CHAPTER ONE
new normal

Jay walks into the bedroom, holding his almost three year old on his hip, where Sam is getting dressed and says, "Look who's up"

Sam smiles and says, "Hi baby" walking over to her husband and grabbing her sassy almost three year old daughter, who is rubbing her eyes from just waking up, "Would you like some cherrios?"

Gracie nods her head, as Denise walks by and Sam says, "Dee, can you bring your sister into the kitchen and give her some cherrios?"

"Sure" Denise says, walking into the room to get her baby sister, who has her arms out for Denise to grab her, "While we get some cherrios, let me tell you how much boys suck" then they leave.

"Yes please" Jay states. Sam smiles, going back to her dresser to get out a pair of socks when Jay walks up behind her, wrapping his arms around his wife's waist, placing a couple soft kisses on her neck and says, "Thank you, for letting me move back in"

Sam turns around, placing her hands on her husband's toned chest and says, "Well, Dr. Roma says, it's the next step we need to take to continue to work on our marriage"

"And she was right" Jay smiles, tucking a strand of Sam's short brown hair, behind her ear, "We had fun last night right?"

Sam rolls her eyes and says, "We were drunk" when the doorbell rings, "That must be Lucy" then she grabs her pair of socks from the drawer and leaves the bedroom.

🌙🌙🌙

As the intelligence team makes their way onto a crime scene, where Voight is, Sam notices the bruising on his face and asks, "Hank, what the hell happened to your face?"

"It's not as bad as it looks" Hank says, then says to his team, "Listen. There is some bad dope out on the street and we are gonna find it. Fast. Now, Antonio is gonna take the lead. So, get on the horn with CFD right away. Get a list of all the ODs the past two days, the exact locations the bodies were found. Track down the 911 tapes, tox reports.."

"I got it, Hank. I'm good" Antonio says.

"Sarg, you want to tell us what's going on?" Brayden asks, "Why aren't you involved?"

"It's a COPA thing. They're still investigating the shooting" Hank says, making the couple look at each other, "Listen, I'm on the bench until it's resolved"

"Way to step up, bro" Adam says, towards Antonio.

"Stay out of this, Adam" Dawson states.

"Hey, enough!" Voight says, making Ruzek scoff, "Now listen, everything is gonna be fine, so stop talking and track down that bad dope" then he walks away.

"Okay, let's get to work" Antonio states, as everyone starts going in different directions. Sam walks over to Adam and says, "Hey, it's gonna be okay"

"I just hate how this is playing out. If Antonio had-" Sam cuts off her friend and says. "Adam, relax. Hank knows what he's doing. Come on, we got work to do" then a woman starts yelling from behind the crime scene about her son being one of the victims and Adam goes over to her to try and calm her down.

🌙🌙🌙

"Same tox report for all five DOA's." Jay says, standing next to the whiteboard on the intelligence unit, "Heroin cut with battery acid"

"Battery acid? Really?" Burgess says, sitting on Hailey's desk chair backwards.

"That means it's intentional. It means somebody's trying to put bodies on the street" Dawson says.

"Wait, so, is this business or is this some sicko serial killer out here just trying to kill people with dope instead of bullets?" Kevin questions.

"Well, all five ODs are on the west side between Sacramento and California" Brayden states, "It's confined to one area, which is a good thing"

"What about the crime scenes?" Dawson asks.

"Detectives found packets at three out of five locations. They all have the same logo, a spider" Sam says.

"Yeah, well, maybe we should call Voight, see if he can at least point us in the right direction" Adam says.

"No, we can't. Hank's off the books until COPA's done with the investigation" Antonio says.

