The Good and the Bad

A Beautiful Friendship

Chapter Thirty-Nine

*~*~*~*

"You sure you're ready to come back?" Scout asked Antonio as they both climbed out of his car after arriving at the 21st. After a month of furlough, it was finally his first day back to work after the shooting. Not only was it his first day back, but it was also Scout's-- Voight having given her more time off after Shay's death despite her protests.

"More than ready," Antonio nodded. "How about you?"

"Same," she agreed before glancing at the building. "I heard Voight pulled Atwater up to take Sumner's place."

"Yeah, Jay mentioned it when he stopped by," Antonio nodded.

"When did Jay come over?" Scout's brows furrowed at the mention of the Halstead man. She hadn't seen anyone else from the 21st since Boden's wedding, and even that day it had only been Platt. Everyone seeming to have understood that she needed time to herself to process what had happened to Shay. They were all just thankful that she had busied herself with taking care of Antonio and dealing with the boys instead of disappearing like Severide had.

"The other night when you went on a run," he enlightened her as they both headed towards the front entrance. "He didn't stay long. Just wanted to check up on how we were both doing. Said that he'd tried calling you last week."

"Right..." Scout drew the word out at the mention of her phone. "That reminds me, I'll need to get a new phone from Jin."

"Why? What happened to yours?" He questioned as they both slipped inside the precinct.

"Got into a fight with my gun and lost," she shrugged.

"Tu loca jodida mujer," he muttered under his breath.

"I might not know a lot of Spanish, but I know enough to know when you're calling me crazy." She slapped him on the back of the head as they headed up the stairs to the bullpen.

"There they are," Jay caught everyone's attention when he spotted Scout and Antonio reaching the top of the stairs.

"Hey, man, what the hell you doing back so soon, huh?" Olinsky questioned Antonio, everyone having expected him to take a couple of more weeks to recover.

"Oh, guys. You sound like this one," Antonio nodded towards Scout as she dropped her bag at her desk.

"Nice to have you back, too, Scout." Olinsky nodded at the woman.

"Always nice to see your beautiful face, Oli." Scout flashed the older man a smile.

"Listen, we got you a little "welcome back/glad you're not dead" gift." Jay told Antonio.

"Don't say we didn't ever do anything for you," Adam spoke up as he made his way back into the bullpen with a walker.

"That's hilarious," Antonio rolled his eyes at the joke gift before walking towards Adam. "Come here, a little closer."

"His idea," Adam was quick to rat out Jay.

"Oh, you want some of this?" Jay challenged when Antonio turned his attention back to him. "Yeah? I didn't think so."

"You make him hurt himself and you're on nurse-duty this time, Halstead." Scout warned Jay as she watched him and Antonio playfully jab at each other without actually landing any hits. "Man's a pain in the ass when he's hurt. Always complaining about shit."

"Like you're any better," Antonio scoffed.

"All right, we're rolling out... five minutes. We just caught a heater." Voight alerted everyone as he stepped out of his office. "Glad you're back, bro. You too, Keltner."