A/N: Thank you to those who reviewed the first chapter - the second is here! It's slightly different and entirely from Jay's point of view just because to include Erin's would make the chapter twice as long and after seeking advice, it seemed to make sense to cut it here. So! keep the reviews coming! I'll upload when I get them :)

I've created a playlist on Spotify, so those who want it, leave it in the reviews or PM Me and I'll link you.

Thanks again!

xo

Chapter 2a: A Different World

Jay watched from his favourite chair, glass of whiskey in hand, as Saoirse stroked Caoimhe's hair, humming an old Irish tune that he remembered her mother Grace singing as she rocked Caoimhe to sleep when she was a baby. If Jay hadn't been quite as tone deaf, he would have picked it up. He'd tried singing it once when Caoimhe was around 7 and had a stomach bug; she'd promised him she'd sleep if he didn't sing again.

Fagan had come back a couple of hours after them, looking angry and dishevelled and really, Jay wasn't sure he'd look any better. He'd listened intently after sending Caoimhe into her room to FaceTime with some friends, and the longer he'd listened, the angrier he had gotten as Fagan went through the details of the case that he'd manged to get from his source. Aideen had looked ready to be sick when Fagan had stated that Vinnie had been shot twice in the head, a clearly professional hit. Saoirse had taken Jay's hand and leaned her head against his shoulder, causing him to tighten his grip on her hand.

The rest of the morning had passed in a flurry of activity and phone calls, Darragh and Declan both leaving to meet with those they worked with – Darragh to secure the finances and Declan to ensure the shipments were on the way and that distribution was still moving despite news of Vinnie's death slowly filtering through the organization. Fagan had disappeared and returned with food, Saoirse had busied herself closing the deal on a couple of properties over the phone and making sure the food was served. Aideen had disappeared into the office at around 10am and hadn't surfaced. Caoimhe for the most part had stayed in her room, only coming out to get food or when she needed reassurance that her siblings were still around.

Jay's head was spinning. Vinnie never usually went anywhere without him; especially anywhere out of the fortress that was his sprawling estate on the gold coast. He had ha handful of other security, but Jay was his number one when it came to leaving the property and making any kind of business deals. Jay Halstead was the only person on the planet that could meet with Vinnie Abernathy unannounced and at a moment's notice. Last night, however, Vinnie had given Jay the night off and wad of cash and told him to take his girls out for the night and show them a good time. So he had. He'd taken Saoirse, Aideen and Caoimhe out for food and to the theatre, all the while constantly checking his phone and checking in with the security team at the Estate. He hadn't heard anything back in the negative, but something had been playing on his mind. So when the show finished, and the ladies had finished with their ice cream stop, he'd dropped them off, changed clothes and cars and headed out to the Estate. Vinnie had gone to bed and told his security not to disturb him, so when Jay stopped by, they'd relayed the message and he'd shrugged it off.

Now he was wishing he hadn't. Jay had resorted to doing what he always did when he was stressed and had taken his collection of favourite handguns out of the safe, laying them on the table and slowly working at taking them apart to clean them and put them back together. His favourite had been the 9mm. It was the same type of gun the police used and it always caused them a world of problems when it came to identifying the shooter; that was if they ever found the body.

He was so engrossed in cleaning the weapon that he jumped slightly when Saoirse had approached him and dropped a kiss on the back of his head, her arms wrapping around his shoulders after she carefully put two plates of food on the table. He brought a hand up to rest on her arm and turned to press a kiss to her cheek.

"Are you okay?" She asked softly, and he nodded before shrugging at her raised eyebrow.

"I'll be better when we find the dick who shot him." He stated, voice low as he glared at the weapons on the table as though they were to blame for the death.

"I'll feel safer when you do, then I'll know Aideen is safe, too. Jay if this is some kind of reach for power…" Saoirse shuddered, and Jay shook his head.

"Hey, hey, no listen to me." He turned in his chair and caught her eye, "Aideen is going to be fine. We're going to grab this prick and I'm going to show him how it feels, plain and simple." The anger was rising, and he took a deep breath, smiling some when she rested her hand on his chest, stroking her thumbs over the material of his dress shirt, his jacket long since discarded.

