I was asked to do some ONE SHOT stories from each episode as they come... All I can say is, I'll see where my muse meanders to and from during the eps...

So this first one is from Season 6 Episode 19 "Where I Want to Be"

I would have thought that I'd go for something at the very beginning or at the end... but it was the Cartel House Fire that caught my muse's attention...

so here's hoping you enjoy it.


"Where I Want to Be"

Kelly had his arm wrapped around Stella's shoulders, hard with the double thickness of his Turnout coat and hers. The hallway was thick with smoke, rolling flames breathing through the walls and licking at the ceiling above their heads. There was no way he was going to let her go.

"Breathe, Stella…"

She nodded her head a little, her hand still holding the mask on her face.

"Keep breathing."

Stella tried to pull it away from her face, pushing it in his direction.

"Don't even try," he managed to laugh, keeping his peripheral vision on the open door up ahead and the rest making sure that the hallway was clear enough to exit.

On the front threshold of the house he watched Capp and Tony set the woman they were carrying on the gurney between Dawson and Brett. Once they were clear of the house he turned back and saw Cordova bringing up the rear, carrying the gear that Stella had discarded in the hallway.

He pulled her up short, stepping off to the side. "Hey," he touched her chin, nudging her up to meet his eyes, "hey."

She blinked at him through the mask and pulled it away. "Yeah?"

"How do you feel?" He tried to push the mask back over her face. "Honest. Don't be brave."

"I'm good. I-" her shoulders shook as she started to cough and Severide didn't have to work too hard to get the mask back over her face.

"Don't argue with me." He turned and activated his radio. "Call another Ambo. Smoke inhalation."

Chief Boden's voice crackled over the speaker. "Victim?"

"Stella."

"All right." The Chief's radio call went silent.

Kelly turned back and leaned closer to her, lowering his voice. "Let's set you down somewhere."

She shook her head. "I need my gear. We have to put out the fire."

He grabbed her shoulder and shook his head in response. "You inhaled a bunch of smoke."

"Kelly, I-" The next wave of coughs hunched her over and she would have lost her hold on the mask if Kelly hadn't taken it from her and adjusted the fit. Her hand grabbed his arm and she gave it a squeeze. "Okay." She grumbled. "Fine."

Kelly moved Stella passed the fence and sat her down on the hood of a police car. He stayed close, even after she took hold of the mask again.

Chief Boden was there moments later. "What happened in there?"

Kelly explained the situation with Cordova and the trapped victim, the Chief absorbing every word, nodding along the way.

"Stella?"

She pulled the mask away and tried a breath on her own. "Yeah, Chief?"

"I'm not going to say I'm exactly happy that you went in without your gear-"

"The door-"

"I know," he held up his hands to stop her from speaking, "I'm not arguing. But I'm also not expecting an argument when the Ambo gets here." He looked up at the sound of the siren. "Which should be here in minutes. Until then, I don't want you going back in there."

Kelly felt her shoulders slump under his reassuring hand. She certainly didn't like sitting out.

"Yes, sir."

The Chief walked away to speak to one of the officers on duty, leaving them alone.

Stella tentatively pulled the mask away again and gave him a smile. "Happy?"

"I'd be happier if you put that back on."

She drew in a breath from the mask and held it out to him. "I'd be happier if you'd take one too. We were both in that fire, Kelly."

"We," he corrected her, "didn't crawl into a vault with no exit for all that smoke. You were the one who crawled in there to get a victim out."

"And you," she pointed at him, "would have done the same." Stella took another breath from the mask giving him a look, so he'd know she was doing it for him. "It's not my fault that you were too big to fit through that hole."

"Big?"

"Muscular," she corrected, giving him a look that spoke volumes, "and I'm not complaining."

"You like my muscles," he gave her a narrowed look, "just this morning you were saying… or was that screaming that-"

"I said I wasn't complaining, but I was able to fit inside and so I did. You understand, right?"

He stepped closer, pulling off the glove from his right hand and lifting it to her head. His fingers brushed back the hair from her face. "I understand that I hated every second you were in there. I hated that I couldn't see what you were doing and I couldn't hear you.

"But I knew you were doing your job and when you called out for help to get the victim, I knew you were thinking of her first. Just like you always do."

She smiled and took in another breath. "And if I'd been trapped," she rushed on so he wouldn't worry, "you would have done everything possible to get me out. Just like I'd have done everything I could if you were in that situation too."

His thumb traced under her jaw and she lifted her face up to look at him as his hand slipped around to the nape of her neck. "We make a pretty good team, Kidd."

Her smile was more of a smirk when she answered back. "We make an excellent team, Severide."

He leaned a little closer. "That's Lieutenant Severide."

Stella's eyes opened wide and her lips parted before the corners turned up in a smile. "Lieutenant, huh?"

Kelly shrugged a little. "You're lucky I don't make you salute."

She gave his chest a little shove as the Ambo pulled up beside the police car. "You're lucky if I let you in bed tonight."

It was his turn to stare at her wide-eyed. "We're at the station tonight."

Stella shrugged. "Yeah. I'm sleeping in the Lieutenant's quarters, so much quieter. You… you can take my old bed."

The paramedics gestured for Stella to walk over and she got up from the hood, Kelly taking her arm gently.

He leaned closer as they moved. "That's my bed, you can share… even if you don't salute."

"That's big of you, Severide."

She sat on the bumper of the Ambo and offered her arm to the EMT for her blood pressure.

He stepped back and watched the two EMTS move around her. "That's what you always say."

As Stella looked up to gape at him he turned on his heel and headed back to the house to finish with the blaze.