Chicago Fire Episode 3.05 The Nuclear Option

Casey meets his niece Violet at a cafe and discovers that she is experiencing trouble at school and at home. Shocked, Casey follows up with his sister Christie to see if he can help and she assures him that she can manage just fine, the family's just going through a rough financial period. But her lack of specifics piques Casey's curiosity and he visits Jim, Christie's husband, at his firm downtown where Jim drops the big news - he and Christie are in the midst of a divorce. Except Casey suspects Jim of withholding more information when his secretary bounds in and acts a little too casual.

The lieutenant's concern for his sister's family boils over into 51 when he borrows Dawson for advice and leaves Herrmann with menial candidate duties. This causes resentment and an irate Herrmann mentions it to Boden - the two men clash in a difference of opinion and, as the chief, Boden wins out. Later, Herrmann's frustration reaches a peak when he notices another mistake from Dawson - except she admits to making the mistake on purpose to test whether Herrmann and the squad would treat her like a normal candidate. After a big argument, Dawson requests to shadow Herrmann instead of Casey - and Herrmann agrees. It seems her true test is yet to come.

Meanwhile, Brett remains uncertain about whether she should rejoin Harrison and return to Indiana. After shift, she makes it back to her apartment only to find the door busted open... and her entire place in the midst of a robbery. Moreover, she discovers the thief is still there - her instincts kick in and she beats him out with a baseball bat. When Harrison hears about the break in, he offers to start packing for Indiana right away, assured that she lacks the ability to handle herself. But Brett sees it differently - she did handle it and she's ready to stay in Chicago. With or without him.

Another person ready for a change is Joe Cruz, still serving his driving suspension. During an intense apartment fire, his quick thinking rescues a fire victim from a balcony and Boden commends his efforts. In fact, Boden asks Chief Tiberg to reinstate Cruz, but Tiberg rejects him without a second's thought. But Boden believes Cruz deserves it and pushes the request up the chain of command. They eventually issue the reinstatement, yet it comes at a cost for the chief - he will not be considered for a promotion during the next round.

Unable to shake off the feeling that Jim might be hiding something, Casey approaches Officer Ruzek from Chicago P.D. and asks him to look into Jim. Ruzek comes back with troubling information - not only is Jim seeing his secretary, he signed over the company's assets to her as well, meaning that Christie won't see a penny from his lucrative company in the divorce. Casey relays this to Christie, but rather than jump at the chance to even the score with Jim, Christie tells Casey she would rather settle the case and move on.

Unsatisfied with Christie's reaction, Casey surprises Jim and his secret girlfriend during dinner and demands that they look at his company's books tomorrow morning. Jim attempts to cover, but Casey cuts him off - this time, it's Casey who means business.