"Come on babe, just one more time."
Hank pushed to his feet with a roll of his eyes and a light grunt of exertion, dutifully traipsing back up the stairs towards Alexis' nursery for the third time in the space of thirty minutes. When he reached the landing, he inched the door open as quietly as he could until there was just enough space for him to slip into the room, padding across the plush carpet until he came to a stop at the edge of the smooth wooden crib so that he could hover his cell phone over their sleeping daughter.
"See, she's fine." He whispered, the corner of his mouth tugging into an adoring smile when Alexis shifted in her sleep, exhaling the most angelic sigh before once again falling still, her chocolate curls strewn across the white linen.
"I was worried about her ears yesterday, she kept tugging at the left one and-"
"Jesus Kate, take a breath." He muttered, jabbing a finger at the volume button on his phone as he hurried towards the door, breathing a sigh of relief when he made it to the hallway without disturbing the baby. "Of course she misses you when you're not here so getting her off to sleep took a little longer but, as you can see, she's out for the count."
Closing the door behind him with a soft click, he switched cameras so that it was is own face filling the little rectangle at the bottom of the screen and, instead of heading back downstairs to finish the half-empty glass of bourbon, he wandered down the hall to their empty bedroom. He loitered in the doorway for a moment, his eyes lingering on the bed she had made earlier that morning and the lead weight that had settled in his stomach ever since he'd left her at terminal became infinitesimally heavier.
"How's New York?" He asked after pregnant pause, meandering towards the light grey armchair in the far corner of the room, propping his phone up on the arm as he settled into the soft cushions with a sigh.
Stabler had made good on his promise to have Jet Slootmaekers rummage around in the NYPD archives and, much to their surprise, the tech genius had managed to unearth a handful of documents that hadn't been present in either of the New York or Connecticut case files. He still didn't understand why Slootmaekers couldn't just email them across but, according to Kate, the NYPD detective didn't want to take a chance that the reports might fall into the wrong hands. Hank had wanted desperately to go with her but they were elbow-deep in a high-profile homicide case that Chief Miller had landed in his lap two days before she was due to fly so instead he'd helped her pack a small case, kissed her goodbye and tried his best to keep his mind busy.
"Well, it's not Chicago." She replied softly, her eyes drifting to somewhere on the far side of her hotel room, most probably to one of the floor-to-ceiling windows that overlooked the city. "I miss you…although I'm kinda looking forward to having the whole bed to myself."
She was propped up against the headboard of a ridiculously large California Queen bed, the bright white pillowcases a stark contrast to her smooth, tanned skin but, from the angle she was holding her phone, Hank couldn't see much else aside from her face and the collar of his old crewneck CPD t-shirt. She called it her 'comfort shirt', claiming that the soft fabric still held his scent regardless of how many times it went through the wash. Yet as much as he loved the sight of her wearing his clothes, it was the hint of delicate collarbone peeking out from beneath the cotton, still damp from her shower, that really drew his attention.
"Maybe you can take the spare room when you get back then?" He hummed, dropping a hand to palm the front of his jeans when she threw her head back with a huff of amused laughter, the movement causing the worn fabric to slip a little further down her shoulder and expose the soft skin of her décolletage.
"I'm kidding…you know I love your octopus limbs and five hundred degree body heat." She replied with a light chuckle, entirely oblivious to how Hank's eyes had darkened as he lost himself in the memories of how the hot flesh of her throat vibrated beneath his lips with every groan of pleasure he managed to incite from her.
He was pulled from his erotic wander down memory lane when Kate turned the conversation towards the status of their current case and, much to his irritation, he didn't have much to report given that they were not much closer to finding their perp than they had been before she left.
"But Ruzek did get his ass handed to him by a teenage girl today." He added with a smirk. "Kid was probably ninety pounds soaking wet. I thought Atwater was going to give himself a hernia he was laughing so hard."
With very little effort Kate could imagine her partner doubled over in a silent fit of hysterics at Adam's unfortunate, albeit very endearing, habit of letting his guard down when it came to vulnerable females.
