A/N: back again with another chapter and this one is from an AU I started working on a long time ago after I saw TK in the movie Zero Dark Thirty.

IDK when/if I'll ever get around to finishing and posting the whole story, but hopefully you guys enjoy this little sneak peek.

distance

"Hey."

Stella smiled at the slightly distorted voice that came through her phone speaker. She settled onto the couch in the common room and switched the call over to FaceTime. The screen came to life, stark brightness in the dim lighting, and Stella saw the smiling face and bright blue eyes of her favorite person.

Stella Kidd first heard about Kelly Severide at the Fire Academy. She was a candidate, making her way through training when the news broke. Kelly Severide—the son of one of CFD's greats, the youngest firefighter to ever make Rescue Squad, and Squad 3 Lieutenant with Firehouse 51—had surprised everyone by leaving everything behind and joining the military.

There were rumors circulating about why, each one crazier than the other. His father was furious and the CFD white shirts were shocked; most people couldn't fathom why Kelly would leave such a promising career behind.

However, his team, the people who knew him best, knew. Severide joined the CFD mostly as one final attempt to have an actual, meaningful relationship with his father, and while he enjoyed being a firefighter and helping people, he wanted to do more. So, he took an indefinite leave from the CFD, enlisted in the Navy, and shipped off to basic training and BUD/S to become a Navy SEAL.

When he enlisted, Kelly wasn't planning to go the SEALs route, but the recruiter thought the Navy would be a good match, especially with his Squad training. Plus, there was a greater chance he'd be stationed close to Chicago.

Throughout his training, his friends and former teammates were supportive; a few came out to watch him graduate and those who couldn't make the trip were waiting for him back in Chicago with a party to celebrate. They all kept in contact with him during both of his tours—during downtime on shift the team would Skype or FaceTime him, care packages were sent for every birthday and major holiday he missed, and there were lots and lots of letters, complete with pictures and drawings from the Herrmann kids.

In between deployments, during the few weeks of leave he had that weren't devoted to training, Severide put in some time at the fire academy and picked up a few shifts at 51. It was during those few shifts when Stella and Kelly met, in person, for the first time.

To say they were smitten with one another almost immediately would be putting it lightly. The playful teasing and shameless flirting under the fairy lights at Molly's soon turned into something more.

They kept it casual at first, with Kelly still on active duty and in between. The spark was undeniably there but the two kept it fun and flirty with no strings attached. Kelly knew it wouldn't be fair to Stella to tie her down in a relationship with him on the other side of the world and with no guarantee he'd make it back to her in one piece.

While he was deployed, their flirtationship continued, the two sending messages, letters, and photos back and forth and sharing private phone calls, away from the prying eyes and ears of their respective teams.

Severide's second tour was hard. Mentally, physically, and emotionally, it was a rough fourteen months. More than once, reports covered the news channels back home, announcing the loss of SEALs and soldiers overseas, and after each one of those updates, Severide would answer his phone to increasingly worried faces.

He'd lost friends and teammates, men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice. He was shot at, nearly blown up on multiple occasions and, by the time his second deployment ended, Severide was ready to go back to Chicago.

The second his feet hit American soil, Severide was on the phone making arrangements to switch from active duty to the Navy Reserves. His second call was to Boden for his spot back at 51.

His switch from active to reserves happened with little fanfare, a lot of paperwork, a few more medals and commendations, and a few well-deserved beers with his friends. The transition back to 51 was a little harder.

Boden knew the Kelly Severide that came back from the desert was not the same one that left all those years ago. Kelly had dedicated his life to protecting the lives of others and Boden was bound and determined to return the favor. It might have been tough love at first and Kelly probably felt he was being ganged up on when Boden joined forces with Stella and Casey, but Kelly eventually agreed to therapy.

Every step of the way, Stella, Casey, and their friends were by Kelly's side as he worked through his trauma and experiences from overseas, and slowly but surely the Kelly Severide everyone knew and loved returned.

Kelly returned to 51 and he and Stella finally decided to make the jump and get together.

The two years that followed were the most blissful Kelly had had in a long time. His relationship with Stella was thriving, they'd moved in together about 8 months in, the teams at Firehouse 51 were as strong as ever, and even all the times Kelly had to leave for training with the reserves, he was still happier than he'd ever been.

Everything changed when he got called up and given orders to go back overseas on a special assignment.

After everything Kelly went through during his last tours and the hell he went through to recover from it all once he got home, everyone was worried. They all watched the news, knew of what was happening on the other side of the world, and they all knew that Kelly's "special assignment" would put him right in the thick of it. None of them had a good feeling about it.

The entirety of second shift and their families went to say goodbye at the airport and as they watched Kelly walk through the glass doors, all they could do was hope and pray that wasn't the last time they'd see him.

Communication during Kelly's first few weeks on assignment was sporadic and one-sided. He'd send a text or a short email to check in, but with the time change it usually arrived in Stella's inbox in the middle of the night. She'd, of course, return it as soon as she'd see it but it'd make it to Kelly when he'd be off base.

It was hard, but things on Kelly's end calmed down after the first month and he and Stella (and the others) were able to work out a pretty regular phone schedule.

The calls would either be late at night or early in the morning for one of them, but both Kelly and Stella would agree it was always the best part of their day.

"Hey."

"Did I wake you up?" Kelly asked, noticing the darkened room behind her. "I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking how late it would be there."

"It's fine babe, it's not really that late." Stella promised. "Everyone kind of turned in early."

"Rough shift?"

Stella shrugged. "No major calls or anything like that, just long. The tail end of summer has residents and tourists going crazy. We had back-to-back calls today, but they finally slowed around dinner time."

"Do you want to go get some sleep?" Kelly asked. His eyes were kind and Stella knew the concern she saw in them was genuine. She knew how much he looked forward to their calls, how much they made his week, and the fact that he was willing to give it up just so she could get some sleep made her heart soar. "I'm not sure what the rest of the day looks like over here, but I can try and call you later when you get off shift."

"I'm fine Kelly," Stella said with a smile. "I don't need sleep right now. I need this. You. Tell me about your day."

It was true, there had always been something about the sound of Kelly's voice that calmed Stella better than anything else did. Even with thousands of miles between them and a garbled cell phone connection, Stella felt the weight of the day lifting off her shoulders as Kelly launched into a crazy story about an altercation a few of the guys in his unit got into with a couple of chickens in town. Any remaining stress from the day melted away after Kelly told her one of the cooks on base managed to get some chicken for their dinner that night and she joined him in laughing over the phone.

Long-distance relationships were hard. Long-distance relationships where thousands of miles and several time zones made communication nearly impossible were even harder. Long distance relationships where both parties were in dangerous jobs that involved fire and active warzones that could get them killed, potentially leaving the other countries away to deal with the fallout alone? The worst.

Loving Kelly Severide was the easiest thing Stella had ever done…and the hardest. They had just found solid footing in their relationship when Kelly had been called up and everything about their relationship changed in a split second. Maintaining their relationship, the closeness they had developed, while separated by thousands of miles was difficult. Kelly was out in the field a lot the first few weeks, making communication brief or nonexistent. Different time zones and long shifts with crazy hours meant some calls went unanswered and there were nights where the loneliness was nearly too much to handle.

There were times when they both wanted to call it quits but they powered through. Their love was special—the kind of love that traversed oceans, deserts, fires, and war zones—and they weren't going to let temporary distance be the end of them.