A\N: So I really think a lot of you will like this chapter, especially the ending :) This one's dedicated to my friend who asked me for a chase scene on a roof. I really hope you like it girl :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Chicago Fire, Chicago PD, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, or anything else that may be associated with them.
Spoilers: None
Warnings: None
Chapter 8
Antonio sat at his desk tapping his fingers; in front of him was paperwork that he didn't want to do. He was a man of action; he wanted to be out doing cop work not paperwork.
"This city can't have a dry spell of murders," He spoke, "Since when does the heat make people not kill each other?"
Erin Lindsay raised an eyebrow as she looked at her colleague, "You want someone to die?'
"No. I just hate being board!" He picked up a baseball and threw it up in the air and caught it.
"I don't blame you," Matt looked up from his paperwork from his desk. He whipped sweat away from his face and said, "Is the heat broken again?"
"Let's go and see," Antonio dropped his pen on his desk and stood up.
Matt followed him and they walked down the stairs and into the main lobby. Walking up to the desk they looked at Sergeant Platt, "Platt," Antonio caught the woman's glance, "Is the heat out again?"
The woman stared at him, "Yeah. Why?" She quipped.
"Just wondering."
Then Matt spoke up, "What's wrong with it? I can try and fix it. I have my own construction business on the side."
Platt looked the young detective up and down, "Sure go ahead but I don't know what Voight is going to think about it."
"We don't have any cases," He shrugged, "I'll go and tell him. Casey jogged back up the stairs Antonio behind him. They came to the landing just in time to see his boss pinning picture up on the murder board.
"Dawson, Casey welcome," He glared sarcastically at his two detectives; who, both took their seats and listened to the details on their new case.
"A child?" Matt shook his head, "I'll never understand that," He said as he climbed into the driver's seat of his car."
"Yeah," Antonio shook his head in response.
"I'll take the lead on this one man," Matt began driving to park where a three-year-old boy had been kidnapped.
"No, no I'm okay," He attempted to hide his feelings. The truth was that cases involving children always affected him deeply, even before he had children of his own.
"Alright, Matt said. He was more then skeptic but decided it was best to keep his mouth shut.
They arrived at the park to see that although crime scene tape was up the media was itching to get closer and closer.
"When will those vultures give it up," Antonio said as he looked disgustingly at the press.
"I don't know man. I understand its news but…" He said as they walked underneath the crime scene tape after showing their Police ID. A young uniform cop summarized them up to the point and they waited until Voight and the other arrived to be assigned jobs.
"Okay," Voight looked at his detectives, "Dawson, Casey you talk to the parents and the children around the park during the time of the abduction. I don't want to take them down to the station.
"Right," Antonio nodded and he and Matt went to work.
"I'll take the children, the family might talk to you," Matt explained to his partner.
"Yeah," Antonio agreed and walked to where the mother, father and two younger children were sitting.
Matt saw some families with children varying in ages waiting and decided to go to the first one he saw. It was a little girl, two or three dressed in a pink flower dress. She was sitting on her mother's lap, her head turned into her.
"Hi, my names Detective Matthew Casey," He introduced himself, "Can I ask you some questions about what happened?"
The young woman turned and looked up at him, "I already told the other cop," She huffed in annoyance.
"Yes I understand ma'am but I'm a detective and my unit and I are investigating this. I would really appreciate it if you told me all you could.
The woman huffed, "I was with my daughter at the swings," She pointed to the play equipment; "I didn't notice anything until the mother started calling her son's name. I didn't see anything.
"Brown," The girl whispered as she peaked her head out of the crock of her mother's arm, "Brown man."
This gaged Matt's interest and he looked at the girl and knelt down to her level, "Was the man wearing brown sweetie?"
"No illy, brown," She pointed to his skin, her small fingers gracing it, "brown"
"His skin was brown? Did you see anything else?"
"Ack hair," She touched his hair and smiled as if proud of herself for remembering.
