"Hailey?" Platt waved me over as Jay and I walked past the front desk. She looked like she was on a mission to find out information. I wasn't in the mood if this had something to do with my personal life. As I stopped, Jay brushed past me to buzz himself through the gate. "I know you're busy with this case, but I wanted to take a minute and see how you were holding up."

"I'm good, thanks." Although it had been some time ago, it somehow triggered the time Trudy asked me the same thing as I sat near her desk that day my parent's restaurant had been robbed, except this time it was me who had been clocked in the face a few times. "Still got a few nice bruises that are healing, but I know it could have been a lot worse."

"It could have." Trudy agreed quietly as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other behind the desk. I wondered if she was thinking about the same thing I was. There could be no way she could, right? "From what I've heard, you've been trying to catch him for a long time."

"Since I was in Robbery-Homicide." When Voight had offered me a position in Intelligence that night, I had to admit, it took me a while to decide whether I should take it or not. I could tell their team was tight-knit and dealing with a team member who had just left. I didn't imagine taking this job would lead me back to the person who made me want to become a cop."Thanks for checking up on me."

"Yeah. You know, I think you gave me that same answer that night." She mused thoughtfully looking up to the ceiling and to the right as she recalled the memory. "Back then I wouldn't have thought any less of it, but now I'm calling it something different. I just don't know what it is yet."

"I think I can help with that. Come see me when this case is over." Letting myself walk away, I took out a deep breath as I swung the gate open and disappeared upstairs. I could see the confusion written all over her face, but I thought it would be better to leave it at that and explain it all later when she was with the rest of the team.

"Hey." Jay greeted me after I had found him in the break room. Most of the team was still out, besides Voight, which left us time to talk freely, with the consideration that someone could walk in at any time. "What did Platt want?"

"I think in her own way, she's concerned with how much I keep things inside." He didn't seem very surprised at that fact as I grabbed the container of food I had brought and set it down on the counter.

"Isn't most every cop like that?" Pouring his coffee, he set the cup on the table before making a beeline to the fridge to grab his sandwich.

"Exactly what I was thinking. What time are you meeting with your buddy in Gangs?" I asked over the slight hum of the microwave as I heated up the meat for my taco.

"Around one. He said he might have a couple of files that could point our case in the right direction. So I'll go there and see what I can find out. What?"

"Sorry. I was just thinking about how I was going to tell the team."

"You know you don't have to do that, right? It's not up to anyone else besides Voight to know what's going on."

"I know." I did, but the longer I left this secret going, the more guilt I felt doing it. "I may have invited Platt up here after the case was over. Maybe it won't be today that it's over

"I may have invited Platt up here after this case was over." Reaching my arm out, I caught the door as the countdown hit one on the microwave. "Honestly, I only want to explain this one time."

"No, I get it. You and Platt go way back?"

"Yeah." Grabbing a fork from the drawer, I realized this was a story I hadn't really told him yet, and honestly, I felt slightly nervous telling him anything about my past. Mainly because I saw the protective way he looked at me when I dished out something that happened. "When I was twelve, I was helping to close up my dad's diner. This guy came in holding a gun, demanding everything in the register. He ended up breaking my dad's eye socket and gave him ninety-six stitches."

"Wow."

"My mom went to the hospital with my dad. Two out of three of my brothers were little at the time. They were staying at my grandparent's house when it happened, so they didn't see it."

"What about your older brother?"

"He was at my grandparent's house helping to take care of them. Sometimes my brothers could bounce off the walls, so he convinced my parents to let him go and keep them out of trouble." Of course, my grandparents really didn't care that they were somewhat rowdy, but if my dad found out they had been misbehaving, his temper would fly when we got home.

"And you?"

"I wouldn't leave Platt's desk until the guy was caught. Honestly, she did something for me no one ever did. She made me feel safe. She's the reason I became a cop."

"You tell her that?" Jay looked at me with surprise as he ran his fingers over his mouth.

"The night Voight offered me a spot in Intelligence. It had been a long day after that case. I was going to hop in my car and go back to my place, but when I saw her putting away radio equipment, her name sounded so familiar when we met and I couldn't help asking if she remembered me."

"Let me guess. She gave you some quipped response?"

"Sort of. She told me she couldn't keep track of every police officer she met. I told her I hadn't met her as a police officer but as a little girl." Placing the tortilla on the plate, I finally dumped all the toppings into the middle of it. "She put it together that I was the owner's daughter and it made sense why some random cop was coming to her about a case that happened so long ago."

"It's important that you tell her too." Jay came to the conclusion, fully understanding where I was coming from. I was so glad I had someone to confide in. Maybe he would never know it, but that was also something I had never been able to do growing up was confiding in someone outside of my family.

"Yeah. She means a lot to me, and is just as much part of this team as anyone on it."

"I couldn't agree more."