Disclaimer: I do not own Chicago PD, Chicago Fire, or any song lyrics that may be contained within. This fanfiction was written for entertainment purposes, and as such, I am not making a profit (and have no intentions to go all "50 Shades" mainstream on you guys)
Author's Note: This was probably the first real "tweaks" I made onto the original version of this story. There was a commenter in the later chapters who pointed out that I had essentially replaced Erin, and that was not my intention. Thus, an added bit of backstory to connect the girls (think different fathers, that's why one is Lindsey and one is Clarke) ;) Also, excuse the weird line break to separate the flashback and the current time.

'I have struck a city – a real city – and they call it Chicago. I urgently desire to never see it again. It is inhabited by Savages.' - Rudyard Kipling

Summer 1989

The summer air was thick in Chicago, the heat weighing down on each resident like a sack of heavy bricks. The massive use of air conditioning units across the city was causing rolling blackouts, leaving the less fortunate to deal with the sweltering temperatures. In one of the many parks, a woman sat on a bench, beads of sweat dripping from her forehead. A young girl swung herself from monkey bar to monkey bar; exuberant cries of children enjoying their last minutes of youth before the darkness of reality came crushing in.

"Mommy, look! Did you see that?"

The woman nodded at her from the bench, a ghost of a grin playing across her jaded features.

"Yeah, I saw it. Keep goin'."

She felt the man's presence behind her, rather than saw or heard. He took a seat beside her, scanning the crowd of people for potential harm and taking in his CI's appearance – bouncing leg, fingernails chewed down to stubs, eyes that couldn't focus for more than a second or two at a time – she was jonesing for her next fix.

"You told me you'd get me the money, Voight. You promised."
"Yeah, well – you also told me the Intel would pan out, which it didn't. This was supposed to be a 'tit-for-tat' arrangement, Bunny."
"How in the fuck am I supposed to feed my kids on empty promises?"
"Well, you seem to be doin' just fine when it comes to feeding your habit."

She could resist the man as he turned her arm over, exposing a half a dozen fresh track marks littering her pale skin. He could do little more than shake his head; He knew from the very beginning that using someone with an active drug addiction as a confidential informant was going to be risky, if not downright stupid, but had taken the leap of faith anyway. In the long run, it had been paying off – but in the recent short term, she hadn't given him any information of us and the powers-that-be were none too happy. With a sigh, he pulled his wallet out, removing a hundred dollar bill, pressing the bill into her now-outstretched palm.

"Put the needle down for five seconds and buy the kids some food. They look like twigs, for Christ's Sakes."

Rising from the bench, he moved forward towards one of the little girls, one who bore the same blonde hair and blue eyes as her mother, who was now eyeing him with a wide-eyed curiosity.

"Police officers are supposed to help people right?"
"That's right."
"Can you help me?"

Kneeling down in front of her, he nodded his head, realizing that this kid couldn't be more than a year or two younger than the son he had left at home that morning.

"Always, Rachel."

It had happened so fast – so much faster than she had expected.

One second, the unit was mourning Jules' (a detective on loan to Intelligence) death and the next, they were taking part in a city-wide Amber Alert for the child of one of their own. The man wasn't that bright, taking his victim to one of the most public places in the city, but without that slip-up, who knows what would've happened? Erin had followed him onto that bus – against both her better judgment and Voight's direct orders to stay put. The Greyhound bus company was probably none too happy with the new need for paint and minor repairs, but it had worked – Antonio's son was unharmed, at least physically. With a shiny new charge of kidnapping adding to his record, the man responsible for Diego's kidnapping was shipped off to county lockup for trial and possible sentencing. It was a minor comfort that what they were doing, the time spent away from their families wasn't in vain – They were taking a known felon off of the street. Someone was going to sleep safe that night, even if that safety was only temporary.

"Hey, nice work today, yeah?" a voice called from behind her. Turning, she saw the rookie looking at her expectantly, waiting for a response. 'What was his name again', she thought to herself.'Rosen….Russell…Ruston….Ruzek. Yeah, that's it. Ruzek.'

"Yeah, it was a good day. Diego gets to go home, safe and sound – Hard not to love our jobs on days like this." she found herself smiling at the reunion. Antonio and Laura had been so ecstatic to see him again, a very tearful occasion. Rachel hadn't lied – it was moments like that that had her putting on the vest and strapping on her gun every morning. If the roles were reversed and it had been Jackson instead of Diego, she hoped that there would be officers doing the exact same thing.

Voight poked his head out of his office, pointing at Rachel.

"You, come 'ere. We need to have a chat."

Rachel nodded at Ruzek, a silent indication of a job well done. For his first few days, he was already leaps and bounds above where she had been. Olinsky said he seemed to want to act first and think later – but much like he had known about her during her rookie days, Alvin said that the kid had strong potential and plenty of desire to learn.

Walking into Hank's office was nothing new, the dark woods used for the desk and wall paneling meant to make it more inviting but really just made it seem dark and dingy.

"What's up?"
"Justin's getting early release, it's moved up to Friday night."

And with that simple statement, Rachel felt her entire universe grind to a sudden halt.