"Thank you sweetheart," Matt looked down at the girl and smiled, "I think I have something for you," He reached into his pocket and pulled out a 'junior detective badge' sticker and put it on her dress.
The woman seemed to now be more relaxed and she said, "Can you say thank-you?"
"Ank woo," The girl looked at Matt and held out her arms for a hug.
Matt gently hugged her and said to the mother, "She's very perspective and smart. She might have really helped us," He smiled once more and turned to talk to the next witness.
Meanwhile across the way Antonio was talking to the distraught parents, in particular the father who had been with the boy at the time of the abduction.
"I looked at my phone for a second and…." He shook his head, "I just can' believe it. You have to find him. Please," He begged.
"We're going to do everything we can Sir," He assured him, "Now is there anything you can tell me? Anybody suspicious lurking around? Someone without any children? Anything seem out of place?"
"I saw one man, he was walking along the path I saw him a few times but I just thought he might be looking for something or was just walking. I didn't even get a good look at him really."
Antonio wrote down the information in a notebook and looked back up at the man, "Do you remember anything?"
"He had dark coloured skin, a red t-shirt I think and jeans. I don't know…."
Antonio wrote all the information down, "Do you remember how many times you saw this man before the abduction?"
"Six or seven maybe, like I said I never really paid any attention. I got him kidnapped didn't I?"
"No, no Sir you did nothing wrong," Antonio tried to reassure the father knowing the effort was useless.
He motioned to two uniformed officers, "Burgrass and Roman to come forward, "These two officers will take you home and they'll stay with you."
"Why?" The woman wondered.
Antonio wasn't direct in his response, "Just in case something happens."
"Like ransom?" She sobbed.
"It's okay ma'am," Burgrass stepped forward, "We're going to do everything we can and its not just for that its so that we can help you…" She further explained as she and the husband stood with their two younger children and followed her and Roman away.
Antonio looked around and saw Matt still interviewing some witnesses, after flipping through his notes once more he made a call to Voight, "Hey so the father said a dark coloured man was wandering around the park before the kidnapping. Right," He nodded after Voight responded, "Yeah I'll check," He hung up and waited for Matt to finish interviewing the witnesses.
"So some people say they saw a dark coloured man walking around the park. He didn't have a child with him so some parents said that's why they remembered him," Matt began as he walked up to his partner, "I actually got the best description from a two year old girl."
This caught Antonio's attention, "Yeah?"
"Yeah, pretty smart kid. I still had some badges from that safety event last weekend so I gave her one.
Antonio smiled, "Good idea."
Back at the District the team gathered to discuss what they had found out.
"So the mother's a bank teller at a local bank and the father's a corporate investor," Halstead looked at a file as he spoke.
Taping a pen on her chin Erin Lindsay said, "So do we think this was a planned abduction? Was Cole targeted?"
"That's what we have to find out," Voight told his team, "Casey you go through the sex offenders database and try and see if we can match any to the perps description, Lindsay, Halstead you can go through the security tapes at the entrance to the park and nearby stores see if we can get a clear image of this guy. Dawson, you go to the parent's house and talk to them again and look around. I know you don't like to hear this but most of the time child abductions are by someone the child is familiar with, these parents may be hiding something.
Everyone nodded their heads and went off to their assigned duties. Matt settled down at his desk and opened up the database of sex offenders out on parole or ones that were past offenders and typed in the information they had. Dark skin, brown eyes, he got over two hundred results in the greater Chicago area and when he narrowed it down to a twenty-mile radius of the park he had twenty. "Oh boy," He began shifting through the images eliminating any who preferred girls or older boys. Reading through the information made him feel sick and he couldn't even imagine ever hurting a child.
Antonio came around his desk and saw his expression, "I hear ya' man. My cousin Nick works in the Special Victims Unit in New York, they only deal with cases involving these crimes, a lot of the victims are young children. I honestly don't know how he does it."
