Disclaimer: I don't own Chicago Fire or any affiliated shows, or the characters thereof. This is just for fun.
I hope that you like the latest chapter of An Occupational Hazard.
I'd like to send a special thanks to girlfromnorth for giving me a great idea of what scenes to add in future chapters :)
Chapter Seven
As soon as they were alone, Kelly gave Stella a tender kiss on the cheek. He was so relieved to hear that his girlfriend and their unborn child were okay.
"The doctor wanted me to ask you something... Do you want to be admitted for monitoring, or do you want to rest at home? He says it's your choice."
"I want to go home."
"Okay, but just remember that you're meant to be resting. No running around for me, no work for at least a week, fair?"
"Yeah, that's fair. I guess this means we're going to be telling Casey and Boden about the baby... But let's leave this part out, alright? I'll volunteer to take a transfer to a desk job at OFI or the academy."
"Okay. That sounds good. I can make some calls for you, see what's available."
"Have I ever told you how much I love you?"
"You can always tell me one more time," Kelly said teasingly.
"I love you more than anything, Kelly Severide. There's no one I'd rather be with."
Stella hated bed rest, that much was certain. It seemed ridiculous to her to have her terminally ill partner fetching her snacks and such, but if it meant protecting their baby, then she would spend the rest of the pregnancy laying in bed, but Stella sincerely hoped that it wouldn't come to that.
On the third day of bed rest, Stella heard Kelly walking through the apartment, and as he entered their bedroom a moment later, she noticed that he was very breathless and sweaty. Stella could also swear that she saw a few flecks of paint on his tanned skin.
It took all her self control to not jump out of the bed to check on him. "Hey Kelly, are you doing okay?"
Kelly smiled wearily, as he sat down on the edge of their bed. "I'm good, Stel. Really good actually."
"Okay... What have you been doing then?"
"Well," Kelly began, his gaze shifting downwards, "I thought I'd better make a start on getting the spare room ready, you know? While I can." Kelly paused, "I know that we just had a scare, but I don't know how long I'll have before I can't do stuff like this, and I want to make sure that everything is set up right for you and the baby."
Stella sat upright in the bed, and firmly clasped hands with Kelly. "That is so sweet of you, Kelly, but we're going to have plenty of time to get the nursery ready. You don't have to do it now."
Kelly pulled his hands away. "Stella, we've got to be realistic. I might be gone in a few months, and who knows how sick I'll get before that. I'm going to be gone, and you'll be raising our baby alone. It's important to me that I do this for you both."
Stella could feel the prickle of tears forming in her eyes. "I don't want to lose you."
"And I don't want to leave you, but we don't really have much of a choice here."
"I know."
When Kelly and Stella walked into the firehouse several days later, they were greeted warmly by everyone they passed, as they made their way to the Chief's office.
Luckily, Casey was already in Chief Boden's office discussing another matter that neither Stella nor Kelly heard as they knocked on the door.
Boden waved them into the office. "To what do we owe the pleasure?"
"I'm pregnant," Stella said so quickly that Casey and Boden almost missed it. "We had a scare a few of days ago, so here is my transfer request. I know that I'm leaving you short staffed, Chief, but I've got to do what's best for this baby," Stella continued on, subconsciously placing a hand to her belly.
Once the initial shock had passed, Boden and Casey were over the moon to hear about Stella's pregnancy. After learning of Kelly's fate, their firehouse family had found themselves in need of some good news. It wasn't long before Stella got word that she was being temporarily reassigned to an administrative role at the academy.
It was hardly her dream job, but she just focused on the tiny human growing inside her, and that was all the reason that she needed to justify having given up working on Truck 81, at least for now.
A weight still hung over Kelly and Stella though, an omnipresent force weighing them down. It was the knowledge that their baby may never meet its father, that Kelly may very well be dead before the baby was due.
And every day, as Stella left for work, she couldn't help than to wonder if she was doing the right thing in leaving Kelly home unassisted. There was too much being left to chance, but Kelly was insistent that he could take care of himself, at least while Stella worked through the daytime, and with medical bills rapidly piling up, Stella had to keep working in whatever capacity she could.
Life continued on in this fashion for nearly three weeks, but just before Kelly's second chemotherapy treatment, he awoke to find that his pillowcase was covered in prickly hairs.