"You got dinner plans tonight?" He asked, eyes drifting out of the window to watch a lone car trundle down the street, a rarity for their sleepy little neighbourhood at this time of the evening. The sinking sun had turned the sky a shade of burnt orange, the residual heat from the asphalt creating a soft haze that hung low over the sidewalk yet the gentle breeze that rippled the blinds made for a perfect midsummers evening.
She was partway through telling him about how her brother had somehow managed to secure a last minute reservation at a new, upscale seafood restaurant downtown when she cut herself off mid-sentence, her eyes taking in the backdrop of the familiar soft-weave fabric of her favourite seat in the house.
"Why are you sitting in my chair?"
Despite the fact that the chair was indeed a staple in her apartment before they met, his sentimental attachment to the surprisingly comfortable piece of furniture stemmed from spending many a night cradling their newborn's tiny body against his chest, shushing softly as he watched over an exhausted Kate who had finally crawled between the sheets after spending hours on end pacing the halls in an attempt to soothe their stubborn daughter back to sleep.
"I've already climbed the stairs three times in the last half an hour." He reasoned with a shrug, lifting a brow in silent challenge when she opened her mouth to defend her requests only to swiftly close it again with a quiet click. "Besides, the bed's not as appealing without you in it."
Sometimes when he found himself watching her pad around the kitchen, her hair piled in a messy bun on top of her head and bare feet tiptoeing on the cold tiles, he wondered how he had spent the better part of a decade entirely alone. How had he ever been without her soft humming as she waited for a fresh pot of coffee to brew or the subconscious press of her lips against his chest as she roused from slumber?
She had been gone less than twelve hours and already he was counting down the minutes until she came home. Alvin would have had a fucking field day watching him become such a sentimental, love-sick old fool but, as a husband and a father himself, Hank figured that his best friend would've know exactly how it felt to be wrapped around the little fingers of the women in his life.
"Hank?"
He was drawn from his thoughts by Kate's soft utterance of his name, his eyes refocusing on the screen of his phone just in time to watch the corner of her mouth quirk into a coquettish grin before she tugged her lower lip between her teeth. Her expression was one he recognised and, once again, he found himself cursing the fact that she was seven hundred miles away when he was forced to bite back a groan as he physically throbbed in his jeans.
"Will you do something for me?"
"What's that?" He hummed, feeling the familiar ripple of arousal settle in his groin when her tongue darted out to moisten her lower lip, the plump, dewy flesh flushed a delicate shade of rouge.
"Unbutton your shirt."
He froze for a few long moments, turning her whispered command over in his mind. He could recall the first time she had asked him to strip for her with perfect clarity, the way she had stood in the dark with her own nude form pressed flush against his back, her warm breath tickling the shell of his ear as she wound her arms around him. But this was different. There was no way for her to run her palms along his warm skin after he'd shed his clothing piece by piece, nor was there any way for him to spend the rest of the evening cradled between her luscious thighs like he so desperately wanted.
"Why?" He asked slowly, his voice rough and deep with arousal.
"Because I want to see you." She said simply, reclining back against the pillows when he eventually lifted a hand to his throat to tackle the first tiny pearl button, the fabric of his navy shirt slowly parting down the middle to expose his firm chest to Kate's appreciative gaze.
His torso was bathed in soft strips of gold, the peaks and valleys of lean muscle casting shadows over his skin but it was his dark umber eyes glittering with lust that had Kate drawing her knees together in an effort to ease the delicious ache that had settled between her thighs as he bared his body.
"Your turn." He growled, eager to see more than the sliver of tanned flesh currently on display but she simply graced him with a wry smirk, once again drawing her lower lip between her teeth.
"But I don't have any buttons."
"You're such a tease." He grumbled in response, grinning despite himself when Kate burst into a fit of giggles but, even as a hint of a blush began to stain her cheeks, she locked eyes with him through the lens and uttered two words that almost had him exploding in his jeans like a damn teenager on prom night.
"Touch yourself."
By his own admission, Hank had never been great at following instructions. Even as a rookie, he'd always had a bit of an issue with authority and yet he found himself complying with her sultry command without question, not hesitating to slide a palm along the heated flesh of his lower belly towards the waistband of his jeans.
