Thanks to everyone who reviewed on the last chapter! Hope you guys enjoy chapter 7!
"Go on up Erin," Trudy tells me as I walk in through the front doors of the 21st, my heart beating out of my chest. "I got 'em."
"Thank you," I tell her thankfully as I transfer the handle of Lily's stroller to her, Sawyer quickly letting go of my hand as he runs over to one of his favorite people.
"C'mon guys," She says with a kind smile as she leads them to behind her desk, where she now keeps an arsenal of entertainment for both my kids and Kim and Adam's.
"Mom what's going on?" Jack asks, grabbing a hold of my wrist as I attempt to run up to the bullpen.
"It's just a case," I tell him, lying through my teeth. I don't know what I'm feeling, it's just a swirl of everything and nothing, all coming at me at the exact same time.
"It's not just a case, you wouldn't have dropped everything and brought us in with you for just a case, what's going on?" He demands,
"Jack," I say, my tone sparing as I attempt to stall. He deserves to know, I've kept so much from him. But I can't bear to let him know, I don't want him to worry about anything more than everything he already has to worry about.
"Mom don't lie to me, I can handle it," He assures me.
"Baby I'm not sure you can," I say softly.
"Mom!" He says again, more forcefully this time.
"You need to trust me here," I tell him.
"Well how am I supposed to do that?" He says with a scoff, that one sentence feeling like a stab to my heart.
"I am your mom, I know what's best for you. I will be back as soon as I can and I'll let you know what is going on,"
"You promise?" He asks, his voice sounding almost threatening.
"Yes Jet, I promise," I assure him.
"I'm holding you to that," He tells me.
"I would expect nothing less," I respond as I buzz in, pushing open the metal grate door and shedding my mother persona, we need to get down to business. "Okay so what do we know?" I ask as I set my first foot in the bullpen, the entire team already gathered around whiteboards, all staring straight at me.
"Not much," Hank says, breaking the silence, "he escaped alone, though I'm sure he had an accomplice outside, but he was the only prisoner reported missing. He killed a guard with a hit to the head and shot a driver outside the prison and took the car, dumped the body on the side of the road. We haven't been able to track down the car yet,"
"So he's on a spree and we have no idea where he is," I say with a sigh. This is just about the worst case scenario.
"We don't know if it's a spree," Adam quickly interjects, "It could just be he did what he needed to do to get out,"
"No," I assure him as I lean over onto my desk, "I know Arden, this is a spree. The body count is going to go up and it's going to go up fast," My words are met with silence as the team gives each other a look, Al finally giving a nod to Hank.
"Erin maybe you should sit this one out," He suggests softly, or as soft as Hank Voight can get.
"Excuse me?" I say looking back at him, my stare as hard as his usually is.
"This is personal for all of us, but especially you," Al adds in.
"This man killed my husband, left my three kids without a father," I tell him, almost wanting to scoff. Of course this is personal.
"I know," Hank says back.
"So no, I will not be sitting this one out," I say forcefully.
"Erin," Hank says again.
"Would you have sat it out," I ask him, "I mean if the roles were reversed. If this were Camille, would you have sat it out?" I know that it was kind of a low blow, but he doesn't say anything, his gaze just drifting to the floor. "There's your answer, now let's get to work," The entire unit just looks at me and nods before shifting off to their desks and picking up the phones, calling down every lead and making sure that we leave no stone unturned.
Just as I'm about to pick up the phone to place the APB, it rings. Nearly on instinct I pick it up.
"Detective Halstead," I say as I wait for the voice on the other end of the call.
"Last time I heard from you it was Lindsay," I hear from the chilling voice, his words shaking me down to my bones. It's John Arden.
"Track this call," I mouth as Adam as I rap on the table, getting his attention, the entire team gathering around me.
"Good to hear from you," I say, ignoring all of my feelings and knowing that all I need to keep him on the line long enough for Adam to get his location.
"Don't bother tracking the call," He says, "It's a burner and I'm tossing it as soon as I hang up,"
"What do you want?" I ask him, still stuffing down all of my emotions, using a hand motion to tell Adam to work faster. Even if the phone stops moving along with him, it's still better than nothing.
"You've got kids, don't you detective?" He says.
"What do you want?" I say again, my heart starting to beat out of my chest. That was my number one fear when we brought Jack into our lives, I didn't want to ever use him against us. As the kids got older, things got easier, but that fear never left my head.
"I don't want anything. I just came to issue a warning to your family. They are the target now. Goodbye."
"Wait-," I say, desperate for more information, my attempt met only with dial tone. What does that mean?
