⋆° დ ༄ UNTIL THERE WAS FOREVER
chapter twenty two. psycho.

Sam silently sobs to herself as she sits in a holding cell in her wedding dress.

"Sam"

Sam looks up to see Hank and Olivia standing there and she gets up and puts her hands around the cold, metal bars and asks, "Hank, Liv, what is going on? They haven't told me a single thing"

"Sam.." Hank says.

"Hank, what is it? Tell me. Why am I here?"

Hank sighs and says, "It's not good, Sam. But I'm going to do everything I can to get you out of this. The whole team is on it"

Tears start to gather in the brunette's eyes and asks, "Where's Jay? Where are my kids?"

Before Hank could answer, a detective walks in and Sam immediately recognizes him and says, "you!"

"Hello Sam"

"You two know each other?" Olivia asks. Sam glares at the man and says, "We went to high school together"

"Detective Asher Montgomery"

"So the whole being a construction worker is your undercover gig?"

"Yup and I'd say I'm pretty good at it"

"Eh. Why am I here?"

"For the murder of Kallie Richards"

"What?! No way, I didn't kill her. It was an accident"

"Not what the eye witness is saying"

"Who's this eye witness" Hank questions.

"Can't answer that Sergeant"

Hank scoffs and says, "Let's get one thing straight. You had one of my best detectives arrested on murder with an eye witness who magically appeared after 10 months? Tell me a name, now"

🌙🌙🌙

"It's okay, sweetheart" Jay says to his daughter, rubbing soothing circles on her back, after crying for the last half hour, while Denise and Wyatt sit in the break room eating a snack. Hank and Olivia walk onto the unit from seeing Sam, and Erin asks, "Hank, what the hell is going on? One minute, we're enjoying the reception and the next, homicide barges in and arrests Sam"

Voight sighs and says, "It's not good. Sam-"

As Hank tried to explain to the team what's going on, Kelly walks onto the unit and asks, "Do we know what's going on? I tried to go see Sam and they said no"

"Listen. It's not looking good, but we're going to do everything we can. Nothing else matters, besides getting Sam's name cleared, got it?" Hank says and everyone nods their heads. Lucy walks over to Jay, taking Gracie and says, "I got her and the kids and I'll bring them home. Go help the team with Sam"