"I believe you." Saoirse told him, the fear still shining in her dark blue eyes and he gave her a quick kiss on the forehead, distracted by movement at the corner of his eye and turning his head to see Caoimhe coming out of her room. "I got it." Saoirse told him, and Jay nodded. "If you could take that to Aideen—"

"—still in the office, huh?"

"It is bullet proof glass; wouldn't you be in there if you were the next in line to run a company?" Saoirse was only half joking and Jay knew it.

"On it." Jay gave her a lopsided smile and watched as she made her way to Caoimhe who was looking lost, standing in the middle of the large living-room with her arms wrapped around herself, on the verge of tears once again. He knew the kid would take it hard, but this seemed to be really hitting her a lot harder than anyone had anticipated.

As soon as Saoirse had reached Caoimhe, Jay was up, plate in hand as he made his way through to the office. Which was really a panic room more than anything, the windows were a two-way mirror and the door locked down when the button was pressed. It was secure entry, too. Only three people could get into the room on their own; Vinnie, himself and Aideen. Which is why it was the safest room in the whole house. Pausing outside, Jay punched in the code and put his hand on the scanner, waiting for the click of the lock before pushing the door open and knocking once, entering and almost standing to attention, just like he had always done for Vinnie.

"You're already in, why do you knock?" The voice came from the shadows and Jay continued to walk into the room and over to the little library area of the office, putting the plate down and the cutlery beside it.

"Force of habit. Always knock. Just because I can get in, doesn't mean I should." He shrugged and waited beside the seat before Aideen let out a huff and gestured for him to sit.

"Look, if I'm taking over we need to stop with this solider thing. It's too weird."

Jay chuckled and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and tilting his head. "So, how do you want this to work. I can give you a list of guys who know this job and who I trust with my life. Might make it easier if it's not me."

"No. It has to be you. I wouldn't feel too safe if it was anyone else. Besides, everyone expected you to take over, so it might work to my advantage of bringing you along." Aideen shrugged and another smirk tugged at Jay's lips.

"Planning on making many business deals in person? That's Declan's job and you know it. Unless we're having a reshuffle, because if we are, I totally want to be put in charge of the sex club." His smirk was there, and he was trying to lighten the mood, which garnered a smirk from Aideen.

"Well, the reshuffle is for the first time in Abernathy history, there's a woman in charge. I know Saoirse is happy enough being the Estate Agent and moving money that way. I'm assuming Fagan and Declan are good with the sourcing and distribution." Aideen paused and tilted her head before shaking it. "No, Fagan is going to have to manage most of it on his own, isn't he?"

"Well I'm assuming Declan is going to take your spot as Family Lawyer, unless there's someone else we can bring in?" Jay offered, "Because Declan has the relationship with the internationals and it would be silly to drop the ball on that."

Aideen nodded in agreement; "Keeping Declan as sourcing works, I'll keep a turn in with the legal side, but we don't really need us both. Darragh is the resident geek, so he'll keep number crunching and it's only about 8 years before Caoimhe comes through for us with Law, so she'll be able to shoulder that."

Jay winced at the thought of brining Caoimhe into the family business. She knew exactly what their family profited on, but she wasn't made privy to any kind of information about their operations; the day to day running of it and she always assumed that her siblings were above board and her dad was out of the game.

"Look, I know you want Keev to have a clean break from this; but we're here family, this is what she was supposed to do, Jay." Aideen told him, giving a small shrug. "I don't want her getting tied up in this, but she was born into this life. You chose it."

Jay nodded, he still had time to get her out of it. He'd kept her out of it this long; another few years and an exit strategy was something that he needed to figure out real quick. "I know, believe me, I know."

"I'll throw the sex and strip clubs in with the two clubs you already manage, freeing Fagan up a little, but you're going to have to allow his girls to continue to work there, whether you're okay with that, or not." Her tone was one that let him know there was no compromise and he nodded once. "Plus, I'm still keeping you around as personal security." She shrugged, and Jay grinned. Security was something he could do quite well, something he enjoyed. Kept him busy, kept his loose, kept him fresh. The thrill of the chase, the ability to be able to throw his weight around was something that always got his blood pumping. Not that he'd had to do too much of it lately, Vinnie having become less and less available, thus pulling Jay out of the game and leaving it to his brothers to kick ass and take names.

