Chicago, Illinois

July 2, 2034

Jay finally got up when he heard the cries of his son. He had gotten lost in his thoughts again. Thoughts of the war, Sophie, his kids. He still remembered the day he lost her. His beloved wife. The sandy deserts of Afghanistan. The blood pooling around his hands. Her pale lips. Their last kiss. Her last words. That he should leave her. Save himself. He refused. The next moment she was gone. Forever. He tried to get her back to base. He took three bullets in the process, but he didn't care. He couldn't leave her. Not there. Not in the middle of the godforsaken desert. She deserved a proper burial. She deserved more than that. They had to drag him away from her dead body. He was screaming. Then it all went black, and he woke up in the infirmary a week later. They told him that one of the bullets hit an artery. He lost too much blood. The next thing he knew, he was back home. Telling his four young children that their mother was gone. She wasn't coming home.

Then he was jolted back to reality again by the yells of his 7-year old daughter, Lily.

"Daddy! Lincoln's crying!" She yelled at him.

"Okay," he grunted, rolling out of bed.

As he trudged into his youngest son, Lincoln's, bedroom, he noticed that Lily was already cradling the 2-year old to her chest. The sight warmed his heart.

"Hey, sweetie. I see you beat me to it this morning," Jay said, chuckling.

"You were taking too long, Daddy," she exclaimed with her best grown-up impression she could muster.

Jay was laughing as he took Lincoln into his arms and led Lily back into the kitchen of their apartment to start breakfast.

"Daddy!" screamed his 4-year old son, Dean. "Daddy, look what I made!" he yelled again. He joined Dean at the table and swirled him around while he complimented him on his drawing.

"Lily, where's your brother?" Jay asked as he poured the pancake batter on the stove.

"Sleeping. It's still summer, silly," Lily answered, distracted by the newly forming pancakes that were making her mouth water.

"Right. Sorry about that. I guess I'm a little distracted," Jay said, teasing her. Right at that moment, Grayson came running out of his room and jumped onto Jay's back, laughing.

"Hey, Dad! Guess what! It's Friday!" Gray exclaimed, laughing with joy.

"Yeah it is!" Jay answered, placing a pancake on each one of his kid's plates.

"You're picking us up from camp right? Camp ends at 3:oo, Daddy," Lily reminded him.

"Yes I am, pumpkin, wouldn't forget. Now everybody needs to go get ready or the boogie monster is going to get them!" Jay yelled as all the kids ran to their rooms screaming and laughing. Jay then picked up Lincoln from his highchair and got him ready for the day before getting himself ready. As they all piled into Jay's truck, he grabbed his badge and gun and strapped Lincoln into his car seat before driving away to the local elementary school.

Chicago, Illinois, O'Hare Airport

July 2, 2034

When Juliana got in line at the rental car pick up, she checked her phone. No missed calls from her mom. Of course not. She's supposed to be at school. She's probably giving her some space. Although, when her mom finds out she's gone, she will not be happy to say the least.

Getting in her car, she figures the easiest way to find him would be to go to the police districts in Chicago. Which will take forever. She starts at the 31st District, where they tell her, unsurprisingly, that they are not obligated to release that information. She leaves, feeling frustrated, and she realizes that there is almost no chance any cop in the city will rat out one of their own. Plus, she's only assuming his name is Jay. That's what her mom told her. It could be short for anything. Jason, Jackson, Jordan, Jeffrey, Jaden. This was hopeless. She decided to try the station they sent her to. The 21st.

Chicago, Illinois, 21st District

July 2, 2034

Jay walked into the district, running late as always. On his way up the stairs, however, he saw Trudy waving him over frantically. He was going to ignore her. She usually does this, reprimands him for being late. He hasn't told anyone yet. About Soph. That she's dead. He just got back from their last tour together 2 months ago. He still hasn't let anyone back in. They know he has kids. They know he was married. But he didn't want their pitying looks and repetitive apologies. He just wanted his wife back. But he couldn't have that. So he decided that he wouldn't tell anyone, and he wouldn't receive either. Except Mouse, obviously. And Hank. He told him right when he got back. They were close. Closer than ever. Ever since Erin left. He was there for Jay when nobody else was. He stayed at his apartment late at night when the nightmares grew more intense, more frequent. And he was there for him when his PTSD was so heightened that anything would send him straight back to that desert. Anything as simple as a car alarm. And he was just about to think about how ironic that was when be ran straight into a teenage girl. He had been glaring at Trudy, not paying attention to his surroundings.

"Aw, shit, I'm sorry," he provided a quick apology before running up the stairs and buzzing himself up.

Juliana just stood there in shock. She opened her mouth but no words came out. She couldn't believe it. That was him. Suddenly he came running back down the stairs and ran straight to the front desk, and the desk sergeant became frantic as well, assigning all the patrolmen to different areas in the city. Jay stood up on the desk and got everyone's attention.

"Everyone! Listen up! A bomb threat has been called in. The Riverwalk. Crowded with people. Sergeant Platt will give you an area to patrol, you patrol it. Something weird comes up, you report it. I will be leading the bomb squad along with Mouse, who most of you may know. So get your assignment, and get to work. Now!" he announced.

When he jumped down from the desk, she was finally knocked out of her stupor by an officer rushing to the desk. She quickly rushed forward, grabbing his arm, and when he turned to face her, she saw a flash of recognition in his eyes before it was replaced with the seriousness she saw before.

"Do you need something?" He asked.

"Oh, um, sorry, I just was wondering if I could talk to you for a minute," she stuttered out, trying to find the right words.

"I'm a little busy right now, if it could wait—"

"—I'm your daughter," Juliana blurted out, not thinking.

She saw a mixture of emotions run through his eyes. The first was confusion. Then anger. Sadness. Pain. And lastly, realization.

