Chapter Text
Special Agent Kelly Severide looked good in green. Not that he was thinking about looks too much. The suit wasn’t new, but it still fit him perfectly. Dark forest green tailored for him, black shirt with the top few buttons popped open, his tie ditched somewhere between his bedroom and the front door because his best friend rolled her eyes, and said he looked like he was going to a funeral instead of a fundraiser.
The smirk on his face came standard, like he was born with it. So did the glass of scotch that he was currently holding in his hand and the way his eyes scanned every room he entered. Even if this particular room had floor-to-ceiling windows and more officers outside than a CPD retirement party.
“You keep scanning the place like that and someone’s gonna think you’re planning to rob it.” his best friend’s voice startled him from his thoughts, and he glanced sideways.
Leslie Shay looked like trouble, her jumpsuit was backless, color the same dark green as Kelly’s suit, with a halter-neck cut that did zero favors for subtlety. It hugged her frame perfectly and she was probably turning more heads than the champagne tray. Her blonde hair was tucked behind one ear, her make-up done to perfection and the smirk on her face said she knew exactly the effect she was having on the people around her.
“I’m your date,” he said. “And it’s literally my job to be on alert.”
Shay scoffed. “Oh no, Kelly, I let you think you were my date.”
Kelly turned toward her, frowning. “What?”
“I figured you could use a change,” she grinned. “Could call it doing you a favor if you want to put a label on it…”
“Shay…”
“She’s good, Kelly.” Shay sipped her cocktail. “You know her, she’s strong, smart and mind you, recently divorced, so don’t be a dick…”
“What are you talking about…”
Before he could interrogate her any further about what the hell she had done, the double doors to the ballroom opened and Shay’s face lit up like a child’s on Christmas morning.
“Speak of the devil,” she nudged Kelly. “I’m warning you, Kelly. If you mess this up, I’m haunting you for the rest of your life.”
Kelly turned to see who Shay was looking at, and he stopped breathing for a beat too long.
Stella Kidd walked in like she owned the room. Her black dress hugging her curves like it had been sewn straight onto her body, a modest neckline that turned devastating if anyone looked long enough. A slit up one side that flashed exactly enough of her toned legs to rearrange a man’s priorities. Her dark curls were pinned half-up, tumbling in dark waves over her shoulder.
“Here,” Shay chuckled, patting his jaw. “Pick that up.”
He closed his mouth and swallowed.
“And that’s your date,” Shay patted his arm, already stepping away. “Have fun.”
“Don’t you…” but Shay was a flash of blonde behind him, already halfway to the bar, waving at three people.
Kelly glanced back towards Stella, who was now clearly walking towards him. He’d met her before, seen her at 51 when he popped in with a coffee when Shay was on shift, or when he showed up at Molly’s, or the occasional girls’ nights when Stella would come over and spend the evening on the couch with Shay, laughing about the most ridiculous things.
But it was one morning that stuck with him. Shay was out partying the night before and he had not heard her come back to the loft. So, when he walked out the next morning, he was expecting to find a very hungover Shay nursing that ridiculous coffee of hers in their kitchen. Instead, he found Stella, still in her sequined dress from the night before, drinking a mug of coffee, sitting on the barstool, half-hungover. Her curls were a wild halo, her make-up slightly smudged, but she still flashed him a slow, lazy grin. And the way she looked that morning, he had wanted things he absolutely shouldn’t want, things that would have crossed every line. Because she was married back then, untouchable by every definition of the word. And he had told himself a hundred times, he wasn’t that guy.
He had barely managed a quick ‘good morning’ before escaping back to his room, pulse pounding. He spent the next twenty minutes under the shower, trying to forget the sight of her bare legs and the way her dress rode up when she reached for the sugar. She was off limits, but every time he saw her, it was like a dare from the universe. And he had his fair share of relationship trouble following him, so the timing was just never right. But Shay’s not so subtle warning about her recent divorce was making his thoughts race.
Stella stopped a few steps away from him, a small smile playing on her lips as her gaze slid over him once before landing on his blue eyes.
“Agent Severide.” Her voice was smoother than he remembered.
