Chapter 2

"What happened to your face?"

"Nothing."

"Yeah that's believable."

Kevin shot him a look, darker than he'd been expecting but he didn't actually think it had anything to do with him. More than likely it was because he was drawing attention to the bruise on his friend's cheek, which Jay would bet his badge wasn't the only one he had.

"Did they do that to you? Did Nolan's guys come at you?" He had to fight to keep his voice restrained, the locker room wasn't exactly the best place to have a private conversation but then maybe it wasn't a bad idea if their fellow officers heard how one of their Sergeants was behaving- how he was the one turning on one of their own. But Kevin's quick but fierce shake of the head reminded him that wasn't his call to make.

"I'm handling it."

"I'm sure you are but I'd still like to help."

For a moment he really thought Kev was going to brush him off but after an assessing look, a heavy breath and a wriggle of his shoulders he relaxed, at least enough to sink onto the bench in front of his locker. But as Jay followed suit his own shoulders began to tighten, his anger growing the more his partner shared.

He hadn't even made it to his front gate last night before he'd been jumped by a group of Nolan's men, none of whom matched the description of the Sergeant because of course the man who sent them was too cowardly to see his orders through himself. And because all the cowards who had followed through with them had worn masks and kept their traitorous mouths shut Kev hadn't been able to ID any of them, or get any partial plates from their cars when they drove away, leaving him in the middle of the fucking street like trash. And to make matters even worse when he'd arrived at the precinct this morning he'd found he'd been locked out of the system- no access to his radio, to anything.

What if something had happened on his way in?

What if someone had gotten hurt because he hadn't been able to call for help?

Was Nolan really willing to let another cop, to let civilians get hurt because of his grudge?

Jay's blood boiled the more he thought about it, about how the men who were supposed to be their brothers in arms could turn on one of their own so easily, for the so called 'crime' of telling the truth about the cop who'd started all of this, the one who'd actually been in the wrong. He could understand loyalty, understand not wanting to narc on a fellow officer, not feeling comfortable calling out behaviour that wasn't likely to change anyway but how could they stand behind a man like Doyle, a man like Nolan, over Kevin?

Over the most honest, hardworking cop he knew?

"Have you told Voight yet?"

Kev didn't answer beyond another look but it was enough to say that he had, and that the response he'd gotten hadn't been the one he'd wanted to hear. The one he needed to. And if their Sergeant couldn't help then Jay was going to get someone who could.

"I'm calling Tess."

"Nah, I don't-"

"At the very least she's going to be able to give you better security than what you were able to set up in what, two hours? This is her thing, alright? Let her help. Trust me, she's good at it."

Part of him was tempted to share how else she was helping, how probably at this very moment she was making inroads with the deputy superintendent but he held his tongue. That was Tess's business, not his teams, and the deputy supe had nothing to do with what was going on with Kevin. Granted she probably should considering her whole job was centred around police reform but that wasn't his decision- as willing as he was to get involved he had to remember that this wasn't his fight. The best thing, the only thing he could do was respect his partners wishes.

Thankfully it didn't take long for him to decide Jay was right, nodding as he let out another sigh and ran a hand down his face. "Okay. If you think she can help, I'm not gonna turn it down. Just tell her to keep it on the downlow, alright? I wanna be able to decide-"

"She'd never take that away from you."

That seemed to help Kevin relax even more but before he could finish dialling her number Kim came hustling into the locker room, sparing them a brief, questioning glance before deciding now wasn't the time to get involved in whatever they were discussing. With good reason.

"We gotta go- we caught a case."

Jay gave his friend a firm and he hoped comforting clap on the shoulder as they stood, shooting a quick text to Tess as they hurried down to their vehicles.

Hey, I need your help with something. Give me a call when you can.

Fucking hell.

Today was turning out to be one of those days he wished he'd been able to stay in bed.

The case they'd caught should have been an easy one, open and shut, even if it did slightly complicate matters that their prime suspect was the son of a local alderman. Albeit the forgotten, pushed to the back, black sheep son of an alderman but then that wasn't really something any of them cared about, certainly not Voight. And given that Billy Braddem had been high as a kite when they'd found him clutching his dead girlfriend, and the knife that had been used to kill her it probably wasn't going to matter too much who his father was.

Except Billy was claiming he was innocent.

Now that in itself wasn't unusual, most of their suspects did at first and they didn't really have any reason to believe him, all the evidence pointed towards him being the killer but something about it just felt wrong. And not just to him, to the whole team. So they were digging in, looking at every angle they could think of, most of which were turning out to be dead ends. Like the man with the green eyes and the blue and white tie that Billy had sworn was in the apartment with him and Isla that turned out to be the news anchor that had been playing on the TV at the time of her murder.

