Sorry for the confusion, I uploaded the wrong chapter and quickly had to delete and re upload here is number 4 :)

His foot tapped against the table leg as he waited, waited to be allowed back inside. The man having practically been dragged from her side an hour ago while they allowed the physical therapist go about her job. All of them understanding the importance of keeping the bodies limbs mobile even when the woman in the bed wasn't. Matt had suggested they took the doctors advice but both Severide and Dawson had shut him down, neither one of them in any way ready to leave the hospital. The Truck lieutenant finally managing to convince them to at least go down to the cafe for some food. Severide only taking a couple of bites of his sandwich before throwing it in the trash, Casey wanting to argue he needed to eat but knowing that now was certainly not the time. The last thing any of them needed now was to get into a fight with each other over something silly, he had managed to convince them to come to the cafe, and he'd taken a few bites, that for now he'd take as a win even if he wished his friend would at least try and eat a bit more. As for Gabby, well she hadn't been so easy to convince to do anything but order a coffee, the brunette barely having said two words since the altercation with her brother earlier on that morning. Matt not really knowing what to say to her, the blonde opting for being a silent strength beside her, knowing that he had to tread carefully if he didn't want to end up on the rough side of her tongue like her brother had.

"Do you think we can go back in yet?" Kelly asked for the tenth time in the past half an hour.

"Dr Robins said she text us when she was finished." Matt said again earning a nod from the squad lieutenant. The other man resuming the tapping of his foot as the all sat in an awkward silence. Each of them lost in their own thoughts, wrapped up in their own grief. "Have you been able to contact her sister yet?"

"No I left a message but I've heard nothing back."

"Well it's not like they are close is it?" Dawson said, her voice making both the men jump. "What?" she asked when she saw their shocked expressions, "I'm just saying, why do you think Stella would want her here after everything..." She cut herself off unsure if either men were aware of the extent of the estranged relationship Stella had with her sister.

"No matter what happened between them they are still family" Kelly said gently earning a nod of agreement from Matt, Gabby scoffing at them as her attention returned to her coffee. The paramedic clearly cutting herself off from the conversation she'd started. Casey raised an eyebrow of concern at the man sat next to him, the two of them silently exchanging the same message, that the PIC was not taking this at all well. In fact Kelly would say she'd taken it the hardest next to him, the two of them being the closet to the firefighter lay down the hall. Before anyone could voice their concerns Kelly's phone buzzed, everyone's focus moving to the unknown number appearing on his screen.

"Hello"

"Kelly it's Dr Robins, we're all finished up if you want to come back in."

"Thanks Doc, we'll be right in."

Dawson stood up first the woman making her way across to the door before either man could move, tossing her trash in the bin as she went.

Walking down the street holding his hand felt like the most natural thing in the world, but was it real? It all seemed to good to be true, she'd got the man that everyone told her had commitment issues. But she'd finally got him to do just that, commit to something and everything was perfect but part of her couldn't allow herself to believe it. Here they were making their way to dinner with his dad, the man wanting to officially introduce them. But something in the air told her he was just as nervous as she was, his relationship with the man they were meeting complicated. A relationship affecting her boyfriend more than he'd ever admit, the way he spoke about his dad said it all. Benny Severide was almost as complex as his son, she just hoped that tonight he would be happy for them and they could all enjoy their night together.

"After you" he said holding the door open for her, a soft smile resting on his lips as she looked across at him, their bodies brushing against one and another as she entered the restaurant.

"Why thank you kind sir."

"We have a reservation under Severide." Kelly told the waiter, shrugging of his leather jacket before helping Stella out of hers.

"Of course sir, right this way. Your father is already here and seated."

"Thank you" Kelly said, taking her hand, following the waiter across the crowded room to a table in the back. Benny standing up to greet them as they arrived.

"Kelly and you must be Stella" he said shaking his sons hand firmly and planting a kiss to Stella's cheek. "I'm so happy that we're finally able to meet, I've heard so much about you."

"Good things I hope?" she laughed, glancing towards Kelly as he pulled her seat out for her, waiting for his girlfriend to be situated before taking up the seat next to her.