“Stella,” he nodded, his smirk back like it never disappeared. “You look…”
“Gorgeous?” she teased. “It’s the annual fundraiser, don’t really have any other reason to dress up fancy these days.”
He couldn’t argue with that. She looked drop-dead gorgeous, not that he was going to admit that so early. He had to keep a few tricks to himself.
“You look surprised.” Stella cocked her head sideways, studying him.
“Shay didn’t mention she was setting us up.” he shrugged, trying to sound casual before taking a sip of his drink.
“You’re not disappointed, are you?”
“No,” he said, a little bit too fast. “Definitely not.”
That earned him a smile that made Kelly clear his throat and gesture towards the bar. “Can I get you something?”
“Wine sounds good,” she nodded.
They moved through the ballroom together, passing clusters of firefighters dressed in either their dress blues, or fancy suits and dresses schmoozing with city donors. Soft music, the clinking of glasses and overlapping voices talking about typical CFD topics filled the room.
At the bar, Kelly got Stella her drink, then nodded towards a standing table near one of the windows that had the Chicago skyline stretched behind it. They walked over and leaned against the table like two people waiting for the other to break the silence first. The skyline behind Stella was beautiful, but Kelly’s focus was purely on her.
She looked good, he already knew that, that wasn’t anything new. What was new though, was how different she seemed, as if she felt freer, although Kelly guessed, divorce can do that to you. He watched her fingers brush across the glass, saw the way her eyes scanned the crowd before landing back on him.
“So,” he said, finally breaking the silence, “should we call this a setup?”
“Shay called it a favor.” Stella let out a small scoff, “But if this goes horribly wrong, at least we both get to blame her.”
“Deal,” he grinned.
Kelly took a sip of his drink, calculating his next question. Shay did warn him not to be a dick, but he might as well be a little bit bold. Worst case he would listen to Shay rant the next day about his manners and dodge a few threats from her.
“So… Shay tells me you are off to a fresh start lately.”
Stella arched a brow. “Is that what she said?”
“I’m not trying to pry,” Kelly held her gaze. “Just making conversation…”
“Not exactly subtle,” she smiled, her voice stayed smooth, but her fingers tightened briefly on her glass which he clocked immediately.
“Subtle is overrated,” he shrugged, pulling back half an inch.
Stella let out a soft exhale, something between a sigh and a laugh.
“Divorce papers are barely cold,” she finally admitted with a soft shrug of her shoulder that made her curls bounce, mesmerizing Kelly for a moment.
“And yet you chose to spend your fresh start here, drinking with a Fed,” he grinned, clinking his glass gently to hers.
Stella took a sip of her wine, watching him over the rim. God, why is he so hot. His shirt was unbuttoned just enough to show off a hint of a chain at his neck and those blue eyes. Dear Lord, she was in trouble.
But before she could come back with a smug reply of her own, a voice cut in from behind her.
“Well, well, well. Look who finally remembered where he came from.”
Kelly’s shoulders stiffened as he took in the man stepping up to them.
“Chief Grissom,” he said flatly.
The old man looked like every rule from the rulebook of CFD had been pressed into the very fabric of his existence. He walked up to them as if he was the commissioner himself. Grissom gave Stella maybe half a glance then locked eyes on Kelly.
“Didn’t think you had the guts to show your face at this year’s fundraiser, Severide. Thought the Bureau taught you how to forget who your family is.”
“Must’ve skipped that part of training,” Kelly shrugged, keeping his voice even.
“You think a suit and a badge makes you better than the rest of us?” Grissom took a step closer, his bitterness showing through his voice.
“I think it keeps people alive. Same goal, different job.”
Grissom scoffed. “You walked away from your father’s legacy. And now you stand here, drinking scotch like you still belong.”
Kelly’s jaw tensed, he didn’t need this drama. He was long over the whole Benny Severide and his legacy argument, or how he abandoned the CFD or his father. And he surely didn’t need Stella to listen to this when they were just getting off to a good start.
“You’re not your father, Severide. You’ll never be.” Grissom was looking at Kelly like he was a speck of dirt on his shoe.
“That’s not the insult you think it is, Chief.” Kelly leaned back, fighting to keep the sarcasm out of his voice.