"Right, yeah, I know that, but there's five people dead and the clocks ticking, so..." Antonio cuts Adam off and says, "Voight's not involved, you understand? He's been stripped. It's a violation to even talk to him about any of this" and everyone stays quite, "Alright, talk to Narcotics. See who the shot callers are and who's supplying product with a spider logo. All these kids copped somewhere. Hopefully that somewhere is connected to the same corner"

"I think they are" Hailey says, walking onto the bullpen with a file in hand, "I ran the phones. All five trace back to the same burner. Gotta be the dealer. Pinged it, looks like he's doing business on the corner of Sacramento and Fillmore"

"Okay" Antonio breathes out, "Here's what we're gonna do"

~~~

"We've got five dead bodies, Jalen" Antonio says, as he and Jay bring in the dealer selling the bad dope into interrogation, where Sam is already seated with a file in front of her.

"Make that six" Sam says, placing a photo in front of the dealer, "Patrol just found her in an alley off Lexington. Amy Moore, 19. Last number she dialed, same as the other five, your boy, Andre"

"Sorry, I don't know, no Andre"

"No? He's the skinny black dude who works the corner of Sacramento and Fillmore. You know, the one you sell heroin too? The one who just called cause he lost his jab" Antonio says.

"Y'all must have me confused with someone else. Like, for real. I don't know nothing about no dope" Jalen says.

"Really? Nothing?" Jay says, sitting on the bench behind Jalen.

"Yeah. Nothing"

Jay then unravels the evidence bag of the bad dope, "Then what's that?" then places it on the table, "We found that in a hidden compartment in your passenger door"

"It's not mine"

"Look, man. If you give up your supplier, you'll be out in five. If you don't, we're gonna charge you with narcotic induced homicide and you die in prison"

"So why don't you do yourself a favor, Jalen and start talking" Sam says.

"Alright, sure"

"Good" Sam says, clicking the pen, so she can write on the notepad.

"But only after you get on your knees and kiss my black ass" Jalen says, earning a slap to the back of the head by Jay.

Sam smiles and says, "Pass. But I'm sure you're gonna meet some new friends in prison that are gonna be happy to take you up on that offer"

~~~

"Alright, everybody. What else do we know about Jalen?" Antonio asks, as Sam walks out of the break room with a cup of coffee in hand.

"Um, he's affiliated with the black tiger posse, has two priors, both drug related" Upton states.

"Okay, so we work this up and down. Burgess, Atwater start with the kid on the corner, Andre. Wave those homicides under his nose, see if he bites. The rest of you work your sources and find Jalen's suppliers. Who sold the product to him? Who's behind the spider logo? And coordinate with Patrol. I want them to put up fliers so that everyone in the neighborhood knows what's going on out there"

"Put up fliers?" Adam questions, "You sure that's a good idea? Demand usually goes up when ODs start happening because the junkies think that the dope's super charged. Put word out, that might do more harm than good"

"I get it, but it's better to be transparent. This way the people decide for themselves"

"Right, even if it's gonna kill more people?"

Antonio sighs and says, "Okay, let's go. We don't have much time"

Jay, Sam, Brayden and Hailey get up from their desks and head out when they hear Dawson say, "Adam, hang back a sec"

🌙🌙🌙

Adam and Sam head to a bar called, 'Trick' runned by a man named Phil Gamble, that Voight secretly told Ruzek about.

"I told you. I ain't got nothing to say" Gamble says, doing some work at the bar. Sam crosses her arms over her chest and says, "We've got six kids on a slab at the morgue because of your dope, and you're gonna pull the 'I got nothing to say' card?"

"My dope? What makes you say that?"

"Phil, it's being sold in an area you control, and it's got your logo on it"

"You sure about that?"

"Very"

Sam takes out her work phone and shows the bar owner a picture of the dope with the spider logo on it and says, "Come on, Phil. What's going on here? Who's cutting your product with battery acid? That doesn't happen on accident"

"Look, bro, it's clear you don't know what we're talking about. So help us. Help us get this crap off the street before it kills anybody else. And we can work out some sort of deal, alright? But you got to help us now"

There was a moment of silence before Phil says, "No. Like I said before, I ain't got nothing to say. Now it's best you leave...officers"

Adam immediately walks away, while Sam looks at the man for a little bit longer before following after her friend.

🌙🌙🌙

Brayden, Sam, Jay, Hailey and Adam walk onto the unit to see Antonio looking through some files and Jay says, "No luck, man. Talked to a bunch of low level dealers. Kids really, like 16, 17. They don't know anything" then he holds up an evidence bag full of dope, "Did confiscate half an ounce, though."

