Hidden (In Plain Sight)
Takes place during the shit show of season 6 IYKYK ;)
Chapter 1: Not a typical Wednesday after all
Kim couldn't remember the last time she took a sick day. She was pretty lucky when it came to her health that way. She had taken 2 Advil this morning when her nagging headache refused to disappear. She hopped in the shower, hoping it would shock her awake enough for her to make it through the shift. She didn't want to draw any attention to herself, not when they had so many things to focus on as a unit, she didn't want to become another distraction.
For example, her partner Antonio was going through a stressful divorce with Laura. She knew it killed him that his kids, Ava and Diego, were suffering because of this, but she insisted that they would be fine once they got used to a new schedule, a different life. She explained patiently that she had grown up with parents who "stayed" together for the kids and she could attest that it was not the best idea. She had become the peacekeeper in her family by default, which was probably why she was an excellent police officer. She also had learned not to need too much, becoming self-sufficient and independent almost to a fault.
While she was worrying about Antonio, Kevin was worrying about Adam, and Jay was worried about Voight because of Brennan and Kelton. To say the unit had their hands full was an understatement.
It was another gray Chicago winter day, with temperatures right at freezing, with the winds making it feel much colder. She shivered as she slipped on her coat, hat, gloves, and scarf and reluctantly closed the door to her warm apartment behind her.
She drove the twenty minutes to work in silence hoping it would help the pain in her head before their shift started. She was still shivering as she struggled to open the main doors to the 21st district, relieved to feel the warmth hitting her face. She wanted to keep warm, so she didn't immediately remove any of her winter apparel.
"Hey Casper!" called Sergeant Trudy Platt's familiar voice as the dark haired officer walked into the 21st district. Kim wasn't sure Platt was talking to her but stopped anyway just in case. Besides, how could she even see her skin under her hat and scarf? But Platt was no dummy, and she was a Sergeant.
"Yeah, Serge?" She asked, confused. 'Did she really look that bad?' she worried, running a hand through her hair in a vain attempt to tame it.
"You know you haven't used a sick in two years right?" The older woman reminded her in concern. Kim was not surprised that Trudy knew that, she knew everything it seemed.
"Yeah," … she replied slowly. 'Had it been that long?' she thought, 'Surely she must have taken a day off sometime.' She shrugged off the random comment but dared not act like she wasn't at least listening to the Sergeant's advice.
"And you know the days off are paid right?" she said gently but not subtly. Kim would have been annoyed if she didn't know that Trudy wasn't asking from a place of true concern.
"Yes, Serge." Kim responded with a small smile at her Sergeant's concern. She had been fighting a cold for a few days, not surprising though during the brutal winter months in Chicago.
"Maybe you should consider using some?" teased her mentor. Not that Trudy Platt actually followed her own advice. Trudy wasn't sure Kim was telling the truth but she knew there was a lot going on upstairs.
"I'll be fine, I promise." Kim answered as she saw Jay waiting for her on the stairs to the bullpen.
The last thing she wanted was for everyone to be talking about her, least of all her health.
"You coming Burgess?" Jay Halstead asked, holding the gate for her, having snuck in behind her while she was chatting with Platt.
"Yes, please." she responded gratefully to Jay before turning back to Trudy briefly. "Thanks Serge." She was grateful for her concern.
The two intelligence members walked upstairs into the empty bullpen save for Voight who was in his office with the door closed.
"Did Platt call you Casper?" Jay questioned her with a teasing grin having overheard the beginning of their conversation. Kim grimaced in embarrassment. "Yeah, apparently she thinks I should take a sick day."
"You do look a little pale Kim." Jay remarked truthfully as he took in her appearance. She didn't look bad, just a little off. She seemed to be hiding behind her hair and wearing an old CPD sweatshirt and an older pair of jeans, it was not her usual put together look but the dress code in the Intelligence unit was pretty casual.
"Well if somebody hadn't dragged me out last night after work…" She complained half-heartedly. Yesterday had been a tense day in the bullpen with no cases, and everyone trapped inside that Jay had practically begged Kim to get drinks after shift.
Kim groaned as she dropped her stuff off at her desk, turning on her computer and taking out her files from the day before. "Maybe some caffeine will help." She thought as she accepted a cup from Kevin. She always loved the smell of coffee before she drank it.
Breathing deeply, her stomach rebelled at the sweet smell that usually excited her. She shook off the uneasy feeling that came with this strange reaction to her favorite drink.
Carefully taking a sip of the hot beverage, the sweet taste didn't soothe her as it usually did nor did it settle into her stomach. Kim suddenly leaned over the garbage can, spitting it out regretfully. She carefully wiped her mouth and pushed the cardboard cup away from her.
"What's wrong, Burg?" Kevin asked, concerned, surprised at her reaction. Neither of them noticed Jay was watching them from his desk as well. "It's from our favorite diner." She smiled at the memories they had at Diane's over the years. Diane was a widow of a Chicago police officer that the pair met long ago while on patrol. It was an inviting and quiet place off the main streets of Chicago and her burgers were amazing.
"Sorry Kev. The milk must have expired or something." She shrugged it off and his offer to make her a Keurig in the break room. "I'm just going to go get a coke from the vending machine." She moved faster when she saw Adam and Hailey arrive hand in hand. Kevin didn't miss their entrance or the dismay on Kim's face as she went on her errand. He sighed, there seemed to be a lot of drama in the Intelligence Unit recently.
