the past twenty four hours had been a shift from hell . it had been filled with nothing but back - to - back chaotic calls and more loss in one go than she's ever known . stella knows that she's supposed to handle the calls , then shake them off and forget about them . it was the only way she would be able to keep her sanity and move on with her life . but some calls just left a permanent mark .
she should be changing and going home , leaving the previous day behind her and allowing herself the freedom to breathe and feel like she had done the best she could given the circumstances . maybe she had done the best she could , in hindsight , but there was still the guilt that lingered on as the lieutenant stood by her locker .
the silence of the empty locker room swallows her whole as everyone's gone home â or so she thinks . violet tries to grab her attention but she's too in her own head to realize anyone is in the room or talking to her . gaze remains fixated on her locker before the paramedic is trying again and calling out her name a little louder this time .
stella's attention is snapped back into reality , head spinning in violet's direction . suddenly she's being asked if she's okay and she can only nod in response as an automatic smile graces her lips to mask how she's really feeling . " yeah , i'm great . " the conversation goes on for a bit longer until stella closes her locker and excuses herself to go home . however , the thought of her husband not being there when she gets home only makes her day that much worse .
as soon as she gets to her car , stella pulls out her phone to check if there are any texts from him . " crap , the battery's dead . " she mumbles under her breath , searching for a charger but can't find one . once it's decided that she'd accidentally left it at home , she gives up and starts the car . the drive back to the loft is short , filled with paying close attention to the road and minimal attention to the radio .
stella gets home a few minutes later , pausing at the door to the loft as she realizes that it's unlocked . she's so sure she locked it before she left for shift yesterday morning . the door is pushed open carefully , eyes searching the area as she takes slow steps inside . " who's there ? " but the second she sees him all worry washes away and her mood lifts a bit . " kelly ? " / continued , @ofrescuesquad3 .
On his drive home he had tried Stella's phone over and over again but there was never any answer which had the Squad 3 Lieutenant incredibly worried and while he didn't want to admit it, and thankfully he didn't have to admit it, he was really scared. What if the dream had been true? After all it hadn't been all that long ago when he had come incredibly close to losing his wife.
The apartment was empty when he walked through the door and even though there was signs that Stella had been there recently he had no idea just how recently she was there. He wasn't sure she was on shift or if his dream had been real enough, maybe even a memory of actually losing her.
He could have called Boden or even Cruz to find out if Stella was on shift but he was freaked out enough by the dream that he knew if he called anyone that they would be able to tell instantly that something was wrong and begin questioning him. The last thing he wanted was to talk about the dream he'd had.
He paced back and forth across the living room floor before eventually moving to pace up and down the hall. It's during the pacing from the living room to their bedroom and back again that a sound at the door draws him to a halt just outside their bedroom door and he's staring towards the door, wondering who's about to step inside.
Hearing the beloved voice of his wife brought him forward into full view, unable to hide the relief on his face when he caught sight of Stella as he entered the living room around the same time as she did. "Stella." He breathed out in relief and not even giving her the chance to say anything else he was closing the distance between them and hurrying to pull her to him in a tight hug.