Before Grissom could answer, another white shirt with a cluster of medals on his chest tapped Grissom’s shoulder. “Chief, they need you at the auction table.”
Grissom gave Kelly one last look, something that fell between disdain and disappointment, then turned and walked off without a word. After that an uneasy silence settled between Stella and Kelly, neither of them speaking right away. Stella was watching him, trying to read his emotions but he was damn good at hiding his feelings. Perks of being a cop, she guessed.
“So. That was fun.” Kelly rolled his shoulders, before his eyes moved back to Stella.
“Old mentor?” Stella tilted her head, the corner of her mouth twitching, trying her best to ease the tension in the air.
“More like old migraine,” he shrugged. “But, enough about Chicago’s least charming fossil. You wanna hear about how I brought down a serial killer last month?”
“That was smooth.” Stella laughed.
“I’m known for smooth,” he winked, his smirk returning. “Shay didn’t tell you?”
“She might have mentioned some big case. Said you were unbearable.”
“Rude,” Kelly scoffed, mock-offended. “I was being quietly heroic. Only did one round of victory scotch.”
“She also said there was a press conference…”
“Fine. It was two rounds.” Kelly grinned, taking another sip of his drink.
“So? Tell me about it then.” Stella finished off her drink, feeling her nerves ease.
He leaned a little closer, voice dipping just low enough that it made a shiver run up her spine.
“I’d been chasing this guy for almost a year. He kept picking very specific victims and left very neat crime scenes. It was all over the state too, always showing up in different cities.”
“And you cracked it?”
“I did,” he didn’t bother hiding the pride in his voice. “Breakthrough was a witness giving us a description, and how they remembered the guy had a really weird smell. Like old cigar mixed with bleach. A brand new lab test picked up a specific brand of cleaning supply mixed with…”
“Wait a minute, you caught him on a smell?” Stella set her empty glass down, giving him her full attention.
“It was a bit more complicated than that,” he grinned. “He mixed Snapple Peach into his cleaning supplies.”
“The tea?” her brow lifted.
“Hey, killers are people too.” Kelly shrugged. “Just very dumb ones, sometimes.”
That made her laugh before she replied. “I can’t tell if I should be impressed or terrified of you.”
“Can’t it be both?” he tilted his head, his trademark smirk on his face. “I mean, come on. Sharp suit, dangerous job, decent sense of humor…”
“Big ego.” Stella teased.
“Only medium-large.” he corrected.
Stella rolled her eyes, but there was something more under her smile now. She wanted to throw some witty come-back at him, not let him have the last word, which was an entirely new feeling for her. But before she could tease him back, the announcement cut her off.
“Ladies and gentlemen, if you could take your seats for dinner…”
Servers started moving in unison, setting plates and pouring wine. Stella’s hand brushed for one second against Kelly’s as she reached for her empty glass. It shouldn’t have meant anything. But the spark they both felt surely said otherwise.
Shay stormed up to them, plucking their glasses from their hands. “Kelly, you’re sitting next to Stella.”
“I am?” Kelly blinked.
Shay handed him her place card with a not-so-subtle wink. “I’m very generous. You’re welcome.”
They followed Shay to the table reserved for them, and Shay plopped down between Matt Casey and Christopher Herrmann with a soft smile on her face like she hadn’t just orchestrated a strategic seat shuffle.
Kelly slid into the empty chair beside Stella, smirking. “I think I’m being pimped out.”
“You think?” she raised an eyebrow, picking up her new glass, taking a sip of the wine to hide the smile she didn’t want him to see.
Across the table, Herrmann squinted at Kelly, before grinning. “Well, well. Look who the cat dragged in.”
“Fancy bastard,” Casey added, raising his glass.
Kelly shrugged. “Surprised you guys still let Shay RSVP for me.”
Gabby Dawson leaned forward, smirking. “She promised you’d wear something tighter this year.”
“I delivered, didn’t I?” Shay smiled, tearing off a bite of bread. “That suit’s a war crime.”
Stella took another slow sip of her wine, her eyes casually sliding toward the man comfortably stretched out beside her. That suit was a war crime indeed. Tailored within an inch of its life, dark green clinging to his broad shoulders. God help her, Shay had done too good. He could have been arrested for the intent of ruining someone’s willpower. Well, specifically her willpower that was hanging on by a thread.
