Happy Monday everyone!

I cannot tell you how grateful I am for all the comments and follows this story has been getting.

I'm super excited to keep exploring and writing it. Hope you are too.

Here's a little update.

Happy reading!

Xoxo,

Nina

Standing in front of the district, her body was talking to her. Her stomach turning and the pressure on her chest was overwhelming. The nostalgia was taking over.

She had been so happy in this place and led herself to believe that she wasn't. Only now she can see that. With a new life that while is not bad is not fully what she had expected.

Kim was happy when Voight informed her at what time she was expected to show up. If things hadn't radically changed, no one, with the exception of Hank, would be at the bullpen by then and she could use all the time she could get to mentally prepare herself to see them again. A part of her was thrilled, but anothr part, the most dominant one, was scared shitless.

She walked up the marble steps one by one, steadying her breathing and taking everything in. Her eyes were observing every detail of the place that hadn't suffered any major physical changes during this period of time.

The officers walking up and down the room brought near memories of her time there, wearing that uniform and sharing the cruiser with Atwater and Roman. The thought of the last one got her spiraling once more, but the familiar voice talking to her brought her right back to reality.

"Never thought I would be saying this out loud short stuff, but I'm so glad to see you here."

"Platt!" Kim's smile was broad and genuine. She'd missed Trudy a whole lot. Platt had been an amazing sergeant to her and had shared her wisdom on many occasions becoming a mother figure inside the district. "If I didn't know you any better I would jump over that counter and hug you."

"Aw, you missed me, didn't you?" Platt's sarcasm could be spotted from miles away.

"I did actually."

"Of course. What did you expect? Another one of me? There's only one Trudy Platt, Burgess. I hope you learned your lesson."

"I think I did." She smiled faintly and went on with her purpose. "Is Sergeant Voight here?"

"Yes, you can go up, I'll buzz you in." There was something in the look of Trudy's eyes that Kim didn't really recognize. Was her old sergeant emotional?

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I'm just thinking that a couple of years ago you were dying to be up there and look at you know. You made it Burgess."

"I guess you could say I did." Kim looked down tryin to hide whatever her feelings were. "We should catch up sometime. I know it's not really your thing, but I would really like it."

"I'd like that too. Now go, don't keep the boss waiting."

They both chuckled softly and Kim did as she was told.

Walking through the bullpen her detective skills kicked in instantly and she practically x-rayed every desk. The first she recognized was Kevin's. Jay's stood out because of his neatness and extreme organization, he was even more structured than her and that was a lot. She always thought Halstead's military background had a lot to do with that. There were two she couldn't figure out their owners but for sure one of those belonged to a woman. Kim was surprised not to see anything that she could trace back to Antonio or seeing the corner where Al's desk was, empty.

Adam's desk was easy to identify. It was so… him. She scanned it carefully trying to find something that would tell her about his life, but nothing too personal was there.

To be honest she was scared to find a picture of him with someone else, just like she remembered he had one of them together back in the day.

She continued her path and reached Voight's office. It was quiet and the door ajar. Kim gently knocked on it, waiting for permission to come in.

"Come in Burgess." She did as instructed and took a seat on the chair opposite him. "It's really nice to see you again. How have you been?"

"Everything has been good. Working a lot."

"So I've heard. You know, I'm very proud of how far both you and Lindsay got."

Kim was about to blush. Having Voight's approval had meant so much for her in the past and she had no idea how important it still was. "Thank you sergeant."

"So, Aaron Jones."

"Aaron Jones. We've been after him for a while now. He's responsible of multiple homicides, rape and abduction of girls that he later forces them into a prostitution ring. We also have reasons to believe he might be connected to a drug dealing group but we haven't been able to find hard evidence on that." She left a folder on Hank's desk that backed up every word that had come out of her mouth.

Voight started to look through the files and pictures carefully.

"Well, we might be able to help with the last part. Various OD cases in college and high school campuses have been reported lately. The drug is the same in all cases. It's rare and very dangerous. And although we found one dealer, it was impossible to get who's really behind it." He gave Kim a folder as well, only the content of this one was pictures. "These were pictures we managed to get, but as you can see they're inconclusive and not enough to bring the guy down, but I think we can both agree that it's the same guy. We need more."

"That do we."

"The whole unit will be available for this case, it is of our interest as much as yours."

"All our resources in DC are available as well."

"Good. I'm really looking forward to working with you."

"Me too, sarge." The nickname slipped naturally from her lips, as if time had never passed, causing Voight to show a soft smile.

"Platt has some paperwork you need to complete downstairs. She'll also give you your credentials suyo can buzz yourself in and don't need to wait for one of us to do it. When you're ready come back up and we'll let the rest of the team know."

"Great."

