It's been a month since Stella talked to her mom, a month since she saw the woman who brought her into this world. It has been a month since her so-called mother told her who supposedly is her biological father. She's been in denial for a month—big-time denial. There was no way she'd ever believe it; he can't be her father; he just can't. She wants to go back and erase those words from her mother's mouth. "Bo's your father." Repeat it in her head daily; she can't escape it. It's like a recurring nightmare, one she can't wake up from but desperately wants to; she wants to forget the names Bo and Sierra. She wants to go back to a time when she didn't think of her family; she wants to clear her mind of everything. And go back to her real life and be happy with her husband, kids, and her firefighter family, which is her real family. The only family that has truly been there for her. The only family that cares, the only family that has never let her down, forced her to do things, or seen things that can't be seen, She's determined to erase her mind of the information she learns: Bo wasn't her father; she never saw her mom; they both don't exist; she is an orphan as far as she sees it; and if anyone asks, she'll tell them she has no parents. Her family is 51; her husband, kids, and puppies are all she needs. She's worked too hard to forget her past, and she is finally happy. Her life is going great, and she's not letting anyone ruin it.

Kelly, on the other hand, was worried about his wife that night after learning about Bo and seeing her mom for the first time in years. She came home and went straight to bed; thankfully, Jennifer had the twins for the night. Kelly tried to get her to talk about what she was feeling or thinking, but she wouldn't. When they went to bed that night, she curled in his arms and cried herself to sleep. He lay there, holding her and worrying about the effects this whole realization would have on her. He figured in the morning she would want to talk about it, but she didn't; she acted like it was any other morning. He asked her if she was okay, and she said she was fine. He didn't believe her, but he didn't want to push her. It was like she just turned off what she was really feeling and thinking.

It's been a month now—a month that he wanted to ask her where her head was in the whole situation. But he kept it to himself; she was happy and back to her normal self. He didn't want to force her into talking about anything she didn't want to talk about. But he was also kind of down about the fact that she was finally opening up to him about her past, something he's been wanting her to do for years, but now she won't talk about it. She's back to pretending like her past doesn't exist. And he has this feeling in his gut that her past isn't going to stay in the past much longer.

Stella walked around the firehouse, looking for Kelly. It's been a long, crazy shift for them all, especially truck 81. She was exhausted and ready to call it a night, but she wanted a kiss goodnight from her husband. But he was nowhere. "Cruz, have you seen Kelly?" She asked as she saw him getting ready to lay down.

"No, I figured he crashed already; he said he was going to."

"He's not in his office."

"Sorry."

"Thanks." She stood there for a moment, thinking about where he could be. Maybe shower. That thought brought a smile to her face. Her man was naked under the hot, steamy water. Damn, she was getting wet now. She walks into the locker room, but nothing.Now that she's disappointed, she pulls her phone out and sends him a message. She waited a few minutes for a reply, but nothing. She walks to her office, and as she calls him, she hears something vibrating. As she turns to walk into her office, she sees her husband sleeping in her bed in her office.

She kicks her shoes off and climbs on top of him. She kisses his cheek, and his arms wrap around her immediately. "I've been looking for you." She tells him.

"I was looking for you too." He opened his eyes. "It's a good thing we found each other." He smiles at her.

"A very good thing." She kisses him softly. And he turns the kiss into a passionate one. "I love you." She whispered as their kiss broke.

"I love you too." He whispered against her lips. They kiss again. "I want you so bad right now." He laid back, staring up at the ceiling. "But I'm so exhausted and sore."

"I know, baby, it's been a long shift." She leans up on her elbow and stares down at him. "I love being a firefighter, but...

He looks at her concernedly. "But what?"

"I feel like now that we're parents, we are going to miss out on a lot of stuff when it comes to our kids."

"What are you talking about?"

"It's Thanksgiving; we spent the day running into fires and pulling people for cars, accident after accident."

"We spend the day saving people." He corrected her. "It's what we do; it's what we love; it's the best job in the world."