“Appreciate the warm welcome, guys,” Kelly chuckled. “Truly heartwarming.”
“You could visit more, you know,” Casey said. “Some of us miss seeing your broody face around 51.”
“You just miss the free coffee and croissants he brings when he visits,” Joe Cruz shot back.
“Oh yeah, definitely the croissants.” Casey added, laughing.
“Next time,” Kelly smirked, “I’ll bring kale muffins just to spite you all.”
“Don’t you dare,” Randall ‘Mouch’ McHolland pointed his fork at him like it was a weapon.
The laughter that rippled around the table was easy. Stella watched the scene unfold, took note of how he slipped into this easy rhythm with his friends. It was as if he never left. Like a piece of him still belonged here, whether he’d admit that or not.
Kelly turned toward her a second later, nudging his knee lightly against hers under the table, like he knew she was watching him.
“See? Some people still love me around here.”
“Oh is that love?” she asked, teasing.
“They only bully people they deeply care about.” he said with a shrug.
“You really enjoy the attention, don’t you?” Stella chuckled.
Kelly leaned in a little closer, lowering his voice so only Stella could hear him. “Only when it’s hands-on and prolonged…”
Stella froze for half a second, his meaning landing perfectly and burning its way straight down her spine. She couldn’t look at him, not with Cruz halfway through some story and Shay glancing her way every once in a while.
Instead, she shifted slightly in her chair, crossing her legs under the table, and reached for her wine like suddenly it was the most important thing in the world.
Jesus Christ! Hands-on and prolonged?! Is he trying to kill me??
She kept her face neutral, taking a slow sip of her wine, giving a tiny, polite smile to Cruz as he continued talking across the table. She absolutely refused to let herself even glance at the man beside her. Not when she could feel the smirk he wasn’t even bothering to hide.
She heard her name mentioned and looked up from staring at her wine, but before she could even figure out what she should have replied, a plate landed in front of her. Perfectly seared steak, stacked with roasted vegetables and something unnecessarily fancy looking on the side.
Shay picked up her cutlery, pointing at Stella with her knife. “Stella, if he starts talking about his profiling strategies, I give you full permission to stab him with your fork.”
“Unbelievable,” Kelly shook his head, cutting into his steak. “I solve the biggest serial killer case Illinois has seen for the past decade and still catch heat from you guys.”
“You gave a press conference, dude,” Cruz added, “with sunglasses on your head.”
“In my defense…” Kelly started.
“You were indoors, Severide.” Gabby chuckled.
“I had just come from a crime scene…”
“And gave a press conference like you were auditioning for the Bachelor FBI Edition.” Casey grinned.
“I’d been up for twenty-six hours guys,” Kelly shook his head, picking up another piece of steak with his fork. “I’d also caught a double homicide that morning, talked a suspect in another case into confessing and still made it to the press conference on time. I think that’s dedication.”
He was so casual about it, like he hadn’t just described being a hero in his job. Stella raised an eyebrow, mouth twitching into a smug smile. “Do you ever stop turning on your charm? Or is that just your default setting?”
The comment slipped out easier than it should have and for a moment she had no idea where it even came from. It was flirty, playful but Kelly didn’t even blink. He just leaned in closer again, voice dropping to that velvet-smooth level.
“Depends who I’m trying to get off.”
Stella sucked in breath, immediately coughing to keep from choking on her wine. She reached for the napkin with one hand, avoiding eye contact with everyone at the table.
Across the table, Shay winked at her. She was absolutely delighted about the whole thing, but Stella couldn’t look at Kelly again for the next good thirty seconds, which only made him grin harder and pick up his scotch like his comment wasn’t setting her on fire.
A short while later when the dessert hit the table, Stella was ready to dive into it to keep her mind off the very smug man sitting next to her. Dessert was small plates of chocolate tart and a neat round of salted caramel panna cotta wobbling ever so slightly on a delicate plate, with a thin sugar shard sticking out the top. It all looked a little too good for a CFD event, but Stella was grateful they seemed to have upped the catering services this year.
