A momentous day had dawned. At 9am, Voight Detective Services was going to open for business. Hank had woken up feeling motivated and happy, looking forward to finally being able to start tackling the new challenge that lay ahead. The setup and preparation phase, while obviously necessary, had been frustrating and at times, tedious. Now it was time to get down to business.
That wasn't the only reason Hank was having a good morning. The previous night, for the first time he had met the friends who Kalinda had briefly lived with. It had been a pleasant if not remarkable evening. The reason it made him happy was that it was another step in his relationship with Kalinda. The next one, presumably, would be to meet her best friend Lucy. Meet in that case would likely mean via a video call since she lived in the UK.
"You've got a real spring in your step," Kalinda commented cheerily. They were eating breakfast at the dining table in her apartment, ahead of beginning their respective workdays.
"Glad to be able to get to work at last. Myself, Erin and Alexa start today. Kim starts a week from today."
Kalinda sat and drank some of her coffee. There was a thoughtful expression on her face. "You know, you're starting out small. You might end up having to pass on work because you don't have the hours available to put into it."
"I'm aware," he assured her, nonetheless appreciating her input. "Wanted to start off quite small while we establish ourselves and make sure we don't struggle to attract business. Assuming there are no problems on that front, I will take more people on."
"Who would you approach, if you know?"
Hank saw no reason not to be frank with his answer. "Ideally, you and Jay. That would be an excellent team of detectives. We talked about this already though, and you gave me a perfectly valid reason why you couldn't leave Intelligence any time soon."
"I'm glad you understand," she said, obviously not considering changing her mind. "Everyone speaks highly of Jay at the 21st though, so he'd be a good hire, assuming he'd accept your offer of employment."
Hank never failed to enjoy the way she worded things. 'Accept your offer of employment' sounded so much better than 'take the job', especially in her well-spoken accent. He would truly never tire of that.
"What's that little grin about?" she asked with some amusement.
"Nothing. Just enjoying talking to you."
"Aww," Kalinda gushed. "You say the sweetest things sometimes, Hank."
"Just don't let anyone know," he said deadpan.
They ate in contended silence for a minute or so before Kalinda spoke. "Hank, would you join me if I started going to a gym? I want to work out but I'd struggle terribly with motivation if I were to try going alone."
He wasn't against the idea of going to a gym. In truth, he probably could use it. Of late, he hadn't been particularly active and Kalinda's sizeable dinners did have a downside.
"That's a good idea," he said. "What has made you think about it though? You're fit as it is. You sure look great."
Kalinda laughed. "Well, thank you. But I really don't. Yesterday I happened to be in the locker room at Intelligence when Gonzalez, the new boss, was changing. She's maybe early forties, yet she's in ridiculous shape. She's built, Hank. I'm talking visible abs, and back muscles you'd have to see to believe. Looking at her made me feel ashamed of myself."
"You have nothing to be ashamed about," he assured her emphatically. "And your body is beautiful the way it is. There's no reason to change it."
"Thank you again," Kalinda said. It clearly meant a lot to her. "Either way, I'd like to get fitter. So would you come to a gym with me?"
"Okay, sure. My fitness could use some work. Find somewhere good locally and we'll sign up. Oh, Erin has been hitting the gym. I'll ask her where she's going too."
"Sounds good. And I'll look today when I get a moment," she promised.
Hank finished off the last of his toast and downed his coffee. "Right, I'm going to head to the office. Want to try and be the first one there. Have a good day, and be safe."
"Always," Kalinda said, standing up as he did so that she could accept his goodbye kiss. "Savour the day. And say hello to Erin for me."
"I'll do both," he assured her. They exchanged a kiss, made an agreement for him to come over again that evening, then he left the apartment. As was always the case these days, he was looking forward to getting back to what was becoming his second home the moment he left it.
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Arriving at the Voight Detective Services office, Hank saw that he wasn't the first to arrive after all. The car parked in the spot closest to the front door wasn't Erin's, so he figured out before he parked up beside it and saw Alexa sitting in the driver's seat that she was the one there ahead of him, although he was almost half an hour early himself. He liked that. It demonstrated willingness and commitment.
As Hank got out of his car, Alexa got out of hers. She was dressed smartly in a dark grey suit and a white blouse.