"Thanks Lucy"

~~~

"Alright, I got the name of this apparent eye witness that said he saw what happened the night of Kallie Richards death" Hank says, pointing to the picture on the board, "Darren Ross"

"How'd we find this eye witness?" Al asks.

"Detective Asher Montgomery over at area central homicide"

"Wait...did you just say Asher Montgomery?" Erin asks.

"Yeah"

"I knew he wasn't a construction worker" Brayden says.

"What do you mean?"

"When we were working that case where Al got hired as a hit man, me and Sam went over to area central homicide and Montgomery just so happened to be passing by from getting coffee, when the closest coffee shop was three blocks away. Said he owned a construction business and has a wife"

"Sam did tell me that they 'bumped' into each other at the grocery store when she was getting Gracie's birthday cake" Kelly says.

"Hmm" Hank hums.

"Darren Ross, got three years for aggravated assault. He was released 10 months ago" Erin says, reading from her computer, "And get this, he was Kallie's ex boyfriend and he currently resides at 67 lamarak avenue"

"Jay, why don't you and I talk to Wyatt, see what he remembers about Darren." Hank says and Jay nods his head, "Al, you, Fin and Kim go question Darren. Atwater and Ruzek, go see Ross' parole officer. The rest of you, dig up everything on Kallie Richards" then he and Jay leave the unit.

"What can I do?" Kelly asks. Erin sighs and says, "Go home. I'll call if there's anything"

"If I go home, I'll go crazy. At least let me stay in the break room"

"Yeah, fine" Erin says, before Kelly walks away.

🌙🌙🌙

Al knocks on the door of the house Darren is living at, when the door opens to reveal a woman.

"Detective Olinsky, detective tutuola, Officer Burgess" Al says, showing the woman his badge, "is Darren Ross here?"

"No. He left about half an hour ago. What's going on?" The woman asks, folding her arms over her chest.

"Official police business. What's your name ma'am?" Kim asks.

"Robin Ross"

"And your relationship with Darren?"

"He's my brother, what's going on?"

"He's an eye witness in a murder 10 months ago. We'd like to talk to him. Do you know where he is or could be heading?"

"Not sure. He got a phone call and a few minutes later I hear my car start and he just takes off"

Al takes out his phone and shows Robin a picture of Kallie and asks, "Did you know this woman?"

"Yeah, that's Kallie. Wait...why'd you use past tense?"

"Darren is the eye witness in Kallie's murder. He's the key to finding her killer" Kim says. Robin puts her hand over her chest and says, "oh my god"

🌙🌙🌙

Kevin and Adam walk into the parole office building and knocks on the door of Lane Mason, Darren Ross' parole officer.

"Lane Mason?" Atwater asks, showing his badge as he and Adam walk into the room. Mason hangs up the phone and says, "Yeah, that's me, unfortunately. What can I do for you officers?"

"We're here about one of your parolees. Darren Ross" Adam says.

"Did you find him?"

"What do you mean?"

"He hasn't checked in the last couple months"

"Did you tell anyone?"

"I did yes. A detective Asher Montgomery. Said he'd handle it"

"You said Montgomery?" Kevin asks.

"Yeah"

"We need your file on Darren Ross"

"Yeah" Mason says, getting up from his desk, "I'll make copies"

🌙🌙🌙

Jay and Hank walk inside the house to see Denise and Wyatt watching a movie and Lucy walks down the stairs from finally putting Grace to sleep.

"Hey guys. Any news yet?" Lucy asks and Jay shakes his head no.

"Hey, Wyatt. Can we talk, in the kitchen?" Hank asks his grandson, who nods his head and follows them into the kitchen, and sits down at the island.

"So, Wyatt. Do you remember Darren Ross?" Jay asks. Wyatt nods his head and says, "Yeah. He was mean to Kallie. He hit her once"

"You saw him do it?" Hank asks and Wyatt nods his head, "did you see him the day Kallie died?"

"I thought I saw him at the park, but then when I took a second look he wasn't there"

"Hmm" Hank hums.

🌙🌙🌙

"Anything?" Hank asks, walking onto the unit with Jay following behind.

"We do" Kevin says.

"Darren Ross' parole officer, Lane Mason said that Ross hasn't checked in the last couple months so he reported back to the arresting officer, Ross' aggravated assault charge" Adam says.

"Who is?" Hank asks.

"Asher Montgomery"

"Come on" Erin says, in disbelief.

"And what's worse and that we think Montgomery wouldn't think anybody would notice is that Ross was paroled from prison 7 hours after Kallies death" Kevin says.

"So our eyewitness goes straight out the window" Hank says, "which means Montgomery is lying and since there's no eye witness, there's no evidence, so there's no reason to keep Sam locked up. I'll call Chiliwech. Brayden you go down to Area central homicide and pick her up. Mean time, find Darren and give me more on Kallie Richards" then he walks to his office, as Brayden grabs his jacket to leave and Jay walks to the locker room to take a breather.

🌙🌙🌙

Brayden walks over to the holding cell that Sam is being held in, followed by Chiliwech and a patrol officer who unlocks the cell door.

"Sam" Brayden says. Sam looks over at Brayden and says, "What's going on?"

"You're free to go, just don't leave Chicago" Chiliwech says. Sam sniffles and stands up, picking up the bottom of her dress a little to walk out of the cell and hugs Brayden.

"Here are the items you came in with." Chiliwech says, taking the item out of the plastic bag and handing it to Sam, "one cellphone"

"Thanks, I guess" Sam says, taking her cell phone.

"Let's get out of here" Brayden says. Sam nods her head and says, "Yes, please"

Brayden and Sam leave Area Central Homicide and walk down the sidewalk and to Brayden's car when Sam says, "So, tell me what's going on"

"This eyewitness, Darren Ross, isn't even an eyewitness. He wasn't released from prison until 7 hours after Kallie's death. So, we're thinking Montgomery made it up"

"Why?"

Porter shrugs and says, "We're not sure yet"

"You were right"

"About what?"

"About Asher not being who he said he was. I should've listened"

Brayden puts his arm around Sam's shoulder and says, "Don't be too hard on yourself, I tend to be right most times" making them both laugh.

As they approach the car, Brayden opens the passenger side door for the brunette and says, "For the newly wed"

Sam smiles, getting in and says, "Why thank you, kind sir"

Brayden smiles to himself, closing the door and jogs over to the drivers and gets in, turning on his car and drives away.

"I never got to say congratulations on the wedding, it was beautiful"

