Hank Voight walked out of the bar. He turned his back with sadness and left. He left Erin there with her pain and misery. He felt an enormous amount of guilt and shame. But if anyone knew Erin and the way she spirals; it's Hank. It didn't necessarily make it better or worse, but he knew there was nothing he could say to convince her that she was making a huge mistake. She had to go through her own motions and she had to hit her own rock bottom. As far as Hank was concerned, Erin would have to reach out to him.

But as he got into his car, he wasn't sure that it was even a possibility. But Erin is now a grown adult; she is not the same kid he found all those years back. He didn't know how to approach it—any of it. He did know one thing for sure—he wanted to ring Bunny's neck.

Hank understood the idea of accountability. He knew that Erin was a grown adult making her own bad decisions. He wasn't in any kind of denial of that fact. The problem is that he doesn't know how to pull her out of it. Camille may have been able to add some insight, but Hank quickly told himself he couldn't even go there.

As Hank was sitting in his car outside the bar, he was contemplating going back in and dragging Erin out by her shirt tails. Seriously, he was contemplating doing just that. He quickly changed his mind, however, and put the key in the ignition and began to drive away. As he was driving away from the bar, he looked in the rear view mirror just to make sure Erin hadn't followed him outside. He knew she didn't, but he couldn't help but look anyway. As the bar became further and further away, Hank sped up and drove away as fast as he could. He was running from something he tried so hard keeping safe.

Hank pulled into the precinct. He turned the keys, pulled them out of the ignition and threw them against the dashboard as hard as he could while yelling out a harsh "DAMNIT." It's the only relief he was able to get since he saw Erin. He gripped the steering wheel tight and had this vacant look in his eyes. He wasn't really sure what to do. He knew he had to go back upstairs and remain cool, but he just didn't know how he was going to muster up the courage to do just that. He took a few deep breathes, retrieved his keys from the floor, and opened the car door to exit.


"Hey, Hank—some woman called while you were out… a Nancy Kirwick? She said she has some information on the suspect in the drug bust." Trudy Platt yelled from afar as she was signing some papers.

Hank stopped in his tracks because he has no idea what Platt was talking about. Five seconds later, he snapped back to reality and began walking closer to Platt's desk.

"Thanks, Sarg. I'll take that." he said under his breath as he grabbed the piece of paper with the scribbled name and number, slapped his hand on the desk out of appreciation, and then walked toward the stairs to the bullpen.

Hank keept his head down while he walked to his office upstairs because he didn't want to make eye contact with anyone else from the team. He made it to his office—unscathed by any questions—and closed the door right behind him. He sat in his chair and put both elbows on his desk and began rubbing his temples, trying to get rid of the stress that is attempting to consume him. Not a few seconds go by when he heard on knock on the door.

"Come on in," Hank said and he gestured Al to come in.

"Hey. I may have a CI that can help us on this case," Alvin said monotone. "She's an old friend, and it's a long shot, but we have no other leads on this case. Jay seems distracted, I'm pretty sure Ruzek just proposed to Burgess and Dawson is out. What's going on up here today?" he questioned half serious as he takes a seat, noticing the stress leaking out of Voight's veins.

"I don't know. Burgess and Ruzek? Engaged? I thought I was okaying an in house romance not playing matchmaker to a future married couple. Halstead is still here? I thought he left. Can you bring him in for me?" Hank replied dryly.

Al, confused and aware that there was definitely something going on, got up and opened the door. "Halstead! Get in here," he called. He looked back at Voight and asekd, "Want some privacy?"

"No you need to hear this too," he said as Jay approached his office and shut the door.

"What's up, boss?" Halstead asked with a bit of concern on his face.

"Listen I need you to double down on the work. We are down one person and we need to crack this drug bust or the commander is going to be up here wondering what the hell we are doing," Hank said with seriousness and a bit of annoyance. He looked at Al and then again at Jay. "Focus, you hear me? Do you have my attention?"

Jay looked at Olinksy with suspicion then back at Voight. "You have my attention, boss. What do you need me to do? I can't find any leads on this case," he said with frustration.

"Find leads. Anyone. Contact your CIs and bring me some new information by tomorrow." Hanks said as he positions his hand to tell Jay to beat it while putting his hand up at Olinksy to stay. "Oh and Halstead, you got this, I know you do."

Jay nodded, "I got this."

Jay looked at Al and Hank again with more suspicion but knew that he couldn't argue his boss's demands. So for now, he let the weirdness in the air remain as he left the office, shutting the door behind him leaving Al and Hank alone in the office.

"Halstead I get," Al began, "but it's me—what's up, Hank?" Al can clearly see the distress on Hank.

"Erin quit. She handed me her badge and gun this morning, half tipsy, and then finished off a beer." Hank replied very flatly.

After several seconds of silence, Al spoke up, "It's Erin. She'll be back. You know, she's uh, dealing with some stuff. I don't think she meant that." Al wasn't trying to comfort Hank, he was trying to convince him, and himself, that it wasn't serious. "Listen, Hank, let's sit on this for a few days before telling anyone. You know how information like this can spiral."

"I know. I don't know how I am going to keep this underway and solve this drug bust all in a day's work," Hank replied with concern.

"Well, you don't have to deal with it on your own—either things. I can help with Erin and you know we are going to get those sons of bitches from the drug bust." Al assured him.

"Al," Hank began, "in all my years as a cop, during all this time in this position, I've never felt such a void. Not since Camille passed, and while yes that was different, I feel like in this moment, I'm not sure how to get through to the next minute."

"I understand, but we will get through all of this together. Give Lindsay the day to sleep if off or whatever and I'm going to go meet up with my CI. I'm also going to call Antonio and get his help. I'll call you from the road." Al came over and squeezed Hank's shoulder before he exited his office.


I'm pretty new to fanfiction so any comments are welcome, especially constructive ones. So, please, send me suggestions, prompts, or requests.

xx