AN: So... you didn't have to wait THAT long for an update this time, that's a plus - and it' s long! But how sad is THIS? Jesse Lee Soffer leaving Chicago PD and soon no Jay Halstead on our screens anymore? Guess we'll have to console ourselves with re-runs, because the Intelligence Team without Jay? Ugh... I only hope they give him a good send-off / end and do his character justice. I would hate for it to feel rushed or not true to the person we've come to know and love over the years.

But back to this chapter: It's been one of the more difficult ones for me. as I am certainly no crime writer, but still wanted to try to make it sound as realistic as possible... Hope I succeeded.

Chapter Title "The Sea" by Kat Frankie

DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the Chicago PD, Fire or Med characters, only my OCs!

19 hours earlier:

"Where is it? Where? I need to see it…"

Halstead's voice boomed through the district lobby, before he had even reached the front desk and thereby Trudy's location.

Usually she would have answered him with a sarcastic line like: '...and good evening to you, too Detective!'

But not tonight.

Even though she considered herself an experienced police officer, who had seen and heard enough of the world's tragedies, this one was a bit close to the bone.

Without answering she clicked her fingers for one of her colleagues to take over the front desk and took the stairs up to Intelligence's quarters herself, Halstead and Upton upon her heels. She could have just told him to ask his team, as they were currently in possession of the phone with the fateful picture of Halstead's wife, but somehow Platt wanted to be involved and stay close to the detective, when he first laid eyes on it. When the reality would sink in that this was really happening and the tiny bit of hope that it could still turn out to be some kind of sick joke, would forever be crushed.

Not that she was planning on hugging him or anything. Not that Jay would have wanted that, but maybe there was something else Trudy could do.

Sometimes Halstead still reminded her of a lost little boy, in times like these at least.

Maybe this special forlornness and vulnerability about him was what made Trudy secretly act like a mother hen around him, all was it mostly tough love that she was providing. Or maybe she just regretted having teased him yesterday at noon, when the detective's luck had obviously been more fragile than anyone could have known.

When they reached the bullpen no one addressed them, only eight pairs of eyes were watching Jay, Hailey and Trudy with palpable uneasiness. Were they all still in shock?

"Who sent it? How did you get it?" Jay seemed to have found his voice again, asking her to give him all the relevant pieces of information, as Trudy took the device from Atwater's desk.

The detective was practically breathing down her neck, unable to exercise patience:

"The usual - underaged teen dropped off a package with a patrol officer out on the street, said to give it to you. We had it checked for explosives, found none, opened it et voilà... It's clean, except for this one message and picture, no fingerprints, no nothing… I'm so sorry Jay…"

Her voice almost broke on that last note, at the sight of Jay's eyes instantly widening with terror and fury at the same time as she handed the phone to him...

When she came to she had a rusty, metallic taste in her mouth. Like blood. Her own blood.

Rianne quickly checked where it had come from by running her tongue over her mouth. Her lip was definitely split and hurt like hell, and her nose felt a little sore too. In fact her whole head was throbbing madly. A groan escaped her.

She blinked her eyes a few times, trying to find her bearings in the total darkness around her, touching herself as thoroughly as it was possible with her hands still bound, checking for more pain and injuries. Suddenly she was terrified that they had maybe decided to kill her after all - to let her die a slow and painful death. But then she remembered why she was this desoriented: He had hit her in the face!

First with his head and then his fist. With full force. That same S.O.B who'd nearly raped her earlier. He had come back and when Rianne had demanded to talk to the one in charge, the one she thought she knew, who's voice she believed to have recognized, if her mind wasn't already playing tricks on her, he'd laughed:

"He can't help you now! And don't be so sure he doesn't want you dead, bambina…"

And then he had knocked her unconscious.

