⋆° დ ༄ UNTIL THERE WAS US
chapter seventeen. if we were normal.

Sam walks into Caffeine City Coffee to meet up with Kim, -leaving Jay with the kids- who said she wanted to talk with her.

"Hey" Sam says, sitting down across from the brunette, and shrugging her coat off.

"Hey. Got you a coffee"

"Thanks" Sam smiles.

"I remembered one time when Adam and I got coffees for everyone that you took only 4 cream, so"

"Look at that, thanks. So, what's up?"

"So, I wanted to get your advice on something, but I...look, I probably know what you're going to say, which is what I need to hear about something that..." Burgess sighs, "Sorry. I need to hear you say, 'don't do it'.

"Okay, I'm with you"

"Okay. Last night, I went out with Roman, just as friends. But by the end, it kind of felt like more than that."

"Hmm" Sam hums.

"You don't seem surprised."

"Oh, I'm sorry. You...you wanted me to...sure. Uh, oh, my god" Sam jokes sarcastically.

"I mean, nothing has happened at all. At all. But, last night there was this moment. Do you know what I'm talking about?"

"Yeah, I do. I've had several of those moments"

"But having been engaged to Ruzek, what you are saying is that I should not be opening the door, right?"

"You want me to be the one to tell you that you should not date your partner?" Sam questions and Burgess nods her head, "I can't. I can't"

"Yeah, no. You know what I forgot. I forget sometimes that you and Jay are engaged. Because you guys make it look so easy"

"Really?" Sam asks, scrunching her nose up and Kim nods her head.

"Units in 21 and units on the citywide, battery in process involving a male and a female reported at Kinzie and Dearborn. First responding officers, please advise"

"Let's roll" Sam says, grabbing her coat as well as Kim who says into her walkie. "21,13 squad, I'm responding"

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Sam pulls up to the corner of Kinzie and Dearborn with Burgess behind her and when they get out a couple approaches them and the lady says, "some guy just got stabbed"

"Okay. Slow down. Get out of the street" Sam says, as they move to the sidewalk, "where did it happen?"

"Over there" The male witness says, pointing south.

"What did you see?" Kim questions.

"The couple was arguing. She was in her underwear." The male says.

"She was high on something and she stabbed the guy and she ran" the woman says.

"Where did he go?" Sam asks.

"He drove off. I don't know, uh, north. And then, some other guy ran after her to see if she was okay" the man says.

"Wait, what guy?" Kim asks.

"Him" the lady says, point to a black male running towards them.

"I lost her" the man says, panting, "she tried to stab me. I was just trying to help"

"Did you catch a plate? A type of car?" Burgess asks the couple.

"It was silver. I'm not sure what kind" the woman says.

"It was an Audi. A4 or A6" the man says.

"We need to send out a flash message" Kim says.

"Yes" Sam says, then turns towards the black male, "where did she go?"

"Right down that way, down the alley" he says, pointing south.

"Okay, I need the three of you to stay here. You're all witnesses. Please stay here" Sam advises them then her and Burgess run across the street when Sam spots a pool of blood when an alarm goes off.

An older male says 'down there' and the two round the corner with their guns drawn and down the alley to see glass broken and blood on the broken window.

"Stop. Call it in" Sam tells Kim.

"21,13 squad, requesting additional units. Forced entry at 3233 south Princeton. We are entering the premises. There is a plain clothes officer on the scene."

"Copy that"

"Let's go" Sam says, as she enters the building with burgess behind her and down the metal staircase clearing the space.

"Chicago PD. anyone in here?" Kim shouts.

"Burgess" Sam shouts, spotting a pool of blood.

"I got it"

As they continue to clear out the space, Sam spots a trail of bloody footprints leading to a small space where a girl is see sitting in her underwear and her shirt all bloody and a screwdriver in her hand.

"Drop it! Let me see your hands! Let me see your hands!" Kim shouts.

The girl drops the screwdriver and says, "help me"

🌙🌙🌙

"Victims name is Ruby Baker. She says she was kidnapped. She stabbed her abductor with a screwdriver she found in the trunk of his car. She got away. He drove off." Sam tells Hank and Al at Chicago Med.

"So, this was a kidnapping in progress?" Olinsky asks.

"No. Ruby thinks she was snatched about two months ago, maybe. She says she lost track. Kidnapper drugged her. Next thing she knows, she's chained up in some room. We ran her through NCIC and LEADS, nobody's reported her missing."

