Author's Note: Sooooo, wow has it been a while…sorry! Work has been crazy for the last few years, but I hope to be updating a bit more frequently! Some background for this chapter: yes, the Green Mill is an actual bar in Uptown, and the history is all real. Visit their website and all the articles are linked. The article I used to layout the scene is A History of the Green Mill from the Chicago Bar Project.
Disclaimer: I do not own Chicago PD (or the lines from the episode that appeared below), One Chicago, or the song this fic is named after.
Bigger Than Us - Chapter 2
Jay had officially become addicted…to Back of the Yards Coffee Co. His order may have varied since first visit, but 3 weeks later, stopping at the out-of-the-way coffee shop had become part of his morning routine.
That morning, he had gone with the first order he ever had at the shop. A large, iced Caffe de Olla.
As he was waiting, scrolling through his ESPN app to see if he had missed any highlights from the night before, he didn't notice the red-headed patrol officer walk up behind him,
"You trying to steal my spot?" Kim asked as he turned around at the voice.
"I was told it was the best in the city." He responds, smiling at her.
"Well, who told you that? Don't want it spreading around and people invading." she scoffed, crossing her arms across her chest, smiling back.
"Meh," he said, shrugging, "some girl I ran into the other day."
"She must've made a good impression," she said in an unintentionally flirty manner, taking a step towards the detective.
"If by impression, you mean a stain on my favorite shirt, then yes," Jay laughed, putting his hand in his hands in the pocket of his jeans.
"Ooof, you should talk to her about that," Kim said, keeping her flirty tone and laughing.
"I guess I will," He said with a wink, walking to grab his order and head to his car.
Behind him he left a stunned Kim, only brought out of her trance by her order being called.
Checking her phone, she saw she didn't have much time to get to the district and change out. So she grabbed her order and rushed out, leaving her thoughts of the green eyed detective behind and preparing for the shift ahead.
As Jay approached the 21st, he ran into Erin.
"Good Morning," he said, nodding at the woman and sipping his coffee.
"Yeah, it's fan-fucking-tastic." She responded, stomping up the front steps and through the lobby, the both of them greeting Platt on the way.
"Do you own a suit?" She asks, approaching the Intelligence gate.
"Yeah. Why?" He asks, letting her buzz them up.
"You're going with me to my high school reunion," she says, scanning her palm, "Also, we're engaged." She finishes, opening the gate and heading up the stairs, not letting him respond.
"Wait," Jay responds, confused.
This is not good, he thought, walking to his desk to prepare for the grizzly case facing them that day. Voight was already watching him like a hawk, thinking he had a thing going on with Lindsey. If he found out about this, it would only add fuel to the fire. He had to find a way to get out of this…but how?
Burgess watched the unit work around her as they tried to solve the case. Looking for leads, pulling photos, contacting CIs. She kept on the phones, but tried to absorb as much as she could. She wanted to move upstairs, and she would take any chance she could to learn.
They had narrowed it down to a suspect, based off their (mostly) cooperating 'witness'. Jay was rolling out with Lindsey when his eye caught Burgess, answering yet another call to the tip line, and an idea popped into his head.
He had just found his way out of the reunion. I just hope she agrees, he thought, getting into the passenger seat of the sedan and pulling out his phone.
He had managed to get Burgess' number off Atwater after the 'coffee spill' shift, making the excuse that he needed to follow up on a few details from a case. They had been lightly texting since, mostly just about different coffee places in the city, trying to race each other to find the next hot spot.
Hey, question for you. He wrote, hoping she got a slow minute to look at the text before Lindsey started on the reunion again.
Burgess, having gone to the kitchen to grab a quick coffee while the phones were slow, checked her phone and responded.
Okayyyyy. Shoot. She said, curious as to his ask.
Text bubbles popped up and disappeared. Then popped up again…then disappeared.
Okay, this is weird, she thought. What could he want to ask me?
He was having a hard time wording it. He wanted to hang out with Burgess, he enjoyed their morning coffee banter and their coffee & Blackhawks filled text thread. But he didn't know how to word it. He didn't want it to just sound like she was his cover. He wanted her to want to hang out.
Finally, he just typed & hit send before he could second-guess himself.
