After watching Erin go, Kelly walked back to the building. He avoided everyone looking at him and walked to the ambo, where he knew Shay would be. He found her organizing supplies at the back, with Rafferty.

"You told her to leave?!" he said loudly, causing Shay to look up and straighten up. She didn't need him to clarify on who was her.

"Kelly..."

"You have some fucking nerve, Shay!"

"Hey," Rafferty interfered, glaring at Severide. Shay shook her head and squeezed Allison's forearm, telling her it was fine. Rafferty looked at them back and forth for a few seconds then hesitantly walked away.

"Look," Shay began, "All I did was give her some advice. I thought that maybe it was a good idea for her to get some air, get out of the city."

Severide ran a hand through his hair. "I need her here. I-I c-can't do this on my own, Shay."

"You two were miserable, Kelly. Everything around here reminded her that she had lost the baby. Your apartment, the hospital, everything. She needed to get some air. She'll come around. If she didn't think this could work to make her get better, she never would have left. She loves you too much. I think she's doing it for you both."

Kelly sighed. "I hope you're right."

Erin fiddled with her hands as she waited for the door to open. It had taken her a minute to decide whether or not to knock, and then another minute to actually do it.

After what felt like forever, the door opened, revealing a tall redhead woman.

"Erin?" She asked, her mouth gaping. "Oh my God, come on in," She stepped aside to let Erin get inside. Then she pulled the brunette into a hug.

"Um, hi?" Erin said hesitantly as she pulled away. "I-I should-I should have called."

"No, nonsense. You're always welcome here," She said. "Here let me take your coat. How long are you here for?"

"I-I don't know exactly."

Her friend led her to the living room and they both sat down on the couch. Erin forced a smile. "So, how have you been, Heather?"

"You mean for the last five years?" The redhead joked. "Right now I work as the head editor of the local newspaper. I love it. That's where I met my husband, Jim."

Erin raised both eyebrows. "Wow, that's... Congratulations."

"Thanks," Heather replied before asking, "What about you, what have you been up to?"

"I'm a detective in Chicago."

Heather cocked an eyebrow. "A detective? As in a cop?"

Erin smirked. That reaction never got old. "Yep, I'm a cop."

Heather nodded. "And do you have someone?"

Erin smiled despite herself as she nodded her head. "His name's Kelly, he's a firefighter in the house near my station."

Heather looked impressed. "A firefighter, huh? Wow, thank god I hadn't brag about Jim's body yet."

Erin laughed. "I'm very lucky to have him in my life. He's everything I could ask for."

"Hey Casey," Shay called out, causing the lieutenant to stop while on his way to the office.

"Yeah?"

The blonde approached him and looked around before speaking. "I think it would be good if you and the boys went out to get a drink at Molly's after shift. I think Kelly needs it. I don't know how he'll react to go home alone."

"Alone?" Casey asked, furrowing his eyebrows. "Has Erin moved out?"

"No, no," Shay clarified. "She's going out of town for a couple of days. It's taking a toll on Kelly."

"Oh," Casey uttered. "Sure, we'll all go get a drink. I hope they're gonna sort everything out soon. I can't imagine what it must have felt like to be expecting something so exciting and then lose it."

"Yeah, me neither."

Casey found Kelly working on one of the squad tools. He crouched down beside him and set his forearms on his thighs.

"How you doin'?"

Severide crossed his gaze briefly before setting them back on his task. "I'm alright."

"Hey the guys and I are gonna get a drink at Molly's tonight if you want to join us."

Severide sighed, "You can tell Shay that I don't need you guys to babysit me."

Casey stood. "Okay, she asked me to. But we all want you to get better. Seeing you like this isn't easy for anyone."

Kelly dropped his tools and stood up, wiping his hands with a towel. "Oh, I'm sorry it's been so tough on you."

Casey shook his head, "Come on, you know what I mean, Severide."

"The thing is, I don't know what you mean, Casey. Because you haven't been the one woken up every night because you hear your girlfriend cry in the bathroom, or been the one she never talks to. You aren't the one who had chosen a name, and a color to paint the walls of the nursery and had already bought a onesie for a baby that doesn't even exist anymore! So no, Casey, I don't see how it's been difficult for you."

Severide threw the towel down and shot one last look at the other lieutenant before walking away toward his office. He could feel all the eyes on his back, watching him retreat inside the building. When he got inside his office, he felt as if he had lost his self control. Before he knew it, he had kicked his chair and slammed the door.

He sat on the bed then, and let his emotions go. Reaching inside his pocket, he pulled out his phone and quickly dialed a number he had known by heart for the last few months. It did not even ring and went straight to voicemail.

"Hi, you've reached Erin Lindsay, I'm not available at the moment but you can leave me a message."

He waited for the beep before speaking, "Hey, it's me. I know you said we should take some distance but I guess I needed to talk to you, because you're the only one who could understand. Okay, bye."

The two women had been touring the city for a while now, and had just gotten back to Heather's apartment with bags of groceries and a bottle of wine for dinner. Heather had just poured themselves two glasses when she looked at Erin with insistence.

"What?" The brunette asked softly, meeting Heather's eyes.

"Okay, spill it," Heather said. "I know you're not here for no reason. You haven't acted like your old self today. Something's happened and I want to know what it is."

Erin sat down on one of the stools and drew in a deep breath. "A couple of months ago I found out that I was pregnant. It took both Kelly and I by surprise but we loved each other and both had steady jobs so we quickly became excited. And then one day I started bleeding and... th-the doctor told me that I had lost it."

