Chapter 42

The little light coming into the room through the curtains is enough to make Emma wake up from her deep sleep. Without opening her eyes, she turns to the side where Jay was sleeping, wanting to hug him, but instead of his body she meets the cold sheet, something that makes her realize he's been gone for a while. She opens her eyes and a moan of frustration escapes from her mouth as soon as she sees the clock on the nightstand. Half-past six, the red letters from the digital clock show, and as much as another hour of sleep seem tempting to her, she gets out of bed. The memories of last night come one by one to her mind and she can imagine one of the many reasons Jay isn't in bed. She pulls her hair up in a messy bun and after a little research finds an old shirt that Jay has from the academy and wears it. It smells like Jay., she thinks and smiles. She quietly leaves the room in case he is lying on the couch, but when she opens the door she sees no sign of her partner in the living room.

"Here you are," she says softly, hugging him from behind as soon as she finds him sitting in the kitchen. Her voice and the sudden contact make him jump instinctively as he had not heard her approach, but she squeezes him more. 

"It's just me," she reassures him, kissing his shoulder, and finally he relaxes under her touch. 

"Good morning," he tells her after a while and turns to look at her. His eyes are red with black circles beneath them. 

"Good morning" 

"It's early, you can sleep a little longer until we get to work" 

"It's okay, I want to stay with you" she replies, but a yawn escapes her. 

"You don't have to sit with me, Emma. You're tired. I'm going to wake you up later to get ready" he's still trying to push her away, even though he doesn't want to be alone, but he's afraid to admit it. He doesn't want to be alone after the nightmare he had a few hours ago and the feelings it left him even now that he's awake. He doesn't want to be alone as he thinks Kelton is one step away from becoming mayor and giving an end to Intelligence. As he thinks his Sergeant and his friends may be in danger and he can't do anything to help them. 

"So, if now it's half past six, then when did you go for a run?" she asks him, and Jay looks at her with one eyebrow raised.

"How do you..." 

"You always drink your coffee after your morning run, unless we have a case in the morning or if you stay at my place," she explains and manages to make him smile a little about how well she knows his routine. 

"I just wanted to clear my mind a little bit. It hasn't been long since I came back" 

"Okay... So, I'm going to ask and if you want to you can answer me... Did you have a nightmare again?" she asks him, and Jay bows his head but eventually nods as soon as he realizes that no matter how hard he tries, he can't hide from her. 

"Oh babe, why didn't you wake me up?" 

"I didn't want to bother you," he admits shyly, and her heart bleeds. 

"Jay, I've told you before. You never, ever bother me. That's why I stayed here last night, remember? So we wouldn't have to be alone after everything that happened," she reminds him and rests her hand on his. 

"Do you want to talk about it?" 

"No," he replies immediately, and then more quietly adds. "Not yet at least" 

"It's okay, don't worry. Whenever you're ready, I'm here... Well, I hope you have the ingredients because I'm in a great mood for pancakes with chocolate chips," she tells him, and gets up to search his kitchen knowing exactly that the breakfast his mom made him is enough to make him calm down. At least for now. Jay smiles as he sees her moving through his kitchen wearing his shirt, searching his drawers, and knowing exactly what he needs. Before he knows it, pictures of the two of them living in the same house go through his mind, making his heart beat faster.

"All right, listen up" Voight's voice is heard from his office a few hours later and he comes into the bullpen with a picture in his hand. 

"We got a new target. His name is Wilson Young, he's a high-level dealer for the South Side Hustlers. Got multiple priors for possession, distribution, and assault," he informs them when everyone gathers around him. 

"The guy's been a player for a while now, but no charges have been brought against him for four years 'cause nothing will stick," Adam adds. 

"Because he's got a protector. Brian Kelton. Bottom line, Wilson is Kelton's "fix it" man," Voight explains. 

"So you want to catch Wilson dirty?" Antonio asks the same question everyone wanted to. 

"Yeah, but it has to be a real dirty. Gotta be a big-ticket charge. Something he can't wiggle out of. Something big enough to force him to flip on Kelton," Voight answers. 

"I got an angle... CI, Maya Shelly. She hangs out with the Southside Hustlers. Great with intros," Kevin says. 

"Okay, good. Persuade her to set up a drug deal. And let's get eyes and ears on Wilson. We got to move fast"

Trying to make a deal with Wilson didn't go as they would have liked because he didn't take the bait. However, while he was talking to Kevin's CI and Kevin himself, Jay managed to put a tracker in his car. Their margins continued to narrow when Internal Affairs called Adam for additional questions and Kelton came to the district asking Voight to take over the double murder case, wanting to divert their attention from him.

"Wilson's runner led me right here. Kid did a car switch in the parking lot, dusted off for 20 minutes, pulled into that garage," Kevin informs them later when everyone except Jay and Emma gathers at the location the trucker showed them. 

"He stayed in there for 15 minutes, drove out, and returned the car to the same lot," Kim adds, and Voight shakes his head. 

"That's Wilson's stash house. Kid dropped off cash, picked up packs and jabs" 

"We ran the address through Narcotics. They confirmed it as a stash house but we don't have anything to tie it with Wilson. It's not enough for an arrest" 

"Wilson's smart. He is probably never even stepped foot near this place" 

"We don't have time to flip up the chain" Antonio points out. 

"Or tickle the wire" 

 "So we gut it," Voight says straight away, and everyone looks at him curiously. 

"Gut what?" 

"The stash house... Have Halstead and Spencer pull gear from the roll-up on the quiet. Not the M-4s, just pistols and my Remington, and any blackout gear that doesn't announce our office," he tells them again.

A few hours later Emma and Jay arrived at the stash house with the appropriate gear just as Voight asked them. Wearing blackout masks on their faces, they entered the house and began threatening those who were there to give them everything they had. 

"That was a $500,000 rip and we can't tell anyone about," Emma tells Jay as soon as they get back to the station and empty the bags with what they took. Guns, drugs, and a lot of money are placed on the table in front of them. 

"And if this whole thing doesn't work, we are going to go back to writing traffic tickets," he tells her only as he finds it difficult to be optimistic. 

"Your Sergeant at Organized Crime won't take you back?" 

"No, he holds grudges. He was so pissed when I left... What about you?"