How much time had passed? It was impossible to tell. What else had they done to her? For a split second the panic was back, choking her, making her numb and her eyes burn. An anguished sob escaped her mouth, but after a few deep breaths Rianne quickly tried to remind herself to check the facts:

As far as she could tell she was unharmed, split lip and pounding head put aside. Also she found that she wasn't shivering so badly anymore. It felt like someone had put some kind of space heater next to and a blanket around her, so: They wouldn't kill her! They didn't want her to die of hypothermia... At least not yet… They needed her for something, so they had to keep her alive for at least a little while longer.

Funnily enough Rianne didn't know if that calmed her down, or worried her for what was to come "after". After they'd gotten what or who they really wanted...

That picture knocked the air out of his lungs. At least for a few seconds Jay felt the ground shake beneath him again. He guessed it was at least the third or fourth time in the last few hours.

Now you know what it feels like...

the caption underneath it read.

Now he knew what felt like what exactly?

He was looking at his unconscious wife, a bloody face, a seemingly lifeless body on filthy and dark concrete floors. He didn't even know what to think or worry about first.

Was she dead? At first glance he couldn't see any knife or bullet wounds on her body, and she was still tethered to some kind of pipes. But it was all a little blurry and way too dark to be absolutely sure.

She had to be okay! They had to be okay!

This was just some scare tactic, right?

Jay swallowed hard to keep a stupid sob at bay that was clawing at his heart, and bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself from throwing the phone against the wall. So hard actually, that he immediately tasted his own blood in his mouth.

"Jay, maybe you should tell them, what you think this is about…" Hailey probed, when she had taken a look at the phone herself, wincing almost unnoticeably.

But Jay had seen it. His partner wasn't as cool and collected as she wanted to make him believe. This was not a good sign!

It was only then that Jay realized that Hailey was indeed right next to him, looking up at him. Actually, everyone was looking at him: Kim from the doorway of the break-room, dark brown pupils full of sympathy, Adam and Kev from opposite sides of a shared desk, ready to type away at their keyboards, waiting for whatever cue he would give them, trying to distract themselves with facts, Voight, leaning against his office door, arms crossed in front of his chest, waiting for Jay's report, probably wondering how his detective had screwed up this time. And he could also feel Trudy's observant eyes in the back of his neck.

Hailey nudged Jay's upper arm very gently, but her eyes were saying that she would tell the team, if he didn't speak up. He wasn't sure what Hailey actually did know about what Jay thought this was about, but he guessed his partner had eyes and ears everywhere. As usual. She knew him too well and could easily put two and two together.

So Jay went over to his desk, where he felt safest right now. He used it as some kind of crutch he could lean on, arms and ankles crossed, and then he began to explain:

November 23rd, 2020:

"Jay? Can we talk?"

He had just been about to slip into the station, when a familiar voice behind him made him stop in his tracks. Alert blue eyes were watching him, immediately making his heart beat faster:

"Hey, what are you doing here? Are you okay, is…"

"I'm fine…" Rianne interrupted him, but wasn't she a little bit pale around the nose?

"How're you feeling?" He insisted on taking his time to give her the once-over, cupped her face and let his fingers run through a few of her curls that had escaped her woolen cap. If his wife showed up at his workplace unannounced, there had to be something wrong, right?

"Jay, I'm good," Rianne huffed with a little amusement in her tone.

But when she realized that he wasn't letting this go so easily, she quickly touched his hand. It was an almost unnoticeable gesture, but still the light contact made him feel like she was taking him seriously:

"A little queasy every now and then, but otherwise I'm really good!" She tried to convince him with her eyes, holding his gaze for an extra long second, until he nodded in understanding:

"Right, right. I'm sorry. It's just… You know I worry about you."

This time he wanted to be there for it all. The doctor's appointments, the morning sickness, the freak-outs, the joy, the everything. But she had to let him!

Jay hadn't expected the pain of having been left out the first time Rianne had gotten pregnant, to flare up with such vengeance. But in the last few days after they had found out that she was expecting his child, it had. And it had brought on a lot of emotional chaos he was still to find a way to deal with. He was going to be a dad!

They still had to get the medical confirmation, an ultrasound, but he was already so excited: It was a big thing, such a big change, and he wanted to be included!

