Hi all :) This is a shorter chapter, but I wanted to get something out tonight. Thank you so much to all of you! Seriously, I can't believe I have almost 500 reviews on this story. How amazing! You are all the BEST.

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Chapter 21,

Noticing his own car already parked on the street, Jay pulled Hank's car into the gravel driveway. He turned off the car and immediately began unbuckling his seatbelt in preparation to go inside and see his daughters.

"Um..." At the sound of her voice, he turned towards Erin, noticing for the first time that she hadn't yet moved. "I think you should go in first." She paused, "Prepare the girls for..." she motioned towards her face, the white bandage that covered her jaw, the bilateral bruising around her hazel eyes, "All of this."

He wanted to object, almost did, but then he realized Erin kind of had a point. He had time to adjust to the sight of her like this, and it still saddened him each he looked at her. "Okay," he said, leaning over to kiss her gently.

"Just text me when it's safe to come inside," she requested.

He nodded, opening his door. "You going to be okay out here by yourself?"

She laughed at his question, lightening the mood substantially. "I think I can handle myself."

His smile was quick, wide, and full of pride. "Damn right you can." He was in awe of her.

He handed her the keys, knowing she would need to turn the car back on and blast the heat, or at least listen to the radio to stave off boredom. Then, he stepped out of the car, closed the door gently behind him, and began to walk towards the house.

He had only been the Voight's house a handful of times, all in the past few weeks to pick up Erin. Each time he had barely passed the threshold before Erin stepped out and they left together.

This time when he knocked, he felt the familiar sense of unease return. Relax, he chastised himself. Your daughters are in there. Just knock.

Finally, he lifted his hand and knocked twice against the large front door. He only had to wait a moment out in the cold before Voight opened the door and ushered him in.

"Hey, Sarg," he said, slightly awkward in his greeting.

He didn't return the greeting, instead he looked past Jay and out the door into the dark night. "Where's Erin?"

"Still in the car." Jay replied, "She wanted me to talk to the girls before she came in. Warm them, I guess."

Voight finally spotted Erin sitting in the passengers seat. The interior lights were on in the car, illuminating her in a soft glow. Exhaust fumes trailed out into the night air, signaling the car was running. He almost waved to her, but she was staring down at her phone and didn't seem to notice him staring at her.

He stepped back inside and closed the front door. "Probably a good idea," he said, finally looking at and addressing Jay. He was actually glad he had Jay alone for a minute. "How's she doing?"

"She's-"

"Daddy!" Maddie and Grace ran into the entrance, interrupting the two men. Jay immediately bent down and opened his arms. Each lunged into either side of him, and he lifted them up and squeezed them tight. He inhaled the scent of their strawberry shampoo, allowing it to relax him. He hadn't realized how much he needed to hold his girls after today. Past them, he gave Hank an apologetic look.

Hank watched Jay envelop his two daughters in a family hug, and dismissed the apology with a wave. Plenty of time to talk about Erin, he thought. "You can go into the living room," he nodded down the hall to direct him, knowing Jay wouldn't know where to go. "I'll give you all a minute."

Hank turned to leave, but stopped when Maddie called his name. "Sergeant Voight! Where are you going?" He turned back around as she continued, this time in a whisper. "Aren't we gonna show Daddy our fort?"

After dinner and ice cream, the three of them had completely transformed his living room into a massive fort. Every blanket he owned, more than half of his pillows, the couches, and half the kitchen chairs had been involved. He used to build forts with Justin as a kid, and he had forgotten how much work went into it. And he had also forgotten how much fun it was. "You go show your Daddy, and I'll be in soon."

Jay put Maddie and Grace down, allowing them to direct him to the living room. As he walked down the long hallway, he noticed the framed pictures that lined the walls. He wanted to stop and study them, to see proof of Hank and Erin's relationship, but he was being pulled along.

When they reached the living room he couldn't help the smile that appeared on his lips. "Wow!" He didn't have to fake the excitement in his voice. This fort was awesome. "You girls built all this?"

"Sergeant Voight helped us!" Grace said, proudly. It was the first fort she had ever built, and she never wanted to leave it.

"It's amazing." He said, his eyes still wide as he searched the large space. "I am really impressed."