Sam smiles at her partner, who smiles back at her and says, "Thanks" and when Sam looks back in front of her she yells, "Brayden, watch out!"

🌙🌙🌙

Erin walks into Voight's office and says, "You're gonna want to see this"

Voight follows Erin over to Kevin's desk, as everyone gathers around and Adam says, "So, boss, we found POD footage, that's across the street from Kallie's house"

Kevin presses play and the team watches as Sam and Justin walk into the house and Jay says, "It's time stamped at 12:15, just like Sam said"

And a couple minutes later, another male figure appears, looking into the front window and Kevin says, "That's definitely not Ross"

"That's Montgomery" Olivia says.

"So, what is he doing? Stalking Sam?"

"Looks like" Hank says, "Adam, call Kot and get him to get a warrant to search Montgomery's place"

"Got it" Adam says, walking to his desk.

"Shouldn't Sam and Brayden be back by now?" Erin asks. Hank looks at his watch and says, "Yeah. I'll call Chiliwech" then walks into his office.

🌙🌙🌙

Sam slowly opens her eyes, carefully looking around her surroundings. Once she realizes she isn't in a car anymore, she looks up to see her hands chained to the wall. Sam looks to her left to see Brayden, also chained to the wall, still unconscious.

"Brayden" Sam says, nudging his leg with her foot. Brayden slowly opens his eyes and looks around and says, "Sam, where the hell are we?"

"I-I have no idea. Do you remember anything?"

"I remember we almost hit that car, but after that...nothing"

Sam sighed, resting her head back on the cement wall and says, "Yeah, me too"

The next sound that is heard is a metal door opening, a stripe of light, then it's gone, once the door closes.

"Well, well, well, it's about time you two woke up" a voice says, walking over to them. Sam glares at the man and says, "I should've known" then scoffs, "You've always been kinda off and I should've seen it back in school"

Asher walks over to Sam and slaps her, and says, "shut up!"

"Hey, don't touch her!" Brayden shouts. Asher glares at the man and says, "You've known her what, 2, 3 months?" then walks over to stand in front of Brayden, "What's it like to love a married woman? Huh?"

Brayden scoffs and says, "I don't"

Asher laughs and says, "You're not the only person who can read people. And you're easier to read then you think"

"Sam is my friend, nothing else"

"Right, keep telling yourself that"

"Why are you doing this? What have I ever done to you?" Sam questions, struggling in her chains. Asher smirks, going over to stand in front of the brunette and caresses her cheek and says, "You'll find out soon" then he walks up the small set of steps and shuts the metal door behind him.

🌙🌙🌙

Erin and Jay walk into Voight's office and Erin asks, "What did Chiliwech say?"

"They left the station an hour and a half ago" Hank says.

"We tried their cells, nothing. Ruzek is trying to track the location of their cells, but nothing so far"

"Jay, check the POD cameras, around Area Central Homicide, see which way they headed. And have Al and Kim go to the M.E's office to check the report on Kallie's death"

"Copy" Erin and Jay say in unison.

"Jay.." Erin says, stopping the detective in his tracks, who's been rather quiet, "We'll find her"

"Yeah"

Adam walks onto the unit with a tablet in his hand and says, "Boss, I got a location on Sam and Brayden's phones. The corner of Calmont and Walbash"

"Alright" Hank says, standing at his office door, "You and Erin, hit it"

🌙🌙🌙

Al and Kim walk into the medical examiner's office and the older detective knocks on the door and says, "Hey, Mel. You busy?"

"Not for you, Al" Mel jokes, "What's up, guys?"

"Well" Al says, as he and Kim sit down in front of the medical examiner, "We're working on a case from 10 months ago. The report said you did her autopsy"

"Okay. What's the name?"

"Kallie Richards" Kim says.

"Kallie Richards" Mel repeats, typing on her computer, "Yes. I ruled it an accident"

"So, it was definitely an accident. Not a homicide"

"Yes. She did sustain some broken ribs antemortem, but they could've been from falling down the stairs"

"Was there anyone suspicious, who could've came around here in the last few months?" Al asks.

"This one guy came in a few months ago actually, said his name was Montgomery, said he works with Homicide and tried to pay me to get the autopsy changed from an accident to homicide"

Kim takes out her phone and shows Mel a picture of Asher and says, "Was it this man?"

"Yes" Mel says and Kim and Al look at each other.

🌙🌙🌙

Erin and Adam pull up to the corner of Calmont and Walbash and parks, and when they get out, Adam holds put his phone and says, "the signal is coming from down this alleyway"

Erin follows Adam down the alleyway, hand on her gun holster as they approach Brayden's car and says, "Well, this is Porter's car, but no sign of him or Sam"

"Whoa. You smell that?" Adam says.

"Yeah. What the hell is that?"

Adam shrugs, then turns to his left to see a male figure turn the corner to walk down the alley and he recognized him as Darren Ross and says, "Darren Ross"

The man looks at them and starts running. As Adam and Erin start running after him, Erin takes the car and Adam chases him on foot and says through his walkie, "Ida 5021. We have an offender, black hoodie, red baseball cap, running south on Walbash"

"Copy that, 5021"

"Chicago PD! Stop!" Adam yells, chasing after the man. Erin then drives down the road, right when Ross was about to cross the street, stopping him in his tracks, and Darren hitting the side of the car. Erin steps out of the car and points her gun at him and says, "Chicago PD, don't move" when Adam runs up behind him and takes out his cuffs to handcuff him.

🌙🌙🌙

"So, what were you doing, walking down that specific alleyway, where the vehicle of two of my missing detectives is?" Hank questions, leaning his back on the blue cement wall in interrogation.

"Just taking a walk" Darren Ross says.

"Down a dead end alley? There's nothing on the other side of that fence but a couple houses" Jay says. Ross shrugs and says, "I don't know"

"Look, we know Asher Montgomery came to you and asked you to be an eyewitness to a murder that never happened" Hank says, leaning his hands on the back of the chair.

"Who?"

Hank scoffs and says, "Don't play stupid. The arresting officer who got you on aggravated assault"

"Oh, him"

"Yeah, him. Why did you tell him you'd fake an eyewitness statement when you weren't even out of prison yet?" Jay asks. Ross sighs and says, "The guy paid me 10 grand. I needed the money to help out my sister"

