After Hank and Kalinda had returned to her car, the question of what to do next had arisen. Neither of them had eaten dinner yet. Heading to where Kalinda was living wasn't an option, so two the two possible choices had been either to try going to a restaurant without a reservation or to head to Hank's place.
Given the poor first impression Erin had made, Hank had felt reluctant to ask Kalinda to eat with her at his place. As it turned out, she had solved that problem for him.
"It would be nice to properly meet Erin," was what she had said, signalling that there were no deeply-held hard feelings.
A text to Erin had confirmed that she hadn't yet eaten, and was up for ordering something in. With that, the plan for the evening had been finalised.
Entering the house, Hank only had positive thoughts in his mind. He knew Erin wouldn't mess up again, especially after their earlier argument over her behaviour. Therefore, he was confident that a pleasant time would be had by all.
"Come in, and let me take your coat," Hank said to Kalinda as she followed him into the house. He was glad to shut the door, keeping most of the warmth safe inside. "Erin! We're here!"
"Two minutes!" came Erin's voice from upstairs. It sounded like she was in the main bathroom.
"Lovely and warm in here," Kalinda said pleasantly. She took off her gloves and stuffed them into one of her coat pockets before she removed that too and handed it to Hank. "I have just had a vivid moment – sitting by a real fire, toasting marshmallows, with a snow storm in full force outside. Not sure where that came from. I cannot remember the last time I sat by a real fire, or had marshmallows, or anything with which to toast them."
Hank couldn't help smiling. "You use words in a way that I could never do." The pronunciation, the accent, the choice of words. He felt like he could sit and listen to her talk about anything or nothing for hours on end and not become remotely bored.
"Well, thank you. This is simply how I talk. Americans finding it attractive is not entirely new to me."
Hank laughed. "I'm sure it isn't. And I'm sure it's done you plenty of favours over the years. Go through to the living room. Can I get you something to drink?"
"That it has. I'm happy to come into the kitchen with you. Since I'll need to drive home later, I won't partake in any alcohol."
In the kitchen doorway, Hank turned to face her, smiling broadly. "Now you're doing it on purpose. No one uses the word partake."
Kalinda burst out laughing. "Okay, you got me. I did do that on purpose. It's your fault though, encouraging me."
They moved into the kitchen. "So what would you like to drink? I've got coffee, OJ, apple juice, Coke, there might even be some lemonade. I think Erin bought some kind of fruity tea too."
"Oh, I do like a fruity tea. Do you think Erin would mind if I had one?"
"She wouldn't mind," came Erin's voice from the bottom of the stairs, heading towards them. Her tone was pleasant, and she walked into the kitchen with a smile on her face, keen to make amends. "Hi, Kalinda. Sorry about the interrogation routine the other night. It's a hard habit to get out of."
"I totally understand. No apology expected or required, but it is accepted. Honestly, I'd be lying if I said I'd have acted any differently if I had been the one in your position. In the interest of starting afresh, it's nice to meet you."
"It's nice to meet you too. I have to say, your accent is delightful."
Both Hank and Kalinda laughed.
"What did I say?" Erin wanted to know, looking at each of them in turn.
"Oh, nothing," Kalinda assured her. "Hank just commented on how an English accent is somewhat advantageous in the presence of Americans."
Now Hank couldn't tell if she was doing it on purpose or not, but either way Erin had chosen the right word. Listening to Kalinda was indeed delightful.
"Right, fruity teas," Erin said, walking over to a cupboard. "I know raspberry and pomegranate was one I bought. Ah, here they are. Peach and passion fruit is the other."
"Passion fruit sounds good to me," Kalinda said. Hank noted that her eyes went to him for a half second when she said passion. He busied himself finding a cup. If Erin saw the smile on his face, he wasn't sure she would understand what was happening to him.
"I don't mind what we order in as long as it's not pizza," Erin was saying. "Had a massive one a couple of days ago, so I couldn't even look at one now."
"How about Indian food?" Hank suggested. Given that Kalinda had Indian parents, it seemed like a good idea.
"No," Kalinda said, smiling. "If, or when, we're going to eat Indian food together, I'm going to make it. For tonight, how about Chinese?"
"Chinese sounds good," Erin said.
"It does. And I'll look forward to trying your homemade curry," Hank added.
"Once I've moved into the apartment, I'll invite you both over," Kalinda promised.
Nearly three hours later, Hank and Kalinda were at the front door. It was time, unfortunately, to say goodnight.
"Thank you for a wonderful evening, Hank. I thoroughly enjoyed your company and the food, and I greatly appreciate you viewing the apartment with me."
"You're very welcome," he assured her. "Thank you for coming over here. Erin and I both enjoyed it. Especially me. Send me a text when you get home."
"I will. And I'll see you in the morning. Goodnight."
"Goodnight." Hank went in for a kiss, a full one on the lips. Kalinda then insisted on a second one. When it was over, Hank found it hard to see her head for her car. Not just hard, physically painful. Soon, he consoled himself, she would have her apartment and they could spend nights there undisturbed. The lack of privacy was the one downside of having Erin living with him.
