1. Chapter 1

Hi all! I am wrapping up my other story "Never Go in Without Backup"... I have one or two chapters left on that one. I decided to start this one, but I am still working on the other one too :) This is a completely alternate universe, so please review and let me know if you like it. If it's not what you like to read then I won't continue it, so just let me know :)

Thanks so much! xoxo

Chapter 1,

"One more bite of oatmeal, Mads." He was rinsing his coffee cup in the sink and stowing it away in the dishwasher, and was turned away from his daughter. But like every other morning, he knew she had likely finished every piece of fruit on her plate but had eaten only half of her oatmeal.

"Daddy, I don't even like oatmeal." Four year old Maddie whined to her father as she took another apple cinnamon flavored bite.

"Yes," he turned around to face her, "You do. And it's good for you." He walked over and dropped a kiss on the top of her blonde head. "You need to eat healthy if you want to go big and strong like Daddy, right?"

"I guess," she pouted. "But I like pancakes so much better."

"I know you do, baby." Every time he gave her those puppy dog eyes, he saw her mother reflected in them. God he missed her so much. "But, guess what tomorrow is?"

Maddie thought for a moment, and then upon realizing what day it was, her whole face lit up. "Saturday!" She shouted excitedly.

He finished cleaning the kitchen as he spoke to her, and he packed her lunch in her pink princess backpack. When he was finished, he walked over to the chair she was sitting in and lifted her up into his arms. "And what's so special about Saturday, Mads?" He asked her, already knowing the answer.

"IT'S CHOCOLATE CHIP PANCAKE DAY!"With Maddie in his arms, her voice was so loud it made him jump. But he didn't care. He loved pancake day just as much as his beautiful little girl did. Spending the morning lazily drinking coffee, eating pancakes, and playing games with his daughter was his favorite way to spend a Saturday. It would be his favorite way to spend any day for that matter, but he didn't have that luxury. Maddie went to a good preschool, and they lived in an apartment in a good school district, since she was getting ready for kindergarten next year. Jay was raising a four year old, and he needed to work.

Speaking of, "Put your coat on, Maddie Halstead. You have to get to school, and Daddy has to get to work."

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"You ready to talk about it?" Hank Voight sat in his kitchen drinking his first cup of coffee of the day, looking across the table at his unexpected, but very welcome visitor.

"Not really," Erin replied, looking down into the steaming mug of coffee Hank had placed in front of her. She had spent the night in her old room, needing to escape her apartment after the awful events of last night. She hadn't slept well, she had been playing it over and over in her head all night and it had caused her to toss and turn.

"You don't have to," Voight knew Erin. After taking her in at 15 years old, and raising her with his late wife, he had learned when to pry, and when to let things sit. Today, he was going to have to let things sit. "You know you are welcome to stay here as long as you want, kid."

"Thanks, Hank." Erin closed her eyes and let the scent of the strong coffee wash over her, calming her. She took her first tentative sip, and judging it to be the right temperate, took another, longer one. She let the coffee settle in her stomach, wishing the caffeine would instantly enter her system. "I should probably get going, I have to get to work."

"I'll see you for dinner?" He had seen the large bag she brought with her, had noticed that she had already taken over the second bathroom upstairs, and she hadn't repacked any of her stuff. He knew this was her unspoken way of telling him she planned to stay for a while.

She looked down at her coffee again, embarrassed that he saw right through her. "Yeah, I'll see you for dinner."

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Jay sat at his desk researching kindergartens for Maddie. His apartment was in a good school district, but one of the mom's in Maddie's class had just been telling him about different Magnet schools in the area. He had grown up in the suburbs of Chicago and had gone through the public school system there, and he felt pretty comfortable with the idea of sending Maddie to one of those schools. But he wouldn't be doing his job as a father if he didn't do his due diligence and research the different Magnet schools, too.

Work had been pretty slow in the past few days, and he had finished his paperwork for the last case by the end of his short day yesterday. His partner was the only other person in the bullpen so far this morning. His boss wasn't even there. That worried him slightly, because Hank Voight was always the first person at work. As he began to open his mouth to ask his partner if he had heard from Hank, he heard footsteps pounding up the stairs.

"Where is everybody," Voight spoke gruffly as he ascended the stairs, looking at Halstead and Dawson, the only two in the bullpen. "We've got a crime scene."

"Burgess and Olinsky are downstairs, talking to Platt about something. I'll text Atwater and Ruzek and find out." Dawson said, opening his phone as he spoke.

