Taylor Kinney as Kelly Severide, Daniel Kyri as Darren Ritter and Jake Lockett as Sam Carver on ‘Chicago Fire’.Photo:Adrian S Burrows Sr/NBC

Chicago Fire

Adrian S Burrows Sr/NBC

Warning: This post contains spoilers for the season 12 premiere ofChicago Fire.

Chicago Fireseason 12is really heating up!

And that is meant quite literally, as the new season of the NBC hit kicked off with Stella Kidd (Miranda Rae Mayo) and her husband, Kelly Severide (Taylor Kinney), taking a steamy, steamy shower.

The scene markedKinney’s firston the show since Feb. 22, 2023. In January of last year, the actor, 42, took aleave of absencefrom the show “to deal with a personal matter,” a source close to the production told PEOPLE at the time.

Kinney’s was the first of several happy returns in the new episode, which picked up six months after last May’s season finale.

In the premiere, Kelly was back at Firehouse 51, Mouch returned to work for the first time after recovering from his ordeal, and Sylvie was rocking Matt’s rock.

Miranda Rae Mayo as Stella Kidd, Kara Killmer as Sylvie Brett and Hanako Greensmith as Violet Mikami on ‘Chicago Fire’.Adrian S Burrows Sr/NBC

Chicago Fire

But all was not completely hunky-dory at the station.

Despite their pre-shift shower, Stella and Kelly were on shaky ground. Stella’s trust has been broken, so she was hesitant to allow Kelly to get involved in any arson investigations lest he leave her — and 51 — behind again. Of course, she had to let that go somewhat when there was an arsonist on the loose targeting firefighters.

While Sylvie was excited to marry Matt, the wedding, she said, is in about a month and a half — and she’ll be leaving Chicago afterward. (Killmer’s departurefrom the show sometime this season was confirmed in November.)

Alberto Rosende on ‘Chicago Fire’.Adrian S Burrows Sr/NBC via Getty Images

Chicago Fire’s Alberto Rosende Is ‘Proud’ of Time on Show, and Says It ‘Wasn’t Easy’ to Leave

Adrian S Burrows Sr/NBC via Getty Images

“I’m going to miss my family at 51 like hell,” he told a big group of his former colleagues. They soon walked away, leaving only Blake’s best friends, Darren Ritter (Daniel Kyri) and Violet Mikami (Hanako Greensmith).

“Oh, you guys don’t know: I already made two new best friends in Detroit, Riolet and Vitter,” Blake joked, as the three of them teared up and hugged. Before heading out on a call, Violet gave Blake one last kiss on the cheek.

Hanako Greensmith as Violet Mikami, David Eigenberg as Christopher Herrmann, Daniel Kyri as Darren Ritter, Miranda Rae Mayo as Stella Kidd and Kara Killmer as Sylvie Brett on ‘Chicago Fire’.Adrian S Burrows Sr/NBC

Chicago Fire

Toward the end of the episode, Chief Wallace Boden (Eamonn Walker) and Christopher Herrmann (David Eigenberg) caught the arsonist dropping off a package at 51. As Boden apprehended the guy, Christopher ran the explosive into the park across the street.

As it detonated, Christopher was thrown against the ground hard. He insisted he was fine as Violet and co. ran to his side, but something about the way he was sitting in the locker room at the end of the episode wasn’t quite right…

And in the teaser for next week’s episode, Joe Cruz (Joe Miñoso) is struggling to take orders after he served as the team’s leader while Kelly was away — and threatens to leave Firehouse 51.

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Chicago Fireairs on Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on NBC.

source: people.com