I think I'm starting to sound like a broken record whenever I upload a chapter, but hey, I'm happy whenever I do upload one. I think this might be the last chapter before the first turning point in the story. I just want to apologize if anyone thinks that this story is going slow, thats just how I roll.

Enjoy!


Erin awoke the next day on the floor, her phone beside her and her side sore and cold. Wait a second, why in the world would she be on the floor? Oh. That's right, after her long conversation with Hank she curled up on the floor and cried herself to sleep, not feeling any better about the conversation that she had with Hank or the situation that she found herself; she wanted desperately to see Thea again and explain everything to her, but at the same time was afraid of the ensuing conversation that would inevitably have to follow; a conversation that Erin had promised herself to never have. She never wanted to have it or at the very least force herself to. Thea wasn't even supposed to be a part of her life.

Erin groaned turning over so that she was on her stomach then pushed herself on her hands and knees. She groaned her muscles and joints screaming in protest as she pushed herself on one knee, wobbling to her feet. Her cloths felt confining and sticky like they belonged to someone else. She felt dirty and sweaty. She really needed a shower before heading to work today, despite not having done much yesterday. That and she needed some food because, she realized she had spent so much time crying a wondering about her life that she hadn't really served to take care of herself in the meantime.

This was the last time she was going to sleep by her phone. Erin sighed, trudging to her bathroom, and preceded to grab her toothbrush and toothpaste brushing her teeth, something she sorely needed, then spit in the sink and placed her toothbrush down before stripping herself of her cloths and stepping into the shower.

Letting the water run, Erin sank to the floor the water cleansing her but doing nothing to ease her pain. She began weeping, her head falling into her chest as she curled into a ball, her tears mixing in with the hot water. Her thought returned to her conversation with hank from the previous night, the guilt washing over her.

"Hank… she's back." Erin whispered, her voice catching in her throat as she struggled to get the words out of her mouth. She needed to do this. she had to. if hank found out about Thea otherwise, perhaps under the impression that Erin was hiding her from him, or attempting to bond with her and he caught them, then there were going to be quite a few arguments that Erin did not want to have to have with him (though she couldn't help but feel that this would turn out to be an argument regardless of anything).

There was a moment of silence, a sense of stillness that told Erin that whatever Hank was going to say… well, lets just say that a cold shiver went up and down her spine. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea, considering that Hank had just lost his son some time ago. But it was to late and Erin would have to go through with this conversation; Hank wasn't just going to let it drop now that she had his attention. The question was how to be able to minimize the emotional damage done to either end of this conversation.

Erin held her breath simply waiting for Hank to respond that is if he was ever going to. There wasn't even a way to be able to hear his breath. After a few moments though, she finally spoke and when he did, Erin swore she could hear her own heart break. "Erin… she's gone. How could you possibly be sure that it's her".

Erin wasn't sure whether or not Hank not believing her or he was speaking out of his own grief, but she was more than inclined to pick the latter because his voice sounded tired and weak, as if he had lost any and all hope that was in the world. "I thought that we were done chasing this path don't let your past haunt you."

Erin almost, almost lost her temper at Hanks hopeless response, her hands clenching the phone so tightly that her knuckles were this close to turning white. She couldn't believe it. Was Hank that convinced that Thea was gone for good that he would believe Erin was going crazy at the thought of someone who physically resembled an older version of Thea?

Maybe it was the grief talking, but thankfully Erin did have an ace up her sleeve "she has the pendent Hank" Erin responded a slight sense of pride in her voice "the pendant that I had when…." She stopped unable to continue; Hank would get the message anyway.

Hank had seen that pendant maybe a hundred times over the course of Erin's pregnancy, of course he would be able to realize what Erin was saying. "Are you sure?" he asked, a stern tone entering his voice

Erin didn't like where this was going. It reminded her of the time she was 16 and she accidently broke one of Camille's favorite vases and as a result Voight didn't let her go to a school trip to Niagara falls. It wasn't like it was the worst moment of her life, but still she knew exactly where Hank was going with this line of questioning "Hank…"

"Erin, are you sure you want to go down this path… we agreed that you shouldn't interfere with her life. It was what we agreed on. You remember that right?"