Natalie Manning walks over to the group from leaving Ruby's room and says, "she's still traumatized. You can talk to her, but go easy."

"Alright thanks." Hank says then looks at Burgess, "can you get the evidence over to the lab? See if they can put a rush on it"

"Yeah, got it" Kim says before walking away.

"Done a rape kit yet?"

"She's refusing medical treatment. She won't let us touch her. She's 19. So technically, we can't force her."

"Thanks Natalie" Sam says.

"Yeah"

Al, Hank and Sam walk into Ruby's room and Sam says, "Ruby, this is Sergeant Voight and that's detective Olinsky"

"Did you get him?" Ruby asks.

"Not yet. We're hoping that you can help us with that."

"Ruby, the man you stabbed, was that your kidnapper?" Voight asks.

"Mister. Just mister. That's what he made me call him" Ruby says.

"What else can you tell us about this man?" Sam asks.

"He was tall. He had sandy brown hair."

"That's great. Is there anything else?" Voight asks.

"His nose, it looked like it'd been broken, like, a long time ago. And he always parts his hair. Like a politician."

"Did he force himself on you?" Voight asks, but Ruby got real quiet and looks down at her hands, "I'm sorry. Where were you held? was it a house? A building"

"A room. With no windows. He didn't want me to know what time it was. And he wouldn't let me leave. Not even to use the bathroom. I used a bucket. He got off on that"

"Ruby, do you remember any other details of that room? Sounds?" Al asks.

"I heard kids playing. Almost every day. And yesterday I heard sirens. Lots of them. I thought I was being rescued."

"So, how did you end up outside?" Hank asks.

"Mister, or whatever the hell his name is, he said we had to move. He threw me in the trunk. I kept banging until he pulled over. That's when I stabbed him."

"Listen none of us can imagine what you've been through, and I'm sure you just wanna try to forget. But we really need you to do something for us" Sam says, "we need you to let the doctors give you a rape kit."

"I can't stay here. He said he'll find me. I'm not going back to that place!"

"Well, we'll have an officer posted outside your door" Al says.

"Can you stay?" Ruby asks Al.

"Sure. Yeah, I can stay"

As Hank and Sam leave Ruby's room, Sam says, "hey Sarg, I'll catch up with you at the district. I wanna get my shoulder checked out while we're here"

"Okay" Voight says before walking away.

Sam catches up with Dr Rhodes who is walking down the hall with a tablet in hand and says, "Connor, wait up"

"Sam. Hey. What's up?" Connor says, hugging the girl.

"Can you check out my stitches. I really hate wearing this sling"

"Yeah, come on" Connor says, leading them to an empty room. Sam sits on the hospital bed as she carefully takes her sling off, then slides her shirt down her shoulder to reveal her 30 stitches.

"Wow, you definitely have a scar huh?"

Sam scoffs and says, "yeah"

"How'd you get it?" Rhodes asks, putting on a pair of latex gloves.

"A serial killer we were hunting shot me"

"And you say it so casually like it's normal"

"I've always wanted to be a cop, you know that. I knew what I was getting into" Sam says, then flinches when she feels the rubbing alcohol on her stitches. Connor smiles and says, "I do. You remember how we met?"

Sam chuckles and says, "how could I forget?"

"We were 18. And I saw you sitting alone on a bench at the movie theatre, just picking away at your popcorn" Connor says, grabbing a small pair of scissors to cut the stitches open, "and I thought you were cute, so I walked passed you a couple times to see if you'd noticed me"

"And I did" Sam smiles.

"Yeah, only because I tripped over the bump in the carpet" Connor says, making them both chuckle.

"Sure if that's your story"

"It happened. Anyways, after I tried to recover you asked if I was okay and you shared your popcorn with me"

"And then after spending basically everyday together until we were 19, you left me to get away from your crazy ass family"

"I know. I said I was sorry"

"I know. I'm just messing with you"

"Well, your wound is healed" Connor says, throwing away the stitches and his gloves, "but one wrong move and-"

"Yes doctor." Sam smiles, "I promise, I'll be careful"

"And I heard through the grapevine that you're engaged and recently had a baby. Congratulations"

"Thank you. It's been a weird year and a half."

"I know what you mean. And I'm sorry I missed my chance with you"

Sam chuckles lightly punches a Connor in his shoulder, "yeah, I bet"

"I'm serious"

Sam sighs and says, "Connor, don't do this." Then she gets off the bed, pulling her shirt back up on her shoulder.

"Do what?"

