"Stell?"

It was dark in the room with only the backglow of the lights behind the bed. Still she didn't want to move back to the door just yet. "Stella? Hey…"

Blinking her eyes, Stella shifted in the bed opening her eyes on a quick gasp. "Who-"

"It's just me, Gabby."

Stella visibly relaxed and sagged back against the bed. "Hey,… hey, what's up?"

"I just came to see you."

Squeezing her eyes closed, Stella's rubbed at them with the back of her hand. "Okay, but is there a reason why it's in the middle of the night?"

"Well, I wanted to check up on you."

Stella narrowed her eyes and looked at Gabby's face. "Oh."

Now it was Gabby's turn to narrow a look at Stella. "What 'Oh' is that?"

Shifting on the bed, Stella grabbed the control and lifted up the head of the bed until she could look straight into Gabby's eyes. "I thought something was wrong." She swallowed. "Something at the House?"

"Well, I did just leave Kelly as his apartment. It seems you kicked his ass out of this room."

Stella didn't do much more than nod her head.

"And why did you do that?"

Her eyes drifted closed and Gabby was almost convinced that she'd just fallen asleep again.

"Because he needed to go before I messed everything up, again."

Gabby felt her heart ache for the pain in Stella's voice and leaned forward to touch Stella's arm. The gentle brush of her fingers almost had Stella in tears.

"Please, Gabby. Don't say anything to him. Not about this."

"Hey," Gabby leaned closer and gave her arm a gentle squeeze, "this is just you and me, Stella. That's all. You know I love Kelly like a brother, but you're just as close to me. And no matter what, I want both of you to be happy."

A shadow passed over Stella's features. "And I want him to be happy, Gabby. That's why I made him leave. He wasn't listening to me. He didn't understand."

"Well," a wry smile tugged at the corner of Gabby's mouth, "he can be a little thick-headed."

Stella rolled her eyes and then winced. "So can I, and I can out-stubborn him, so this is just how it's going to have to be."

Gabby nodded. She'd heard that tone. It was the same gritty determination that made Stella Kidd one hell of a firefighter. When you heard that tone you knew to stay out of her way and let her get shit done.

But Gabby had a feeling there was more to this. And at least she could be Stella's sounding board.

"Look, I won't lie." Gabby gave her a big smile. "Kelly called me to pick him up from the hospital and I took him back to his apartment to lick his wounds. He was completely clueless and to a certain extent, so am I." She smiled, encouraging Stella to relax and open up. "You guys are good together."

Tension pinched Stella's shoulder blades closer together. "We're friends."

Again. Her tone brooked no argument.

"Kelly is with Anna, Gabby. They're in love. They're happy." Stella drew in a long breath as if she needed to steady herself before going on. "And I'm not a whore, Gabby."

"Whoa," Gabby reared back and shook her head, "I never said that-"

"Grant called me a whore, he said I was nothing."

"He wasn't in his right mind, Stella."

"I know that." Stella turned her head away. "But it's been there in the back of my head since then. And I can't shake it."

"Stella, that has nothing to do with Kelly."

At the sound of his name Stella cringed and curled into herself. "It has everything to do with Kelly." She pulled her lower lip between her teeth and bit down hard enough to leave a pale line in her flesh. "And Anna."

That last word rocked Gabby back a few inches.

"I told him, Gabby. I told him that I'm rooting for them. And I am," she blurted out, "I really am." She blew out a breath as her heart rate ratcheted up a notch. "You should have seen him in the hospital. He was so good with her. He was so patient and he made her smile. SHE made him smile."

"And he's a part of her. Think about that, Gabby. He's literally a part of her, how would I… how could anyone get in the middle of that."

"You're not-"

"This is how it started with them," Stella swallowed hard and gasped in a breath, "he was at her bedside, helping take care of her. You know… it makes people close… really close."

"Stella-"

"And then he was taking care of me. All that time. The nurses said he was here almost all the time. He was at my side, Gabby. He barely slept. He barely ate."

Gabby smiled, thinking that Stella was finally figuring things out.

"I'm not going to be the homewrecker."

"Whoa, where did that come from."

"I saw it in his eyes, Gabby. The way he looked at me. He held my hand. He's feeling guilty, that's all it is… but if I don't put some space between us. If I don't step back, I don't want to come between them, not when he's finally…" her eyes drifted closed and Gabby watched her body drain of energy, "he's finally happy."

"Stella," Gabby reached out and touched her shoulder, "I talked to him and that's not… I mean… you don't understand what he's trying to tell you."

"I understand plenty," she told her friend, "I understand that he worried over me and I basically sucked up several days of his life waiting for me not to die. How is that any different? How am I not to think that I've probably messed up any kind of friendship that I have with him. All because I lost my temper with that gangbanger and got stupid.

"So now," Gabby could see the determined set of her jaw, "so now I'm going to do what I should have a long time ago. Leave Kelly alone to live his life."

"And just how is that going to work, Stella?" Gabby reached for Stella's hand and Stella pulled it away. "You both work in the same House. Even if you changed shift, you'd still see him from time to time, shouldn't you just talk to him and see-"

"I'm leaving Chicago. As soon as the doctor okays me for travel, I'm leaving the city."