"Yeah, we struck out too" Sam says, taking off her jacket and walking over to her desk, "Tried to squeeze this guy named Gamble but he wasn't having it"

"Gamble? Who the hell is he?" Dawson asks.

"Word is he controls the spot where the hot loads were being sold. But, like I said, he shot us down pretty quickly"

"Yeah, he seemed more confused than anything. Like he had no idea the ODs were connected to his dope" Adam says.

"How'd you hear about this guy?" Antonio asks.

"Uh, Adam's CI" Sam states, clicking the mouse on her computer.

"Yeah, I've got a source. He knows the area pretty good" Adam states.

"A source" Antonio says.

"Yeah"

"This source on the books?"

"No, not yet" Adam says, making Sam and the others look at him and Antonio.

"He got a name?"

"Excuse me?"

"Are you talking to Voight?"

"I'm talking to whoever can give us good info.." Antonio cuts him off, walking closer to him and says. "So, you're talking to him?"

"Antonio, we got six people dead" Adam states, as Antonio walks away, and Adam gets up from his desk, "What does it matter who I talk to or where I get my information from? I'm trying to solve the case!" then he walks back over to his desk, "This is insane"

Sam gets up from her desk to walk over to Adam's and says, "You should've told me, Adam"

"Look, Sam.." Sam cuts him off and says. "No, Adam. You should've told me it was Voight. I would've backed you up, but instead you lied to me" then she walks away to the locker room.

~~~

"Guys, that was Meredith. She asked us to be the pallbearers tomorrow" Kim says, hanging up with Al's wife. Trudy walks onto the unit with mail in her hand, which she distributes to the team and Antonio says, "Platt.."

"Yeah?"

"We need more officers on the street. We gotta be two deep on every dope corner in that neighborhood."

"I'll try but I only got so many bodies" Platt says, leaving the unit passing Jay who says. "Hey, I've been going back through Jalen's phone, and the last three days he made 22 calls to the same burner in Pilsen"

"Pilsen?" Antonio says.

"So a black dealer named Jalen who works the west side is chatting with a mexican cat in Pilsen?" Adam asks.

"That's right" Jay says. Sam walks onto the bullpen, saying, "Jay, I ran that name you gave me through HIDTA" handing Antonio a file, "And it came back hot. Guy named Ernesto Varga. Plugged to some major suppliers in Mexico"

"Alright, track him down fast"

🌙🌙🌙

Sam and Adam walk up to the apartment of Ernesto Varga, when they see the door open, so they draw their guns and slowly walk in.

"Chicago PD" Adam calls out.

"Ernesto Varga. Anybody home?" Sam says, as they go to search the apartment, when she sees Varga on the floor with a bullet in his head, "Body"

Adam snaps his fingers, indicating to the closed door next to them, when a gun shot goes through the wall, so Adam ducks in front of the brick wall, as Sam ducks in front of the wall near the bathroom.

"Shots fired at the police" Sam says, through the radio.

"Copy that, 5021 Kennedy . We've got cars rolling your way. Everyone else keep the channel open" Dispatch says.

As Adam goes to open the door another shot is fired through it, making them duck back again.

"1..2..3" Adam mouths, then quickly opens the door, as another shot is fired, and they duck back around the corner of the door.

"Oh my god" Sam says.

"What?"

"It's a kid"

"What?"

"It's a freakin' kid...hey, buddy. We're the police, okay? We're the police. Put the gun down"

"Son of a bitch" Adam breathes out.

"We're here to help you, okay?' Sam shouts to the kid, "you speak english? Habla inglés?"

"Put the gun down!" Adam shouts, "No more shooting, alright" then he turns his head to look in the room and the kid shoots again, "Screw this"

"Hey, hey, hey. Adam, don't move. Don't shoot. I got this" Sam says, taking her gun and slowly placing it on the ground, so the kid can see.

"Hey. What are you doing?" Adam asks.

"No mas pistola"

"Sam.."

"The gun's right there.." Sam says, to the little boy.

"Sam, pick up your gun"

"I got this. It's on the floor, okay, buddy"

"Sam. Sam"

"I got it"

"Sam, don't do this, please" Adam begs.

"I got this" Sam says, slowly showing herself from around the corner with her hands out in front of her, "You see that? It's just me and you, okay? My hands are up, guns on the floor" when Adam quickly crosses to the other side with his gun still drawn in front of him.

"Hey. Stand down. Stand down, Adam, I got this" Sam breathes out, slowly walking into the room with a scared kid, who is shaking the gun nervously in his hands, "Hey, look at me. Look at me. Put the gun down. Slow. It's okay, put the gun down and take your finger off the trigger. It's gonna be okay, I promise" then the boy slowly takes his finger off the trigger, "There you go"

Adam storms into the room, knocking the gun from the boys hand and Sam grabs onto him and he screams and cries in her arms, while Adam sits on the bed and takes a deep breath.