"I know, but there's no need. I actually came here on business…" Rianne's voice brought him back to reality.

Business? Jay raised his eyebrows and thereby urged her to explain:

"There's someone who finally wants to talk to you…" His wife pointed back to her truck that was parked across the street.

"Who is it?" He couldn't really see the person sitting in the back seat, because it was too far away and the windows were a little tinted.

"Anita… the girl you've been trying to get in touch with? The one you weren't able to reach? Who ignored your calls all weekend?"

"So you reached out to her?" His voice immediately climbed up a few decibels.

This would be so typical and it made him angry, that she would not listen to him...

Jay had been a little mad with Rianne that she had gone to that warehouse alone - but only afterwards. When the real weight of what she had walked into and what could have happened to her had sunk in. What had she been thinking?

"No!" Rianne grabbed his hands that had already been gesturing madly and squeezed them, willing him to calm down:

"I actually listened to you this time and did nothing, but she came by my office today. Said she feels bad for going awol and that she wants to help, but that she's scared…"

"What has she told you?"

"She knows someone who is still running with the crew that killed all those kids last week, and she has a few more names she could give to you that could be helpful to maybe bring these guys down…"

It was enough for him! If that girl was actually willing to make a statement like that, if they could somehow get close to some heavy lifters with that crew, it would mean a major break in the case. It also meant that this girl was getting herself into real trouble, if she talked to the police and anyone found out about it, before they could carefully strategize and plan their next move.

Jay was quiet for a minute, a deep frown forming on his forehead, then he focused on Rianne again, his tone dead serious:

"Did anyone see you bring her here?"

The more she had told him about what her surprise visit was about, the more Jay had been scanning the area around them for suspicious activity.

"I don't know. I haven't been checking to be honest," she shrugged.

Suddenly Jay's stomach was in knots and his every sense heightened. He quickly came up with a plan:

"Okay, here's what I want you to do: You go back to your car and drive her into our parking lot, I'll open the motor pool gates so that you can bring her into the station, hopefully unseen."

Rianne looked at him for a long second, a mocking smile playing on her lips. Clearly she thought he was overreacting and a little bit too carful. But in the end she didn't pick a fight with him and did as she was told.

Trudy remembered that day very well. She had seen the couple argue out on the street. It wasn't particularly the arguing that Trudy remembered, because... well, it was 'them'. The Halsteads were known to pick a fight with each other every now and then. They had actually been quite good at pressing each other's buttons right from the start.

It was more that after Rianne had driven around the block into the garage, that Trudy had been summoned to 'babysit' her by a hot-headed detective:

"She stays here until I come back! Can you make sure she doesn't split?" Jay Halstead's tone was a clear warning sign not to question him and his orders, but of course Trudy wasn't impressed.

With a not so subtle huff she turned her attention to the one who was obviously in trouble and now being shoved towards her front desk:

"Did you do something to deserve this sort of 'detention'?"

"Just by being his wife, I guess…", Rianne rolled her eyes at her and Jay at the same time, who didn't take the bait and pushed the other woman, almost still a girl, that had come in with them, up the stairs to Intelligence's quarters.

Red-rimmed eyes with black eyeliner dramatically painted around them, wandered back to Halstead's better half, when she had reached the gate upstairs. That lost soul next to Jay was looking for something, assurance and safety as it turned out, because when Rianne nodded at her encouragingly and her eyes told the girl that she was completely trusting her husband to take care of her, followed by a mumbled:

"It's okay - he's got you," the dark haired young woman followed Halstead into the bullpen.

It sounded like Rianne had repeated that mantra at least once before today.

When Jay and the girl had disappeared, Mrs. Halstead turned her attention back towards the front desk and met Trudy's inquiring stare and raised eyebrows. Close to she looked a little green around the gills, the dark freckles around her nose building a stark contrast to her overall pale complexion, but she still smiled somewhat vaguely at Platt:

"He thinks this woman can be the key to some high profile case they are trying to solve, so… he doesn't want me anywhere near it."

