A/N: As always I do not own the characters from Chicago Fire, PD or Med. I just like playing with them. I do own my own characters, Katherin, Ken and anyone else I come up with.

Now the Warnings: Domestic violence, and sexual abuse mentioned ; rated M for language and specific scenes. Some of these are going to be a bit graphic, please feel free to skip over them. *side note – typically my "sex scenes " aren't graphic, but for some reason I went all out on this story. Just a word of warning!!

Chapter 8

Over the next few weeks things were calm. The days and nights Kelly was on shift Kat stayed locked up in the apartment, cleaning or watching TV. Sometimes she dropped by the firehouse and surprised him, stealing kisses in between calls, but mostly she spent her time at home. The times he was off they spent together, wrapped up in each other's arms, watching TV or relaxing in bed. He tried to get her to convert to being a Bears fan, which wasn't happening, but she thought it was adorable of him try.

Her bruises had completely gone away, something they both were extremely happy to see. Kat felt happy. She loved being around Kelly, and his coworkers at the firehouse were all extremely sweet to her. Herrmann even offered her a spot tending bar and singing at Molly's, just to keep her occupied, and Kat jumped at the chance. Kelly wasn't sure at first, after all Ken knew about the bar and could track her down but Herrmann promised she would never be alone, so he went along with it.

They never fought , not once, a concept that was foreign to Kat. Kelly didn't raise his voice to her, or get mad. If he did get angry about something he made sure to keep it far away from her, so she didn't have any sort of PTSD. Talking to Dr. Charles helped a lot, Will gave her his information and they had been meeting for a few weeks. She and Kelly talked about everything. Their pasts, dreams… his best friend, Shay who had died at a call years prior. That conversation was hard, but Kat held his hand and listened to how Shay would have loved her, and how sad he was they didn't get the chance to meet. He also talked about his dad, another hard conversation. Benny Severide was a complicated man, and the two of them had a difficult relationship to say the least, but now that he was gone Kelly seemed a bit lost.

Thanksgiving came, and she cooked the firehouse their annual dinner, even going along with their tradition of naming the bird before serving it. They got through almost the whole dinner without the alarm bells going off, but inevitably someone trying to deep fry a turkey caused them to put dessert on hold for an hour or two.

Kat ended up getting a new phone about a week after Hank took hers, and for the next few weeks she held her breath every time the notification went off, praying it wasn't Ken. It never was, and by mid December she began to feel like maybe she was in the clear.

That was until Kelly called her one night as she was lounging on the sofa watching reality TV. "Hey babe… not sure how to say this but…we're at your house. "

She sat up like a shot "My house, what do you mean?" she hadn't been there for a couple weeks , not after the latest pick up of clothes she had done. She had unofficially moved into Kelly's apartment by that time, and didn't have much left at the house but bad memories and some photos.

"394 Wabash, it's on fire." She could hear yelling in the background and the sirens of the trucks. "You might want to get down here."

"I'll be there as soon as possible!" she tugged on big thick boots over her socks and threw on her coat , hat and scarf before grabbing the keys to Kelly's car and taking off.

When she pulled up to the scene she ran past the trucks, eyes darting all over until she saw Chief Boden. "Chief!!" she ran up to him "Kelly called me, what happened?" she glanced at her home, now with flames shooting out of it, and held her hand over her mouth.

He was too busy calling out orders on the radio to respond to her, so she backed up towards the edge of the crowd until she felt herself run into someone . She felt strong hands on her arms and turned around to see Sergeant Voight standing behind her. "Sorry Sergeant, I was trying to stay out of the way. " she turned back to look at her house, tears springing to her eyes.

"Why don't we get you off the street?" he lead her by the elbow to his car, holding the passenger side door open for her. "Sit here, I'll see what I can find out." He patted her hand and walked off, leaving her sitting in the passenger seat in shock.

Kat watched in horror as the flames licked the night sky. She could hear Kelly and Matt both over the radio on Chief Boden's shoulder, letting him know they had swept the house and there was no one there. They were coming out, and Chief requested 51 run a line in and start working on battling the fire. Kat watched for Kelly to come out, holding her breath until she saw him and she couldn't help it, she jumped up and ran to him as soon as she did. He pulled off his mask the moment before she threw her arms around him, and gave her a kiss on the temple, wrapping one arm around her. "Hey, I'm okay. "

"I'm sorry I know that wasn't professional or proper or whatever. I'm just really glad you're okay!" she turned to Matt who was standing next to Kelly "You too of course. "

He grinned at her "Don't worry about it, we do this every day. " and walked off leaving the two of them alone. Well, alone as they could be with a crowd full of people watching and a house on fire behind them.

"What the hell happened??" Kat peered behind him and he lead her away from the other firefighters so they could have some privacy.

"Looks like arson. " He responded. "That's why Voight's here, Chief called him immediately when we realized it was yours. I'll know more once the fire is out and OFI can get in there." He held out what he was holding in his other hand to her. "Here, I grabbed this. It's about all that was salvageable."

