#I wanna add here that hank in this did in fact telling joke

[mersei47]

I think these gonna be my last doodle of 2024. see you all next year

[enchantedblackrose]

Flesh Wounds & Somedays

Flesh Wounds & Somedays

Jay Halstead/Reader

¡!Warnings: Infant abduction/kidnapping. SIDS. Violence against women. Swearing. Fluffy ending.

Still unedited, hoping to have the nice version up soon. Sorry in advance! Happy New Year's Eve, everyone! Please be safe ❤

Upon exiting the very stereotypical "mom van" you're greeted with harsh Chicago air stinging your face and it instantly makes your eyes water. You hastily blink back the tears though it's fruitless. Instead you pull the knit hat you're wearing further down your head and pull your scarf tighter. You keep the door open, huddling near the inside of the vehicle. Anything to stay warm. You scan the parking lot for any sign of your suspect. Anxiety starts setting in. It doesn't matter how long you've been doing this. The moments leading up to a confrontation always send your stomach plummeting 

"Easy now," Jay, sporting the store employee smock, whispers as he rolls a grocery cart by, indicating to your foot mindlessly tapping against the cement. Immediately you stop. You give him a small smile. He winks in response. You pretend to dig around in your purse, anything to give the impression you're distracted when in reality all your senses are in overdrive. 

Voight's voice barks your last name through your strategically placed com. "Suspect approaching from the east. You know what to do. Everyone else, stand down for now! We don't wanna spook him."

You open the back passenger door before closing the driver's. Your fingers work quickly at unfastening the baby from the seat. You then drape a blanket over the baby for protection against the cruel elements.

It's subtle, but you cannot ignore the feeling you're being watched. The reality is you are. Your whole team is looking out for you. But this is something different entirely, something sinister. You suppress a shudder. Securing the blanket once more, you hoist the baby from the carseat and hold the infant against your chest. With a push of a button, the passenger door slides shut. You fiddle with the keys, making sure the van locks before tossing them in your purse. 

You coo at the little bundle snuggled against your chest. Your steps deliberately appear hurried.

And that's when he emerges from a dark blue conversion van parked one whole row over. You spot him out of the corner of your eye and he is unmistakably walking towards you. But you stick to the plan. Your pace slows just barely, not wanting your target to sense the change. You also don't want to actually reach the store entrance and potentially bring harm to the public even with Al and Ruzek inside.

He suddenly appears in front of you, eyes frantically dart around before resting on you. He's disheveled. clothes are wrinkled and slightly stained. His greasy, unwashed black hair is plastered to his head. He smiles which unnerves you. But you return it anyway. His grin disappears. "Give me that baby. And you won't get hurt...much" He removes his right hand from his coat pocket and you notice the blade he's gripping. That's new, you think to yourself. He's growing desperate. Still, you have to get him to attempt an attack or abduction.

"No!" You pull the baby impossibly closer to you. "Leave or I'm gonna yell for help." The threat is feeble on purpose but still seems to evoke rage inside the man.

He lunges at you. His body weight sends you stumbling but you remain on your feet. He wildly pulls at your arms and at the baby, trying to break your grasp. He swings his left arm and his fist perfectly catches your eye.

"Son of a bitch!" You cry. Your foot slams onto one of his and you use that moment to headbutt him square on his chin. He lets out a primal scream before sticking the blade into your upper thigh and you can't help but yelp in pain. He tugs the baby out of your arms. The blanket drops to the ground.

You watch the changing expressions dance across his ugly face: anger, elation at his success, confusion.

"What the hell?"

It's the opening you need. Your weapon is drawn on him. "That's right, you stupid son of a bitch. The baby's fake. Chicago PD! Get down, face down."

Still in his stupor, he obeys. You kick the blade away just as Antonio and Jay come running from opposite directions. Antonio searches and mirandizes him. You return your gun to its inside waistband holster.

As your adrenaline begins to slow, you feel exactly how much pain you're in. It's evident that your eye has started to swell and there's a throbbing sensation in your thigh. You stagger a bit, but a pair of strong arms steady you. 

He sighs and you look at Jay. "Don't start," you warn. 

"I should have been there. I ended up carrying groceries for this old lady..."  Guilt is written all of his handsome features.

