Voight brow furrowed as he looked at the desks in the Bullpen as he arrived at work. Something was off. Three of them were completely clear of clutter, no photos, half-drunk mugs of coffee, files… nothing. He stopped for a moment, opening the top drawer of one of the desks, the pens rattling around the almost empty drawer were a little jarring.

In his own office the first thing he noticed was the three yellow internal mail envelopes sitting in the middle of his own desk.

He picked up the first one and slid the papers out. It took him a moment to realise what it was. The second and third were the same. Picking up the phone on his desk he called downstairs. "Trudy. Do you know anything about this?"

"I do." She responded, knowing exactly what he was talking about. She'd been waiting for this call from the moment she placed them on his desk. "They just need your signature."

"What if I say no?"

"Honestly Hank, think about it. Is that a road you want to plough?" It was all she was going to say. She had been asked to stay out of it as much as possible. It wasn't easy, because she had facilitated the whole thing but her and Hank went way back and that also held some weight. "Be smart."

Hanging up he contemplated who to call first, and he had a fair inkling what this was about. To say he had no regrets would be a lie, he did, but he didn't expect it to come to this. He dialled the first number and it went to message bank, as did the second and third.

Spinning his chair around so his back was to the door he leant back against the head rest and closed his eyes and exhaled slowly. It almost felt like a relief, decisions were made and he had to live with them but he did sometimes wonder if they made the wrong one. Not about Roy's death, that wasn't up for debate, that man didn't need to live. It was the fall out, protecting one person wasn't meant to ruin someone else. Now it was out there and the cards would fall where they may and he was resigned to that.

Perhaps he'd made the wrong choice? Why is it always a fallback position to protect the weak and sacrifice the strong. Let those that you think can handle it carry the burden so that those that can't don't have to? Shouldn't we do both? Yet he failed to do that and it was a decision he suddenly worried he wouldn't be able to carry.

Spinning back around he pulled out the paperwork and signed them, briefly checking over the details. He couldn't argue with the choices made even if he didn't want to lose them. His loss, this Unit's loss was someone else's gain. They were big shoes to fill and he wasn't sure it was possible. Maybe it was time to walk away altogether? This Unit had become toxic and had destroyed too many lives. Changes were needed, even from him. He was tired too.

He watched Torres arrive, he was quiet and respectful and wanted to learn. Fortunately he had strong enough of a conviction to be able to set aside some things, the type of policing he didn't like and learn how to do the things he did. Atwater had been a good mentor for him. Initially it wasn't planned that way but when he came up he realised that Torres needed someone who knew where he came from and knew how family could keep pulling you back. They'd both come up in a community that didn't have a great relationship with Police and Atwater could offer him more than anyone else. But they all started like that didn't they and then this place, these walls and secrets eventually ruined even the best.

Sitting at his desk Torres looked around the quiet bullpen. Something was off but that wasn't unusual, this was just a little different though. The gate swung open and without looking up he knew who it was, two sets of boots hitting each step. That was it though, just the boots.

"Mornin'." He looked up from his desk and nodded at the two detectives as they shrugged out of their jackets and Halstead sat himself down and opened his computer and Upton headed to the break room for a coffee. "Where is everyone? Caught a case?" They were a little late having stopped for breakfast on the way in.

"No idea. Atwater never called to say meet him somewhere." Torres didn't even look up. He'd learned to keep his head down in school and old habits died hard.

When Voight did emerge from his office, once they were all settled at their desks, he stood quietly with his hands in his pockets. "What's up Boss?" Halstead finally asked.

"Couple of announcements. We are making some changes. Burgess, Ruzek and Atwater are no longer in Intelligence."

"What?" Upton stood up quickly. "What do you mean?"

"They have requested transfers and I signed off on them this morning." He looked at his two Detectives. "Effective immediately." He hadn't missed that their names were already wiped off the call sign board. That was a very clear message.

"Why? This doesn't make sense." Upton shook her head and reached for her phone. Voight warned her not to call anyone. The decision was made, Intelligence was down three officers and he was already formulating some very specific ideas about who the replacements should be, if any.

He reached for his own phone when it rang and stepped back into his office leaving the three remaining Intelligence Unit members a little gobsmacked.

"What is that about?" Upton asked her husband. "You were out with both of them not that long ago. Did they say anything about leaving?"

"Not a thing." He reached for his own phone and sent both Ruzek and Atwater a text, despite Voight telling them to leave them alone. He had an idea though but just wasn't ready to share it.