His pulse was steadily increasing as he held his phone in one hand, the other tackling his belt buckle with such a virginal clumsiness that, had Kate been in the room with him, he'd have died of mortification. As it was, he kept the camera pointed just above his belly button, eventually managing to release the metal prong keeping the two ends of the worn leather together and popping the button to give his stiff length some semblance of relief.
"You know what I'd be doing if I was there right now?" She asked, her eyes scanning the screen greedily as she watched him inch both his boxers and his jeans down just far enough to release himself but still he refused to give her a glimpse of what she really wanted to see. "I'd be on my knees."
A low growl rumbled deep in Hank's chest as he let his head fall back against the chair, his eyes drifting closed when he finally took himself in hand, the delicious friction driving a shiver of pleasure down the length of his spine. The effect she had on him was utterly devastating.
"You gonna tease me?" He muttered, giving himself a few firm strokes until he realised with a note of embarrassment that he was already edging dangerously close to that blissful peak.
"Absolutely." She hummed, feeling her own heart begin to race as she watched the muscles in his chest flex with each stroke. "You know how much I love tracing those thick veins with my tongue."
The noise that left his throat was somewhere between a groan and a whimper, his hips canting forwards in search of more sweet friction and, whilst his own hand could never compare to her touch, with his eyes closed and her melodic voice whispering every filthy thing she wanted to do to him, it was more than enough to have him leaking, aching and hungry for release.
"You getting close already baby?" She cooed, intimately familiar with the way the veins in his neck protruded and his chest flushed red when he was close to climax.
He simply grunted in response, sucking in a deep, albeit slightly ragged breath, tilting his head forwards and opening his eyes to find Kate watching him with a fiery intensity that had both his heart and his cock throbbing in response. In his haze of pleasure, he had let the camera dip slightly so that she now had a full view of every move he was making and, good God, was he a sight to behold.
His sharp jawline was even more prominent thanks to his gritted teeth as he fought against the tides of pleasure crashing over him, his entire upper body was damp with sweat and heaving with exertion and the muscles in his chest were straining with each punishing stroke.
"C'mon Henry, let me see you come."
Her soft request was all he needed to push him careening over the edge with a grunted curse that he desperately hoped wouldn't carry down the hall, his hips jerking fervently as he pumped into his own fist, painting ribbons of release over his chest and stomach.
When he finally fell still, his entire body sagging into the chair as he fought to catch his breath, Kate took a moment to just watch him marinate in post-orgasmic bliss, soaking in every detail and committing it to memory. His face was a picture of relaxation, the fine lines around his eyes and mouth smoothing into non-existence and Kate couldn't stop the adoring smile that tugged at her lips as he gazed down at the sticky mess coating his belly with a huff of amusement before lifting his attention back to the screen of his phone.
"Bet you haven't done that in a while?" She muttered quietly, doing her best to ignore the ache between her own thighs.
"I haven't done that…ever."
"You trying to tell me you've never jacked off?" Kate balked, both of her eyebrows lifting into her hairline in surprise.
He was a man in his fifties who had been single for the best part of a decade. There was no way on earth he had never taken matters into his own hands and, from Hank's casual roll of his eyes, it soon became clear she had misunderstood his quiet admission.
"Well, not since I met you." He replied with a snort, knowing full well he'd never be able to keep up with his wife's demanding sexual appetite if he did. "I haven't done the whole, you know, phone sex thing." He said, using his free hand to gesture towards the lens and Kate found his awkward shyness oddly endearing despite being thrilled that she was still managing to find ways of securing some of his 'firsts'.
"You think that'll tide you over 'til I get home?"
"No." He grumbled petulantly, trembling slightly as a cool breeze drifted through the open window. "I miss you."
"It's just a few more days honey." She reasoned, trying to her best to reassure him even though she wanted nothing more than to be at home in his arms but, as it was, she ended the call with a promise to check in the following morning, throwing on some jeans and a shirt before heading out into the city to meet her brother for dinner.
She spotted Matthew Meadows instantly when she arrived at the restaurant, his lean frame towering over almost every other patron in the bustling venue and the moment she tapped him shoulder she was being hauled against his body, landing against his chest with a quiet 'oomph' as he wrapped his arms around her in a bone-crushing hug.
