Season 13 of Chicago Fire has been an exciting ride as Kelly Severide (Taylor Kinney) and Stella Kidd (Miranda Rae Mayo) make strides to start a family by adopting a child. However, in Season 13’s action-packed finale, we learned Stellaride is taking a different route to becoming parents: Stella is pregnant!

While the couple’s initial discussions about pregnancy were rocky due to Stella’s concerns about how pregnancy would impact her firefighting career, she was inspired to start a family thanks to her and Severide’s bond and strengthened faith in their relationship. She wanted a baby with Severide, full stop, so they began looking into adoption. Stellaride was approved for the adoption process, and even met a birth mother ahead of their potential child’s delivery. However, the mother decided to keep the baby at the last minute. The development crushed Stella and Severide, but they refused to lose hope of starting a family together.

Stella and Severide have weathered some stressful setbacks in their quest to become parents, but it all came to a head in Fire’s May 21 finale after Stella gave Severide the surprise of a lifetime. Here’s how it all went down:

Stella had big news for Severide in Season 13’s finale of Chicago Fire

Chicago Fire’s Season 13 finale was in no shortage of excitement. When the work day ended, Severide was happy to return home and found Stella particularly pleased to welcome him.

“You have had so much going on lately, and I know that I have been emotional about everything,” Stella said.

“You don’t have to explain,” Severide assured her.

“There’s something else,” Stella added. “Something you need to see. I think things are about to change around here.”

Stella then led Severide into the bathroom and pointed to something on the counter: a pregnancy test. As Severide walked over and inspected the test, he was gobsmacked by the results.

“Are you kidding me?” Severide asked in euphoric disbelief.

“Kelly, we’re pregnant,” Stella confirmed with a smile as tears filled Severide’s eyes. Severide then showered Stella in kisses as the couple celebrated the exciting update. A Stellaride bun is in the oven, and Chi-Hards couldn’t be more thrilled for the happy couple.

Chicago Fire showrunner Andrea Newman talks Stellaride’s future as parents

NBC Insider chatted with Chicago Fire showrunner Andrea Newman about Severide and Stella’s rollercoaster experience with adoption and Stella’s eventual decision to get pregnant.

When asked about what changed for Stella, Newman revealed there were “a lot of answers” ​​to that question, but it’s rooted in Stella’s growth. Not only did Stella come through for a troubled teen this season, but after emboldening a young mother in the hospital to believe in herself, she also gained the confidence to take the step toward getting pregnant herself. Stella has always been an effortless caregiver, and this season puts that into perspective.

“For this to have happened, I feel like she’s starting to evolve on her views of what she can handle. What she and Severide can handle together after they went through that very rough ride at the hospital with adoption…” Newman explained. “You come out of those things stronger as a couple, I think, once you’ve gone through something like that… They really grew together by the end of that, and they walked out of that episode arm in arm kind of closer.”

Newman continued, “I think there’s something that happened there that gave Kidd a little more faith in herself and in this couple to maybe take that leap. And be a little less trying to plan everything and more leaving some things to chance and accepting that she can handle it no matter what it is that comes.”

“It’s a big surprise. It’s obviously a big surprise for Severide, but she, at a certain point, decided, ‘OK, I’m just going to let the sort of fates take over because I can manage it, whatever it is,’” Newman concluded. “And that is something she learned, I think, over the course of the season.”