"What did he want?' Atwater asks as he leans against his desk, the entire unit with their eyes trained on me.
"I don't know," I say with pained sigh, "But I need to get my kids the hell out of here,"
"What do you want to do?" Hank asks as I sit in his office across his desk.
"I want to bring this guy in," I tell him, my blood boiling with a an unknown mix of anger and fear. "I want to make sure that this son of a bitch doesn't hurt anyone else and I'm going to make damn sure that he doesn't get anywhere near my kids,"
"Erin that threat was to you too," He says, "I want to get you as far away from this thing as possible,"
"You know I can't do that Hank," I tell. "This is the guy who killed my husband. I need my kids safe, but I also need to be the one who slaps the bracelets on this guy and throws his ass in a place where he will never see daylight again. That's what I need,"
"You didn't answer my question,"
"I don't know. I need to send them away,"
"For how long it's the middle of the school year?" He asks. "You can't just uproot your kids like this,"
"I'm the mom. I can do whatever I want especially if their lives are at stake," I tell him with a force in my voice, my eyes blazing.
"Okay so where are they going?"
"I don't know," I say honestly, "Wisconsin maybe?"
"I don't think that's far enough," He tells me, "You need to get them far away,"
"I could send them to New York with Olivia, but I don't like the idea of having them there either. I need them to disappear,"
"We'll figure something out okay?" He assures me, placing a hand on my shoulder as I feel the tears start to run down my face. "This isn't going to be like last time,"
"But what if it is?" I ask as I look up at him.
"It won't be. He isn't going to get to hurt anymore people," He tells me. "We're going to nail him to the wall and he's never going to see the light of day again," I nod at him as I feel my cell phone buzz in my back pocket. Wiping the tears from my face as I take a deep breath and pull myself together before answering the call from Allie.
"It's Allie," I tell him before I swipe across the screen.
"Allie? I thought you hadn't talked to her in years," He says confused. "Did you reach out to her?"
"It's a really long story and it's not one that I have time to explain right now," I tell him as I answer the call.
"I saw the news. How are you doing?" She asks nervously.
"Not great," I say, "But we're on the case and we're going to get this guy before he hurts anyone else,"
"Do you need anything? I know we aren't close and things are tense right now, but I can help with the kids if you need it," She offers sincerely. I take a deep breath. Allie and I aren't on the best of terms, but I need someone in my corner, someone who isn't trying to chase down the same serial killer that I am.
"Allie I have to tell you something," I say nervously as Hank looks over at me with wide eyes.
"What is it?" She asks, the tone of her voice dropping as she recognizes the somberness of mine.
"My kids are in danger. Jack is in danger," I tell her, a lump forming in my throat.
"What do you mean?" She asks, Hank shaking his head at me as I continue to talk, ignoring him.
"You can't tell anyone about this, I mean it it Allie," I tell her, Voight now furiously crossing his hands back and forth in front of his chest.
"Okay, okay I won't say anything, I promise," She assures me, her voice becoming more rapid as I hold back longer.
"I received a threat on my kid's lives from John Arden," I say, my words met with nothing but silence on the other end of the line. "I need to get them out of Chicago and I don't know how I'm going to do it. But as much as I don't like it, Jack is a part of you and you deserved to know,"
"I have a beach house," She says abruptly.
"What?" I respond confused.
"I know your first thought was probably the cabin, but that's not far enough. I have a beach house, it's on a tiny island in Alabama. He won't find you there," She says, talking faster and faster.
"I'm not going," I tell her.
"What do you mean?" She
"Allie I have to be the one to bring him in. I have to be there, make sure that he doesn't do this to anyone else, he took my world from me,"
"So what are you doing with your kids?" She asks, seeming almost angry at me.
"I don't know yet,"
"Let me take them," She says.
"Allie I can't let you do that," I say almost breathlessly.
"Yes you can. You are desperate and I know that you don't trust me with them yet and I know that you probably hate me, but whether or not you like it, he's my blood. Sawyer and Lily, they have his blood. That makes them my family too and that means that I will go to the end of the earth to protect them. And if you are the one that keeps them here in harm's way because you don't want me with them, I don't think I'd be able to forgive you for that," She almost yells into the phone. I know she's right and for the first time, she sounds like a mom.
"I can't send you down there alone with them," I tell her, Hank now glaring at me with wide eyes.
"Fine, send someone with them. But I won't give up on this. I know that I was gone for nine years and I know I can't make up for that, but I'm here now and I will be a part of his life."
