A/N: Aaaaand third time's the charm because I'm back with another story. Follow-up to "Future Past" – with a couple of the new characters (aka: the interim Superintendent Jason Crawford, and Vanessa Rojas, the undercover cop portrayed by Lisseth Chavez for PD's new season) added in. Story timeline is a year after "By the Numbers" so Amelia is now 2 years old. I think that's everything. Hope ya'll like this intro and will stick around for the final installment in this (apparent) trilogy!
For two parents that barely slept a wink last night, Jay and Hailey were the happiest they'd ever been in a while. It was Amelia Rose's first day at the daycare nursery center, and while most parents were completely attached to their kids, never letting them go; Jay and Hailey knew that it was their best option right now, given that their workload had increased under the new Superintendent's rule. It had been going on 2 years since Kelton's murder and Brennan's arrest; but this was the first year that Jason Crawford went from interim super to the permanent leader of police. And with that kind of power came major responsibility, which of course meant intense scrutiny from the Ivory Tower. One Police Plaza was watching Crawford, which in turn meant he wanted to keep watch on one of the more troublesome units: Intelligence.
"Hails, have you seen Amelia's blanket? It's not in the bag," Jay called out to her as he finished fastening Amelia's Velcro shoes. The little girl gave him a big smile, and he took the opportunity to tickle her a little bit, making her giggle. He knew why he loved seeing her like that: because she was just like Hailey in that respect. Their smiles and laughs could brighten up anyone's day, or light up any room.
"Yeah, I got it, she slept with it last night," Hailey called back to him, coming out to the sofa where they sat. The pale pink blanket was in her hand, and she handed it to Jay to put with the rest of Amelia's things. She laughed at the sight of her daughter giggling, and of course she was laughing with her dad, Hailey's husband Jay. She always loved seeing that: the two of them bonding. It warmed her heart like you wouldn't believe. She was so thankful that those two were her life. And she knew she was theirs: she wouldn't have it any other way.
"Alright, thanks." Jay's voice rustled Hailey from her internal monologue. He turned back to face his daughter. "You ready, Miss Amelia Rose?" He cooed, his babyish voice back in full force. He grabbed her little hands, shaking them up and down to mimic excitement, much to Hailey's amusement.
"Yeah? You ready to go, baby girl?" Hailey asked, her voice taking on the same child-like quality Jay's had. She motioned for Amelia to come over to her, and the little one crawled halfway there, before attempting once again to walk. She hadn't been able to do much more than stand up, before wobbling and falling back to the ground.
But, much to both Jay and Hailey's shock, Amelia stood steady on her own two feet. She amazed them all by walking the rest of the way over to Hailey.
"Oh my goodness, look at you go Supergirl!" Hailey congratulated her daughter, tears brimming in her eyes. "Jay, did you see that?!" She asked.
Jay was wildly shaking his head yes in response to her question, tears forming in his own eyes as they were transfixed on the two women in front of him. "Yeah, I did. I sure did."
"Welcome to Sunshine Nursery and Daycare. I'm Miss Lola. And this must be little Amelia," the Latina woman bent down to Hailey's arms where Amelia laid.
Hailey and Jay looked from each other to Amelia's new teacher. "Yes, this is Amelia Rose. She's all ready for her first day!" Hailey said excitedly. Jay's goofy grin mirrored her sentiments.
Lola Michaels caught on quickly, smiling brightly back at the happy couple. "Well, welcome to all 3 of you. Come this way and I'll show you where Amelia will spend her days." She led the trio to a small classroom, with about 7 or 8 other little tikes. Boys and girls crawling and walking all over the place, playing with toys, drawing, napping, you name it, they were doing it.
"Wow, look at this Amelia," Hailey whispered, swaying her daughter around the room to see everything.
"This is great Ms. Michaels," Jay said, echoing Hailey's earlier statement.
"Thank you," Lola said, turning to face them again. "You guys can take all the time you need, and whenever you're ready, we can let Amelia take her first steps around the room."
Jay and Hailey nodded, sharing a quick glance before saying their goodbyes to their daughter. They watched, bittersweet at the moment Amelia was off, away from them and amongst the other children. They took each other's hand as they made their way out of the child care center, both hoping the other didn't catch their last looks back.
The drive to work that morning was quieter than usual, the two having a lot on their minds. Jay gave Hailey's shoulder a reassuring squeeze, and she smiled softly at him from her passenger seat. They'd be okay, it was just a change. At least that's what Jay hoped he was communicating through his eyes when he looked into Hailey's. He watched her blue eyes soften, seeming to understand what he was trying to say.
"Hey Jay?" Hailey whispered, so quietly he almost didn't hear her as they pulled into the district.
"Yeah?"
"We got this, babe." She said confidently, giving him a little smirk. He reciprocated, earning a small laugh from her.
"Yeah, yeah we do, babe." He teased, taking his turn to laugh when Hailey playfully punched his shoulder.
They were walking up the stairs to Intelligence when they were promptly greeted at the doors by Adam and Kevin. Hailey and Jay looked at their coworkers quizzically. "Yes?" They asked in unison.
"So, how'd the little bambina's day go?!" Adam asked a little too loudly.
"Yeah, how's Amelia liking daycare so far? Did you guys take pictures?" Kevin asked, equally as excited as Adam's face let on.
Jay and Hailey looked from each other back to their friends. "It went swimmingly." Hailey answered. Jay pulled his phone out of his pocket.