There was. of course the unexpected news of Hailey and Adam's relationship that had shocked everybody. In addition, Antonios's drawn out divorce and Voight's scuffle with Superintendent Brennan and mayoral candidate Kelton. The other three, Jay, Kim, and Kevin tried to keep out of the spotlight, focused on their jobs.
Before the rest of the unit settled in,with Antonio sneaking in just as a call came in over the radio and they were heading out to a robbery in progress with Voight on the walkie signaling that they were on the case.
"Where's Kim?" questioned Detective Antonio Dawson as he surveyed the bullpen for his partner.
"She went to the vending machine for a drink." Kevin Atwater replied as he slipped on his vest and jacket and followed Adam out the door, just behind Jay and Hailey. Antonio nodded, grabbed Kim's coat and weapon and went to get his partner. Not expecting at all the sight he was about to walk into.
He took the stairs quickly, surprised at how quiet it was. "Kim?" He called down, curious as to why she was not on her way back upstairs already.
And then he saw her. Lying face down, motionless, two steps away from the machine was his partner of the past two years. Panic rose within him, Kim was a young, healthy, athletic woman and it unnerved him as to why she was not moving.
Going off instinct, he gently moved her onto her back, pushed her hair away from her neck and placed two slightly shaking fingers looking for a steady pulse. A few seconds felt like minutes, but there was a thready staccato beat and she felt feverish. Removing the water bottle from his back pocket, he poured some liquid into his hand and wiped it onto her face hoping to shock her back to consciousness.
"Kim." he called quietly, yet urgently as he shook her to get some response. He cursed the case that left him with no teammates left in the building. Shaking off the fear he grabbed his phone calling 9-1-1.
"9-1-1. What's your emergency?" A patient dispatcher calmly answered the phone. Antonio was unfortunately not that patient.
"I have an officer down at the 21st district police station at 943 W. Maxwell Street." He tried to calmly give the information the dispatcher was requesting.
"What's your name sir?" the dispatcher requested smoothly despite Antonio's irritation. "Detective Antonio Dawson. It's my partner Kim Burgess. She's unconscious." he reported back, his heart beating wildly in his chest. His personal life had been a roller coaster lately, but Kim had been the one steady relationship he could depend on. And now she was lying helpless on the floor and depending on him.
"Is she breathing?" The dispatcher, Sarah, or was it Sasha, he couldn't remember asked. "Yes." he quickly answered, his fingers having never left the side of Kim's neck. His phone was crushed between his head and his shoulder, his knees painfully digging into the concrete of the garage.
Trudy Platt was handing out Patrol assignments when an announcement over her walkie talkie made her stop in shock. An ambulance was being dispatched to the 21st district for an officer down.
Seeing no panic in the lobby before her, her stomach plummeted as she realized it must be for someone up in Intelligence, and there had only been one person who had not looked good this morning. The sergeant quickly shoved off the assignments to a veteran officer and headed upstairs to confirm her worst suspicions.
"Hey! Everybody good up here?" She yelled as she came into the eerily empty bullpen.
"Serge! Down here!" Antonio Dawson's familiar voice boomed from the stairs into the garage.
Trudy quickly made her way to the veteran detective and was stunned to see Kim lying on the floor.
"What happened?" She questioned intently, making her way to them, worried.
"She came down to get a drink and when I came to get her for a case, she was lying on the ground. " He explained before remembering the case. "Shit, Serge, I didn't tell Voight." He exclaimed anxiously, realizing his mistake.
In a rare show of emotion, Trudy squeezed his shoulder and grabbed her radio and proceeded to contact Hank Voight. She walked away from the pair, relief flooding through when the paramedics arrived at the garage door and the cries of Antonio yelling, "Over here." echoing in the basement.
"Hank, it's Trudy. Dawson and Burgess are still here at the district." she began slowly, hoping their absence wouldn't affect the case.
"What? Why?" He practically barked into the radio, thankful that they had already apprehended the thieves and the rest of the team was just inside the bank taking statements.
"Antonio would have called you but, um, it's Kim. He found her unconscious in the basement." She informed her friend of over two decades.
To say he was shocked would be an understatement. He tried to think back to about an hour ago and remember if there was any clue that would have tipped him off that she hadn't been okay.
"Is she ok? What happened?" He began firing off questions that Trudy didn't know. "That's all I know, I'm going to follow them to the hospital." She informed him as she jumped into her car in the precinct parking lot. "I'll call you when I get there." She promised. Now all he had to do was tell the team. But what and how was he going to tell them,he hadn't quite figured that out yet.
Pausing before gathering them, he made a quick phone call to a buddy of his at the 19th district. "Hey Dennis, I need a favor." He began his conversation with the Sergeant of Robbery & Homicide.
"My team took a robbery case at the Wells Fargo off of S. Springfield Ave. It should be an open shut case, but one of my team members went to the hospital before we got here… " He explained and was relieved when Dennis agreed to take the case over.
"Med is closed because of a bus accident. We're being rerouted to Lakeview. Is that ok?" Patrick, the paramedic driving, asked him through the small window between the cab and the truck of the ambulance. Antonio just nodded his consent. He didn't care where they went, as long as they could find out what was wrong. And why Kim still hadn't woken up.