⋆° დ ༄ UNTIL THERE WAS TROUBLE
chapter thirteen. anthem.

Sam walks onto the intelligence unit, refreshed as ever, to find it empty, except for Voight's office, where Hank and Al are, and she walks over and knocks on the open door.

"Sam" Hank smiles, getting up from his desk to give the brunette a hug, "How you doin'?"

"A lot better, actually"

"Hey kid" Al says, also giving the brunette a hug. Sam smiles and says, "Hi Al"

"We just got called to a crime scene. Wanna join?" Hank asks.

"Yes please"

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Hailey and Jay turn around expecting to talk with just Hank and Al but as soon as Jay spots Sam, he freezes, unable to move.

"Sam" The blonde says, giving the brunette a hug, "glad to have you back"

"Thanks. Good to be back"

As the awkward tension between the couple increased, Hailey says, "one shot to the heart, no witnesses"

"Tact, patrol, SWAT swept the area. Shooters in the wind" Jay says, lifting the crime scene tape up, still staring at his wife, "Hey Sam"

"Hi"

Jay looks behind him to see his wife one more time before walking off with Hailey.

"Talk to campus security. Get surveillance" Hank tells Al, who nods his head and walks away, "A lot of people here today. Somebody saw something"

"Well, we know David Dixon and Chris Taylor got into a fist fight. It set this whole thing off. We can't find Dixon." Dawson says.

"I'm texting Ruzek right now. He said he's still working undercover with that gang in Michigan" Kevin says.

"Tell him to stay under. Maybe get a lead on Dixon" Hank says, before walking away with Burgess, who gives the brunette a quick hug.

"Good to have my favorite detective back" Kevin smiles, pulling Sam into a hug.

"Hey!" Dawson says, nudging the officers arm, "my turn" then brings the brunette into a hug, "We missed you. Hasn't been the same the last few months"

"How's, um, Jay been doing?" Sam asks, hesitantly, stuffing her hands into her coat pockets.

"He's been a wreck" Kevin states.

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Sam opens her locker at the district to put in some fresh clean shirts, then closes the door and jumps back when she sees her partner.

"Bray, Jesus. You know I hate being scared" Sam says, nudging his shoulder.

"I couldn't resist" Porter says, bringing his partner into a hug, "You know who I had to partner with when you were gone?" then detaches from, "Al"

Sam laughs and says, "I'm sure it was fine"

"It was horrific. You should see his covert car" Brayden says, "it's good to have you back though. Hasn't been the same"

"So I've been told. Everything been going okay around here?"

"There's definitely been some tension in the air. Mostly between me and Jay" Brayden says, folding his arms over his chest. Sam clears her throat and says, "why?"

"Severide told me why you left"

Sam looks at the ground and says, "oh"

"If you need anything, you know I'm here"  Brayden says, placing his hand on his partner's shoulder.

"Yeah, thanks"

"I like your hair. It looks good" Brayden smiles, making the brunette smile.

"Can we have a minute Porter" Jay says, walking into the locker room, making Brayden look at Sam, who nods her head and walks away, "hey"

"Hi"

"I missed you and you look great" Jay says, but Sam stays silent, "how was the, uh, trip?"

"It was good. Kelly?" Sam asks, pointing to her eye, indicating the black eye on Jays face.

"Oh. Yeah. I don't blame him"

Sam sighs and says, "Jay, I put in a transfer order"

"What?"

"This is my last shift at the 21st, I'm going over to Narcotics"

"You can't leave"

"It's already done, Jay. Voight already signed off on it. I just gotta give it to Platt."

"Sam.."

