Chapter 16

The Hilton Hotel, Chicago Illinois 

Sierra got up and quietly got dressed and gathered her things before sneaking out of the penthouse suite. She took the elevator down to the lobby and made her way outside, Connor's building was only a 6 minute walk from where she was. Sierra made her way up Michigan Ave under the street lights, the streets were pretty empty as she made her way back to her brother's building around 3 in the morning. 

Connor Rhode's Penthouse, Astoria Tower, Chicago Illinois 

Using her building key she made her way inside and took the elevator up. Sierra made her way down the hall unlocked the penthouse door and stepped inside trying to be quiet. Sierra locked the door behind her, kicked off her shoes, and immediately made her way over to the couch and sat down for a second only to completely fall asleep there within seconds. 

Sierra woke up to the smell of coffee brewing and the sun shining in her eyes, with a groan she forced her eyes open looking around, and noticed she was on the couch in the living room. Confusion crossed her mind as she noticed the blanket draped across her that wasn't there last night. "Morning," Sierra looked up as Connor walked into the room dressed and holding a latte "Morning" she replied rubbing the sleep from her eyes, "Late night?" he asked as he handed her the latte. "Thank you, yeah. I had a date last night," Sierra replied as she took a sip of the French vanilla latte. 

"I kinda figured by the dress, how'd it go?" Connor asked, "It was good, we had dinner at Sephia," Sierra replied. "Ooo, classy" her brother replied causing her to let out a slight laugh. "What's his name?" Connor asked curiously, "Liam," she replied. "And are you gonna Liam again?" Connor asked earning a shrug from Sierra. "Maybe, he travels a lot for work so..." she replied earning a nod. "What's he do?" he asked, "He's a pilot, I'm gonna go shower, change, and make another latte," Sierra said. 

"I gotta head to hospital for my shift, I should be home by 8 though," Connor told her earning a nod from Sierra before she went to shower and get changed. By the time she was out of the shower and dressed Connor had already left for work. As the day went on Sierra eventually got a message from JJ. 

'Hey sorry, I missed your call we've been on a case. Is everything okay?' - JJ

'Hey, It's all good, I kinda figured you guys were working a case. Everything's okay just wanted to catch up... feels like we haven't talked in a while.' - Sierra

As the day went on she also heard back from Penelope and Emily. They didn't chat for long similar to her conversation with JJ. Sierra began to wonder if the team was acting.... odd even for them, they felt distant.

Over the next few days Sierra, ended up going on a lunch date with Liam that ended with the two of them back in his hotel room. Followed by room service for dinner while the two spent drinking champagne and having sex everywhere from the sofa, to the jacuzzi tub, to the king sized bed in the next room. 

Liam ended up flying out of O'Hare to Texas for a few weeks, then had a flight from Texas to Washington state. Meaning he wouldn't be back in Chicago for nearly a month, and by then Sierra might be back at work in Virginia. 

3 Weeks Later...

Chicago Medical Center, Chicago Illinois 

Sierra sat in the waiting room at Chicago Med for another follow-up appointment with Dr. Halstead and hopefully her last if everything went well. As she sat waiting she noticed someone she hadn't seen in years walk through the main entrance of the hospital. 

Sierra instantly looked away shielding half her face with her hand hoping to any god that would listen that he didn't notice her. "Sierra?" the very voice she'd hoped to avoid asked closer to her, Sierra didn't look up to know it was her father standing next to her as she kept looking away. "Nope, sorry don't know any Sierra," she replied as Dr. Halstead came into the waiting room. 

"Sierra Rhodes," he said looking at her. "It was nice to see you again, and it's nice to know you're alive," her father said as she began to walk over to Dr. Halstead but paused. "I'd say it was nice to see you again Cornelius, but it hasn't so..." Sierra replied before she followed Dr. Halstead into a treatment room. 

They went over the usual follow up exam, along with a CT and MRI to make sure everything healed without any complications. The scans came back clear, and Sierra finally heard Dr. Halstead say the words she thought he'd never say. "Everything looks great, I'm comfortable clearing you to return to work. Just avoid any hits to the head for a while, if you start feeling dizzy, getting headaches, migraines, or loss of consciousness I want you to get checked immediately," 

Sierra smiled at the news, "Thank you so much, I'll be careful believe me I hate being benched," she replied. "I'll sign off on your papers and you can email them off to your boss, good luck and stay safe," Dr. Halstead said before he left the room. Sierra smiled as she made her way out of the treatment room. "How'd it go Si?" Connor asked from the nurses station he was standing next to. "I'm good, brain injury healed along with the surgical site, and I'm cleared to go back to work," Sierra replied. "And..." Dr. Halstead added from where he stood on the other side of the counter. "And to be careful and avoid any hits to the head for a while," Sierra added as Dr. Halstead handed her paper copies of her medical clearance. 

Sierra took photos of the documents and emailed them to Hotch and CCed JJ and Rossi onto the email as well. "I'm gonna head back to your place, but we should go out for drinks tonight to celebrate," Sierra suggested to Connor. "Sounds good to me, I know the perfect place," her older brother replied. 

Later that night Connor got back from work and got changed and the two Rhodes siblings left the penthouse and building and began driving in Connor's Porche towards Bucktown. It didn't take long for the car to pull to a stop outside a small neighborhood bar called 'Molly's'

Molly's Bar, Chicago Illinois 

The bar was pretty busy when Sierra and Connor walked through the door. There were a few familiar faces. Jay, his brother Will, Mouse, and a few of the detectives she worked with on their last case. There were also a lot of unfamiliar faces as well, "I'm gonna go get us a bottle of champagne to celebrate. Wanna find us a table?" Connor asked as Sierra nodded looking around.

Sierra made her way over to an empty table and took a seat, within a second of sitting down Jay and Mouse walked over. "So how'd that date go?" Mouse asked her, "Good," Sierra replied vaguely as Connor made his way over to them with a bottle of champagne and 2 glasses. "I heard you're cleared to go back to work," Jay said as Sierra nodded. "I sent my medical clearance to my boss and I'm gonna head back to Virginia in a couple of days," Sierra replied as Connor got a couple more glasses from the bar. 

Connor poured out four glasses of champagne giving one to Sierra, Jay, and Mouse. The four raised their glass and drank the expensive champagne spending the night laughing and drinking like they did when they got stationed back between tours. 

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Hey everyone, I hope you enjoyed chapter 16. The next couple of chapters are gonna be kinda wild so get ready for that. Thank you for all your love and support <3  

I'll be posting Chapter 17 tonight and Chapter 18 by tomorrow for you (Sunday, March 24th, 2024 )

-Muskokagirl204