Like I promised to you guys, here's just the new chapter we've all been waiting for - or maybe not.

Oh and Halloween is approaching – meaning another story coming up.

Chapter 8

As Kim sat across from her sergeant in the diner, her thoughts kept on drifting back to her talk with Jay, to the words he hadn't spoken aloud but she had understood: 'Be careful that he doesn't draw you into his darkness.' Voight had been leaning on the side of darkness for far too long."

Yes, perhaps he did. Then again, she'd seen a different Hank Voight lately. One that she was sitting with at the diner. Oh, or on her couch, drinking red wine. One with whom she had conversations. A man she showed that in all the darkness there was also light.

Thoughtfully, Kim stirred her milkshake with the straw instead of drinking from it. The plate of fries stood untouched in front of her. Somehow she had lost her appetite.

And she couldn't really relax. Not enjoy the evening, no matter what she tried. She couldn't. Not as long as Jay's warning was at the forefront of her thoughts. Not as long as she wondered if there hadn't been a grain of truth in his words.

Would Hank eventually drag her into his darkness after all? Or was she already part of that darkness? Had she gone too far, too?

Kim didn't want to think about that. She wanted one thing. For it to feel like it did a few days ago. You know, the thing between Hank and her. She wanted that feeling - the one she'd had when they'd both sat together in her apartment. When they had drunk wine and eaten take-out. Oh, it had felt good. Well, that moment. It was so simple. Like there might be a friendship developing between them. And perhaps more.

Yet the first doubts had been planted by Jay's words, eating their way into the tender bonds of friendship that had developed between Kim and Hank over the past few days. Inwardly, she cursed Jay Halstead for putting those doubts in her head. Damn you Jay Halstead.

It was noticeable to Voight, too, that today was different. That things weren't like they usually were. The thing between the two of them. Everything was different. Kim was different. This whole moment was different. Still, he couldn't say exactly what it was. At least, not with absolute certainty.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah."

"Really?", Hank looked at her with concern.

"Yeah, it's just been a long day. Kind of a long week. Uh, and I haven't had enough sleep the last couple of nights. I mean, and, well, it hasn't been an easy couple of days. You know, with everything that's been going on. And, well, you know. So, I'm just tired," Kim tried to explain.

"I'm sorry about that," Hank knew what had made her lose sleep. Or rather, who.

"I . . It's all right. Just . . . Don't worry about it. I . It's all right, Hank," she tried to reassure him. And herself. Especially herself.

"If you say so," Kim's words hadn't reassured him, but rather increased his worry and doubt about whether it had been right for them to sit here.

Kim noticed that Voight was eyeing her, that he obviously didn't believe her. Then again, what could she say? I mean, that Jay was worried that Voight was going to drag her into the darkness that surrounded him? And that he was afraid Hank would hurt her? In fact, Kim herself had no idea how Jay had come up with that notion. So how was she supposed to explain it to Hank?

Thoughtfully, she chewed on her lower lip. Right now, this was exactly what she didn't want. I mean, she didn't want to doubt herself, she didn't want to doubt Hank. What she wanted was to be there for him. Never wondering if it was the right thing to do or the wrong thing to do. With no worries about what would happen. About how it would change her. And him.

"Shall we have another piece of chocolate cake? Share a piece, maybe," she therefore changed the topic and was about to reach for the menu. But Hank laid his hand on hers.

" How would you feel about us getting it to go?" he suggested to her.

"-To take it with us?" questioningly, Kim looked at him.

" Well, we could go to your place and have some tea there, maybe, and eat the cake. Or I guess we could call it a night, you know, we could do it another time."

"Tea sounds good. Let's order a piece then, or one for each of us," Kim replied without hesitation. Maybe it would turn out to be the kind of evening she had just wanted after all.

A little later they were standing in front of Kim's car with only one piece of cake in the box.

"Keys," Hank said, holding out his hand to her, "I'll drive. I think you're going to fall asleep behind the wheel."

Wordlessly, Kim handed him her car keys. Ever the gentleman, he held the passenger door open for her.

"Thank you," Kim said, and as she climbed into the car, felt him briefly brush her arm. Only very fleetingly, so Kim thought she had only imagined this touch.

The car ride, however, passed in silence. Kim felt the weariness. Felt the tension of the last few days. At the same time, she felt herself relax. Her head leaned against the passenger window. And for a moment, she allowed herself to think of a what-if. I mean, what if this was more than just a dinner between a sergeant and an officer. What if it had even been a date?

Kim didn't know where these thoughts came from. Perhaps these thoughts were just due to her lack of sleep? Still, it felt good. To imagine it. Imagining Hank reaching for her hand as the car stopped at the traffic light. To imagine them talking about mundane things.

"We're here," Hank said as he parked the car in front of Kim's house. He put his hand on Kim's thigh for a brief moment to get her attention, snapping Kim out of her thoughts.