"Listen Jay, I can't work with you, and...and look at you everyday, knowing what you did. It's not fair to me. You hurt me in a way that I never thought you could"

"I'm sorry"

"I know, but it doesn't change what you did." Sam says, walking away, "and I told Will you'll be staying with him for a while, and he's thrilled to talk to you about why you made him part of your lie" then she leaves, leaving a speechless Jay at on the bench, putting his face into his hands.

~~~

"Chris Taylor" Antonio says, taping his picture onto the board, "Was a point guard at CCU. Local kid from the Wild Hundreds. Smart kid, too. He was pulling a 3.5 as a Political Science Major"

"Any priors from the neighborhood?" Hank asks, sitting at Atwater's desk, leaned back in his chair.

"One. He got popped for possession in high school, he did community service, he was clean after that"

"Brianna said Chris were getting threats for the anthem protests" Jay says.

"Alright, well check campus security, social media, see if any threats are credible" Hank says.

"The one person we know was blogging threats against athletes was David Dixon" Hailey says, taping his picture onto the board next to Taylor's, "Dixon's been on the FBI's radar for hate crimes. He got busted beating an immigrant in Indiana. Put him in the hospital with a skull fracture. Never went to trial because the victim got deported"

"Dixon and Chris got into a fight at the rally, and Dixon's still in the wind" Brayden says.

"Hey, is Ruzek still under with these guys?" Voight questions.

"As far as we know"

"Okay, I just finished with campus security. I got something" Kim says, sitting at her desk, as everyone gathers around her, "This is a basic timeline of Chris' murder. It starts at 10:42. This is 10:47. And that's Dixon" then points to the computer screen, "Now, this is a different camera 10 minutes later." then Kim switches the security footage to the parking garage, where they see someone follow Chris to his car, "2 minutes after that..."

"You can't see his face" Sam says.

"Yeah, but you can see his jacket. I mean, it looks a lot like Dixon's"

"Let's find this guy" Hank says. Kevin walks onto the unit and says, "Yeah, we already got him, Sarg. Ruzek arrested his Alt-Right ass five minutes ago"

"Huh. Good, let's have a talk with him"

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Sam is now at a crime scene with the team, where someone tried to do a drive by at Denny Wood's daughter, who protested at the rally, now looking over the car that gunshots hit with the crime techs.

"Sam?" Adam says, walking over to the car, where Sam, Brayden and Hailey are. Sam turns around and smiles as the two hug, "Hey"

"How are you?"

"I'm good"

"Damn, it's good to have you back. It's been weird without you" Adam says, stuffing his hands into his coat pockets, "How's Gracie?"

Sam smiles and says, "A happy little baby"

"Good"

A few minutes later, Hank walks over to them with Jay by his side and Ruzek says, "He has a piss poor shot"

"Or he's just trying to scare us" Jay says.

"Any other witnesses?" Voight asks.

"No, not yet. We're still looking. Crime techs are processing some of the shell casings" Sam says. 

"Alright, get them to ballistics" Hank says, walking over to Woods and his daughter, Brianna.

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"We got ballistics" Adam says, looking at his computer, "Bullets in the drive by are a match to the bullet that shot Chris"

"Dixon couldn't have been the shooter, then" Kevin says, walking to his desk with his coffee mug.

"He still could've ordered it" Al states.

"Yeah" Hank says.

"Or maybe not" Kim says, walking onto the unit with Antonio right behind her, "We found the Wrangler from the drive by" then she tapes the picture of the car onto the board, "VIN number was defaced, and the plates that Halstead gave us, stolen off another vehicle. Somebody wanted this car to disappear"

"Yeah, and it had a custom V8 LT1 Corvette engine. Only 112 of them were sold in this city in the last two years. Only three were installed in Wranglers. And one of them belonged to Marcus Bradley" Antonio says.

"The assistant coach at CCU" Atwater states.

"Let's talk to him" Hank says.

~~~

Sam walks down the stairs from the unit and opens the caged door to head for Sergeant Platt's desk and says, "You wanted to see me, Sarg?"

"Two things. 1. Good to have you back and 2." Platt says placing a piece of paper in front of the brunette, "What is this?"

"My, um, transfer papers"

"Yeah, I know that, but why?"

"Because, I just need a fresh start okay?"

"Sam, look at me. Does it have something to do with Jay?"