Five minutes later, the entire team was gathered in the bullpen. "Suit up, let's roll out," Voight instructed, leading the team downstairs.

"What've we got?" Voight addressed the officers as he walked through the front door of a large, rundown apartment. They had all just arrived on the scene.

"Two dead. First victim was a white male, looks about forty years old, found in the kitchen. Then a woman, maybe late twenties or early thirties. Found down in her bedroom." The team listened as they made their way into the apartment.

They immediately split up upon entry, Voight, Halstead, and Dawson approaching the kitchen and examining the dead body, which laid face down on the floor. "Looks like he was killed execution style," Dawson noted, turning to his partner.

"Definitely," Halstead agreed.

Dawson and Halstead bent down to get a better look at the body when Ruzek appeared in the doorway. "The officer said to look at the kitchen cabinets. They made sure not to touch anything when they got here." He began walking towards to cabinets, and Halstead met him there.

"All these cabinets are open and empty," Ruzek remarked. "Seems odd."

"Uh... Sarge. The bottom of the cabinets are lined with a while powder." Halstead leaned in, getting a closer look. "Could be cocaine residue?"

"You think they were selling?" Dawson asked, walking towards the cabinets in question.

"Appears that way." Voight answered, not moving from his spot in the corner of the room.

"This is Latin Kings territory." Dawson stepped away from the cabinets, stepping back towards the body on the floor of the kitchen, "Maybe these were low level dealers," he stopped and faced the team, "Or maybe they were trying to sell on their own. The Latin Kings killed them to send a message."

"First things first, ID the bodies." Voight said. "And find out if that residue is actually cocaine."

"I'm on it, Sarge." Ruzek said, leaving the room as he began to type on his phone.

Halstead turned away from where he was standing at the cabinets, and turned to face his partner. "Do you have this covered?" He asked Dawson, "I want to check the rest of the house. See if there is any other signs of drugs anywhere."

Dawson nodded his agreement, and Halstead turned and walked out of the kitchen and into the living room. Burgess and Olinsky were already tearing apart the living room, so he kept moving, walking into the hallway at the back of the house. He opened the first door he came upon, and after noticing it was a bathroom and giving it a quick scan, kept moving. The next door he opened revealed a small, pink bedroom. He walked inside, noticing the twin bed with a pink and white comforter.

At the site of the the comforter, he froze in his tracks and a chill ran up and down his spine. He knew that comforter. He had bought that exact pink and white comforter for Maddie for her third birthday, when he finally decided she was ready to move into a big girl bed.

He closed the door quietly to block out the noise of the apartment, which was now filled with police officers and detectives. He noticed a white, wooden rocking chair in the corner of the room. Maddie had a white rocking chair in her room, too. The thought made him want to vomit.

Above the rocking chair, he noticed a name painted on the wall in pink, "Grace".

"Grace," Jay began softly, opening the closet doors. "My name is Jay Halstead. I'm a detective here with the police." He peered through the empty closet, looking into each corner to make sure he didn't miss anything. He didn't know how old the little girl was - but there was a twin bed instead of a crib, and he hadn't noticed a changing table or a diaper pale. The clothes in the closet seemed to be slightly smaller than Maddie's.

He continued to look around the room. "You don't have to be scared, Grace." He hoped saying her name would get the little girl to come out from her hiding spot. He knelt down and peeked under the bed. Hiding under the bed was Maddie's favorite place when they played hide and seek. Sure enough, curled up against the opposite wall was a little girl in a pink nightgown. She had soft brown hair that curled at the bottom and she pushed it out of her face. She looked at him with tears in her eyes. Shit, she looks terrified. Jay's heart broke for the little girl. She couldn't have been any older than his own daughter.

"Sweetheart, can you come out for me?" He wondered if he should get Burgess, maybe a woman would be better. He wasn't sure if Grace would crawl out of the her hiding place for him. Even if he could reach out to her, he wasn't sure it was a good idea.

She shook her head at him and the tears spilled out of her big brown eyes. He noticed for the first time that she was pale and looked thin.

"Grace, right?" At the sound of her name, she moved slightly. It was barely noticeable, but he could tell she was listening. "Grace, you are safe now. No one here is going to hurt you, I promise." She continued to hold his gaze. He wracked his brain, trying to figure out what to do to get her to trust him. "I have a daughter, Maddie. She's four. Sometime when she was a baby and she couldn't sleep, I would lay down next to her on the floor and hold her hand through the crib." She didn't move, but her face softened. "I am just going to lie here with you until you are ready to come out, okay?"

