"Alright Sarge what do we have?" I ask as I emerge from the driver's side of my car.
"Responding to a 911 call from neighbors of shots fired inside the house. We've got one confirmed body, a woman, maybe late twenties or early thirties." Voight says.
"Alright let's take a look." I say as I cross under the crime scene tape and heads towards the front door of the townhouse. As Jay and I walk through the front door, we see the fallen woman, slain across her living room floor with blood splattered all around.
"Have they found anyone else in the house?" Jay asks the crime scene techs.
"We haven't found anyone else yet, but we just got here." He says.
"Alright we're going to search the house then." I say. He gives me a nod and we set off to look while Voight and Antonio continue to talk to the techs. We start up the stairs to the second level, our guns removed from our holsters and out in front of us. The house was old and the stairs creak with every movement we make. The seasoned hard wood floors continue into the flat surface of the second floor and we are faced by a hallways with several doors mostly open.
"Halstead you go left, I'll go right,"I say as they start their search. He gives me a nod. I clear an empty room and a bathroom before I come across the room of a small child.
"Jay was there any report of a child in the house?" I yell back towards him.
"No, why?" He responds.
"I've got a kids room here." I say. I walk into the room to find it empty. But when I open the closet doors I see a very different sight. "Jay get in here!" I yell as I take in the little girl. I can hear the footsteps of my partner approaching me as my heart drops at the absolute fear in this little girl's eyes. I slowly lower my gun to the floor and Jay runs into the room.
"Erin what's going on?" He answers his own question quite quickly as he looks past my shoulders. The little girl has red hair, falling to her shoulders in loose curls, her hazel eyes peering deep into my soul.
"Hi sweetie, my name is Erin. and this is my friend Jay." She says gently as she gestured towards me. "Can you tell me your name?" She shakes her head no, but Jay points to the the name Lucy painted on the wall above her bed. "Is your name Lucy?" I ask her. She gives me a little nod. "Okay Lucy what do you think about coming with me and my friend Jay?" She shakes her head no again and tears begin to seep out of her eyes. "Oh sweetie no don't cry." I say, being cautious not to make her uncomfortable.
"Lucy don't be scared, we're the good guys. We're the police," Jay says with a little smile. Her hazel eyes open wide, glossed over with tears as she begins to think over his statement.
"They hurt my mommy." She says sobbing as she collapses into my arms.
"I know sweetie, I know." I say as I rub her back and try to calm her. "But you're safe now, everything is going to be okay. It's okay," She clings onto me and wraps her arms around my neck as she soaks my vest with her salty tears. I boost her onto my hip as she continues to sob and Jay follows us out. As we descend down the stairs, I try my best to keep her innocent eyes from seeing the situation in the living room and exit the house as fast as possible, leaving Jay to explain the situation to Voight and Antonio. I can tell everyone is staring at me as I carry the sobbing girl down the stairs and across the street into my car. I see Jay following me out and stop outside the back door of my car.
"You feel like driving?" I saw as I toss him the keys. He responds with a simple smirk, knowing I almost never let him anywhere near the driver's seat. He pulls open the back door for me and I slip into the back seat with Lucy pulled tight into my arms. Jay sits silently in the front seat, giving me the occasional glance to make sure we were okay.
"Hey sweetheart, can you tell me your full name?" I ask once the tears have begun to subside.
"Lucy Claire McGovern." She says quietly as she begins to separate her head from my chest.
"Alright how about your age? Do you know how many years old you are?" She hold up four fingers.
"Okay Lucy, so right now Jay is driving us back to the police station, that's where we work." I say gently. "When we get there we're going to take you upstairs and then we're going to ask you a couple questions. Is that okay?" I say. She begins to whimper.
"Hey hey don't worry," Jay pipes in from the driver's seat. "It'll be super fast and we'll be there the whole time. No one's going to leave you." She silently agrees and snuggles herself back as much as she can into my bulletproof vest and falls asleep. It's not long before we arrive at the 21st District and we pull in. Lucy is back on my hip and Jay discreetly has a hand on my shoulder. We ascend up the steps to the front door and the shock on Platt's face is undeniable when she sees the little girl in my arms. Jay gives her a look that says, don't you dare say anything, and she just nods us off. Jay presses his hand to the palm scanner and punches in the code to release the lock on the door to Intelligence. I climb up the steps, trying my absolute hardest to not wake her up as we go. I see the eyes of my coworkers widen as their eyes rise from the paperwork on their desks. I transfer Lucy into Jay's arms and her heads rolls comfortably to his shoulder.
"So Lindsay what's up with the kid?" Ruzek asks, sticking his foot in his mouth like usual. I roll my eyes at him before I answer.
"Her name is Lucy McGovern, found her hiding in a closet at the crime scene." I say.
"You going to call DCFS?" Al asks.