Do you wanna grab drinks tomorrow night? Ya know, at a spot other than Molly's?
He waited for her response, pocketing his phone as they pulled up to the hotel.
He was sitting on the bench outside the hotel ballroom, staring at his phone with a concentrating face, waiting for her response to come through. Lindsey was pacing in front of him giving him more background on their 'love story'.
"By the way, you're not just my fianceé, you're my fianceé that got in early at Facebook. Like way early. You're worth at least $10 mil." She says, continuing to pace.
As she is pacing, a response from Burgess comes through.
Um, yeah. Sure. Sounds good.
He smiles as he reads it, and interrupts Erin's rant.
"Yeah, about that…I can't go." He said, still looking at his phone, typing out a response to Burgess.
Cool. We'll discuss details later. He hits send and puts his phone in his pocket.
"Why not?" Erin says in a panicked voice.
"I just have plans with a friend, okay. Sorry." Jay says, shrugging and standing up.
Erin goes to respond, but the ballroom doors open and the conference goers start flooding out.
Given their intel, Burgess took what she had learned so far, and followed a lead on their second perp. She worked as fast as she could, not wanting to let down Dawson or worse, Voight.
She got the information she needed, worked with Jin to nail down details, and ran up the stairs to Voight's office, knocking lightly on the door.
"Where you been?" Dawson asks in an angry voice, turning to look at Burgess.
"Well, I called all the pharmacies within a 2-mile radius of the attempted rape. Asking if any male with blonde hair and brown eyes came in with an apparent eye injury. The Walgreens over on Superior said someone matched that description, bought gauze, peroxide, sunglasses. They need to see a badge, that's why I had to go down there." She said, explaining herself and fiddling with the file in her hand.
Voight, looking at a shocked Antonio, calls her further into the office and motions for the file. "What do you got?"
"He used a credit card," she says, handing them the file. "Neil Vance. Jin pulled his credit card history. He's been staying at the Hotel Fauntleroy the last 6 days. He also has hotel charges in New York as the same time of the rape-murders that happened there."
With a wink from Dawson and praise from Voight, Kim turns to leave the office, and sees Jay sitting at his desk.
"Like I said, best in the city," Jay tells her, having heard the info she found in the office.
"Come on. Had you guys been here, one of you would've thought of it too." She responds, blushing and looking down at her belt.
"Maybe," Jay shrugs, "but it would've taken one of us a few minutes to get there."
"But still, you would've gotten there. I didn't do anything special." Kim answers, with a shrug of her own.
"You cannot take a compliment, can you?" he says, a bemused look on his face.
"It's not that," she says. "Just keeping it real."
"Sure," Jay laughs. "Well, because of your work, first round is on me tonight."
Kim opens her mouth to respond, but is cut off by Erin.
"Jay, come one. We're rolling out to Vance's hotel."
Jay looks back to Kim with an apologetic look and follows her out to the motor pool.
"Mackinac Island." Lindsay says, nodding her head.
"What?" Jay says, being pulled out of his thoughts.
"That's where we met. I was at a leadership conference and you were picking out property for a summer retreat." She says, adding detail but keeping her eyes focused on the hotel entrance.
"Oh my god, I told you I can't go," Jay says, scoffing and rolling his eyes.
"Shut up, you can go. You just don't want to. But as my partner, you're going to do it anyway." Erin says, getting frustrated.
"No, I'm really not. I told you, I have plans." he says, in an equally frustrated tone.
"Plans with your 'friend'. Yeah right. What, hot meeting with hooker?" Erin says, pushing back with a sarcastic tone.
"I have a date! Okay?" Jay nearly shouts, mad at Erin for pushing so hard and just wanting her to stop talking. "One I really don't want to break. So sorry. Maybe ask Severide to play along in your evil scheme."
Erin, taken aback by his tone, keeps silent and stares out the window, letting the conversation sink in.
After a tense standoff resulting in Vance's death, the team walked back into the District and up to the bullpen.
As he walked to his desk, Jay grabbed Kim and pulled her off to the side.
"So tonight," he starts, "any preference?"
He had been giving it some thought all day, but wanted to check with her before confirming the plan.