"Me neither," He shook his head, "I just…" He rubbed his chin in a way that made Antonio sense like he wanted to say something, so he stayed. "I just I want kids someday and I can't even begin to think what these kids and their families must go through."
"You want kids?" Antonio asked again and when Matt nodded he smiled, "Being a father is one of the greatest things in the world."
"Yeah, your kids are really good kids," He smiled up at him.
"Yeah they are," Antonio nodded and then left again thinking regrettably to himself that it was looking like more and more, his sister and Matt would make the perfect couple.
The Hunter's lived in a nice two-story house in a relatively expensive well built up area. When Antonio pulled up onto the street he could tell by the neighbours curiosity that this type of thing didn't happen often. He quickly showed the uniforms at the door his badge and entered the house. Upon first glance nothing seemed terribly wrong, there were pictures of the family and the kids. Then Antonio noticed a pattern, there seemed to be no pictures of Cole before the age of three, only less then a year ago. There were pictures of the other children from infancy to current ages and as he walked into the living room he made a mental note to ask the parents about it.
"Any news on our son?" The mother asked as soon as she saw him.
"No I'm sorry Ma'am but we're working as best we can. I'm just here to collect some more information. Now pardon my asking but I notices you don't have any pictures of Cole when he was a baby."
"We adopted Cole, all of our children are adopted. We adopted Cole when he was two and a half and the others when they were babies" The father responded.
"Closed adoptions?" Antonio got out a notepad and asked.
"Yes but we've never had any trouble before."
"Do you know anything about Cole's birth parents?"
"Yes, they were both heroin addicts and the father was a drug dealer. The courts took custody away after Cole was left unattended for an entire day. At first we were just his foster parents but we fell in love with him."
"Mr. Hunter, could that man you saw wondering around the park be Cole's birth father?"
"They're not supposed to have any information on Cole. Do you think they took him?"
"Oh my gosh!" The mother began sobbing again, "What are they going to do to him?"
"I know this is hard but I need you to answer my questions as best as you can. Have you ever met Cole's birth parents before? Did you have any contact with them at all?"
"No only the courts did,"
"Okay, excuse me," Antonio stood up and went to call Voight on the new developments he had discovered.
"Good, okay come back here and get Casey and ten you two can head over to DCAS."
"Yeah Sarge," Antonio nodded and said his goodbyes to the family and the uniforms watching them and excused himself. He got back to the district and managed to grab some coffee before Matt was ready to leave.
At the DCAS office they met up with the social worker that handled Cole's adoption, "There was a break-in last week and a few files were taken, we did alert the police," She pulled out a list and checked it, "Yes I'm afraid the file you're looking for was stolen. Do you need it for any particular reason?"
"Yes, we have reason to believe Cole Hunter's birth father may have taken him. Do you have any information you can give us about him?" Antonio asked.
"Yes of course," The woman immediately began typing into her computer; a few minutes later she handed them some printed information including the last know address of the man.
"Thank you," Matt said as he and Antonio left the office, "You think he took Cole there." He asked Antonio, of the birth father's residence.
"I think we need to check it out," He pulled out his phone and called Voight. "Alright," He said after listening to what Voight said, ending the phone call he put his phone back into his pocket and said, "They're going to meet us at the address."
"Right," Matt turned on the car and began to drive off.
As not to scare the man if he did have Cole they didn't use sirens or lights and parked in an alley a block away. They got their guns out and waited for the rest of the team to show up, after splitting up in different locations they surrounded the house.
"Cameron Slynski, CPD open up" Antonio yelled at the front door after no answer he gave the all-clear to knock it down and they entered, They heard noises and a distant gun shot and spilt up.
"Matt!" Antonio nudged his partner to the upper floor as he heard a young boy screaming.
"Right," Matt followed him up, his gun drawn.
Coming face to face with the man guns drawn the three-year-old boy looked at the police officers and sobbed. He had scares on his face and his clothes were ripped. Antonio and Matt could only assume what had happened to him in the last ten six hours.
