Hey guys!
I'm so sorry it took so long for me to post, I was away for a few days and found it hard to find the time to write and was also a bit low on inspiration.
To be honest, reading your comments really helped! All of them, also the very honest ones ;)
I hope you enjoy this little update and I promise to do my best to keep writing and posting as soon as I can.
Thanks for reading and reviewing, it truly means so much!!
Happy Reading!
Xoxo,
Nina
It turns out Kevin was right and the day was long indeed, and surprisingly a bit better than the previous one. Kim wasn't sure if it was actually better or if her attempt at a change of mindset was what gave her the different perspective; but whatever the reason, it was working for her and she wasn't about to go against that.
The overall objective of finding Aaron Jones and bringing down all of his very dark, twisted and sick businesses had Burgess working all over the place. There were two very positive sides to that; the first one was keeping her mind busy and the second one was giving her a chance of getting to know the two members of the unit she hadn't met before.
She knew a bit more about Upton than she did about Dante.
Erin and the blonde detective had shared some time together before Lindsay left Chicago, and during their early times in D.C. when both of them were still struggling adapting to their new lives, it was a regular occurrence for Burgess and Lindsay to hang out and talk about whatever little information they had about the windy city and their friends, filling each other's blank spaces.
Today, though, it was time for Kim to get to know the other woman in the team a bit better and to get to experience for herself what it was like working side by side with detective Upton.
Voight had partnered them up, he needed both girls checking out a couple of addresses, there were two missing girl reports whose descriptions matched the profile Jones usually goes for and they needed to find out if they were truly connected to their case or if it was just a coincidence, but they were hopeful to get a lead out if this. Torres and Atwater, on the other hand, headed to the club they learned about the previous day. They were going to canvas the whole city if it was necessary, but they were going to bring this shit bag down.
The second location they hit looked a lot like the first one they arrived at. A small studio apartment, judging by the furniture and everything there, the place was inhabited by a college student, just like the previous one.
"Looks like a science major to me. I saw this same title in the other girl's bedroom." Hailey said as she looked through some of the books there, careful not to touch any possible evidence.
"Yup, good student too. Either that or she studied really hard for this midterm." Kim added looking at a test that was left on the missing girl's desk. "Hailey? Isn't this the other girl?" Kim asked, pointing at a picture frame on the desk.
"Seems like it."
"If we can find these two girls were abducted and this is not only some wild girls' getaway road trip, then we might have a real connection to Aaron Jones."
"Yeah, we would also need something that puts Jones in the scene."
"Or any of his men." Burgess said as she kept looking for anything that would give her what she needed.
"We'll find something. I'll go ask for the security camera tape."
"Great."
It was only a few minutes, but they made the best of them. When the blonde detective went back to the scene, Kim's face was telling her that something had happened.
"What?"
"It's him. It's Jones. He's behind this, look." She walked around the room energetically, eager to show what she saw. "This purple plastic wrapper."
"What about it?"
"Lindsay and I found the exact same one next to the third body we found in DC. They used to distribute the pills with this purple wrapping and then it stopped, it was either white or just clear plastic. We thought that it might have been because it was more difficult for us to track, but now I'm not so sure anymore. This is either from an old batch or maybe the color has to do with the origin. I need to call Erin."
"Ok then, let's head back to the district and once there we can check out these tapes." She said shaking a pen drive in her hand.
"Amazing. Great work."
"We make a pretty good pair, don't we?" Haile said smiling.
"We do." They both started walking towards Hailey's truck. "You know, Erin told me this would happen."
"Yeah?"
"Uh huh." The brunette stopped for a second, allowing her to open the door of the passenger side. "She told me how good a detective you were and that she liked working with you, even if it was for a short time."
"I felt the same working with her. I would have liked to share more time together. Also that last case, I wish I could have helped more. I think it hit kind of close to home for her."
Kim could only sigh at the last comment Upton made. Although she hadn't been there, she knew exactly what she was talking about. Erin had been very open as to why she ended up leaving the CPD to work for the feds and Burgess was aware of every detail, but especially how heavy it was for her friend having to deal with that.
"From my experience almost every cop has at least one of those cases throughout their careers. If you haven't, then you should consider yourself lucky." She finished off with a shrug, that was a safe enough reply for the moment. "As for wishing you've done more, I'm sure you did what you thought was best, just like Erin acted out of her own convictions and morals."
