A/N: It took me a while to figure out this chapter. I wanted to write it further, but I guess I'm leaving it this way for now as a teaser for something big.
"Where the hell have you been?" It was something close to 4 a.m., when Marcus eventually brought himself home as if nothing happened. He was sober, clean and not injured in any way, he looked oddly normal for someone who had disappeared for more than five days ago.
"Hey, sis! Why are you still awake? Go to bed. Don't you have work tomorrow?"
"Please, don't act like you are caring about me. I don't think you actually worry about my work or my break up, or any shit going on in my life."
Charlie crossed her hands on her chest and looked away; it was too hard for her to not breathing fire at her clueless brother.
"You want to talk about Kieran? Let's talk. So he slept with that slut. Big deal. I lost count on how many times he has cheated on you."
Marcus gave out a chuckle, which Charlie luckily ignored.
"You know. I don't give a damn about him. It has nothing to do with him, gee! It's about you, who's constantly throwing his life in the trash. I am tremendously tired of babysitting. I'm tired of looking after you all the time. My entire life I have been trying to be your fucking catcher in the rye, and after all these years, it would be not bad to give me a call for a change. You know, like, hey, sister, just for the record, I am not dead or something. I'm an irresponsible jerk, but I'm not dead. One. Single. Phone call. You twat!"
By the end of her speech full of fury, she punched him hard in the chest with her clinched fists.
"Okay. Okay. My bad. I'm sorry, alright? I don't deserve you, but we only have each other, so don't be mad at me for too long." Marcus took off his jacket and headed over the kitchen to grab a beer from the fridge.
"Okay. I have something going on. You remember that guy Justin I met a couple of years ago? His father is kind of big deal in CPD."
"No." Charlie answered coldly. "You don't usually dedicate me into your business. Since when did you want to get involved in police stuff, by the way?"
"I am not. Just saying his father is a cop, though it might be useful in the future." Marcus smirked full of himself. "He always covered Justin anyway."
Charlie annoyingly pursed her lips and placed her right palm on the forehead.
"So…" she pushed him to continue. Suddenly she felt so exhausted, she could fall asleep the next second.
"So he's back in town to help this girl… a friend of his. A lawyer, widowed mother. Don't know exactly what happened, but there is some guy who dragged her into house invasions, and Justin volunteered to get her out by making a five grand deal."
Now Charlie was listening very carefully and tensely. She didn't like what she had heard, because it was obviously no good news, moreover Marcus had never just told anything, it always meant he took a part in it and this time it smelled like real troubles.
"I don't understand what you have to do with this, exactly." Charlie's exhaustion vanished the next minute, she already knew the nature of his answer, but she wanted to hear it from Marcus anyway.
"Well, promise me you won't yell."
"It depends." Charlie snapped and gave him her best judging look under her brows.
"I reached that guy who threatened Justin's friend, and I want to earn some cash."
"You what? How?" Charlie rounded her mouth in shock and frowned. "Don't say you are going to take part in the robberies!"
"Well, you think I'm an idiot? I am not. I just thought I could make a profit if I convince Justin to step out of this and then keep his offered money to myself. Just imagine five grands! I've never seen this amount of money in my hands at the same time. And the best part nobody will know nothing. "
Marcus took a mouthful of beer and raised his eyebrows in excitement.
"You're playing with fire. There is no chance Justin won't discover you are a shit bag who betrayed him cause of money."
"Ooh, you sound so dramatic. Ha. We're not even friends. If you want to succeed, sometimes you have to be a selfish prick. A prick who will become richer by five thousand."
"You really are an idiot, Marcus. And apparently you don't need any advice, seems like everything is sorted."
Charlie thought he could really change this time, however this conversation proved the complete opposite and all she had to do is to humble herself and keep minding her own business.
"You know what? I'm officially out." She raised her hands showing her palms and stepped aside. "You want to succeed in life, be my guest. Not the success I imagined but if these five grand is everything you need, go ahead. Catch your dream, big boy. I'm going to sleep now. Don't forget to lock the door."
It had been a couple weeks since Adam decided to move on. Not that he was truly invested, but he had to for his own sake. Though he was still regretting every second in the bullpen that evening when he snapped at Kim, he tired of living in limbo. Instead of wasting time on drinking alone, he put all his leftover energy on the new friend from the firehouse. After the night they spent in Molly's washing each other's souls with liquor and revelations Adam came to a conclusion that Charlie was the only person right now he wanted to talk to. The only company he was able to tolerate. Atwater would always be his best friend, the only partner in crime etc., but now it became a little complicated for Adam to share with him due to the simple fact he was still Kim's friend. It meant no conversations about her, or Sean, or their relationships. Kevin just couldn't think objectively. And despite that they had a lot of other topics to discuss, with time Adam distanced himself from everything that might have reminded him of Kim.
So firehouse 105 in this light sounded like the best place on earth to be. That's what Ruzek did when he finished his work at the district — headed straight to the firehouse to meet Charlie. She didn't even know he'd come.
Lost in her thoughts about brother and everything he told her a few days ago she went out to the car, when all of a sudden Adam appeared in front of her.