"Never" Kelly laughed.

"I took the liberty of ordering us all the steak, I hope neither of you mind?" Benny said watching the couple admirably. Kelly scoffing slightly but not arguing with the arrangement, knowing that if he voiced his opinion about his dad making decisions for them all it would turn into a fight before long, and over something as silly as steak, well it just wasn't worth it, not when he knew they all liked it anyway. Before long they'd all fallen into easy conversation mainly about the house, Benny having served out of fifty one back in his days as a firefighter before he moved to arson. The older man wanting to hear all the details of their latest calls. Stella watching as Kelly walked him through a recent warehouse fire that had turned out to be arson, Benny questioning the younger mans every decision.

"So Stella, what made you want to become a firefighter?" Benny asked turning his attention to the woman sat across from him.

"There was really nothing else I ever wanted to do." she replied proudly, "ever since I was a teenager I just knew that this was the job I wanted to do, it's like I was meant to do it."

"It's a noble profession, a difficult one for a woman. You know a lot of the guys I served with in my day wouldn't have had a woman riding with us. They would have said it was a mans job, and to be honest I have to say I agree." Kelly eyed his dad strongly, if anything was true about his old man, it was that he didn't hold back, he spoke his mind and he didn't care who he offended but there was no way he was going to sit there and let him insult his girl.

"She's a good firefighter dad. One of the best."

"Oh Kelly, I wasn't saying she isn't but firefighting, it's a mans job, woman they just aren't built the same way. What happens when they have to move a guy twice their size and need an extra pair of hands? I'm just saying that having a woman on the team is almost certainly going to increase your recovery times."

"Benny" Kelly said, the frustration in his voice telling his dad to drop the subject, the older man taking the hint and changing the subject again. Everyone around the table happy when their meals arrived ending the awkward way this meal was going. Kelly made a point of trying to keep the conversation away from firefighting for the rest of their time together, not wanting to allow his dad's strong opinions to over shadow them, he knew Benny's feelings on women firefighters but he had never seen Stella in action, he wasn't lying when he'd said she was one of the best, she was better than almost every male firefighter he'd trained in the academy and she was certainly an excellent member of Truck eight one. Instead he kept the conversation on fishing and the outdoors, something both son and father enjoyed immensely and also a conversation that Stella could get involved in, the woman loving the outdoors just as much as they did. In fact she had suggested only earlier on that day that the two of them got away the next weekend they had off, head up to the forest and go camping, disconnect themselves from the busy city life and enjoy the nature around them. It was overall a pleasant meal, all parties managing to be civil to one another and all happily going their separate ways at the end of the night.

"Well that went better than expected." Kelly said as they walked through the front door of his loft.

"He seems alright." Stella chuckled, "I can see where you get your strong opinions from though. Like father like son on that front."

"Yeah, hopefully that's all I got from him." He said, heading towards the fridge and pulling out two beers, before settling down on the couch next to her. His arms automatically wrapping around her shoulders as she lent into him. The two relaxing into a comfortable silence together.

"So for now Cruz you are still acting Lieutenant for squad three." Chief continued, the whole house hanging onto his every word.

"Of course chief." Cruz responded the young man glancing around the room.

It had been a week since Stella had fallen into a coma, the night at Molly's sticking in everyone's head. Kelly taking the whole situation harder than most of the house, the squad lieutenant refusing to leave her side at the hospital. Her condition hadn't changed much, the doctors unsure why she still hadn't woken up, everyday that passed causing him to have more and more anxiety. No one able to contact her sister still despite leaving several messages, everyone having their questions but no one asking them and although Dawson knew of the problems the Kidd sister's had she too was surprised when they didn't hear back from her. Despite what she had said in the hospital cafe, she knew that if Bella heard of Stella's condition she would come, well she hoped she would. The young woman hoping that she could put her differences aside to at least be at her sisters beside. But it had been nothing but radio silence for the past seven days, and although Stella hadn't been alone through all of this, part of Gabby felt herself feeling sadder and sadder for the lack of blood family support the young firefighter had.