"Did she tip you?" You joke, but he stares at you. "Stop. We knew this might happen. He had to attack me." The rest of the team appears and Jay drops his voice to a whisper.

"Yeah, attack like come at you, not actually harm you." He looks as if he's about to argue more when the sound of tires squealing interrupts.

You flash concern. "He wasn't alone." Your eyes meet those of your colleagues.

Voight breaks the silence. "Antonio, get that piece of garbage out of here.Halstead, get her to Med. The rest of you let's head back." You open your mouth to protest, but Hank won't even let you get a word in. "That leg's gonna need stitches. Now go." He stares at you until you move. Jay lends his support as you gently lean into him. It's not as needed as it is comforting. 

//

You were seen and stitched in no time; the wound to your thigh was mostly superficial. Your swollen eye, which was now bruising, was being iced. You would have left Med sooner if your weirdly overcautious boyfriend hadn't insisted that his own brother see you before checking out. It took Will saying it, but Jay finally seemed to accept you were, in fact, fine.

You want in that interview room more than you've wanted anything in a long time.

"Absolutely not," Voight answers when you ask. "This guy doesn't respect women. I don't need you going in there so he can admire his handiwork." He waves a hand indicating to your black eye you're still icing. Hank returns to the observation window to watch Antonio and Atwater interrogate a very non talkative perp.

You remain in the bullpen with Adam, Jay, Mouse and Alvin to stare at that damn board some more.

Alvin recaps; all of you hoping to discover something, anything at all, that could help solve the case. 

"Here's what we know. 2 or more suspects working to abduct infants. 1 in custody. Greg Jones. Couple of parking tickets, nothing too serious. Attempted three abductions, not including today's, in broad daylight, over the course of two weeks. Only one was he successful, if you call it that, but the infant was later abandoned at Firehouse 51."

You interrupt. "That baby left at 51, was a boy, right?"

Al double checks before answering,  "Yeah."

"The other two attempts were on baby girls," Jay adds, possibly sensing where your mind is going.

You nod. "And today, I had a lavender blanket to cover the doll. One would probably assume it was for a baby girl. Just hold on a sec. Mouse," you holler over to him, knowing he'll pull up what you want faster than anyone. "Check hospital records and obituaries, plesse! Any infant deaths in the last month? Can you look into Jones' social media, too? Girlfriends and such." You've hardly finished the request and Mouse has the information for you. "How many of the babies that died were girls?"

"Two."

"Do you have the mothers' names? Any link to Jones?"

Mouse 's eyes scan the screen in front of him. "Tiffany Young...girlfriend of Jones according to Facebook, lost her baby girl last month."

You nearly hop up from your seat. "Text us her last known." You nod to Jay, asking without words if he's ready. Before you can walk away, Mouse calls your name.

"She was reported missing three days ago." 

The whole team exchanges uneasy glances.

//

In a bizarre turn of events, Tiffany Young had reported herself missing. Jones and Young had been working together to abduct a baby girl with a plan to then flee the state. You and the team discovered that Young was conspiring against Jones going as far as plotting his murder to take place after a successful kidnapping. He would look responsible for her disappearance and his death would appear as a suicide. At least in theory.

It wasn't the best thought out plan, but in these situations they seldom were.

"I still don't understand," said Adam. You were all gathered around a large table at Molly's trying to relax after a long day. Well not all, Antonio made arrangements to see his kids. Al had also rushed off. "Why plan to off Jones?"

"She blames him for their daughter dying." You say taking a sip of your drink. "I read the report, even though it was SIDS, he was the only one there at the time." Everyone is quiet for a moment, presumably lost in their own thoughts.  It takes Herrmann coming around, asking who wants another round for the conversation to resume. 

Thanks to the refills and a few well timed jokes, the mood of the night has drastically shifted to a much happier one. An hour or so goes by when Jay lightly squeezes your knee under the table. You understand the gesture, surprised that he's waited this long to signal his want to leave. Jay hadn't really wanted to go out in the first place. "I'm gonna head out," you tell the group standing  only when you've finished the last of your drink. There's a chorus of goodbyes. As you walk away, you hear Jay excuse himself to use the bathroom. You know he'll leave for your place afterwards. Neither of you know exactly why you keep the fact you're dating from your friends. Maybe the sneaking around is thrilling. Maybe it's just nice having something of your own. Regardless, it's the worst kept secret of the precinct, though no one has any proof and they ultimately leave you alone about it.