Hank stood in the doorway until Kalinda drove off, giving him a little wave on her way past the house. He knew he hardly needed to worry about a seasoned detective getting home safely, but it felt different when it was someone he was possibly in the early stages of a relationship with.
He waited until her car was out of sight before closing the door. Any concerns he might have had about Erin and Kalinda getting along had now been dispelled because conversation had flowed quite smoothly between all three of them. In fact he got the impression that Erin actually quite liked Kalinda, and that the feeling was mutual.
"That was a nice time," Erin called through from the living room, having heard the door close.
Hank went back in there and re-took his seat on one of the couches. "Yeah, it was. I'm glad you and Kalinda got along."
"She seems nice. More importantly, it's obvious that she makes you happy. I've hardly ever seen you smiling and laughing like you did tonight. It was nice to see. Haven't seen you like that since..." She stopped abruptly, realising what she had been about to say.
"Camille," he finished for her. Her loss still hurt him greatly, and the pain came now at the mention of her name. It always would. The love was still there, and so was the grief. That was because he had never grieved properly. He didn't know how. There was some guilt in the back of his mind too, wondering if being with Kalinda was somehow offending Camille's memory. But no, he didn't need Erin to tell him that wasn't true. If anything, Camille would be pleased that his years of loneliness and sadness might be coming to an end. "I never thought I'd be with someone else, Erin."
"I can't say I know how you feel," Erin said sympathetically. She got up and swapped couches to sit beside him. "Camille would be happy for you if it works out for you and Kalinda. There's no doubt in my mind about that."
Hank sighed, trying to fight off the sadness. "I know she would. That's what I was just telling myself."
"Try not to be sad. Be happy. Something good is happening."
She was right, Hank knew. His personal life was definitely on the up. Professionally however, Intelligence continued to struggle with staffing issues. Why his brain wanted to turn to that thought right now, he didn't know. But it was true, there had been a high turnover of staff in his unit in recent years. And now, no sooner had he replaced Jay with Kalinda, Hailey had put her papers in. Shaking it off, he told himself that was a problem that could wait until morning.
The Intelligence bullpen, with the whole team assembled to be addressed by Hank ahead of the start of the shift.
"For those of you who may not know yet, Hailey has decided to move on from Intelligence," he announced. Everyone looked regretful, including Hailey. No one looked surprised. Whether that was because they already knew her papers had gone in or because they had seen that she had checked out a while ago was open to interpretation. "I'm sure you'll all join me in thanking her for her hard work over the years, and in wishing her the best for the future."
"We're sad to see you go," Kim Burgess said, to nods of agreement.
"Hailey has agreed to work a week to help with clearing her desk before moving on. In the meantime, I'll begin the search for a new detective to join the team. Any questions before we move on to the rest of the briefing?"
There were none. That day's briefing was a short one, and Hank was back at his desk with a fresh cup of coffee less than ten minutes later. He still had the files of potential recruits that he had worked through when he had ended up selecting Kalinda. He spent over an hour looking through them one by one, mentally comparing the people in question to Hailey, and to the rest of the team.
There was one person he was actively trying not to compare them to, although he found himself doing it anyway. He was trying to avoid comparing the candidates to Erin because he was still annoyed by the way she and Jay had helped to engineer Hailey out of the unit. For that reason, on a personal level, he didn't want to reward her with the job. But he had to look at the recruitment process on a professional level not a personal one. He was well aware that he wouldn't be the only one concerned about Intelligence's staff turnover rate. The higher ups would be noticing too. Frankly, he expected a dressing down from Sam Miller, his superior, over it sooner rather than later.
Still somewhat reluctantly, he opened his mind to the possibility of recruiting Erin to replace Hailey. He had to admit that from a professional standpoint she was an excellent candidate. An experienced detective and FBI agent, she had all of the skills required to work Intelligence. That was self-evident because she had already done it for many years in the past. In addition, she knew and had worked with most members of the current team. She was also immediately available, lived locally, and wanted the position.
"Alright, Erin, you got me," he admitted under his breath. Not choosing her would only be down to personal grievance, and therefore unprofessional. As a unit commander, he had to be better than that. Now it was a question of how to inform her of the decision without losing face.
Then there was the question of Jay. Another top quality former Intelligence member who might possibly want back in at some point, whenever he decided to return to Chicago. His loss had been a big one for the team. Getting him back would therefore be a big addition. That only stood to reason. But once Erin took Hailey's spot on the team there wouldn't be one for Jay to take. Unless Hank sent Dante Torres back to uniform, he supposed. That was something he would have to give serious consideration to before making a decision. And that was assuming Jay did in fact want his job back when he returned.
One thing was now decided. He was going to offer Erin the upcoming vacancy, although he would wait a few days as part of his face-saving exercise. He moved the personnel files back to the end of his desk, having chosen to recruit someone whose file wasn't even among them. When it came down it, the phrase better the devil you know seemed somewhat appropriate.
A/N: All readers who celebrate Christmas may consider this chapter my gift to you.
Erin was able to mend fences with Kalinda, and it also looks like she's about to get her job in Intelligence back. Do you support that decision? And would you want Jay back on the team at the expense of Dante?