"Drop your weapon!" Matt yelled.
"Its me or the kid," He climbed out the window and up the fire escape.
"I'll get him," Matt ran to follow as Antonio showed the boy his badge and comforted him.
Matt followed the suspect up to the roof, "There's no where to go!" He yelled as the man backed towards the edge of the building.
"I can jump and everyone will think you killed me," The man stood on the ledge and took a step.
Matt looked down and saw, to his horror that there was a small window ledge the man was walking on to get to another roof.
Putting his gun back in his holster Matt followed, he carefully stepped and did his best not to look down. He got to the next roof and chased the man once again. Luckily he could see a car following them and assumed it was an undercover police car.
Climbing down an escape ladder the man ran into an alley way only to be blocked in by Antonio's car, he came out gun drawn and Matt jumped ten ladder steps and tackled him to the ground. Kicking his gun way he roughly handcuffed him and dragged him to his feet.
"Hey!" The man protested, "I have rights."
"Uh-huh," Matt purposely banged him against the car as he pushed him inside. "You know your rights," He slid into the passenger seat and recited them so there wouldn't be any legal issues.
"Your ankle sore?" Antonio saw Matt icing his ankle as he walked into the locker room.
"Nah just a little sore."
"You know," Antonio chuckled, "You keep getting injured like that I'm going to think you just want to see Gabby."
Although that wasn't on Matts mind at the mention of her name he smiled, "No, no it's fine I don't want to bug her."
"Hey," Antonio closed his locker and turned to face him, "You're a good guy, alright…. If you want to…." He tried to find the words, "I can't think of anyone better for her," He finally finished.
"Thanks Tonio, that means a lot."
"Yeah," He patted his shoulder, "Come on I'll drop you off at the fire house. She's on shift."
"Thanks," He followed him out to his car. The short way to the firehouse they were silent and Matt grabbed his duffel bag from the back seat, "Thanks man, I promise I'll treat her right."
"You better," He warned and drove off.
Matt turned and walked up the driveway of the firehouse; walking onto the apparatus floor he immediately grabbed the attention of the six men at a table.
"Can I help you?" A man with dark black hair asked as he approached him, the shirt on he was wearing saying he was a Lieutenant and his last name was Severide.
"Yeah I'm looking for Gabby Dawson, I'm Matt Casey."
The man grinned, "So you're the one she's always talking about," He led him through a hallway, "Hey Dawson!" He leaned into a room that appeared to be a living area, "Someone here to see you."
Gabby turned in her chair and stared at Matt, "Matt," She walked to him, "What's-"
"Everything's alright," He assured her, "Can we maybe go somewhere and talk?"
"Uh…yeah," She led him back outside, "So what's up?"
Matt could stare at her all day, she was beautiful her hair was pulled up into a ponytail and she looked absolutely gorgeous in the night sky, "I uh was wondering if maybe we could go on a real date?"
"Oh," She bit her lip, yes, say yes!" Her mind screamed at her but no words came out, she just looked at him, "Like a real date, like boyfriend and girlfriend?" She asked without thinking and ten regretted it.
"Yes!" He took her in his arms and kissed her, "Yes Gabby," He kissed her lips and when they broke apart he said, "You're so beautiful."
Gabby looked at him, a huge smile on her face, "I get off at nine. Meet me at my apartment? I'll get you a key," She took his hand and led him back into the firehouse and into a locker room taking a key off a key ring she said, "I can trust you with this," She handed him a key, kissing him on the lips one last time she said, "We can have all day to spend together."
"Yeah," He nodded his head; "Yeah that would be-" Just then the call bell rang.
"See you soon," She kissed him once more and ran off.
TBC
A\N: So, what did you think? Next chapter will have lots of Dawsey fluff and Antonio's family I also have plans to introduce the rest of 51 and maybe even Antonio's cousin Nick.
