Kelly woke up with his arms around Stella. By her steady breathing, he knew she was still asleep. She had come home from shift and he was excited to see her. To spend some quality time with her. They had made love and fallen asleep wrapped around each other. He had never really liked to sleep so close to a woman, but Stella was different. He wanted to touch her, hold her, and kiss her all the time.

Kelly had slept at Stella's the night before while she was on shift. He couldn't be with her that night, but he could still sleep in her bed, surrounded by her scent. He really missed her.

He has been wrapped up with Renee's trial for weeks. He wanted to help her. It was for a good cause and given a chance, he would always do what he could to help another firefighter. He had never testified at a trial but felt like Renee had prepared him well. It was nothing like "Law and Order" that was for sure. He ended up hanging out in a conference room at the courthouse all morning before he was called to testify. He felt like it went well. He was able to answer all the questions and didn't feel like the other lawyers had tripped him up. After he testified, the court took a recess. Kelly waited outside while the lawyers were discussing something. After about 10 minutes, Renee came out with Alec Burkes and Dan Exum, the 2 injured firefighters he was helping. The refinery wanted to settle and she was ecstatic. Maybe a bit too excited, because next thing he knew, her lips were in his.

Kelly pulled back. "What are you doing?"

"Kelly, I'm sorry but that was fantastic. You were amazing. I knew you would be. You completely won over that jury and defense counsel knew it. You and your testimony made the refinery settle. You have no idea how grateful I am."

"I'm glad that I could help," Kelly said hesitantly. Maybe she was just excited and didn't mean to kiss him. He knew that thought made no sense but he was trying to figure out what was going on.

"Kelly, we should celebrate. Dinner with champagne." Renee offered.

"Oh thanks but no. It's not necessary. I was glad to help." Kelly said, hoping that she would back up a bit.

"Then how about dinner at my place. Nicky would love to see you. He talks about you all the time, Kelly. You really made an impression on him."

"Renee." Kelly started, "no. Listen I was happy to help you, but that's all this was. I'm with Stella now and I'm happy. You have a great kid and you seem happy. And now that this case is over, I don't think it's a good idea for us to see each other anymore."

"Kelly. I know I messed up but you and I were so good together. So right. You know that. I want to give us another chance."

"No, Renee. Like I said, I was happy to help and I'm glad it worked out. Take care of yourself." And with that, Kelly turned and walked away. He had thought Stella was overreacting a bit with her suspicions about Renee. Turns out, she was right all along.

He thought about going to 51 to see Stella but he didn't want to answer a bunch of questions. Plus he was pretty sure Stella would be able to tell that something had happened.

Instead, he went home, changed his clothes and went over to Stella's. She wasn't there and he really wished she were. He realized just how much he missed her. How much he needed her. How much he was falling in love with her. She was all he could think about and there was nothing and no one worth messing this up.

However, he knew he should probably tell Stella about that kiss. It didn't mean anything to him but if she heard about it from someone else, it would mean trouble. He had worked so hard to gain her trust, to make her believe that he was done "bed hopping" or casually dating. He didn't want her to think he was cheating on her or thinking about getting back with Renee.

—

Stella sighed, waking up slowly. It was early afternoon, and she was in Kelly's arms. He was spooning her, gently caressing her arm.

"You awake?" he asked.

"Mmmm. Yes but I don't wanna be. I want to stay right here snuggled with you."

"Now that sounds like a great idea. But..."

"What? You got somewhere you need to be?"

"No it's not that. While I love cuddling with you, I was hoping we could make up for lost time. We didn't get to spend much time together these past weeks. I've missed you."

"I've missed you too, Kelly." Stella turned up her face and offered her lips to Kelly. He hungrily accepted.

"Good. I'm glad we're on the same page. But I gave one request."

"What's that?"

You know that game we were playing at Molly's? Guess what color panties you're wearing?"

Stella giggled. "Yeah, I remember. But uh, I'm not wearing any now, as you might recall."

"I know that. But our game got interrupted. I was hoping we could finish it."