Stella picked up her spoon, but caught Kelly eyeing her dessert.
“What?” she asked.
He nodded at her bowl. “I think yours has more caramel.”
“Do you want to trade?”
Kelly gave a one-shoulder shrug. “Only if I get to watch you eat mine.”
Stella choked on a laugh, eyes narrowing slightly. “You really don’t have an off switch, do you?”
“Haven’t had any complaints so far.” Kelly shrugged and he felt her giving him a look as he dragged his spoon through the glossy surface of his own dessert. “Unless you’ve got one you’d like to file.”
She picked up a bite of her panna cotta, letting the spoon slide past her lips a little slower than necessary, savoring the taste before pulling back and hitting him with a smile. “Maybe they just didn’t have the stamina to keep up long enough to file one.”
Kelly froze for half a second, his breath stuttering. He couldn’t believe what he just heard.
Apparently, Shay heard it too because she made an audible choking cough and reached for her wine. Kelly recovered a second later with a slow smirk, leaning in just a touch too close to whisper into Stella’s ear.
“You offering to test that theory?”
Stella didn’t answer, she just took another bite of her dessert, her lips wrapping around the spoon with devastating precision, letting the silence answer for her. Stella was trying her best to stay calm on the outside, as if she had the upper hand in this conversation. But she was spiraling inside. She hadn’t meant to say it like that.
But something about the way he looked at her all night, how his blue eyes burned when he deployed his smug grin along with his charm, it just made her feel free to be a little reckless. And now she could feel him looking at her and Shay’s words rang very clearly in her ear: “with Severide, you don’t get serious, you get orgasms, honey”.
Kelly leaned back slightly in his chair, his eyes never leaving her. He didn’t know what to expect from the night when Shay ditched him, setting him up with Stella. Maybe a night of flirting, a couple of drinks and probably a goodbye. Instead, he was sitting there, watching her lick dessert off her damn spoon, wondering if she always ate like that, and if he could survive watching it again.
After dessert, the ballroom continued to buzz with laughter and clink of glasses, but Stella needed out of there. It was too loud, too warm… too him.
She slipped out through a side door when nobody was looking, stepping out into the crisp night, walking up to the railing of the terrace. Chicago stretched out in front of her, the beautiful skyline that never ceased to amaze her, distant sirens mixing with the low hum of the city.
She tucked a loose curl behind her ear, exhaling sharply. Just five minutes. God, just five minutes and some cold air and maybe, just maybe she would be ready to face everyone else in there. Her divorce had gone through a couple of months ago, and Shay had been nagging her about dipping her toes back into the dating pool, at least that’s the way Shay had said. To Stella it just sounded like something she didn’t want to deal with. Not for the foreseeable future, not until she closed off that awful period of her life.
Before she could get too lost in her thoughts, the door creaked open behind her.
Of fuckin’ course. Stella shook her head lightly, a small scoff escaping her, because she didn’t have to turn to know who it was.
“You stalking me now, Agent?” she tried to go for sass.
“Just checking you hadn’t climbed out onto the ledge.” Kelly’s voice was low and smug, coming from right behind her that made a shiver run down her spine.
She turned to look at him and saw him shrug off his suit jacket slowly. The black shirt underneath clung to him in ways that should have absolutely been illegal, and it took her a huge effort to look away. He draped the jacket around her shoulders, letting it hang loose as his hands lingered a little longer than necessary.
His fingertips grazed her bare arm, one adjusted the lapel near her collarbone, his knuckles brushing skin he had no business touching. It was gentle, kind, yet it lit her body up.
“Thanks,” she finally managed, pulling the lapels closed around herself, sneaking a look at the skyline again.
He moved to stand beside her, shoulder to shoulder, a little too close for causal. “Didn’t think you’d run off like Cinderella before the auction even started.”
“I just… needed some air.”
“You needed away from me,” he stated so matter-of-fact yet there was a smug undertone in his voice as he also turned to look at the view in front of them. “It’s okay, I can be a lot.”
“Yeah, you can.” Stella let out a small chuckle, rolling her eyes. “But you didn’t have to follow me out here.”