"That, uh, that. What?" He asked, hoping he heard her wrong.

"I'm your daughter," she repeated a little hesitantly.

"No, no, that's not possible. You're what, 19?" He asked with hope in his eyes.

"16," she answered. Then she saw it. The smallest flash of regret. Then it was gone. Replaced by the thick wall he had probably put up a long time ago. Probably when her mom left him. Maybe even before. She knew nothing about him, and here she was, confessing to being his daughter. She realized how unfair that was. Her mom was probably right. He had moved on. He had a life. And she just trudged up everything from the past that he had most likely hidden away and never wanted to see again. She felt like a horrible person. Then she realized she was being dragged into an office. He shut the door and turned to face her.

"How?" He asked.

"Erin's my mom," she said, like that would explain everything. He immediately took a step back at the mention of her mom's name.

"Erin?" He repeated. "Erin's your mom?"

"Yeah," she said.

"Does she know you're here?" He asked, and she laughed a little at that.

"God, no. There will be hell to pay when she does find out though," she answered.

"And that hell will be paid soon, when I call her and tell her I found her daughter," he responded, already pulling out his phone to call her.

"No!" she yelled, a little too loudly, grabbing his phone from his hands. He raised an eyebrow at that, taken aback by her little outburst.

"It's just, ugh, I don't know. You can't call her. Please," she begged him.

"I can and I will, unless you give me one good reason why I shouldn't," he said with a smirk. She gave a big smile.

"I just really wanted to see the beautiful city where my mom grew up, you know. It's all such a mystery to me," she said with a glint of mischief in her eyes.

"Okay, well, that's good enough for me, now if I could have my phone back, Miss," he said, smiling.

She handed it over, and just as she was about to say something else, someone yelled a name she was very familiar with.

"Hey, Halstead! Get your ass over here and get working! Voight's not in a good mood and I'm not having you make it any worse," someone yelled.

"I'm sorry, I have to go," Jay apologized quickly. "There's a bomb threat over at the Riverside, I need to go head the bomb squad."

At the look of disappointment on her face, he got out a pen and a piece of paper and told her to write down her phone number, that he'd call her. When she did and the look didn't go away, he wrote down his address and phone number on another paper and told her to wait for him there. She smiled and nodded as he patted her shoulder, gave a small smile, and ran off to get back to work. But she wasn't fooled. She had seen that look a million times in the mirror. He was hurting. He was slipping. But the most she could do was go to that apartment, and wait for him to come home later. Hope he would want to talk. And pray that he didn't call her mom. Because that would be the end of her.

Jay's POV

Running out of that office felt like a huge breath of fresh air. Those words coming out of her mouth made him freeze and look her over once again. She looked right at him and he saw it. She had his eyes and freckles, but Erin's nose. Erin's mouth and hair, and Erin's confidence about her. She stood tall and proud. He never had that trait, the one that he always admired about Erin. He grew up with a rough childhood, sick but loving mother, abusive father, absent brother. He took care of himself. He never told anyone, obviously, but it was rough. And that put him off. He could never carry himself with the full and unwavering confidence Erin always had. But this girl standing in front of him was clearly Erin's daughter. Without thinking, he dragged her into the office and demanded how she was his daughter. He already knew the answer, but the things he did when Erin left gave room for a number of possible things, including this. He just hoped it wasn't true. It couldn't be true. So he joked around a bit, lightened the mood as best he could. Tried to cut the tension. And it worked for the most part. Then Ruzek called him and he saw a much needed escape. So he was about to leave when he saw the look of disappointment on her face. He quickly jotted down his name, number, and address, telling her to go there and wait for him, that he wouldn't be long. Then he flashed a quick smile and ran to get ready for the bomb case.

Mouse noticed his disposition immediately. His shoulders were even more hunched than usual, and he had this far away look that he usually got in one of his episodes.

"Hey, man, what's up? You look like you've seen a ghost," Mouse questioned, laughing slightly.

Jay turned quickly and looked at his best friend. Mouse had joined back into the Rangers with him, and when he got back, he went through the academy. He became a cop also and before they knew it, he was replacing Alvin. His death hurt all of them, deeply, but Mouse refreshed that position and he definitely filled his shoes well.

"I'm good, man. Some girl just came up to me and said she was my daughter. Mine and Erin's," he explained in shock.

"Holy shit!" Mouse exclaimed before he could stop himself.

"Yeah. I gave her my address. Told her to wait. I'll get Voight to let me off early. Pick up the kids then we can talk a bit. As long as she doesn't freak out and split. I would if I was her," Jay said.

"Well, I'm coming with. I'll play with the kids while you work things out," Mouse said, placing a hand on his shoulder in comfort.

"Thanks, Greg. I really appreciate it," Jay said, providing his friend with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes, before walking away to the van.

Juliana's POV

As Jay ran away, the first thing she could think about was what have I done. She just ambushed him and blurted out that she was his daughter. She could have done it way more subtly. But now it was out there. And it hadn't gone as bad as she had expected. He let her off easy and even gave her his address to wait for him.

As she pulled up to the apartment building, she got out and rang the buzzer just in case he did in fact have a girl at home. When no one answered, she went up and used the key he dropped on the table. Inside, she was surprised to see it completely clean. She started to look around a bit, and when she got to the pictures, she froze. It was him, of course, but he was with a woman. A blond woman. Then another picture showed him with a bunch of young children. She almost left. But she didn't. She had to get answers. About him. Who those people were. About her mom. So she stayed. And she waited on his couch, deciding to watch TV until he returned. That's how she fell asleep. On the couch of a father she never knew, waiting for him to return to explain his whole life to a girl he didn't know existed until a couple of hours ago.