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Firehouse 51 had been called out to a small bridge overlooking the Chicago River where a car had swerved off the road and into the water. The teenage girl that had been driving had managed to climb out of the car window and now clung to the roof while the car slowly drifted further and further away. Truck arrived first on the scene and found the girl struggling to maintain her balance on the unstable surface, cradling her arm that she’d injured in the accident up against her body. Stella immediately took charge, instructing Carver to begin setting up for an aerial rescue while she reassured their victim and talked her through how they planned to get her to safety. Once the other teams arrived on scene it was decided that Stella, being the lightest and having already established a relationship with their victim, would be the one to go down. Within minutes she was harnessed up and climbing over the railing of the bridge, making brief eye contact with Kelly who gave her a quick you got this nod.
Stella felt the chill emanating from the icy water before they’d even started lowering her down. As Carver started gradually releasing the rope the cold only intensified. Stella locked eyes with the young girl who’d begun to shiver so badly she could barely keep her balance any longer. By now Stella hovered a mere two feet over the surface of the water just beside the sinking car.
“Hold!” she yelled up to Carver who immediately secured the rope. “You know I didn’t catch your name earlier,” she said to the frightened girl in an attempt to keep her talking while Stella prepared a second harness.
“S-Sarah,” the girl replied, her voice shaking.
“Nice to officially meet you, Sarah,” said Stella. “Now I’m just going to slip this around your waist and then we can get you out of here, okay?” Sarah nodded as Stella reached forward with the harness. She had just wrapped the blue rope around the girl’s body when a strong gust of wind hit the surface of the water, sending the sinking car in the opposite direction. The sudden movement sent Sarah toppling over the side and into the icy waters.
“Help me!” Sarah cried and she fought to keep her head above water. The injury to her arm had left her unable to swim, and the current was already pushing her further and further away from Stella.
“Carver! Get me further out!” Stella yelled. Carver sprung into action, but it was going to take extra seconds that they didn’t have. Sarah’s head disappeared under the water and didn’t immediately come back up.
“Screw it,” Stella muttered to herself. She quickly unclipped her harness from the tether, dropping down into the river as Kelly yelled out protests from above. It felt as though all the air had left her lungs when her body hit the icy water, the temperature so cold that it stung her skin. Stella didn’t waste any time, willing her body to just breathe as she fought her way over to Sarah. She found the girl quickly and pulled her up to the surface, struggling to keep them both afloat. Sarah immediately began coughing and struggling to catch her breath, Stella worried that she had water in her lungs. She needed to get up to the medics now . She pulled them both back under the tether and clipped it on to Sarah’s harness.
“Up, Carver!” she yelled. The line instantly tightened, pulling Sarah up out of the water as she continued to sputter.
“Lieutenant, what are you doing?!” Carver yelled, realizing that Stella hadn’t attached herself.
“She needs help first!” Stella called back. Everything seemed to slow down around her and all she could hear was the whir of the equipment up above as Sarah disappeared out of sight. She continued treading water as the feeling in her legs began to fade into total numbness. What was only a minute or two felt like an hour until the team disconnected Sarah and threw the line back down to Stella. She struggled with the clips, her hands almost completely numb, but finally managed to reattach herself. Within seconds she was being pulled back up and out of the water, shivers immediately overtaking her body. When she reached the bridge the first thing she saw was Kelly with his arms already open ready to grab her. He didn’t even wait for her to get all the way to the top, he leaned over the edge of the railing and pulled her up himself. Stella’s feet hit the ground and her knees immediately buckled beneath her, Kelly managing to catch her just in time and lower her to the ground.
“It’s okay, I got you,” he whispered in her ear, kneeling down beside her so she could lean against him.
“S- Sa- Sarah,” she stuttered, her lips blue.
“Already getting loaded in an ambo,” Kelly assured her. “Violet called for a second one as soon as she saw you go in the water. She’s going to be okay.”
“G- G- Good.” Stella was shivering uncontrollably at this point. She looked up to see Carver approaching.
“Hell of a save, Lieutenant,” he said. “But you couldn’t have given me two more seconds to get you over there?” He gave her a smile that said he was being sarcastic, before reaching down to unbuckle her harness and slip it off of her. Kelly followed suit by pulling off her drenched coat.
“We need to get you out of these wet clothes,” Kelly said.
“N- Not just y- yet,” Stella replied. “Already p-put on enough of a sh-show.” Her sense of humor was still intact, which Kelly noted as a good sign.
