13. Chapter 13

Erin pulled up at Voight's house and hopped quickly out of the car. She opened the back door, and quickly unbuckled Daniel from his car seat. Hefting the baby into her arms, she kicked the door shut with her foot and sped up the steps. Erin noted all the cop cars from the evening before were gone. Either they had found what they were looking for, or they had given up. A quick glance up and down the street didn't reveal that anyone had stayed behind to provide surveillance the house, but you never know. Erin noted a darkened van half a block down. Hmmm…maybe they were watching after all.

Erin rang the doorbell, and tapped her toes impatiently. She had a key, but if had Hank had returned to his house this morning, she didn't want to take the risk of getting shot. Sure enough, she heard the creaking of the stairs inside his home that told her someone was in residence. The door opened, and a tired Voight appeared. A smile stretched across his face at the sight of Daniel, and Hank instantly reached for the young boy.

After releasing Daniel to his grandfather, Erin shouldered passed Hank into the house. "What the fuck is going on?" She demanded.

Hank gave her a censoring look, "Erin…" he cautioned.

Erin just rolled her eyes at his concern about her language. She was over it. She'd been burning up his phone all morning, and he hadn't responded to a single one of her texts or calls. She'd managed to get a few more hours of rest in, but Daniel was an early riser and had started calling for his mama pretty early. She'd called Olinsky who had been vague, but had let her know that Hank had been released. He was just as good at being evasive as Hank, and despite her pressing, hadn't given her any more information. She scrounged up some appropriate toddler food at her house, but as soon breakfast had been finished, she knew she had to get Daniel back to his home.

"Olive's gone." She crisply announced.

Hank turned to her in surprise. "What do you mean she's gone?" He gave her a pointed glare, "I told you to get her back to your place."

"I did!" Erin replied. "She snuck out of my place in the middle of the night." Pulling the note Olive had left behind, she handed it over to Hank. He bent to deposit Daniel onto the carpet, and the little boy quickly crawled over to his toy basket. Erin watched Hank's face as he read the note. His lips formed a harsh frown. He folded up the note and tucked it into his back pocket, and he regarded her wordlessly.

Erin was beyond frustrated at his silence, "I told you weeks ago that Olive needed help. Now she's abandoned her child."

Hank shook his head, "She didn't abandon him. She's just scared. Once she realizes that nobody is coming after her, she'll be back."

Erin rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Well, let's get her family over here to watch him." She threw him a look, "Then you and I are going to have a real talk about what Crowley has on you."

Hank narrowed his eyes, "No. There isn't anyone for Daniel. Just us."

"What do you mean 'just us?' What about her aunt?" She demanded.

"It's her great aunt, and she's like eighty something. She's in a nursing home. There's no way she can take care of a baby."

"Doesn't she have a sister?" Erin implored. Olive had to have some sort of family. Erin knew she had been born and raised in Chicago.

Hank nodded, "Yeah, but they don't have much of a relationship. Olive doesn't approve of her sister's life choices. She's into some rough stuff. I think she lives on the west coast somewhere. Phoenix? San Diego?"

"Great!" Erin was exasperated. Nice family Justin had gotten himself involved with. "So, what are you going to do?"

Hank gave a deep sigh and made his way to the couch, he slowly dropped down his eyes focusing on Daniel playing. Erin watched him for a few moments. He looked older somehow this morning. "I've been suspended."

Erin gritted her teeth. Seriously? Could nothing go their way? "What is going on?" She quietly asked, coming to sit next to him.

Hank gave her a nonchalant look, "They're accusing me of some crap. Extortion and bribery and some bull shit." He leveled her a serious look, "Nothing is going to stick, but I'm out of commission for now."

Erin let out a shaky breath, "What is it all about, Hank?"

He shook his head, "Nah, I'm keeping you out of this one." He reached across the couch and squeezed her knee, "You got dragged into this last time, and I am not making that mistake again." He gave an indulgent look toward Daniel. "Both of you. I want both of you far away from this."

"Okay, but…" Erin gestured toward Daniel. "What are we going to do about Daniel?"

Hank looked at her with a shrug, "I need you to take him." His voice was absolute as if everything had already been decided.

"What?" Erin looked at Hank like he was crazy. "I am not even …. I am not even related to him. Not really."

Hank leaned forward, his eyes serious. "Listen, they don't have anything solid on me, and I am going to make sure it stays that way. But if something goes down, I need to make sure that boy is not pulled down with me. If he's here with me, and they take me in, they'll realize that Olive bailed on him. Then who knows where he'll end up."

Erin just looked at Hank in disbelief. "I..I..can't, Hank. What am I supposed to do with him?" She was scared at the way Hank was talking. He kept saying that Crowley and company had nothing on him, but there was a seriousness about him that scared her. Usually he was so confident and arrogant about his decisions. There was doubt in his eyes, and it made her think that maybe Crowley had more on him than he was letting on.

