Halstead walked past the desks in the office, headed straight for the stairs. He was met by Platt who handed him a stack of folders.
"Reports", she said, staring at him.
He sighed and opened his mouth, ready with an excuse but he caught her expression: The Platt-Kill look. He quickly shut down his protest, "Okay, Sarge", he said, taking the folders and turning to his desk.
He plopped into his chair, looking towards Dawson who was typing quickly away at his computer, He's probably more than half done, he thought to himself.
He looked over to Ruzek, typing slowly, pausing every so often. He chuckled, shaking his head, Probably spelling all the words wrong. His eyes turned to Lindsay, he loved the way she looked when she was deep in thought and busy, her lips slightly pouting outwards and her furrowed brow.
A loud shuffling of footsteps made its way up the stairs and through the office. Jay scans the faces: Commander Fischer, ex-chief Perry, Chief Crowley and even Belden. He knew the faces of two others but not their names, they were IA agents. They walked silently into Voight's office and closed the door, leaving two assistants standing outside. One, a young man, who busied himself with a clipboard and pen. The other, a woman, who started scrolling on her phone as soon as the door closed. Jay looked towards Mouse, giving him a "Whats-that-all-about" look. Mouse picked up on it, shrugging his shoulders.
Jay stared at the open page on his computer; the report wasn't going to write itself. He sighed, reaching into his drawer, pulling out a pair of earbuds and plugging the jack into his phone. He scrolled through his playlists indecisively, before finally selecting 'shuffle'.
He hated writing out reports. Even when he was in in the Rangers, he hated it. We caught the bad guys but the ivory tower suits need a play-by-play on how it was done, he thought to himself. A familiar song began to play over his earbuds,
"Get down with the victim"
A small smile escaped the side of his mouth, remembering the time he and Mouse had drunkenly lip synced the song at Molly's.
Jay paid no mind to the two who sat outside Voight's office. Especially to that of the young woman who kept peeking at Jay from over her phone.
"You can't fight the friction…" the song continued as Jay set his fingers over the keyboard and began to recount the events of the latest solved case by Intelligence.
He was a half-page into it when he saw a figure approach his desk in his peripheral vision and proceed to tap on it.
"Excuse me…"
The voice was that of the young female assistant who was waiting outside Voight's door.
He pulled out one earbud, "Can I help you?"
"You're Jay Halstead, aren't you?"
He nodded, hesitatingly, not sure what was to follow. "Yes, I am."
"I thought I recognized you. I was watching you from over my phone", she said, flirtatiously, adding, "I hope I wasn't being rude."
Jay stammered, "Uh, no. I actually…didn't notice."
"Do I…know you?" He asked, hoping she wasn't an old girlfriend or a one-night stand that he had forgotten or just didn't recognize.
She smiled, "We went to high school together."
His brow furrowed, "Oh."
"I'm sorry, but I don't recognize you."
She laughed, "I'd be surprised if you did. I'm the first to admit, I've had a lot of work done." She gestured towards her breasts and lightly touched her cheeks.
She wore a tight, short skirt, her blouse barely staying buttoned. Her face was heavily painted, a deep red lipstick covering her lips with light blonde hair flowing over her shoulders and an innocent-like voice.
Her actions had already caught the jealous attention of Erin, who glanced over at Jay's desk every few seconds. Jay tried not to look at Erin, he could feel her jealousy radiating the entire room.
"I went by Bonnie in high school, Bonnie Steinfeld?" she said questioningly, hoping it would jog Jay's memory.
He shook his head, "I'm sorry, but I don't remember."
She sighed, her gaze dropping to his desk. As she played with a pen that was laying on the table, she quietly added, "They used to call me Buffalo Bonnie".
Jay's mouth dropped open, "You're Buff…I mean…Bonnie Steinfeld?"
She smiled widely, "I go by Becca now."
He nodded, "Wow. You've certainly…changed."
She chuckled, "You know, I used to have a huge crush on you."
He laughed nervously, glancing quickly at Erin's desk. Erin's going to kill this girl he thought to himself.
"You and your brother, Will."
"You two were the hottest guys in school."
Jay could hear the quiet clacking of the keyboards behind him silence and he knew they were all listening in to their conversation. Before Jay could say anything to change the subject, she added, "So you're a cop now?"
"Detective", Jay quickly said, with great emphasis on the word.
"Ahhh", she remarked, "Detective, then."
"You kind of disappeared after graduation" she remarked, inquisitively.
"What have you been up to, other than detective work?
"Ah, just bouncing around. Couple of tours, Rangers.
"How about you?"
She shrugged her shoulders, "Did a few years of college. I'm doing assistant work now for the district. I've got some modeling gigs lined up though. That's the goal."
"Becca Steinfeld on the cover of vogue", she said pouting her lips and waving her hands upwards, in a flashy pose.
He chuckled as Mouse walked up to his desk and set some papers down.
Voight's office door opened, "Looks like they're done", Jay said, nodding towards them
"Yeah", she said, half-disappointed, glancing back at them. "Hey…you…wanna get drinks some time?"
Jay could hear utter silence behind him, he didn't have to turn around to know that everyone was staring. He chuckled nervously, "That would be nice but…I'm in a relationship."
Becca's eyebrows raised, "Married?"
"No", Jay said with a chuckle, "but it's serious."
"Ah, I know that look." She said smiling, before adding, "She's a lucky girl."
The group of people started filing out of Voight's office, making their way through. "Well, I better get going. It was good seeing you again, Jay."
She bent over his desk, writing her number on a card. Jay tilted his head, unsure of what she was planning to do with that number. She stood back up, smiling at Jay and stepped around the desk, stopping in front of Mouse, who was leaning against the filing cabinet with his arms crossed. She tucked the card into his front pocket, "Give me a call sometime."
She turned and followed the group down the stairs. Jay turned, staring at Mouse who just shook his head, "Nuh-uh. Not my type", he said, taking the card out of his pocket and throwing it into the trash.
Atwater suddenly appeared from behind the filing cabinets. "Where did you come from?" Jay exclaimed. Atwater smiled deviously, "Oh, I've been there the whole time."
"He's getting as sneaky as Olinsky" Dawson mused.
Atwater reached into the garbage can pulling out the card, receiving questionable looks from both Mouse and Jay.
"What?" he said, smiling, "Did you see her?" He inhaled sharply. "That figure though!" he whistled through his teeth, putting the card into his jean pocket.
"So what was that all about, Boss?" Ruzek asked as Voight turned to head back into his office.
Voight scoffed, "A bunch of suits trying to tell me how to run my city", he closed his office door rather loudly.
"Yeah, I'm not touching that any further" Ruzek said, cringing.
Jay finally looked over towards Erin's desk. She was leaning back, twirling a pen between her fingers, smiling at him. He knew that she wasn't mad but also knew that she was going to tease the heck out of him over that whole incident.
He shook his head, putting his earbuds back in.
The music playing, "I'll be your light, your match, your burning sun. I'll be the bright, in black, that's makin' you run...and we'll feel all right, and we'll feel all right, 'cause we'll work it out, yes, we'll work it out. And we'll start a fire, and we'll shut it down, 'til the love runs out, 'til the love runs out. 'Til the love...runs...out.
-end