"I'm going to wait for Voight to get back her so we know what we're dealing with. We may have to keep her in protective custody." He nods back at me. "Alright I should go see her, Jay promised we wouldn't leave her so I should be there when she wakes up." I get a wave from Ruzek as I follow Jay's lead into the break room where Lucy is curled up on the couch."How's she doing?" I say as I look at the sweet little girl in front of me.
"Still out like a light," He says with a smile.
"So if she needs to be in protective custody, I was thinking that I could take her home with me."
"Oh okay," He says, taking in my statement. "Can I ask why?"
"I don't know Jay, she reminds me of me I guess. She's all alone, she has no one to lean on and neither did I. Everyone should have someone to lean on." I say while shifting my weight between my legs.
"Okay," He says with a smile. We see her begin to stir on the couch and our conversation comes to an abrupt halt.
"Hey sweetheart," I say as I rush over to her on the couch.
"Hey Erin," she says sleepily as she rubs her eyes.
"How you doing sweet girl?" A smile begins to form on her face and she opens her mouth to speak as the events of the day flow back to her. The floodgates open the tears pool down her face, sobs escaping her faster than I knew possible.
"Hey Luce don't cry, it's okay." I engulf her in my arms and begin to rock her back and frog in my arms. Jay stands there confused, I can tell the situation is a little bit uncomfortable for him and he doesn't know quite what to do. I motion for him to come sit with us and use my eyes to tell him to wrap his arms around her as well. Her tears begin to fade as the added comfort of being held all around her came in.
"Voight's here, do you want to talk to him or should I?" Jay asks.
"I'll go, you stay here with Lucy, just hold her," I say. I look down and whisper into her ear. "Lucy I'm going to go talk to my friend Hank over there, can I leave you here with Jay is that okay?" She whimpers and nods her head yes before releasing her death grip on my wrist. I nod to Jay before getting up and turning around to see her shift in his lap to bury her face in his chest. I close the door of the break room to make sure her little ears won't hear anything either me or Voight is about to say.
"Voight what do we have on the vic?" I say quietly.
"Her name was Hannah Garnell, her boyfriend Paul McGovern was a heroin dealer, he got in badly with some gang, killed 3 months ago. But he owed money to a bigger player in his game, that's when they came to collect from Hannah. When she didn't have the money, they shot her. The kid,"
"Lucy, her name is Lucy," I interrupt.
"Lucy," He starts again, "She hid in the closet when she heard the shots and that's what we have so far. We called DCFS and told them we're putting her in protective custody until we catch the guy."
"Hank," I say nervously, "can I take her?" He looks stunned as he reacts to my statement.
"Well I guess you could, but why Erin?" He says, curiosity lining his face.
"She's alone, she doesn't have anyone, and I think she trusts me Hank. Plus Jay kinda told her that we wouldn't leave her." I say sheepishly.
"Wait Halstead's going with you?" He exclaims.
"Hank it's not like that, you know that. It's just to make Lucy feel comfortable. And after everything she's been through I think we at least owe her that." I say, arguing my point.
"Okay fine, I'll call DCFS and let them know. Right now, take that vest off and see if you can get the girl to tell you anything."
"Hank she won't talk today, she's in shock her mother just died and she's four years old. We can't push her too much, she'll shut down so fas-." I ramble as he put a hand on my shoulder to very quickly shut me up.
"Okay Lindsay, I understand, take Halstead and Lucy, the day's nearly over so take the rest of the day off and get her settled in your apartment. When she's ready to talk let me know."
"Okay," I say with a nod as he brushes my shoulder. I walk back over to the break room and open the door quietly.
"Hey Luce I have something to ask you." She looks up from Jay's chest for a second and perks up just a little bit, those big hazels glaring through me.
"What is it?" She says, trying to wipe away her tears.
"So I talked to my friend Hank and he said that you could come have a sleepover at my house tonight? How does that sound?" She gives me a small smile and a nod.
"Can Jay come with us?" She asks, tears glossing her eyes. Jay looks up at me for an answer.
"Yeah sweetie, Jay can come with us." He looks at me confused.
"I'll explain later," I say quietly. "You ready to go Lucy?"
"Oh we're going now?" He questions.
"Yeah Voight gave me the go ahead and said to take the rest of the day off and get her settled in my apartment." I move to grab Lucy from Jay's arms, but she flinches at the touch, so I shrug and leave her in the very protective arms of my partner. He stands up without missing a beat and just walks down the center of the bullpen without a second thought. We descend down the stairs, through the Intelligence gates, past the front desk, and down the front steps of the 21st. My car is parked right where Jay left it and he pulls open the back door as I unlock the front and effortlessly slides into the back seat without loosening his grip on the four year old. I feel my heart tighten at the sight. No child should ever have to go home like this. Hell she's not even going home, she's going to my apartment to enter protective custody. No child should have to go through that. But for now, this was going to be her home. I put the car in reverse and pull out, subconsciously taking a look at Lucy in Jay's arms through the rear view mirror.
"Alright Lucy, let's get you home."