PUNCH TO THE GUT

AUTHOR'S NOTE/DISCLAIMER

Takes place during the final scene of the Chicago Fire ep "Nobody Touches Anything" and is Erin and Hank's perspective on the scene. Belongs to Dick Wolf and NBC. I own nothing.

Erin could feel the pit in her stomach growing as she sifted her way through the photos. How could anyone want to hurt a kid? And how could something like this be going on at this level? Didn't anyone care about them? Why would anyone let them fall through the cracks?

"This is grim," she said.

"Yeah," Hank agreed tightly as he put his jacket on. Maybe he shouldn't have agreed to let her look through all those photos. Despite her tough demeanor, the woman was one of the most sensitive people he knew and going through picture after picture of abused kids had to be taking its toll on her. Not that she would admit that. No, she'd just plug on through, pretending that it didn't bother her.

"So, uh, the federal kiddie porn databases, they search for the kid and for the background so that they can identify the work of different offenders, so I figured we'd do the same thing," she continued and the man nodded. That made sense. If they figured out what made each perp tick, they'd know how to track them and then take them down. Erin placed a photo down. She picked up the next one and-it was like she couldn't breathe.

"Oh, my god," she said. No. No, it can't be, she thought to herself. She had to be seeing this wrong. This couldn't be him. He couldn't have been hurt like this.

"What?" the sergeant asked, his body going on high alert at her action as he went to stand beside her. "Oh, my god," he said. It was Teddy Courtney, her half-brother.

"My god," Erin said again as she placed the photo down and leaned back in horror. How can this be happening? How could I have let this happen to him? she wondered tearfully. Why hadn't she looked for him? "Oh, god." She was going to be sick. She just knew it.

"When's the last time you heard from him?" Hank questioned. He could understand her wanting to break down, but she needed to focus. He couldn't let her give way to panic.

"Ten years?" she surmised. Oh, damn. What had she done? She had promised Teddy that she'd look out for him. How could she have failed him so horribly?

"You know how old he is in that photo?"

"Fifteen, maybe?" Erin tried to keep her voice from shaking as she answered her boss' question. "He took off for New York not long after that." Hank looked at the woman in concern as her voice broke and she leaned back in her seat, hand over her mouth as she tried to stifle her sobs.

"Hey, come here." Without another word, he drew her into an embrace as she let out a sob. I've got you, Kiddo. I'm right here, he thought. He was going to get her through this. He was going to do everything that he could to get justice for Teddy. "We'll send that off to Manhattan SVU."

"Yeah."

"We'll see if they got anything on him."

"Yeah. Mmm-hmm." Erin nodded, trying to compose herself. It was okay. It was going to be okay. Hank was taking care of this. He was going to get her through this. They'd get justice for Teddy…