Million Reasons

Chapter Ten: Saint Bart

Remember the good times that we had?
I let them slip away from us when things got bad.

Sarah McLachlan - I Will Remember You

For the first time since Sergeant Trudy Platt had arrived at the station house that morning, the front desk was quiet. There was not a civilian in sight and all personnel were either on patrol or busying themselves in other places. It was a blissful feeling, one that she found herself enjoying as she reached for the sports page of the folded newspaper and flicked it open. Just a few minutes alone with the Chicago Cubs and the latest stats, a girl couldn't ask for more.

A shadow loomed over her newspaper, she recognized the shape and let out a long sigh before placing her palms on the desk and tilting her head towards Hank Voight.

"I know you're not planning on coming between me and this sports page." she told him moodily before he jerked his head towards the empty interview room they used to take statements. Platt rolled her eyes before folding up the newspaper once more and slipping it to her right.

"Sanchez, watch the desk." she barked to the officer working on his paperwork behind her. She heard him scurry into place as she rounded the desk and followed Voight into the other room closing the door behind her.

Hank was standing across from her, his head bent as he rubbed the back of his head with his right hand. This was serious then, she thought dropping into the nearest chair and placing her elbows on the rigid metal table. Over the years she had known Hank Voight she had come to read his moods intuitively and right now he was struggling. She'd only seen it a handful of times but she could spot it straight away. Asking for favours didn't come naturally to Voight, she got that. The other man was the most self-reliant person she knew besides herself so when he came to her like this she knew there was trouble afoot.

"I've got a problem Trudy." Voight told her outright, his gaze weighing heavily upon her as he spoke.

"I'm guessing it's related to that chick you hustled past me a couple of hours ago." Platt responded knowingly.

Hank had the good grace to duck his head, a wry smile crossing over his lips as he spoke. "Nothing gets past you does it?"

"I wouldn't be a good desk Sergeant if it did." she snorted wrinkling. "So what's going on Hank and why are your people running around like they've got rockets up their butts?"

Hank pursed his lips together trying to select the appropriate answer before responding.

"Do you remember Bart O'Neill?" he queried, looking Trudy dead in the eye as he spoke.

Bart O'Neill. Wasn't that a blast from the past? There was a probably a long list of female officers that remembered Bart O'Neill for his inability to keep it in his pants. He'd been a good cop, he had had always had your back in a pinch but he'd been a shitty human being, she knew that from experience. It hadn't taken her too long to figure out he was a married man and by that point his eye had already been straying to the next hot young thing.

"Yea." Trudy said dryly. "I remember Bart."

"He had two kids." Hank submitted. "The boy's a priest at St Luke's and the girl grew up to be a cop."

"The priest thing is pretty ironic." Trudy input pressing the back of her hand to her lips as she laughed. "Bart's probably rolling in his grave at all the wasted potential."

"The girl is his daughter Magdalena, goes by Maggie now. She was a detective up in Narcotics for a while before she joined Vice." Hank told Trudy, his hand coming to rest on the back of the chair across from her. "Antonio and her used to run together before Regan recruited her. She'd solid. Good police."

"Are you getting to the point anytime soon or are we just planning to rehash old flames?" Trudy asked her male counterpart sounding bored.

Voight clutched the back of the chair tightly before he pulled it out and sat down upon it. His clasped hands came to rest on the desk in front of him. "I wouldn't ask for this if I didn't feel it necessary."

"Spit it out already." Trudy told him, leaning back in her seat and folding her arms over her chest.

The truth of the matter was she could already guess what this favor was but she wanted to hear the whole story from the horse's mouth not some diluted version carried to her by Burgess or Roman.

"None of this is public yet so I need you to keep your lips sealed on this." Hank said suffering Trudy's look of disdain at the suggestion of gossip. "Maggie's been working undercover for Superintendent Regan to bring down Oskar Bembenek. On the side she's been slipping me some information, small stuff that could make a difference on the streets that Regan wasn't willing to act on."

"Against protocol but not unusual." Platt responded with a nod urging Hank along with the story.

"Last week she gave me something big." Hank informed Trudy. "Oskar was planning a heist on an armoured van which turned out to be moving evidence in the case against him. We intervened and Oskar was thrown in lock up. "

"Yea, I know that part." Trudy said, leaning forward eagerly to hear the rest of the story.

"What you don't know is that after Oskar's brother Jacob was killed, Oskar put a hundred thousand dollar hit out on Jay and we caught the guy that was paid to kill him. That tip came from Maggie. In the process she blew her cover, meeting up with Antonio. She got back to the office and ended up in a confrontation which resulted in the death of Gregor Polonski. She came here to me because she doesn't trust Regan."

"She's right not to trust him." Trudy input, shaking her head at the situation. "He chews cops up and spits them out broken. I've seen it happen."

"So here's the thing..." Hank started and Trudy knew that anytime anyone ever wanted a favour from her it started with that sentence. "We have the evidence against Oskar and his contacts, stateside and foreign so we're all good on that front."

"However Regan will see it differently. This isn't a win for him since Intelligence moved on it first." Trudy continued for him.

"And he'll want to teach Maggie a lesson for that. She broke protocol so he'll go after her badge and pension and he could get it too." Hank told her, Trudy nodded her understanding. Regan had done it before, he would do it again since he hadn't gotten what he wanted. "Maggie has agreed that starting over may be in her best interests. She has agreed to accept a demotion. However if she does this Regan reserves the right to transfer her to anywhere he wants unless she's got someone backing her corner. You'll have to fight for her and Regan won't make it easy. "

He looked pointedly at Trudy who slowly uncrossed her legs and leaned forward until the two of them were eye to eye. To his credit Voight didn't flinch, he knew what he was asking her to do. Bart O'Neill may have been a rat bastard but it didn't mean that his daughter was and burying her wasn't going to change the damage her father had caused.

Let go of the past or let a good cop rot?

Trudy didn't even have to think about it.

"I'll get the paperwork started."