You've only changed into a tee shirt when a knock beckons you. You let Jay in. The door has just closed and he's ordered you to take your pants off.

"We need to work on your foreplay," you quip, but Jay's not laughing.

"I'm serious. I need to see again that you're okay."

You sigh, but shimmy out of your jeans. His genuine concern for you was slightly overwhelming in the best way, never having experienced anything like it before. Carefully, you pull back the adhesive bandage exposing your fresh flesh wound, still very bright pink and aggravated. 

"I'm so sorry," he murmurs. 

"It's not your fault," you say, trying to reassure him.

"I hate that you were hurting and I couldn't do anything." He pulls you for a tight embrace while mindful of your thigh. He's completely still for a moment, breathing you in and finding peace in your arms.

Suddenly, he picks you up off your feet. It catches you off guard and you giggle. "What are you doing?"

He doesn't answer. Instead he takes you to the bathroom and sets you on the counter near the sink. He starts rummaging through your medicine cabinet, pulling out gauze, bandages, and rubbing alcohol. He grabs a clean washcloth from the towel rack.

You raise one eyebrow in question. "I thought I had Detective Halstead, not Doctor."

"Tonight you have both." You bit down on your lip to keep from laughing, but the misconstruction of his words hit him. "That came out wrong. That's not at all what I meant." Laughter escapes from you and Jay joins in, shaking his head and telling you to keep your mind out of the gutter.

"Mm, it's difficult when you're around." You give him a quick peck on the lips.

He turns the warm water on, letting it run for a minute. He tests it, making sure it's not too hot before soaking the wash cloth. He rings it out and looks you in the eyes. "I'm not sure this is going to feel all that great.'

You nod your understanding and Jay very gingerly begins to clean your wound. You talk to keep yourself distracted. "I can't stop thinking about the case. Clearly, they're competent for trial and I'm not justifying what they did, or tried to do. But I can't imagine losing a baby. Just the thought…" Your voice drops off. You wish you could leave work at work, and sometimes you can, but tonight when you're struggling to do so, you feel extra fortunate to have someone who truly understands.

Jay has almost finished cleaning your wound, allowing it time to breathe before covering it with a fresh bandage. "I know," he says. "I kept thinking about if that had been us and our baby, what would stop me from going crazy."

Your heart flutters a little faster, "Our baby?" It's the first time he's ever said anything like this.

He suddenly avoids eye contact with you. "Yeah? I mean someday...down the road if we are still...and that's something we...you want...maybe?" His cheeks are flushed and he glances at you, his green eyes full of hope.

"Jay Halstead," you offer him a big smile, "have you been thinking about our someday?" He nods, giving you a smile of his own. You wrap your legs around his waist, pulling him close to you. One of his hands rests on the countertop, the other lovingly brushes your cheek before you nuzzle into the spot just below his neck. You plant a kiss there. "Tell me more about your plans."

"Well they definitely don't include you getting stabbed again," he pulls away just enough to cover your thigh with the new bandage. A slight pout plays at your lips having not gotten the answer you wanted. Jay, seeing this, chuckles. "C'mon." He lifts you off the counter, carrying to the bedroom. 

Gently, he places you onto the bed. You watch as he kicks off his shoes and strips down to his boxers. He catches you admiring his physique and shoots you a wink. But you pretend to still pout and cross you arms. It causes Jay to shake his head, bemused by you. 

Pulling the covers back, he slides into bed and brings you to his side. He kisses the top of your head, fingers tracing a nonsensical pattern along your arm. "I see lots for us, love. So many ways things could play out, but it's always with you at my side."

"Yeah?" 

"Oh yeah, definitely," and with that Jay launches into different versions of the future he's envisioned. Some are improbable, others imaginative, many seem possible, but all include you, just as he said.

[shadowrebel-17]

An Endless Journal - Second Entry

Entry 2

12/15/16

Hey Ellie.

I’m finally in my room… and what an upgrade! But… its why and how I got this upgrade that’s… hard to… put into words.

