2 months later…

Kelly had been back on the job for about 3 weeks. His physical recovery went really well, better than most of the others that Dr. Choi had treated in the past. But his mental recovery didn't work as smooth as the physical one. The accident caused a trauma that haunted him in his dreams. He suffered from insomnia, and nightmares and began, as in the past, to isolate himself. Stella almost despaired and begged him to go to Dr. Charles for therapy. At first he refused, but then Dr. Charles called him personally and asked him to come by for a talk. Kelly agreed and went to see him.

6 weeks earlier…

"Kelly, it's good to see you. How are you doing?", Dr. Charles asked.

"It's getting better. My ribs don't hurt as much anymore, and Doctor Choi is very optimistic. He says I could be back on the job in two weeks if I keep going like that."

"That's good."

Dr. Charles eyed him closely and Kelly shifted in his seat. He wasn't feeling too comfortable under that stare.

"You know why I wanted to talk to you?"

Kelly shook his head and looked down at his hands. He'd been wondering about that since Dr. Charles had called him yesterday. He was fine, aside from the insomnia and the nightmares, but no one knew about them. Not even his fiancée, he'd made sure of that.

"I got a call two days ago. From Stella."

Kelly's head shot up.

"She wanted to talk to me about you. She's worried Kelly, very much to be exact."

Kelly didn't say a word. He knew that she was worried. Lately, they'd spent a lot of time fighting about his condition. He always insisted on being fine and not needing therapy or anything like that. But Stella refused to believe him. She'd begged him more than once to consult a professional but each time he'd turned her down.

"I'm aware that you know how worried she is, she told me about your fights. But listen, she isn't just worried. You know how Stella is, she's a strong woman and she can handle a lot, but this is too much for her. She cried on the phone, Kelly."

Dr. Charles looked at him with his eyebrows raised. Kelly looked him in his eyes.

"She cried?", he asked, trying to figure out if he'd heard correctly.

"She did, almost the whole time."

Guilt arose in Kelly's chest. He realized that she was suffering because of him. He caused her pain and that was the last thing he wanted to do.

"She also told me about the problems you had in the past. The communication issues?"

Kelly nodded absentmindedly.

"Well, she said this time it's different. Last time she wanted to leave because she couldn't take it anymore. She was suffering and she wanted it to end. This time, she's suffering too, but she doesn't want to leave."

Dr. Charles stopped to let the information sink in.

"I didn't know…"

Kelly couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence. He clenched his hands to fists and tried to look anywhere but into Dr. Charles' eyes.

"Would you agree to attend a few sessions? I can help you overcome your trauma."

Kelly didn't answer. He didn't want to hurt Stella, but he wasn't in need of help. He was doing fine.

"Okay. Listen, I hate to do this, but I spoke to Chief Boden and a few people from Head Quarters and we agreed that you can't return to active duty while you're suffering from that trauma. I must not be the one who treats you, but you'll have to find yourself a psychiatrist and get treatment."

"But why? I'm fine, I don't even know…"

"Kelly, you're not fine. You're isolating yourself; you suffer from insomnia, and I suspect nightmares too. That's not exactly the definition of being fine."

Kelly looked at him confused. How does he know about the insomnia and the nightmares?

"Did you really think you could hide this from her?"

Back to the present.

Of course he couldn't. She'd known about his problems the whole time. Eventually, he agreed to the therapy Dr. Charles was suggesting and it worked out pretty well. One week after his physical recovery had officially been accomplished, he was cleared for active duty. Even though he was officially done, he still went to see Dr. Charles. Kelly realized how much it helped talking to someone other than Stella or Casey about his past and problems. He even learned some things during his sessions and saw a few things in a different light.
Now, he was back on the job and was grateful for it. He was able to run into a burning building without being thrown back to that horrible call. At home, he spent a lot of time making up for his behavior. He and Stella spent hours sitting on the couch or at the table, talking about the past few weeks. When all was said and done, they started talking about the one thing they'd been putting off for weeks… The wedding.

"I don't know if Casey told you anything yet, but I advised Brett last week that she's all clear to start the planning. Is that alright?", Stella asked as casually as possible while she was washing the salad.

Kelly looked up from his spot behind the counter where he'd been preparing the vegetables for the Fajitas. He had a goofy grin on his face and nodded.

"No he hasn't, but I suppose there's no way of stopping her anymore now that she's into it."

Stella shrugged her shoulders innocently and turned her focus back to her task. But Kelly caught the way the corners of her lips slightly moved upwards.

"You did this on purpose didn't you? You knew that it would be an impossible mission to stop her after she started."

Stella tried not to react, but she failed miserably. Her lips formed a smile and when she turned her head slightly and saw his amused face, she started to laugh. Kelly had to laugh too and then he walked up to her. In an attempt to protect herself, she grabbed the spoon from the counter and held it in front of herself. He came closer and she stumbled backwards against the sink, still laughing.

"We talked about it so much in the last few days, I thought we were all clear."

He gently took the spoon out of her hand, snaked his other arm around her waist and put the spoon on the counter. He pressed them against the sink and lowered his head to press a kiss to her lips.

"We're all clear, don't worry. Besides, I think she couldn't wait to get started anyway."

Stella chuckled.

"Yeah, she was very eager to start. She fired questions at me the second after I told her that we're ready to start the planning. She wasn't even giving me time to answer them. I told her that she should start with a few ideas, run them by us when she's ready and then we go on from there. You good with that?"

"Absolutely."

She smiled at him, and his heart skipped a beat. It was that smile that had drawn him to her all those years ago in the academy. It was that smile she gave him when he'd chosen her over René. It was that smile she gave him the whole evening on their engagement day. It was his favorite look on her and what he wanted to see for the rest of his life.

"I love you. You know that?"

He used the words she used all those years ago, and they caused her eyes to sparkle. She remembered.

"I love you too."

A/N: Hey guys 😊!

First of all, I'm so so sorry for keeping you wait so long, I didn't mean to, but I had my final exams coming at me like a thunderstorm and then I had to wrap my head around the fact that I actually graduated… It was sick and it actually still is 😉

Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I thought why not including a time jump, I love time jumps. I often have some spontaneous ideas that come to my mind and I don't really know how to bring them into the story, so I use time jumps to put that specific scene into the spotlight and then carry on with the regular story.
I hope you like time jumps, because I'm planning to use them more often in the future.

Anyways, leave me a review or a PM with ideas you want me to include in the story and tell me if you still like the story.
I wish you all a good day😊! ~ D.