there's no place like home
"You ready to blow this popsicle stand?"
"You have no idea." Severide smiled, looking up from the bag he was packing and turning his attention to the door of his hospital room where Stella was waiting. "Where's Maya?"
"Casey and Brett took her to grab lunch for us while I came to get you," Stella explained, entering the room to stand next to Kelly. "She was very excited when she found out you were coming home today. She was practically bouncing off the walls."
"She doing okay?"
It'd been almost a week since Severide had been shot and Maya had been kidnapped. The first night, Maya and Stella both spent the night in his hospital room. Casey and Brett had offered to take Maya home for the night and the Cruzs' offered Maya a sleep over with little Otis, but Maya refused. It was a rare occurrence for Maya to throw a fit, but the tantrum that followed anyone trying to get her to leave her parents was one of epic proportions. It had taken a long time (and lots of cuddles with her daddy) before she calmed down and the hospital staff felt so bad for the toddler, they let her stay.
Natalie had one stipulation for letting Maya stay at the hospital; she had to talk to Dr. Charles. Stella agreed wholeheartedly so, while Kelly slept off his most recent dose of pain medication, she took Maya to Dr. Charles' office.
Dr. Charles spent some time with Maya, talking with her while she drew a picture for Kelly, and told Stella that, despite the tantrum, Maya seemed to be handling the day's trauma relatively well. He told Stella that Maya's clinginess, her need to be with her parents, was normal given what she'd gone through. The psychiatrist assured Stella that Maya would overcome the trauma of the day with time.
Stella and Maya left Dr. Charles' office with a referral to a child psychologist and a promise that Dr. Charles would check in on all of them tomorrow. Stella carried Maya back to Kelly's room, despite the toddler being fully capable of walking. It had been the longest, most stressful day of Stella's life and, although Maya and Kelly were going to be fine, she wanted the reassurance that came with having Maya close.
When they arrived back to Kelly's hospital room, he was still asleep, but Brett and Casey were there. They'd swung by the loft and packed a bag for Stella and Maya and grabbed dinner for the family. Despite Brett and Casey being Maya's godparents, and two of her favorite people, she only had eyes for Kelly.
She wiggled in Stella's arms, wanting to be let down. The second Maya's feet hit the floor she was running towards the bed and trying to climb up to get to her daddy. Before she could get too far and hurt herself, or wake up Kelly, Stella swooped in again. "Easy baby, we don't want to wake daddy up. Let's eat dinner first and then you can sit with him, OK?"
Maya pouted, but she listened to her mom and ate her dinner with little complaint. When she was finished however, there was nothing stopping the determined toddler from being back by her dad's side. Thankfully Kelly had woken up by that point, so getting Maya in the bed with him without hurting him was easy. Even if Maya did touch something or move in a way that caused Kelly pain, he wouldn't say anything; after watching her be taken from him, and being unable to do anything to stop it, Kelly never wanted her to leave his side again.
For the rest of that evening and the night that followed, Maya didn't. She spent the night next to him in the hospital bed and neither she nor Kelly felt the least bit guilty about making the nurses' jobs a little more difficult.
With a level of resiliency only children seem to possess, Maya was back to her normal bubbly self the next day. She put up no fight when Casey and Brett came to pick her up and take her away from the hospital for the day. Stella and Kelly weren't ready to send her back to daycare just yet, but they knew Maya needed to get out of the hospital. Plus, as their best friends, Casey and Brett would likely be less annoyed by their constant text messages to check in.
The plan was for Maya to stay with Casey and Brett for a few days while Stella stayed at the hospital with Kelly however, the plan changed after the toddler struggled with nightmares throughout the night. They brought her back to the hospital the next day and Kelly and Stella were just going to have her stay with them, but Dr. Charles suggested getting Maya back on her normal schedule, as best as possible.
So that's what they did. Over the next few days, Stella and Maya spent their nights at the loft and their days bouncing between visiting Kelly in the hospital, going to therapy appointments, and getting back in the swing of their daily routine. And now that Kelly was finally coming home, the family would be together again, and things would get back to normal.
Or whatever 'normal' would look like for them now.
"She's back to her normal, happy self. It's like it never even happened." Stella sighed softly. "And that's what worries me."