"Sounds good." He nodded, noticing how tired Aideen looked in that moment, her red hair scrapped back into a messy bun and her hazel eyes looking heavy. She'd worked hard all morning, he could see that with a brief look around the room. "Need some company?"

Aideen hesitated before nodding in the affirmative, handing Jay a stack of paperwork and smiling at him when he automatically took them and picked up the pen. Changing assets over into their names from Vinnie's was going to take forever, considering just how private he was about everything – his name wasn't listed on his children's birth certificates and no-one really knew who his children were, or if he even had any. Everyone all had a different last name, too, as was the Abernathy way. Aideen would soon change her last name from O'Driscol to Abernathy for the company to work on.

The main kick Jay got was the amount of people who thought Darragh and Fagan were the same person, because of just how identical they looked. Fagan had a scar just on his jawline from where Jay had punched him when they were younger, the punch that had cemented Jay in with the family. You didn't know it was there unless you looked, which no one ever bothered to do.

Jay didn't realize what time it was when there was a loud rap at the door, causing Jay to spring to his feet, pulling his gun that was tucked in the waistband of his dress suit pants and slowly making his way to the door, Aideen immediately moving for cover behind the desk.

"It's only me, open up." Fagan's voice on the other side had Jay muttering curses and tucking his gun away as he yanked open the door and raised an eyebrow.

"Police were up at Dad's estate today; asking questions." Fagan began as he pushed past Jay, talking directly to Aideen. "Scott passed on the number to Dad's lawyers. You and Declan have an interview tomorrow. I think you should leave him at home." He jerked his thumb over his shoulder to where Jay was standing; "We don't want him being identified as the dude who lurks outside the precinct every November.

"First of all," Jay moved and stood in front of Fagan, a good six inches taller than the other man, "I'm smart enough not to get caught by the police." Jay told him, staring him down, "And secondly, in case you haven't noticed, my role is to drive the head of the organization and make sure they're safe when they're doing meets."

"Yeah, you did a stand-up job of that with Dad, huh?" Fagan smirked and Jay let out a humourless chuckle.

"Wipe that smirk off your damn face before I do it for you."

"Hey, enough." Aideen commanded, walking over to the men and putting herself between them. "You," she shoved at Fagan's chest, "get your ass to the warehouse and tell them to make sure they've done a deep clean, I can handle the meeting with or without a driver. And you," She turned to Jay, shoving his chest, "Go make sure Keev and Saoirse are okay, and that Declan hasn't polished off the damn bottle of whiskey. Send him in here, I need him."

Jay glared at Fagan over Aideen's head and clenched his Jaw. "Now." She snapped, and Jay nodded once, a terse yes, ma'am falling from his lips before he stepped back and began to walk back through his apartment, ignoring the shove on his shoulder as Fagan stalked passed him muttering about blood. Had he not spotted Caoimhe with her head on Saoirse's lap, he would have said something to the other man, but he supressed the rage building inside of him and moved over to the sofa, crouching down beside the sleeping girl.

"How long as she been out?" He asked, tucking a stray strand of hair away from her face.

"About an hour. I didn't mind when she was younger, but my foot is dead, and I can't lift her anymore." Saoirse smiled sadly down at him and Jay took his cue, easing the 17-year-old into his arms and picking her up, slowly getting to his feet as she curled into him, beginning to make his way through to the spare room that had been transformed into Caoimhe's room the more time she started spending here.

Everyone had a room at the estate, but it was cold and impersonal, nothing left to identify them in case of a raid or someone being killed and the police going through the place with a fine toothcomb. All they would have found would have been links to the clubs and the warehouse, all businesses that were above board. He grinned as he made his way into the room; the cream walls had been painted a soft teal colour; fairy-lights and photos adorned the walls, band posters were dotted about and her shelves were crammed with books and CDs. She had a little space on the wall beside her bed, he noticed as he shifted her weight to pull the blankets back, slipping her under the patchwork quilt his mother had made him when he was younger, one of the only things he'd taken from his home when he moved in with the Abernathy's.

