Erin flipped herself over, so restless in the warm apartment. She had been trying to sleep for hours, but her brain just wouldn't stop going over her meeting with Will a week ago. "Um... you know when Jay came... back… I wasn't there for him. The only friend he had was Mouse, who believe it or not, was the one who dragged Jay home... when he was going through..." The words kept reverberating through Erin, the aborted sentence from Will, inquiring about his brothers' wellbeing. She had always seen Jay as Mouse's protector and hadn't considered that their relationship had ever been reversed.
Erin pushes all thoughts of Jay and Mouse from her mind – they certainly aren't productive – the need to get some sleep before work the next morning is overwhelming. If she turns up with bags under her eyes, the whole precinct would think she was partying again, and Hank would get one of his little plastic cups out for a surprise test. So she commits to lying in bed, trying to sleep while her mind runs in circles.
Sitting on the edge of her desk the next morning, Erin watches as Antonio slaps pictures of missing people and dead bodies onto the whiteboard. His face is drawn, but he remains silent until the rest of the squad turns up.
Atwater is the last to file into the office, and offers a quick greeting to everyone before Antonio launches into the briefing. Voight stands in his office doorway, keeping an eye on the rest of the team.
Dawson points at the first picture- a good looking blonde teenager with a bright smile. "This is Britany Vanner, she is seventeen years old and was reported missing this morning." He taps the photo again, "She was reported missing by her mother, who went to wake her up this morning and found her bedroom in disarray and the window open. It appears she has been kidnapped during the night. The family say they have no known enemies who would want to kidnap their daughter, but we will still need to dig through their dirty laundry."
Voight walks over to he whiteboard and takes over from Antonio. "There is another angle we need to consider here. Miss Vanner is a young omega, and while her mother said she has been on suppressants since puberty, we cannot rule out that this attractive young girl has been abducted for sale to Alphas or for breeding purposes." Lindsay shook her head, disgusted. Breeding factories were one of the latest scourges to pop up in the area around District 21 - criminals would force omegas to mate with genetically strong Alphas and bear children, hoping that the union would create young omega children who could be groomed for sexual slavery. While the rape of omegas was a terrible thing, the authorities wanted to crack down on breeding factories because the children who were born Alpha or beta were killed or abandoned at birth, as there was only monetary value in the omegas, who were naturally submissive. For every omega born, two Alphas and two betas enter the world, leading to the murder and abandonment of a large number of children.
Erin spoke up. "Was it known she was an omega?"
"Some of her friends knew, and her boyfriend, Nick Porchez, knew. But it wasn't common knowledge, and she never had an unsuppressed heat. Most people thought she was a beta." Voight pointed to another picture on the board, of a middle aged African American woman. "This is Denise West, she went missing last week, from her house – her children reported her missing. The report lists that she probably ran away from her family. She was an Omega also."
Antonio pointed at the rest of the pictures on the whiteboard. "In the past eight weeks, nine omegas have gone missing in the local area – eight women and one man. They have all gone missing without leaving a note or indicating they were especially unhappy with their lives. We are thinking that a breeding factory has recently started operating in this area, and they are currently recruiting omegas."
Erin screwed her nose up at the technical language – recruiting omegas for breeding was essentially abducting, raping and holding someone against their will – but the vocabulary had been softened so that the reality was easier to digest for Alphas. "You know as well as I do that the two most vulnerable times for the breeding factories is when recruiting and retailing."
Voight nodded. "And we're not going to wait to bust them until they have children to sell to slavers, we're going to get these bastards now. Dawson and Ruzek, I want you to hit up your CI's and find out if there are any rumblings out there. Lindsay, Halstead, go interview the family of Britany and then interview the officers who responded to each case. See if there is something or someone in common." All the intelligence officers nod their heads and grab their gear. "Lindsay, a word." Voight tips his head towards his office, and Erin follows him in.
