A couple of days later, Lindsay had an appointment with Deputy Superintendent Miller. Miller had requested the meeting when she had received Lindsay's email regarding returning to work from the time off she had taken for maternity. Lindsay didn't really understand why a meeting with the boss was necessary, but she hadn't bothered objecting. She was now sitting outside of Miller's office, just glad to be somewhere warm. Chicago's winter was in full swing, with snow and ice on the ground outside.

"You can go through now," Miller's secretary said.

"Thank you," Lindsay said. She went over to the office door and opened it.

"Come in, Erin," Miller said cheerfully from behind her desk. "It's been a while. Can I get you coffee or anything?"

"I'm good thank you, Sam. Had one on the way here," Lindsay said as they shook hands.

"Thanks for coming in. Have a seat."

Both women sat down.

"How are the kids?" Miller asked.

"Really good, thanks. Henry is growing so fast, and I think he's going to start crawling soon. Clem has completed junior certification in scuba and she's doing well in school. The only down side is she seems to warming up to the idea of wanting to be a wrestler when she's older."

Miller's eyes widened and a smile appeared on her face. "A wrestler? That's different. What gave her that idea?"

"One of her friends got her into watching it. It's the only thing she's shown any passion for doing as a job. The only thing is, it's not really a job for most people who do it. They make peanuts to wrestle in front of a dozen people in a gym or something, while putting their bodies and health on the line. I don't want her getting into something like that."

"Cops put their bodies and health on the line for peanuts too," Miller pointed out.

It was a fair point, Lindsay had to admit, and one that she hadn't considered before.

"Looks like Martinez is going to be governor," Miller said next, moving the conversation on.

Lindsay doubted that was the subject of the meeting. They were continuing with the small talk for now. "So it seems. If I had to make a bet, I'd say she's somehow behind this voter fraud stuff. She couldn't win the election fairly, so she's going to get the job through the back door instead."

"I can't say I thought any differently to you when the news broke. But the latest this morning is that someone inside Boyd's camp has blown the whistle and named names. Seems like the voter fraud did indeed come from them. Boyd is expected to stand down at some point today. So that's going to put Martinez in a position where she's an Intelligence asset, but she's also the governor, and therefore Intelligence is ultimately answerable to her. Needless to say, that's not something we can allow. Therefore, if she does become governor, the FBI are going to take over as her handlers. She'll no longer be an Intelligence asset."

"You mean she'll no longer be an Intelligence pain in the ass," Lindsay muttered, not hiding the fact that she was pleased about it.

"Correct. That's pretty much how I expected you to react."

"Although it has only just occurred to me that someone we know for a fact is a criminal will be nominally in charge of CPD. What were the FBI thinking allowing her to run for governor? It makes no sense."

"No, it doesn't. But I've already spoken to them, and they've told me they've made it clear to her that certain things are off limits if she wants to stay out of jail. If you ask me, she thinks she's playing the FBI, but I think they're playing her. It wouldn't surprise me if it was the FBI who have helped her to get elected so that they have someone in high office. But I didn't just say that."

"Of course not," Erin conceded. "Maybe you're right? Who knows? Everything to do with Bayley Martinez is dodgy in more ways than I care to imagine."

Miller nodded. "It is that. But Martinez isn't why I asked you to come in today."

"Okay," Lindsay said openly.

"In a few month's time I'm going to be promoted to Superintendent."

"Oh, congratulations," Lindsay said with a smile.

"Thank you. But the reason you're here is that my promotion of course requires the position of Deputy-Superintendent to be filled. As that person will work directly under me, I have some say in who is selected. I intend to put your name forward, unless you have an objection?"

That came as a surprise to Lindsay. She was quite young for the Deputy-Superintendent position, and being elevated there straight from sergeant wasn't exactly usual. "Thank you," she said as she tried to process whether she liked the idea or not.

"I realise that came from left field, so take some time to consider it," Miller said.

"I'm going to need to talk to Jay before I can give you an answer," Lindsay said after a moment. "But my first instinct is to accept. It's a honour to be considered."

"It's not my decision of course, so to be clear I'm not promising you the position. What I am doing is offering my endorsement. I'd like to think it will carry some weight."

Lindsay nodded. "I'm sure it will. And if I did get the job, you wouldn't regret it. It's a challenge I'd relish, and I'm sure we would continue to work very well together."

"Yes, I believe we would," Miller said. "Fair enough, I can see why you need to talk it over with your family. Can you get back to me tomorrow with an answer?"

"I will," Lindsay promised.

Later that day, Intelligence were close to concluding the case they were working on. For several days they had been trying to track down a pimp by the name of Carmelo Hayes, who had a reputation for being violent towards the hookers who worked for him. A few days earlier he had gone too far and killed one of them.

Halstead and Gonzalez, mainly Gonzalez, had been able to talk one of Hayes' other hookers, Lucy Smith, into helping them track him down, who had disappeared in the wind since leaving the dead hooker in her apartment. It had taken the best part of a couple of days to persuade the twenty-year-old girl to help them by luring Hayes to her apartment.

