It's My Life ~Linstead

Part 3

Next day, 5:00pm parent meeting @ Alex's high school, in the auditorium
*Erin's POV*
It's the night, the one where we meet the students who will be seeing how Intelligence works a case from beginning to end. Their parents will be there too, and they will undoubtedly have questions. But we can't answer unless their question is directed specifically at one of us, which is highly unlikely. The only 3 who can freely answer questions is Voight, Commander, and Platt. That was made very clear in the meeting that we had with Commander earlier, she even directed us on how to stand (feet shoulders width apart, hands clasped at the small of our back with elbows bent slightly, shoulders back and chin up) and where to look (straight ahead at the back wall). She obviously has very high expectations for tonight and it's an unspoken rule among my unit that whenever we find out someone's expectations of us, we have to exceed them.

Now, intelligence plus Commander and Platt are all gathered next to a side entrance into the auditorium as we wait for the rest of the parents and students to file in. Alex is with Antonio's wife, Laura, because Jay and I can't sit with all the other parents and Antonio's son, Diego, wants to shadow us as well.

I'm leaning against the wall next to Jay, both of us responding to Alex who had just texted us that she was here in the group message that we have going. My phone dings as Jays message comes through and I hear Jays ding as mine goes through. We put our phones away and turn to face each other.
J-"What're we doing for dinner?"
E-" We just ate."
J-"Pizza? That was dinner?"
E-"Yes! What did you think it was? And how are you already hungry? Between the three of us we finished 3 1/2 pizzas"
J-" Uh, I don't know, snack? Besides I'm always hungry"
E-"Don't I know it."
I paused for a minute to think about what we had to eat at home.
E-" Ummmm, how about that left over lasagna from last night?"
J-"That was really good"
E-" I made it of course it was good. So there, dinner"
J-"Sounds good to me"

I was just about to change the subject and ask Jay for probably the millionth time about what he thinks about Alex shadowing us when I heard Commander clear her throat.
I turned to face her with the rest of the unit and she began talking
C-"Everybody who signed up to be here is here, so let's begin."

She turned and we all fell into the order that was decided on earlier- Commander and Platt leading, Voight behind them and ahead of us by himself, then Dawson and Al, Jay and I, Ruzek and Attwater, then Mouse bringing up the rear by himself. Commander started in at a swift pace and we quickly followed suit.

As we made our way in the side door, the conversations came to a stop and I could feel all eyes on us. I even heard a few whispers about that guns that we all had strapped to our hips and some questioned others as to why the only ones in uniform was Platt and Commander. I briefly met Alex's eyes and subtly nodded at her. She smiled slightly then tried to catch Jays eye (she did and smiled at him too). We reached the front and lined up in a semi circle, with Voight, Commander, and Platt off to the left side. Before us, a crowd of no more than 35 people was gathered.

A man in a suit coat got up and shook hands with Commander, Platt, and Voight before turning to face the crowd. He inhaled deeply and said,

"I am, as many of you know, Principle Smith, and I would like to thank you all for coming tonight. I am very excited about the opportunity that these 8 students will get to experience. Now, I am going to turn it over to Commander Watson, who will explain exactly what our students will experience. Commander-"

C-"Hello everyone, I am Commander Watson. I am also excited about the experience that these students will have, and would like to start off by telling you a bit about the unit you see standing before you. This is the Intelligence Unit out of the 21st district. These members were hand picked to be a part of the unit, and this is the one unit in all of Chicago, in all of Illinois, that every officer strives to be a part of. They have a 100% solvency rate, meaning that they have not ever ever left a case unsolved in the 6 years since they formed this unit. The longest it has ever taken this unit to solve a case is 13 days, and at that point it only took so long because it was an interstate case. In addition, this is the most aggressive unit in Illinois, and I can confidently say that all of CPD is proud of them. Now, I am going to hand things over to Sergent Hank Voight, who is going to tell you a little bit about each of the detectives standing before you. Please hold any and all questions until the end, when we will answer any questions you have."