Upton shot her head up when she heard those last two words and a shy smile absentmindedly began to show in her face. The way Burgess spoke, the words she used reminded her a whole lot of the conversation she had with Adam before he decided to cover for Antonio. No wonder he was so lost for her, Kim was able to understand Adam in a way Hailey couldn't. In that moment, everything that Ruzek had said to her about his past relationships made sense, these two were meant to be.
"What? Did I say something wrong?" Kim asked, looking at Hailey's face.
"Not at all. Is just that the simplicity of what you just said was very soothing. But don't mind me, I guess I just miss having another girl to talk to on the job." She looked back at the road trying to change the subject a little. "Don't get me wrong, I love the guys, they're great…"
"Yeah, but it's not the same." Kim interrupted.
"Exactly. Too much testosterone." Hailey laughed. "It's nice having another female detective here."
"Thank you. I'm glad you think that. Coming back had me a bit nervous, feeling welcomed is always a plus."
"Tell you what, why don't we go out for drinks tonight? Get to know each other better? It doesn't have to be anything crazy, maybe a beer at Molly's?"
"I'd like that."
"Great, then we have ourselves a plan."
As soon as they got to the district they all got to work. Hailey went thoroughly through the video footage, getting some vague but useful shots, while Kim called DC trying to get more information on those purple wrappers and the last body that was found with it.
Kevin and Dante added a couple more details they could get from the nightclub, it still wasn't a direct connection but they had reasons to believe that it could be linked to this as well so they were going to keep an eye on it.
At the end of the day, the board was full with pictures and data that was slowly completing the puzzle to this case.
Kim and Hailey had briefed everyone on what they found and how this connection to the case was giving them something more tangible to work with.
"So now we assume that what we thought was a different batch, was actually the origin of the goods. Erin sent me the files on the body we found when we first started investigating this case and she had been here, in Chicago, just a couple of weeks after we found her. So we're guessing she was some kind of dealer and maybe the deal went wrong."
"Ok, I'll check that out, maybe we can find some old names that will throw some light into who might be the head of this op here." Ruzek said as he looked carefully at the board in front of him trying his best no to stare at Kim like a complete doofus. The truth, though, was that he loved seeing her like that. So confident and in her element, sharing her knowledge and showing everyone what she was made of, but at the same time she was so humble and team oriented.
It would be a lie to say that he didn't know he had missed her, of course he had, he was well aware of that. He just didn't know how much and now he was coming face to face with that realization.
The hours went by and everyone in the bullpen was deep into their research, and by Voight's orders one by one started to leave.
"I'm gonna head out, I'll text you as soon as I get home so we can go for those drinks?" Hailey, being one of the last people there, asked Kim before leaving.
"Yeah, sure. I'll finish this and I'm going home too." The brunette cocked her head pointing to the computer screen as she replied.
"Great. See you in a little while."
"See you."
"Night, Ruzek." The blonde greeted her friend before jogging down the staircase.
"Night." He answered vaguely, not sure if she had heard him or not. He didn't care all that much either, his thoughts were fixed in the fact that he was alone with Kim again and the nerves were taking control of his body pretty quickly. "So, girls night out?"
"Something like that." She said, smiling shyly.
"She's cool. You'll like her."
"Yeah, she seems nice. And to be honest, having a friendly face around here wouldn't hurt."
Adam sighed and looked down, taking his hands away from the keyboard. "Um, about that. I'm sorry about last night, maybe I came across kind of hostile and that wasn't at all my intention."
"Oh, no. Not at all, everything you said yesterday was right and that's not what I meant when I said the friendly face thing."
"I know, but still, I could have been nicer and I wasn't. So, I'm sorry."
"Apology accepted, but you seriously didn't have to, I didn't take it like that."
"Can we start over?"
His words took her by surprise, she never saw this coming, but she was glad it was happening.
"I would like that very much."
"Ok." He stood up and walked a couple of steps towards her desk, leaning on the edge of it and looking deep into her eyes and Kim felt like she was about to choke. "I'm not gonna lie, it is a bit weird and it was a bit of a shock seeing you here out of the blue." He lied, he saw her in every daydream but he wasn't going to confess that, at least not right now. "But I am glad to see you, to know that you're good and that you're killing it. When you were briefing us today, it was just so obvious that you were always meant to be up here. I always thought that and I am genuinely happy you made it."
"Thank you. You have no idea how much it means to hear that."
From him, how much it meant for her to hear those words come out of his mouth.
She extended her hand out hoping to get a shake out of it. "So, we're good?"
He nodded. "We are."
Adam took her hand and pulled her up from her chair, giving her an honest hug. "We are."