Guess I should start at the beginning.

First off, while on the plane, I had the strangest dream, there were these three nice looking guys in it. And no, it wasn’t that kind of dream… more… terrifying in the obscure way.

They were warning me of something coming or reaching for me.

The first was a soldier with floppy surfer hair, the second a chiseled black guy, but The last one, he was a dashing-yet creepy older guy who said

“You don’t understand, do you? But you will. In time.” And there was this big volcano and… that’s where I woke up.

But that’s not the weirdest part. The second guy? In my dream? He shows up for real walking down the aisle and Diego had the brilliant idea of shoving me into him THEN putting me on the spot.

I… well his name is Sean Gayle and he’s HOT and charming as hell, and tall, and apparently is the star quarterback for our university’s team (but I didn’t find that out ‘till later) so��. Yeah anyway my mouth moved before I could stop it, as usual. And I just blurted out that I had dreamt about him and all that… yeah not my best moment.

He didn’t seem to mind though. Definitely want to get to know him better.

Oh and apparently Diego filmed all of this, I have no doubt for blackmailing me into helping him on our finals… but I’d do that anyway.

So after that we noticed that the flight was taking longer than expected so I went up to check what was up with our pilot.

On the way met some of the other ten winners talking with our tour guide, Lila. Who might I add is… ok remember “tour guide Barbie” from Toy Story 2? Yeah that’s her. Perky and sunny as a Pina Colada. Great… now I want one.

Ok so anyway I go to ask the pilot and….. he’s totally asleep. Yep. Feet on dash, head on chest. And probably I would have flipped out if… if it wasn’t for the fact that I got distracted by the fact that HE was the beach-boy soldier in my dream earlier. Yep. Well… that and the fact of that southern drawl, blue eyes and that smile…

Oh yeah and apparently he gives nicknames to people that annoy him. So I’m “Princess”

Honesty, I… kinda like it. And because he seriously looks the part of a scruffy ranger I called him Aragorn.

Yeah and I may have a crush on him too… did I mention those eyes? He’s like, part Han Solo, part Aragorn, part Colonel Jack O’Neill from SG-1.

Anyway, right after that things got… scary like, frickin’ terrifying.

This big, black storm front hits, and throws me into a wall. And its bad. Like fire ball lightning and deafening thunder, Armageddon like bad.

I kinda got the sequence of things a little jumbled in my memory, honestly for the first half of it I just clung to a seat in shock, taking it all in ‘till Lila shook me out of it and helped me to a seat.

Somewhere in there the plane got hit and the engines died, people screaming and all that. All but one. There’s this girl with us, with a blue hoodie and she’s got a scar across one eye and has these dark eyes. There’s something off about her not like… bad just… she wasn’t afraid. if anything she looked… determined.

So yeah pretty much beside her it was Jake, he’s the pilot and Sean that kept their wits about them. The girl in the seat next to me, she… she looked worse then me at this point. About to have a panic attack. I cracked a joke like, a bad one, you know. The Cantaloupe one. Yeaaah… hey I did pretty good for short notice!

Anyway, I think it helped. Cause, like she laughed and started breathing again. And let me tell you… that laugh. Her grin. Okay yeah we helped eachother keep our nerves. She held my hand tight as did I in return.

Oh her name is Quinn and you have got to me her. Bright, bubbly, long sweeping red hair… looks like a Disney princess. And just as easy to be with.

Okay fine I like her too. A lot. Do I sound desperate?

Like… three people I’ve just met and I wanna spend more time with them? Maybe it’s the air here. Magical.

Okay I digressed. So somewhere after that Jake breaks us out of that storm and its as brilliant blue as it was before. Like… almost never happened. Except for the engines still being dead as you and I after that party Kaitlyn and her roomies threw last semester.

Honestly? Jake is one hellova damn good pilot. Like Tom Hanks in the movie Sully good.

He, without engines, got us on the ground AND parked in a hanger, coasting through it all. No one answered at the tower though. Which was spooky and it gets weirder later on.

But he got us down in one piece, and Oh My god this island is STUNNING! Green as an emerald gem from the air, caught a glimpse of crystal rivers and waterfalls on the way in and this big ol’ smoking volcano in the middle.

