"I'm Not Going Anywhere."

Quiet shifts were a luxury for the dedicated men and women of Firehouse 51. Quiet shifts during a particularly harsh Chicago winter, however, usually meant that trouble was brewing.

As usual, 51 kept their doors open, welcoming in those who need to warm up.

From his spot at the Squad table, Severide noticed someone hanging around near the street. The guy looked to be in his late teens or early 20s and was not dressed appropriately to be out in single digit temperature. He knew most people in the area knew that the station was open to the public—they could warm up, grab a hot cup of coffee or hot chocolate and come and go as they please. There were some people who didn't know or didn't "want the help", but usually would change their minds with some convincing from the fire fighters.

There was something about this guy though; something felt off about him and Severide couldn't put a finger on it.

As Severide was staring at the guy through the bay door windows, Cruz stuck his head out of the common room and announced that there were fresh pots of coffee and hot chocolate.

Capp and Tony abandoned their Jenga game and stood from their chairs, more than ready for a fresh cup. "You coming in for a refill, Lieutenant?"

"Not yet," Severide said, standing up from his recliner and slipping his beanie on his head. "That guy out there? He's been out there for a while. I'm gonna go see if he needs any help or wants to come in and warm up."

Capp and Tony both looked out and saw who Severide was talking about. They nodded their understanding.

"I'll be back soon," Severide stated and made his way to the door.

It was a bitter cold outside, making Severide shiver and tuck his hands deep inside his Squad jacket pockets. He ducked his head against the wind and made his way over to where the guy was still standing. As Severide got closer, he saw the guy was more like a kid—no more than 18 or 19.

"Hey," Severide called as he approached the kid. "You OK, bud?"

"I'm fine," the kid grumbled out, his voice agitated.

"You sure? It's way too cold to stay out here without a thicker jacket. You wanna come inside the station? Warm up and maybe get some hot chocolate or a coffee?"

"I said I'm fine!" the kid yelled. He turned to face Severide face to face.

Looking at the kid, Severide realized that he wasn't shivering like he originally thought. He was shaking, sweating heavily even though it was freezing, his eyes were wide and crazed, and his agitation was growing. He was high on something and Severide recognized it immediately.

"You're clearly not fine," Severide pointed out. "You're high as a kite. What are you on?"

"NOTHING!"

"It's not safe for you to be out in this weather, especially in this condition." Severide said, trying to reason with the kid. "Let's just go inside—"

"So you can call the police?" the kid interrupted. "I don't think so!"

Before Severide could do anything, the kid in front of him pulled out a knife and lunged at him.

Pain erupted in Severide's chest and abdomen. He felt multiple hits, almost like punches but sharper. The attack was quick and frenzied, performed at a speed only a drug high could provide. Before Severide could even try to fight back, the attack was over and the kid was hurrying away down the street.

Severide collapsed to the frozen ground, just out of sight of the station's bay doors. He felt a warm wetness spreading quickly over his body. His limbs didn't seem to want to cooperate, but he was eventually able to get his hand onto his stomach. Pulling his hand back, he saw that it was covered in blood.

Severide was fading fast, and he knew he needed help. Slowly, as if his limbs were made of lead, Severide tried to get his cellphone out of his pants pocket. He succeed and even managed to get the phone unlocked and pull up Stella's contact information but, before he could connect the call, his entire world went black. His phone fell into the snow beside him, Stella's info still pulled up on the screen.

... ... ...

Inside the station, almost everyone was in the common room drinking coffee and hot chocolate. It had been about 10 minutes since Severide had gone outside and no one had noticed he hadn't come back.

It wasn't until Casey and Boden entered and asked where he was that some of them even knew he'd gone somewhere.

"He hasn't come back yet?" Capp asked, setting his mug on the table.

"What do you mean 'he hasn't come back yet'?" Casey asked. "Where'd he go?"

"He saw someone outside," Tony explained. "He was going to go talk to them, see if he could get them to come inside and warm up."

"He said he'd be right back." Capp added.

"Well, he's not in here, in his office or at the Squad table." Casey asked, crossing his arms. "How long ago was that?"

Capp glanced at the time on his phone. "About 10 minutes."

At this point, everyone in the room was concerned. The temperature outside was in the single digits, and it had started snowing again. There was no way Severide would be outside talking with someone for 10 minutes in those conditions (unless, of course, they were on a call). But, if he wasn't in the station, there was only one place he could be.

Stella sat her mug on the counter and pulled out her phone, immediately calling her fiancé's number. It rang and rang, but Severide didn't pick looked at the group, moving her phone from her ear to dial Severide's number again. "His phone's on but he didn't answer."