"You want me to get dressed so you can guess the color of my underwear?"

"No." He leaned and kissed her. "I want you to put the panties you were wearing on...so I can take them off, like I wanted to that night."

"You're crazy," Stella laughed.

"Crazy for you," Kelly said as he kissed her again.

—

Later that afternoon, Stella and Kelly decided they should at least leave the bed for food. They got dressed and headed out. Stella was in the mood for waffles.

They sat in a booth and opened their menus. Stella looked at Kelly as he poured over the choices. He really was extremely good looking. And he really was, well, just a good guy. A good man. She felt guilty for doubting how he felt about her. It had been a crazy couple of weeks, not spending their free time together because Kelly was spending time with Renee.

But Kelly has called her his "girlfriend" for the first time when he introduced Stella to Renee. He had "claimed" her. He had defined their relationship and she would have swooned, if she knew what that was. Renee, however, couldn't take a freaking hint. And she was playing dirty, using her son to entice Kelly. She was playing with Kelly's head, using that kid and Stella wasn't cool with that. Not at all.

But again, that girl could NOT take a hint. And there was Kelly, defending her. Ok, granted he defended Renee when Stella questioned whether Renee overreacted when her son was missing but it did seem rather convenient. Stella had thought that Renee's little plan to get back with Kelly was working. She was kind of ashamed that she didn't trust Kelly. That she had let his mom's warning about other women and Kelly being like Bennie get to her. Renee horning in was just icing on the cake.

Stella wanted to fess up. She felt guilty that she ever doubted him.

"Kelly" "Stella" they said at the same time. She smiled at him.

"You first." Stella said.

"I want us to be open and honest with each other." he said.

"Me too." she responded.

"I think that it's one of the best things about our relationship, that we can talk to each other about anything."

"Me too," she said again.

"Renee kissed me."

That bitch is gonna get cut, she thought.

"Excuse me." She said.

"It was after the trial. My testimony was good and she ended up winning. I thought she might have been caught up in the moment. I didn't kiss her back." He said this as he looked directly into Stella's eyes. "I pulled back."

"And what did she do?"

"She started in with 'we're so good together. I've missed you. We were great together and we can be great again.'"

"What did you say?"

"I told her I was with you and I was happy. Stella, Renee and I had some intense times. I loved her but she hurt me and I realized I couldn't trust her. I moved on."

"Ok," said Stella.

"I want you to know that I thought it was just about the case. And at first, I think it was. But I didn't realize that she was thinking it might be something else. Anyway, I told her that I didn't think we needed to see each other anymore and that was that."

Stella looked at Kelly. She felt even guiltier about her doubts.

"Well, if we're laying it all in the table, I need to tell you something too." Stella said.

"Ok so, I thought you were picking me up this morning and you didn't show up. So I went to your apartment. I let myself in thinking you were there with Renee. I even checked your bedroom." She looked down and concentrated on a scratch on the table. "I'm sorry for not trusting you. I didn't trust Renee from the get-go, but I let that make me doubt you. I'm sorry for that."

Kelly looked at her with his brow furrowed. "Stella, I want you to trust me. I'm not going to hurt you. I want to be with you. Only you. Not anyone else." He got up, walked around the table, and sat next to her on her side of the booth. "I look at you and I feel like I've been waiting my whole life for you. Please let down your guard a little. Stop looking for something to go wrong and be happy with all the things that are going right."

Stella looked into Kelly's eyes. It was almost as if he was pleading with her to trust him. She wanted to cry. Part of her was scared to love Kelly. The other part was scared to love anyone. She had been alone for so long. After her parents died, she had to grow up by herself. Even with Grant, he wasn't really there, but then neither was she. That's the thing about drugs, they numb everything. She never really knew Grant because she was too busy trying to take care of him and boost his ego. She was so busy trying to be happy and easy for Grant that she never let him see the "Real Stella." The "Real Stella" could be scared and lonely and suspicious but all she really wanted was to be loved and cared for. And the man sitting next to her wanted to do just that.

If only she would let him in.