A/N: Stella is back! I knew that I had to bring her back at some point, as I felt like I needed her to have a chance to explain what she did, as well as for her to find out about Kelly and Gabby. In the first draft of this story Gabby didn't lose the baby and Stella ran into a very pregnant Gabby with Kelly at Molly's, but when the story changed to Gabby losing the baby, I had to rewrite this part, as well, and I think I actually like it better. I'm anxious to hear what you all think about Stella's return!

Stella Kidd had made it her mission to find out who Kelly had moved on with. Thankfully for Kelly, 51's loyalty lay with him, not Stella, which made her mission virtually impossible. Impossible, that is, until Mouch slipped up.

"Hey Kelly, any chance we see you and Gabby at Molly's tonight?" the older firefighter called to the squad lieutenant in the locker room at the end of shift.

Kelly's eyes immediately shot to where Stella stood in the entrance of the locker room talking to Brett. His hopes that she hadn't heard Mouch were dashed when he saw the look on her face. She walked away from Brett mid-conversation, heading towards him.

"Mouch, you're an idiot," Herrmann hissed at his friend, who at least had the decency to look chagrined.

"It's Gabby?" Stella demanded as she reached Kelly, looking equal parts confused and angry.

"Look, Stella, it's a long story, and not one that I feel like telling you right now, if ever," Kelly replied, determined to keep his cool and get out of there as soon as possible. "Yes, it's Gabby." He grabbed his duffle, throwing it over his shoulder. "If you want to know anything else, you can find out from them. I don't have anything else to say to you." And with that, he walked out of the locker room.

Stella immediately turned to only members of 51 that remained in the locker room: Mouch, Herrmann, Cruz, and Brett. "Is someone going to fill me in, or are you all just going to shrug me off like you did all shift?"

The four shiftmates exchanged glances, none of them wanting to be the one that told her about Kelly and Gabby's complicated relationship, but all knowing that Stella wouldn't rest until she knew the details, and none of them wanting to put that burden on Kelly or Gabby.

Brett was the first one to speak. "Look, Stella. It's complicated. It's not…they've been through a lot."

Stella snorted. "They've been through a lot? Kelly and I only broke up seven months ago. How much could they have been through?"

"More than you know, Kidd," Herrmann responded defensively. As much as he liked Stella, he wouldn't tolerate her causing any problems for Gabby or Kelly. "Did you know that today was Severide's first day back to shift in nearly a month?" He answered for her before she had a change to respond. "No, you didn't because you haven't been here. You left, remember? You left and then you broke his heart. I know you came back wanting to fix it, but you can't, Stella. It's too late."

"Was he hurt?" Stella asked worriedly. Kelly had seemed fine on shift today, but he'd also been avoiding her as much as possible.

"No," Cruz replied. "Gabby was pregnant. She lost the baby a month ago, and nearly died herself. She was in the hospital for almost two weeks."

Stella sat down heavily on the nearest bench. Not only were Kelly and Gabby together, but he'd also gotten her pregnant. "How long?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

"How long what?" Herrmann asked. "How long have they been together? How long had she been pregnant?"

"Both, I guess," Stella shrugged.

"Gabby was six months along when it happened. Her aneurysm, one that had developed after the surgery she'd had when she lost her and Matt's baby, ruptured. It was in her abdomen. They weren't able to save the baby," Brett informed her gently.

"So six months?" Stella asked hoarsely, fighting to hold back tears. "They've been together six months?"

"Not exactly," Herrmann replied. He looked to Brett for help, not sure how to tell Stella.

"They were both in New York at the same time," Brett began. "Gabby was there for a fundraiser, and Kelly was there for your birthday. From what I understand, he was at the hotel bar drinking when she saw him. They both got a little too drunk and they ended up sleeping together." Brett didn't miss the look of pain that had crossed Stella's face. She couldn't blame her. If she were in Stella's shoes, she wouldn't want to hear that her ex-fiancé had slept with someone right after she broke up with him.

"Two months later, Gabby came back to Chicago to tell him that she was pregnant," Brett continued. "She moved in with him, and they planned to raise the baby together." She paused for a moment before adding, "Stella, I don't think either of them meant for it to happen. And I know Gabby didn't mean to hurt you."

"But now there's no baby, right?" Stella asked, still trying to figure everything out. "So why are they still together?"