Maddie and Grace dragged him into the fort, and sat on two square pillows. In the middle of the floor was a very old looking shoots and ladders game. Wow. From what Erin had told him, he knew Hank had a son, a grandson, and he had, of course, raised Erin. But knowing this and seeing this were still two different things. It was still so hard to reconcile.

Maddie pointed at a larger, rectangular pillow on the opposite side of the board game. "Sergeant Voight was sitting there, you can sit there until he comes back." She lowered her voice to a whisper, "But then you have to move, Daddy. Because he's the boss."

"Don't I know it." He laughed.

He settled into his large pillow, and began gearing himself up for the talk they were about to have. Just as he was about to open his mouth again, Grace asked, "Where's Erin? Sergeant Voight said she was with you."

"That's what I need to talk to you about, girls."

He probably shouldn't have started it that way, because at his words, Grace immediately burst into tears. "She doesn't want to see me anymore, does she?"

His heart broke at her sobs. She seemed so strong all the time, so well-adjusted, so normal. He sometimes forgot about her history of abandonment, her fears that history would repeat itself. He leaned over and wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulder and pressed his lips into her hair, "Grace, no. That's not it at all."

At this point, Maddie seemed to be tearing up, too. She may not have conjured up the thought of Erin abandoning them on her own, but once it was put out there, she seemed just as upset by the notion. "Mads, Grace. Listen to me," he kept his voice soft and soothing, but he rushed the words. "Erin had an accident and she got hurt. We had to go to the hospital, but Uncle Will took really good care of her and she's going to be all better soon." She better be, he thought. He took a deep breath, and then delivered the rest of the news. "She has bruises all up her arms and on both of her eyes. She wanted me to come in and tell you first, so you didn't get scared. That'll all. She's right outside."

Maddie visibly relaxed when she heard that Erin was right outside, and the thought made his heart flutter. His girl loved Erin just as much as he did.

But when he turned to look at Grace, she was crying harder and her face looked worse. "Bug?" He touched her chin, lifting her face so that she was looking at him. "She's going to be fine, I promise. I'm going to get her right now, you'll see."

"She's not fine." Grace said. The tone of her voice was still that of a four-year-old, but the content of her words were wise beyond her years. "My mommy used to say she had an accident, too." She had been through this before, Jay realized. He hadn't chose then right words. "You only get bruises on your eyes when you get punched." Her last word was full of anger, and a hint of fear.

Maddie's eyes grew wide. "Punched?" Jay wasn't even sure Maddie knew what the word punched meant. God, he hoped not. He really didn't feel comfortable discussing this with his four-year-old.

He weighed his options. He knew that Grace had been through a lot, and she had a much more extensive knowledge of these topics than Maddie, through no fault of her own. So maybe he should pull Grace aside, explain it to her later? When they could be alone?

Except, he didn't feel entirely comfortable with that, either. He had never lied to Maddie, and he didn't really want to start now.

"Okay, girls." He made his decision. "You want the truth?"

They both nodded their heads adamantly.

"You know how Daddy arrests people, and sometimes they have to go away for a long time because they did a bad thing?" He knew Maddie knew this, at least.

Sure enough, she nodded. "Because you're a detective." She said, proudly.

"Right, because I'm a detective." Grace didn't nod, but she had stopped crying. That was at least a start. "Well, Erin's job is kind of like mine, too."

Maddie crinkled her eyebrows in confusion. "No," she said. "Erin finds homes for kids."

"That's right, Mads. She does." He continued, "But that's because those kids can't live at their homes anymore. Because they live with people who do bad things. Just like the people I arrest." He hoped he was making sense. He felt like he was talking in circles, he was confusing even himself.

Grace helped him out, "Like when my mommy's boyfriend punched me, I came to live with you?"

He didn't think it was possible for his heart to break anymore, but it seemed to shatter into a million pieces. Sure, he had known. He had always known. But he had never heard her say those words explicitly. That her mommy's boyfriend punched her.

That man was lucky he was dead.

If he was still alive, they wouldn't even find his dead body at the bottom of the river. His fate would be far worse.

"Like that," was all he could say. But then he knew that wasn't enough, and he added. "And no one is ever going to hurt you again, Grace. You know that right?" It was worth getting off topic if she would finally hear him when he said those words.

