The alarm, as expected, went off at 6am exactly. Erin Lindsay turned over in bed to shut it off. She yawned, feeling like she'd had approximately 2 hours sleep.

Her bed was warm, making it almost impossible to get up. Letting out a sigh, she stretched and swung her legs out of the covers. It was already cold outside, she could feel it.

She made her way into the bathroom that was connected to her bedroom, turning on the shower. The heat from the shower head woke her straight away as she let the water clean her slender body. If she could, she would stay in the shower all day, it was warm. But she couldn't do that, and she also didn't want to rack up a huge water bill. Quicker than she wanted to, she stepped back out of the shower and went over to the basin. She brushed her teeth and she combed her hair.

Her morning routine out of the way, she made her way to the kitchen of her apartment. She realized she didn't have time to eat, grabbing a banana and her car keys. Her work boots were by the door with her jacket. She dressed herself in both and locked her apartment, making her way to the car.

Like every day, it took her 15 minutes to get to the district- to work. She put her car in park and made her way into the building, her hands in her pockets because the Chicago air wasn't being kind this morning. As soon as she was inside, she got the usual greeting from the desk sergeant.

"Morning Detective Lindsay, you look tired." Trudy Platt was always full of compliments. It would have probably bothered somebody else, but Erin was used to her attitude by now. Plus she couldn't really say anything, she probably did look extremely tired. Like she did most days.

Erin smiled and nodded at the woman behind the desk. "Morning Trudy," She waved a quick hand in her direction before heading towards the stairs. Erin wasn't one for small talk. The quicker she made it to the upper level, the quicker her working day would begin.

When she reached the coffee room, she found Voight already there. Her boss looked deep in thought, almost as though he had the events of the day already planned out. Which was weird, because they'd just got off the back of a big case. Erin had secretly hoped they would have a few low key cases before anything like that again.

He looked up and greeted her when she came into the room.

"Erin," he smirked. "Morning." He notioned towards the teapot, already brewing so she could prepare herself a hot drink. She grinned, he knew how much she would kill for a coffee, and walked over to the counter.

When her drink was ready, she sat down next to him. She took off her jacket and lay it over the back of the chair. Her palms cupped her drink as she tried to warm up her skin. She took down the liquid in small sips, careful not to burn herself.

She hadn't even realized she was the first member of the team in this morning. She only noticed when Hank pointed it out:

"You're early, the rest of the team is yet to come," He was drinking a hot drink too, his cup already half empty.

Erin nodded. "I guess I'm just prompt this morning," she laughed. It certainly was unusual for her to be the first one here, usually she wasn't the best with her timekeeping.

"I'm kinda glad," Hank continued. "I have a proposition for you." He said it with a smirk on his face, and Erin lowered the cup from her mouth.

He greeted her the same way each working morning, but she hadn't expected him to have a proposition for her. It hadn't been too long since she had started working with the Intelligence Unit, she was still the newest member of the team. She hoped it wasn't going to be used to her disadvantage. Sure, she wanted to fit right in with the team, they had a long future ahead together. But at the same time, she didn't want to be seen as the weak link, the one they would all make fun of. And she was still to work out what Hank Voight's plans were for her. He had been the one to give her the job, after all. He was the one who saved her from her dark past. But he seemed to have a different attitude with her in and out of work.

Hank saw her change of expression, her thought process clearly evident on her face. He let out a laugh which made her relax a bit.

"Relax, I'm not going to make you go undercover or anything," he smiled at her. "Kid, you ever heard of Cops and Corporals?" She shook her head so he continued. "They're this organization that pairs up a cop with someone in the military. So, they could be injured or effected by experiences of war or something," he paused to sip his coffee. "The leader of this organization reached out. They're thinking of setting one up here in Chicago for returning soldiers. You think you'd be down?"

She stared at him blankly for a second. "Me? You want me to talk to soldiers? What am I supposed to say? How am I supposed to react? What if-"

He interrupted her rambling. "Woah, easy. It was just a suggestion. And I wouldn't make you rush into anything. You would just have to talk to them, that's all. You know, be supportive or something. Most of them will be fresh from active duty so I guess they just want somebody to talk to."

Erin seemed to contemplate his suggestion, looking at him as she thought. "I mean I guess I could do it." She let out a nervous laugh. "I just don't know if I'll be much good."

"Erin, all you have to do is talk." He laughed. "And I think you're pretty good at that."

She glared at him but knew he was telling the truth. She was guilty of being able to talk for a long time and she couldn't deny it.

But talking with a military soldier? She had no idea where to begin. She'd never even spoken to a soldier before! And one that had just returned from his service? She didn't have a clue what sort of things to talk about with him, she didn't know if she was supposed to omit certain stuff in case it was a trigger for some sort of memory? And did she talk about their family, what if she dug herself into a hole and they didn't have a family? What if she talked about their friends, and one of them (unbeknown to her) had been lost on live duty?

