[ My brain is still a bit foggy from two days ago, when they removed all of my wisdom teeth, so if you find a mistake, let me know! ]

Chapter Eleven

"Alright, this is the last one, ladies!" Erin grabbed another box from the trunk of her car and put it on Alicia's living room floor, next to the others. The decision to have Nadia move in with her was made fairly quick, and since the month had already been close to an end, they decided to get it over with and get most of her stuff in the house, so she could take her time and get settled before moving in completely.

The second she opened the door to a brightly smiling Nadia who immediately threw herself onto her to hug her, Alicia had that gut feeling, that if anyone was to move in with her, it was that girl.

Maybe it was the fact that both of them had a rough upbringing and the wrong people around them. Or maybe they just had a similar character. Or maybe it was the fact that Alicia always admired people who could keep their positive attitude no matter what horrible thing had happened to them. Nadia was clearly one of them. Erin didn't tell her everything about Nadia's past and her recent trauma, but it was enough to know that Nadia had every reason to be fucking mad at the world. Like she used to be.

While Nadia was putting each box into its place, Alicia was roaming around the house, making room in the kitchen shelves and in the bathroom. She had already emptied the spare room, she used as a guest room and storage for all things that had no place so far. A good opportunity to finally take care of that clutter.

"Thank you, Erin, for your help", Alicia said, "Can I offer you a coffee before you leave? Or anything else?"

"Nah, I'm good", Erin said, "I need to go now, so I leave you guys to the mess."

Before she could leave, Nadia came running to hug Erin. "Thank you for helping. How about you come over for dinner some time?"

"You're welcome, and that sounds great, how can I say no to that?" Erin smiled bright. "Oh, before I forget, can I talk to you real quick, Allie?"

"Sure."

Nadia frowned. "Yeah, I'll be in the kitchen putting my stuff away, so you can talk shit about me!"

Erin laughed. "Not everything is about you!", she answered jokingly. They watched Nadia walking into the kitchen dramatically, and as soon as she was out of sight, Alicia turned to Erin. "So, what's up?"

"I heard you're close with Jay?", she got to the point immediately.

Of course Erin knew, they were partners. Alicia raised an eyebrow, wondering what was to come. A warning, some advice? "Well, it's a bit complicated, but you can say so. Why?"

"Relax, it's all good. It's none of my business who he's dating. But… well you're a paramedic so I was hoping… Listen, Jay is not the kinda guy who seeks out help on his own. You know men, they usually wait until it's too late. And I care for him as a friend and his work partner, and I suspect that he doesn't sleep that much."

Alicia frowned. "Be honest. Could it be connected to his abduction?"

Erin shrugged. "Might be. He doesn't really talk about it much, he says he's fine."

"Okay, thanks for letting me know. There's only so much I can do if he doesn't want help, but I promise I'll try. I know a handful of things that help with insomnia."

Erin nodded and said: "Thank you. That's all I ask for." She looked down on her watch. "I gotta go. See ya, Allie!"

"Bye Erin, and thanks again!" Allie shut the door behind her and went to the kitchen to see if Nadia needed more space or any help.

It seemed like Jay needed to trust Alicia as much as she tried to trust him in this. But all she wanted in this moment, was to help him. She's had quite some sleepless nights herself, restlessly walking through her room, trying to fight her anxiety. She remembered the nights her adopted brother snuck into her room, asking her for comfort, crying, because the ghosts from his past wouldn't let him sleep. She helped him every time he asked, and many times more, and she would do the same for Jay.

Which why later she called him. He picked up and greeted her in a lowered voice: "Hey, Allie, what's up?"

"Hey", she replied, "just wanted to ask you how you are, and talk to you a little bit."

"Wait a second", he said, and she could hear him get up and walk. "Sorry, I'm just still at work."

"Oh, sorry if I interrupted. You still got a case? It's pretty late."

He cleared his throat. "Yeah, we got something urgent, just two hours ago. You know best how some things don't wait for the best moment for us."

"Yeah, tell me about it. I got woken up last shift while I was sleeping, twice. And not to complain, but at home I helped Nadia moving around her stuff. I'm really tired now." She suppressed a yawn. "How are you, tell me!"

"Listen, I really would prefer talking to you right now, but I just need to do a few things, the longer I wait the later I get to go home."

She sighed. "I get it, I didn't mean to hold you up. Just tell me how you are, and I'll leave you to it. I just wanna know, Jay." She bit her lip as she was hoping she was not too persistent.

