explosion (jay halstead / one chicago)

chapter 15

jay's pov

I leaned over and planted a final kiss on Liz's lips before getting out of the car. "You got this." She nodded slowly, obviously not entirely convinced of what I told her. I grabbed her hand as we walked towards the 21st district together. Hesitating, she stopped in front of the doors and stood there for a moment, seeming unsure of what to do. I could recall exactly just how nervous she had gotten the first time she saw me with a badge and gun on and I remembered the panic in her eyes that day, so it didn't really surprise me. Whatever memories being confronted with police brought up for her, they weren't good ones. I squeezed her hand gently, which led her to give me a small smile, and we continued through the door. I risked a quick glimpse to the front desk and saw Sergeant Platt talking to a patrol officer. Although Platt sure was a badass policewoman and certainly a good soul if you knew her, I wanted to spare Liz the stress of meeting more people than necessary this morning. Not hesitating for another second, I quickly dragged her towards the stairs leading up to Intelligence.

"Halstead!" Slightly upset at being caught, I stopped in my tracks and turned back to face the front desk. "Come over here." I sent Liz an encouraging smile as we walked over to Platt. "What's up, Sarge?" The Sergeant quietly studied the girl next to me, who I could feel tense up under her gaze, then proceeded to stare me down. "I sure hope for you that you weren't trying to sneak your friend past me, Chuckles." I was. "Of course not." I shrugged. "I would never try something as pointless as sneaking someone past you. You seemed busy."

Platt continued to stare me down with a stern expression, the kind where you have no idea what she's thinking or whether what you just said was a good or bad idea. Eventually, she snorted. "Are you going to stand here like christmas decoration any longer, or will you introduce us?" She nodded her head in Liz's direction to emphasize her question. I sighed. Actually, I just wanted to get Liz out of this situation, although I wasn't sure going upstairs would feel any less like hell to her.

"Sergeant Platt, this is Liz Severide. She's a paramedic over at firehouse 51 and she's going to assist us with a case. Liz, this is Sergeant Platt, she runs this place." I squeezed Liz's hand again and sent Sergeant Platt a warm smile, silently hoping for her to let us go. "Severide, the sister of Kelly Severide?" Platt questioned. Liz quickly glanced over at me, then back at the woman in front of her. "Yes. Nice to meet you, Sergeant." She forced a smile. Platt nodded in approval, then turned to me. "Does Voight know you're bringing her in?" I nodded. "Good, then get moving."

"Sorry for that," I whispered to Liz as we made our way upstairs. "It's okay, Jay." She stopped for a moment to look at me. "It's just challenging for me to come to a police station, really. I'll get through it."

Luckily, nobody of Intelligence but Voight was there yet. I had insisted on coming particularly early so Liz wouldn't have to face everyone at once. "Give us a minute, okay?" I asked her and she nodded while I knocked and entered Voight's office, closing the door behind me. I faced the Sergeant, studying him studying me, unsure of what was going on in his head. However, when did anyone ever know what that guy was thinking? "Sarge," I started. "If you don't want to make this our case, that's fine. I'll just take a few days off and figure it out with Liz by myself."

"Halstead." Voight didn't let me get any further with my speech. He shrugged. "From what you told me on the phone last night, I know we have a guy that is a big player in Madrid and wants to set foot in Chicago. That's all I need to make this our case. Adding that a girl might be in danger – a girl that is a CFD paramedic, which makes her family, and one of my detective's girlfriend, which also makes her family – that's more than enough to take this case."

I gave him a brief nod, gently ignoring that he called Liz my girlfriend. I still didn't really know myself what our relationship was, so I wasn't eager to discuss it. I opened the door for Liz to step in. "Sarge, this is Liz Severide. Liz, this is Sergeant Hank Voight." They shook hands and Voight motioned for us all to sit down. "Just tell him what you told me," I instructed, giving Liz an encouraging smile once again. For the next few minutes, she did exactly that. When she was done, Voight exchanged a quick glance with me before facing her. "I'll call Chief Boden and ask him to let you assist us while we're working this case."

Liz and I got up, but Voight called us back when I was just about to open the door. "One more thing," he said, making us both turn around. He studied Liz while he continued to speak. "It's obvious you trust Halstead, but this is my unit. I must be sure you trust me. I know not everyone at firehouse 51 is a fan of what I do." Liz cracked a smile. "I don't really care about what people say. Besides, I've been told if I ever needed someone to handle a case properly in this city, you'd be the person to go to. That's all I need to know." Voight studied her a moment longer until he finally let out an approvingly content "hmm" sound. Giving him a nod, I opened the door.

When Liz and I stepped out of Voight's office a moment later, Erin and Adam were both sitting at their desks, eyeing us curiously. I wasn't sure whether it was a good or bad thing to introduce Liz to so many people in such a short time. It must have been really stressing for her. "Liz, this is Erin, my partner. Erin, this is Liz." Erin sent Liz a huge smile. "Nice to finally meet you. I've heard so much about you." Liz let out a nervous laugh. "Nice to meet you too. And I hope you've only heard good things." She winked at me. "Mostly," Adam chimed in in his typical joking manner. "I'm Adam. Why are you here?"

"Liz is helping with our new case," Voight explained, walking out of his office. He then turned towards Liz. "Boden is fine with you staying here as long as necessary."

That moment, Antonio walked up the stairs, quickly nodding at everyone and shooting a confused look at Liz. At least with him, there was someone else she already knew in this unit. Voight nodded back at Antonio before he continued, again turning to Liz. "Boden is sending your brother and roommate over later. We thought you might want to tell them yourself, they're probably worried. It also might be best for you not to go to the firehouse or your apartment anytime soon. We don't know how much that guy knows about your life here already, and the less he finds out, the better. We will find you a place to stay in the meantime."

I quickly glanced over at the Sergeant before facing Liz. "You can stay with me."

kim's pov

"Burgess." I hurried over to Sergeant Platt when she called out my name. She leaned on the front desk, lowering her voice as she continued to speak. "Did you know Halstead had a girlfriend at firehouse 51?" I suppressed a laugh. Who said I was the reason her desk was turning into a chit-chat coffee klatch? Looking at Platt's curious and secretive face, I leaned forward as well. I waited a second to let the suspense build up. "Yeah, I did know," I then stated bluntly. I watched the Sergeant's face turn into one of surprise and acknowledgement. "Why's that such a shock to you?" I asked. "I mean, you have a boyfriend at firehouse 51, too." Sergeant Platt leaned back, shaking her head with a firm expression. "I'm not Halstead. Plus, I should have known." It indeed surprised me that she hadn't heard about it. After all Sylvie and Liz had told me about firehouse 51, our 21st district didn't even come close to how gossip spread in that place.

"Anyway, who told you?" I raised a questioning eyebrow. "No one." Sergeant Platt let out a sarcastic laugh. "Halstead tried to sneak the girl past me. Bad idea." I internally rolled my eyes at Jay. He worked at this district long enough to know that doing anything without Platt's consent wasn't going to work out. Then I processed what she just told me. "Wait." My gaze drifted to the stairs leading up to intelligence for a moment as if the answer laid within the closed door. Then I turned back to my Sergeant. "Liz is here? What's going on? She should be working right now." Platt shrugged before motioning towards where I had just looked. "Go find out for yourself. They're requiring your presence upstairs."

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