~~~

Antonio stands back up from looking at Varga's body as Sam says, "Varga was dead when we got here. We missed the shooting by 10 minutes. Give or take"

"Yeah, blood was still fresh" Adam says.

"But the kid is okay?" Dawson asks.

"Um, patrol took him down to Chicago Med to get checked out"

"Was he able to ID the shooter?"

"No, he was hiding in his room." Sam says.

"Said he heard someone arguing with his dad and two gunshots" Adam states.

"Alright, what's it look like to you? A robbery or what?" Antonio says.

"No, we found 20,000 dollars in cash and a Rolex, so definitely wasn't just a robbery"

"Yeah, more like a straight up hit" Sam says.

"Alright, you two need anything, let me know" Antonio says, before leaving the apartment.

A few moments of silence passed when Adam sniffles and asks, "What the hell was that, Sam? Why'd you go in like that? What was that?"

"Worried about the kid"

"And you thought I was gonna shoot him. I wasn't gonna shoot him"

"Adam, I hear you. And that is the right call. It's a kid with a gun. He wasn't listening, but I couldn't watch that happen, not when I have three of my own"

"I said I wasn't gonna shoot him" Adam says, making the brunette sigh, "Alright, look, I know it's a tough play. I didn't know what to do. But, Sam, you go in like that...The position you put me in, what choice do I have right there? I shoot a little kid or I watch him shoot you?" then he shakes his head, "That ain't right. It's just...I can't bear to have another one of my friends die this week, especially not my best friend. I wouldn't know what to do" then he looks over at Sam with his red puffy eyes starting to show.

Sam pulls Adam into a hug, who wraps his arms protectively around the brunette's small figure and says, "I'm sorry, Adam. I'm not going anywhere, promise"

🌙🌙🌙

Sam and Adam are now in interrogation with Jalen, when Sam places a photo of Varga, shot dead on the floor and says, "You recognize this guy?"

"This guy right here" Adam says, picking up the photo and grabbing onto the back of Jalen's neck, "That guy?"

"Ernesto Varga, ring a bell?"

"No" Jalen states.

"You called him 22 times this week" Adam says.

"I don't know what you're talking about"

"Jalen, it's over, man. We all know what's going on"

"And if we know, you can be damn sure Gamble knows" Sam says.

"Knows what?" Jalen says.

"The game that you and Varga are playing"

"Putting out poison under his logo. Trying to convince people it was him killing folks" Adam states. Sam leans on the side of the silver table and says, "Or maybe you were just trying to frame his ass. Hoping that we'd blame him for the ODs, get him off the street, open up the market"

"Look, either way, it's clear the two of you were trying to roll up old Phil Gamble, take his customers. That's clear"

"Did you know about the battery acid? Or was that Varga's idea?"

"Because if you didn't, we can work with you, man. Alright? We can blame it on a dead guy"

"Y'all, I keep telling you. I don't know what you're talking about" Jalen says.

