A/N: I've been considering writing this story ever since the end of Chicago PD's previous season. Hank and Anna's story, and how much it hurt him when she was killed made me feel for him, and wonder why the writers have never given him any happiness. I figured if they're not going to do it, I would do it myself.
This story takes place two weeks after S10 E4.
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Hank Voight had just made a decision that would change his life. Not that he knew that. He thought he had merely decided upon the detective he wanted to recruit to Intelligence Unit.
After the departure of Jay Halstead, the team was in poor shape. Worse shape than Hank had realised until it had suddenly dawned on him. There was only one detective currently on the team, Hailey Upton, and she was struggling big time after Jay's abrupt departure. The man was her husband after all. The rest of the team only held officer rank, and although Kim Burgess, Adam Ruzek and Kevin Atwater were all good cops and had years of service with Intelligence behind them, Hank knew it was time he encouraged one or two of them to go for promotion to detective. Kim was definitely ready, in his opinion.
But the unit lacked an experienced detective. Having accepted that fact, Hank had turned his attention to recruitment, working on it after hours, and now on a Sunday night. After all, work was all he had in life. The loss of Anna Avalos had drilled that into his head, incredibly painfully so. His wife was dead. His son was dead. He never got to see Daniel, his grandson, and hardly ever heard from Erin, his foster daughter. Things had never been the same between them since she had left Chicago for New York. And now Anna was gone too. They were all gone.
To avoid thinking about the emptiness and loneliness of his existence, Hank worked whether he was on shift or not. On nights like this one, he worked in an office at home.
On his desk sat a stack of personnel files. He had placed calls to many of the contacts he had made over the years, from various police forces around the country. They had all been asked the same question: Could they recommend an experienced detective who was talented enough and potentially available to join Intelligence. Each one if the files on the desk related to a name he had been given. Over the past couple of weeks, Hank had whittled down those names, until he had been left with a very tough decision between the final two names.
That final decision had taken Hank two nights to make. Frankly, Intelligence would be lucky to have either one of the candidates. But Hank had made the selection. The file of Intelligence's new detective, assuming she accepted the offer when he made it, lay open in front of him. He looked over the front page once more, although his mind was now made up.
Kalinda Rai. Aged 50. Born in London, England to Indian parents who had emigrated there. Educated in London, and trained as a police officer by the Metropolitan Police. Moved to the USA when aged 32, and now an American citizen. Marital status: Divorced. Currently holding the rank of detective, she worked a vice desk in Milwaukee, not far from Chicago. Her service record was excellent, and she had several commendations to her name.
Hank looked at the accompanying picture. He knew it was a recent photo. What he saw was an attractive woman who didn't look her age. He would have probably guessed 40. She had the brown skin tone, black hair and dark brown eyes from her Indian heritage. To him she somehow didn't look like a detective, more like a sales executive or something. Maybe it was the way her hair was worn in a tight bun. Anyway, not looking like a detective was more of an asset in In Intelligence's line of work, not a detriment.
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