She sighed.. "I know." She said it in a low, dejected tone.

"What's really bothering you?" He knew something was on her mind.

"It's Thanksgiving." She repeated. "We spent the day with our 51 family members while our kids spent their first Thanksgiving with your mom and Bob."

His face softens as it dawns on him what's bothering her. "We got to be with them last year, Stella; that was their first Thanksgiving...

"Benny was in the hospital." She interrupted him. "They were born in September, and Benny spent two months in the hospital. We went to the hospital last Thanksgiving; remember you, me and Shay? Maggie allowed us to eat in one of the empty rooms, and Cindy had Herrmann bring us a plate. "

"Yeah, I remember."

"Benny came home two weeks after that. But what I'm getting at is that this was their actual first Thanksgiving. They are one now; they can eat the food, and we missed it." Her eyes got teary.

"Mom took pictures; didn't she send them to you too?"

"Yes, I saw the picture, and they looked really happy, but it's not the same."

"We wasn't there." He finished for her.

She nodded as a few tears fell. "I just don't want our job to interfere with our kids milestones. I don't want to miss out on special occasions because we are on shift."

"Baby, what are you saying? You don't want to be a firefighter anymore?"

"No, I'm not saying that; I love being a firefighter." She paused, trying to figure out what she was trying to say. "I just don't want to miss our kids growing up."

"We won't." He reached up and wiped her tears away. "There are going to be some important events that we will probably miss because of our job, but I'm sure you and I will find a way to make it up to them. And it won't be every event. We can talk to Boden about Christmas."

"We don't have to; we are actually off. I already looked at our schedule; our days off fall on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. So we get to spend their first real Christmas together."

"Wasn't last year their first Christmas?"

"Technically yes, but they were three months old and had no idea what was going on. This year, they will be able to open their gifts and enjoy the toys and stuff."

"That's true." He pulls her onto his chest. And she snuggled up with him. "Well, at least we get to start your family traditions tomorrow.

"Our family traditions." She corrected him.

He laughs. "Yes, our family traditions. We will go tomorrow and pick out the perfect Christmas tree. And we will decorate it this weekend, you, me, and the kids. I promise the whole month of December we will do all the Christmas family stuff you wanted to do. We will rearrange it around our schedules."

She smiled, thinking about the weekend. "It's going to be a great weekend, just the four of us." She tells him as she closes her eyes. Her worries vanishing thanks to her incredible husband. He always knows what to say to calm her overthinking mind.

The next morning, after shifting ends, Stella and Kelly, along with Brett and Casey, were walking out of the firehouse when Kelly's phone rang. "Hello?" He stopped walking. Stella looked back at him questionably. "Umm... Go ahead to the car; I'm coming."

"Okay??" She gave him a skeptical look before walking away. "I wonder who that is?"

"Probably OFI; you know they can't do anything without Severide's help." Casey jokingly told her.

"True." She smiled. "Anyway, I'm so excited that we are going to go buy a Christmas tree, a real Christmas tree."

"Did you never have a real tree before?" Brett asked her.

"Yeah." She said not wanting to go into details with them. "When I was younger."

"That's all my parents will put up; if it's not a real tree, it's not a Christmas tree." Brett said. As Stella agreed.

"A tree is a tree, real or fake...

"No, it's not." Brett and Stella both told him at the same time.

"Casey, as a firefighter, you should know the difference between a real tree and a fake tree." Casey rolled his eyes. "Taking a plastic tree out of storage every year isn't quite the same as heading to a Christmas tree farm or local nursery and bringing home a fresh, live tree. Christmas, a genuine evergreen, is a festive and romantic symbol of family, tradition, and nostalgia."

"And they smell really good." Brett added.

"Okay." Casey laughs as they stop at Kelly's car.

Stella looks back up at the firehouse, and Kelly is still on the phone. "Wonder who he's talking to?"

"I don't know; it looks important."

"I know."

"You know he'll tell you, don't overthink it." Casey tells her. "Are you guys coming to Molly's later?"