"This" Sam says, motioning her hands between the two, "we went through this before you went away to Mexico for medical school. I wanted to go with you and you said no"

"Because I knew you wanted to go to the police academy. I didn't want you to miss out on your dream, not for me"

Sam clears her throat and says, "I should get going. Thanks for taking the stitches out"

"Sam"

Sam leaves the room, leaving Connor by himself who sighed and sat on the bed.

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Sam walks onto the unit and shrugs her coat off ignoring the text from Connor that says, 'I'm sorry', and sits at her desk when Jay leans over and asks, "You okay, angel?"

"Hmm. Yeah. I got my stitches out"

"Good. You're gonna have a badass scar"

"I better" Sam smiles.

"Sarg, I think I narrowed down the location." Kevin says, walking to the board.

"Alright"

"So, Ruby said that she jumped out the car at Kinzie and Dearborn. Told Olinsky that they drove around for about 10 minutes. That'll put her approximate location in this six mile radius" Kevin says, drawing a black circle on the map.

"Ruby heard kids and sirens, which means we're looking for some place near a school or playground." Dawson adds.

"There's a bunch of them in that area."

"Has anyone read Ruby's rap sheet?" Adam asks, looking at his computer on his desk, "in the last year alone, she's been picked up for credit card fraud, retail theft, possession of heroin."

"Where'd she say she was grabbed from?" Jay asks.

"Pin Pan Alley" Sam answers.

"Pool hall on Ashland?" Jay asks and Sam nods her head, "that's a hangout spot for runaways. Lots of teen prostitution."

"So, she's got a history like everybody else" Erin says.

"Right, where we at with the composite?" Voight asks and Mouse hands him the sketch, "alright, so circulate it to all hospitals, urgent care centers. See if anyone matching this description came in with a stab wound" Hank then gives the sketch back to mouse, "Antonio you and Jay hit that pool hall"

~~~

After Olinsky found out that Ruby is pregnant a patrolman gave him a file with 6 pictures of suspects in it so Ruby could identify the man who did this to her. Once she did, everyone surrounds the whiteboard where Antonio tapes up the picture of the man Ruby had picked out.

"Drew Stommer. Real estate agent at Cermak Realty. Business degree at northwestern. Minor in psychology. Never married. No kids. No priors." Dawson says.

"This guy looks like the world's most eligible bachelor" Adam says.

"That's what they said about Ted Bundy" Voight states. Sam takes a piece of paper from the fax machine and says, "We got the results of Ruby's ultrasound back. She is seven weeks pregnant which means it's Stommers."

"I called the owners of the house in Bristol. They told Stommer to put it on the market six months ago. He didn't list it on MLS till last week. Which means he's been sitting on the house." Jay says.

"Yeah, to hide Ruby. And he had to move her because the house was about to sell." Kevin says.

"Perfect thank you" mouse says, hanging up the phone, "Uh, guys, Stommer...I just ran him through the DMV he's the registered owner of a silver 2004 Audi A4. His office says that he's hosting an open house at a property in Hyde Park"

"Antonio you and Lindsay go pick this guy up." Voight says.

"No. I'll pick him up" Al says.

"Okay. You and Atwater. Jay, you and Sam get a warrant for his house. I want you to search it top to bottom"

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Sam and Jay walk up the stairs onto the porch of Stommers home and Jay knocks on the door and shouts, "Chicago PD!"

As Jay was about to open the door by crowbar the door opens, making the two detectives put their hands on their holsters and they see a woman standing there who says, "oh. Is something wrong with the doorbell?"

"Chicago police. Do you live here?" Sam asks.

"Of course. What is this about?"

"Ma'am. Are you related to Drew Stommer?" Jay asks.

"I'm his wife, Madison"

Sam and Jay look at each other and sigh as Jay hands her a warrant, "we have a warrant to search the premises. We're gonna come inside."

~~~

As Sam looks around the living room and Jay searches upstairs. Madison sits on the couch and asks, "Where is Drew? And what is this all about?"

"Among other things, your husbands been arrested for kidnapping." Sam says, walking to the other side of the room to look through more of the drawers and cabinets.

"Kidnapping? Kidnapping who?" Madison asks but Sam doesn't respond, then the blonde starts to stand up, "you know, I really should call my hus.."

"Sit down. He's not taking calls right now"

Jay walks down the stairs and says, "hey. You're gonna wanna see this"

Sam looks at Mrs Stommer and says, "come on" then she walks up the stairs followed by Madison and all three walk into a baby room.

"Mrs Stommer, do you have a child?" Jay asks.