"Hey," Kelly said, dropping the shirt in his hands and turning to face Stella. He wrapped his arms around her. "We're gonna get her all the help, love, and support she needs. She's going to be fine. She's strong, just like her mom."
Stella wrapped her arms around his neck and smiled at his sweet words. He always knew what to say to calm her down. "She has you too, you know."
"Let's just hope she hasn't inherited my coping skills," Kelly said with a self-deprecating grin.
Stella rolled her eyes but chuckled. She removed her arms from around Kelly's neck and lightly slapped his chest before picking up the bag on the bed and slinging it over her shoulder. She held out a hand, "Let's go home."
Kelly grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze. "Yes please."
… … …
It was a quick trip from the hospital back to the loft. When they opened the door, Casey and Brett were in the kitchen, sitting out the food for lunch, while Maya sat close by in one of the bar stools. The second Maya saw them, she jumped from her bar stool and ran towards them, scaring her parents and her godparents. "Mommy! DADDY!"
The toddler sprinted straight for Kelly, but Stella squatted down and grabbed her before she could crash into Kelly's legs. "Easy baby girl. What did we say about jumping off the bar stools?"
"No jumpin'," Maya said quietly. "But daddy—!"
"Just got out of the hospital and we don't want to go back because you need stitches or a cast." Stella scolded gently. "OK?"
Maya nodded and Stella hugged her, placing a kiss on the top of her head.
"Can I hug daddy now?" Maya asked sweetly.
Stella and Kelly shared a look and laughed. "Yes baby," Stella said. "You have to be gentle though, OK? Daddy's still hurt so you have to be careful."
Maya nodded excitedly and Stella moved out of the way, allowing Maya to gently, but excitedly, wrap her arms around Kelly's legs. He reached down and placed a hand on her head, running his fingers through her curls.
After breaking off the hug, Maya grabbed Kelly's hand and tried to pull him towards the kitchen. "Lunch time daddy! Unca Matt got your favorite!"
Kelly let Maya pull him into the kitchen, where he saw the spread of food on the kitchen island. The toddler was right, Casey and Brett did get one of his favorite restaurants for lunch, but he also saw an order of chicken nuggets he knew came from somewhere else.
"Looks like Uncle Matt got your favorite too," Kelly said with a smile.
Maya's smile grew and she nodded, her curls bouncing happily. Kelly snorted and looked from his daughter to his best friend, quirking an eyebrow.
"You didn't need to stop and get her something special. She would've eaten this," Kelly said, gesturing to the other food on the island.
Casey shrugged; he's never been able to say no to his goddaughter. "She was so excited about them when I asked her what we should get you…I didn't want to break her heart."
Kelly and Stella shared a look and laughed. Brett tried to laugh with them, but they knew she was just as complicit as Casey was and, once again, the parents were thankful for choosing their best friends to be their daughter's godparents.
The group made their plates and gathered around the table, settling in for some good food and good conversation. Kelly took his meds and convinced Maya to eat something other than chicken nuggets. The toddler was fairly easy to convince—all Kelly had to do was promise to be the one to put her down for her nap and she happily ate the veggies he put on her plate.
Once lunch was finished, Kelly grabbed Maya's hand and walked her into her room, keeping his promise about putting her down for her nap. While he was gone, Stella, Brett and Casey cleaned up from lunch and put everything away. They retired to the living room to wait for Kelly to return, but after 30 minutes, he still hadn't emerged from Maya's room.
Stella knew that if anything bad or concerning had happened to Kelly, Maya would've yelled for her, but after everything that had happened the past week, she still had a bad feeling in her stomach. Leaving Casey and Brett in the living room, Stella made her way to Maya's room and quietly opened her door. The sight she was met with chased out the bad feelings, leaving nothing but peace and love behind.
Kelly and Maya were on her bed, sound asleep. Kelly had his arm around Maya, securely holding her against his side. Stella smiled and leaned against the doorway, watching for a moment. She closed the door behind her and made her way back to the living room.
"They OK?" Casey asked.
"They're good," Stella said with a smile.
There was still healing to do, for everyone, but the Severide family was together again and that was a good start.
A/N: this is a continuation of day 2 of Stellaride Appreciation Week, or chapter 2 of 'we could be the greatest team that the world has ever seen'
Check it out on my profile if you haven't already!
Thanks to Rosie on AO3 for the prompt!