"No, we are going to spend our weekend off with the kids."

"Okay, see you next shift." Brett tells her as she and Casey walk away.

Stella puts her bag in the back of the car and looks back up. Kelly was walking towards the car. She gets inside and closes the door. "Who was that?" She asked as he got into the car.

"Just some OFI stuff; they needed my opinion on something." He starts the car up.

"Oh." She replied. Part of her thinks there's more going on than he's letting on.

Later that day, the Severide family heads out to pick out their first Christmas tree as a family. After walking around for an hour, Stella still couldn't decide on a tree, and Kelly was getting irritated.

"Stella, can you please decide which tree you want?"

"I want to make sure we get a good one."

"They look good to me, babe." He bends down next to the stroller. "You both agree with Daddy, right? A tree is a tree." Both babies laugh.

"Wrong!"

"Stella, it's cold; our kids are cold; your husband is cold. Just pick a tree."

"Five more minutes, please."

Kelly rolled his eyes. "Five minutes after that, I'm taking the kids to the car."

"Okay." She replied as she continued to look around the tree lot. "A fresh Christmas tree should be a healthy green color. When you run your hand along the branch of the tree, the needles should hold fast and be flexible."

"Can I help you with a certain type of tree?" An older woman came up and asked the couple.

"No, thank you.

"Yes, I want a balsam fir; do you guys have any?" Stella said, interrupting her husband.

"We sure do over this way." The lady replied as she motioned for them to follow her.

"Yes!" Stella said it in a cheerful, happy tone. "Balsam firs are the perfect trees; they had that all-around, classic Christmas tree look. It has a strong,'spicy' Christmas tree scent, and its conical form and dark green color make it what most people identify with as a Christmas tree."

Kelly gave her a skeptical look as he followed behind her with the kids.

"It also has excellent needle retention!" She tells him.

"How do you know so much about trees?"

"Research, baby, research."

He shakes his head as he continues to follow her. "I think mommy is losing it." He whispered to the kids.

"Oh my God! That's it!" Stella exclaimed as she stopped in front of a huge, tall tree. "I love it!"

"It's kind of tall, don't you think?"

"No, it's perfect." She beamed up at it. "We can put it in the living room right in front of the window. Oh, it's going to look so pretty all decorated with the lights on and snow falling behind it."

"How tall is it?" Kelly asked the woman.

"About nine feet."

"How much?"

"$129.99."

"Really?" He looks at Stella. "$130 for a tree. Stella gave him a guilty look and stuck out her bottom lip. "Is this really the one you want?"

"Yes babe." She replied in a low, pleading tone.

Kelly sighed. "We're take it."

Stella smiled. "Thank you, babe." She wrapped her arms around his waist. "I love you." She kisses his cheek.

"I love you too." He replied. Happy to see her so happy. But knowing it's not going to last once he tells her who really called him.

That night, after dinner and giving the kids a bath, Kelly put the lights on the tree as Stella took pictures. Shay was lying under the tree, and Benny was pulling on the lights while Kelly was trying to put the lights on.

"Come here, Benny." Stella said as she sat on the floor. "Help mommy get the ornaments out." She was trying to distract him so Kelly could finish what he was doing. "Look what mommy got."

Benny laughed as he walked over to her. "Ball."

"It's actually an ornament, but it looks like a ball." She tells him as he takes the blue ball from her. "Can I have it back?"

"No." He laughed.

Shay walked over to them and threw herself on Stella's lap. "Did you have fun under the tree?"

"No." She spoke as she threw her head back onto Stella's chest, laughing.

"Which one of you is going to say Mama first?" She kisses Shay's cheeks. "Ma-ma, ma-ma, ma-ma."

"Da-da." Benny yelled. Stella sighed, and Kelly smiled.

"Ma-ma, say ma-ma, Benny, say ma-ma for ma-ma, please." She begged.

Shay touched Stella's lips. "Da-da."

Stella through her head back. "This is not fair."

"They will say it one day, babe. Be patient."