"I know you have worked with dynamic people before, but I just want to remind you to keep your temper, stay calm, and if there are any omegas on the premises to give them a wide birth. Also, leave the talking to Halstead. A beta is far less threatening to these people than you will be – they just lost one of their own, they will be defensive and over protective with another Alpha sniffing around."
Erin tried to keep herself from rolling her eyes. "Sure, Hank. I'm not about to get into a fight of dominance with a family who have just had their daughter kidnapped. I'm not that insensitive."
"I know. It's just… these are our people. It could have been Camille who was abducted. It's rare that these cases make it this far, and we have a real shot at solving this."
"I've got it."
"And tell Halstead to keep it gentle too, will you. The last thing we need is the family thinking that CPD sent two alphas to investigate." Voight was often surprised at how fired up Halstead could get, considering most betas were level headed – like Dawson or Al.
Lindsay smirks. "No problem, I'll keep him in line."
Erin and Jay walk down the concrete path to the front door of the Vanner house – Erin can immediately scent at least two alphas inside the house and immediately knows they will be dealing with one of the families who are proud of their dynamic heritage and don't try to hide. Bunny had been like that, always trying to convince Erin to live like her ancestors had intended. That she had ended up in love with someone who was a beta, and essentially undynamic, had angered Bunny when she had worked out who she was pining for.
"I'll let you take lead on this one." Erin motioned for Jay to step up to the door, and placed her hand on her weapon in readiness.
Jay offered her a lopsided smile in return, "Yeah, thanks."
The door swung open, and a tall man was waiting for them, attempting to take up as much of the doorway with his considerable bulk. He looks over the two detectives before opening the door wider to allow them in. "Have you found her?" The man asked desperately, not allowing either Jay or Erin time to reply. "Is there any news?"
Jay led them through the house, "We haven't found her yet, Mr. Vanner. We are working on a couple of leads, and we have a few more questions for you and Mrs. Vanner." The large alpha indicates for the two police to sit.
"Sure, anything to help." He turns around and opens a door, "Rose! The police are here!" Erin takes the few seconds to note the well-presented, neat living room. A picture of the family was on the sideboard and Lindsay stood up to have a closer look. Britney stood between her parents, a wide smile in place and her arms around their shoulders.
"Is this a recent photo, Mr. Vanner?" Erin asked, holding up the picture.
"It was from around Christmas last year. We have provided the police with a newer photo of her." Rose was a small woman, barely five foot tall, but she gave off strong alpha vibes, more so than her imposing husband. It took her a couple of seconds for her to realise that Erin was also an alpha, and then her smile was pulled into a snarl. It was one of the things that frustraited Erin the most, the jealousy and possessiveness that female Alphas always showed towards other female Alphas. It could get violent, and it was only that possibility that stopped Lindsay from telling Mrs. Vanner to chill, that they were here to find Britney, who the Vanners' had failed to protect.
"I hope you are taking her disappearance seriously, Detective. Just because she is an omega, don't mean she has no rights." Erin nodded her head, and decided not to point out that in America, Britney was in all essence a second class citizen.
Jay, on the other hand, didn't seem to understand the delicate status quo, "Miss Vanner, as your daughter was an omega you know she could have run away if she went into heat. She may be currently off with an Alpha, and will return in a couple of days' time with her tail between her legs. But we are going to investigate her disappearance, and we will take is seriously." Mr Vanner took a step closer to Halstead and attempted to intimidate the younger man, but Halstead just raised an eyebrow and continued. "We will also need to talk to any of Britney's friends that you know about and her boyfriend."
Rose glared at Jay, before turning to Lindsay with a tight smile. "I'll go get you their names and numbers, then."
Lindsay eyes Halstead from the corner of her eye as they make their way down to the car. She was surprised that he had taken such a confrontational approach to the interview, but he did have the habit of constantly surprising her.
"And Voight thought you would be a calming influence on that family. I can't believe you just said 'tail between her legs,' that is so offensive, Halstead!"
Halstead just gives her one of his grins and they drive to start a long day of interviews.
