Chicago Fire returned for Season 13 with a lot of questions for

Lieutenant Stella Kidd – and some answers. After the show ended

Season 12 with a cliffhanger about whether Stella, played by Miranda Rae Mayo,

and her husband, Kelly Severide (Taylor Kinney) were ready to start a family, the Chicago Fire Season 13 premiere picked up with a definite answer from Stella, she just isn’t ready yet.

Mayo spoke to Soaps.com about the journey for Stella Kidd to come in Season 13, the relationship with her husband Kelly, new brother-in-law Jack Damon, and what to expect from the new Chief Dom Pascal. About the baby storyline, in particular, Mayo was really glad the show hadn’t just jumped straight into Stella and Kelly having a kid.

“I really resonate with where she’s coming from. I mean, I do feel like, at a certain point… I don’t have kids, but I imagine from talking to my friends who do have kids… they all say like, you’re never fully ready. And at a certain point, you just have to jump in. But I really resonate with her being afraid.”

For Mayo, the fear has a lot to do with who Stella Kidd is. “I think there’s some perfectionism that’s kind of paralyzing her. And also, I mean, look at her job, look at all of the horrific things that she sees on a day-to-day basis.”

And Mayo teased this will be a continued storyline we will see Stella grapple with as Chicago Fire Season 13 goes on. “She says in Episode 1 that anytime there is an incident with kids, it fills her with dread. And we will see throughout the season there are multiple calls with kids that just kind of fill her with more and more like, oh my god, the potential of harm is so great in the world.”

But for Mayo, there’s also a part of Stella that’s thinking of her job and how she could balance it with motherhood, a struggle a lot of women are familiar with. “I also think that a big part of her not wanting to have kids yet is she hasn’t been a truck Lieutenant for that long. And I think there is a part of herself that really wants to kind of validate Boden’s belief in her, wants to validate her belief in herself and prove to herself that she can be a good leader. And having a kid right now would totally take her out of the action for a decent amount of time, at least a year. And I don’t think she’s ready for that right now.”

So, Stella isn’t saying no. She’s just saying not yet.

And of course, the added wrinkle to Kidd’s job worries is the presence of a new Chief in Dom Pascal (Dermot Mulroney). We see Kidd clash with Pascal right away, something that Mayo explained “I think a big part of what irks her is that Pascal comes in at first, with what feels like very little curiosity, right? Like, he does say to the officers that he wants to sit down, and he wants to talk about how the calls go. But in her mind, it’s more of a power move.”

“It’s more of a, ‘I want to see if you’re doing things the way I want you to do things’ than it is him learning his team. So, there’s a part of her that’s like, we’re the best. We’re Firehouse 51. Why aren’t you at all curious about how we run and how we do things? I think she’s projecting quite a bit. I think she’s feeling protective of the firehouse. And she’s irritated that Boden is not there, that he’s not Boden. And she’s not hiding it very well.”

The relationship with Pascal will continue to evolve, both for Stella and for everyone else, Mayo teased. It’s just going to take some time for the time to truly get a read on him. “He really doesn’t give a whole lot away,” Mayo explained. “He is not a he’s not a warm man, which is hilarious. Very, very opposite to Dermot,” she shared.

“Dermot [Mulroney] is the sweetest. Just basically an open heart with legs,” she added.

Going forward in Season 13, Mayo teased the dynamic with Damon and Severide, saying “I think here’s the thing, point blank period… Stella wants a good crew. Stella takes great pride in having a fierce, solid crew. It’s a thing of pride to be on Truck 81. And so, she needs to be able to trust him. And I think even the scene in Episode 1, where she asks Severide, hey, can I just be the first one to talk to him? It’s more about building that bond. It’s about going hey, I know you guys have a thing and I love it. Just give me the opportunity to build something with him because he’s on Truck. He’s my guy.”

Mayo also had nothing but good things to say about the actor who plays Damon, Michael Bradway. “He is such a sweetheart. This was his first television role ever, which, like, I just was, I was so happy that we got to be his first set. But it was hilarious because it feels like with like, Damon and with Pascal, a lot of our scenes felt like boxing matches. You know what I mean? It they just felt so oppositional, and then they’d say cut, and I’d be like, what’s up? Like just the energy would shift because Michael’s such a sweetheart.”