"Of course that's your answer; they already said da-da; it was their first word; everyone said ma-ma was going to be next, but everyone was wrong. The say no and ball but not Mama."

"Stella..

"I carried them and brought them into the world; I almost lost my life doing so, and I can't even get them to say ma-ma just one time."

Kelly turned and looked down at her. Her words hit him hard. She grabs a book, not even noticing her husband's look on his face.

"How about ma-ma reads you a book? Come on, sit down." Benny sat down in front of her, and Shay was still on her lap. "My grandma used to read this to me when I was a little girl; yes, she did."

"No, no," Benny kept saying.

"Yes yes." Stella told him as she kissed his head. "You ready?"

"No," Benny said again.

"Well, I'm going to read it anyway." She tells him this as she kisses his forehead. Then he kisses Shay's cheek. "It was the night before Christmas, when all through the house. Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse," she tickled Shay's side. "The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, in hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there," she tickled Benny's stomach. "The children were nestled all snug in their beds, while visions of sugar plums danced in their heads, and Mamma in her 'kerchief and I in my cap had just settled our brains for a long winter's nap."

Kelly went back to finish the lights as Stella read to the kids. Once he was finished, he left the room, needing a moment to himself. He walked back into the room, as Stella was near the end of the book. He picked up the ornaments and started decorating the tree.

"He sprang to his sleigh, and his team gave a whistle. And away they all flew like the down of a thistle. But I heard him exclaim as he drove out of sight.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!" Stella closed the book. "The end!" She laughed.

"No," Shay said, taking the book from her.

"Sorry, baby, the book is over."

"No."

"Yes."

"No!" Benny yelled.

"You both want to disagree with ma-ma." She tickled them some more. "Look, Daddy is decorating the tree. You guys want to help Daddy decorate the tree?"

"No!" Benny laughed.

"Ma-ma says yes, yes, yes." She slowly got up and picked both kids up. She walked over to the tree. "Who wants Daddy?"

Shay laid her head on Stella's shoulder. "I take it, Benny wants Daddy."

Kelly turned around and took Benny from her. He picked up another ornament and gave it to Benny. Stella watched as Benny placed the ornament on the tree. "Good job, baby boy." Stella said as she gave an ornament to Shay. "Where do you want to put it baby?" She put it on the tree. "Yes, that's a good spot."

They allowed the kids to put a few more ornaments on the tree. "Are you okay?" Stella asked Kelly, noticing he was acting strangely and very quiet.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Just checking." She put Shay down on the floor as she opened another ornament box. "Kelly, you want to decorate the top first, then work your way down. That way, it's...

"I know how to decorate a tree, Stella." His tone was loud and bold.

Stella wasn't expecting that reaction. "Sorry!" She knew now that something was bothering him. She looked at the clock. "It's after nine; I'm going to go get the kids ready for bed." She picks Shay back up.

"I got Benny." He tells her in a remorseful tone.

She doesn't acknowledge him. She heads upstairs straight to Shay's room. She picks up some of the toys and tosses them into the toy box. She then grabs Shay's pajamas and picks her up. "Is my beautiful girl sleepy?" She says this as Shay yawns.

"No." She laughs.

"Yes, you are." She tickles her side. "You are so sleepy."

"No no." She shakes her head. Stella stands her up.

"Yes." She kisses her cheeks, then her forehead. "Time for bed." She picks her up and carries her to her bed. A few more kisses. She laid her down. "Goodnight, my angel. I love you." She covers her up and gives her her favorite stuff,.unicorn. She turns the nightlight on. And walks out of the room.

She walks into Benny's room, where Kelly's getting ready to lay him down. She walked over to them. "Are you ready for bed?"

"No," he smiled.

"Yes, you are." She tickles his side. And kisses his hand. "Time for bed." She kisses his cheeks and kisses his forehead. "Goodnight, my angel, I love you." She kisses him a few more times before walking away. So Kelly could lay him down.

She went back downstairs and started to clean up. Kelly walked into the living room and saw her putting the ornaments away. "What are you doing? The tree's not done yet."