She shook herself, knowing she was thinking too much into it. Of course she was going to be able to strike up a conversation with a stranger, she seemed to do it on a daily basis.

"Earth to Lindsay are you in there?" She came out of her thoughts to see Hank waving in front of her face. "So can I call back the Lieutenant and let him know? Let him know you're prepared to do this?"

The way Hank was describing it made Erin think this was going to be more serious than she had imagined. She thought she was just going to have to talk to this person, but maybe that wasn't the case.

She fidgeted for a second, her fingers intertwining together on the table top. "Yes, do it. Call him back." She stood up from the table and put her cup in the pile to be washed, walking out of the room before she had time to change her mind.

Erin got to her desk and collapsed into the chair. Whatever it was she had expected her boss to say, it certainly hadn't been that. She hadn't even heard of an organization like what he was talking about before. She turned on her computer and looked at the blank screen as it was starting up. This could be good for me she thought there wasn't anybody there for me when I needed them. Maybe I can be there for someone when they need me.

Her morning was quiet. The rest of the team filtered in, and she only noticed when Antonio Dawson took his seat across the room from hers. She would have stayed glued to her computer screen if he hadn't called her name.

"Lindsay, you want coffee?"

Her eyes shot up from her computer and looked at him. "I'm good thanks," She said, shocked herself at her response, usually she would never turn down a coffee. But she'd had a caffeine fix already this morning, in the break room with Hank.

Antonio took her word for it and went into the coffee room. She slowly scanned the room before she focused back to what she had been doing. Alvin Olinksy was checking through some case files, and it made Erin smile. Even though a case was over, he still seemed strung up on figuring out every last detail. He was deep in thought looking through case evidence and Erin knew he would be there for the rest of the day. Kevin Atwater and Adam Ruzek were joking about something and Erin rolled her eyes. They were always like this but she supposed today they were allowed. They didn't really have anything in particular to focus on, instead just tying up loose ends on unresolved cases. And Hank Voight was in his office but Erin couldn't see through the shutter blinds. He was obviously busy doing something.

And that was them, the Intelligence Unit she had recently joined. She smiled a little, they were dysfunctional but they were slowly becoming like her family. Hank had taken the time to introduce them all to her so she felt like part of the team.

Her eyes went back to her computer screen, looking again at the website she had been on for the past few hours. PTSD and how to deal with it. She didn't even know why she had come onto the website in the first place, perhaps she unconsciously thought the guy she was about to be paired with was going to be affected by it in some way. She shook her head at what she was doing, she was making assumptions. But she would rather be prepared, and then at least she would know what kind of subjects to avoid talking about.

She must have been so engrossed in discovering more on the disorder that she jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder. The chuckling that came from behind her made her realize it was Hank.

"Hey kiddo, can I speak to you in the office?"

She shut off her computer monitor, but knew Hank had probably seen what she was researching anyway. She followed him into his office and sat down as he shut the door behind them. It took him a minute to say anything after he sat down at the opposite side of the desk. He leaned back in his chair.

"So I rang back my friend Corporal Anderson."

Erin raised her eyebrows as she waited for him to continue. "And?"

He leaned forward slightly and put his hands on the desk. "How would you feel about starting sooner than I thought? He said he had a few guys desperate for this sort of thing,"

Her eyes shot wide. "How soon do you mean?"

"Um, tomorrow?"

Erin swallowed, her body language apparently telling her she was more nervous than she originally thought. And she had no idea why, perhaps it was the idea that this guy was a soldier. He'd fought for his country and now he wanted to talk to somebody like her.

Hank reached across the table to take her hand in his own. "Hey, you can do this. You're a cop Erin, you're capable of anything. These guys just need somebody to talk to, to begin with. You only have to see them once or twice a week. For like an hour or so."

Now he was making it seem less daunting, he made it seem as though she was going for just a friendly chat. To be a face to talk to.

She breathed in. "Okay, tomorrow." She kept repeating the concept in her head even after she'd said it aloud. Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow.

Hank pulled his hand away slowly and smiled at her. "Nice one Erin, they should be honored to have you," he continued. "I said you'd be over there at lunch time tomorrow-"

"Hank, that's when I'm supposed to be here." She moved to stand up and make her way back to her desk. "I said I would do this but I don't want it to interfere with my job,"

"The first meeting is a one off. I said you would go over and introduce yourself, start and get to know this guy you're going to be paired with. Then you can do whatever the next time, outside of work."

Erin nodded in agreement. "I gotcha. Do you have the address? And when I get to this place, who do I ask for? Do I at least get to know his name before I meet him?"

"Oh hang on," Hank reached in to a drawer of his desk and pulled out a notebook. He turned to the back of it and ripped a page free that had scribbles on it. "I wrote down the address, it's an army refuge so I guess some of them are staying there. That's where you'll meet um, hang on I have his name here somewhere," He went back into the notebook. "Jay. You're being partnered with a guy called Jay Halstead."

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