Walking into the precinct, Erin feels like they have spent the day banging their heads against a wall. None of Britney's friends had any idea of where she could have gone, none had seen her in the previous few days. They had nothing, but Erin knew that they would not be leaving until they either cracked the case or they could no longer function.
Olinsky was sitting in his little alcove, whispering away on his phone, and Voight was in his office talking with the Commander. His voice was becoming raised and it became clear that he was being told to put the case on the backburner, that there were other crimes more pressing than an omega on heat going missing.
"If she was on legal suppressants like her parents told us, it is very unlikely that she would have an unplanned heat. They are reliable these days." Halstead was frowning as he was flicking through the paperwork.
"Maybe she didn't like how they made her feel. They can make omegas depressed and anxious. She could have gone off them without saying anything," Erin countered.
"And then not asked her boyfriend to," Halstead did some air quotes "'Help her through her heat?' They were having sex, that much is obvious from the way he talked about her, he said that her parents got really angry when she started staying the night."
Lindsay nodded. "We are missing something." She took a sip of her coffee and looked around the room. "Omegas need to go to a doctor to get legally proscribed heat suppressants, right?"
"They are prescription only."
"So we find out who her doctor is, and go have a word with him. Maybe she had stopped getting the suppressants." Erin jumped off the desk and grabbed her jacket and keys from the table and headed for the exit, knowing Halstead would be following in her wake.
A quick phone call to the Vanners' provided them with the name of the family doctor Britney had been seeing since she was a little girl. The doctor practiced out of a small surgery a couple of streets from the Vanner family home, and the waiting room was filled with young families and screaming children, nearly all dynamic. This local doctor probably specialised in dynamic health, providing suppressants and birth control to omegas, and helping young dynamic families become settled.
The nurse at the counter told them that the doctor would be finished with his current patient in a couple of minutes and that they could then go interview him, and so Lindsay took a seat at the end of a row of chairs, while Halstead paced back and forward, probably bored, possibly uncomfortable. She knew he had experience with dynamic individuals, he had been in the military, which is an irresistible challenge for young alphas, and he hadn't flinched or been ignorant of her or Voight at the precinct. She had been surprised when she had met Will, who was the most stereotypical playboy Alpha, because it would have made more sense, biologically, for Jay to be an Alpha like his brother. Since meeting Will she had played around with the idea that Jay was on suppressants, but she never saw him take anything. His personality and physical appearance certainly screamed Alpha, but they could be society's influence, not a genetic imperative.
She focused on the doctor as he walked out, an older man, maybe early fifties, with thick rimmed glasses and a walk that left her almost running to keep up. He offered her a smile and ushered her to a chair, while completely ignoring her partner. Immediately she knew he was a chauvinistic womaniser. It would only make this interview that much sweeter.
"So, Detective. How can I help you?" The doctor's eyes crawl from her legs up to her face, hovering on her chest for longer than needed.
"Yes, Dr. Daniels. One of your patients, Miss Britney Vanner, has been kidnapped."
The smile on the doctor's face drops, and he then looks concerned. "Young Britney. She has been a patient of mine for a long time, since she was a toddler, I think. How can I help? Anything I can do?"
"We know she was an omega, and was wondering if she was on suppressants or had spoken to you about," Lindsay paused for a second, uncomfortable. "her needs."
The doctor looked mildly offended. "Not everyone thinks that those with a dynamic are freaks, Detective. Scientifically it has been proven that dynamic people are in no way deficient or disabled. Their plight can be compared with that of women, and I am sure you can appreciate that cause."
Lindsay lifted an eyebrow, not believing that this doctor had the nerve to lecture her about dynamic rights and feminism.
Halstead took that opportunity to take the lead. "We just need to know if she was on suppressants – and if she had been compliant with taking them. She hasn't come into your surgery in an unplanned heat? She hadn't talked to you about weening off the drugs?"
The doctor shook his head. "Detectives. I understand you are doing everything you can to find her, but I cannot just share that sort of information, you know that." He at least had the decency to look somewhat apologetic as he said it.