He rested on his stomach with his head turned towards her. After a few moments, she slowly inched her way towards him, watching him as she moved. When she reached him, he didn't reach out to touch her. He didn't want to scare her more than she already was.

"Can you tell me how old you are, Grace?" Jay asked, now sitting on the floor facing her.

"I'm four, too." She said shyly. He looked at this brown hair brown eyed little girl and thought of his blue eyed blond. Grace looked so much smaller and thinner than his girl. She shivered, and he noticed that all she was wearing was a thin nightgown. He quickly scanned her body to look for bruises, and was grateful that he didn't see any.

"Grace, are you cold? Do you want to change into something warmer?" He was comfortable with the temperature in the room, but he was covered in heavy gear.

She looked at him. He could tell she was still trying to assess if she should be scared. She seemed to decide that he wasn't going to hurt her, and she nodded.

"Okay," Jay stood up. "Let's find you something to wear." Jay walked over to the dresser and removed a pair of leggings and a sweater dress. Maddie had the same leggings, and the thought made him smile. At least she had clean clothes that fit her from the very same places he shopped at. He brought them over to Grace. "Are these okay?"

She nodded again, and lifted her arms above her head, signaling for him to help her get dressed. He removed her nightgown, and quickly scanned her body again before helping her put on her leggings and sweater. Again, he noticed that she was pale and thin, but she didn't appear to have any bruises on her front or back. He let out a breath he hadn't even realized he'd been holding and felt completely relieved.

Now that she was dressed, he wanted to get her out of the apartment without her seeing anything. Thankfully, her parents bodies were in the kitchen and the other bedroom and they could bypass both of those on the way out.

He reached down to pick up Grace, and walked towards the door. "Grace, what do you say we go down to the police station and get some ice cream?" He smiled at her enthusiastically.

"With chocolate chips?" She asked, smiling up at him. The tears had disappeared and now her brown eyes shined bright up at him.

He thought of the chocolate chips he was planning to put in his daughter's pancakes the following morning and smiled. What is it with little kids and chocolate chips. "Definitely with chocolate chips!" Jay opened the door and walked Grace towards the living room. "That is my favorite!" He said, keeping her eyes focused on his and blocking her view of the kitchen with his body. He saw Voight out of the corner of his eye and signaled for him to meet him in the hallway.

When they reached the outside of the apartment, Jay waited for Voight. "Hi," Voight said to Grace. His deep, gruff voice must have scared her because she immediately turned away and buried her face into Jay's neck.

"Grace, this is my boss Sergeant Voight." He moved his neck and peered down at her. "He's not going to hurt you, okay sweetheart?"

Grace looked up at Voight, her arms still wrapped tightly around Jay. She gave Voight a small smile and said quietly, "We are going to the police station for chocolate chip ice cream."

Voight smiled at Grace, "You know, Detective Halstead has a daughter your age and she also loves chocolate chip ice cream." Voight had gotten to know Maddie well over the last two years that Halstead had worked in his unit, and he had grown fond of the little girl. "Take her to the station, I'll call DCFS."

"Thanks," Halstead had been surprised when Voight offered to call for him, but he was grateful he wouldn't have to. He wanted to focus on Grace and getting her somewhere safe.

"We'll take care of everything here, your job is to keep an eye on her until I speak to DCFS." Hank shifted his gaze away from Halstead and looked down and smiled, again addressing the little girl in Jay's arms, "If you ask really nicely, I bet Jay here might even put chocolate syrup on it, too," Voight winked at her, and then looked towards Jay. "Halstead," He nodded and walked back into the apartment, closing the door behind him.

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An hour later, Jay was sitting in the break room cleaning two bowls that had previously been filled with ice cream. Grace had been shy at first, but once she was about halfway through her ice cream, she began to open up a little bit more. Jay learned that Grace had lived in that apartment for as long as she could remember, her parents names were Olivia and Scott Jones, and that she went to daycare in lieu of school.

He wanted to know her more about her parents. He wanted to know if she had heard anything or seen anyone in the apartment. But every time he looked at her face, he was reminded of his four year old daughter and he just couldn't get the words out. Instead he peppered her with questions about daycare, and she told him all about her best friends and her favorite TV shows. Jay didn't let Maddie watch too much TV, not wanting it to her rot her young brain, so when Grace began listing off all of her favorite shows, Dora the Explorer, Daniel the Tiger, Sesame Street, Peppa Pig, etc., it made him kind of sad.

