Grace & the Windy City (Chicago P.D)

Chapter 10- Tis The Season

Grace was surprised to see Mom show up on her caller I.D.

"Hello?" she answered apprehensively.

"Gracie!" she sounded perky. "I'm booking a last minute flight to Arizona to see Aunt Kristine for Christmas. Do you want to join me? It'll be much nicer than a Christmas in Chicago..."

Grace couldn't believe it. "Did you forget what happened when I saw you a few weeks ago? The state you were in?"

"I'm all better now, baby. You don't have to worry."

"What I saw last time made me worry, mom. It's been years since I've seen you like that. Is it the divorce? What is it? Tell me."

"You're being over dramatic. I had a bad reaction to something my doctor prescribed me."

Grace didn't believe her. "When you take oxy with alcohol that's what gives you the 'bad reaction'. There's no way I'm getting on a plane with you. I'm sorry mom, but...no. Call me when you're better and maybe I'll actually want to talk to you."

The second Grace hung up, it felt like a weight was lifted and pushed down on her at the same time.

Christmas Eve was spent at her half sister Kate's with her son Sammy, Adam and their father. They all got along relatively well, though Grace was on her father about taking care of his health considering he got shot not too long ago. Grace and Sammy helped decorate the house and baked cookies together, while making sure to leave some out for Santa. The five of them all wore paper Christmas crowns during dinner and spent the night watching Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer until Sammy went to sleep, then turned on It's A Wonderful Life. For the first time in a while, Grace felt as though she really had a family, and it wasn't the worst thing that her mother wasn't around. It was better for her this way, Grace kept telling herself. Adam and Grace left around midnight and spent Christmas Day sleeping in and exchanging gifts then meeting Jay, his brother Will for a late brunch in the West Loop. It was a cold day, but the thought of a hot coffee and french toast kept her toasty. The afternoon turned out to be fun, too, especially when Jay started telling stories about Adam on the job.

Grace then spent the days leading up to New Years Eve on the sofa snuggled under a blanket reading a book and snacking on leftover Christmas chocolate. One day, she braved the cold and met up with Becca, Emma, and Audrey downtown. The last time they were all together was when they celebrated Grace's 17 birthday a few weeks back. That day, Adam insisted they do something special, anything, since Grace didn't seem too into it. He ended up dragging her to some restaurant for dinner where their father used to take them to get root beer floats. Later that night she got drunk with her friends at Becca's. It turned out to not be so bad after all. The day at the mall, they spent the afternoon talking about the upcoming New Years Eve party Becca was hosting, and drank holiday-themed lattes and while they shopped around for New Years outfits.

Grace rang in the New Year at Becca's with her other friends Emma and Audrey, dancing in their sparkly outfits and spraying champagne on the balcony. There were tons of classmates from school in attendance and some of Becca's friends from her dance class. Grace got a little too drunk close to midnight and was sitting beside her friend Holden, from her art class who then became her NYE kiss. Mostly everyone left by 2 am, and the ones that stayed played card games by the fireplace until they couldn't keep their eyes open any longer. After a hungover Grace returned to Adam's building from the party, she saw a figure sneaking out of his apartment. A short brunette with wavy hair...it had to be Abigail Keys. Grace hid behind the corner of the hallway so she wouldn't run into her. She wondered if he actually liked her, or if she was another one of his flings.

On January 2nd, Voight stormed the club belonging to James McDowell, Bob's shady client. Antonio joined along with SWAT and kicked down the door. Once they were inside and questioned one of the employees, they discovered the owner skipped town and no one had seen him in days. Voight drove straight to Bob's and demanded what he knew, but he said that it had been weeks since he'd seen him. Voight could tell Bob wasn't telling the entire truth but there wasn't much he could do now that McDowell had left Chicago, and possibly the state. He wasn't a high risk offender and as far as he knew, he wasn't a murderer. They had bigger fish to fry, so Voight moved the case to the backburner.