"Good morning," she said.
"Morning. I appreciate you showing up early. From now on, you don't need to. So long as you're at your desk ready to work at the start of your shift, that's good enough for me."
"Noted," she said pleasantly.
Their attention was attracted by another car pulling into the lot. It was Erin, Hank saw. Apparently the idea to arrive early had occurred to all of them, she just happened to be the last one to get there.
Erin parked next to Hank and got out of her car. Morning greetings were exchanged, then it was time for Hank to unlock the door and officially open the agency for business for the first time. He wasn't a man who wasted time on ceremony, so he simply unlocked it and held it open for the ladies to enter ahead of him.
"Coffee?" Alexa asked them, clear as to the first priority.
"Absolutely," Hank said, following her and Erin through to the bullpen.
Alexa enquired about their preferences before heading for the canteen.
"So, we're in business," Erin said proudly, looking around the room. It was now all set up, a desk for her, one for Kim, and the two sofas and coffee table for sit downs with clients.
"We are. And I have work ready to go. Have a good amount of process serving work lined up thanks to a few contacts. I'm going to put you on that. I've also secured some data recovery work. That'll be ideal for Kim when she starts. In addition, I was given contact details for someone who needed a debtor tracking down. I'm going to take that on. As and when other work comes in, I'll assign it as I see fit."
"Let's get started. Send me the details. The I.T. guys already saved all of our work email addresses on your account so you can forward on whatever you have."
Hank nodded, thinking that he wasn't quite as bad with technology as Erin seemed to believe.
"I had a thought last night," Erin went on. "For now, I know you've said you asked Alexa to handle billing and accounts. As we get busier, we might need to hire someone to do that job. An accounts manager, I guess."
"It's something to keep an eye on," he agreed.
Alexa came back into the room with a cup of coffee each for Erin and Hank. She handed them out.
"Thank you," Hank said to her. "If you need any help with anything today, ask either of us. Call us if we're out of the office. We'll try to make sure at least one of us is here as often as possible."
"Will do," she promised before heading back to the canteen for her own coffee.
Hank felt confident in her. They had spent the better part of a day at the office a few days back, with Hank training her on what services private detective agencies offered, what the terminology she was likely to hear meant, and what questions she might need to ask potential clients when they called or emailed. She had impressed him by taking comprehensive notes and pledging to study them at home.
"Okay, let's get to work," he took pleasure in saying.
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Private detective work, while not as dangerous as working at Intelligence, was also not as exciting. Hank found himself sitting outside of a house conducting surveillance, on the suspicion that the debtor he was being paid to track down was living there.
In this case, surveillance meant being parked a little way down the street, keeping an eye on the house until someone came out or went in. It did give Hank's mind some time to focus on other things. His relationship with Kalinda soon occupied him. Specifically, wondering what else he could do to make her happy. It wasn't that he thought he wasn't doing enough already – he knew she was happy in the relationship. Even so, he could do more.
He sat there and spent some time thinking about it. The best idea he had come up with was to take her on a vacation, either to England or to somewhere warm where they could enjoy some diving together. He well knew how much she enjoyed and missed doing it, and he enjoyed it too, although it had been some time in his case. Getting to dive together would be fun. He also pictured them relaxing on a beach somewhere, in the sun, with a plentiful supply of drinks. And Kalinda in a bikini. That mental image would help him pass some time.
That was it decided then. He would invite Kalinda to go on a vacation with him. It would have to wait a few months because he couldn't leave while the detective agency was getting up to speed.
Then a further idea came to him. Assuming a few months went by before the vacation happened, Kalinda might already have moved in with him by then. The next step would be to ask her to marry him. He knew that he was deeply in love with her and wanted to spend his remaining years with her. At his time of life, he didn't want to waste too much time waiting. Plus Erin kept telling him to stop worrying about arbitrary time periods. He knew she would tell him that if it felt right, he should do it. And so, he decided, if in a few months it felt right to pop the question, that was exactly what he would do.
But how exactly to make the proposal? He didn't know, save for the intention of making it romantic. Luckily, he had plenty of time to come up with a plan.
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A/N: Do you think Hank is right to start planning a vacation and a proposal?