So on the ground got to meet the rest of the group better… had an encounter with one of the other girls while we were unloading our bags.

I.. may have been hitting on Sean. Like can you blame me? He reminds me of Kaitlyn’s friend Chris, with his gentle manners yet strength of character, wait.. heh, I think they are on the same team lol! Anyway he’s just… taller and so… how to… eh. Ok so anyway… back to what happened.

She, Michelle, lit into me for flirting with Sean, like straight outa Bad Girls Club. And well, there’s history with those two but they’re not together.

I… yeah that was rude but, hey, with what we’ve been through, frayed nerves and short words are forgiven. Anyway, we are ok with eachother now.

She and Sean ended up in an argument though. So I backed off from that. That’s when I found the first of several odd things. A honkin’ huge tranquilizer dart. (Yes honkin’ is a word. I’m from the Midwest remember?)

Whatever critter it was used on had to have been big. Or is really out of it.

I hope.

That’s also when I noticed creepy scar girl in the hoodie was watching and listening to us.

You know, Diego and I are also wondering about something. That there are Ten Students that won, yet not counting Jake the pilot and Lila the tour guide, we’ve got Sean Gayle, Michelle, his friend Craig (must be another football player judging from his jacket.) Grace who is one smart, sweet little lady, Quinn, and umm… the ivy league loudmouth, who’s name escapes me. [A scribbled in note of “Aleister” is apparently added later]

Then Zahra, emo-chick, that’s a petty name by the way, Raj, big playful fellow. He’s cool. Then Diego and I. That makes ten… she makes eleven.

What’s her story I wonder.

Anyway now the weirdness really picks up. There is no one here.

I mean NO FREAKING PERSON!

Besides us the whole place is abandoned. Its creepy. Like that ship, the Mary Celeste. Everything is in its place, half finished cups, luggage etc. Just… people.. gone. Very Twilight Zoney.

I’m still waiting for the You Tube prank folks to pop out.

Jake and I check out the control tower, empty like everything else but… there were these lights, in and on the forest and the air, like I imagine the Aurora Borealis to be like. Only saw them for a few moments in the air there. Not back outside. Now Grace had mentioned earlier this place as a very special ecosystem. So perhaps its like those glow-y plankton in the Pacific just, airborne. Anyway, it was magical. Aaaand yes I think I made Jake blush by holding his hand. .

Also found out he’s an ex-navy pilot. Some altercation with an officer.

Aaand made a fool of myself… heh, and I remeber it pretty well so here it is:

Jake: “Look, I’m from Louisiana, and if ferrying rich jerks around a couple times a week is the price I gotta pay for never setting foot back there, hell I’ll pay it. Been sleeping in a beach hammock in Costa Rica ever since.”

Me: “That sounds lonely”

J: “Uh yeah, that’s the appeal” (man that crooked grin of his… Though this time I wonder… if it isn’t forced.

Me: “I mean, I get wanting to get away for a little while but… don’t you want more? You know, someone to come home to… someone to listen to you… someone to hold you all through the night…”

I know! Gosh! I gotta think before I talk! His… response though… Looking back now I’m not sure if he minded my… blunder.

“You offering, Princess?”

Like… totally teasing me… right?

“what?! No- I.. I just meant.. in theory…”

Yep… damn… blew it.

“In theory, I wanted to be the best pilot the Navy had ever seen. In practice… well you cant beat a cold beer and a Caribbean sunset.”

We talked more as well… honestly didn’t take that long to check the tower in comparison.

I also quick checked out the beach with Quinn, Raj, Craig and Michelle too. Man… Quinn is not subtle. And that is not a bad thing… she um, gawd I’m blushing again, so we went swimming and she, considering what she went through on the flight was so, happy. I mean skipping and splashing and flirting.

She’s beautiful Ellie. That’s about all I can say at the moment.

She did have one down moment though. Referencing how she wasn’t always this way and that after last year she decided to make the most out of life. I wanted to ask more but she was too serious so… things got wet ;) (splash splash)

And OMG and there was this flying butterfy-seahorse! It… it was as bright and shimmering as that Aurora I saw with Jake. Only Quinn and I saw it before it flew away though.

Craig had buried the sleeping Raj in the sand.