Of course Erin remembered, she was there, but there was one tiny little detail that Hank was forgetting about, it was fifteen years ago when they made that decision and Erin had been much younger and heavily more naïve than she was now. At the time it was the right decision, but that wasn't what Erin was worried about. She was much more concerned about how Thea was going to react to the situation. She was young and curious. If anything, she was going to be looking for answers; given that Erin was a police officer, her exploits were rather public, so it wouldn't be too hard for Thea to track Erin down. What was Erin going to do when Thea found out the truth behind their relationship? It wasn't like Erin was going to tell her, but how was she going to fake an explanation?

Speaking of which… Hank was not going to like what she had to say next.

"Hank, she… she might come looking for me. I… kind of met her at the hospital yesterday…." She winced, knowing that Hank wasn't going to take that lightly.

"ERIN!" Hank roared over the phone "what were you thinking? We talked about this, we can't have any contact with her!"

That was the final straw for Erin. One night and they never spoke of Thea ever again. One night and Erin suppressed any instinct her pregnancy brought out in her. Well, this time, she had enough of listening for what was best for her or Thea. They were way past that now.

"I know that Hank! But it wasn't like I knew who she was; they ran a blood test at the hospital! After that things fell apart from there and I sort of ran off without telling her who I was. But she saw my face. It's only a matter of time. She is going to come looking for me, I just know it."

"For both your sakes, I hope not Erin." Hank said gravely.

Erin let out another sob, before leaning back against the wall "what am I going to do?" She asked, unsure whether or not the water running down her face was her tears or the hot water.

A loud beeping noise stirred Thea from her sleep. She groaned her body feeling extremely uncomfortable and bent over… why in the world did she feel like this? Scratch that how in the world was it possible for anybody to feel like this? She opened her eyes, greeted to the sight of the sun glaring at her, forcing her to close her eyes and turn her head away, causing her to groan as her muscles screamed in protest at her movements. She sat up in her chair, raising her arms above her head and stretched, before running her hand through her tousled hair then glanced back at the computer screen in front of her. Despite her eyes being tired, both from just waking up and the many hours spent combing the web for information, she looked back at the screen that held the information she coveted.

On the screen it read " DETECTIVE ERIN LINDSAY OF THE CHICAGO INTELLIGENCE UNIT"

Thea read the information carefully. As expected, there wasn't much personal information about her, but it did share a lot of information about the deeds that the detective had done over the course of her career, such as dealing with serial killers. Thea was actually fascinated by the deeds detective Lindsay had done. She wouldn't do any of it herself, but it was amazing that the older woman went through "so that's who you are" the young girl whispered to herself. She continued reading the web page, until her concentration was broken by the sound of her foster mother "Thea? You awake? Its time for you to get ready for school young lady!"

Thea groaned, tearing her eyes away from the computer for a moment to glance at her clock. Her heart fell when she was the time. It was 7:30. She didn't have much time to do much more than what she was currently doing, not that she thought that her foster parents would allow her to sneak out of school. Her eyes widened and then she felt her mouth curl into a smile. That was the answer!

This was it. This was everything that Thea needed to find detective Lindsay and get the information that she needed. The young girl quickly saved the page to her favorites and sent it to her phone, before running to the bathroom and getting ready to start her day. After showering and brushing her teeth, Thea grabbed her backpack and ran out the door to the nearest bus stop. However she wasn't intending to go to school this morning. No she had other plans. Plans that were far more vital than a day at school. She needed to find Detective Lindsay. The pendant on her neck felt heavier all of a sudden, almost like it was responding to her feelings. She hoped that she wasn't going to pass out again. That was the last thing that she needed right now.

But more than anything, Thea now felt that she could track down Detective Lindsay and find out why she felt so drawn to her. It wasn't exactly the smartest thing to do, but it definitely felt like the right thing to do.

With a smile on her face, Thea managed to get to the bus stop, where sure enough the bus was waiting for her. She would need it to get to school. However the question was how was she going to sneak out of school? Well, she was going to figure it out when she got there. Well the good news was that Thea had many ways of being able to sneak out of her classes. The best time to get out of the school would be at lunchtime. So thats when Thea was going to leave. Then, she would finally have the answers that she craved.


Well, what do you think? How hard could it be to break out of a school? Thea is going to find that out for herself. Till next time!