"It's so good to see you." He muttered into her hair, pressing a gentle kiss to the top of her head in a familiar gesture that had Kate grinning against the soft fabric of his shirt.
"Good to see you too but you'd look terrible in orange so lemme go before you suffocate me." She joked, breathing a sigh of relief when a waiter approached to take them to their table which forced Matt to release her from his embrace.
"Y'know, Mom's been up my ass about going back home for fourth of July weekend again." He said after moment, his eyes scanning the menu as he spoke.
"I've kinda been avoiding her." Kate admitted guilty, lifting a glass of perfectly chilled wine to her lips and taking a large gulp. "She's on my case about bringing Alexis to Connecticut to see Nanna."
The first time June Dornan had met her great-granddaughter had been nothing short of a disaster, the elderly matriarch visibly affronted that the newest member of the family was clearly more Meadows than Dornan. While her behaviour at their wedding last year hadn't been much of an improvement, one glare from a stony-faced Trudy Platt who had been bouncing a giggling Alexis around the dance floor was more than enough to keep any vitriolic comments at bay.
"Which I'm sure you're giving due consideration." Matt replied with a snort, both of his eyebrows disappearing behind tousled chocolate curls that held an uncanny resemblance to his only niece. "How's my favourite Voight?"
"Becoming more and more like her father as each day passes." Kate groused good-naturedly, swiping to a recent picture of Alexis she had taken the previous weekend during an early morning stroll along the beach, the little girl grasping on to her father's fingers as they looked out over the lake.
"And how is my ruggedly handsome brother in law?"
While it was no secret that Kate had caught her brother casting an appreciative eye over her husband on more than one occasion, at least he had the decency to be covert about his ogling which is more than could be said for her brazen mother who would shamelessly flirt with Hank at any given opportunity.
"As handsome and stubborn as ever." Kate commented wryly, her cheeks flushing a deep shade of pink at the memory of her husband's face contorting in pleasure just hours earlier as he jerked into his own white-knuckle grip.
By the time their food arrived, the siblings were deep in discussion about Matthew's latest clinical trial success and Kate's chest felt like it could burst with pride at any given moment as she watched her brother animatedly explain his newfound treatment for an immensely complex neurological condition. She was still marvelling at just how much he reminded her of their dad when Matthew lifted his warm brown eyes from his food to meet hers across the table.
"So, what's the special case that's hauled you out of Chicago and back to the Big Apple?"
She'd been purposefully vague when she'd told her brother she was heading out east for work, not wanting to tell him over the phone that she was preparing to dredge up the past just one more time.
"I've been digging around in Dad's case files again."
"Katie." He half groaned, half sighed as he placed his cutlery down on the table, no longer interested in inhaling the perfectly cooked crab cioppino.
"It's not what you think." She said in a rush, mirroring his movements and placing the silverware down with a quiet clatter. "You remember me talking about Alvin? One of the detectives in my unit."
Matthew's dark brows pinched in concentration, pausing for a beat in an effort to place the name.
"Hank's friend that got killed?"
Kate jerked her chin into a nod, briefly explaining how Meredith had found the file in Alvin's garage and turned up on their doorstep a few days after their honeymoon to hand the documents to a bewildered Kate and an equally confused Hank.
"Matt, there are so many things about this that doesn't make any sense." She pressed, pleading hazel eyes meeting guarded brown. "I only had half the information last time and OCCB think they might have found something…something significant."
Matthew drew in a slow, deep breath, his eyes drifting closed for just a second as he fought to contain the anxiety surging through him at the thought of his little sister diving headfirst back down the rabbit hole he had almost lost her in once before.
"Finding who did it won't bring him back Kate." He murmured quietly after a few long moments of silence had passed between them, his expression sad yet gentle.
"You're right, it won't bring him back." Kate agreed, reaching across the table to give his hand a reassuring squeeze. "But, if there's any justice in this world, whoever put two bullets into our dad's chest will spend the rest of their life rotting in jail where they belong."
The two of them simply gazed at one another, so much passing unsaid between them and yet every concern and subsequent reassurance was heard loud and clear.
"What does Hank say about all of this?" Matt asked after a beat, wondering how his brother in law was taking to his sister reigniting her pursuit of retribution.