More tears formed in Kats eyes. He was holding her photo album, the one that had all her childhood memories in it. She had meant to grab it on her last trip but forgot. "Oh Kelly …" she ran her hand over the cover, wiping away the soot. "You have no idea what this means to me." She looked up at him with tear filled eyes.

Across the street and out of view, a man watched the two interact. You might think he was homeless, dressed in rags and tattered shoes … just a clever disguise. The man underneath just glared at the two of them muttering under his breath . "So this is her new hero…time to put an end to that. "

Kelly had to go back to the firehouse after the call, he was still on shift until morning but Kat went back to the apartment and flipped through her photos. Pictures of her as a kid… making snowmen and snow angels in the fluffy white snow that Wisconsin got… she ran her fingers over the photos, wishing she could go back to that time, where she was just an innocent girl and nothing bad had happened . She turned the page and saw her parents, and she started to silently cry. After she had told them she wanted to move to Chicago to become a singer they stopped talking to her. She had no siblings, but they had no problem cutting off their only child because she wanted to do something she was passionate about . She wondered if she should try and contact them, and decided against it. They didn't care back then why would they care now? Kat was lost in thought when she heard the key in the lock, snapping her back to reality.

When Kelly walked through the door she jumped up , squeezing him tight before he ever put his go bag down. "Hey, it's okay. I'm fine babe." He pulled back and wiped the tears away that were on her cheeks.

"I thought you were on shift til morning?" she buried her face in his chest afraid to let go.

"Chief got a relief Lieutenant, he thought you might need me. Looks like he was right ." he kissed the top of her head, dropping his bag on the floor and leading her to the couch. "What's going on?" he said pointing to the open photo album.

"Nothing, just reminiscing. " She shrugged , moving it so he could sit next to her. "I'm really glad you saved this, thank you." She patted the spot next to her and he sat down. "Did Sergeant Voight have anything to say?"

He pulled her close to his side, tucking her under his arm. "Nothing much to see tonight. OFI will check in the morning, we should know more then. I'm just glad you weren't in there. I guess this means you should officially move in huh?" he smiled even though she couldn't see his face. He had been planning on asking her for a few weeks anyway, and as bad as the fire was it was perfect timing.

Kat grinned "I guess so, otherwise I'm officially homeless." She took a deep breath in. Even though he smelled like smoke from her house being on fire, it steadied her nerves a little bit.

"I'm gonna grab a shower …" Kelly looked down at her . "Wanna join?" his eyes twinkled. He knew he needed to get her out of her own head even if it was just for a little while.

The corners of her mouth turned up slightly "Smooth Lieutenant…" she got up and walked towards the bathroom, pausing to look back at him. "Well? You coming ?"

He jumped up and they retreated to the bathroom, dropping pieces of clothing on their way .

Kat got in first, testing the water to make sure it was the exact right temperature before Kelly slipped in behind her. She felt him press up against her, his hands reaching around to cup her breasts. She leaned against him, already turned on. "Soap" he whispered in her ear and she remembered why they were actually there. She handed him the body wash, the woodsy smell made her melt a little. She ran her hands over his chest, arms , then down his legs when he sucked in air. He didn't move, as difficult as it was for him. Kelly wanted nothing more than to lift her up and take her against the side of the shower , but he wanted her make the first move. And when he felt her tongue running up and down the length of his shaft he groaned. "Babe…." She moved forward, taking the tip into her mouth completely, sucking just a bit before drawing him fully in. He had to grab the wall with one hand to steady himself , the other he ran through her hair, gripping ever so slightly. When she moved faster he couldn't take it, he pushed her back gently and picked her up, fingers gripping her ass, allowing her to wrap her legs around his torso. After a quick run under the shower to wash off the soap he leaned her against the shower wall, his mouth fused to hers. Her nails scratched his back as she held on, and he broke their kiss to nip and suck at her neck and collarbone.

"Kelly…" she moaned , bowing upwards slightly against him. He took the opportunity to slide into her, and could feel her walls close in around him. They moved together, slow at first and then building up to the grand finale that left the two of them completely relaxed and almost not able to stand. When they got out, and Kat caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror and grinned at the marks he had made . These didn't cause her sadness … these made her feel alive and happy, but more importantly, loved.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to mark you…" Kelly saw her looking at the spots on her neck.

She turned to him and laughed "Yes you did. And I will wear them with pride." She kissed him full on the mouth before walking off to the bedroom to find sleepwear.

Kelly toweled off, grinning to himself. How he ever got so lucky was beyond him, but this girl was something. She hadn't let her past take over her life, she asked for help ( albeit reluctantly) and they had a great life together . Even though they had met only a month and change prior , he knew she was the one for him. Christmas was coming up, and he had a perfect plan to make it one she would never forget. He retreated to the bedroom to change and saw her laying in bed, curled up in a tight ball, waiting for him to snuggle her and keep her warm. After he dressed, he slid in next to her, wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her up to him, causing her to sigh. She wiggled into him, trying to suck up enough of his warmth as she could , and he bit his lip suppressing a groan. She is gonna be the death of me. He placed a soft kiss on the back of her neck, then her bare shoulder . "I love you Kat…" he told her before burying his face in her shoulder.

"I love you too Kelly." She whispered back and they fell asleep smiling .