"Jalen, I'm starting to lose my patience"

"Give me my lawyer, bitch"

"Bitch? Bitch?" Adam says, taking Jalen from the chair and pushing him up against the cement wall by his collar, "I'll give you your bitch. You and me we're gonna take a walk, and you're gonna tell me where the dope it"

As Sam was about to say something, Antonio walks in and shouts, "Let him go, Adam! Enough! Enough! Sam, bring him downstairs. Get him processed now"

Sam walks over to Jalen to grab him and tells him to move, so she can process him into the system.

~~~

Adam walks onto the bullpen saying, "Jalen just confessed. He gave up the stash house" and over to his desk to grab his gun.

"What? He lawyered up. You weren't even supposed to be talking to him" Antonio states.

"The address is 3220 Edgemonth road. There's a half kilo sitting there just waiting to kill another, 10, 20, 50 people"

"And he just volunteered this?"

"Yes"

"You're lying!"

"You wanna be right or you wanna save lives? It's your call!"

"Let's gear up and hit this place now"

🌙🌙🌙

The intelligence team rounds the corner and slowly makes their way to a barber shop, where the drugs are being stored.

"Hands up!" Atwater says, walking in, with the team behind him, yelling, 'Hands up now' or 'turn around' to 'nobody move'.

Sam and Jay make their way to the back door, guns still drawn, as Jay opens the door and they slowly make their way down the creepy hall, followed by Antonio and Kim, to another door with muffled talking behind it.

"You hear that?" Sam says.

"Yeah, I hear 'em. You guys good?" Jay says, making them nod, then he smashes the door open with the ram when Sam walks in and yells. "Police!" where they see an adult male, a couple teenagers and three kids, separating and putting the dope into baggies.

"Hands up!" Sam yells, as she, Jay and Kim pat everyone down, then escort them outside to the patrol cruisers.

Then all of a sudden the team runs back into the barber shop to see Antonio and Adam physically fighting each other.

"Hey! Hey!" Jay yelled, trying to get Dawson away from Adam, as Sam does the same with Adam.

"This ain't over, you hear me?!" Antonio yells.

"Let's finish it now!" Adam yells, as Sam and Kevin try and hold him back.

"Get outside now!" Jay yells, as he and Kim drag Antonio outside, and Kevin drags Adam to the back.

Sam and Hailey look at each other and the blonde says, "What the hell just happened?"

🌙🌙🌙

The team is back on the unit, doing some paperwork, when Voight walks onto the unit and Brayden asks, "Hey. You back on the job?"

"Got the official call an hour ago" Hank says, giving a handshake to the brunette.

"Good to see you boss" Kevin says.

"You too" Voight says, giving a handshake to Jay and Adam as well, "Hailey, Kim"

Sam gives Hank a hug and says, "Glad you're back"

Hank smiles then turns towards Dawson with his arms out, and with a bit of hesitation, Antonio goes in for a hug with the older man then says, "I'm glad you're back, Hank"

"Yeah, well...me too" Hank says, then turns to his team, "Listen, um, it has been a very long few days. With a lot of pain. A lot of anger. I get it. And I don't expect these emotions to just disappear overnight. But going forward, we need to be a team. One team. No more fighting. No more crap" then he walks back to his office.

🌙🌙🌙

Once Sam and Jay get dressed into their official chicago police uniforms for Al's funeral, the couple walks downstairs to where Denise is playing with Gracie on the carpet in the living room and Wyatt watching tv.

"Thanks again, you two, for watching Gracie while we attend the funeral" Jay says.

"Yeah, of course" Denise says. Gracie stands up and walks over to her mom holding up her arms and when Sam picks her up she says, "We'll be right back, baby, okay" then she kisses her cheek and puts her back down, "And we'll pick up some pizza on the way home, okay?"

🌙🌙🌙

As the crowd around the church are surrounded by the police of chicago, who raise their arms up in salute to Alvin Olinsky. The intelligence team, minus Hank (because Mereidth didn't want him to attend), are the pallbearers, who bring Al's coffin to the hearse. Then they slowly raise their hands to their heads in salute to Al, then slowly lower them, as tears start to fall from Sam's eyes.

a/n;

Chapter one done ✔️
And it was intense and way to sad for me when they were bring Al's coffin to the hearse 😭💔