"Can you please just put it through. Voight signed off on it, so I don't see the big deal" Sam says, walking away, making Trudy sigh.

~~~

"Man, this is a nightmare. My worst dream is actually coming true." Jamal says, as Hank and Sam interrogate him.

"You were shaving points. What did you expect?" Sam says, leaning against the yellow, cement wall, while Hank sits at the table, with one foot against it.

"Not the last game. Coach benched me"

"Took money from other games?"

"A few. Kendrick has been giving me money since I was 12 years old. When I didn't know no better. Once you start, he don't let you stop."

"And Kendrick told you and Chris to fix this game two nights ago?" Hank asks.

"That's right"

"And you know the coach would bench you if you knelt during the anthem. So taking a knee was your way of shaving points?"

"No, that's not why we did it"

"Okay"

"We were gonna play, make sure we won. Just not by to many points"

"Then why'd you take a knee?" Sam asks. Jamal sighs and says, "Because Brianna showed up. She wasn't even supposed to be there, but when I saw her, I...I couldn't back down. You know? I couldn't let her down"

"Alright, you took a knee for Brianna."

"Yeah. I mean, that wasn't the only reason, but...She opened my mind to a lot of things"

"Alright, why'd Chris take a knee?" Sam asks, taking a sit next to Hank.

"Because he's my friend. And we always had each other's back. I thought it would still work. You know, I figured we wouldn't score so much if neither one of us played. But then this freshman, Freddy Mosley, goes off for 36 points. Has the best game of his life"

"Kendrick lost a lot of money" Hank says.

"He said me and Chris had to pay"

"Look, Jamal, we can help you. You gotta help us"

"We need you to wear a wire. We gotta get a confession out of Kendrick" Sam says.

"You already know he killed Chris" Jamal says.

"But we don't have proof. Kendrick was smart. Covered his tracks" Hank says. Jamal sits back in the car sighing and says, "If I wear the wire. I get to go back to playing ball, right?"

~~~

Hank walks out of his office, putting on his coat when Kevin asks, "So, Sarg, we gonna work out that deal for Jamal?"

"The ASA's working on it"

"Okay, you think it's gonna happen, though?"

"I said ASA is working on it"

As Sam goes to put on her jacket, when her hat falls on the ground, and Jay hurries to pick it up for her and hands it to her, "Here, you dropped this"

"Oh, thanks" Sam says, taking it from him.

"No problem"

"Okay" Burgess says, hanging up her desk phone, "Jamal just talked to Kendrick. The meet is set at Squire Lounge on the south side at 7. I'm checking the layout, out now" then she sits at her desk, typing on her computer, "We've got one street entrance, one exit out the back"

"Antonio and Al are setting Jamal up with a wire" Sam says.

"Alright, as soon as we get Kendrick's confession, on my signal, we scoop him up, and we're not taking any chances. This guy is dangerous"

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After getting Kendrick's confession on the wire, Brianna Woods showed up out of nowhere, ruining the whole thing, when Kendrick gets suspicious and takes out his gun, holding the whole bar hostage, including Antonio who went undercover inside the bar.

Kendrick and his boy, Trey walk slowly out of the bar with both Antonio and Brianna at gunpoint.

"Talk to me, Jay" Hank says, over the walkie.

"No shot" Jay says, pointing his sniper rifle at them. Brianna tries to run, following in Kendrick shooting her in the back, then a gun war starts, ending in both Kendrick and Trey getting shot and killed.

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Sam sits in Hank's office, who is sitting at his desk with Trudy standing behind him.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Hank asks the brunette. Sam sighs and says, "No, you guys are my family, but I can't work with Jay, and face him everyday after what happened"

"No, you certainly don't have to, but let me tell you something. Running away isn't the solution. You have to face the problem head on" Trudy says. Sam sighs and says, "You're right" then looks down at her hands and twirls her thumbs around each other, "It's just...it's gonna be hard, ya know?"

"It's gonna take some time, for sure. But going through this obstacle head on, instead of avoiding it, will make you stronger"

"And besides, you complete this unit" Hank says.

"I guess, I can think about the transfer a little bit longer"

"Good" Trudy says, ripping up the transfer order paper and throwing it in the trash.

a/n:

I freakin' love Trudy ❤️ she's always had the units back, not matter what!