She walked out of the partly burned, partly crumbled building. Firefighters were securing the walls as good as possible so that the two cuffed suspects could be safely evacuated. This had not gone according to plan, and she was well aware of that fact. Trying to imagine how she must look, scorched hair, torn and partly burnt clothes, smelling of fire smoke and God knew what else, because that dump where the fugitives had been trying to surprise her was filled with garbage, rotten furniture and moldy pizza boxes every room. Anyways. This was the least of her problems at the moment. She tensed up as she saw a man in plain clothes sprinting towards her, coming through between the firetrucks, ambulances and armored police cruisers. Voight.
She could see, even from a distance, that he was agitated. There would be yelling. A lot. For sure. She took a few deep breaths and tried to brace herself for the loud lecture she was about to receive. He did not slow down his pace until he was standing right in front of her. Not more space between them than maybe a piece of paper. She looked him straight in the eyes, steadying herself for a burst of anger. He sighed, then took a step back.
"What exactly did you not understand when I said, 'Nobody goes after these scumbags without backup'?" he asked, in a very low, controlled voice. She just stood there. Too surprised about the lack of yelling and anger that she had predicted – due to experience from situations where others had gone rogue like she had done today. "How do you think I should have explained to your family who failed you if something had happened to you just now?" Still no yelling. Calm, almost caring voice. She started to answer, but he cut her off, now very obviously restraining himself from yelling with everything he had. "You do NOT ignore me when I give you an ORDER to not go without backup. Do you understand? You do NOT ignore a direct order AND disable trackers on your car and switch off your phone, NOT EVER!"
He was agitated. Still, she had not said a word. She knew she had ignored a direct order, but she had never been in any danger. Not today. His face was like a stone, every muscle tense, his jaw clenched. "Voight, you KNOW I am good at my job. You KNOW I know my limits," she replied. "You would have done the exact same thing; I am sure you DID the exact same thing many times over in your career." He just stared at her. Face still a mask. Hands clenched into fists, his entire body tense, like he was a sprinter waiting for the start signal. She wanted to go on defending herself, when she suddenly realized what was going on with him. His eyes were wet. He was not angry. He was scared. She took a step forward, closing the distance between them. "Hank, I'm okay. I'm still here. It's fine, I'm not going anywhere. You know I know how to judge situations. You know I get backup when I need it."
He didn't respond. She looked at him and the world just disappeared. He was trying hard to not show his emotions but failed. She put her arms around him, pulling him closer. He resisted for a fraction of a second, then did the same, and then they were just standing there, holding each other, holding on to each other, feeling each other's heartbeats, breathing in sync. Both finally understanding what had not been said by either of them before, months and months of working together and successfully ignoring any emotion that was not helpful for work.
After what seemed like forever, they loosened their embrace. She looked at him, embarrassed now. Had she misinterpreted his behavior? But she saw in his eyes that he felt the same way. Yet, still scared that something could have happened to her. Still coping with the thought of having possibly lost her. She felt butterflies in her stomach. She leaned in again, one hand on his chest, the other on his cheek. And kissed him, softly, on the lips. Lingering just long enough to make sure he could pull back if he wanted to. He didn't. He pulled her closer and took control of the kiss. It was soft and sultry at the same time. Tender and yet incredibly hot. Delicious and surprising, she completely gave in to him.