"Severide! Do we have any more ice cream?"
His head poked around the door. "What, your legs don't work now? Why don't you check?" he asked.
Shay held up her empty bowl and rubbed her swollen stomach, sticking out her lower lip for added effect. "C'mon, Severide, I'm ready to pop at any moment. You don't want my waters to break all over the kitchen floor, do you?"
"No, but I don't really want them to break on the couch either. I love that couch, I don't want to be sitting in the traces of your amniotic fluid every time I sit down," he joked, coming into the room. There was no reply as Shay held out her arm expectantly. With a heavy sigh, Severide crossed the room and took the bowl from her. "Mint chocolate chip?"
"Of course!"
As Severide pulled the tub out of the freezer, he heard a gasp from Shay's direction. "What's up?"
"I hate to say it … but you're gonna be sitting in amniotic fluid from now on," Shay replied slowly. He whirled round to find her pulling herself up, her sweatpants soaked through. "My birthing bag should be in my room, can you go and grab it for me?"
"We have no time for that, we need to go right now!" Severide urged. "Oh, God, are you sure it's coming now? You didn't just pee yourself?"
"Yeah, it's coming now. Can you just go and grab my bag?" She watched as he worked himself into a panicking, running up the stairs two at a time. She could hear him banging around upstairs. Folding her arms across her chest, she let out an irritated huff and tapped her foot impatiently on the ground. This was going to be a long day.
It took 26 hours. 26 gruelling hours had all boiled down to this. Shay watched from her bed as Severide cradled their little girl in his arms, a smile fixed to his face.
He looked up and said, "You know, when it didn't take the first time, I wasn't sure we were going to end up being successful. But look at her! We made this, Shay."
She nodded and swallowed hard. "I know."
"She's perfect."
"She is. We did good," she agreed. "There's just one problem …"
Severide's head snapped up, his eyes wide. "What? Did the doctor tell you something?" he demanded. Shay let out a laugh.
"You've been with me the entire time, if he'd told me something, you would know. Severide, we forgot to give her a name."
Running a finger down the baby's cheek, he racked his brain. Finally, his expression softened. "I don't know if you'll like it, hell, I don't know if anyone will like it -"
"Out with it!"
"- Andrea. Andy, for short. I wanna name her after Darden … He was my friend, and -" He paused, took a breath and continued, "I couldn't save him. So, I wanna honour him in this way."
Shay didn't say anything for a moment. Finally, she gave a nod. "It's perfect. Andrea Severide it is." Severide handed the baby over to her. "Go grab the others." As he left the room, she lowered her mouth to Andrea's tiny ear and whispered, "They are going to love you. Welcome to the family, baby."