"Ummm, no. Why?" Burgess asks.
"I have a place in mind," he says nodding, "that I think you'll appreciate, but I wanted to check with you first."
"Sounds good," she says, trusting his judgment. "What time?"
Jay looked at his watch and did the math quickly in his head.
"Paperwork can wait until tomorrow, so I'm off after we recap. Say 9:00? We can meet down the street, on the corner?" He suggests, not wanting to run into Lindsey and have to face her endless questions.
"Yeah," Kim nods, accepting the plan. "I'm off at 8:00, so that's perfect."
It gives her enough time to change out and look fairly presentable.
"Cool," he says, nodding back with a smile.
She responds with her own "cool", and the two part to finish out their days.
Come 9:00pm, Kim had changed out, switched her duffle for her clutch, stashed her duffle in her locker, and was approaching the corner where she was meeting Jay.
She was dressed nice, but casually. Dark wash jeans, olive green booties, a flowy but fitting white blouse, and her maroon jacket. Perfect for a dive bar, or a more upscale Chicago spot.
Jay's back was to her, as he was waiting and taking in his surroundings.
"Hey," she calls out, walking up to meet him. As she does she takes in his outfit. Like her, he was wearing dark wash jeans, but complimented them with a black Henley, a leather jacket, and his black combat-ish boots.
"Hey," he calls back with a smile, and tucks his hands in his pockets. "Ready?"
"Yeah," she says, throwing him a smile in return. "Let's go."
They kept the conversation light as they hoped on the El and headed towards their destination. Kim kept asking where they were going, but Jay played it off, wanting to keep it a surprise.
Kim could tell they were headed to Uptown, but for the life of her could not figure out exactly where Jay was taking her.
Arriving at their destination, they were greeted by a long line and a bright neon sign.
"Give me a minute," Jay says to her, stopping just before the door (and the line), and walking up to the bouncer. After a quick conversation, he walks back to Kim.
"Come on," he says, grabbing her hand and leading her through the door.
Entering the bar, Kim looks around, in awe of the decor.
"Okay, where are we?" she asks. He still has a hold of her hand and is leading her to the bar.
"This is the Green Mill Cocktail Lounge. One of the most famous bars in Chicago," he tells her, sliding up to the bar and claiming 2 stools.
"Oh really?" she asks, in a teasing tone. "What makes it so famous?'
Jay looks at her in disbelief.
"Come on. You don't know?"
"Can't say I do," she answers, shaking her head.
"This was Capone's favorite bar," he said, waving one of his hands around. "Rumor is he ran a speakeasy across the street, but would hang out at this place, because it was above ground."
"Really?!" Kim exclaims, looking around with wide eyes.
"Yep," he said, continuing to give her the background of the place. "That booth at the end of the bar? That was his spot. Let him see whoever came in. Him and 'Machine Gun' McGurn would hang out here all the time. That's why their pictures are up behind the bar." He gestures to the pictures, enjoying her amazement of the history.
"Stop! This is so cool," Kim says, not even trying to hide her wonder.
"I thought you might like it," he says back with a smile, feeling pleased with himself.
"You know any more about it?" she asks, wanting to know all she could. She was a bit of a history nerd herself, and this was feeding her soul.
"I know everything about it," he says, flagging down the bartender. "What do you want?"
"Beer is fine," she shrugs.
"Any preference?'
"Surprise me."
Jay turns to the bartender and orders two Schlitz.
"So," Kim begins, bumping his shoulder, "Spill."
"Okay," he laughs, "um…in the 60s it became a Chicago hang-out for Sinatra."
"Shut up! For real?" she asks, not believing him.
"Yeah. Kind of started going downhill after that. Uptown wasn't the best neighborhood in the 70s & 80s. But then this guy bought it in '86 and brought in the jazz club vibe." He explains, pointing to the small stage where the jazz band was playing.
The bartender places their beers in front of them and both take a drink.
Kim looks around after she puts her beer back on the bar. "Wow, this is…pretty good," she nods. "And not something I would expect from you."
"Ouch," he says, feigning hurt. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing," Kim says with a chuckle. "You just don't strike me as the history buff type." She smiles, placing her hand on his forearm.