"You are his aunt, Erin. In all the ways that count."

"But... but…" Erin looked over at Daniel worriedly. The boy was oblivious to the turmoil going on around him. He lay flat on his belly, banging on a noisemaker toy in front of him. "I can't take care of a kid, Hank. I've got work."

Hank gave her an encouraging look, "I'll still get Mrs. Deante to watch him. She's been craving having a baby around since her son and his family moved to Florida last year. She's discreet and won't ask where Olive's gone."

Erin just looked at Hank hopelessly, "This can't be real."

"It's temporary. Maybe a week." Hank reassured her. "I'll get people looking for Olive immediately. This business with Crowley will be over and done within a few days."

Erin just shook her head in disbelief. She heard what Hank was saying, and she knew he made some sort of twisted sense, but she still couldn't believe what was happening. Her taking care of a baby? Even with it being temporary, Erin just wasn't on board with the plan. Hank was looking at her with such insistence, Erin knew that he was leaving her with little other choice. Letting out a resigned sigh, she looked at Daniel. "A few days. That's all." Glancing back at Hank, "Get your shit settled. I can't do this on my own."

Hank smiled indulgently at her, "Yes, you can. You say you want to help me, and this is the best way that you can. Take care of my grandson."

….

Three hours later, Erin looked around her apartment in dismay. How could one little boy have so much crap. Hank had insisted that he move most of Daniel's belongings to her place, claiming the little boy would be more comfortable with his stuff around him after so much upheaval. He'd made two trips in his car depositing a high chair, a moving walking contraption, a stroller, a suitcase of clothes, boxes of diapers and food. There were bottles and sippy cups. Kiddie bowls and plastic spoons. Baskets of toys and books. He had even spent a half hour babyproofing her apartment with plugs and latches. Erin had just sat on the couch holding Daniel in disbelief as her apartment turned into an ad for Babies 'r Us. Just for a few days she had repeatedly insisted to Hank, and he had nodded in agreement, even as he drilled holes in the wood to put latches on the cabinets under sink to make sure Daniel didn't accidentally go exploring any cleaning chemicals.

At one point, concern had creeped up on her as she had overheard a heated argument with Hank and someone over the phone. He had stepped out into the hall to avoid being overhead, but curiosity had got the best of her. She had suspected it was Olinsky, by the frank tone that he had used. Hank had returned to apartment with his face clouded is dismay. Erin had tried to get him to stay for lunch, but he had been adamant he had some "things" to take care of. Erin had let him go, hoping whatever he was up to would result in either Olive returning or Hank being cleared of the charges Crowley was threatening him with.

Now alone in her living room, she sat watching Daniel explore his temporary home. Her eyes roamed the disaster of a mess her apartment had become. What the fuck was she going to do with a toddler?

…..

Erin sprinted up the stairs to Intelligence, punching her code into the keypad and waiting impatiently for the buzz that told her the latch had been released. She took the remaining stairs two at a time, and heard the voices of the squad before she saw them. They all spun where they stood to look at her. She knew she was a sight to see.

Yesterday had been fine with Daniel. She had entertained him throughout the day, even taking him on a walk to the local park. It had been fun to watch him chase the birds stumbling and falling on his unsteady legs. He had spent an hour playing in the sand box, and had cried sadly when Erin would push him no longer on the swings. Erin had cut up some fruit and hot dogs into small pieces for him to eat for dinner, and was proud of the fact she even got him fill his belly with peas and carrots. Much to Erin's delight, after a bath and a story book, Daniel had drifted off to sleep just a little after nine. Voight had confirmed a babysitter for the next day, and Erin had planned to drop the boy off at 8:30 a.m. That would give her a half hour to get to the office. Everything seemed so simple.

Only Daniel had not been so agreeable. He had refused to eat breakfast. He had smeared his food all over his clothes and hers, making her having to change him a second time and change her clothes as well. Once she had finally made it to Mrs. Deante's, Daniel had moved into full blown tantrum mode. Erin hadn't felt comfortable just dropping him off crying, so she had called Hank and made him come over. He had looked irritatingly amused at the sight of a hysterical Daniel and disheveled Erin. She had just thrown the diaper bag at him, and apologized to Mrs. Deante. The older woman had smiled reassuringly, and told her that babies had a hard time with changes in a routine, but usually settle in after a few weeks. Erin had looked at her in horror, and confirmed with Hank. It would only be a few days, not a few weeks. Hank had nodded in agreement, but had been distracted by fawning over his grandson, who irritatingly had ceased his crying and now looked angelically up at his grandpa.

Needless to say, Erin arrived at work twenty minutes late. It was no surprise to her that the entire squad stopped and stared at her as she arrived.