"Keep calling him," Casey said. He started zipping up his jacket. "I'm going to go look for him."

"I'm coming with you," Stella said.

"We are too," Capp and Tony added, standing from their chairs.

Soon, all the others had volunteered to go as well, and they were all bundling up in heavier coats.

Once outside the station, they all spread out to look for Severide. Stella continued calling his phone, so they were listening for the ringing along with looking for any trace of him.

It didn't take long, maybe a minute or two, before a panicked yell from Cruz had everyone running to the side of the station.

Stella didn't know what she was expecting to find when she made it over, but her fiancé, unconscious in a far too large pool of blood was not it. "Oh my god, Kelly!"

She immediately dropped to her knees, opposite Cruz, and stared in horror at Severide's body. She could easily count 4 stab wounds, but there was so much blood there could've been more.

Immediately, she used her hands to apply pressure to two of the wounds while Cruz did the same to the others. Stella heard someone yell for Brett and Violet to grab their gear and she heard Boden yelling into his radio for dispatch to send CPD and stand them down but her only focus was Severide.

Brett and Violet arrived and worked together to replace Stella and Cruz's hands with pressure bandages. They got him hooked up to oxygen, IVs and monitors and loaded onto the stretcher.

From the amount of blood on the ground, everyone knew the situation was critical but the looks on Brett and Violet's faces did absolutely nothing to calm their fears.

They had just loaded the stretcher into the ambulance when the CPD arrived.

Stella and Brett climbed into the back of the ambo with Severide while Violet hopped into the driver's seat. Lights and sirens blaring, they rushed off to Med, leaving Boden and the rest of the team to deal with the police and try to make sense of everything.

... ... ...

One stab wound that lacerated the liver.

One stab wound that nicked the spleen.

One stab wound that punctured a lung.

One stab would towards the middle of the chest that, miraculously, missed the hear by millimeters.

Massive blood loss and hypovolemic shock, which led to cardiac arrest.

And mild hypothermia, which slowed Severide's heart enough to keep him from bleeding out on the scene.

There were several close calls, three blood transfusions, a chest tube, and Severide was in for a long recovery, but he was alive and as stable as he could be. He was going to be OK.

That was the report Stella got from Dr. Marcel after close to seven hours of surgery.

During that excruciating wait, Stella and the rest of 51 learned from Trudy that CPD had found and arrested the kid who attacked Severide. He was an 18-year-old high school drop out with a history of drug abuse and assault (and a warrant out for his arrest), high as a kite and still covered in Severide's blood when the police found him. He was refusing to talk, but they had more than enough evidence against him.

Kelly Severide had such a good heart. Often times it got him in trouble, this time though, it almost got him killed.

Stella sighed and stood from the chair beside Severide's hospital bed. She gave his hand a squeeze and used her free hand to run her fingers through his hair. They'd started weaning him off the sedation a few hours ago, and Stella was desperate to see Severide's blue eyes open again.

It seemed like Stella was going to get her wish when, after a couple of minutes, she felt him squeeze her hand. "Kelly? Can you hear me? Can you open your eyes for me?"

It took a few seconds, but eventually Severide opened his eyes. Stella smiled at him. "Hey."

Severide hummed a response and it took him a little while to get his bearings and find his voice. "What happened?"

"You were stabbed outside of the station. By the time we found you, you'd been bleeding out in the snow for ten minutes."

"How bad?" Severide asked quietly.

Stella sighed. "Pretty bad. You got stabbed four times; Dr. Marcel had to repair some damage to your liver and spleen, your lung was punctured, and the fourth stab came within millimeters of your heart. You lost a lot of blood and were dealing with mild hypothermia but you're going to be OK."

"Damn," Severide moaned. "I thought he needed help."

"I know babe." Stella comforted. She moved a hand to his cheek. "CPD has him now, maybe this will be the thing that helps him get clean."

Severide nodded in agreement, but he knew Stella didn't believe her own words. He didn't believe them either.

A few minutes passed quietly, the couple just happy to be together, until Stella spoke again.

"You really scared the hell out of me." Stella scolded gently. "I mean it Kelly, it was close this time. You almost didn't come back from this."

"I'm sorry I scared you," Severide said, sincerely. "I'm not going anywhere."

"Good. Because I'm looking forward to spending the rest of my life with you."

Severide smiled a tired smile. "I like the sound of that."

Stella smiled and leaned forward to kiss him. "Me too."

A/N: so I'm not in love with this chapter. this isn't the chapter I had planned for today's prompt and this isn't really the way I wanted to end Stellaride Appreciation Week.

hopefully it's still good