Jay smiles and nods, looking down at her hand. "Yeah…guess I kind of outed myself, huh?"
"Well, your secret is safe with me. Now tell me more." She says, squeezing his forearm and pulling her hand back. She was sure he noticed by now that history was a shared passion.
"Okay," he says with a laugh, "Well, they host a poetry slam every Sunday."
"Oh my god, we have to come," she says, giggling as she takes another pull from her beer.
"Sure," he says, doing the same. "Sounds like a plan."
The night continued with banter, laughter, and another couple of beers. The pair talked about anything and everything, wanting to distract from the emotion of the case.
Kim came clean about being as much of a history buff as he was. Once it was out in the open, they compared spots they had found during their days off when they each would explore the city. They started coming up with plans to split their days off and visit each other's places, while looking for cool, new places together.
As the night went on, they found themselves leaning closer to one another while they talked, and subconsciously touching the other's forearm or hand. At multiple points, Jay had wanted to put his hand on her knee, but felt that it would be too intimate, given it was their first time hanging out by themselves.
They were walking back to Kim's place, close enough that their shoulders brushed, but not completely touching.
"You know, you didn't have to walk me home. I am the best in the city. I can handle myself," she says in a joking manner.
Jay lets out a little chuckle, "Oh, I have no doubt. I saw how you handled that drug dealer on the heroine case. But still, my mother raised me right."
"This is me," she says, gesturing to the building just ahead.
They approached her building and Jay walked with her up the front steps and to the foyer doors. They paused outside the doors, turning towards each other.
"So, I had a good time tonight." Jay says, feeling awkward and putting his hands in his pockets.
"Yeah, me too," she agrees, fiddling with her clutch. "It was fun. And definitely needed."
"Completely," he nods. "We should do it again some time." He adds tentatively, hoping he was reading the situation right.
Kim looks down at her hands, blushing. "Yeah. Yeah, I'd like that."
"Good," Jay breathes out with a smile.
"Hey, can I ask you a question?" Kim says, a thought from earlier in the day coming back to her.
"Sure," he shrugs.
Kim takes a deep breath, "...why did you want to go out for drinks tonight?" She asks in a soft voice.
"Honest answer?" he asks back in a neutral tone.
"No, lie to me," she replies sarcastically.
"Point taken," he chuckled. "Lindsey told me this morning that I was going to her high school reunion with her to act as her fianceė. Voight is already on my ass, thinking I'm sleeping with her, so I didn't want to give him even more reason not to like me. Plus…I really didn't want to go."
"Oh…" she says, disappointed.
"But that's not the only reason," he quickly adds.
"It's not?" she asks, her tone a little more hopeful.
"No," he shakes his head. "I wanted to hang out with you. We have fun when we text, I wanted to have fun in person. I think we're building a friendship, but you can only learn so much inside the walls of the district and through the noise at Molly's."
"Oh, well cool," she says, accepting his answer. "And yeah, you're right. Had we done to Molly's we wouldn't have been able to talk." She finishes with a laugh.
"No shot," he laughs back. "Well, I'll let you head up. Are you on shift tomorrow?"
"Yeah," she nods, "mornings for the next few weeks."
"Good to know," he nods slowly.
"Okay," she says, confused. "Well hey, text me when you get home?" she asks him, throwing a light punch to his arm.
"Sure thing, Kim. I'll see you tomorrow?" He asks, intercepting her hand and giving it a squeeze.
"I'll see you tomorrow. Goodnight Jay." she answers, squeezing back.
"Goodnight Kim." He drops her hand, watching as she opens the foyer door.
Once she's safely inside, he turns and begins his journey home. As he catches the El and makes his way back to his place, he thinks about the night they had, a smile gracing his face.
About 20 minutes later, Kim is crawling into bed, replaying some of their conversations in her head, smiling softly, when her phone buzzes on her nightstand.
Home safe & sounds, door locked. Lol. Jay messaged her. Included below the text is a selfie with his deadbolted door in view behind him.
Hahahaha. Glad you survived the trip back. See you tomorrow. She responds, giggling at the picture
See you tomorrow. He responds.
In their separate bedrooms, both cops lay their phones down and settle in to sleep, smiles ever present on their faces.