~~~

"Our main suspect is now Asher Montgomery" Erin says, pointing to his picture on the whiteboard, "Me, Sam, Justin and Kelly went to high school with him. He always seemed a bit off, but we just brushed it off. He had a bad home life. His father, Lorenzo Montgomery was a gang member and his mother Lorreta died because of it. And once he started selling drugs, we just started distancing ourselves."

"Then a close friend of ours, Emma Lancaster died in a car accident the day of graduation and Asher was the one who took it the hardest" Kelly says, sitting on the edge of Erin's desk, "The day after her funeral, he disappeared and none of us have seen or heard from him sense Sam bumped into him at the grocery store"

"What are we saying? That this guy has been stalking Sam for 14 years?" Adam says. Hank shrugs and says, "We don't know yet" Al and Kim walks onto the unit, "So, what did the M.E say?"

"She ruled Kallie's death as an accident and never questioned it" Al says.

"And she identified Montgomery as the guy who came in and bribed her 10 grand to change the report from an accident to homicide" Kim says.

"There's gotta be something we're missing here" Hank says, "Why Sam?"

"I might know why" Erin says.

"Okay"

"The day of the car accident. Sam was in the car with Emma. Sam was actually supposed to be driving, but since she had stayed up all night the night before, she was exhausted and Emma offered to drive them to graduation. Emma drove straight and a drunk driver hit her side on, killing her instantly. Sam still regrets it to this day, letting her drive. It still gets to her, that's why she never talks about her"

"And Asher was in love with Emma, we all knew it, except Emma, of course" Kelly says, "I think he was more heart broken then Sam was. He didn't say it out loud, but we all knew he blamed Sam for it"

"Now there's motive" Hank says, "Where we at with the warrant?"

Adam hangs up his desk phone and says, "Kot just got it signed, we're ready to go"

"Let's hit it"

🌙🌙🌙

"Chicago PD!" Kevin shouts, before kicking in the apartment door of Asher Montgomery, and the team storms in, guns drawn, clearing out the place.

"Clear!" Adam says.

"Clear!" Kim says.

"Clear!" Kevin says.

"Guys!" Erin shouts, from inside a room, "You might wanna take a look at this"

The teams walks inside the room Erin is in and it's covered top to bottom of pictures of Sam by herself, and with family and friends and the team, there's also maps. And a schedule book of what Sam as been doing for the last 13 years.

"Hank, this book shows everything Sam's been doing since our high school graduation" Erin says.