"Okay," I say, my walls falling down and realizing that it doesn't matter the beef that I have with Allie and it doesn't matter that he's going to have both of us in his life. I need to let go of my pride and realize that the most important thing right now if their safety, all three of them.
"Okay?"
"I won't send you down there alone with them, but I'm going to let you go. I'm going to call my brother-in-law Will and his wife Natalie, ask them if one of them can go down with you,"
"Really?" She asks.
"He's your blood too," I say. "If you want to keep him safe, I can't fault you for that and if I try to stop it, I'm being a pretty shitty mom," I don't want to let go of my kids, but I know that there isn't another option. I have to be here. I have to be the one to bring him in, look him in the eyes and make that he knows what he's done and exactly what it's going to mean. I know that I am the only one who can do that. I have to do that.
"Okay then,"
"I have to call Will and Nat and talk to my kids, but I'll call you soon."
"Hey guys look there's Mommy!" Platt says with a huge smile on her face as Sawyer and Lily run back over to me, their grins matching hers, the grim situation flying over their heads as I try to mask my emotions as much as I can. They don't have to know anything. They are two and seven years old. My oldest already knows that something is up, but the other two don't need to know.
"Oh my babies," I say, Lily launching herself into my arms and Sawyer wrapping his arms around my waist, Jack still hanging back. He knows that something is wrong, he always does.
"Are we going home?" Sawyer asks as Trudy wheels Lily's stroller back over to me.
"Yeah buddy, we're headed home," I tell him as I tousle his dark curls.
"Did Hank pull you from the case?" Platt asks as she hands the stroller over to me.
"No," I tell her, "I just have a few things to take care of," After calling Will and Natalie and all the circumstances were laid out, it was decided that the best course of action was to send Natalie down to Alabama with Allie, my kids, and her kids, eleven year old Owen and six year old Hannah. Will wanted to be here for the investigation, but they were both concerned for the safety of their kids as well as they do don the same last name as mine. I called Allie back and then promptly bought plane tickets to Mobile, an agreement to meet at Terminal 6 at 7:30 with all bags packed quickly made before calling their school to tell them exactly what's going on. I've still haven't told them anything, but it's not like they're going to fight me on missing school to go to the beach. Except for maybe Jack.
It was hard for me to walk away from this case, if only for a few hours. God knows what can happen in a few hours with a case like this. But my kids' safety has to be the top priority.
"So," I say nervously as we drive down our street maybe fifteen minutes later, though trying to come up with as much excitement as I can, "You guys are going to get to go on a little surprise vacation,"
"But it's October Mama," Sawyer points out. "We only go on vacation in the summer,"
"I know, but it's fun to break the rules sometimes," I tell him, flashing him a quick smile through the rearview mirror.
"Where we going?" Lily asks.
"To the beach, in Alabama," I tell them all with a grin, my white teeth covering up my complete and utter fear.
"When are we leaving?" Jack asks, still unsure about the whole thing. He's knows that something is up and I know that it's only a matter of time before he demands an answer.
"Well I'm going to take you to the airport tonight at 7," I tell them nervously, knowing that this is exactly where they are going to catch on.
"You're not coming?" Jack exclaims.
"Not this time buddy, you're going to go with Auntie Nat and Allison, doesn't that sound fun,"
"Allison is coming?" He says, not sounding upset or happy about it, just surprised. "Why?"
"She's the one who invited you, she has a beach house down there,"
"Why is Aunt Natalie coming?" He asks again, the pieces not lining up as he becomes more and more suspicious.
"She'd thought it'd be fun," I tell him, giving him a small sliver of the truth, luckily pulling up the house, serving as a quick a momentary distraction. "Alright let's go," Jack and Sawyer quickly jump out of the car, Jack running up to the open garage door and Sawyer right behind him, Lily slowly unbuckling her own car seat before I pull her from the backseat.
I quickly send all the kid upstairs to start pulling from their closets, picking out outfits and shoes before I put down Lily for a nap and plop Sawyer in front of the TV so I can finish everything up before I leave.
"So what's really going on?" Jack asks as he sits in front of his suitcase, clothes sprayed all over his room.
"You really want to know?"
"We don't do things spur of the moment, things are always planned. We don't do this," He answers me. "Just tell me what's going on Mom,"
"I don't want to scare you," I tell him, biting my lip as I try to stall telling him the truth.
"You're not going to scare me," He assures.
"It's scary though. I'm scared,"
"Then I'll be brave for both of us," He tells me, that look on his face an exact mirror of the one I saw on his father's face so many times over the years.
"Remember when Daddy died?" I ask him, almost choking on the words, "How the bad guy hurt him and then he died?"