Over the past seven days Gabby had joined Kelly at her friends beside every day, today was the first time either her or Matt had come to work, Kelly assuring them that it was fine and there was no need to have all three of them sitting there. It had taken some convincing on both of the men's parts but after assuring Dawson that she would receive hourly updates and that if anything changed she could come straight back the young paramedic had agreed to get back to work. Last night being the first evening she had slept at home, Casey telling her she needed a bed and decent nights sleep before their twenty four hour shift. It had been late by the time he'd managed to convince her it was the right thing, but she did appreciate it when she woke this morning feeling more rested than she had all week.

"So that's about it for roll call" the chief continued nodding his head towards Casey, the younger man taking the hint chief was making.

"Guys I know everyone is concerned, but all we can do for Stella right now is continue doing our jobs. Kelly has her and he will update us if and when anything changes." Casey said, trying to echo everything the chief had already said. The man knowing himself that their friend wasn't holding up ok, Severide having slipped further and further into a state of self loathing over his lack of information and knowledge. The man beating himself up repeatedly about not helping her sooner, not seeing what she was going through before that night. The feeling not being helped when CPD granted her husband bail. Kelly seething when Antonio has arrived at the hospital to inform them of the decision. The older Dawson being caught in the cross hairs of Kelly's anger, that anger being mimicked by his sister moments later. Pushing the memory of that day from the forefront of his mind he continued. "I know we all want to help, that we all want to see Grant brought to justice but until Stella wakes up.." he cut himself off as everyone's eyes flashed with the same look of uncertainty, no one saying it out loud, but they all had the same concern. She hadn't woken up yet, in fact her condition had been the same for the past week. The tests showing she was still at the same point on the coma scale, the doctors uncertainty resulting in everyone else being unsure as to if she'd wake up at all. Nobody fully understanding the extent of her injuries.

"What the lieutenant is trying to say" Dawson continued, knowing by the look on her husbands face that he was struggling, "is that when Stella wakes she's going to need our support, but she wouldn't want us all relaxing on our responsibility to the citizens of Chicago because we were worrying about her. We need to still go out there and do our jobs. And we need to do them well, our worry and concern for our friend can not, and should not affect the way we deal with situations out there. We need to continue to give the same level of service we always would and always have."

Matt gave her a small grateful nod as the members of fifty one mumbled in agreement. The rounds of 'of course' and 'wouldn't do anything but' filled the room.

"So.. do the uh... have the doctors said anymore?" Hermann asked, everyone's heads wiping round to look at the older man, the unsure look on his face softening as he saw that everyone had been thinking the same thing.

"Unfortunately no" Dawson sighed, "they originally thought she'd wake up within a few days but we're now seven days in and nothing has changed."

No one said a thing as a heavy feeling settled in the air around them, the entirety of house fifty one consumed by their own thoughts, most of them still struggling to process the events that had led to their friend and colleague being unconscious in the hospital. Although Severide and Dawson had defiantly taken it the worse, the entire house had a mournful feel about it, everyone angry, confused and hurt by what their friend had gone through.

The bells going off brought everyone back to the present as they heard all companies get called out to a house fire, everyone shifting their minds and focusing on the job at hand as they made their way to their respective rigs.

Kelly paced up and down the hallway outside of the CT room waiting for them to finish, the doctors having come to take Stella for more tests over an hour ago. The squad lieutenant radiating nerves as his boots hit the ground hard, his shoulder bashing into the wall as he turned on his heel heading back towards the double doors blocking him off from her. He kept trying to convince himself that the time they were taking wasn't anything to be alarmed about, the man knowing from experience that it could take a while to get all the scans they needed. But today seemed to be taking forever and he wasn't sure why. The longer he waited the tenser his body felt, the nurses at the desk down the hall watching him with a sorry look in their eyes, none of them able to give him any more information the last time he asked. Straightening his spine out he stomped back down towards them, the fear never leaving his eyes as he approached the woman he'd come to know as Betty.

"Any news?" he asked as he came to a stop in front of her.

"Sorry Kelly" Betty said, the regretful tone in her voice telling him, she had at least tried to get some information for him, "I asked but they just said they weren't done yet."