"Nobody touch anything. We're getting this room photographed as evidence" Hank says, as Jay leaves the room, his blood boiling at the highest temperature.

🌙🌙🌙

One week later...

"Let us go, you psychopath!" Sam screams. Asher smirks and says, "I don't think I will because I like having you two around"

"Well, you're a sucky host" Brayden says.

"Thank you. I take that as a compliment"

"You're sick, you know that"

Asher walks over to Brayden and starts punching him in the face, multiple times, almost breaking his nose.

"Stop it! He hasn't done anything!" Sam shouts. Asher looks at Sam and says, "He's your partner, right? He must've done something wrong"

"You don't want him, you really want me right? This is what this has always been about? Getting me arrested at my wedding, kidnapping me and my partner. What's your endgame?"

Asher laughs and says, "I want you dead."

"If that's really true. I'd be dead, but I'm not"

"Yeah, cause I want you to see all the pain and suffering you cause everyone around you" Asher says, taking a knife from the small brown table next to the column and holds it against Sam's throat, "You took Emma's life, so now, I'm gonna take yours"

"What? This has all been about Emma? I didn't kill her. A drunk driver hit us" Sam breathes out.

"She shouldn't have been driving, you were supposed to!"

"How do you know that?"

"Because I overheard my dad on the phone. Someone was willing to pay him 10 grand to drive into you guys. You were the target, Sam. And now Emma is dead!"

Sam feels a dry lump in her throat, trying to hold back any tears she had left and says, "Who was it?"

"Nathan Lancaster"

"Emma's dad?"

"Yup. He killed your mom and he wanted to get rid of you too, but we all know how that ended"

🌙🌙🌙

Jay is in the locker room, taking a couple deep breaths, then punches the mirror, shattering it. Erin walks in and says, "Jay?"

Jay turns around, holding his bloody hand and tears falling from his eyes. Erin takes the first aid kit form the wall and takes out, gauze and bandages to clean up Jay's hand and says, "Jay, we're gonna find them"

"Are we? Because it's been a week and nothing"

"Yo, patrol found Montgomery's car, parked at a warehouse on the southside" Kevin says, peeking his head into the locker room. Erin turns her head and smiles at Jay and says, "told ya"

🌙🌙🌙

The team get out of their cars, slowly, with their guns drawn, making their way towards the warehouse.

Inside the warehouse, Asher cuts along Brayden's abdomen, who screams out in pain.

"Stop! I swear to god, when I get my hands on you, I will kill you! Do you understand me? I will kill you!" Sam screams, making the man laugh. Asher takes out the gun from behind his back and points it at Brayden's head and says, "I'm going to watch you suffer, because you deserve everything taken away from you. And this is step one"

The intelligence teams barges in, shouting "Chicago PD!"

Asher starts running towards the side door when Hank shoots at him and hitting him, who then falls to the ground. Hank and Al walked over to him, who  is gasping for air, blood spitting out from his mouth. 

The rest of the team run over to Brayden and Sam, trying to unlock the cuffs that are holding them to the wall.

"Baby, baby, it's gonna be okay" Jay whispers, caressing Sam's cheeks, as Adam and Erin try to get her out of the cuffs.

"Brayden...he's hurt worse than me" Sam breathes out.

"Kevin and Kim are getting him out of his cuffs now" Jay says, as Sam's eyes begin to close, "No, no, no, no, Sam, baby, keep your eyes open, look at me"

"This is Hank Voight. Intelligence. We need a rush on that bus, now!" Hank says, over the walkie.

"Copy. Bus is en route"

🌙🌙🌙

Sam slowly makes her way down the hall at med to Brayden's room, who is resting on his bed, hooked up to a bunch of wires.

"Hey" Sam says. Brayden looks at the door and says, "Hey, you"

"How are you feeling?" Sam asks, walking into the room and slowly sitting in the chair next to the bed.

"It could be worse. I could be dead" Brayden says. Sam starts to tear up and says, "I'm sorry, Bray. You were never supposed to be involved in my mess of a life"

"I'm glad I get to be apart of your messy life" Porter jokes, making the brunette sniffle, "I am your partner after all"

"Partners for life" Sam says, taking ahold of Brayden's hand. Porter smiles and says, "Partners for life"

a/n:

whoa 🤭
I never intended on this chapter being this long, but once I started writing, I couldn't stop!
This was crazy...right?
Brayden and Sam are now closer as partners and as friends!! I love this new friendship, blooming before our eyes 💖