"I'm sure the privacy of her medical history will mean a lot to her when we find her dead, doctor. She will look up at us and thank us for not nosing into her medical history, which could have held a clue." Erin smiled at the doctor, who looked upset at the prospect of his patient dying.
Halstead takes two steps towards the doctor, who is sitting on the edge of his desk. Jay looms over the smaller man who shrinks back from his powerful frame for a moment before remembering to maintain his ground.
"If you don't want to provide us with the files, doctor, we will have to get a subpoena, and Britney will be dead. I don't like it when we fail, and people die." One of Halstead's hands flick out and crush the doctor's shoulder between his fingers. "Come on, your job is to help people. Help us out."
The doctor nods and seems to think that helping will mean he can escape Halstead's grasp sooner. "I'll grab you a copy of her medical file."
Lindsay smiles. "Thank you doctor."
The doctor is only gone for two minutes before coming back in with a manila folder clutched to his chest. He passes it to Lindsay, "She was on suppressants since she hit puberty, but only a couple of days ago she came in and asked about contraceptives and going off the suppressants. I advised her how to wean off them slowly, but she was already starting to scent, so I think she may have already stopped taking them. She had to leave through the back door, a couple Alphas had come into the surgery and caught wind of her scent."
Halstead looks incensed, "And you didn't think to tell us any of this when we first asked?"
The doctor pales. "No. I don't talk about my patients. She could have holed up somewhere with her boyfriend to get through the heat. She was irritable and said she was going to go and mate with her partner. She's probably with him."
Erin shook her head. "No, she's not. So she may now be with some Alpha who is taking advantage or maybe even kidnapped and in a breeding factory."
The doctor opens the door. "I can't control what happens when my patients leave, it's the police's job to keep people safe" He says pointedly, and the two exasperated Detectives take that as their cue to leave.
As they walk back into District 21, Halstead heads to the locker room to grab his things – they had already been working the case for 14 hours and it was time to head home, get some sleep and start fresh the next day.
Mouse looks up as Erin walks into the bullpen, "Hey Lindsay, can I, uh, have a word?" Erin freezes for a second, recognising from Mouse's tone that this wasn't about the case.
"Sure." With a nod towards the break room, she leads the way to the coffee pot, thinking simultaneously that she really didn't need caffeine just before going home, but also thinking that a mug of coffee would offer her something to do while talking to the sometimes squirrely IT expert.
"Shoot Mouse, what's on your mind."
The young man looks over his shoulder, scanning the bullpen with his constantly shifting eyes. "Um. Well, I know you and Jay have uh, had a thing."
Erin's eyes go wide, she knew that the two men were close, but she hadn't ever considered that Mouse would know about her and Halstead's history. Then again, it was starting to become clear to her that everyone had known something was going on, they had been the only two in denial.
"Sure Mouse. But we are over now."
"Yeah, I figured. It's just that." Another furtive look over his shoulder. "It's just that…"
Erin's patience was now starting to wear thin. "What Mouse?"
"Just keep an eye on him. During this case… you know… because of, you know, his past." Mouse now looked like he wanted to be anywhere but in the room with her. "I assume he's told you, you know, when you were together."
It was like pulling teeth. "I have no idea what you are talking about, Mouse. Stop talking in riddles."
Mouse's eyes go wide. "Oh. Shit. Fuck. I'm dead… he'll kill me."
"Who? Halstead? He would never kill you, Mouse. Just tell me what's going on."
Mouse shakes his head and backs away out of the room. "Nope. Just look out for him. And maybe ask him what happened. Just don't tell him I told you too, okay, Lindsay? It wasn't my place to tell you anything."
Lindsay groans and thinks to herself that Mouse hadn't told her anything anyway, but she thinks back to that conversation she had with Will in the hospital a week before.
The only friend he had was Mouse, who believe it or not, was the one who dragged Jay home... when he was going through..."