long, wavy hair into a messy ponytail.
"Okay? What is it?" Brett questioned out loud to her best friend while giving her hair a quick look through a small mirror she had inside her locker before looking back to wait for Stella who had grabbed her phone from her locker then turning to her best friend, she replied "Okay. Just promise me this better not reach Kelly's ears." Brett eyed her friend confusingly as Stella paused to gather her thoughts then after sighing, she explained "Look, the thing is that Kelly's about to reach 20 years in the CFD and since it's quite a big career milestone, I don't want him to know that I've been thinking of planning a party to celebrate it. I know he's the type who doesn't want all the fanfare and stuff but I just figured that it's something that's worth celebrating and honoring him."
Brett nodded her head in agreement and said "Mm hmm. You're not wrong there. 20 years in the CFD is no easy feat especially for someone who's on a Rescue Squad like Severide is. I mean, if that were Matt, I'd probably be pulling out all the stops in celebrating a milestone like that one even though he'll most likely insist that he doesn't want to have any party." Stella pointed a finger to her best friend in response while animatedly saying "Exactly! The thing is though.. the exact date it falls on is sometime around the next week or so and with me being busy helping Kelly study for the captain's test he's taking this weekend, I basically have no idea how to go about planning it without him suspecting something!" The blonde paramedic hummed as she pulled her own phone out of her locker to take a quick look at the calendar app on it then she said "Okay! How about you and I sit this down at Molly's with Violet and Chloe tomorrow night after shift and maybe we could all come up with something? You know me, I love organizing parties and all."
Giving her best friend a skeptical look, Stella quickly asked "Brett, are you sure about this? I mean.. you got a baby to take care of and.." The blonde paramedic however waved her off and replied "Pssh. No worries! Julia's been staying over with Amelia at Scott's place whenever I'm on shift, which isn't that far. He had moved over more than a month ago to somewhere in the suburbs so that he's much closer to me now than when he was living in Rockford. And not only that but Matt's also going to be here by this weekend. He was supposed to be on his way home to Portland after having attended some kind of wildfire training down in South Dakota when he called me the other night saying that he apparently had decided at the last minute to ask Portland Fire's HQ if he could stop over here for a short furlough because he's been wanting to pay not only me a visit but also Julia and Amelia too. And knowing him, I'm pretty sure he'd be so down to helping us organize a surprise party for his best friend."
Stella's eyes lit up in surprise at the mention of Matt Casey returning to Chicago. "Oh my God! Are you serious?! Kelly's not gonna know what hit him if Casey's gonna be dropping by here for a short visit!" Brett nodded with a big grin on her face but before she could say something else, they both turned their heads upon hearing a loud groan coming from somewhere behind the blond paramedic which made both of them furrow their brows when they saw Violet stumbling into the locker room looking quite grumpy.
"Ugh. Just when I thought my morning couldn't get any worse after I almost overslept my alarm and I had to drive like hell to get here, it turns out that I didn't happen to bring some tampons and extra napkins with me 'cause I forgot that I happened to have switched my bag out for another one last night thanks to the smell coming from my undies that were left inside since the last shift. Do you guys know how much I hate it when I'm on my period?" She grumbled as she staggered towards the direction of her locker while passing by the two women.
"Well.. no worries! I've got a couple extra in here if you need. I've been stocking on them just in case I'll be on my period." Stella says as she pulled out a pack each of tampons and napkin out from a zipper in her bag then she handed them over to the raven-haired paramedic who gratefully accepted them and after saying "Thanks Kidd.", she started putting them into her locker which she just opened. Brett then gave her best friend a quizzical look which made Stella ask her "What?" To which the blonde paramedic answered by asking her "Hmm? You mean you haven't had your period yet?"
That made Stella turn around to take a quick look on the calendar app of her phone and when she did, it suddenly made her froze up when she started to count back on when she was supposed to be having her period and it made Brett begin to eye her suspiciously when she didn't answer. Just then, the bells suddenly rang out calling for Truck and Ambo to respond to a car accident. Stella felt herself immediately sighing in relief that the sound of the bells had managed to save her from having to answer the blonde paramedic as she quickly slammed her locker shut just at the same time that Violet groaned out loud before she too slammed her own locker shut after having grabbed her phone that she just shoved into her pocket before following the two other women as they started running to the app floor.