"I'll finish it tomorrow." She tells him as she continues cleaning up.

"I'm sorry if I upset you."

"You didn't."

He gives her a glare. "I know you are upset; it's all...

"I'm not upset." She says cutting him off.

"I didn't mean to ruin it; it's just you."

She turned to face him. "I what? What did I do?" She glares at him with a look of irritation. "All I said was to decorate from the top, and then you bite my head off like a...

"It's what you said earlier before you started reading to the kids." He interrupted her. She gives him a confused look and narrows her eyes at him, silently asking him to continue. He closed his eyes and walked towards the tree, his back towards her. "When you were talking to the twins about carrying them and bringing them into the world, you said..." He paused. He's trying to say the words, but it hurts. He hates thinking about it.

"What did I say?" She clearly doesn't remember saying anything that would upset him.

"It's the remark you made; I almost lost my life." His voice trailed off.

She continues to look at him confusedly for a moment, then she realizes what she said, and she knows how upset he gets even a year later. "Kelly, I didn't mean to upset you; I was joking and...

"That's not something you joke about, Stella."

"It just came out, Kelly." She walks over to him and wraps her arms around his waist. "I'm sorry; I know it's a sore subject for you."

"It's one of the worst experiences of my life, something I never want to face again."

"I know, baby." She kisses his neck. "I'm sorry."

"I don't want to think about what my life would be like right now if you..." His tone was shaky.

She walked in front of him. "Let's not think that way." She hugs him, and he hugs her back. "I'm here, I'm safe, and I'm in your arms, where I belong. We are good, Kelly."

He kisses her forehead and hugs her tightly, needing to feel her in his arms. He hates how he can't even think about that awful experience without breaking down. "I love you, and I can't; I won't imagine a world without you. I can't do it."

"Me either, babe." She closes her eyes and soaks up this moment. "How about we go upstairs, and I'll remind you how real I am?" She pulls back to look into his eyes. "Let's get lost tonight in each other."

"I'll love to get lost with you." He kisses her sweetly. "Let's make love all night long and till all our strength is gone."

"What are you waiting for?" She wrapped her arms around his neck. "Take me upstairs." He lifts her, and she wraps her legs around his waist. And he carries her up to their room.

The rest of the weekend went by way too fast—faster than Stella wanted it to. But that's usually what happens: time flies by when you're having fun. Yesterday, they finished decorating the tree and did a little inside and outside decorating too. They spend the day at home doing stuff with the kids. It was a perfect day.

It's Sunday afternoon, and Stella was in the kitchen baking a cake. The twins were napping on the living room floor. Kelly took the puppies for a short walk; it was too cold to take the kids.

"What smells so good?" Kelly asked as he walked into the kitchen.

Stella looked up at him. "Me." She teased.

He walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her waist. He kissed her neck. "Yes, you smell delicious." He whispered against her neck.

"I'm baking a cake." She tells him as she closes her eyes, enjoying his lips on her neck. "Kelly, don't start something you can't finish."

"Oh, sweetheart, I can definitely finish what I start." He turned her toward him. "You should know that by now."

She smiled, but he kissed her before she could respond. She moans in his mouth as he lifts her, and she wraps her legs around his waist. "Kelly..." She moans as he sits her down on the table. His lips attacked her neck again, and his hands roamed her body. "Baby, we can't do this."

"I'm pretty sure we can." He tells her that as he starts to unbutton her shirt, he kisses her collarbone.

As she lays back, ready to let him take her right then and there, As her back hits the table, her eyes widen. "Oh no!" She exclaimed. She pushes him off her and jumps off the table. "We are not having sex on our kitchen table." She tells him in an irritated tone.

"Why not?"

"Kelly, our kids eat on that table. We can't do that. It's a big no."

"We've had sex on the table before; we've had sex on a lot of tables over the years." He smirked.

"That was different."

"How?"

"We weren't parents; we are parents now; we can't be having sex just anywhere now."