"Off you go."

The forms she had to complete were thorough and never ending, keeping her downstairs way longer than she expected.

"Everyone gather up." Voight stepped out of his office when he noticed that his whole team was there. His husky voice was like a bell to them, bringing their attention to his door. "The following days we'll be taking cases but our priority will be Aaron Jones."

Everyone looked at him in frustration, they were getting literally nowhere and running out of strings to pull. "Now don't look at me like that, because I got a call a few days ago that was the piece of the puzzle we had been waiting for."

"What happened, Sarge?" Hailey asked, wanting to know more.

"Turns out that Jones has been doing all types of business in DC as well."

Jay's eyes shot up. He was well aware that's where Lindsay was. "Their police force is looking for him too and they realized that he's here, so they naturally asked for our collaboration."

"So we're going to be working for them?" Adam asked. He was ok with that, he was just curious as to whom he needed to report to.

"No, we will be working with them. Together. Sergeant Lindsay sent one of her detectives up here. They shared their investigation with us, and all their resources are available to us, so we are giving them exactly the same."

"Who's the detective?" Atwater finally said what everyone wanted to know.

"It's me." The voice coming behind him made him smile

even before turning to see her face, and Adam thought he was completely delusional. Was he hearing voices now?

He didn't want to move, he really didn't. Picturing her last night at the bar and now hearing her voice was a lot for him to handle. He was ready to go to med and ask for an appointment with a therapist, because this wasn't normal; but Atwater's excited roar probably meant that he wasn't all that crazy.

"Burge? Are you for real right now?"

"I guess I am."

"What's going on?" Torres, who had no idea who this woman was, asked Jay who was standing next to him.

"That's Kim Burgess. She used to work here a while ago." Halstead was smiling and quickly left Torres standing there alone when he got closer to give Burgess a hug. They had never been very close, but he did like her and thought she was a hell of a police officer back then.

Getting a hug from Kev and Jay was something she didn't know she needed. It helped her relax.

Adam still didn't move and for some reason she was beginning to get uneasy. Did he not want to see her? I mean it was a possibility and she definitely wouldn't blame him for it.

So she did what she thought was the most professional and appropriate thing to do. Introduce herself to the unfamiliar faces.

"Hi everyone. I'm Detective Kim Burgess from DC and I'm really looking forward to working with you guys. I used to work here, that's why these two knuckleheads know me." She said nervously. "Well, three." Her pause was brief, even if it didn't feel that way for them. "Hi Adam."

It was real. He wasn't crazy. It was her voice calling his name like he had dreamed of so many times. His stomach turned and his heart started beating faster, if only he had known that hers was exactly the same.

He needed to say something, staying frozen like that wasn't an option.

"Kim. Wow. It's nice to see you." He tried to sound as normal as possible but he wasn't sure he had accomplished the task.

And it truly was nice to see her. She looked beautiful, she always did but now he thought she was even more beautiful than before. The depth of her eyes, her bright smile, her hair. Everything looked perfect and he was just mesmerized by the fact that she was standing in front of him again.

The greeting was awkward. They didn't know what to do, how to move or what to say and having everyone staring at them wasn't of much help either.

"It's really nice to see you, too."

Kim wasn't sure if she was about to melt or have a heart attack or both. Her body was tingling, her heart shrunk in her chest and those damn butterflies were there again.

He looked incredible, older, sexier but that warmth and kindness in his eyes remained.

She promised herself that given the chance she was going to be braver, she was going to do things differently. So when the urge to hug him sprouted in her body she didn't ignore it and pushing every ounce of racional thoughts aside, she walked closer to him and wrapped her arms around his back. "I really mean it, Ruzek."

"I mean it too."

They could have stayed there for hours because they both wanted that desperately. But the sound of Voight clearing his throat bursted their little bubble.

"Let me introduce you to the rest of the team. This is Hailey Upton, she joined us right before Lisndsay went to work for the FBI and this is Dante Torres. He started to work with us this year, Jay brought him to the family and has been a very good addition since." He stood up straight and directed his speech to everyone present. "I'm going to shuffle up the pairs a bit. Ruzek you'll be with Torres, Upton and Halstead and Burgess you'll partner up with Atwater, he'll put you up to date. Also, I'm going to ask for a desk for you."

"She can use mine in the meantime."

"Thanks Kev." Kim answered nicely.

"Alright, let's get over the details of this case." Voight pulled the whiteboard and shared all the information he had previously discussed with Kim.

As the sergeant went on, both Kim and Adam kept throwing glances at each other when they thought no one was looking, obviously someone was.

When Kevin heard her voice he knew this had trouble written all over it, and judging by the looks on his friends' faces, the bomb had already started to tick and he didn't think it would take too long before it finally exploded.