He knows he should get up and do something. There's reports to write, inventory to double check, drills to run and yet he can't seem to move. The doc had cleared him but that didn't mean he wasn't sore and stiff all over. His shoulder and hip hurt the worst, where the chimney had made contact. He'd retreated to his office when they'd got back from the hospital, meaning to rest on the bed for a few minutes and got stuck there as his aching body refused to move.
He's dozing, fitfully, when the office door opens. He jerks awake, abused muscles cramping on him, and glances over.
Stella kneels by the bed. "You want hot or cold?" She says, holding up an ice pack and a heating pad. There's a bottle of ibuprofen under her arm and she tips out two tablets, staring at him until he gives in and swallows them with a gulp of water.
He's already feeling chilled. "Heat, I think."
She plugs it in and sets it in the bed, leaving the ice pack on the floor. "Can you sit up?" Part of her wants to check how bad it is this time, how close he came to punching his ticket, and yet another part of her doesn't want to know. Let it remain a mystery, just part of the Severide legend only she's inside that, knows he bleeds just like she does and there's no magic, just a damn stubborn man who'll keep going until he can't.
"Yeah," he says and gets halfway when the stiffened muscles in his back let him know the movement isn't such a good idea. He can't quite catch the groan in time and her hand is instantly on his cheek.
"Take it easy. How about on your side?" He's up far enough to work the tshirt off and she does, manhandling him as gently as she can.
His back is warm with bruises, in a rainbow of colours and she sucks in an appalled breath. The impact has done a number on him, that's for sure.
"Bad?" Severide asks, more comfortable now he's off his back. She sticks a pillow between his knees which takes some of the ache out of his hips. "Feels it," he admits, knowing the words wouldn't have left his mouth had this been anyone else.
"If you were anyone else, you'd still be in the hospital." She sighs. "You should ice this shoulder."
"Okay," he says and she presses the towel wrapped pack into place. The cold makes him grit his teeth.
"Where else?" She draws a blanket up over him, laying the heating pad over the small of his back.
He blinks, eyelids suddenly heavy. "Hip." It's the same one he hurt last time, the same one they took the bone marrow from and he knows the damage is slowly adding up.
Her hands find his belt buckle and he startles a little, realising he'd dozed off while she was talking to him. "Hmm?" he manages and hears her snort.
"I said, don't be getting any ideas. This is medical needs only," she says and feels the faint laugh that rumbles through him.
"Not up to it right now, sorry." He blinks again, the heat pad finally easing the ache in his back.
She eases his trousers down just far enough to see his hip. It's badly bruised too and she shakes her head, tucking another ice pack inside of his trousers and pulling his fly up to keep everything in place. She shakes another blanket over him.
"Sleep," she says. "Chief has called in cover for you."
"Stella?" He breathes so she leans close, one hand smoothing over his cheek. "Thank you. Love you."
It hits her hard and she gulps, biting her lip until the tears go away. After everything that's happened between them lately, the casual words are a balm.
"Love you too, babe," she says and sits down at his side to watch over him while he sleeps.