Archive of Our Own ^beta

“Kelly, we’re getting married tomorrow we're not meant to sleep in the same bed and my dress is hanging up in our room so you can’t go in.” Stella said while pacing back and forth, going through her list of what she still had to do before tomorrow.

“Stella” he moaned thinking that all these traditions she was insistent on following were ridiculous. He was sitting on the couch having just changed the channel to a bears rerun.

“Babe, you’re lucky Sylvie didn’t kick you out completely, Casey talked her down to the spare room.” Stella told him while moving to join him sitting on the couch.

“It’s just superstition”

“We do not need any kind of bad luck. You nearly died how many times recently, the fact we are actually getting married is crazy, so we are doing everything right so nothing else goes wrong.”

“Honey, no matter what we are getting married.” Kelly assured her while pulling her into his side. Stella had told him multiple times that physical touch was his love language. He wasn’t really sure what that meant but he knew he liked her close, liked holding her hand, rubbing her neck, hand on her hip. He just loved her and being close to her.

Her makeshift bachelorette party had the question “What is the brides favourite position (in the CFD)?”. If they wanted an answer, they would have got the one she was currently in. Her head on his shoulder. Her legs across his lap. This was one of her favourites anyway, she wasn’t spilling their sex life, that would stay private.

Sylvie and Matt came into the main area of the loft, Matt getting half dragged along by Sylvie. She took her position as the unofficial party planner of firehouse 51 very seriously and so the wedding of some of her best friends was a very big deal.

“Kelly Severide you cannot go in the bedroom, Stella’s dress is hanging up, and you are sleeping in the spare room.” Sylvie Brett looked like the personification of sunshine, blonde hair and bright smile, but the way she was looking at Kelly was the complete opposite.

Kelly looked behind her at Casey for support at how insane all these traditions are but all he got in return was Matt holding his hands up and shaking his head. He wasn’t getting involved, Kelly was on his own and with the determination on both Brett and Stella’s faces he wasn’t getting anywhere.

Giving up on fighting, he just nodded at her orders.

“Stella, Chloe and I will pick you up in the morning to get our nails done then come back here to get ready. Violet and Gallo are going to finish off flowers tomorrow. Apart from that everything is done. I am so excited for you guys” The excitement was very noticeable for the others, she looked like an energizer bunny, and she didn’t seem to be running out of charge anytime soon.

“Let’s leave them for tonight, its late and tomorrow is a big day.” Matt jumped in, seeing how tired his friends were looking. He took Sylvie’s hand to drag her towards the door knowing she wouldn’t leave easy. He was right, he could feel her trying to turn back around. “Kelly knows he is in the spare room” he assured her knowing she was going to try and intimidate Kelly some more to make him listen.

“We’ll see you both tomorrow, its going to be such an amazing day! Make sure you both get plenty of rest.” Brett continued as she got closer and closer to the door. Just before it closed behind her, she realised she missed something out. “Separate beds, I know what you two are like!”

As soon as the door shut Stella and Kelly both sighed with relief. Brett was amazing and there was no way this would have come together so well without her. They were both so grateful for all of her help, but she was hyper and had been all day.

“If we sleep here then technically, we didn’t sleep in the same bed and followed her rules” Kelly suggested only half jokingly.

Stella laughed quietly at him. “Nice try babe, but I’m sleeping in an actual bed”.

“I am going to shower then go to sleep so I will see you tomorrow fiancé” She continued while moving to stand up.

Before she could get very far however Kelly had grabbed her hand and said proudly “She didn’t say anything about showers. Just saying”.

Stella was on board with all the traditions not wanting to tempt fate, but she had to give it to him he was right, there was nothing about showers. Deciding she was definitely in with his idea she added to his point.

“I think it might help us relax before tomorrow.” His hand was still in hers, so she pulled him off the couch, so they didn’t need to detach from each other any sooner than they absolutely had to.

“Definitely” he agreed with her. He moved his hands, so one was holding her face, and the other was at her back before starting to kiss her and walk her backwards towards the bathroom.

Stella got lost in his kiss for a minute. “Still separate beds though” she quickly reminded him before it got too far.

“I’m going now. I’ll see you tomorrow. I love you.” Stella said before kissing him one last time before she left him in the spare room to go back to their bedroom. Leaving that room was more difficult than she thought. The fact that Kelly’s hair was still wet from the shower and only in his underwear made it even harder.

“I love you too. See you tomorrow”. He replied before kissing her for a second time. He was still kind of sulking at having to sleep apart.

Stella made her way across the loft to their bedroom. She dried her hair and got ready for bed. Mentally running through all her checklists to try and get herself to sleep.

Then she tried counting sheep. Ran through her vows in her head a few more times. Stared at the ceiling. She even tried talking through various different parts of firefighter textbooks to bore herself to sleep. But it just wasn’t happening, she could not get to sleep. She checked the time on her phone. Two am. If she wanted to get any sleep, she knew what she had to do, deciding that giving up on some of the traditions was better if it meant that she was able to sleep. It was just a stupid tradition anyway, it didn’t mean anything right?

She walked quietly back towards the spare room. Listening for any sounds that Kelly was awake. Finally, she got to the room and slowly opened the door before looking in to find out.

There he was sitting up against the headboard. The bedside light on. Reading. Smirk on his face.