Jay had been so proud of Hailey for figuring that out. One of the many reasons he'd loved having her as a partner was that she had a lot of great hunches, and was adamant at following up on them, but it hadn't looked like she'd appreciated his support. Well, Vanessa certainly hadn't- Hailey was still ignoring him, at least as much as she could without drawing attention to the fact that she was actively ignoring him. But that didn't matter right now. What mattered was figuring out what had happened to Isla and getting her justice. And since they were growing increasingly convinced of Billy's innocence, or at least that there was more to the story they were going to keep looking.

Assuming Deputy Superintendent Miller was going to allow them the full 48 hours before charging to do so.

He'd heard from Trudy that she'd been staked out in the office downstairs waiting for Voight to get back from the scene this morning and though his Sergeant hadn't said anything about her visit none of them were stupid enough to think she'd just dropped by to say hi. And considering she was here again meeting with Billy's father, who'd stormed into the precinct just a little while ago apparently extremely irate that he wasn't being allowed to see his son Jay wasn't so sure their next meeting was going to be as cordial. Which was why he was staked out around the corner from the interrogation rooms waiting until Alderman Braddem went in to talk to his son so he could follow Miller to her meeting with Voight. He doubted he'd be able to get close enough to eavesdrop, not without them noticing anyway but that was okay. Actually getting Deputy Miller to notice him was exactly what he wanted, just not in a way that would get him disciplined.

Tess hadn't returned his text.

And that… it wasn't unusual, but it wasn't usual either. Normally she answered his messages as soon as she saw them, just to let him know she'd gotten them so that he didn't worry. And since Miller was here she clearly wasn't busy meeting with her, but Jay wanted to find out if she had. Had something about their meeting gone badly? Or had something happened that had changed her plans?

Or worse, prevented her from following through on them?

He knew Tess could take care of herself, knew she didn't need his help or protection but that didn't stop him from worrying. It never had and it never would and-

"William!"

And Alderman Braddem was in with his son.

Ignoring the distinct lack of fatherly warmth in the man's voice Jay waited until the click of heels on linoleum faded to follow them to the bullpen, waiting again until he heard the click of Voight's office door shutting before he leant against the wall near the stairs, out of sight but near enough that he'd know as soon as Miller left and could easily 'stumble' upon her on her way out. It didn't take long, just a couple minutes and the lack of raised voices that were usually present whenever Voight spoke to someone in command told him that their conversation was either going really well or really bad. He really hoped it was the former.

As soon as he heard the door open again he straightened, counting the footsteps until they got close and then he rounded the corner into the open area of the bullpen, coming to a quick halt as he spotted Deputy Miller and dipping his chin in a show of respect, watching as she paused and ran her eyes over him. "Deputy."

Oh yeah.

She'd definitely met with Tess.

He'd recognize that look anywhere.

"Detective." She inclined her own head with a wry smile and then she was gone, the easy confidence in her stance reminding him very much of his girl and convincing him that whatever she was doing right now, the conversation she'd had with the superintendent had gone well.

He could only hope this next one would too because he also recognized the look Voight was giving him. His Sergeant didn't say a word but when he turned to walk back behind his desk Jay knew he was supposed to follow, and as he shut the door behind them couldn't help the mild but undeniable quickening of his heart.

"So what'd she say? She want us to charge him?"

For a second Voight just stared but then he nodded, giving a half shrug before he motioned out to the bullpen. "She says she'll give us the full 48. Doesn't mean I want it to take that long. What I want right now is to know what that was."

Figures it would be too much to hope the older man hadn't noticed his exchange with the superintendent. He wasn't blind. And maybe Jay shouldn't want him to have missed it. Despite what he'd thought earlier Tess's business was his team's business, at least when the two overlapped and he had a duty to both of them. And it wasn't like she had asked him not to say anything; she knew him well enough to know he'd probably be hesitant about it but he knew her well enough to know she'd want him to anyway. That this was another one of those moments when he needed to open up and share.

And wasn't it about time someone in this unit did?

Jay loved his team, he really did but how many times had he cursed the way Voight ran things? How many times had he complained to Antonio about being kept in the dark or lectured Erin or Hailey about how a team was only as strong on the field as they were off it? He understood that Voight only ever did what he thought was right and he'd admit that he'd saved their asses a few times, saved his ass more than once but his methods caused problems too. Maybe just as many as solutions. And he couldn't preach truthfulness and cooperation if he wasn't going to give it himself.

