diff --git a/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/index/DefaultIndexingChain.java b/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/index/DefaultIndexingChain.java
index 646b71dc8b6..ae448485cc1 100644
--- a/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/index/DefaultIndexingChain.java
+++ b/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/index/DefaultIndexingChain.java
@@ -51,7 +51,8 @@ final class DefaultIndexingChain extends DocConsumer {
   // Writes postings and term vectors:
   final TermsHash termsHash;
 
-  final StoredFieldsWriter storedFieldsWriter;
+  // lazy init:
+  private StoredFieldsWriter storedFieldsWriter;
   private int lastStoredDocID; 
 
   // NOTE: I tried using Hash Map<String,PerField>
@@ -75,12 +76,16 @@ final class DefaultIndexingChain extends DocConsumer {
     this.docState = docWriter.docState;
     this.bytesUsed = docWriter.bytesUsed;
 
-    // Writes stored fields:
-    storedFieldsWriter = docWriter.codec.storedFieldsFormat().fieldsWriter(docWriter.directory, docWriter.getSegmentInfo(), IOContext.DEFAULT);
-
     TermsHash termVectorsWriter = new TermVectorsConsumer(docWriter);
     termsHash = new FreqProxTermsWriter(docWriter, termVectorsWriter);
   }
+  
+  // TODO: can we remove this lazy-init / make cleaner / do it another way...? 
+  private void initStoredFieldsWriter() throws IOException {
+    if (storedFieldsWriter == null) {
+      storedFieldsWriter = docWriter.codec.storedFieldsFormat().fieldsWriter(docWriter.directory, docWriter.getSegmentInfo(), IOContext.DEFAULT);
+    }
+  }
 
   @Override
   public void flush(SegmentWriteState state) throws IOException {
@@ -92,6 +97,8 @@ final class DefaultIndexingChain extends DocConsumer {
     writeNorms(state);
     writeDocValues(state);
     
+    // its possible all docs hit non-aborting exceptions...
+    initStoredFieldsWriter();
     fillStoredFields(numDocs);
     storedFieldsWriter.finish(state.fieldInfos, numDocs);
     storedFieldsWriter.close();
@@ -246,6 +253,7 @@ final class DefaultIndexingChain extends DocConsumer {
   private void startStoredFields() throws IOException {
     boolean success = false;
     try {
+      initStoredFieldsWriter();
       storedFieldsWriter.startDocument();
       success = true;
     } finally {
diff --git a/lucene/core/src/test/org/apache/lucene/index/TestIndexWriter.java b/lucene/core/src/test/org/apache/lucene/index/TestIndexWriter.java
index bc6c6d0cc2a..3b973209f1a 100644
--- a/lucene/core/src/test/org/apache/lucene/index/TestIndexWriter.java
+++ b/lucene/core/src/test/org/apache/lucene/index/TestIndexWriter.java
@@ -2188,7 +2188,6 @@ public class TestIndexWriter extends LuceneTestCase {
     IOUtils.close(reader, dir);
   }
   
-  @AwaitsFix(bugUrl = "https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/LUCENE-5611")
   public void testIterableThrowsException2() throws IOException {
     Directory dir = newDirectory();
     IndexWriter w = new IndexWriter(dir, newIndexWriterConfig(