"Because at some point they realized they loved each other," Cruz informed her.

"Hey, baby; how was the rest of your shift?" Gabby greeted Kelly when he walked in the door.

His only response was to move over to her and take her in his arms, pulling her against him. "Long," he said finally. "And busy." It had definitely been both long and busy. They'd had a larger than usual number of calls that shift, and Squad hadn't had much down time between calls. The time that they'd had, Kelly had spent doing everything possible to avoid Stella.

Kelly pulled back slightly and looked down at Gabby. "There's something I need to tell you," he told her. "It's about Stella."

Gabby felt panic rising in her chest at the mention of Stella. "What about Stella?" she asked hesitantly.

Kelly sighed, leading her over to the couch and sitting down. She sat down next to him, turning to face him. "The relief lieutenant for 81 that I told you about yesterday morning? It was Stella." He quickly added, "I had no idea she was even back in Chicago until Boden pulled me into his office this morning and told me. He didn't even know until he requested a relief lieutenant."

This had been Gabby's worst nightmare since she'd come to Chicago: that Stella would randomly show up and want Kelly back and, even worse, that he would want to take her back. "What…um, how…" Gabby stopped to gather her thoughts before trying again. "Is she back for good?" she asked.

"I don't know," Kelly replied honestly. "It sounds like it, but we never talked about that." He took Gabby's hand. "She told me that she was sorry for that she did to me. She said that she left because she was scared, and that everything she said in New York was a lie. She asked me to give her another chance."

Gabby winced at the last words out of Kelly's mouth. It was exactly what she'd feared. "What did you tell her?" she asked softly, looking down at her lap. She wouldn't blame Kelly if he wanted to try again with Stella. He and Stella had dated for years before getting engaged, whereas she and Kelly had only been together a few months. She thought about when she'd returned to Chicago, hoping for a second chance with Matt. She couldn't exactly blame Stella for wanting another chance.

Kelly reached out and brushed her hair out of her face. "Gabby, look at me," he instructed gently. When she did, he rested his hand on her cheek, rubbing it gently with his thumb. "I told her I didn't love her anymore; that I'd moved on and there was no longer room for her in my life. She asked if there was someone else, and I told her yes." He paused for a moment before continuing. "Gabby, I was telling the truth. I don't love Stella anymore. I love you. And only you."

Gabby felt a wave of relief rush over her. She'd been so scared that Kelly was going to say he wanted to give his and Stella's relationship another chance. Hearing that not only had he not given her a second chance, but he'd also told her that he'd moved on there was someone else was reassuring.

"Does she know?" Gabby asked. "That it's me, that is? And about…everything?"

Kelly sighed. "Mouch accidentally let it slip that we were together," he told her. "I informed that if she wanted to know any more than that, she would need to find out from someone else, and that I had nothing left to say to her." He shrugged. "I don't know how much they told her after she left."

Gabby felt torn. She was relieved that Kelly had chosen her, but at the same time, she had been where Stella was now when she found out about Casey and Brett. She knew how much it hurt to find out that the person you'd loved had moved on, especially when it was with someone you'd thought of as a friend. "Did we make a mistake, Kelly?" she asked. "Should we have told her when we found out about the baby?"

Kelly shook his head. "No. Gabby, I know you're comparing your situation with Casey and Brett to this, but it's not the same," he insisted. "You didn't throw away your and Casey's relationship like Stella did ours. You two realized that you were on different paths and that you needed to move on with your lives separately."

"I want to talk to her, Kelly," Gabby replied. "While it may not be the same, I still owe her an explanation. It's not fair for her to hear it all from someone else. She was my friend. I owe it to her to tell her to her face exactly what happened."

Kelly shook his head. "Gabby, no. We don't owe her anything. I'm sure Herrmann and Brett have filled her in on the important details. She doesn't need to know any more than that."

"Kelly," Gabby chided gently. "If there's even a chance that you'll have to work with her again, that your paths will cross, we owe her an explanation. Or at least I do. If she's back in Chicago for good, it's inevitable that our paths will cross at some point. Whether it's at Molly's, 51, or somewhere else. We have too many friends in common for us to be able to avoid her completely."

Kelly sighed. He knew she was right. As much as he didn't want to explain everything to Stella, they owed it to her to at least try. "Okay," Kelly replied. "But not here."

Gabby nodded in agreement. "What about Molly's?"