Keeping It in the Family (Linstead)

Chapter 109

"In no particular order," Lindsay said, "first we have Ruzek and Atwater."

Jay saw the two guys exchange a look. Both of them seemed to like the new assignment. Give me Kim, he willed Erin silently. Working with her would make the job as close to a breeze as it could get since she was in his opinion possibly the best cop in the unit.

"Halstead and Gonzalez."

Oh, okay, Jay thought. He looked at Raquel, who looked back at him not appearing particularly happy about the whole situation. Despite what she had apparently said in the past, he got the impression that she wasn't all that happy with being passed over in the chain of command. But then when she was working she rarely seemed happy about much. She took the job seriously, which he supposed was to her credit. He imagined he had been put with her to keep an eye on her. After all, the whole team knew it was hard to tell at times if she was a cop with good bit of criminal in her, or a criminal with a good bit of cop in her. That made the prospect of partnering her interesting to him though, and he liked that.

"And lastly, Burgess and Purrazzo," Lindsay said.

Much as he would have liked to have been put with Burgess, that pairing made a lot of sense to Halstead. Burgess certainly had some skills that she could pass on to the team's junior member. Being a female cop had its own challenges that he was sure he couldn't understand or advise on for obvious reasons. Burgess on the other had would be a gold mine of guidance and advice. Learning from him and then from Burgess would likely produce a well-rounded team member, and that was obviously a good thing for everyone. He would miss working directly with Purrazzo though. He had enjoyed mentoring her a lot, and had all the time in the world for her as a person. Still, she wasn't going anywhere, he reasoned. Her desk was still right next to his, and they would continue to work the same cases as each other most of the time.

"Any questions?" Lindsay asked.

"Yeah, who's going to be my partner when I graduate the academy?" Vega asked. It wasn't a serious question.

"No doubt to everyone's relief, you're not going to need one," Lindsay said, drawing some chuckles from the group. "Alright then, to business."

She proceeded to inform them about a case that needed to be taken on. Apparently a man had been found dead in a parking lot with severe head injuries. After giving them what little information was available, she handed over to Ruzek.

"I'll let you take it from here. Seems you've got a crime scene to get to."

"You heard the lady," Ruzek said, taking charge of the group for the very first time. "In the new partnerships, let's move out."

In the first moments after hearing that Erin had decided to switch up the partnerships, Jay had been annoyed that she hadn't told him ahead of time. He respected her right to run the unit however she wished, but he would have liked not to be blindsided. But then, knowing her as well as he did, he realised that catching him unawares hadn't been her motivation. No, she had made the decision over the weekend after Ruzek had confirmed his promotion was going through, and hadn't told him because she was giving him the weekend to relax and de-stress. He was glad, because those couple of days of relaxation had made the world of difference to him. He now felt refreshed and ready to tackle the next obstacle that life had for them: moving into the new house.

More immediately, he was faced with working directly with Raquel Gonzalez for the first time. He noted on the way out of the building that there was none of the usual chatter among the group. Everyone was contemplating the new reality that was now at hand. Every single one of them had a new partner. Purrazzo looked sad, he saw, an emotion that he hadn't really seen in her before. He made a mental note to check in with her on a personal level after the shift and make sure she was doing okay. He would tell her that although they weren't partners anymore, he was still always around if she needed anything.