"Explain last month when we had sex on the back deck, or when I nailed you against the wall in the living room and the kitchen wall. Or when you were so horny that you came into the kitchen while the twins were sleeping in their playpen and rode me hard in that kitchen chair." He tells her as he points to the chair.

Stella blushed embarrassingly. "I... forgot about those times." She fixes her shirt. "I love that sometimes we get so overexcited for each other that we just rip each other's clothes off. I love that about us. But we need to start considering better places when the kids are home."

He sighed. And watched her go back to her cake. "We are definitely going to finish where we left off tonight."

"Yes sir!" She said saluting him.

Kelly rolled his eyes. "Why are you baking cake?"

"For your mom, it's her birthday, remember. I told you it was Sunday, and I was going to make a pot roast and bake her cake. She and Bob are coming over around six but just for a couple of hours, they have tickets to a show."

Kelly groaned. "I forgot, damn."

"Don't worry, I got it all covered."

"But I don't have a gift for her."

"Like I said, don't worry, I got it all covered. I got her something from the twins and something from you and me."

Kelly smiled and walked over to kiss her hard. "You are the best wife ever; you know that, right?"

She shrugs. "I try." She winks as he kisses her again.

Dinner was great, and the cake was delicious. They sat in the living room talking. The twins set on the floor playing with their blocks, Kelly sat in the chair with Stella on his lap. As Jennifer and Bob were on the couch. "Thank you guys for dinner, and the cake and my gifts. I appreciate everything."

"You are so welcome."

"I can't wait to show off my grandma necklace. " She looked at the silver heart with Shay and Benny's names on it. "I love being a grandma."

"Our kids are glad to have such a loving caring fun grandma." Stella tells her as her mind wondered off.

Kelly knew what she was thinking about. He kissed the side of her head.

"We should get going the show starts at eight."

"We have to get into our matching pajamas." Kelly said. sarcastically Stella elbowed him.

"Matching pajamas?" Jennifer asked as Bob helped her with her coat.

"Yes, I brought us matching Rudolph and Grinch family pajamas. And we four all wearing our Rudolph pajamas tonight."

"Kelly is wearing Rudolph pajamas, I'm going to need a picture."

"No pictures sorry."

Stella elbowed him again. "Yes, pictures Casey wants one too. " Stella laughs at Kelly's expression.

After walking Jennifer and Bob to the door, Stella cleaned up and then got the kids into their pajamas. Kelly made popcorn while Stella played with the kids.

"Okay, popcorn is ready." Kelly said coming into the living room.

"Where is your pajamas's top Kelly Severide?" Stella asked, noticing he was only wearing the bottoms.

"I didn't want to get popcorn on it."

She gives him an Are you kidding me look? "We were supposed to be in our Rudolph pajamas. All four of us, the twins got theirs on, I'm wearing mine, and...

"I got the bottoms on, baby, beside." He sat down beside her on the couch. "You love when I don't wear a shirt."

She blushes. "True, very true." She pecks his lips. "I'll let you slide this one time just because I like the view." They share another kiss. "Okay, mommies angels. You are going to watch your very first Christmas cartoon. Yay!" Stella kissed Shay's cheek.

"No," Benny said.

"Yes!" Kelly said as he put Benny on his lap.

"This is Rudolph, the red-nose reindeer." Stella tells them as she hits play. "One of mommy's favorites."

Kelly stares at her as she smiles at the TV. He looks over at Shay, who is sitting on Stella's lap. He then looks down at Benny, who is sucking his thumb while looking at the TV. Life couldn't be any better right now. Stella laid her head on his shoulder and he kissed the top of her head. Then a small wave of guilt hits him. He has to tell his wife about his phone call the other day—the phone call that he lied to her about. He has to tell her, and it has to be tonight.

Stella smiled as she ran her fingers through Shay's hair. "Well, they couldn't keep their eyes open, huh?"

Kelly's looks between the twins. "Nope, at least they watched about half of the movie."

"True."

