Alicia didn't feel like going out after an exhausting day of work. It's been her third shift, but Brett invited her to the firemen's bar, Molly's, and saying no to the first invitation felt wrong. So, she took a quick shower and got in front of the closet to pick an outfit. After some back and forth thinking, she decided to just dress as herself. In her old workplace, most of her co-workers were men older than her, who wouldn't hold back about their opinions on women with tattoos or women showing some skin. Or worse, both. It may seem lame, but that affected her and got her dressing more basic than she did with her friends. After a long day, one comment could just be too much. But with her new family at 51, she felt like she wouldn't be judged about it. Finally, she picked a pair of black jeans, biker boots and an emerald green sleeveless shirt. She usually preferred dark clothes, but this colour fitted perfectly with her new hair colour. Before she moved to Chicago, she spontaneously went to a salon to change her hair and dyed it a red-ish brown colour. Yeah, what a cliché, right?

Because it wasn't far, she decided to walk there and take an uber back, so she could have a drink or two. Being involved in a car accident as a kid, drinking under influence was her biggest no-go.

Minutes later, she entered the bar, that was more crowded than she expected. First person she recognized, was Gabby Dawson behind the bar, who waved at her with a bid smile. "Hey, glad you came. Give me your jacket and bag, I'll put it away in the storage room." While Alicia waited for her to come back, she looked around and spotted the men from Squad 3 on one table, and two tables behind them, Jay Halstead. He wasn't with the woman who was at the scene two days ago, but with three men his age and a woman with long brown hair.

"They're from the intelligence unit at the 21 District. One of them is my big brother, let me introduce you to him!" Before she could tell her that she already knows one of them, Gabby went around the bar and walked her to the table. Jay was the first one to look notice her walking over.

"Antonio, this is Alicia, our new paramedic at 51!"

"Nice to meet you." The guy with black slicked back hair shook her hand. "That's Kim Burgess, Kevin Atwater and Adam Ruzek, and I believe you've already met Jay."

She nodded to them. "Nice to meet you guys. And yes, we met, briefly. How is that guy?", she asked Halstead directly.

"He's fine, no major injuries, and no broken bones, surprisingly."

"So, are you new to Chicago?" Kim asked. She had the brightest, most honest smile, Alicia thought to herself. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Jay Halstead's glance all over her, from her tattooed arms to her bare shoulders, up to her face that was covered in more make up than during the day.

"Kinda, I grew up here, then I've been… away for a few years. But I've come back just recently."

She felt Gabby putting both her hands on her shoulders. "Okay, guys, I get that you ask the questions usually to get the information out of people, but this is my new friend, so please excuse us."

Alicia gasped, pretending to be shocked. "Oh no! She's gonna know all my dark secrets!"

"If you need help, look at us and blink twice!", Jay yelled while she got pulled back to the bar, where Sylvie just took a seat.

"Alright, what do you wanna know?", Alicia asked, trying to keep her cool. These kinds of conversations always made her a bit uncomfortable and often times she wished that the 'getting to know each other' phase could just be skipped, and everyone just knew about each other what they had to know. Because, some people asked too much, wanted to know things of her, that just were too personal or too early to be trusted with. Some people just told her too much about them, things she didn't need to know – or didn't want to know. She was just hoping that Brett and Dawson were not like that.

"So, you're a Chicago original, I heard?" Gabby gave a beer.

"Thanks. Yeah, I grew up here, but when I turned 18, I travelled a lot and lived here and there for a few weeks. You know, the 'need to spread my wings' kinda stuff, getting away from family. You guys are from here too?"

Counter questions always worked well when she felt like she has said enough, and this time she wanted to know.

"I'm not actually", Sylvie said and told her when she got here. "And my ex even came here to get me back, but that's a story for another time and more alcohol." She rolled her eyes. "Do you have a boyfriend?"

"Or girlfriend", Gabby added to her surprise.

"Nah", Alicia said, "and I'm actually enjoying being for myself. Last two times it didn't end well, so I'm not really looking forward to spending my evenings any other than sitting on the couch watching tv. Or having a beer with my new friends." She raised her bottle to them.

"Cheers to that!"

"And thanks for not assuming I'm straight, 'cause I've dated both guys and gals before and nothing is more annoying than people asking me why I just can't pick one gender or for how long I decide to remain in a confused phase." Or worse, get yelled at.

"I don't get that", Gabby stated, "I never had an issue with it and never understood why others had. Actually, I used to have a partner on ambo, and best friend, who was gay."

Alicia noticed pain on her face, just for a split second her eyes got darker and less present, but she decided not to ask further. She instead asked her about her brother, and she told her a story about how they found two burnt victims and therefore were basically involved in a major crime case, that even took Intelligence to New York.

"The guy kidnapped one of them, her name's Nadja, and they saved her just in time."

"Luckily we did", Antonio suddenly said, appearing next to her and non-verbally asking his sister for another round of beers, "that poor girl had to go through a lot. It's been a few weeks, but she's still off work. It's still hard on Lindsay and Voigt."

"Wow", Alicia said, trying to hide the fact that she was a bit excited to hear about such a story, despite her honestly being sorry for that girl. But the work of police' Intelligence had always interested her. Besides that, as soon as he dropped Voigt's name, she suddenly remembered why his face was so familiar.

"So, Voigt is your boss?", she asked him.

"Yes. Why?" Antonio raised an eyebrow.

"Because I know him. It's been a while, I'm not sure he remembered me."

He chuckled. "Now I'm interested. Help me get these back to the table and tell us more!"