At that moment Violet came rushing over with a stack of rescue blankets. “Alright Superwoman, you’re up,” she said, draping one around Stella’s shoulders. “Let’s get you to Med too.” Stella wanted to protest, but she was still shivering too much to form a full sentence which wasn’t going to work in her favor. Kelly helped her up to her feet and walked her over to the ambulance where Lizzie already had the heat blasting. Together they got her situated on the stretcher and Violet began helping her remove any unnecessary layers of clothing, replacing them with more blankets. Stella could see Kelly standing outside the doors, glancing between her and the accident scene. She could tell he was torn between going with her and staying to oversee the others.
“G-Go,” she answered without him having to ask. “N-No point in them b-being down two lieutenants, I’ll b-be okay.”
“I’ve got her, Severide,” Violet added. “Don’t worry.”
“Okay,” Kelly agreed. “I’ll see you soon. I love you.” With that he shut the ambo doors and gave it two knocks, signaling for Lizzie to get going. He watched as they drove off towards med before turning around to go survey the damage.
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After over an hour of overhaul and debriefing Kelly was finally able to head over to Med and pick up Stella. He rushed into the ED to find her perched on the edge of a bed with blankets wrapped tightly around her shoulders. Her face was still pale, but the color had returned to her lips. He immediately went straight in to hug her, noticing how she still shivered slightly as he held her.
“Are you okay? He asked. “What did they say?
“Apparently I was bordering on hypothermic,” Stella explained. “But they gave me some IV fluids and got my core temp back up to a whopping 97 degrees, so I’m all good.”
“Good,” Kelly replied. “Please don’t ever do that again.”
“You would have done the same thing,” she teased.
“Not the point, ready to go home?”
“Hell yeah,” Stella nodded. She got to her feet and dropped the blankets on the bed behind her. Kelly looked her up and down and raised an eyebrow. She was wearing a bright pink hoodie and tight leggings that were most definitely not her style.
“Hannah Asher had these in her locker and let me borrow them,” Stella laughed. “The alternative was putting my frozen uniform back on.”
“It’s a good look for you,” Kelly smiled. “Let’s go, I left the car running with the heat on full blast for you.”
“Good,” Stella sighed. “Because I want to feel like a rotisserie chicken.” Kelly wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pressed a kiss to the side of her head before leading them out the doors.
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Stella had been in the shower for over an hour, to the point where warm steam was flowing under the bathroom door and into their bedroom, and yet she still felt cold. When she finally emerged from the foggy shower, she found a pair of sweatpants, a thick hoodie, and fuzzy socks waiting for her on the counter. She picked them up and found them warm to the touch, realizing Kelly must have put them in the dryer for her beforehand and further cemented him as the perfect man.
Meanwhile Kelly had been in the kitchen finishing up doing the dishes and waiting for the tea kettle to boil. When he heard Stella footsteps in the bedroom he shut off the sink and got to work preparing her tea just how she liked it. After letting it steep for a few minutes, he headed into their room and couldn’t help but laugh at what he saw. Stella sat cross legged on their bed dressed in the clothes he’d laid out for her, but she’d added a second pair of socks, flipped the sweatshirt hood up over her head, and had two big fluffy blankets wrapped around her body so that only her face peaked out.
“You look like a marshmallow,” he chuckled, holding out the warm mug for her. A hand popped out from the mound of blankets and took the tea before disappearing back inside.
“I’d like to be a toasted marshmallow,” she muttered. “How on earth am I still cold?”
“Because you jumped into the Chicago River in February, babe,” Kelly answered.
“Right, right,” she nodded. “You know what would be really helpful right now?”
“Hmm?”
“Extra body heat,” said Stella, poking her head out from under the blankets and raising her eyebrows at him. Kelly didn’t need to be told twice. He instantly pried off his shoes and flopped down onto the bed, taking the mug from her hands and moving it to the nightstand. Stella handed him one side of the blankets and he wrapped it around himself, pulling her body up against his chest so she was fully covered once again. Stella tucked her head under his chin and rested the side of her face against him, trying to absorb as much warmth as possible. Meanwhile Kelly ran his thumb across her cheek, tracing patterns into her skin. Ever so slightly the persisting shivers slowly began to fade away and Stella melted further into his body.
“Toasted marshmallow?” Kelly whispered with an audible smile.
“Very,” she sighed, her voice muffled against his shirt. “Thank you.”
Kelly pressed a kiss to the top of her head, still holding on tightly. “Any time,” he said.