The Doctor Is In (Law & Order: SVU and Chicago PD)

The Ground Fell Out From Under Hank

Few years back, when Erin Lindsay was still with the team, Hank's son, Justin, was murdered by a member of the local drug cartel. Justin's murderer was then murdered by Hank. Easy enough right? No. Hank had to have fucking help. Erin came back to help Al move the body. No problem? Wrong. When local PD finally dug the body out of the river, they found a third party hair on the body. It was Al's.

Al was being investigated by Internal Affairs, of course, for the murder. Al was confident in Hank's ability to make this 'go away.' Well at least he was. I was not. I was already working on some official FBI paperwork that would explain how Al's hair ended up on the body. But he wouldn't take my help. "It'll be fine.." he always told me. And I guess it was, until one day, it wasn't.

Hank and Al wanted to me to know their grand plan, since I did work for the Bureau, and could help them if they needed, I guess. Never fully understood why me, but I went along anyway. Keeping it from Adam was a bitch though.

Late April, Al was scheduled to have his bail hearing one day. Hank supposedly had a specific judge lined up to hear Al's case, and subsequently grant him bail, so he wouldn't sit in jail while he awaited trial. Well, of course, that plan blew up when another judge showed up and denied the bail. This meant that Al would have to go to jail, while he awaited sentencing. A cop in jail? Fucking awful.
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I went to see Al. I talked to him through a window using a phone, it broke my heart and was the weirdest shit ever. "Al, I can get you out! Tonight!" I whispered to him. "I just gotta make a few final calls and bam!"

"No. Regan, don't put your reputation on the line for me."

"It won't be." I sighed, "you shouldn't even be here! Hank should!"

"No, no.. it's good. It'll be fine." He remained so collective, even know.

"But Al.. I can get you out!"

"Dr. Callahan," he said sternly. "Do not do that for me. What if they check? You, and your bosses get shit. And for what?" He finished.

"But I work for the damn FBI, that shit won't happen."

"Regan. No. I'll be fine. It'll be okay.."

"Hank should be here!" I whispered.

"Don't let them here you."

I sighed, knowing I had no chance of my plan working on him. "Did you eat yet?"

"Yeah. Sandwich and shit," he said.

"Al.."

He looked at me, "I'll be okay.."

I didn't make eye contact so he spoke again, "Regan. Tell Adam it'll be alright. I'll be fine." With that, Al hung up the phone. I didn't know it, but that was the last time I would ever talk to him.

Within the next several days, Hank got a call he never thought he would get. Al was stabbed repeatedly in prison and was rushed to the hospital. It was awful to find out, we were distracted and couldn't think of anything else as we all sat around, some of us paced, others tried to ignore the noises around us, in the hospital waiting for any word on Al. Then it came. Hank came to us, and told us that he died during surgery, he had lost too much blood since the knife wound nicked an organ. Adam cried into my shoulder as Kim fell to the floor. It was horrible. Time seemed to stop.

Later that day, we all got to work. The prison sent over the security footage and I volunteered to look at it first as I wanted to spare the team any more trauma. After a few minutes, they all came down.

"Is it ready?" Hank asked.

"You guys don't wanna see it.." I choked out. Kim looked at with with wide eyes.

"I already isolated the faces of importance.."

"Play it.." Hank commanded.

"Hank..."

"Callahan. Please.."

"Okay, just be warned." I obliged and played the tape. It showed Al being stabbed, repeatedly in the torso. I saw everyone getting visibly uncomfortable, so I stopped it after a few minutes. "Screenshots of faces on all of your desks.." I said, to break the silence. "And there's this.." I isolated an imagine of the correctional officer assigned to guard Al. The video showed him taking a phone call, and leaving Al alone.

"Who is that?!" Antonio asked.

"Already on your desks."

"Thanks." Hank said as they headed upstairs.

"Babe.. you good?" Adam asked me before he followed the rest of the gang upstairs.

"Yes. Just fucking sucks.." I kissed him, and he hugged me tightly before heading upstairs.
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Al's funeral came around. I was in the office, as I needed to get a few things done before I headed out to join the rest of the team. Trudy walked up to talk to Hank, both wearing their police blues. I overheard Trudy say that Al's wife doesn't want Hank at the funeral. She blamed him for Al's death and thought it should've been him.

In theory, she's not wrong. But Hank is my boss when I'm in Chicago, so I can't really say that out loud. Trudy waved to me as she passed, and told me to follow her. "Doe she really not want him there?!" I asked her when we were out of Hank's earshot.

"She really doesn't.." Trudy replied.

"Damn."

"You're going, right?"

"Of course. I'll be there. I'm not part of the unit though.. so I'll stand in the back.."

"She wants you there with them, actually. Al respected you a lot..."

"Oh. And I guess Adam might want me with him.."

"Yes. Don't feel bad.. Hank will be fine. Cmon."

She said as I followed her downstairs to meet Adam and the team.