"Thanks Betty"

"No worries" she said watching him start to pace back down the hallway again "can I get you anything?"

"I'm good Betty, thanks though."

It was a further twenty minutes before he saw them wheel her back towards her room, the man jogging to keep up with the porters as they made their way back down the hospital to the ICU. He waited outside her room as they fixed her bed back into place, the men giving him a small smile as they passed back out of the room. Kelly moving back inside, taking up the seat that had become his over the past week, the man immediately taking her hand in his, his tense muscles relaxing slightly at her touch.

"You were gone a long time today, I was beginning to think you weren't coming back out of there. I heard from Antonio this morning, they had Grant in for more questioning yesterday but he said that he's still spouting the same bull, that he didn't do anything and he doesn't know how you got in this state. I'm so sorry this happened Stella, really I am. I need you to know that, I need you to know that if I had known, god if I had even the slightest knowledge of what he was doing to you. I would have helped babe, why didn't you tell me?" His voice was barely above a whisper as he spoke to her, the man having done similar over the past few days every time he got a chance to be alone with her, his conscious causing him to say everything and anything he'd ever thought about telling her. The man regretting now more than ever his self control towards her. It was no secret that Kelly and Stella were close, the two often hung out in his office during shift, just chatting and doing the crosswords, Stella sometimes just lying on his bed in silence while he did paperwork, the two just needing the feeling of being close to one another. And although nothing had happened between them, despite Grants consent yelling of her being a cheating whore and other vile things, she had stayed true to her husband, Kelly not even sure if she reciprocated his feelings or not. The firefighter never wanting to put her in a position where she had to chose, knowing that the timing had defiantly not been right for them, hell he didn't even know if she'd want to be anything more than friends with him even after all this, but he knew he needed to tell her, he needed to get off his chest how he felt.

"I'm in love with you Stella Kidd, I know you probably can't hear me. God I hope you can, I hope my voice will bring you back to us. But I need to tell you the truth, I've loved you since the day I met you, since the day you walked into my class I knew there was something special about you. Something within you just shines so brightly to me Stella, and I need you to wake up, please god wake up..." his voice trailed off as tears streamed down his face, the man completely consumed by his emotions as he shamelessly allowed them to boil over, his hand holding firmly to hers, his head resting against her hip as fall blown sobs escaped from his lips.

"Kelly?"

His head snapped up, his free hand pushing the tears away from his eyes, his focus resting on the doctor in the doorway, "What did the scans show Doc?"

"Pretty much the same I'm afraid" Dr Johnson said sadly, moving further into the room coming to a stop across from him. The doctor able to see the emotional toll this was taking on the man in front of her, and her heart breaking that she didn't have better news, in fact if anything what she was about to tell him was going to be hard for the man to hear. "The swelling in her brain has reduced to almost nothing, the bleed has stopped and from a medical stand point she's fine. However we are now having to think about taking her into theater and fixing those bones in her wrist, I know we said we'd prefer to wait until she was awake and I was hoping we would be able to but they are starting to heal and if we don't fix them soon they won't repair properly. If we don't go in soon the bones could repair in a way that would stop her ever being a firefighter again, the weakness in the area would be enough, but if we allow them to continue to heal without intervening then I'm afraid she will have to live with chronic pain in that area for the rest of her life, and there would be nothing we could do."

"But wouldn't you be able to break and reset it?"

"We could, but the damage would be done. Stella would have nerve damage where the bone had repaired itself over the nerves in her wrist, that type of damage isn't something we can fix if we let the bone continued to heal."

"So now what?" Kelly asked, afraid of hearing the answer.

"We're going to try and get her down to theater today or first thing, preferably today." Kelly nodded, the mans face twisting into more concern and worry, laced with even more fear, the doctor knowing that hearing they were going to take his friend into surgery after they'd laid out all the risks already wasn't ever going to have been easy. "Have you had any luck with her sister?"

"No" he said shaking his head, "I left another message but I haven't heard anything back."

"Ok, well I need to know a few things, medical wise. Can you answer them?"

"I can try"

"Ok, do you know if Stella has ever had issues with anesthetic before?"