"Yeah, you put him in jail," He tells me.
"Sometimes people can get out jail,"
"Is that what happened?" He asks.
"It is," I tell him.
"Are you going to catch him?" He asks.
"We are going to try so hard," I promise him, " He's not going to hurt anyone ever again,"
"Why are we going to Alabama?" He inquires.
"Because I was worried that he was going to try to hurt us so I decided that I needed to get you all out of Chicago," I answer him.
"But you're staying here," He says worried.
"I have to help catch him JJ," I try to explain to him, "I have to be the one who gets him,"
"So are you going to die too?" He asks, looking up at me with fear in those big blue eyes. I can't say that it hasn't been a fear of mine, but I'm certainly not going to tell him that.
"No," I say firmly, "I know that Daddy died and this is really scary. But this isn't like that. I am going to be fine, we are all going to be fine. We're going to get him and it is all going to be okay. Okay?"
"Okay.'
"If she cries, pull out the stuffed panda, she likes him," I say as we all stand at Gate C12 inside Chicago O'Hare, all the kids ready to go, Allie, Will, and Natalie along with their two kids joining us. Sawyer and Lily still don't know what's going on, Owen and Hannah also blissfully innocent to the whole situation. My kids don't even know about our relation to Allie, they just think she's an old friend of Daddy's. And for all current purposes, it's going to stay that way.
"Erin," Natalie says as she steps in next to Allie, "We got it. It's all going to be okay. But they're going to close the doors, so we need to say goodbye,"
"Okay," I say nervously, trying to hide the tears glassing over my hazel eyes, "Hey c'mere," I tell my crew as I look down at the three of them, "I love you so much and I am going to miss you a lot, but I'm going to see you soon okay? And I want you to have so much fun at the beach with Allie and Auntie Nat."
"I love you Mama," Sawyer says as he throws his arms around my neck, "I'm going to bring you back seashells,"
"Okay," I say with a laugh, his demeanor still able to stay light.
"I'm going to find the prettiest one on the whole beach!" He assures me with a smile as bright as the world.
"I'm looking forward to it buddy," I tell him as I squeeze him in for one final hug, Lily eventually breaking in as she clings to me.
"Mama don't go," She begs.
"C'mon," I say as I try to pass her off to Natalie, "You're going to have so much fun,"
"You come too," She cries.
"I can't LilyBug," I tell her, feeling actual pain as I have to rip her away from me. "I love you,"
"I'll take them on," Natalie volunteers as she takes a screaming Lily in her arms, Hannah holding her other hand and Owen and Sawyer walking behind them as she hands their tickets to the flight attendant. I have to take a deep breath and swallow the lump in my throat as I watch my two youngest walking away from me, leaving only Allie, Jack, Will and I at the gate, Jack glued to my side and showing more affection than he has since everything came out.
"We got this Erin," Allie assures me. "It's all going to be okay,"
"Those are my babies, they are my world," I tell her.
"And nothing is going to happen to them," She says firmly, "and I'll send pictures and videos all the time, have them call you every night,"
"You promise?" I ask her, feeling like I'm handing over my soul to her.
"I promise," She tells me with kind eyes.
"Okay," I say, getting closer and closer to breaking down as I lean down to tell my sweet boy goodbye.
"Jack," I start, only to have him interrupt me.
"I know," He says as he pulls me into a tight hug. "I'll be brave for all of us,"
"I love you," I tell him as I press a kiss to the top of his head, "Be safe,"
"You too," He says, "and I love you more,"
"Not possible," I assure him as tears start to brim at the edge of my eyes.
"Ma'am, we're going to be closing the door," One of the flight attendants interrupts.
"Go," I tell him, pressing another kiss to the top of his head, "I'll be waiting for you right here when you come home,"
"You better be," He says with a smile before turning around and following Allie down the jet way. I can almost feel myself start to break down.
"They're gone," I say with a bit of a cry as Will wraps his arm around my shoulders.
"They're going to be back soon," He says as he pulls me in tighter, "But in the meantime, you really need to catch this guy,"
Hey everyone! So I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and I've been working on a college Linstead AU or possibly a CPD/OTH crossover and if either of those ever go up, it won't be for a while, at least until I've finished one or two of the fics I have going right now, but if you're interested, please let me know in the reviews below! Also I'm starting school in a couple of days so my updates are probably going to be even more sporadic (sorry!) than they already are, but I'm hoping that you'll stick with my storylines and that you'll stick with me. Thanks for reading!
Xoxo,
Addison Grace