The Chicago Files

P2

It was a sleepless night but nonetheless, you came in early greeting Trudy and heading upstairs. As you headed upstairs, you noticed the mess in Ruzek's office. You made a small groan, cursing Ruzek and his mess. You fixed up the table, cleaning up the crumbs.

"So it's you!" Jay surprised you, coming up the stairs, shrugging off his jacket. You questioned his comment, making him continue. "Ruzek is not a clean his area kind of guy but his desk is always clean,"

"Yeah no Ruzek rarely leaves his desk clean," You laughed, remembering one-time Ruzek was so caught up on going home, he left his laptop open and forgot to sign it out again and it went missing for 3 days. You pointed to the lounge, glimpsing at Jay. "Want some coffee?" He nodded, heading there following right behind you.

When you got to the kitchen, you saw him looking at his phone before shoving it down back in his pocket, walking over to you. You turned on the coffee machine, leaning against the counter.

"What's wrong Hals? You have your mopey face," The nickname caused a smile to form on his lips.

"I have a mopey face?" He questioned. You grabbed a mug, pouring the hot coffee inside.

"Yep, you also have another face I call the Halstead look that you and your brother are famous for but that's for another time," You put sugar on the cup before handing it to him. "3 spoons of sugar, just how you like it,"

You served yourself coffee, sitting down at the table. "So are you gonna tell me what's wrong?"

He sighed, rubbing his face. "Hailey is doing something dumb and possibly dangerous." Sipping your coffee, you thought what you could tell him to ease his tension.

"She's doing what Hailey does best," You admired Hailey, her determination and her fearlessness you envied. She didn't do what wasn't needed. But it was like Jay to worry, that man has his heart in his sleeve, even if he says differently. That's was one of the things you loved about him.

"I know you care about her, but she's gonna do it whether you like it or not, so just be there for her for when she does need you," He nodded, agreeing with you but still having doubts. "Don't let your feelings for her cloud your judgment. Hailey is one hell of a cop." Jay's eyes met yours, leaving both of you still.

The fax machine hummed to life, startling both of you. You got to the machine, reading the memo. "It's intel on the van," Jay had his hand hovering over your lower back "It got its picture taken, passing a red light a half-mile away from the first kidnapping and a witness spotted a white van an hour before the 2nd body was found,"

Hank came in, spotting both of you in the corner, reading the paper. "What do we got?" Jay moved back, letting you tell Voight.

"A lead with the van, it was reported stolen on Monday afternoon by a Freddy Brooks." You told him.

Hank looked at Jay, "call Uptown to meet you at Brooks's house," He walked toward his office.

"She had some family problems she can't make it," Hank remained silent, making eye contact with Jay, almost having a silent conversation.

"Go with Y/n," Both muttered the words 'what'. "its only a conversation and I need Halstead to have some sort of back up and this could be practice for you," He told you. Which didn't ease your nerves.

When Jay parked the car in front of Brooks's house, you tried to calm yourself as he stared at you. You were great on the sidelines but never on the outside. Jay knew this was new for you, and he tried his best not to overwhelm you. "Just stay in the car I got this, if you're not ready," You shook your head, forcing yourself to push your nerves to the side.

"I'm as ready as I'll ever be," Both of you walked to the house, ringing the doorbell waiting for a response. After 2 minutes with no answer, Jay knocked. Jay was about to pull out his gun when Brooks opened the door.

"I'm sorry about that I was in the backyard," He greeted us, wiping his hands with a dishcloth. "I'm assuming you're here for my stolen van?" Jay nodded, following him inside. He threw the cloth in the kitchen before heading into the living room, showing you two a couch.

"Were sorry to bother you, we just wanted to ask you a few questions," Jay took out his notepad. Brooks agreed sitting in front of us. "so go back to when you saw it last?"

"Uhm let's see I came home from work late at night and I parked the van in the corner of my house and walked to my house and went to sleep and when I got up from work it was gone," Jay wrote down on his pad before asking him if he noticed anyone doing anything suspicious around him.

"Not that I could think of, my neighborhood is pretty quiet," You got up, looking at his place seeing no personal memorabilia.

You would glimpse at Brooks, catching him staring at you. You walked to his dining table, seeing a full medication bottle sitting they're before looking back to Brooks.

"one more question, where were you yesterday afternoon," You asked him. He lifted his sleeves, resting them on the armchair. You noticed the small diamond-shaped tattoo sitting a few inches above his wrist. The tattoo caught your interest since mostly teenage girl decides to get one of those kinds of tattoos.

"Uhm lunch with a few coworkers," He looked around, fidgeting in his chair. "I have to get to work are we done here?"

"sure, I just need you to write down the name of the restaurant and coworker so we can confirm," Jay passed him the notepad with the pen.

After he wrote the names, we left heading back to the car.

You felt staring, making you turn around. It took you a second to recognize him but you saw J.T standing in the corner, watching you both.

"Jay," You called him, grabbing his attention. You pointed the boy out to him. He took a step forward, making the boy take a few steps back. "Just go in the car I got this," When you walked forward and saw that the little boy didn't walk away, you got closer.

"J.T right?" He slowly nodded his head. Once you got close enough you greeted yourself. "I'm y/n," You squatted, hopefully, able to gain trust.

"What are you doing out here?" He stayed quiet, staring at you.

"How about we go to the station and wait for your dad to pick you up huh?" You noticed the small tremble, he was terrified. "I'm not gonna hurt you. I work with the police were the good guys," He slowly walked to you stretching his arm out. "How about we go get ice cream?" He nodded, finally a small smile appearing in his face.