"Drew says we're going to have one soon"

Sam raises an eyebrow at Jay who asks, "So you're expecting?"

"We're trying. Drew says that setting up the nursery will help manifest the baby. He says if you can visualize it, you can make it come true"

Sam scoffs and says, "okay. We're gonna need you to come down to the station and answer a few questions."

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"I didn't know where to put her Sarg. She says her name is Madison. Not only is her marriage to Stommer not official, she doesn't exist as a person" Atwater says, as he, Mouse, Sam, Hank and Al gather in a kind of circle looking at Madison who is in the break room.

"Yeah, Secretary of states got no record of a Madison Stommer. So I ran the maiden name she provided, Madison Dodd. The social matches a woman in Mount Vernon, but the DOBs don't match." Mouse says.

"You check Cook County?" Voight asks.

"I ran all cross checks. She doesn't have so much as a library card to her name."

"I ran Madison's prints. Her real name is Jamie Lynn Stevens" Adam says, walking over to the group and hands voight a piece of paper, "it says she went missing seven years ago"

~~~

As Erin, Hank and Dr Charles talk with Madison. Jay rolls his chair next to Sam's and kisses her cheek and says, "I love you, gorgeous. Have I told you that lately?" then rolls his chair back over to his desk.

Sam smiles and says, "everyday. I love you too. Oh, and Kim says that we make working together look easy, ya know being engaged and all"

"Really?" Jay asks and Sam nods her head, "well, I guess being in love is easy when it's with you"

Sam playfully rolls her eyes and smiles, saying, "you have such a way with words, Mr Halstead"

"It's my specialty, soon to be Mrs Halstead" Jay smiles, which makes Sam get butterflies in her stomach.

~~~

"Okay, what do we got?" Voight asks, walking out of his office.

"Madison Turner is actually Jamie Lynn Stevens" Jay says, taping her mug shot to the board, "she was arrested in 2008 on solicitation charges, and then she went missing in 2009"

"Who filed the missing persons report?" Antonio asks.

"Her mom. Then a year later she overdosed and the case ran cold."

"Hey, boss. We've been going through Stommers call logs. His clients, wife, all checked out, except for one short phone call made three weeks ago at 2:32 a.m. on March 7th to a residence in Naperville, owned by a woman named Marcia Harris." Ruzek says.

"Yeah. Call outgoing from his cell phone. Call lasted two minutes." Mouse adds.

"Marcia has no connection with Stommer. What she does have is an 18 year old daughter, who was popped for solicitation, in the exact same place where a Ruby was kidnapped."