Caoimhe muttered something in her sleep and rolled towards the stuffed unicorn that Saoirse had bought her, with her name stitched on, and snuggled down which allowed him to pull the blanket over her and leaned in to kiss her forehead. His grin widened when one photo caught his eye and he reached up to take it from the wall, sitting on the floor to look at it properly.

It was one of him and Caoimhe; it had some silly filter- he looked like a cat and they were laughing. He wasn't sure when it was from, but he had to admit, it was one of his favourite pictures. There weren't too many of the family, especially not in public and never more than two of them in the same photo at once. So looking at her little wall gave him a sense of belonging that he only ever felt on one date per year; or whenever he managed to lay eyes on the brunette with the dark eyes from years ago.

"So basically, she OD'd and I had to get her help." her voice was soft and he found himself cupping her face to make her look at him.

"That wasn't your fault." He told her earnestly, stroking her cheek and smiling softly when she pressed a tentative kiss to his lips. She might have only been a year younger than him, but she moved between seeming much older and much younger than him.

He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer to him, the old couch they were on in some random house wasn't the most comfortable, but he didn't mind as long as she was here and wrapped up in his arms. At least he knew she was safe.

"I want out," she sighed, tucking her face into his shoulder and he rested his head against hers. "I need out."

"Don't worry, I'm working on it. I promise I'll get you out of there. You'll see."

"Hey," Darragh appeared in the doorframe, just as Jay was tacking the picture up on the wall again.

"What's up?" Jay's brow furrowed at the slight look of panic on Darragh's face.

"Woods called. Voight and Intelligence are moving in on one of the dealers."

"So? They know not to talk, to ask for a lawyer and to wait until Declan or Ayd gets there. It's not rocket science." Jay shrugged as he stood and motioned for Darragh to keep walking out of the room, trying not to taint this place with mentions of what the family business ran on.

"It is when its Carrick."

"Ah, fuck." Jay ran a hand down his face before nodding. "How much time do I have?" Jay asked as he reached into his pocket and grabbed for his phone, unlocking it and scrolling through the contacts.

"They know his street name, they're reaching out to their C.I.s." Darragh was standing with his hands on his hips as Jay pressed call.

"So an hour or two if we're lucky." Jay pressed the phone to his ear as he paced passed Darragh and over to the table where his three guns were sitting on their cloth, pristine as always. When the gruff voice answered on the other side of the line Jay smirked.

"who are you calling?" Darragh asked, getting the same answer as the guy on the otherside of the phone.

"We've sprang a leak at O'Brien's." Jay stated, almost too coolly, "I need you to grab your toolbelt and come check it out with me. It's a really big mess, so you need to meet me there now."

Darragh brought his hand up to cover his ears, "lalalala I'm not listening." He stated causing Jay to laugh as he hung up the phone and put it in his pocket, putting his jacket on and picking up the 9mm, switching it with the 45. Already tucked in his pants.

"What, you thought I'd go pick him up and take him to dinner?" Jay smirked and Darragh kept his hands over his ears.

"The less I know the less I can admit to." Darragh muttered and Jay laughed again, grabbing his keys and heading towards the door. He knew giving intelligence's history that he had roughly half an hour to stop the leak and clean up before they would be all over the warehouse. When he got to the car he took a burner phone out of his trunk and punching in Carrick's number.

"Hey, Puck. It's Toronto. I need you to meet me at O'Brien's, talk business." He stated as he put his own phone into his pocket and opened the small lockbox kept where the spare tire sat and took out a silencer, slipping it into his pocket. "Everything's good buddy, I just have a job for you. See you in 10." Jay sighed when he came off the phone, Carrick sounding a little too excited for this job. It meant the police weren't with him yet, he hadn't used the duress word and he was smart enough for that at least.

Jay climbed into his car, the familiar rush filling his veins at the idea of getting some time to do what it is he gets paid for under his belt. The rigid shape of the gun pressing against his lower back forced a smile and he couldn't say he wasn't looking forward to the prospect of finally bumping into a familiar face for the first time in 18 years.

A/N: Hopefully that left you with more answers than questions this time! Stay tuned for Erin's side in the next 12 hours :D