"And yes, I did sneak a quick photo of Amelia with her teacher, Lola." He added sheepishly. "Look at that little smile though! She already loves it – she went straight for the foam blocks, and get this – the firetruck!"
Hailey laughed, patting Jay's shoulder as he pouted. "He was fully expecting her to go for police, of course…" she joked, to which he responded with an eye roll. That made the four of them laugh, and they finished their ascent up the stairs with that funny thought in mind.
"Morning guys!" They greeted Kim, Vanessa, and Voight. The other 3 members of Intelligence waved, smiled, and nodded as Hailey, Jay, Adam, and Kevin all got settled into their desks for the day.
Platt came up the stairs, wearing a solemn look. "Guys: turn on the news. Now."
Voight and his team all exchanged glances, but did as instructed. Channel 5 had just issued an Amber Alert for a missing 10-year-old boy: Isaac Crawford.
"As in–" Kim started, to which Platt only nodded, confirming what everyone feared: Superintendent Jason Crawford's son was the one abducted today. That made the second kid this week; 4 altogether over the last two. The other 3 were outside of Intelligence's jurisdiction, but this one, this one they knew they had to handle.
Platt was about to announce something else when all heads turned to the footsteps making their way up the stairs. "Ladies, gentlemen." Jason Crawford stood in front of them now, looking more like a grieving father than their eagle-eyed enforcer. He nodded at Voight, who was followed by Platt into his office where they could speak privately.
"Jason, I am terribly sorry. How did, how did this happen?" Platt asked.
"I know this is difficult, Jason. Anything you can remember will be of major assistance." Voight added.
Jason looked up at the two elder officers, before telling them the horrid story of this morning. "I was getting ready as usual, and Melinda my wife, she takes Isaac to school. Well apparently she had a doctor's appointment, so she had dropped Isaac at the bus stop before she left. He's ridden the bus before, just not very often. The school called, telling me that Isaac never made it. And now, here we are." The man buried his head into his hands; Voight and Platt could only try to professionally console him.
"So, what's the next move, Hank?" Jason asked.
"Does Isaac have a cell phone?"
"Yes, why?"
Voight nodded at Platt, who called to Ruzek.
"Yeah Sarge?" Adam asked, standing halfway in the door.
"Run a trace on this number, now." Platt demanded, having Jason scribble down his son's cell phone number.
"You got it," Adam said, hurrying back to his desk.
A few minutes later, Adam regrettably informed his superiors that the phone must have either died, been broken, or turned off because the last ping was off a cell tower near Millennium Park.
"Alright, Adam, you and Kevin go check out the park. See if any bystanders saw anyone resembling Isaac." Voight rattled off a few other commands to his other officers, sending Kim and Vanessa to go with Jason back to his house to talk to his wife. He sent Hailey and Jay out to talk to the NCIC, see if there's a hit anywhere at all with anyone similar to Isaac's description.
As Jay and Hailey made their way back downstairs to his truck, he noticed Hailey's somber expression. He gently touched her arm, and she looked at him with wide eyes. "Hey, it's okay. We're gonna get Crawford's kid back." He hoped he sounded confident instead of racked with worry like Hailey was (but wouldn't admit).
She nodded, but could feel his eyes boring into the back of her skull. She turned back to face him once again, grabbing his hand, kissing it quickly before hopping into the vehicle. Jay nodded resolutely, before jumping into the driver's seat, speeding off to their destination.
"What do you mean, you don't know?" Jay asked the man in operations at NCIC's Chicago base.
"I don't know if there's anyone matching that description, detective. Look, all our cases right now are juveniles. No one under the age of 12 has been reported missing in the last 24 hours. I can recheck what we've got again, but there's no guarantees."
"Yeah, alright, you do that," Jay spat, turning around with his hands laced behind his neck in frustration.
Hailey sighed, looking at the man. "Listen man, this is someone's child. Someone's ten-year-old boy who is probably scared out of their mind right now. Do you understand? It's our superintendent, okay? As in technically, your boss too, since he pretty much runs all of Chicago. You get that?"
The guy shook his head like he couldn't believe they were nagging him like this. But he hurriedly typed in another query, and Jay and Hailey impatiently looked over his shoulder, hoping it would yield results.
"There," they said simultaneously, making the man stop on a photo of a 10-year-old, black haired, blue eyed boy.
"Same hair as Isaac, different eyes, but same build, age, the like." Jay said, looking to Hailey.
"Print it, please." Hailey said, a sickly-sweet tone in her voice. She was livid that the man didn't seem to care as deeply as he should for someone in his line of work. This was someone's child, someone's own flesh and blood out there, scared and helpless. She just wished everyone could care as much as she, Jay, and the rest of Intelligence did. Once they had the paper, they swiftly bid adieu to the NCIC and were back on the road to the district.
"What'd you guys get?" Voight asked as the two returned to the district where the rest of their squad awaited.
"Got another possible abduction. Same as Isaac in everything but eye color. Isaac has hazel eyes, while this kid–"
"Tyler Johnson," Hailey filled in the name of the kid for the team, nodding at Jay to continue.
"Has blue eyes. He's been missing since last month, out of Indiana. It says here the last known on him was that NCIC had tracked him to a trafficking ring out of Waynesville, Indiana."
Voight nodded, looking at his team. "Alright, find them. Bring them all in, I don't care. Indiana won't know what hit 'em when we're through."