“Couldn’t sleep?” He asked trying to look innocent. As if he wasn’t sitting up waiting for her to admit defeat that she struggled to fall asleep without him.

Stella again debated with herself if sleep was worth him being right. “Fuck it, I’m tired” she thought before closing the door and walking over to him.

Kelly put his book down on the bedside table before lifting the duvet to make it easier for her to join him.

Stella got in beside him. Both of them getting comfortable which meant being as close to one another as possible. It was so uncommon for them to not sleep in the same bed. Even on shift, half the time they would both end up in his bunk. The rest of the house knew to just ignore the fact that they would both come out of Kellys quarters in the morning, even Boden turned a blind eye to them.

“If Brett finds out, I’ll blame you Kelly”. She warned him as she finally started to fall asleep. Turns out all she needed was to be curled into her soon to be husband.

He was acting smug but what he didn’t tell her is that he had too tried to sleep and been unsuccessful before giving up and reading. Thinking that either it would tire him out or that hopefully Stella would find it as hard as he did and would come back.

In the morning when Kelly woke up, Stella was already gone. Snuck out so that when Brett came to get her, she would be in their bedroom and could say they slept separately.

He went out to the kitchen to get coffee and was able to catch the girls before they headed out.

Catching Stella’s eyes to ask if Brett knew, all he got in return was a shake of her head before she was dragged out the door. He hadn’t noticed Matt was sitting on the couch but now the girls were gone he made his presence known.

“You can fool Brett all you want but I lived with the two of you.”

Kelly took a sip of his coffee to avoid answering his friend. “What’s the plans for this morning then best man?” He asked to change the subject.

~

After breakfast and then their nail appointment, the girls headed back to the loft to get ready for the wedding.

Stella was stressed. Was this actually happening? Should it be? She loved Kelly there was never a doubt about that but both of them had been here before and it had ended badly. She thought she had got over her fears about this but the closer it got the more she started overthinking. Brett wasn’t helping, she loved her dearly. But she was not helping her to keep calm. Chloe was trying her best to keep everyone calm but between Stella and Sylvie, she had her work cut out for her.

Javi was going back and forth between the two rooms. Stella made sure to tell him how serious it was that Kelly couldn’t come in. “If you let him in here, I’ll kill you Javi”. Surely if she followed all the traditions and superstitions no matter how stupid they were then everything would be okay. Kelly not seeing the dress? Check. Getting ready separately? Check. Separate beds last night? No one would know.

She was just about ready when the boys headed out. Her hair and makeup were done. All she had to do was put her dress on.

When she married Grant, it was the most basic wedding you could get. No big ceremony. No big white dress. So, she had kind of splurged on this one. She loved it but it made her feel things she wasn’t expecting. She kept thinking about her last marriage and how badly it had ended. Grant breaking into her apartment. Him trying to scare her outside Molly’s. Him being hospitalised to help get him sober.

When she walked away from him that day, that was it for her. No more helping him out, she was done with him and that part of her life. She never wanted to feel that way about Kelly. She used to say that she would never get married again. The only person she would change her mind for was Kelly. This time it would work, because it was the right person.

“Oh Stella, you look incredible! I’m so glad you went with that dress.” Sylvie exclaimed breaking her out of her spiralling thoughts. If she was an energizer bunny yesterday, then there was no way to describe her today.

“She’s right, you look beautiful Stella!” Chloe added.

“Its not too much?” Stella asked them. She was doubting every decision she had made about the wedding apart from the fact it was to Kelly.

“Stella, its your wedding, nothing is too much!” Brett told her. She was so happy that Stella and Kelly were finally getting married, the two of them had been a long time coming. Part of her did wish that it was her though. Her own relationship had been put on the backburner when Casey left to take care of the Darden boys. It was the right decision for Matt and the boys, but she did wish that it didn’t mean he was so far away. She wasn’t sure if it was the right decision for her. It just wasn’t the same.

“She’s right, you can do whatever you want when you’re the bride” Chloe said while smiling, remembering when she was the one getting married just a few years ago and how happy she had been. Now she had a baby and a kid. There had been some difficulties since then of course but she was still just as happy as she was, if not happier.

Chloe could tell that Stella was spiralling, she didn’t know just how bad but there was one way to get her true feelings about the wedding. “Do you love him?”

Stella’s reply was instantaneous “With everything I’ve got.”

“That’s all that matters. The dress, the garter, everything you’re getting so worked up about it. Forget about them, just think about him. Now, come on let’s get you married.”

~~

 “Hey, husband” Stella said as she found Kelly at the edge of the dancefloor. They had got separated at some point and she had to rectify that. They may as well be glued together at this point, spending all their time together, but neither of them would have it any other way.

“Hi wife.” He replied with the biggest grin on his face, he pulled her into his side while she rested her head on his shoulder. “How are you?”

“I’m good but you know, there is this extra weight on my left hand” she told him while holding up her hand, showing off both her engagement ring and now her wedding ring to join it. “What about you?”

“I know what you mean” He replied while holding up his own left hand and the matching wedding ring that was now resting there.

“You think we can do this, Kelly?” Stella asked him, there was one last piece of reassurance she needed that only he could give her.

“We’ve got this, Stella Kidd… Severide”