Oh how Trudy loved that she could make people talk without even using her voice, just that special stare.

She knew better though than to press Rianne for more info. She was sure she'd learn soon enough what this little display had been all about, one way or the other.

So Platt just nodded and hummed and then interviewed Rianne about some recent foster cases she knew the social worker had been involved in, and that were also close to her heart.

After a while Rianne was yawning for the second time in a row and not really able to hide it.

"Am I boring you?" Platt scoffed at her.

"No… sorry Trudy… what did you say?"

"I asked, if you needed some coffee!"

"That'd be great…"

But when Trudy was almost on her way to get her a mug from behind the counter, she was stopped:

"Oh but… no, wait. Actually, I shouldn't…," the other woman trailed off and when she noticed Platt's confused scowl, Rianne quickly added:

"I mean, I've been drinking a lot of coffee since this morning and it's not really helping, so I guess I just need some sleep…"

Ex-Torres had to really not be feeling well for her to turn down an offer of liquid caffeine, even if it was just the 'bad district' stuff. That woman usually lived for anything coffee related.

Of course Trudy knew the real reason for Rianne's queasiness and refusal of caffeine that day by now, but she hadn't known what Jay had really been up to, when he'd acted all secretive and overly cautious concerning the involvement of his wife that day. He had wanted to keep her name off the record, leave her out of the story…

And yet, here they were… knowing that the one he had wanted to protect at all costs had still been taken away from him.

Trudy wasn't completely convinced that this case was the reason behind Rianne's kidnapping, because as long as no one made any ransom demands, they were still in the dark.

"...Anita's intel was the start of an investigation that finally got us the whole crew, or at least some big names, as well as a ton of dope off the streets that we seized in several raids," Jay finished his report.

"But why now? Why not try to get to Anita before she went into witness protection and could make all those statements in front of a judge? Before she could give us all that intel? And why would someone take revenge on Rianne? She didn't do anything, technically you did - we took action! In the end it was combined police forces that brought Tordesillas behind bars and not one little witness, god rest her soul!" Adam didn't seem too convinced.

"Yeah, but without her help we wouldn't have been able to make the important connections, and if Rianne hadn't established the contact that girl would probably never have talked to us in the first place. And Rianne wouldn't have been at that warehouse where we found the dead teens, where it all started..." Halstead shrugged, already a little agitated because he had to explain his theory again.

"Yeah… but still… the timing's a little off, don't you think? Their big boss has been convicted for what now? Over a month, and now they want payback? By taking your wife?"

"It's the only thing we got so far! You got any better leads?" Jay almost bit Adam's head off.

"I didn't mean it like that, I was just…" Ruzek mumbled.

"He knows that," Upton intervened and tried to smooth things over between her colleagues, but that only seemed to aggravate Jay more.

"Hey, I can still speak and apologize for myself!" he snapped.

"Well, you're both right! We shouldn't jump to conclusions too quickly, but we should definitely look into everyone who was involved in the case, or who is associated to this crew. Find out their hiding places, usual routes, other possible stash houses where they could hide someone... I guess Tordesillas didn't give everything up before they locked him into County. Who's this Nandini character running with? How's he connected to Solvano? I wanna know how she escaped the safe house she was supposed to be in, or how she was lured back to Chicago! I'll inform patrol to pay everyone we find in the system, who is part of this drug ring and not locked up yet, a visit. And and I want you all to look for any victims in this case, lost women / men. Victims of a kidnapping or else, that could explain that caption they put under that picture! It's certainly beginning to look like a personal vendetta to me! All the while we keep an eye on that burner phone. I'm sure they didn't just sent it to give us this one picture!"

Voight finally ended the quarrel between his team members with an unusually long speech.

Trudy sometimes wondered how Hank was still putting up with these hot-headed and stubborn people he had gathered around him. But after he'd made his wishes known there was silence and finally everyone remembered that they weren't here to prove each other wrong, but that they had serious work to do.

She needed to get back downstairs though.

Voight had been right.

