Fighter

Chapter 11

Back at the district, the squad had been busy with their latest case. Three adult females, had been murdered down by the Pier, and they were having a rough go with suspects. Jay had been preoccupied with Erin on his mind. Why had she come back after months of silence? He was so confused and hurt, but also after seeing her last night, he wanted nothing more than to curl up next to her and pretend nothing had changed between them. He missed her, and he would do just about anything to have her back. He thought about his mother's wedding ring still sitting home in his nightstand and swore that he'd get his chance now that she was back.

"Alright. Halstead? You and Ruzek head out to talk to Maggie's family. After we find out if there's a correlation between these three women, we can call it an early day." He said, handing Ruzek the address. "Sounds good, boss. Hey...how's Erin doing?" He asked stopping in front of Voight. The question earned him an unreadable expression. "She's good. I think she'll be here for a bit. Get me those details." And with that, their Sargent returned to his office, closing the door behind him. Jay caught Al's look. "Don't take it personally. He's got a lot going on right now." The older detective said. "Right." Jay rubbed a hand on the back of his neck, in confusion. What was he missing here? "Jay? You ready?" Ruzek asked, heading for the stairs. He grabbed his jacket and followed, taking one more look behind him, watching Al enter the office.

Inside, Voight rested his head in his hands, before noting the new presence in the room. Looking up as Al took a seat in front of him. "How bad is it?" His old partner knew when things were rough. You would have to, for how long they had worked together. He shook his head. "Cancer. She just found out." Al was taken back, since he too, looked at Erin as family. She had been apart of the Voight family almost as long as he had known them. "Jesus. So she's here for treatment?" He asked, watching as Voight nodded. "Listen. While she's undergoing this treatment, I need you to take over some of these cases. I can't leave her alone for this." "Of course. She'll be okay, you know that." "I just can't help thinking about how it already took one person I love. I can't lose her forever, too. At least when she was in New York, I knew where she was. She was fine. When we took her in, away from Bunny, she was safe. When we kept her away from Charlie, she was safe." He paused, rubbing his hand down his face in frustration. "But this...this I can't save her from." "She's a fighter. She's made it through everything life has thrown at her this far, right? Nothing takes down Erin Lindsay." Al said matter of fact. "You're right. Let's get back to work on this so I can go home." He said, before turning back to the case files in front of him.
Jay and Adam returned to the district with plenty of information on their case. As it turned out, the three women murdered, had all attended the same gym. After their encounter at the gym for the security tapes dating back a few months, they dropped it all at the district for processing. Voight had excused them all for the day earlier and headed back to his home.