Disclaimer: I don't own Chicago Fire or any affiliated shows, or the characters thereof. This is just for fun.

I hope that there are still people out there reading along. Just a heads up, this story is drawing to a close, if you have any final suggestions, now's the time…

I hope that you like the latest chapter of An Occupational Hazard.

Chapter Sixteen

Stella was rushed by ambulance to Gaffney Chicago Medical Center after Cindy was forced to pry her free of Kelly's weakened grasp. Cindy remained with Kelly, and called her husband to have everyone from the firehouse meet Stella at the hospital.

But before anyone could arrive to be with Stella, she was taken into surgery for an emergency caesarean section, as an ultrasound had revealed that her placenta was tearing away from the uterine wall. Stella was bleeding to death, and while there was still a heartbeat on the ultrasound, no one knew how long they had.

As Wallace Boden sat alongside his crew, even he couldn't find the words to comfort them. Their friend and colleague was in surgery, on the brink of death, and her unborn baby was in grave danger.

When Cindy arrived, having called a nurse from the hospice to take over from her, she was quickly spotted by her husband, who made his way over to her.

"How is she?"

"We haven't heard anything yet," Christopher Herrmann replied worriedly. "What happened?"

Cindy shook her head. Christopher noticed that his wife's whole body was trembling. "I was sitting in the living room when I heard Stella cry out; there was so much blood. I called an ambulance, you know the rest. I will tell you though, I thought that I was going to hurt Kelly when I tried to get him to let go of Stella. He was just cradling her, it was like he knew what was happening, but that can't be…"

"Who's with Severide now?"

"I called the hospice, they sent a nurse to sit with him."

"You know that you're amazing, right?" Herrmann said, pulling his wife into a comforting embrace, before escorting her over to join the assembled group.

"I just pray that Stella and the baby are alright," Cindy replied as she allowed herself to be led to a free seat.

Over five hours later, a weary looking doctor wearing surgical scrubs approached the assembled group. Chief Boden stepped forward to meet the doctor.

"How's our girl, doc?"

"Ms Kidd suffered what we call a placental abuption, which is where the placenta tears away from the uterine wall. Thankfully, we were able to deliver her baby safely and also control the bleeding. She will need to spend a day or so in the intensive care unit as a precaution. She's very lucky to have been brought to the hospital as quickly as she was, otherwise we might have had a very different outcome."

"And the baby?" Cindy was now at Wallace's side.

"We took the baby straight to our neonatal intensive care unit, he is currently on a ventilator to support his breathing, and along with the use of a humidicrib to help him regulate his body temperature, we are also feeding him through a nasogastric feeding tube due to his prematurity."

"It's a little boy?" Cindy asked, feeling hopeful for the first time in quite awhile.

"Yes, yes, he is," The doctor smiled. "Now, I can allow one of you into the ICU to sit with Ms Kidd. I would also recommend that someone here goes up to the NICU to watch over the baby. The next few hours are going to be critical for both mother and baby."

While Cindy and Christopher Herrmann were chosen to go be at the baby's bedside, Chief Boden and Sylvie Brett made their way into the ICU to be with Stella.

If it wasn't for the central line in Stella's neck, which was connected to multiple medication pumps and blood products, the assortment of monitors, and the pale hue of her skin, then Stella might have looked as though she was only sleeping.

That was not the case though. As it was, Stella was barely clinging to life.

"Oh, honey," Sylvie murmured as she rushed to Stella's bedside.

Boden opted to stay a ways back, but he too said a few words; mind you his choice of words was far less eloquent. After a moment, he asked Sylvie, "When will she wake up?"

"…It could be awhile or she could wake up any time now, it's impossible to say. There's just too many factors."

"What kind of factors?"

"The anaesthetic for one, whether she was getting enough oxygen before the ambulance arrived, how quickly her body recovers from the blood loss and surgery. I wish I could give you a better answer, there just isn't one."

It was at that moment that Stella's eyes shot open, and only Boden's quick thinking kept her from try to leap upright.

"I'll go find her nurse," Sylvie said softly, stepping out into the corridor.

"Hey, hey now, just calm down, Stella. I've got you, you're alright," Boden said gently, relaxing his grip as Stella slid back onto the bed.

"It hurts," Stella whispered, her voice hoarse.

"Yeah, they had to do an emergency c-section. The doctor said you had a torn placenta or something like that."

"The baby?"

"He is in the NICU, Christopher and Cindy went up to be there with him."

"It's a little boy?"

"Yeah. Let me see if I can get a video link going so you can meet your son," Boden said kindly as he reached for his phone, and called Christopher. As soon as they established a video call between the two phones, Boden held his phone in front of Stella so that she could see the tiny baby boy in the humidicrib shown on the screen.

Tears fell from Stella's eyes as her fingers went to the phone so that she was all but touching the live video of her infant son.

Sylvie soon returned with a nurse in tow, but upon seeing Stella at that moment, the nurse agreed to let them watch over Stella for a bit longer before she would intervene.

Stella was in good hands.

As Cindy Herrmann tearily held her husband's phone at the opening of the humidicrib, she could only be thankful that all of her own children had been born healthy.

The NICU was a daunting environment to experience, as each crib held a critically ill newborn, who was being constantly tended to by their own assigned nurse. Monitors and machines made a cacophony of sounds that seemed to fill the air. Some cribs had one or both parents present, and some had no one other than their nurse. It was heartbreaking to think that not all of the tiny infants in this unit would ever go home.

Still, Cindy felt herself smile as she listened to Stella croon softly to her infant son through the phone, Cindy knew how loved this baby was.

To Be Continued…

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