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Antonio had headed over to the gym early. He was meeting Jay to train together. He also knew that he should be home with Jo to deal with this mess with Justin, but she insisted that they keep their lives as normal as possible. He had his hands tied right now. He wanted to help Josie fix the things going on with Voight and Justin, but at the same time, the cop in him was struggling. He couldn't help Voight if Justin screwed up again. IA was still breathing down Intelligence's neck since Voight got promoted.
Antonio was watching Jay train on a heavy bag when Erin showed up with Justin in tow. Antonio watched as Justin's body language stiffened when Erin introduced Jay as her partner. He also could see jealousy in Justin's face. He groaned internally. Justin had a thing for Erin, and Jay had a thing for her too. This wasn't going to make things easier for Josie and him. He could also see that Jay's comments were pissing Erin off. She finally took off. Jay and Antonio showered and got ready for work.
Antonio got up into the bullpen and was greeted by a cup of coffee from Josie. "Thanks." He kissed her cheek. "How's your mom this morning?"
"She's okay… or so she says." She sipped her tea.
"Well… this whole thing got more complicated." He whispered as Jay walked past them.
"What the heck happened at the gym?" Josie whispered back.
"Your brother has a thing for Erin, and Jay has…"
"Oh fuck." Josie shook her head. "Love triangles are never good."
"Especially not when Erin is like a daughter to Hank." Antonio sipped some of the coffee.
"Let's hope today goes by fairly smoothly." Josie headed back to her desk.
That hope was shot the instant Voight came out of his office. "Erin, Josie, Antonio… let's roll… Atwater and Burgess caught a case."
"You jinxed this." Josie jabbed her finger at her husband.
Antonio grabbed his jacket. "I know… I'm sorry."
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"Whatta we got?" Voight asked as they met up with Kim and Kevin, who was buttoning up a clean shirt.
"Female, white, just got out of surgery."
"I heard female, white, knocked you around pretty good." Erin teased Kevin.
"Whatever she was on… gave her the strength of ten men." Atwater said in his defense.
Kim handed them a plane ticket. "She had no ID… only this plane ticket. Landed at O'Hare this morning from Cabo San Lucas."
"Just how much cocaine did she have on her?" Antonio asked.
"Not on her. Inside her. 30 balloons… in her stomach." Kim answered.
Voight dismissed them and they went to find the doctor who was working this case. The doctor explained that usually, the patient would've been given Haldol to calm them down and send them to rehab. This patient had been different because she had started seizing.
"Welcome to Chicago, distribution centre of the Midwest." Antonio said.
He and Josie went to look over the bags that had been surgically removed from their Jane Doe.
"We removed 29 condoms full of cocaine… she had swallowed 30. One busted open and started to dissolve in her stomach."
"So, the drug leached into her bloodstream." Josie deduced. "That would cause her psychosis and the inhuman strength."
The doctor nodded. "Never ceases to amaze me… what people will do for money."
"Well… sometimes people feel like they don't got a choice." Erin said.
Josie knew there was something more there, but she'd figure it out later.
The doctor explained that the cocaine she'd had tested was 89% pure. "Highest grade I've ever seen."
Hank rubbed his chin.
"All these…" Antonio motioned to the condoms. "Worth 50k, easy."
"So, what… Cartel's getting smart… recruiting all-America types?" Josie asked.
"These are full of air pockets." Antonio held one of them up. "No way the cartels would be this careless."
"So, amateur hour." Josie sighed. "No wonder the condoms burst."
Hank looked to the doctor. "We need to question her. How soon 'til she's conscious?"
Doc shrugged. "2 or 3 hours."
"Thanks, Doc." Hank shook her hand.
The doctor left them to go check on other patients.
"Alright…" Voight turned to Josie and Antonio. "Get Jin to contact O'Hare… get anything we can out of the TSA… see if we can't ID this girl."
They nodded and left. Voight turned to Erin. "Let's go… we gotta get ahead of this."
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Antonio was pacing around Jin's office. Josie was smirking. "You didn't pace that much when Grace was born."
Antonio froze. "I was a little busy helping you deliver her to be pacing." He started to move around the room again.
Jin was going through multiple camera angles of O'Hare's arrival gates to try and find their Jane Doe. "Just don't wear a hole in the floor."
Antonio glared at him. "Really, you too?"
"Hey… you married the boss' daughter." Jin said before hitting a couple more keys. "Okay, so according to the flight manifest… your girl's name is Amber Morris… came in on the red-eye from Cabo this morning."
"Was she traveling with anyone?" Antonio asked impatiently.
Josie glared at him. Jin just said. "Can I finish?"
"Sorry."
"4 tickets were purchased with her credit card…" He brought up the security footage. "And here they are… her and her friends getting off the plane."
