Chapter 48

"Someone seems happy," Platt says as soon as Emma and Jay enter the district smiling. 

"Good morning, Sarge," Jay greets her and nods toward her. 

"Good morning, chuckles" she greets him back and Jay sighs dramatically. 

"How many times are we going to say it? It's Detective Chuckles, Sergeant," he corrects her, making her roll her eyes while Emma laughs. 

"Whatever...you better go upstairs. Kevin took Rojas to headquarters, but..." Platt starts telling them but Emma stops her. 

"Vanessa got the job?" she asks excitedly and the Sergeant nods. 

"Yes, but don't be happy, nothing is certain yet. After all, it's a big if for her to make it into Intelligence," 

"Well, you said the same thing about me three years ago, Sarge," Emma reminds her, and for a moment Trudy looks at her with her mouth open. She did doubt Emma, but now she couldn't be more proud of her. She shakes her head, stopping all those thoughts before she starts getting emotional. 

"Anyway, we will see. Now go upstairs, there's a surprise waiting for you," she tells them, and returns to the papers in front of her. 

Emma looks at Jay and curiosity quickly fills both of them. Without saying anything, they quickly climb the stairs.

"Adam!" Emma shouts when she sees her colleague sitting at a desk talking to Kim. Their attention falls immediately on the badge on his belt. 

"Hello, sunshine" he greets her and Emma hugs him, making him laugh. 

"Hey man... How did this happen?" Jay asks him and pats him on the back. 

"ASA is dismissing the charges. Insufficient evidence. At least that's what Voight told me. He didn't say what he has done, but I know it's because of him that I'm back," he explains and they smile. Voight always had their backs. 

"So, we are back to normal?" Emma asks, and Kim looks at Antonio's empty desk. 

"Almost," she says melancholy, and everyone turns their gaze to where she is looking. 

"Voight said he'll let us know what's happening as soon as Kevin gets back. He mentioned something about Puerto Rico," Kim continues, and everyone sighs. 

"So, my lovebirds, Kim told me you moved in together," Adam changes the subject and focuses on the couple. Their cheeks blush, but they nod happily. 

They talk cheerfully, telling Adam everything he's lost in the last few weeks until their phone vibrates and Kevin tells them they got involved with Vanessa in a carjacking. Without a second thought, they go on the scene ready to start working.

When they return to the station, they find Kim erasing Antonio's name from the blackboard, and immediately everyone looks at her confused. 

"What are you doing?" Adam asks as he is not yet ready to accept that Antonio will not return. 

"I'm updating the board. Voight's orders," she replies sadly. 

"Boss. This is for real? Antonio's moving to Puerto Rico for sure?" he asks, and everyone looks at their Sergeant. 

"It's what he wants. He's got family there," he replies, referring to Antonio's sister Gabriella who moved there some years ago. 

"Look, end of the day, it's probably a good decision," he continues, as soon as he sees their sad expressions, and at that time Vanessa comes upstairs. 

"You all know officer Rojas? Welcome to intelligence," Voight says, and everyone turns to look at the young woman. 

"Thank you. Okay, I hope this isn't the part where I have to make a speech," she jokes, though the anxiety she feels is evident. 

"Nothing like that," Voight tells her and then turns to look at the others. 

"Okay, what do we got?" 

"Straight-up aggravating carjacking. The victim's name is Ruby Garcia, She's 24. She's at Chicago Med with head trauma. We lodged a BOLO on her stolen car, nothing yet" Kim replies and sticks a picture of the victim on the whiteboard. 

"We ran prints on our DOA John Doe. He's not in our system. No wallet or ID," Emma adds. 

"That means we gotta ID his partner, so talk to your CIs. Let's get a list of everyone previously arrested for carjacking in that area. Kev, reach out to Major Accidents, start the paper" 

"Yes sir," Kevin says, and moves the board. 

"We've been chasing a major cartel supply and we're dropping that for a carjacking?" Jay wonders, referring to their last open case. 

"The offender died while we were chasing him, so we own it. Let's just tie it off cleanly and quickly and move on," Voight replies, looking towards Vanessa because she was the person running behind the offender. 

"Sergeant? What would you like for me to do?" the young woman asks him. "I want you to head to Med and get a victim statement from this Ruby. And ride with Spencer," he replies and turns to where Emma is standing. 

"Emma, come to my office first. Close the door behind you," he says and leaves, while Emma looks at Jay.

"Is everything all right, Sergeant? Why are you splitting me and Jay up?" she asks him worried. 

"I am not. I just need to evaluate Rojas and I know you'll shoot me straight. You didn't hesitate to kick Halstead's ass when you started working together even though you were new. So I'm counting on you to tell me the truth about her too," he begins to tell her, and Emma's mind travels to the time she threatened Jay to switch partners if he wasn't gonna take therapy seriously. 

"Look, there are a lot of red flags. We don't need anybody out there playing hero ball," he continues to tell her, referring to the fact that the officer didn't call for backup while she was chasing the offender this morning. 

"I talked to my guys over at the Academy and Rojas checked every box. Top gun, high scores... I mean, she killed it. And she's got street, you can't teach" he shares the information he knows with Emma. 

"But?" 

"All those accomplishments are individual. We gotta know she can work with this team... You ever wonder why you and Halstead are the only detectives to join this unit? Everybody else came in raw?" he asks her and Emma frowns as it's the first time she's noticed this. 

"It's always better to find the right person before they learn the wrong habits. You understand?" he tells her without waiting for her answer and Emma smiles with the indirect compliment about her abilities. 

"So it won't be permanent?" she asks him without holding back, and despite her fear, Voight doesn't start telling her how she shouldn't let her relationship with Jay show up at work. 

"Only on this case," he assures her, and Emma nods. 

"Don't worry, she'll adapt just fine," she says before she leaves, having faith in the new addition to Intelligence, and Voight smiles as soon as he's alone. There was no better person than Emma to help someone.

"Hey, what was that? What happened?" Jay asks as soon as he sees Emma leaving Voight's office. 

"I'll explain later. You're going to work with Kim for now," she informs him, and Jay opens his mouth ready to protest.