"Right," she said the word so matter-of-factly and dismissively, and he realized with pride that she had heard him. That she finally believed the words he had be repeating over and over. She may still have fears of abandonment, but she knew that no one was ever going to lay a hand on her again. She must had only brought that up because she was trying to explain it to Maddie. "So did someone punch Erin?"

Leave it to the four-year-old to bring the conversation back on track. "Yes," he finally admitted. "Erin found a child who didn't have a good home with his daddy, so she found him a good home. But then his daddy got really really mad and he hurt Erin." He hated even using the word "daddy" to describe this lowlife. But the explanation seemed to make sense to both his daughters, so he was glad he had. "But your Daddy and Sergeant Voight are going to make sure that he never hurts anyone ever again. Okay?"

"Okay," Grace whispered, seemingly satisfied with his explanation. "Can we see her now?"

"Yeah, Daddy." Maddie chimed in, finally finding her voice again. "Can we see Erin?"

Jesus. His girls rebounded way faster than he did. "Yeah, girls," This conversation had seriously taken a toll, and he was happy it was finally done with. "You can see her."

He left the two girls in the fort, and went to get Erin from the car. He walked down the wrong hallway and found himself accidentally walking through the kitchen on his way to the front door. He came upon Voight sitting at the table, nursing a beer. He felt somewhat awkward walking past him without acknowledging his presence, but he also hoped Voight didn't initiate a conversation. Too many heavy conversations for one night, already. "Hey, Sarg."

"Halstead, sit." Never mind, then.

Voight was still his boss, so he reluctantly sat down. "I was just heading out to get Erin, sir." He could at least make it known that he didn't want this to be a long conversation.

"I just need a minute," Hank said, as if reading his mind.

"Okay."

"I know you and Erin have been spending a lot of time together lately." That's the understatement of the century, Hank thought, but he continued nonetheless. "And Maddie and Grace seem to really like her." Another gigantic understatement. Maddie and Grace hadn't stopped talking about Erin since he picked them up from school. And why wouldn't they like her? He had raised her right, after all. "I know she cares about them too. And I can already see where this is going."

Jay looked at Hank, shock clear on his face. He tried to respond, but couldn't find the words. Instead, he nodded dumbly.

"I assume Erin wants to stay with you tonight." If Hank was being completely honest, he wasn't thrilled with the idea. He wanted his girl under his roof where he could watch her. But if she couldn't be with him, he at least felt comfortable knowing she would be with Halstead. That man cared about his daughter as much as he did, and he would protect her with his life. Hank was sure of that.

Again, Jay just nodded his assent, seemingly lost for words.

"Okay." He had spent the last hour considering this, planning this conversation. He hated invading Erin's privacy like this, but he wouldn't feel completely comfortable otherwise. "Listen, I don't know what Erin has told you, but-"

"Everything," he interrupted. "She's told me everything." I think.

Mmmm... We'll see. "About why she came to live her?" Hank probed.

"Yeah." He knew where he was going with this. "Will gave me all the medications with the instructions for when she should take them. I'll give them to her. I'll monitor them." He needed his boss to know that he could handle this.

Hank was relieved that he didn't have to explain Erin's history further. He really hated doing this. "Jay," he used his first name this time. Because this was personal. "After you give her tonight's dose, you have to hide them."

"What?" He couldn't do that. He couldn't just blatantly show Erin that he didn't trust her. Could he?

Hank sensed his apprehension, and he understood it. But he just didn't care. That was the condition. Either Jay hid the pills, or Erin stayed with him. "Tell her, don't tell her. I don't care. But you need to hide them."

"Why?" He at least needed an explanation. "I'm going to count them. I'll know if she's taken too many."

"Because that way, you'll notice if she starts looking for them." He had been through this before. "And then she won't take too many." Hiding them meant it wouldn't come to that. And there was a difference between her wanting to take too many, and her actually taking too many. Not a huge one, but one worth noting.

Jay seemed to understand, and finally nodded his head in agreement. "Okay," he said. "Okay." He repeated, more confident this time. That made sense to him. It also gave him something to do, some way of helping just a little bit more than he already was. "Thank you, sir."

"Jay," Hank called his name as he stood from the chair. He needed Jay's attention one more time. "In this house." He stood, reached out his hand to shake Jay's. "You can call me Hank."

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