"Guess we should get them upstairs." Kelly said as he slowly got up, not wanting to wake Benny.

Stella slowly headed upstairs to tuck Shay in.

Kelly came back downstairs first, and straight up a bit, he sat back down on the couch and waited for Stella.

She walked into the living room, smiling. "You know." She began as she straddled his lap. "We could make out for a bit." She ran her hands up and down his chest. "I do love it when you're shirtless; I get so turned on." She kisses his neck.

He tilted his neck to give her better access. His hands were running up and down her back.

She kisses his chest a few times. "I do love your chest."

He smiled. "I love yours too." His hand moves to caress her breast through her shirt. "Baby, we need to talk."

She gives him a surprised look. "You want to stop our make-out session to talk. Are you running a fever?" she teased, placing her hand on his forehead. "You feel fine to me."

"I don't want to stop it, but there's something I need to tell you about. I've been keeping it to myself all weekend, and the guilt is eating at me. I don't like keeping anything from you."

She eyed him for a moment, trying to figure out what he's about to tell her—is it bad, life-changing bad, or just something small? "What is it?" She asked. "And why would you keep something from me all weekend? We promised to always be straight-forward and honest with each other."

"I know. But I didn't want to ruin the weekend you were looking forward to. It's all you've been talking about for weeks, and I wanted to make this weekend everything you wanted it to be, and it was. It was a great weekend for our family. We started our traditions, and you were happy, and I love it when you're happy. I love your smile. I will do anything in the world to keep you smiling all the time. I don't like to see you sad; I don't like to see you cry; I don't want the smile on your face to disappear into a frown when you start overthinking.

Whatever he was keeping from her was really concerning her now. "Just tell me."

"I lied to you the other day." He tells her in a regretful tone.

She gets off his lap. "About what?" She was getting annoyed.

"Friday, when we were leaving the firehouse and I got that phone call, it wasn't OFI."

"Who was it?"

"Hank Voight."

She crossed her arms over her chest. "Why is he calling you? What did he want?"

He takes a deep breath. "I know that you have blocked what happened out of your mind. You don't want to talk about your mom or Bo, and I completely understand that. I do. I mean, I wanted you to open up to me and let me know what you were really feeling and what was actually going on inside your head, but you chose not to, and I respected that. I didn't push you, I didn't force you, I never brought it up, and I waited for you to come to me. But you never did."

"Because I'm fine; like I told you, I have no parents. I am an orphan; you, the twins, and 51 are all the family I have. You guys are all the family I need, so why talk about it?"She was getting defensive. "I'm choosing to leave my past in the past. I told you things that I actually never planned on telling you, only because she popped back into my life unexpectedly. You met her, and now that she's gone, she's not coming back into my life again. And I'm not going to go see Bo; if that's why he called you, hell no! I have nothing to say to that man."

Kelly stood up. "Voight didn't say anything about Bo; he called to let us know. Well, basically, he called to give you a heads up that your mom made parole."

"How was that possible?"

"From my understanding, her helping the intelligent unit apparently gave her some good marks, or however the hell that works. She's getting out on good behavior."

"When does she get out?"

"Next week."

Stella closed her eyes. "Damn..." Kelly pulled her into a hug. "Maybe she'll get out and get the hell out of Chicago and go back to wherever the hell she was all these years." She says this as she lays her head on his shoulder.

Kelly sighed. "Unfortunately, she is on probation, which means she can't leave Chicago." He rubbed her back comfortably. "Voight said you can get a restraining order against her if you want."

She pulled back, looking into his eyes. "What aren't you telling me?"

"Supposedly, when one of the board members asked her what was going to be the first thing she does when she gets out," He gave her a worried look. "She replied, Meet my grandkids and get to know them in the short amount of time I have left."

Stella felt her stomach drop. "No, no, she's not. I don't care how much time she has left; she's not meeting our kids; she's not going to be around our kids. I don't want her at our house; I don't want her near us. I can't do it; I can't go down that road again. I don't trust her. Kelly, she will ruin everything; it's what she does." She cried.