Kelly thought for a moment, there had only been one incident that he knew of Stella being in the hospital and that was the day she hit the ground at the academy beside that he had no idea. "I'm not sure, sorry."

"No, no, it's fine, it's just easier if we know before hand." The doctor said waving him off, she knew most of Stella's medical history but it was always helpful to hear from relatives, or in this case the next best thing before taking her into surgery. It was an unusual situation but they would make it work, anything and everything Kelly could tell her would help "And do you know if she has any metal or anything in her body? Any previous pins?"

"No, not that I know of."

"Ok, thanks Kelly. I'll leave you to it for now. I'll pop back when we know more about when we'll take her down."

"Thanks Doc."

Dr Johnson moved back out of the door, the woman tapping on her tablet as she did, pulling the door up behind her cutting Kelly and Stella off from the busy hospital around them. The woman knowing better than most just how little sleep the firefighter behind the glass door had got over the past week and hoping that he would at least try to close his eyes for a little bit.

BEEP BEEP BEEP

Doctors and nurses flooded the room, ushering them all outside as they worked on her. Her stats crashing for the second time today, the woman seemingly battling hard against whatever it was that was causing the issue. All three of them watching through the window as they brought her back to a normal rhythm. Fear overwhelming each and every one of them.

"What is going on?" Gabby asked out loud, not really expecting an answer from either men stood next to her, them all glued to the scene in front of them. Stella up until this morning was doing well, the woman having gone for surgery late yesterday and as far as anyone was aware that had gone well. Kelly phoning Dawson almost the second the doctor had left the room, informing her and through her everyone else at fifty one that Stella would be heading into theater to have her wrist repaired later that day. Dr Johnson having reappeared shortly after updating Kelly on the scans to tell him that they would be prepping her in the next hour. But for as long as she was down there, the doctor reported that everything had gone well and they didn't foresee any issues arising with her wrist, telling him that they had managed to keep away from the nerve they were worried about, and all being well there was no reason it should stop her from returning to her job. However by four am this morning it had become apparent something wasn't right when Kelly had woken to a flurry of nurses surrounding the woman in front of him, ushering him outside as her pressure bottomed out. They'd quickly stabilized her, but that had been the end of Kelly's sleep for the night, the man unable to close his eyes afterwards, he sat rigged in his seat watching her not daring to move a muscle. It wasn't until Dawson and Casey walked in still dressed in their shift clothes that he even realized how much time had passed, the two becoming worried by the sight of their tense friend almost instantly, their worry only growing as he walked them through the mornings incidents.

And now here they stood again, eyes fixed into the room as the doctors and nurses did everything they could to save their friend, something evidently causing the multiple bottom outs she'd had.

The door to her room swung open as the flurry of doctors and nurses rushed back out, Stella's bed rolling alongside them as the friends watched on, frozen in fear.

"We're going to take her for some scans see if we can't work this out." Dr Johnson said as she passed them, all three of them nodding in response.

"Dawson", Kelly said his voice catching her off guard as she tore her eyes away from the retreating bed holding her friend.

"Huh?"

"Do you have any idea's?"

She shook her head, "Sorry Kel, I'd love to have some idea but I'm stumped. She was fine before the surgery so I can't help thinking it was something to do with that, but they'll work it out. Dr Johnson is one of the best, if anyone can help Stella it's her."

Severide gave a short nod before beginning his usual path to the hallway outside the scan department, the man quickly moving throughout the hospital desperate to be as close to the young firefighter as humanly possible, Matt and Gabby following behind him as he expertly maneuvered his way through the doctors and nurses within the hallways, the man acknowledging a few as he past.

It was another hour until they saw her bed being brought back out of the scan department, Kelly noticing that there were some new bandages on her arms where it looked like they'd taken blood, the man assuming they were covering all basis to try and determined what was causing the problem. Dr Johnson followed her out, walking straight up to the group of first responders, all three of them straightening up as they watched her approach an unreadable look on her face.

"Hey guys" she greeted, nodding her head to a near by room "let's go talk in here." she said holding the door open. All three of them filing in, the doctor closing the door behind them. "So we've run some tests and it would appear that Stella has managed to pick up an infection, now we have caught it quickly but we think it's related to her surgery."

