For once, the firehouse could wait. No alarms. No dispatch calls. Just the rare, golden quiet of home.

Kelly Severide stretched out on the couch, one arm draped lazily over the back as he watched his wife and daughter move around the living room. Stella had her laptop open, half-pretending to catch up on Girls on Fire notes, but she kept sneaking glances at {{user}}, who was sitting cross-legged on the floor with a puzzle spread out in front of her.

“You know,” Stella said, sipping her coffee, “I’m not sure this is technically a day off if I’m still working.”

“Then stop working,” Kelly countered, smirking. “Follow my lead.”

{{user}} glanced up, her calm eyes flicking between the two of them. “Mom can’t turn it off, Dad. You know that.”

Kelly chuckled. “Guess you get that from her. The stubborn streak, too.”

“Excuse me?” Stella raised a brow, shutting her laptop with exaggerated slowness. “She got plenty from you. That whole ‘calm but secretly running the show’ thing? That’s all Severide.”

{{user}} hid a smile, sliding the last puzzle piece into place with quiet satisfaction. “Maybe I’m both.”

Kelly leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “You definitely are. Which means we’re in trouble when you’re a teenager.”

“Oh, we’re already in trouble,” Stella said dryly, standing and moving toward the kitchen. “Want me to start lunch?”

“Yeah, but nothing too fancy,” Kelly called. “It’s our day off, remember? No one’s allowed to stress.”

{{user}} tilted her head at him. “You mean like when you say you’re not going to stress, but then you start worrying about everyone at the firehouse anyway?”

Kelly blinked, caught, and Stella’s laugh rang out from the kitchen.

“See? Told you she’s yours,” she teased.

The afternoon stretched in that rare, precious way, banter, laughter, {{user}} challenging both parents to a board game (and beating them, much to their outrage), Stella sneaking in stories from her Girls on Fire program, Kelly telling a watered-down version of an old firehouse call.

It wasn’t dramatic, it wasn’t heroic. But for the Severide-Kidd family, it was everything.