A blush spread across Kim's cheeks as she felt his touch. This was exactly what she had just imagined. Unfortunately, Hank interpreted Kim's blush differently. He believed that it made her uncomfortable. That he was about to cross a line. A line they had already threatened to cross several times. Unintentionally. Most of the time, anyway.

A little later, the pair were in Kim's apartment.

Their thoughts had followed both of them, however.

While Kim had sat down on her sofa, Hank had taken care of the drinks. As he did so, he realized that he was well acquainted with her apartment, with her kitchen. Just too well.

"I have-" Hank turned to Kim and fell silent.

Kim was sitting on the sofa, asleep. In the end, exhaustion had gotten the better of her. The last few days, worrying about Hank, getting little sleep, it had just been too much for Kim. Setting the cups on the table, Hank walked slowly toward Kim. He didn't want to wake her. It was then that he reached for the blanket that lay on the back of the sofa and gently draped it over her.

„Sleep well", he whispered. And then he leaned forward and carefully, so as not to wake her, brushed a kiss on her forehead.

For a moment, he regarded Kim. Smiling. He was glad to have her. You know, as part of his life. Sort of, anyway. Hank's hand twitched, he realized, as he unconsciously reached out to Kim. HAD reached out to brush a strand of hair from Kim's face. To caress her cheek. To touch her. He had felt that impulse before. However, this time was the first time he was on the verge of giving in to it.

Hank reached for his jacket, which he had hung over one of the chairs. He couldn't stay here. He had to get out of here before he did something he wasn't ready to do. Nor that he was willing to let happen.

It was time to go home. To his empty house.

But Hank didn't go straight home, instead he walked the streets through Chicago. Aimlessly. Letting himself just drift. To wherever his footsteps took him. Until he reached the Chicago River, where his path initially ended. Hank rested his hands on the railing of the bridge and stared down at the water. Lost in thought. As he had all the days before, his thoughts circled ceaselessly around recent events. Around Al's death. And the guilt he had brought upon himself.

Only this time, thoughts of Kim were also mixed in. Of Burgess, he corrected himself in his mind. He couldn't and shouldn't think of her as Kim. Not anymore. Even though it would be hard for him. For some reason, it had felt good. Her closeness. Her smile. The attention she had given him. The feelings she had triggered in him. Unleashed. That tingling sensation. Like butterflies. A feeling he had missed. For so long he had missed it. Since the light had disappeared from his life. The moment when Camille had died. A feeling that he didn't want to allow, that he couldn't allow. A feeling that Kim caused him to have. However it was something that he couldn't allow. So he had to push her away. Before he would cause her unnecessary pain. Before he would hurt her in any way. Or before she would get hurt because of him. I mean, in case some criminal wanted to get back at him. He didn't want to lose her.

So he would have to keep his distance. As it was better that way. For Kim.

Immediately, the next day at the precinct, he put his plan into action. Soon it became obvious that Hank was again keeping his distance from Kim.

When she tried to hand him a cup of coffee, he ignored her.

"Sarge?"

"Mmm."

"Coffee?" asked Kim again, holding out one of the two cups she was holding to him.

"No," he replied curtly.

And then he just left Kim standing there. Pensively, she stared after him. Well, what was that all about? This was not how she knew her Hank. Her Hank. Where did this thought come from? Again.

Kim's eyes wandered over to Jay, as if he had the answer to her unspoken question. But Jay didn't seem to notice this moment between Kim and Hank. And so it was up to her to interpret her sergeant's behavior.

What had happened to Hank Voight? Who she had spent a lot of time with in the last weeks. Together. Yet it was as if he wasn't there. Not anymore.

And she couldn't let go of that question. And that evening, too, when she packed up her things and was about to drive home.

Once again, her worried gaze slid to his office door. To the door that he had slammed behind him this morning and from where hadn't come out of ever since. Not even to get something to eat for himself. A fact she would now change.

Determined, Kim walked to his office door and opened it. She was sure she didn't need to knock. Just as Al hadn't in the past. After all, she was his Al now.

"Hank," she snapped him out of his thoughts.

Surprised, Hank looked at her. For an instant, she saw a glimpse of the man she'd shared the evenings before. A fleeting moment which was over all to soon.

"What?"

"You haven't eaten today," Kim said then.

"-I'm not hungry."

" You should be, though-"

" I know quite well what I should and shouldn't do. An' you don't have to be mothering me."

Taken aback Kim looked at him. The bite in his voice was not unknown to her. But it had never been directed at her.

"But-"

"Burgess, I'm busy," and with that he turned his attention back to the files on his desk.

Kim remained standing in his office and looking at him. So how could a man change like that in the time span of not even 24 hours?

"You're still here," Kim could clearly hear something in Hank's voice. Anger. Desperation. And a slight tremor. A tremor that showed her that her Hank was still here.

And then Kim reached into her purse and pulled out a chocolate bar. If he was going to be so foolish as to bury himself in a stack of files today, then she didn't want him to be starving. Kim placed the bar on top of the files on his desk and left. At the office door, however, she paused again, but did not turn back to him.

„I am at home, if you need me", she said before leaving him alone.