Halstead had been impressed by the tenderness that his partner had been able to show. Although she was pretty, she sure didn't look like tenderness was a quality she would possess. There was almost always a sternness about her that he liked to see disappear on the rare occasions when it happened. Her strong Mexican accent could also make her sound harsh quite often, but she could soften it when she needed to, and she now had Lisa Smith fully trusting her despite how frightened she was of Hayes.

"Okay, he'll be here any minute," Gonzalez said to Smith. They were in the unclean, uncared for living room of the young hooker's crummy one bedroom apartment. "Jay is going to wait in the kitchen, in case Carmelo goes in there first for some reason. I'll wait in here with you. When he walks in, I'll arrest him. You're not going to be in danger at any point, okay?"

"Okay," Smith said. She was clearly frightened, but she also trusted Gonzalez, who was using first names to try and help her feel more at ease.

Halstead left the room and went into the kitchen, where he hid behind the open door. He wasn't only there in case Hayes went in there first for some reason as Gonzalez had said. If Hayes went into the living room first, Halstead would step out into the hallway to prevent him fleeing for the front door, if he somehow got past Gonzalez, although Halstead didn't think that was very likely.

In the living room, Gonzalez also hid behind the door. When Hayes walked in, there was no way he would see her unless he turned right around to check his back, and at that point she could move to arrest him anyway.

Only a couple of minutes later, the sound of the front door being unlocked could be heard. Halstead and Gonzalez had been aware ahead of time that he had a key.

As the front door opened, Gonzalez gave a reassuring nod to Smith, telling her again that everything was going to be okay.

Footsteps came toward the living room, along with sound of a coat being removed. A well-built black man with short hair walked into the living room and tossed a leather jacket onto a chair. "Jesus Christ, what a morning I've had," he complained.

Gonzalez stepped out from behind the door with her badge raised. "The afternoon doesn't look too good either."

Halstead came out of the kitchen as Hayes looked back at the hallway, considering making a break for it. "Don't even try it, Hayes," he warned. "You're under arrest on suspicion of murder."

Without meeting any resistance from the outnumbered and cornered suspect, who presumably figured that resisting was only going to make things worse for him, Gonzalez cuffed him and read him his rights. Hayes had been inside the apartment barely more than a minute before he found himself being escorted out again.

Outside, they were met by Ruzek and Atwater, who had just come up the stairs. The building's elevator was out of service.

"Everything okay?" Ruzek asked.

"Yes, all good. Our friend here decided to come without any hassle," Halstead reported.

"Can you guys take him in?" Gonzalez asked. "I want to go back to Lucy."

"Tell her she's dead," Hayes snarled.

"Shut your mouth, unless you want me to shut it for you," Gonzalez said. She shoved him towards Atwater, who took over custody of him.

"No problem, we'll take him in," Ruzek said. "And guys? Good work on this one."

Halstead nodded an acknowledgement as Gonzalez said, "Thanks."

During Ruzek's time in charge, there seemed to have been no dip in performance from Intelligence, and no drop in morale. That said a lot about his leadership, and Halstead had to admit that putting him in charge had been a good decision by Lindsay. Ruzek's leadership was less formal and less strict than hers, but no less effective. It showed that different styles could work.

As Ruzek and Atwater marshalled Hayes down the stairs, Halstead and Gonzalez shared a fist bump to mark a job well done. Halstead finally let out a laugh that had been wanting to come out for a couple of minutes.

"What?" she asked as they slowly walked back to the apartment, laughing also, although she didn't know what was funny.

"What you said to him when he walked in. 'The afternoon doesn't look too good either.' I nearly burst out laughing when I heard it. Never change, my friend."

"That means a lot to me," she said as the jovial conversation suddenly turned serious. "There's something I've been wanting to ask you. This might not be the right time but what the hell."

"Go on," he said, intrigued as to what might be coming.

"As you know, Z and I planned to get married last summer, but we couldn't make it happen for various reasons, mainly her mom being seriously ill at the time. We've now got a date booked for this coming July."

"That's awesome," he said, smiling. "In Central Park, like you originally planned?"

"Yes. What I wanted to ask was if you would be my best man? You're my closest friend, and, well, I have no one else. Not that I'm only asking because I have no one else. God, I always make a mess of these things."

"I'll be your best man," he said without hesitation. "It'll be my pleasure."

They embraced each other briefly, but it was an awkward gesture as Gonzalez almost never did it with anyone but her fiancée. "We'd better work," she said after only a couple of seconds.

"Yeah," Halstead said, still smiling.

A/N: Clementine passed her junior scuba certification, but Erin says she's starting to feel like she wants to be a wrestler for a living. Do you think they should encourage her, or try to dissuade her?

Miller is moving up the chain, and she wants Erin to take her old position. Do you think she should go for it?

And Jay landed himself a job as best man for Raquel. Who is excited for the wedding?