Only 30 minutes later the phone, by now placed in the middle of Jay's desk, was ringing. The caller ID was blocked, but who else could it be, if not Rianne's kidnappers?

Adam saw Jay practically jump 10 feet in the air:

"It's ringing, it's probably them," he stated the obvious, followed by:

"Is someone fucking screening this? Can we record it?"

Adam's heart was pounding too and he hurried to get his equipment ready.

Personal contact with abductors, it never lost its thrill.

"You're not talking to them! We got this!" Voight bellowed and Jay looked like he wanted to make a move on him, but thankfully let himself be calmed down by Hailey's gentle hand on his forearm.

When they were all huddled together around Jay's desk, Kev put the call on speaker-phone.

One could have heard a pin drop. Adam held his breath, while he gave it his all to screen the call.

"Hank Voight speaking!" his boss opened up the conversation.

"So… you received our message?" A deep voice. Sounding very far away and distorted.

"We did… What do you want?"

"Well, if Detective Halstead wants to see his wife again, unharmed, we have a few conditions..."

Unharmed was a little funny, because it looked like they had already done a lot of damage.

But he had to concentrate on his task now, albeit extremely difficult. Adam already suspected that he wouldn't be able to locate the caller's phone. The signal was extremely weak and a little off. It seemed to be traceable to everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

"Such as?"

"The 50k of cocaine you stole from us, we want it back! With interest! So add an additional 10 grand in cash to the bill and you need to get it to us until 9 a.m., delivered by Jay Halstead himself! Alone!"

Kidnapping cliches: Check! But it was still real!

That they were demanding drugs seemed fitting with the theory Jay had been presenting to them earlier.

"Where?"

"We'll text you the address. And you better be smart, or she's gonna pay for your mistakes!"

Now it was almost too difficult to understand a word that was being said, the connection was almost breaking up. So goodbye to voice recognition software, Adam thought.

He had to give his team members the bad news:

„Can't locate the phone. Its signal is blocked or else... I just can't trace it," he whispered, his face writhed in anger.

He was close to hitting the desk in front of him. This was extremely unsatisfactory and also confirmed that those people weren't complete amateurs.

The disappointment and frustration on all of their faces was almost painful as Ruzek looked around. No one dared to move or even breathe, not sure if there still was anyone on the other line. Not sure if that was all the information they would get for now.

"We need proof of life!" Jay suddenly called out into the silence, what gained him a reproving look from his boss.

Up until now he had been keeping in the background, albeit unwillingly and with his fists clenched into tight balls. His friend knew very well that it wasn't helpful to sound so desperate, but Adam understood how he felt. Even he wanted to scream at them to stop the nonsense and give up their hiding-place. From the picture they'd received Rianne could be either unconscious or dead already. These bastards could just be toying with them. Maybe they had finished her off like they had that poor girl Anita.

It reminded Adam so much of the time when his dad had been abducted, although it had very much been "Disco Bob's" own fault. Rianne hadn't done anything wrong, hadn't messed around with the wrong people.

Ruzek didn't know what he would do, how he would cope, if it was Kim in Rianne's place.

"You're gonna get one!" the voice grunted, and if Adam wasn't mistaken there was a mean chuckle too, that gave him goosebumps all over.

And then the call was disconnected. Shit!

Now his fist did slam into the table in front of him.

18 hours earlier:

"Smile for your pretty husband, bambina!"

No! She wouldn't rise to the bait and she certainly wouldn't put on a fake smile! That sleazeball wouldn't provoke her, or make her cry or get any kind of reaction from her. She just needed to concentrate.

His choice of words made her think though. He'd called Jay pretty, so had he seen him once before? Or was that just something he thought would aggravate her? Also it had sounded jealous, mocking... So, what was his deal with Jay?

She really spent too much time with people working in law-enforcement, Rianne thought as she caught herself analyzing even the smallest change of tone in her kidnapper's voices.

And she had heard a lot in the last half hour or so. A welcome distraction after a felt eternity in silence and darkness.