"What is it?" Dawson asked when no one else spoke up, the paramedic needing to know exactly what they were dealing with and how serve it was.

"Sepsis." The doctor responded pointedly.

Gasps were heard escaping from everyone's mouth, each one of them knowing just how serious sepsis could be and knowing that the first few hours of treating it were crucial if she was going to pull through.

"Now I know it's scary, and I know you all know the complications that can occur, but we think we've caught it really really quickly, therefore we can treat her and get a handle on the situation immediately. We've already started her on antibiotics and we are hoping that they will do the trick but I do need to prepare you. If the antibiotics don't work we will have to start more invasive treatments, including putting her on the ventilator." Seeing the distraught look cross the first responders faces, the doctor quickly added, "But we are a long way off that at the moment. We will need to give it twenty four maybe even forty eight hours before we know if her body is responding to the antibiotics but we are hopeful. And hope is all we can do at the moment. Stella's recovery is already taking longer than we thought it would so this is really a hurdle we could have done without but for now all you can do is be with her and stay strong for her."

"Did the scans show any change?" Severide asked, it was the same question he'd asked repeatedly over the past few days, each time they would return from the scans, each time he would hold his breath in the hope that something had changed, even if it was in the smallest sense but it never did. Each day he had waited and waited outside these doors, waited while they performed various tests and each time he'd hung onto a tiny bit of hope. Today had been no different and while he knew they'd only taken her for the scans because of her pressures dropping out, he still held on to that tiny bit of hope that she was showing signs of coming out of her coma, that this terrible nightmare they'd been trapped in for the past week was beginning to lift, that there was at least a small glimmer of hope that her life hadn't been altered forever because of the vicious attack imposed upon her.

When he thought back to that night eight days ago, he wished he'd done something different, he wished he'd done something more to stop her from going with that man, that coward of a man, that hadn't just hurt her but had beaten her to the point of unconsciousness, the man that had left her for dead, not caring what injuries he had caused, not bothered if she'd lived or died. All he cared about was getting his next fix, hadn't that been where the police had found him? Hung up in some bar across town, drinking and high on god knows what, all while Stella lay there clinging onto life. The woman's only hope being the friends who had, had the good sense to follow her home. If he could get his hands on the man that had done this he wouldn't stop, he would do exactly what had been done to his friend, the woman, the firefighter, he admired so much. Her spunky attitude lighting up even the darkest of days at the firehouse. If he got his hands on Grant, the things he'd do to him, the things he wanted to do to him. But he couldn't, Antonio had already warned them all to stay away, let the police handle it and do their jobs. But Kelly couldn't help but feel overwhelming frustration at the CPD and their ways of dealing with this issue, for as quick as they were to catch him, they'd made no progress in charging the man or finding any evidence that he was the cause of Stella's injuries. It was obvious of course that he was, but with no physical way of proving it and Stella still being stuck in a coma unable to voice what happened for herself it was all currently conjecture, and that wasn't nearly enough to charge let alone convict someone. They needed him to either confess or for Stella to wake up and at present neither of those things seemed to be happening anytime soon. So everyday he would ask the same questions, and everyday he would hope for a different answer.

"I'm sorry Kelly, I really am. But Stella's condition remains the same, there has been no increase in activity and she is still the same on the coma scale."

Severide's body crumbled against the wall the man seemingly overcome with emotion as the sad words left the doctors mouth. His legs giving out underneath as the weight of those words washed over him, eight days she'd been in that bed, in that coma, and still she wasn't waking up and no one knew why.

So there is another one. Thank you to everyone that has taken the time to not only read this story so far, but has left comments, liked or followed it. I hope you enjoyed this last one? How are we all feeling about it? Anyone have idea why she hasn't woken up yet? What are our feelings towards Grant? As we can see Kelly isn't taking it all that well and things just seem to be getting worse and worse for poor Stella who seems to be trapped inside her head.
Anyway, once again thank you to everyone taking their time to read and follow, you're all stars. And your lovely comments have been so nice. Thank you.