He didn't need to though. It smacked them in the face minutes later when Voight came out and swung the whiteboard around to start the new case and Upton gasped.

The photos were neatly arranged along the top and in the middle a USB was taped to the board. Just photos, no words were needed. It was abundantly clear that they knew it all. Three out of the four people in that room knew what was on the USB. Voight snatched it off and shoved it in his pocket. "Get rid of it." He barked, pointing the rest of the photos on the board. "We have a case."

Upton just sat at her desk and stared. She was frozen. She felt herself spinning and struggling to breathe. "I can't…"

"Detective Upton." Voight barked. "We are not doing this now."

The final few pieces fell into place quite quickly for Adam and Kevin after they spoke with Agent North. If they could've hazard a guess they'd say he gave the okay for it.

Micah Brownlee was his name and he found Adam at a crime scene. "Officer Ruzek." He approached Adam when he was standing next to his jeep looking something up on his laptop. It was another fairly simple case, they knew who they were looking for and just needed to track them down. He'd been tasked with finding out his LKA.

"All day." Adam replied distractedly.

"I think you and I need to catch up for a beer." He handed Adam his card. Taking a quick look he saw he was an FBI Forensic Technician. "Soon."

"Noted." He slipped the card into his pocket and continued working but it was burning a hole in his pocket. Rather than a thin card it felt like a brick. It did play on his mind that they were being set up though, that thought had crossed their minds several times, especially lately. What if those they were investigating were already onto them? If they were, what would they do to protect themselves considering what they'd already done? The longer it went on the riskier it became. For them especially, career wise at least. For Kim it was just looming up at her and right now she was completely unaware. She was the only innocent person in this whole mess.

He didn't even tell Kevin he was meeting Micah, they both had agreed that they less they knew about what someone else was doing the better, plausible deniability. You couldn't confess to things you had no knowledge of.

Once he had met him though he talked to Kevin before he ripped Kim's heart out again.

"Did Agent North send you?" Adam slid into the booth opposite his new friend. He made one call about him and that was it. Confirming he was who he said he was from someone he trusted. The information he got was that he was legit, worked hard, had no clear agendas and barely anyone could point him out at a crime scene because of the nature of his role.

"Who?"

Adam picked up the beer coaster and spun it around, tapping it on the table as they waited for their beers. It would look odd if they didn't order something. "Someone must've told you about me?"

"Does it matter?"

"Depends what I am here for?" He sat back while the waiter delivered their drinks and leant forward again once they were alone. "If I am about to flush my career down the drain just say the word and we will drink these beers.." he lifted his glass. "..talk about a ball game and I will walk out of here none the wiser."

"I'd heard about you guys."

"Good or bad?"

"Shady as fuck. Like that one who turned up…" He ran his hands up and down the cool glass, catching the droplets on his fingers and then shaking them off. "… strange night."

"We do what we have to do." Adam mused. He was quickly piecing this together. "What was strange about it?"

"This guy shows up, sees what we are doing, talks to the Boss and then leaves. Next thing we know the case is closed. We are told to stop looking for evidence and that's it."

"Why you doing this?"

"Thanks for the beer." Micah swallowed the rest of his beer and stood up quickly and shook Adam's hand. "Good to meet you. Good luck."

Sipping on his beer quietly he just let it all settle over him. When they started this journey, this isn't where it was supposed to go. Not that it mattered, they vowed to find out what happened for Kim and that's what he was doing but tearing apart something that was such a big part of all their lives and the reason that they met each other and grew into this family was confronting.

The waiter appeared and grabbed the empty glasses. "Want another?"

"Nah, all good thanks."

He wiped down the table and then pointed to the recently vacated seat. "Your buddy left something."

Adam stood up and picked up the envelope and turned it over in his hands several times. "Thanks, I'll try and catch him."

It wasn't physically heavy but it felt like it weighed a tonne and was obviously left for him.

Sitting in his car he slid one finger under the seal and pulled out the contents. Photos, more photos and a GPS tracker recording. That didn't make much sense but the photos sure did. Agent North was in an intense looking conversation with Jay Halstead and the setting was so familiar to him. He'd seen it before, many times and nothing good ever came of it.

Now he had to tell Kim. Kevin offered to be there with him but he wanted to do it himself. Kim might push him away but he was also the only one she let see her at her worst. When she was at rock bottom Kim would drag herself up in front of even Kevin.

One thing Kevin did remind him of though, that he couldn't lose his shit. They had promised that they would let Kim decide what to do with the information.

So he just had to break her and hope it didn't also break them.