"He's concerned, just like you are." She replied with a knowing look. "He knows how important this is to me but he also knows it's not the most important thing to me this time."
Matthew liked to think he knew his sister pretty well and, in his opinion, he probably knew her better than she gave him credit for. But he was also well aware that the woman who left New York almost three years ago was not the same woman who sat before him right now. No longer was she the irritatingly bull-headed and unerringly loyal young woman who held very little regard for her own wellbeing. Now she was an irritatingly bull-headed, unerringly loyal wife and mother who carried herself with a sense of caution that loosened the anxious knot in his stomach just a little.
"I get it, I do…but-"
He was stopped dead by a shrill scream from the other side of the restaurant, the voice laced with a hysterical panic that had Kate out of her seat and halfway towards the bathroom before Matthew even had the chance to toss his napkin on to the table.
A woman in her fifties with ghostly pale skin and terrified blue eyes pointed her in the direction of the ladies bathroom and, with one hand palming the grip of her off-duty SIG, Kate placed her free hand on the door and gradually eased the heavy wood open. From the reaction of the woman who had raised the alarm, Kate was almost certain that a dead body was going to be waiting for her on the other side of the door, blood smearing the walls and the floor like something out of a horror movie but, as she slipped into the bathroom, she realised that what she was actually facing may well be even worse.
Huddled in the corner of the middle stall was a young girl who couldn't have been much older than fifteen or sixteen, her shoulder-length brunette locks tangled around a bruised face streaked with blood and tears. But it wasn't her face that instantly drew Kate's attention, it was the ripped clothing that she was still desperately trying to hold together in an effort to preserve her modesty.
With a quick scan of the bathroom to check that they were indeed alone, Kate slipped her gun into the waistband of her jeans and made sure she had both hands in clear line of sight before slowly approaching the trembling young woman.
"Hey honey, I'm Kate, I'm a police officer."
With each careful step across the bright white tiles, Kate took in a new piece of information. Bruised thighs, broken nails, split lip. Whoever had attacked this girl had really done a number on her. Deciding not to block the girl's only route of escape, Kate paused at the entrance to the stall and eased into a crouch next to the open door.
"Can you tell me your name?" Kate asked softly, hazel orbs locking with skittish, tearful chestnut.
Kate could easily pick out her brother from the soft polyphonic rumble of voices gathering outside of the bathroom, his clear baritone unmistakable as he kept both guests and restaurant staff at bay with a perfunctory explanation that his sister was a Chicago PD detective but Kate's attention was drawn from the commotion outside when the young woman finally responded, her voice barely more than a hoarse whimper.
"He-he raped me."
It wasn't an answer to the question Kate had asked but it answered a question nonetheless, confirming Kate's suspicions that somebody had sexually assaulted a young woman in the middle of a packed, high-end restaurant in downtown New York.
"You're going to be okay. I promise." She said firmly but gently. "We're going to get you to a hospital and I'm going to find who did this to you."
"No, no, no! Please don't leave me!" The young woman squeaked, her face becoming etched in panic when Kate made to push to her feet.
Deciding to remain where she was, she called out for her brother who, after a few seconds, slowly edged into the room, his expression morphing from confusion to sympathy when he set eyes on the young woman still huddled next to the white porcelain toilet.
"This is Matthew, he's my brother and he's a doctor." Kate explained, waiting with bated breath for the girl's reaction to having a strange man in the vicinity but, thankfully, her frenetic trembling didn't worsen with Matt's presence. "Look at me. He is not going to hurt you, alright? You can trust him."
When the young girl finally jerked her chin into a nod, Kate pushed to her feet and beckoned Matt further into the bathroom, gripping him by the elbow with a quiet command to not leave the girl alone.
"You realise you don't have jurisdiction here anymore, right?" He muttered quietly, wide eyes flicking between the petrified teenager and his sister.
Kate hiked a shoulder, her mouth pulling into a terse line as she slipped her cell phone from the back pocket of her jeans, scrolling through her list contacts until she settled on the the name of the somebody who did have jurisdiction in this city and hitting dial.
"Well, it's a good thing I know people who do then isn't it?"