“I wanted to.” he turned to look at her. “You were sitting next to me making eating dessert look criminally good. Figured I should come out here and read you your rights.”
That made her turn to look at him. “Excuse me?”
He shrugged, absolutely shameless, his standard smirk back on his face. “Though fair warning, I have zero intention of letting you stay innocent.”
Stella stared at him for a full second, before letting herself smile at his comment and deciding that she was going to start being bold tonight. Maybe Shay was right. Maybe she just needed some fun back in her life to shake her back to her normal rhythm.
“Well,” she said, shifting slightly closer, her body moving on her own accord, “if you’re gonna arrest me, Agent Severide, you better be thorough. I have a history of resisting…”
Kelly’s smirk faltered for a second, not from the shock of Stella flirting back so openly, but from the effort it took not to kiss her right then and there. He took a step forward, closing the space between them, his eyes raking down her body shamelessly before returning to stare into her eyes.
“Then I guess… I better put you in handcuffs first,” he lowered his voice. “Just to be safe.”
And then he couldn’t hold himself back anymore and he kissed her. One of his hands slid around her waist, pulling her even closer while the other cupped her jaw. The kiss wasn’t tentative or polite. It was passionate, that built from hours of not so subtle glances, layers of tension and a whole evening of pretending not to want exactly this to happen.
He deepened the kiss, sending a jolt straight down her spine, her hands moving to grip his black shirt tight without thinking, her body leaning into his on its own. When they finally broke apart a few minutes later, his forehead rested lightly against hers, both of them breathing hard.
She noticed that his hand that he slid around her waist was still resting there.
They both felt it. The shift that just happened. The point of no return they have arrived at.
“So,” he said after a beat, voice still a little low, “we skipping the auction or try to pretend we care…”
“I already donated,” Stella said as she felt her lips still tingling and her body was becoming acutely aware of how close he stayed. “And you can’t seriously expect me to walk back in there after… that…”
“I have wine at my place,” he offered with a smug grin, “and a couch, and definitely no dress code.”
Stella didn’t answer right away, because her mind immediately went down the rabbit hole of thinking about him and what he could do to her on that couch. Then her eyes refocused on the obscene way his shirt clung to him, how much she would have liked to pop open the next couple of buttons. Pair that with a good wine and she knew she was in for some fun. But then her rational mind screamed at her.
“No,” she said, shaking her head slightly, looking back into his eyes. “I am not risking Shay catching me there.”
Kelly tilted his head. “I saw her flirting with the bartender before I came out here. She probably won’t make it home before sunrise.”
“I don’t care, Kelly,” she insisted. “She’ll know…”
“So…,” he started, a little amused at her reaction, “yours, then?”
“It’s closer anyway,” she smiled, stepping back a little, reaching for her phone.
Kelly smirked, stepping back just enough to look at her again. “Someone’s impatient.”
“You’re one to talk,” Stella shot back, ordering their ride. “You kissed me like the world was on fire.”
“If it had been,” his eyes darkened. “I wouldn’t have pulled back.”
Before she could continue fidgeting with her phone, he leaned in again, catching her lips with his, kissing her hard. He pulled back a minute later, smug smile on his face.
Stella blinked, her breath caught and her mind already spinning dangerously. She wasn’t exactly planning for this to happen, but here she was, his suit jacket still draped over her shoulders, her lips slightly swollen from that bruising kiss, staring at the man who looked like every bad decision she wanted to make. And for once, maybe she wouldn’t stop herself.
He looked insane in that shirt, all heat and the promise of a mind-blowing night. And God help her, she wanted every inch of him. It would come with no expectations, no strings, just the one night. One that had the potential to burn off the lingering bad taste of her failed marriage from her mind.
She smiled, feeling a little wrecked already, shoving her phone into her purse after placing the order for their ride then took his hand.
“Let’s go,” she smiled, tugging him toward the elevator.
And as they walked, her pulse thundered in her ear, but one smug little thought appeared in her mind that refused to leave:
If this man does to me what I think he’s about to… I’m sending Shay a freakin’ gift basket. Full spa day, no questions asked. Maybe even throw in a fancy massage and a bottle of champagne. Hell, if it’s that good, I’ll make it two bottles...