They were now shooting a video with a camera-phone - probably the proof of life Jay had demanded.

Intelligence had been on speaker-phone. During the call the one who had saved her earlier had been in the room, as well as the young guy again, holding a gun to her head all of the time, urging her to keep her mouth shut. Probably to intimidate her, show her what kind of demands they were making, how impossible it might be for the police to organize those things in the short amount of time.

Would they even consider giving them these drugs back? And 10 grand, too?

And who could guarantee that they would really let her go then?

She had to think of something that would maybe help P.D. find her another way.

It had been so hard to hear Jay's voice and not start to cry. Especially when Rianne had detected that dangerous mixture of fear, fury and exasperation in his voice.

But she had to get that out of her head right now and concentrate on the task ahead to try to give him a little hint, without anyone else noticing. Rianne didn't know if Jay or anyone would get it, but it was still worth the try. What else was there to do? How else could she help herself right now?

"Tell him he needs to do what we asked for or else he can kiss his little family goodbye!" The man in front of her demanded, but she forced herself to look right through him, into the camera...

Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry!

"She's certainly a tough one!" Voight grunted unhappily, but with some sort of admiration in his voice. He was referring to the fact that Rianne, bound at her feet and hands, on the floor of a dark and deserted warehouse, did neither cry nor scream or show any kind of emotion really, when his team and him finally saw her on screen.

Only fifteen minutes after that call they'd received a video file and opened it together. Only fifteen minutes or the longest fifteen minutes in Jay's life.

His teeth were hurting from biting down so hard and he felt sick to his stomach. He was curling his fists into tight balls in his jeans pockets to keep it together in front of his colleagues, as they seemed to watch his every facial expression.

"Babe, we're gonna be fine!I love you - so much!"

'I love you' Jay instantly replied in his mind.

God, he would move heaven and earth to get her back and hold her. Feel the tiny swell of her belly that could be seen on film now, against his.

She looked terrible. But she was alive and telling him that they were gonna be fine!? Jay knew that his woman had always been a fierce and a brave one but this was a whole new level... It was almost a little odd...

Jay noticed that he was grinding his teeth again, when Voight's voice suddenly was very close to him:

"I know it's not much, Jay! But at least now we know Rianne's still alive. She's fighting to keep calm and stay strong and she believes in us! So let's get back to work people!"

They couldn't trust those people to keep their word. Oh what he would have liked to do to anyone who had hurt her!

Suddenly there was anger fueling him, instead of despair. And maybe that was just what he needed to find out where they were keeping her.

16 hours earlier:

"I got something," Kevin waved some papers at his team as he came back from the cellar, where he had been doing some research. He had needed some alternative work-space to be able to look into the case-files more efficiently. The atmosphere upstairs was so tense, everyone tiptoeing around Jay, that it was impossible for Atwater to form coherent thoughts.

Now he immediately had everyone's attention:

"Francesca Neroni - a woman who got shot in the line of fire during one of the raids… She was at least an ex-girlfriend of one of the bigger players in this whole case, who goes by the street-name 'La Machina'. He wasn't convicted though, because he never really got caught. There wasn't enough evidence against him. But everyone knew he was or is involved… Is it possible that he's looking for revenge for her death? I mean is he the one behind the the 'Now you know what it feels like' caption? An eye for an eye… your woman for his one?"

He eyed Halstead, who's facial expression was hard to read. The name at least didn't particularly seem to ring a bell.

"Also I finally got a call from one of the handlers of Solvano: The last contact they had with her was three days ago at their usual meeting spot in Tennessee. Everything seemed normal, but she didn't check in with them again yesterday morning and when they went to her place everything was cleared out."

"So maybe this was planned... Someone from her past pressuring her into coming back here, and she was giving in and got scooped up by this crew?" Kim suspected.

"Maybe..." Kevin knew how hard it was to give up one's old life and stay away for good - his own brother and sister had been there.

