Note From The Author— This idea came to me while I was listening to Stand by Racal Flatts and thinking about the fire. Anyway, it's short and sweet but I hope you enjoy.
Disclaimer—The title of the story and the inspiration came from the Rascal Flatts song Stand. I don't own the song or the characters of CSI: NY
Over time Flack had come to learn that Stella Bonasera was the strongest woman he had ever known or would ever know. There was something about her that made it possible for her to overcome any obstacle she ever encountered, and there had been plenty along her path.
When she'd gone through the ordeal with Frankie he'd been worried at first that she'd break. But sitting in the chair and listening to her go through the details, he'd seen steely strength under the tears and terror. His heart ached for her and he felt an overwhelming desire to bring Frankie back to life and kill him all over again, but he could see that eventually she would be okay. There was a sheer determination and force in her that truly made him believe that she would push through, and she did.
Then there had been her scare with HIV after the Gable case. He hadn't found out about it until well after the fact, but when he had he was once again amazed by her strength. To think that she had dealt for so many weeks the looming prospect of disease and death still terrified him. Yet even in the face of such horrible prospects she had consistently done her job. As always she had put the welfare of others far ahead of her own and rather than giving in to the panic she had waited, and once again she had survived.
Just when they all thought that it couldn't get worse for Stella there was the fire. Yet even as she had sifted through the wreckage of her life her focus had remained on the missing little girl. She had risen from the ashes of her ruined home and pursued the truth until they had found the girl, and only then had she taken time to rebuild herself. She came out of yet another disaster stronger than before. And through it all he had fallen even more in love with her.