As he dried the bowls and placed them next to the sink, he felt his phone buzz in his pocket. "Halstead," he answered, without even looking at the name of the caller.

"Halstead, listen." Voight began to speak hurriedly over the phone. "Grace needs to be placed in protective custody for the time being. It will probably just be one night but it may be a few more. I called over to DCFS to set something up-"

"I'll take her." He wasn't sure where that offer had come from, but he didn't regret the words as they spilled out of his mouth.

Voight was not as surprised as Halstead by his words. In fact, he was hoping Halstead would say that. Halstead's babysitter was out of town this week, and he had left to pick up Maddie from school at 2:30 pm each day. Halstead never asked for any special treatment regarding his daughter, but Maddie's grandparents were out of town too, and Halstead had no other options. Voight was happy to have him for the hours that he could give him, and it had been a light week anyway, but he knew Halstead was not going to be that helpful in the long hours of the case this weekend. Taking care of Grace, that he could do. "Are you sure?" He asked, just as a formality, not expecting a change in answer.

"Yeah, I'm sure." Halstead replied.

"Take Grace to pick up Maddie from school and then go home. I'll have someone from DCFS meet you there." Voight instructed.

"If it's easier for the person from DCFS, I can meet bring Grace and Maddie back here." Halstead lived in the suburbs, and he didn't want to make anyone go out of there way.

"Don't worry about it. She can come to you. She owes me a favor. I'll call you later if I have a minute to give you an update on the case." And with that, Voight hung up the phone.

Jay turned to Grace, who had been watching him while he spoke to Voight. "Grace, what do you say you have a sleepover with my daughter Maddie tonight? We were going to watch Frozen!" He managed to make his voice sound excited, even though he would be happy if he never had to watch that movie again. It had been cute the first few times... but he had had enough. Because Jay only let Maddie watch movies on special occasions, he didn't have to suffer through it too much, but even so, he had seen it over 10 times. Plus his daughter had every character in stuffed animal form, and he had the soundtrack on his phone and it played over and over in his car.

Her wary expression turned to complete joy when she heard the name of her favorite movie. "I love Frozen!" was her only reply as she jumped out of her chair and rushed to follow Jay towards the door.

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"Maddie, this is Grace." Jay lifted his daughter's backpack and slung it over his shoulder as he introduced the two four year old girls. "She is going to have a sleepover at our house tonight and we are all going to watch Frozen! Doesn't that sound fun?" His daughter was only four, and therefore had never had a friend sleepover. He hoped she would be okay with it.

Her face lit up and she replied, "Really, Daddy? A sleepover?" Wow. She was more excited about a sleepover than Frozen? She was definitely more than okay with it. Jay nodded and she squealed in delight. "Grace, guess what tomorrow is?"

"What?" She replied shyly.

"It's chocolate chip pancake day!" She laughed excitedly, and then grabbed Grace's hand. Maddie didn't notice Grace flinch at her touch, instead she continued to hold her hand tight and pulled her out the door.

Jay noticed Grace flinch, and his heart lurched. As the three of them walked towards the car, Grace seemed to relax. He watched both girls as they began to talk to each other, walking down the sidewalk. They instantly got along, in a way only four year old girls can. They were approximately the same height, but Grace had a frailty to her and a sadness in her eyes that was even more noticeable standing in contrast to his cheerful, carefree daughter. It broke his heart.

He realized then that he only had one car seat in the car, and he strapped Grace into the backseat and drove as carefully as possible all the way home. He set a reminder on his phone to ask DCFS about getting another carseat, in case this case lasted longer than Voight had anticipated. When they pulled up to his apartment building, he helped both girls out of the car. They walked into the apartment and immediately he brought them into the kitchen for a snack. For some reason, every time he looked at Grace he had the urge to feed her.

As he opened the fridge, he heard a knock at the door. That must be the lady from DCFS, he thought as he closed the refrigerator door. "I'll be right back, girls." He walked out of the kitchen and down the short hallway to the door, and without checking the peep hole he swung the door open.

He lost his breath as his eyes rested on the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. She had brown hair that flowed past her shoulders in a beautiful wave. She was slim and dressed in a light blue blouse with a black pencil skirt and nude high heels that made her legs look like they went on forever. But her best feature was by far her eyes. They were a deep hazel and they were striking and beautiful.

She reached out her hand for him to shake it. "Hi, I'm Erin Lindsay, the social worker with DCFS." Then she smiled at him, and two small dimples appeared, and he realized that her eyes weren't her best feature after all.

xoxo

Please review! Give me your thoughts! Should I continue?!