She didn't know how she had managed to tell the whole story without wavering, but once she was done, she dissolved into sobs, her emotions pouring out at once. Heather quickly gathered herself and closed the distance between herself and her friend, squeezing her into a hug.

"I am so sorry Erin," She whispered. "I can't imagine what is must feel like."

After a minute, Erin's sobs quieted down to sniffles. "I'm sorry for dumping that on you."

Heather pulled away and wiped Erin's tears away. "That's what friends are for, right? You can always come, whenever you want."

"Do you mind if I stay her for a couple of days? I don't feel like going back to Chicago just yet."

Heather smiled softly. "You can stay here for as long as you want," she squeezed her shoulder, "How did Kelly react to you leaving town?"

"Not that good. He didn't understand that I needed to get away, everything there reminded me of the baby."

"You know Erin, he lost that baby too," Heather murmured. "I'm not picking teams or anything, but I think that, in those moments, two people need each other more than anything. You shouldn't stay away from each other too long. He needs you as much as you need him. And in the end, if you hold on, this bad time will have made you stronger."

Before going to bed, Erin checked her cellphone and saw that she had a message from Kelly. She listened to it and pressed the button to call him back.

"Hello?"

"Hi," she replied, smiling despite herself, happy to hear his voice.

"How are you?" he asked.

"It should be me asking you that. I listened to your message. I'm sorry I didn't pick up, I had left my phone at home. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"Kelly..."

"I miss you. I know you wanted to get some air, but I miss you. I need you, Erin."

Erin felt her eyes start to sting. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, Kelly."

"What for?"

"I let you down, I've been selfish. I mean, you lost the baby too and I was only thinking about myself. I should have stayed. But being in this city where everything happened was too hard."

Her voice broke, and right now, all she wanted was to be in his arms. But she couldn't go back to Chicago. Not yet.

"Erin, listen to me," he said. "You have not been selfish. I should have opened up more, I just... I was afraid it was going to break us."

"I haven't acted right, Kelly. Can you forgive me?"

"Erin, baby, you have nothing to be forgiven for. I just want you to promise me something, alright?"

She wiped her cheeks and nodded, even though he couldn't see her. "Okay."

"You can stay in Boston as long as you need to, but promise me to talk to me when you come back, not shut me out, I won't be able to take it-"

"I promise," she said, cutting him off. "It will get better, I promise. We'll be okay, right?"

She heard the slight smile in his voice. "We'll be okay."

"I love you," she whispered. "I love you so much, we'll get through this, Kelly."

"I know. I love you."

"Hey Severide," Kelly heard Casey's voice and turned around. They had just gotten back from a tough call, where Casey had almost fallen from a two story window, when Severide caught him at the last second on the ladder.

"You alright man?" Kelly asked his colleague, who had given him quite a scare.

"I'm good, thanks to you," Casey said and patted him on the back. "Listen I'm sorry about the other day. I was out of line."

Severide stopped walking and looked at Casey. "Don't sweat it. I was a bit tense and this was enough to set me off."

"Have you heard from Erin at all?" Casey asked.

"Yeah, we spoke on the phone three days ago. We talked it out and decided to start over when she gets back."

"Any idea when that will be?"

Kelly was about to answer when he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He pulled it out and saw Erin's name displayed on the screen.

"Sorry, I have to take this," He walked back outside where he knew he could have some privacy, and answered the call, "Hey,"

"Hi," Erin replied. "How are you?"

"I'm good. You?"

"I'm okay. I was just calling to tell you that I'll be back in Chicago tomorrow morning. My flight lands at ten."

A shy smile spread on Severide's lips. "Okay, I'll come pick you up,"

"You don't have to,"

"I want to, if that's okay."

"That would be nice,"

Severide released a breath he didn't know he had been holding. "Okay, see you tomorrow then."

"See you tomorrow, bye."

He ended the call and pursed his lips while looking at his phone screen, a photo of him and Erin on the night of the Chicago Fire and Police Department Gala. He pocketed his phone, and walked back into the station, with a smile on his face.

The morning after, as he waited for Erin to come through the arrival gate, he couldn't stand still. Although they had only been five days apart, it had felt like weeks.

Finally, he saw a brunette passing through the gate and he smiled, slowly walking over to her. He saw her face light up when she spotted him, and she let go of her bag a few feet away from him, taking large strides to reach him.

He engulfed her into his arms and wrapped hers around his waist, so tightly that they both thought they would never let go.

Erin rested her head against his chest and felt him drop a kiss into her hair. She closed her eyes and breathed in his familiar scent; it definitely felt like home. She pulled away then, much to his disappointment, but put herself onto the tip of her toes to press her lips to his. One of his arms let go of her waist and came up to rest on her cheek, while he deepened the kiss.

This kiss felt as if it was their redemption, the cure to their illness, the end of their storm.

Gently, she broke away from him and he rested his forehead down against hers, allowing himself to gaze into her hazel eyes.

"Hi," she whispered, biting her bottom lip shyly.

"Hey." He murmured back, before placing a tender kiss onto her forehead. He grabbed her hand then, and she entwined their fingers, and together they walked toward the exit.

They both knew they had a lot to talk about, but as of now, being with each other felt like enough, and the light at the end of the tunnel didn't seem that far away.

Thoughts?