It was just hair, and Kelly wouldn't have minded, but knowing that once it was gone, it would likely never get the chance to grow back, that was a bitter pill to swallow.
Leaving Stella asleep on her side of the bed, Kelly took his oxygen concentrator with him into the bathroom, and closed the door behind himself.
Kelly opened a drawer to retrieve his clippers, and proceeded to shave his hair off until only a patchy short stubble remained.
Kelly could hardly recognise himself. His face was just slightly to pale and drawn, the oxygen prongs snaked under his nose, and of course his hair was for all intensive purposes gone.
To add insult to injury, Kelly knew that he and Stella were to meet with the palliative care specialist that afternoon. It was just another reminder that his days were numbered.
As she had done with the oxygen addition, Stella didn't comment on Kelly's shaven head, instead opting to give him a tender kiss as she made their breakfasts.
And as they sat down to eat breakfast, Kelly spoke, asking, "Do we really have to meet this person at the palliative care place? It's not like I need anything that isn't already being done."
"That's not the point, Kelly. They do a lot more than you think. I obviously can't force you to go, but I'm asking you, please go to the meeting."
Kelly didn't answer as a coughing fit overwhelmed him. Almost unthinkingly, Stella handed him a napkin to wipe the blood from his hand. It was a reality that they had little choice other than to accept.
"Okay, I'll go, but just to talk."
"Okay," Stella agreed. She took another bite of her pancakes, and moment later she asked, "Have you thought anymore about calling your Mom or Katie?"
"There's no point, Stel. It'll just worry them."
"And hearing that you're dead won't?!" Stella said in frustration. This wasn't the first time she'd broached the subject. Seeing Kelly's expression drop, Stella quickly apologised.
"I know I need to tell them, I'm just trying to figure out how. It's not something I can just say over the phone."
"Then why don't you invite them for dinner? I can help you talk to them."
"Yeah, that'd be great... My other and my half-sister in one room, nothing could go wrong there," Kelly said sarcastically.
"Somehow I don't think that will be an issue," Stella said, alluding to the obvious nature of Kelly's current condition.
"Okay, fine. When are we doing this?"
"I was thinking of this weekend, maybe Friday night?"
"Okay, I'll call them later."
"Thank you, Kelly. Oh and before I forget, do you want to tell them about the baby?"
Kelly smiled, "Hell yeah, I do."
When they arrived at Fairview Palliative Care Centre, Kelly and Stella were surprised to see a warmly decorated building. Whatever they had been expecting, it wasn't this.
They were greeted kindly by a young receptionist, who offered them drinks before showing them where they could wait.
The nurse at the palliative care service was nice enough, she seemed like someone who cared about her patients, and was committed to helping them.
She showed Kelly and Stella through to a small office in what was clearly an administration area. They each took a seat in the comfortable chairs offered.
"Hi, my name is Susan, and like I said, I'll be your main contact whilst you're receiving care from us. I like to start these meetings by finding out what you already know about palliative care. Is that alright?"
"Yeah, I guess so," Kelly responded. "Palliative care is what people do when you're about to um... die." It was rather blunt, but Kelly couldn't bring himself to show how much the thought effected him.
"Yes and no. Our scope of practice includes anyone with what we call a 'life limiting illness', which can be a lot of different things, and we meet people at all stages in their illnesses. Personally, I think that it's better that you start working with us as early in your condition as possible, as you have. It means that we can arrange for you to receive whatever you may need well in advance. For example, if it would improve your quality of life, then we could arrange for you to receive your chemotherapy infusions at home, or provide a patient controlled analgesia machine when that becomes necessary."
"It's going to hurt?"
Kelly wasn't expecting that response from the palliative care nurse, and he couldn't prepare himself for what came next.
"Most likely, yes it could hurt if we don't keep proper control of your condition. And in any case it's likely you will reach a point where you require intravenous morphine to relieve the discomfort and anxiety from a lack of oxygen. I'm sorry, I know that this is a lot to take in. Would you two like a minute to talk?"
Kelly glanced to Stella, she looked a little shaky, but seemed to be holding her own. "No thanks, we're good."
"Okay. For today all I need you to do is fill out some paperwork, and then I'll show you our respite care facility. And I am aware that you want to stay at home, but I also understand that you're expecting a baby, and a time may come when Stella here needs a break from the caregiving role, so I will show you our respite wing as well."
To be continued...
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