Words: disappointment, princess, salt

Kim knew she was clearly overdressed when she entered Mollys that evening. Her short red dress was clearly not suitable for an evening at Mollys. Oh, and she had actually been on a date. Again. However, the guy, the whole date had turned out to be a big disappointment. Again.

And afterwards she hadn't wanted to sit at home alone, she wanted to think about something else. Ice cream and red wine and a few romantic movies wouldn't have been the right thing right now. There was no way Kim wanted to see Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds being happy on the big screen or Richard Gere turning out to be Julia Roberts' prince charming and picking her up in a white limousine. Kim only wanted one thing. She wanted to get drunk and just forget about it. Forget the guy. Forget the awful date. And she wanted to forget that there was a man who made her heart beat faster but didn't return her feelings.

Which was why she was here now. At Molly's. In her far too short red dress.

Kim could literally feel the men's eyes on her as she made her way to the bar.

"Wow, Burgess, you look hot. Nice dress," Kelly Severide said as the young woman approached him.

"Thanks. Well at least one man sees it."

Kelly looked at her questioningly. He waited for Kim to continue.

"I just had a date. A blind date. And the only thing the guy did the whole time was talk about his mother. I mean, what kind of man does that? And the guy from the date before, he talked about his pigeons. God, are there no decent men left in this town? Men who aren't taken and who aren't idiots? Men who are really interested in me. Men who are, ah, just nice men you can go out with. Are they sort of gone or what happened to them?" Kim looked at him questioningly.

But she wasn't expecting an answer. Kim already had an answer to her question. There was a man who wasn't an idiot. And he wasn't actually taken. Nevertheless, Kim knew that his heart was not free. It was still bound to a dead woman. Still devoted to Camille. Kim would never get a place in his heart. So she kept looking for a man.

"Here," Kim heard Stella Kidd's voice behind her, and when she turned around, there was a glass in front of her. And a salt shaker. And a slice of lemon.

"Tequila?"

"You look like you could use it."

"Thanks."

The tequila was just what she needed. And so was the second one, which Kim drank immediately afterwards. It was exactly what she needed. After that disastrous date. Alcohol to shut up her thoughts.

With a bottle of beer in her hand, she leaned back against the bar and looked around the room. At a table in the corner, she spotted her team - well, at least part of her team, Kevin, Adam and Hailey. But somehow Kim didn't fancy the company of the three of them. She didn't want to talk about the date right now. She didn't want to admit out loud that her love life was a disaster. Why couldn't her Prince Charming finally turn up and sweep her off her feet and carry her off to his castle? Because life wasn't a fairy tale and she wasn't a princess. There was no happily ever after for Kim's Burgess. Especially not with him. Unfortunately not.

Kim sighed and then let her gaze wander.

At the far end of the room, Alvin Olinsky and Hank Voight were standing at the bar. Both had a bottle of beer in front of them. Al looked straight up and saw Kim. He raised his beer bottle in greeting and toasted her. Kim hesitated only briefly. Maybe it was because of the red wine she had drunk earlier in the restaurant and the two tequilas, but Kim put her bottle of beer, which was almost empty, down next to her and walked over to the two men.

Later Kim would say that it had clearly been liqour courage that had made her act this way. Whatever made her go to Al and Hank now. It was just that she wanted to be close to Hank.

"Al, Sarge," she greeted them both but her eyes were on Hank only.

"Evening, Burgess," said Al.

Hank just looked at her. He didn't say a word to her. But Kim could clearly feel him scrutinizing her. She saw the slight smile that appeared on his lips. Obviously he liked what he saw. Oh, and Kim liked the fact that Hank liked it. The fact that he liked seeing her in the red dress. Perhaps she should have put on the red dress much earlier? Well, it definitely caught her sergeant's attention.

And if only she had guessed in that second what else it attracted - oh, Kim felt wonderful. Desired. Something she had wanted for a long time. Only she had never dared to hope that this moment would come. That he would look at her the way he usually did in her dreams only.

And at that moment, Kim wished that they weren't here at Molly's, but at her home. She imagined that Hank and she were sitting on her sofa, each holding a glass of red wine. She imagined Hank putting his glass on the table and taking hers from her. And then he would slide up close to her, put his hand on her cheek and kiss her. He would kiss her like the couples in romance movies. It would be a kiss like the one between Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. A kiss that made her heart beat faster, made her knees weak - that drove her crazy.

"Burgess, hey Kim," Al's voice came through to her, chasing away the pleasant thoughts. Unfortunately. After all, Kim would have liked to continue imagining herself making out with her sarge like a teenager.

"Mmmh?"

"Are you ok? You're so flushed," he said.

"I am. . . hot, . . I, well, it's hot in here," Kim answered. Her eyes were fixed on Hank the whole time. And for a moment, she had the feeling that he could read her mind. That he knew exactly what she had just been thinking. Like he knew exactly the things she had imagined. The kiss. The touches.

And a smile crept onto Hank's lips as he looked at her. Kim felt her heart beat faster.

Maybe one day her thoughts and dreams would become reality after all. Maybe. Maybe her next date would finally be with the right person. Maybe. Maybe she should just muster up all her courage and ask him. Maybe Hank would say yes.

In any case, she would enjoy the moment now. Being here. Being near Hank. Seeing his smile. And tonight she would once again indulge in her dreams of Hank. Dreams of kissing him. Oh, and doing other things with him.

Hopefully these dreams would become reality one day.