"Sorry, I'm late." She murmured. She could feel all eyes on her as she slipped into her chair. She knew word was out about Voight's suspension, and with her being out yesterday, she knew the rumors were probably going crazy. Atwater and Jay had both texted her yesterday. She had been quick to reply that everything was fine, and that she would be in the next day. Her and Hank had decided they weren't going to mention what was going on with Olive to anyone. When Olive did return and got herself straightened out, they wanted to make sure there was no Child Protection Services record of this. Erin felt in her heart that Olive really was a good mom. Everything she had seen before Justin's death had showed Erin that she was devoted to Daniel. She didn't want this one reckless decision to chase Olive for the rest of her life.

Erin directed her attention to the board, where Antonio was updating them on their current case. Erin knew they had been working something new since yesterday, and she focused her attention on the details on the board to try and catch up. Soon Antonio had Jay and her calling friends and coworkers of the suspect, trying to find a connection to the victim. She could sense Jay staring at her periodically, but kept her eyes adverted. She didn't want to get into another fight with him. She had bigger problems in her life right now than her failed relationship.

"I've got something." Jay stood from his desk. "An coworker says Velasquez and him were at a club a few weeks ago and there was a girl there that Velasquez said he dated. Seemed pretty pissed about it. Might be the vic."

Dawson nodded from his desk, "Okay, you and Lindsay check it out."

Erin nodded and slipped her jacket on, following Jay out of the room. Within minutes they were headed across town.

"Everything, okay?" Jay suddenly asked. Erin was surprised that Jay was voicing his concern. With silence and avoidance usually being their current form of communication, she didn't think that Jay would actually bring his concerns up.

"Yep." Erin responded curtly. She didn't want to get into anything with Jay. Keeping him in the dark seemed to be the easiest route. He already had such strong feelings about Voight and her relationship with him. She knew that he'd disapprove of their covering for Olive.

Several more minutes passed, "Any word on Voight?"

"Nope." Erin returned, keeping her eyes on the road.

She could hear Jay sigh in annoyance, but Erin didn't care. Jay had made his decision to not be in her life, and he could deal with it now. As much as she needed and wanted to get everything off her chest, he had made it very clear that he didn't want to be part of her support system. I can't be your friend, Erin. His words constantly replayed in her head. Despite occasional actions that showed maybe he didn't mean those words, she wasn't willing to risk her heart again.

"Is he coming back?" Jay persisted.

"Don't know." She snapped.

"Erin," he began annoyed. "I'm just trying figure out the truth. Rumors are flying around here."

Erin just shrugged and kept her eyes on the road. "Why don't you give Crowley a call and ask her?"

Jay let out an exasperated grunt. "You are being difficult."

Erin threw him a dirty look as she pulled up to a red light, "How do you want me to be?"

"Come on, Er. I'm your partner. You can tell me what's really going on."

Erin let out a harsh laugh, "Please. A few weeks ago you were trying to get assigned a new partner."

Jay smacked his lips together making an annoyed sound. "I was pissed that day. I didn't really want a new partner. You know that."

Erin just threw him a disgusted look. She noted the light had turned green and drew her eyes back to the road. "Whatever. What about not wanting to be my friend? Questioning my loyalty?" She paused for a moment realizing she was talking about the very things she had sworn she wasn't going to get into with him. "You haven't exactly put yourself out there as my confidant lately."

The silence stretched out between them, and Erin knew she had struck a nerve. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see his eyes moving between her and the road. Soon Erin pulled up to the place where they were to meet their informant. Erin moved to get out of the car, when Jay suddenly grabbed her elbow to prevent her from moving. She reluctantly sat back against the car seat and gave him her attention albeit with an annoyed face.

"I'm just trying to figure it all out, okay. Everything went down the hole and I couldn't deal with it. It all fell apart, and I blamed you." Erin was surprised at the soft tone his voice had taken on. She met his eyes, and was taken aback by the seriousness reflected there. "For a long time I thought you'd just come back to me and tell me you'd been made a mistake. That you'd changed your mind. I really just thought you were scared and once you had a little space, you'd…" Jay let out a shuddering breath. He locked eyes with her, and Erin saw the raw emotion there. "I thought you'd say yes, Erin."

Erin sucked in a shocked breath at that. She was stunned at his admission. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. She just looked at Jay wordlessly. Had he really been hoping this whole time that she'd come back to him. Noting her stunned silence, Jay continued, "Then, after the Harris case. I didn't want that anymore. I wanted you as far away from me as possible. I was just so angry at you, me, everyone, everything."

Erin looked at him with wide eyes. She felt it was his first honest conversation with her in ages, "And now?" She softly whispered.

"I'm trying, Erin. I don't want to be an ass. I just want us to go back to how we used to be."

Erin looked at him sharply, Did he want to get back-

He kept talking, "When we were first partners and things weren't so damn complicated."