Anyway, I wanted to unpack before it got much later so I could go exploring more so we all went back to the group and that was when we had found out just how devoid of people this place was. In Sean’s words. “Where the hell was everyone!”

After getting over the shock we dropped our luggage in the lobby and split up into groups to look around.

Seriously, this resort is beautiful. Stunning. A dream come true! … if it wasn’t so… so.. empty.

Jake said he’d go with Brain Trust (Grace, btw love his habit of nicknames, I might stick with it!) And look around the pool area, Zahra and Lila to the ballrooms, I went with Craig, Raj, Sean and Michelle to the restaurant. My stomach made that call.

Also noticed hoodie-girl was missing. Weird.

Anyway at the restaurant named Tortuga. (Cant hear that name without seeing Jack Sparrow lol) like the rest of the place, seems everyone left in a hurry. Even the credit cards were left on the table.

Sean pointed out that the Volcano was supposed to be dormant. That big thing out the window was definitely not dormant. Very steamy. Eagle eye there also spotted some kind of flashing beacon. Maybe a building or something near the mountain.

Anyway we went to compare findings with everyone else.

The pool didn’t have much other then being abandoned.

The ballrooms had been set up in some kind of retro-roaring twenties wedding.

Then… there was that big portrait on the wall. Aleister said it was Everett Rourke, the owner of the hotel. But damn… he was the last guy from my dream on the plane. The older guy with the creepy saying. Apparently he’s some kind of real life Tony Stark genius business man.

I don’t get something though… I get the feeling Grace is attracted to the snob, er Aleister.

She found something else though by the pool. By a damaged fence a foot long tooth! Man hate to see the animal that came from. Maybe that’s why there was that Tranq dart I found earlier.

So basically we are all now completely puzzled and worried and bewildered on what to do next.

And then freaky girl pops up behind me and says that its getting dark and we should all go to bed.

She says she was also looking around like us but wouldn’t share what she found… I think she trust me as much as I trust her… which ain’t much.

But she’s right. Oh and Lila at least knows her. Called her Estella.

So basically, hehe, consensus was (at Zahra’s provocation) to pick any room we wanted.

I snagged myself the honeymoon suit.

Just. Cause.

It has got the most amazing view! And its own hot tub! Candles, roses. The works. Aaand then Diego shows up and I almost mistake him for someone else. He’s not gonna let me live that down will he. Not telling him who I thought it was either cause then he’ll only make it worse! Or… better… heh. Love that guy.

Then he found this romantic note, with two different messages on it:

“I must see you one last time before tomorrow… Meet me at our spot in Neptune Cove. Midnight” and “I’ll be there.”

Oh my goodness I’m so tired… looong day. And it wasn’t over yet lol!

So basically I also got talked into going to a midnight impromptu pool party or “Raj Rage” as the big guy called it.

After all the drinks it’s a little fuzzy.. but I know Jake called Craig Drax, such a perfect fit! He also showed me that apparently he is quite thoughtful.

I… may have missed an opportunity with Sean but I saw Estella sitting alone up on the hill and well, I wanted to know more so excused myself a moment to go talk to her.

We… actually connected. Least… I think we did. I got the feeling that she’s been very hurt in the past and has little trust in people. Explains her attitude. Actually managed to get a smile out of her. Briefly. Before she left. Saying that the people in her life usually get hurt. And she didn’t want that to happen to me.

….. well okay then. That’s… confusing. But at least I’m getting to know more about her. She’s not so scary after all. Just… now I want to find out what hurt her in her past so maybe I can help.

Diego says I have a big heart and a big mouth. And that both get me in trouble. As you well know.

Anyway after Craig soaks everyone with a cannonball I go to get more towels…

Ellie, I don’t think I’ll ever forget what I saw. Something big with muscles and glowing eyes was staring at me from the bushes. With everything that had happened. I’m afraid I lost it. I screamed.

Sean, Quinn and Jake came over first but what ever it was it was gone. I’m not sure everyone believes me. Heck I’m not sure I believe me.

Kinda killed the party too. Which sucks.

Anyway at least this awesome huge bed makes up for it. Kinda.

Hopefully tomorrow we can figure out what’s going on.

G'night Ellie.

-S.