"Oh god! You are what, a ninja? Never do this again or I will cut you with a knife."
He laughed in surprise.
"You carry a knife? Seriously?"
"It's Chicago, baby. And the place I grew up in taught me it's normal to keep something sharp in case of danger. Anyway, what's up?" She asked then casually.
"Well, I thought you may want a good company." Adam answered with a crooked smile and continued more seriously. "Actually, I can't stand being in my head right now. Thought maybe you could shake it off a little bit. You happened to handle it surprisingly well."
Charlie opened her mouth for response but it took her a while to get it together. Everything was so blurred at the moment.
"Um… Sorry, Adam, I don't feel like hanging out tonight or talking to anybody at all." She finally uttered and opened the car.
"What do you mean? What happened?" By the frown on his face she could see his concern, but the last thing she wanted was to bother people, especially ones she had just met."
"Family stuff. I'll deal with it, never mind." She gave him a smile, definitely fake, but it was easier this way.
"Wait, is it about your brother? Has he showed up?"
Charlie nodded after a short pause with no willing to discuss it in the first place.
"Yup, fresh and new like never before. Everything will be fine, I'm telling you. Now I want to leave."
Charlie didn't bother to excuse herself twice, when she finally sat into her car and slammed the door.
"Easy." Adam said and stepped aside, letting her go. But since she had got inside, she didn't move, gripping the steering wheel.
"You know how to drive, don't you?"
Instead of starting the engine, she went silent for a few minutes, sitting there completely numb. Adam opened the door and placed himself next to the girl on the passenger seat.
"Hey, look at me." He pronounced gently. What was so special about her? Adam couldn't figure out. There wasn't anything specifically, just a strong will to avoid his own problems until they dissolve completely. He knew it wouldn't make any difference, yet this was the most comfortable state he'd been in for a long period. Focusing on somebody you don't really know was the best therapy so far. In addition, Charlie was actually a very nice person, who had been good to him, at least honest.
Charlie, with all her desire to share the one piece of mind that had been torturing her, remained silent. She even restrained herself to give Adam a single glance, kept drilling the dashboard with her watering eyes. Out of nowhere, she felt so sick and vulnerable; she could burst into tears any minute. Clutching her teeth helped. Feeling pain helped. Any method would be right until it helped to get rid of all the miserable thoughts.
"See, I don't want to talk either, to be completely honest with you. I just don't wanna sit alone at my place and watch talk shows, like my aunt always did, when I came to visit her. She…" Adam strove to continue his small talk, but the next second Charlie shut him up with a question and a somewhat wild look, finally breaking away from the dash.
"You've got an aunt?"
"Yeah… why? Is it too odd for the place you grew up in?" The slightest chuckle left his mouth and it made her smile a bit too. Ice moved.
"No, just… It's always so weird and exciting how you learn something new about people. Like I didn't even expect you to come by and now you're telling me about your family. Or that time when Marcus showed up after a week and told me he got involved with criminals. That was the most exciting part."
Sarcastically or not, she gave Adam the answer to his previous question.
"By the way, our aunt Helen, she partly raised us. The only parent I've ever had."
Silence returned and filled the gaps of their ripped conversation. Adam sat there, slowly organizing Charlie's last words in his head.
"What he's up to exactly?"
"Okay, I was scared to tell anybody, but there is a person who might be familiar to you. So as to the rest of your unit. It's Justin, your boss's son, as far as I got it right."
"You mean Justin Voight? He is the criminal?" Adam raised his brows.
"No, Marcus said he knows a woman who is in contact with robbers. They do home invasions. She got in some troubles with them, and Justin wanted to help her by offering those guys some money. But my dumb brother is now planning to intervene personally, to play the part of negotiator and hold at least a half of money to himself. I won't be surprised if he even ends up robbing houses with them."
"You should've told me or somebody. Go to police the next minute."
"You mean, hand over my brother?" She scoffed with her mouth a bit open. "I guess I'm not that righteous as you think I am."
"We would come up with something, we would help him. He's done nothing by far."
"Adam, my brother is not a victim here or a child who was dragged into this by some bad guys. He's a grown-ass man and he, like, chose to do so. No one pulled the strings or ordered. So how you imagine that? Me walking into a precinct and telling my brother implicated in organized crime? Wow. See, there was reason why I didn't want to tell anybody. I thought maybe it would resolve itself somehow. Just another quirk, they always end well. My brother is a tenacious cockroach, you know. But this time… I don't know. The most awful thing he doesn't understand what he is doing, who he is playing with. He always thinks it's a game or something."
Adam was listening to her patiently, giving her time and space to share, seemed like she needed this a long time ago. And when she finally stopped talking and sighed, he scratched his eyebrow, placed his hands on his knees and after a short while began to speak.
"Okay, don't panic. Try to talk to him once again. Eventually he will admit the entire idea was wrong and stupid. You can call him right now and then we grab some pizza. Deal?" Adam was optimistic, the quality Charlie couldn't boast of frequently, however she decided to give it a chance and dialed Marcus the next moment.
