June 1997...
Gabriela Dawson is a Junior in High School. Antonio Dawson is in the process of completing his training at the Chicago Police Academy.
Fast forward to 2013 (Mid-season 1 of Chicago Fire)
Antonio is a top Detective in Vice. Gaby is...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Hank Voight was pacing around the bar. He hadn't been surprised that Dixie had called him, but he was surprised that she had insisted on meeting with him tonight in their old hangout bar. Someone tapped him on the shoulder. Hank spun around. "Jesus Christ, Dixie! Don't sneak up on a cop like that!"
"You weren't saying that 34 years ago." She reminded him.
"That's a lifetime and a half ago. Things changed."
She went over to the back corner of the bar. "You still drinking Manhattans?" She sat in the corner booth.
Hank sat down and nodded. "Yep."
The server came over and smiled. "Whatta y'all have?"
"2 Manhattans." Dixie smiled. She handed the server her Visa. "Start a tab."
"Of course!" The server grinned, turned and left.
"A tab, Dixie?" Hank asked. "Just how long is this discussion going to take?"
"It isn't necessarily the length of the conversation... but the subject."
"What exactly do you mean by that?"
"You playing dumb, Hank?" Dixie took the drink from the server when she returned with the drinks and her Visa. "It doesn't really suit you." Her New Orleans accent was subtler than it was when they had first met, but it still was there.
Hank took a sip from his drink. "A lot has changed since that night 34 years ago."
"Oh, don't I know it. I married a man that I didn't really love, raised my daughter to think he was her father... all while the man I really loved moved up the ranks of the CPD while falling in love with his high school sweetheart all over again. I was truly sorry to hear that Camille passed away a couple years ago."
"Thank you, Dixie. It was hard... I don't know how you and Josephine did it when Billy... you know."
"It was hard, but we weren't together anymore... then when he found out he wasn't Josephine's dad..."
Dixie ran her thumb around the rim of her glass. "He wasn't... um... that's why I'm here. What blood type are you?"
"That is the most random question I've been asked in a long time." Hank leaned back in the booth. "O-negative. Wait... Josephine... her hospital... are you telling me... is Josephine... she's my daughter?!"
Dixie nodded slowly. "Yeah, she is... you were the only other guy I had been with in that time frame."
Hank was speechless. He downed the rest of his Manhattan and signaled for the server to bring him another one. "How? What?" He downed his second Manhattan. He looked to the server. "Keep 'em coming."