Erin bit her lip to hold the hope that had flared briefly back. "Yeah, well, okay." She tried to clear her head. Emotions flooded through her, but she didn't know how to deal with what Jay was telling her. Did he want to be friends? Maybe more? She pulled her gaze away from his, not wanting him to see too much of her true feelings. He already knew how to easily get to her, and while Erin didn't think he was trying to manipulate her. She knew that Jay wanted answers. "I really don't know anything about Voight. He's not talking to me." She looked back up at him. She hoped he believed her.

Jay studied her intently, and Erin knew he was searching her face looking for signs that she was lying. Apparently she covered well. He nodded, "Well, if you need anything. Just ask."

Erin nodded, broke the eye contact, and slipped out of the car. She felt unsteady thinking about Jay's honesty. It was something she'd wanted to hear from him for months. Even just listening to him admit he blamed her and was angry at her, helped give Erin a clue into why he'd been acting the way he had. She was shocked to hear that he'd still been holding out hope for her to change her mind and agree to marry him.

Honestly she didn't want to even think about it all anymore. She had more important things to think about than their past right now. If he didn't want to be an ass anymore, that'd be great. With her personal life in disarray, she needed a little normalcy at her job if possible. Everything else…everything else she was just going to push to the side for now.

…

Erin was surprised by the excitement she felt when she pulled up at Mrs. Deante's house that evening to pick up Daniel. When the babysitter opened the door holding him, Erin broke into a grin. All that mattered during this was that Daniel knew that people cared about him.

"Hey, big guy. How was your day?" She was pleased when he reached for her and wrapped his chubby arms around her neck. She smiled down at him and nuzzled his curls. Looking up at Mrs. Deante she questioned, "Was he good today?"

The older woman smiled warmly, "He had a great day. His poppa spent awhile with him this morning. We bundled up and went down to the park for a bit." She ruffled his hair a bit, "He's been up from his afternoon nap for a few hours and already had an afternoon snack. Probably will be ready for dinner in another hour."

Erin grabbed the car seat from by the door and slipped the diaper bag over her shoulder. "Well, that sounds perfect. Thank you so much, Mrs. Deante. I appreciate all this so much. I know it has all been last minute."

"Not a bother. It actually made my day. I've been bored out of my mind the last few months since Johnny moved his family down to Orlando." She gave Erin sad look, "Been thinking of just packing up and moving down their myself, but my sister is till up here."

Erin confirmed that she would be back tomorrow, and decided to make the drop off twenty minutes earlier. Mrs. Deante easily agreed, and even warned Erin that if she ever got a middle of the night call, she was good to drop him off last minute as well. She still had her guest room set up for her grandkids and Daniel would do fine there. Erin thanked her again and set off. As she pulled down the street, she couldn't help but notice that Hank's house was dark. His car wasn't on the street where he usually parked it. Erin wondered where he was.

Once she got home, she got Daniel settled and started dinner. She was feeding him and laughing at his little antics. It was nice. She actually felt like she was contributing to someone's life a bit. Instead of just zoning out with a beer in front of the television, it was fun to play and goof off a little.

It was close to nine when Hank finally returned her latest call. "Is Daniel all settled?" He asked.

Erin kept her voice low as she moved into the other room. Erin wasn't sure if he was a light sleeper or not. "Yeah, he just went down a bit ago. Did you get ahold of anyone?"

"I've got a call out to her sister. Stopped by the place where the great aunt lives. She gave me a few numbers, but most of them were out of service. Not sure if that's gonna turn out anything."

"So nothing?" Erin let out a sigh. As much she enjoyed hanging with the little, guy, Erin knew he needed someone else.

"I've got a list of her friends to look into tomorrow. A few from high school, and an old roommate that she had a couple years ago." He paused for a moment, and Erin could tell he was holding back on something.

"What?" She pressed.

She could tell Hank was debating sharing something, but eventually he continued. "She's been talking to some people that I thought she'd moved on from. Looking at her text records and call list. Some of them are trouble. Don't think most of them are going to be receptive on hearing from cops. Even if they know where she is, I am thinking they'd keep quiet."

Erin let out an annoyed breath, "Alright, but still. Just a few days, Hank. I can't do this for long."

"I know." He responded, although Erin felt like he was just placating her.

"What about Crowley? You hear anything about that?"

Hank quickly responded, "Don't worry about that. You just worry about keeping my grandson safe and I will take care of everything else."

She sighed dejectedly again, "Okay. Keep me updated."

"I will," Erin was just about to hang up when he continued, "Erin, you're a good auntie."

Erin chuckled slightly as she hung up.

I know there wasn't that much Linstead in the last two chapters, but I promise it will be back in the next. Just wanted to move the plot along with some other interactions. Jay will find his way into the loop of what is going on with Erin and Daniel soon. How do you think he will react?