a baby changes everything

Stella paced around the bathroom at the loft, casting glances at the counter with every pass. She had less than three minutes before knowing, for certain, whether her (and Kelly's) life was going to change forever. Checking the timer on her phone, Stella saw that it was ticking down, but she swore time was standing still.

She'd been suspecting something was off for a few days. She'd been more fatigued than normal, despite unusually quiet shifts, the thought of some of her favorite foods and drinks made her sick, but the real kicker came on shift last night when Sylvie asked her for a tampon. Stella froze in front of her locker, realizing that she hadn't had her period that month. She did the math in her head; she was almost a week late. Suddenly all her symptoms made sense.

Sylvie picked up on Stella's freeze. "You OK?"

Stella had played it off, commenting that she'd just remembered something she needed to do when they got off shift, and gave Sylvie what she needed.

The rest of shift went by way too slow for Stella's liking. She tried to act normal, and most of her teammates bought it, but Kelly knew her better than anyone and he knew something was going on with her. He'd asked her about it more than once, but Stella just gave him an excuse, a kiss on the lips, and told him not to worry.

Once shift had ended, Stella all but sprinted from the station to her car. On her way back to the loft, Stella stopped by a pharmacy and grabbed a box of tests all the while thanking the stars that she and Kelly had driven to the firehouse separately. Leaving the pharmacy, Stella sped the rest of the way to the loft. She needed to take the test. She needed to know.

When the timer finally sounded, Stella silenced her phone, grabbed the test, and flipped it over. The result had Stella collapsing onto the edge of the bathtub, staring blankly at the wall in front of her.

Positive.

She was pregnant.

Stella absentmindedly moved her free hand to her stomach. It no way resembled a bump, and Stella was certain she was still in the early weeks, but the action felt natural, calming even. Calm was something Stella needed at the moment; her heart was pounding and her thoughts were racing. Was this real? What was Kelly going to say? Was he going to be happy? Could they actually be parents? What about work?

She knew Kelly wanted kids –he'd mentioned before, casually dropping it into their conversation during the flesh-eating bacteria outbreak several years ago—but they hadn't discussed having kids yet. They'd barely been married for a year (it was most likely the night of their anniversary that got them in this position). Stella certainly hadn't planned to be starting their family so soon; she'd finally gotten her Lieutenant's placement at 51 and she still had big plans for Girls on Fire.

Being pregnant meant she'd have to transfer to a desk job for the remainder of the pregnancy.

She'd have to take time off after the baby was born.

She and Kelly were on the same shift, which meant their baby would be without both of them for 24 hours at a time, each time they had a shift.

Could they do that to their kid? Was it fair to him or her?

Stella's thoughts started to spiral, sending her down a dark path of anxiety and uncertainty. She took deep breaths and rubbed her hand back and forth across her stomach, desperately trying to calm herself.

She was snapped out of her thoughts when she heard Kelly call her name from the main area of the loft. He had a meeting at the Fire Academy after shift and Stella had been counting on it lasting longer than it did, needing that time to figure out what to tell Kelly (regardless of what the test said). Unfortunately, she didn't get that time.

Stella stuffed the pregnancy test into her back pocket and exited the bathroom and bedroom to find her husband in the kitchen. "Hey! I thought you had a meeting at the Academy?"

Kelly looked over to see Stella approaching and gave her a smirk. "Calling it a meeting was generous. I just had to pick up the roster info for the next round of candidates."

Stella hummed as Kelly wrapped his arms around her waist. She returned the action, wrapping her arms around Kelly's neck.

"Now that we're both home though," Kelly started, looking down into Stella's eyes. "You want to tell me what's really going on with you?"

Stella sighed and moved her arms down. "I just realized something at work and it threw me for a loop."

"What'd you realize?"

"That I was late." Stella shared. She was staring at Kelly's face, so she saw when he connected the dots.

"Late as in…"

Stella pulled the pregnancy test out of her back pocket and placed it in one of Kelly's hands, positive result facing up and clear as day.

Kelly stared at the pregnancy test for a long time, overwhelmed. His thoughts and emotions were running wild, and he was being bombarded with memories of his own childhood. His dad had left when he was a kid, leaving Kelly and his mom all alone, and then popped in and out of his life when it was convenient. Kelly always swore, if and when he ever had a kid of his own, he'd never do what Benny did to him. Now, he was getting a chance to make good on that promise.

He felt a smile forming on his face as he looked up from the test in his hands to Stella. Kelly sat the test on the counter then cupped Stella's face and kissed her passionately.

When they broke apart from the kiss, Stella looked at Kelly with a quirked eyebrow. "Does that mean you're happy about this?"

"Of course I am!" Kelly huffed out with a chuckle, smile still on his face. His smile fell a little as he noticed Stella's expression. "Are you?"

"Yeah!" Stella answered immediately. "It's just…"

"Just what?" Kelly asked gently, encouraging her to keep talking.

"We're having a baby," Stella declared, tears beginning to well up in her eyes. "A baby changes everything."

Kelly grabbed one of Stella's hands and gave it a comforting squeeze. "Not everything. You and me? That's never going to change."

Kelly spun Stella around and wrapped his arms around her, his hands settling on her stomach. Stella put her hands on top of his and leaned back into his chest. Kelly placed a kiss on her temple and rested his chin on her shoulder. "We've got this, Stella Kidd."


A/N: in order to maintain a somewhat regular posting schedule, I'm only allowing myself to write a Maya fic AFTER I've finished a chapter of my other WIP, Forged by Fire. I LOVE writing Maya, so hopefully this little arrangement is beneficial.

got any prompts for Maya? let's chat on Tumblr!

thank you to justforfanpages for the prompt!