"Good work Kev! You and Upton go check out that 'la Machina' guy's last known address, see if he's home, observe if he's up to something, if he's meeting anyone... you know the works!" Voight told him and Kevin immediately went to grab his things from his desk.

"Hailey and I could go and check that lka..." Jay started and got up too, but was immediately silenced by the boss:

"No, you stay here, where we can keep an eye on you! I don't trust you to not go rogue on this one!"

"Besides Jay... there are... visitor's for you downstairs..." Kevin hated to upset his friend and colleague even more, but he had been instructed by Platt to get him to come down to the lobby.

"Who?"

"Kidd and Severide?"

Halstead sighed deeply, but still stood up from his desk to leave the bullpen. He seemed to know what kind of conversation was awaiting him...

15 hours earlier:

"Why aren't you answering my calls?" Stella went all in as soon as her friend's husband's feet had touched the entrance floor.

"I've been a little busy," Jay shrugged, everything about his demeanor telling her that he didn't want to have this conversation.

Screw him - she needed to have it! And to have it now!

Bad enough that she had only been alerted to what had been going on for hours, since she had stumbled upon Will Halstead at Med during a call. He'd accidentally revealed these shocking news to her, because he'd suspected she would of course already know. What hadn't been the case, so her head had been reeling for quite a few hours by now. Since it had turned out to be impossible to get Jay or anyone else from Intelligence on a direct line, Kidd had finally decided to show up in person.

Only her own shift at 51 had kept her from making an appearance at the 21st district up until now!

This couldn't be happening to one of her closest friends, her ally, the one she enjoyed to share absolutely everything with!

We had a great morning and the baby's fine too! I think Jay was actually more nervous than I this time, loved him even more for that, am I crazy? Anyway, just wanted to let you know! Talk more soon!

This was the text she's gotten from Rianne after their doctor's appointment yesterday. It couldn't be the last message she would ever receive from her friend again!

Stella had only replied with a short:

So thrilled for the two (or three?) of you! Most definitely need to hear all about it a.s.a.p. I'm on for 24 hours though now!

Rianne hadn't answered, but that wasn't so unusual as it a)wasn't something that immediately needed an answer and b)her friend had work to do too.

At least that was what she had believed…

…. Stella was still thinking about that, when Jay reluctantly told her what had been going on. What the conditions of the kidnappers were, how he had seen Rianne in that building, beaten and bound, but still alive and fighting to stay that way.

A tear rolled down Kidd's cheek that she angrily wiped away. She couldn't cry now, when her friend was the one who was suffering.

So instead Stella continued her inquisition:

"Have you called her parents?"

"No… I haven't…" Jay mumbled, shifting from one foot to another, the deep frown on his forehead getting more prominent by the second.

"But they need to know…" she insisted.

It seemed that was the last straw, because Jay suddenly completely lost his temper with her:

"Need to know what exactly? That she's missing? That she's been kidnapped? That we don't know if we'll get her back? I don't think that I need even more people up my back, calling me for updates I can't give them! I certainly don't need more pressure!" he yelled, his cheeks reddening with anger.

Stella was taken aback. Was he talking about her? Did he feel pressured by her now?!

Before she could think of a fitting retort, Kelly, who had accompanied her, but kept in the background until now, stepped in and touched her arm, willing her to calm down with his presence:

"Come on Stella, we'll let him get back to work!"

Towards Jay he nodded: "We'll keep an eye out for anything suspicious around town. I know the chances are slim, but…"

"I appreciate it man…" Jay nodded back at Severide.

It was barely more than a broken whisper and the corners of his mouth quivered treacherously.

Stella felt incredibly sorry for him, but also for herself and for her missing friend. Her whole body was trembling at seeing Jay like this, being at the station and realizing that it was real, that they were all trying to do their best to get Rianne back and it made her feel even worse than she had before. Not that they hadn't all been in terrible, almost impossible situations before, but she would never get used to this feeling of pure impuissance and helplessness.

She felt like she couldn't move, but Kelly took her arm and gently pulled her towards the staircase.

"She's like my sister…" she couldn't help it.