"I'll drive" Antonio says, towards Ruzek.

~~~

Sam is in the locker room on facetime with Kelly who is baby sitting Gracie.

"How's she doing today?" Sam asks.

"She's great. She hasn't really made a fuss. I just fed her a bottle" Kelly says.

"Good. Can you face the camera towards her so she can see me?"

"Yeah" Kelly says, turning his phone screen facing Grace so she can see it.

"Hi my beautiful baby girl, it's momma. I miss you so much sweetheart" Sam smiles, when Gracie giggles when she sees her moms face.

"Yo Sam, Adam and Antonio are back" Atwater says.

"Okay. I'm just saying hi to Gracie"

"Ooh. Let me say hi" Kevin smiles, walking over to Sam, "hi Gracie. It's your uncle Kevin"

Grace blows bubbles and smiles.

"Ooh, she's loves her some uncle Kevin" Atwater smiles.

"I gotta get back to work Kells. Me and Jay we'll be over later when we close the case"

"Okay. Stay safe" Kelly says, facing the camera at himself again.

"Always" Sam says before ending the call and putting her phone back in her pocket and the two make their way backup to the bullpen where everyone is gathered around the board and Dawson taping a picture onto it.

"Jennifer Harries. 19 years old. History of drug problems. Fits Stommers M.O. mother couldn't give us much. Jennifer's been out of the house a year, no fixed address." Dawson explains.

"She got herself together enough to get on public assistance. Has a link card that's active, and purchased thirteen dollars worth of groceries on March 6th" Jay says.

"Damn, March 6th, day before she called her mom" Kevin states.

"Yeah, Nothing after that"

"Alright, get a warrant for this real estate office" Hank says, "we're gonna hit every property Stommer represents. This girl could be out there, locked up, starving, we don't know what."

"I wanna try something else" Sam says.

🌙🌙🌙

Voight drives down the dirt and snowy road of the Silos. Where Sam is waiting outside her car holding Madison back so she doesn't go near Drew, who is being dragged out from the back seat of Voight's car by Voight. And then Al drives up and parks next to Sam as he and Ruby get out.

"You can't just drag us out here like this, we didn't do anything" Madison says.

"Madison, look at me. Do not listen to them. We're gonna get through this." Stommer says.

"I'll kill you! I'll kill you!" Ruby shouts running towards Drew, when Al catches her to make her stop.

"That is Ruby Baker" Sam points towards Ruby and Al, "your husband kidnapped her eight weeks ago, and held her in a basement and raped her to get her pregnant."

"No, honey, remember what we talked about. Everything they say is a lie." Drew says, still looking at Madison.

"We're going to tie you to all three abductions. This is the last free air you're gonna breathe." Voight says to Stommer.

"Hey, we need your help." Al says to Madison, "he's holding another girl. We don't know where she is."

"It's the truth. Another girl like Ruby, he took her and he hid her for one reason, to give you the family you've always wanted." Sam says, as Drew struggles to get out of Hanks hold.

"Your husband raped me. Every night until I forgot how long I was down there!" Ruby says.

"They are trying to test us apart. We did nothing wrong! We're just trying to start a family! Like you always wanted." Drew shouts.

"Madison, I think you knew what was going on the whole time. You might've had your eyes closed. This is what it looks like." Voight says.

"No, I didn't know!" Madison says, tears gathering in her eyes.

"Madison, listen to me!" Drew says.

"Shut up!" Voight says.

"Listen to me" Sam says, looking at Madison, "your name is Jamie Lynn Stevens. You grew up outside of Rockford, Illinois"

"No" Madison says, starting to cry.

"Your little sisters name is Caitlin. Caitlin is 25 years old now. She's married. She had a baby girl"

"Madison, Look at me!" Drew shouts and Voight pushes him down to the ground.

"She named her baby Jamie Lynn" Sam says, as Madison starts to cry more, while Drew still shouts for her, "I know that you know what the right thing to do is. I can tell that you're a good person. I know that you want to help us. I can see it. Please. You are our only chance at finding this girl."

🌙🌙🌙

After finding Jennifer dead, Hank and Al bring Drew to the cage to scare him into begging for his life before they properly arrest him.

As Sam and Jay put on their coats, Hank stops Sam to bring her into his office.

"I'll meet you in the car" Sam tells her fiancée who nods his head, then she heads into Hanks office and folds her arms over her chest, "what's up?"

"I'm gonna talk to Nathan Lancaster tomorrow about testifying against your father and grandmother"

"Okay. And what about my grandfather. Cause if he gets a whiff of this, he'll shut us down in an instant"

"Don't worry about that. We'll talk more about this tomorrow. This is our one priority until we put your mother to rest" Hank states.

Sam sighed and said, "thanks Hank" then she hugs the older man.

🌙🌙🌙

Sam walks into her and Jays bedroom from putting the kids to bed, when she shuts the door half way and sees her fiancée lying on the bed looking through his phone.

"Babyyyy" Sam says, carrying out the y, while untying her robe and it falls to the ground to show Jay her new lingerie.

"Hmm" Jay hums as he looks up and sees his beautiful soon to be wife half naked, "Whoa"

Sam smiles walking over to the bed and crawling over to her soon to be husband and sits on her knees in front of him. Jay sits up, placing his warm hand on her knee, sliding it up and down her thigh as the brunette gets butterflies in her stomach.

"You look really good angel." Jay smiles.

"How good?"

"Good enough to eat" Jay says and Sam thought she heard a growl as he quickly turns her over so that he's on top of her, kissing down her neck.

Then the baby monitor goes off with Gracie crying. Sam and Jay sigh and the male brunette says, "I'll get her"

"Thank you" Sam says, as Jay gets up to go see his baby girl and Sam gets under the covers.

"Hi baby girl. It's okay, daddy's here" Sam hears over the monitor.

"Shh. I know I know. Wanna know a little secret" Jay whispers to his daughter, hoping he's far enough away from the monitor that Sam won't hear but she does, "I can't wait to marry your mommy soon. She's the best thing to happen to me besides you. I've never met someone so strong and caring and supportive like her. She's my soulmate and I know you can't understand what I'm saying but one day you will"

Sam smiles and wipes the tears from her eyes. She doesn't understand how she got so lucky to have someone like Jay.

a/n:

I have to say, Sam and Jay are my fav fictional couple and I'm not just saying that because they're my characters either! 💗