"Tess said she was going to introduce herself- I wanted to get an idea how it went."

"Jay this is not the time-"

"For what? For us to get some help? Cause given everything we've been up against lately I think we could use it." It was clear Voight didn't appreciate the interruption but he didn't know how else to get him to listen. To see that Tess wasn't a threat. But maybe it wasn't just about what he had to say. "What did they tell you?"

"Who?"

"Whoever you asked about her. You reached out to someone right? I want to know what they said."

His Sergeant had a good stare, solid and penetrating but he wasn't backing down.

He couldn't.

Every day he wasn't fighting for Tess was another day he was letting her down and he wasn't ever going to do that again.

After a very long minute Voight nodded, looking him over before he nodded again. "They said she was a new-age operative with all the fire and fury of the Old Testament."

That… was a fair assessment.

And as a dark blue bird with a core of brilliant white flashed through his mind Jay knew it was true. But it wasn't a bad thing.

"She's a force of nature. And she knows how to fight, harder and longer than anyone I've ever known. And she does everything in her power to fight fair. To do what's right."

"Right for who?"

"Usually everyone but herself."

Voight wanted to believe him.

He could see it in his eyes, the desire to believe that this new person in their lives was on their side, that they could help- but it wasn't enough to outweigh the doubt. The years of distrust and backstabbings that had made his Sergeant as wary as he was. But it was a step in the right direction. And that was all he needed. Just to get them all to move forward, one step at a time.

"I'm not asking you to trust her right away. But you gotta give her a chance to prove herself. I promise she'll make it worth your while."

There was another stare-down, longer this time but softer too and it ended with Voight dipping his chin, a silent agreement passing between them before he motioned for him to get back to work.

Now if he could only hear back from Tess this day might actually turn around.

He hadn't heard from her.

Almost two hours since his conversation with Voight, twelve since they'd started the case which made it almost fifteen since he'd left for work this morning.

And not a word from her.

And now he was done waiting.

It hadn't taken much to convince Kevin to make a detour on their way back to the precinct after chasing yet another empty lead, a little more to make him stay in the car but after Jay reminded him of the last time they'd dropped by unannounced and almost walked in on Tess doing naked yoga he agreed. Which led to where he was now, hurrying down the dock as anticipation made his body thrum.

Her car had been in the lot. And the bike. She could have taken a taxi, it wasn't like she didn't have a whole fleet of them at her disposal but he wasn't going to think about that yet. It was entirely possible she'd just missed his message, maybe gotten high or fallen into one of her hacker blackholes and forgotten to respond but he couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. Maybe she wasn't in danger, he usually had a good sense of that, at least he used to but there was something.

Something that told him she wasn't okay.

"Tess?" No answer as he first opened the door and a quick scan showed she wasn't in the kitchen or the living room, a slightly more thorough one showing the sunroom was likewise empty.

Bedroom then.

He craned his neck as he made for the stairs and his first glimpse of the ceiling had his heart stuttering- smoke billowed over it. Except it only took a few steps for him to realize it wasn't smoke.

It was steam.

"Tess?!"

Jesus Christ.

The whole second floor was hazy with it, hot with it and it didn't matter that the rush of water shut off seconds before his feet carried him into the bathroom because when he flung the shower door open the lingering droplets on her skin burned him all the same.

They were burning her.

Tess was silent in his arms but she was pliant and he scooped her up, single-minded as he headed for the glass doors that led to the deck before he flung those open too and carried her outside. Her gasp as the cool night air hit her seared into his brain and he did his best to wrap his body around hers, too many parts of him in conflict with each other- panic and confusion mixed with the need to help, the desire to cool her down against the stark reminder of her body pressed against his that she was naked, the knowledge that it was growing dark doing little to quell the urge to haul her back inside. What should he do?

What did she need?

"Jay, Jay it's okay. It's okay, look at me, I'm okay."

The fuck you are.

Something in her eyes shuddered but then her grip on his arms tightened. "Look at me. Am I hurt?"

You were hurting.

"Am I hurt?"

The steadiness in her voice soothed him and the pounding in his chest started to settle, just a little, and then a little more as his gaze slowly stole over her. Her skin was pink, bright fucking pink but it wasn't burned, wasn't blistered, not anywhere he could see and she turned to let him check. She wasn't hurt. But it had hurt. It had hurt him and that meant it had to have hurt her, she was just- She was used to it. There was something in Tess's eyes when he met them again, a sadness that wasn't for her.

It was for him.