Stella just has to put emphasis on the fact that this was more than a friend she was worried about.

"We all know that!" Kelly answered in a soothing and understanding tone, when the one she had addressed stayed silent.

Jay didn't have any more words for her. Stella looked back at him, begging him with her eyes to undo all this. Only his acute glance out of almost wild eyes said that he was sorry for having yelled at her, but that he felt just as powerless as her.

14 hours earlier:

Jay couldn't just sit there and do nothing while time was running out. He needed to find Rianne, not only for himself but for so many others too. Stella's visit had made that even clearer.

And somehow his intuition had told him that something was off when he'd seen the ransom video of her earlier. So when condemned to desk duty, he'd resorted to watching it over and over again, as painful as it was hearing and seeing his wife and not being able to free her immediately, until he found what he was looking for. There!

Rianne was signing something, repeating patterns on the floor with her index finger. It had taken him a while to figure it out, to even pay attention to what her fingers were doing. The bad lighting and quality of the video file didn't help, but Jay was sure that she was definitely doing it on purpose. Her eyes were looking straight into the camera all the time, straight at him, like she wanted him to notice, to see her! She wanted to tell him something.

"Babe, we're gonna be fine!I love you - so much!"

That had clearly not been what the kidnappers had wanted her to say, because the video was cut right there.

In the meantime Jay was practically creeping into the screen of his computer. Maybe he was going completely crazy, but he was pretty sure she was using morse code and that it said: 'Nino'…

Where had he heard that name before? Nino… Nino…

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Jay hadn't noticed that he'd been doodling patterns all over his notepad, still wondering if he was insane, checking if he'd read the code right and if his morse knowledge was up to date, when Adam stopped by his desk, making him jump.

He paused the video and looked around the bullpen. It was empty, apart from him and Ruz. Everyone else had cleared out, trying to arrange everything for the ransom exchange and clear their plan with the Superintendent.

Kim had left an hour ago to check on Tommy. She'd been feeling very guilty about it, but Jay had sent her off assuring her, that Rianne wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

He hesitated a few heartbeats to present his theory to his colleague, before he decided that a reality check could maybe be helpful:

"I… I think I saw Rianne sign this name… on the video… See?"

He played the part of the video again for Adam, who watched very closely. Then he played it again in slow motion, zooming in on Rianne's fingertips.

"Did you teach her morse code?"

"No, she's taught herself as a child, she once told me. She's actually more 'fluent' than me!"

"You could be right though…"

"Yeah, but I can't figure out who she means that could be connected to this…"

Maybe he was way too tired and should've slept a few hours after all. But who was he kidding? There was just no way Jay could go to sleep right now, even if he knocked himself out with several sleeping pills.

The sky outside was still pitch black, but in only three hours they were going to find out, if he would get back the love of his life in one piece.

"Nino…" Adam scratched his head, wrecking his brain now as well. Jay was thankful that Ruzek did not dismiss the possibility of this lead. Their earlier disagreement seemed already forgotten.

Finally he even came up with a connection:

"Nino di Varese? Andrea's brother… That's the only Nino I know in connection to Rianne. But why should he have anything to do with this?"

It suddenly all made sense. When watching the video before Jay had found it odd, that Rianne had been relatively calm. She had made no attempt to scream, neither had she cried or seemed close to a panic attack. Even his wife couldn't be that cool, so unless she knew her kidnapper…

The wheels in his head were already turning faster.

"It's a real stretch Jay… You really think she's telling us that he's involved or could help us find her?"

"Only one way to find out. I think I know just whom to question…" Jay pushed his chair back, suddenly energized. He fidgeted around, looking for his car keys, phone and gun.

"Jay, we gotta be smart. You can't just…" Adam tried to stall.

"Go off on my own? The hell I can't! I am going to find her! So you're either with me, or you keep your mouth shut! If this would be Kim, you'd be the first one out the door!"

Adam seemed to think that he had a point, because he just mumbled:

"Fair enough,"

before he grabbed his coat and followed Jay out the door.