She heard him sigh too. "I'm fine, I'm just… tired. I'll talk to you when I can, okay? I promise."

"Thank you, Jay. Good night."

"Good night, Allie. And… thanks for checking in."

The silence felt uncomfortable to her. Usually when she opened up to someone, they were persistent and trying to get more details out of her, constantly checking on her. But now, for the first time, she realized, she opened up to someone who had the same manner of 'keeping things to myself and pushing people away', as she did. And for a second she felt overwhelmed how to respond to that.

A couple of minutes after they hung up, her phone rung again, her display showing an unknown number. She hesitated before picking up.

"Alicia Barnes, hello? – Hello?" No answer. "Hello? Who is this?" No answer. She hung up, putting her phone into flight mode. No spam or prank calls for that night!

Alicia parked the vehicle close to the ER entrance of Chicago Med, and turned off the engine. It was the first time she had been driving both to the scene and now to Med, while Sylvie was in the back with the patient. And she couldn't even deny how her heart was racing.

"Hey, you made your first ride, girl", Sylvie said happily, after climbing out and turning into professional mode. They both quickly unload the girl and tell the doctors and nurses how they found her – unconscious after an OD – and what they gave her, while they walk in with them.

"I couldn't even ask how your first day with Nadia was!", Sylvie said, when they had given over their patient.

"Yeah", she answered, "today seems not to be on our side. I'll tell you when we're back at the house, but so far I think we'll get along great."

Sylvie smiled and patted her back. "That's so nice to hear. When can I come to visit you guys?"

Alicia laughed, shaking off a bit of nervousness. "As soon as we cleaned up that mess! I had no idea she would spread out that fast!"

"Speaking of… I see if I can get a few extra clean sheets. That's the second OD this day, just in case we get another one soon."

"Copy that, I'll finish the report and see if they need what I found", Alicia declared and went to one of the front desks, where she found Will Halstead.

"Hey. I have two questions. First, how is the boy we brought in earlier today?"

Will looked up from his paper. "Hey, Allie. The OD? Sorry. He didn't make it. It was too much, we couldn't bring him back."

Oh. "Damn. He was only fifteen."

"Yeah… And the girl you guys just brought in?"

"Fourteen."

They both stood there in silence for a few seconds, before gathering their thoughts. "And the second question?"

Alicia cleared her throat. "Yeah, so on site, there was a guy who made the call, and when we asked him what the girl took, he ran away. But I saw that he dropped this…" She reached into the pocket of her jacket and pulled out a small bag with a white substance in it. She was relieved to see that her hands weren't shaking anymore. "Doesn't the unit of your brother deal with drugs? You think they might wanna look at that?"

Will's face turned a bit darker. "I already called them to come here. Allie, this is our fifth teen with an OD today. Come with me."

She followed Will down the hall. She managed to tune out the noise around her, only for the questions "Did I enough to save him?" and "What is going on in this city?" to pop up. She shook her hand and almost ran into Will, as he made a stop.

"Guys, you remember Allie. She's got something for you." And he was gone.

She saw that Voight, Erin, Antonio and Jay were there.

"Okay, Brett and I just brought in another OD, she's only fourteen. There was her friend, I guess, who made the call, but when we asked him what she took, he ran away. But he dropped this." She held up the little plastic bag. Erin immediately took it, as she was the one wearing gloves. "That's great. Now we can test if this is impure."

"Did you see the guy who ran? What did he look like?", Jay asked her.

"Um, he was white, maybe fourteen or fifteen. He was tall, lanky, blonde long hair. He was wearing a black jacket, too warm for weather like this, and brown pants."

"That's good! We might get back to you to identify him, if necessary."

"Sure." Alicia could feel a spark of excitement within all the anger and confusion about the mess around her. Too many feelings at once. She tried to slow down her breaths.

"Ok, Halstead and Lindsay, bring that bag to forensics, I wanna know what's in it as soon as possible."

Allie had hoped to speak with Jay some more, but she understood this was urgent, and was about to turn around to go back to Sylvie, when Voight stopped her. "Allie Barnes", she heard his raspy voice, "now I finally know why that name sounds so familiar."

She reciprocated his smile. "Yeah, I know I look a little different from when I was fifteen. I'm glad you remember me."

"And I'm glad you turned out so well. You have to tell me more once this all is over." He rested his hand on her shoulder, to which Alicia nodded. "I sure will."