Antonio sighed. Josie knew the pain he was feeling. Their oldest children were only a couple years younger than Amber and her friends.
"You think they're all mules?" Jin asked.
Josie patted his shoulder. "Yeah… pretty sure they are… and we're gonna have to find them… if the condoms they swallowed are like the ones that Amber swallowed, we're looking at 3 other potential ODs."
"Good luck." Jin printed off the information on the girls. "Hope this all helps."
Antonio thanked him. "Let's go share the info… see if we can't get these girls before they OD too."
Josie nodded. "Thanks, Jin."
Together they headed upstairs. Antonio put the other girls' pictures and names on the board. "So, our girl in the ER is Amber Morris."
"Amber and her 3 friends are all undergrads at CCU… this is who we're looking for." Josie said.
Erin had them join her around her computer. "This is Amber's Facebook page… there's pictures of them living it up in Cabo, but not just from this trip… Amber's been down there twice in the last three months."
"So, first time she did the run herself, this time… she recruited friends." Josie groaned. She'd seen cases like this in New Orleans. Most of the time, they didn't end well. "We gotta assume all these girls are mules and ingested the same type of balloons packed with coke."
Jin appeared around the corner. "I ran down the other girls' addresses. They all live on campus."
Voight nodded. "We gotta move. Let's go!" The others were halfway down the stairs when he stopped Jay. "You like working in this unit? You keep it in your pants."
Josie was frozen on the staircase. She had come back to get her jacket and she was about to witness her dad go at it with Jay.
Jay didn't lose his cool. "I didn't know it was out."
"Erin's off-limits… end of discussion."
Josie didn't need Jay to get into it with her dad when the case they were working was so time sensitive. She ran back into the bullpen, putting an end to the tension and allowing Jay to leave.
Josie and Antonio went to one room, while the others split up to check on the other three girls. No one was answering the door. Antonio tried the door and it was unlocked.
"They had to have made it back." Josie pointed to the luggage in the corner.
"Yeah, but where the hell is she?" Antonio asked.
They were leaving the dorm room when Voight came over the radios. "We're looking for two white males… could still be in the area. They got our girls… and one of them is definitely going through the same thing as Amber."
Josie and Antonio exchanged panicked glances. They looked around them to see where they could've gone. They were making their way to the garage when a woman screamed. Antonio took off. Josie radioed it in. Her heart raced when she heard an engine rev and tires screech. She ran into the garage to see Antonio picking himself up off the ground.
"Antonio!" The others were coming in from the outside of the garage.
"Babe!" She ran to him. "You okay?"
He nodded. "Had to dive out of the way… they're in a black panel van."
"Fuck." Josie spat. "This isn't good."
"You're telling me." Antonio rubbed his shoulder. "Let's get back to the District."
Voight assigned Erin and Jay to go to the hospital and see if Amber was awake. The others headed to their vehicles and headed back to 21.
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It didn't take long before they had some information on the van. Erin and Jay had gotten names from Amber.
"Investigative alert out on Sean and Brendan Collins." Voight said after ending the call with Erin and handed his notepad to Josie. "They're the dealers we're looking for."
"Sean's the boyfriend." Josie said. "Amber told Erin that he and his brother hang out at a tattoo shop… Underground Ink."
"That's where they'll sling the product." Antonio said.
"Al, Ruzek… you two… stake out on that tattoo parlour." Voight said.
Al nodded, grabbed Adam by the arm and they headed to get what they'd need for a stakeout.
Antonio was going through the medical report on Amber when Platt came up the stairs. "The girl who's in the hospital… Amber Morris… her mother's downstairs."
Antonio didn't look up from her computer. "All right, bring her up."
Josie looked between Antonio and Platt. She knew they had some history as they'd been partners before she'd been made to disappear. She could also tell Platt was not impressed with Antonio's answer.
"I'm assuming that's Spanish for 'you're gonna go down there and get her yourself'." Platt snipped before turning on her heel and going back downstairs.
Antonio looked to Josie. "What did I say?"
"Really?" Jo asked. "Wow…" She headed downstairs to get Mrs. Morris.
Antonio shook his head and went to the kitchen so they could interview Mrs. Morris without making her extremely uncomfortable.
It didn't take long before Mrs. Morris played the denial card. "I'm telling you, Detectives… my daughter had nothing to do with this."
"Ma'am… they cut 30 condoms packed with cocaine out of your daughter's stomach." Josie said.
"We're pretty sure she had something to do with it." Antonio added.
"Someone had to have forced her. You need to go after them."
"The way it looks," Josie tried to ease into this. "is Amber did this of her own free will."
"That's not possible. Amber's a good student! She just made the Dean's list."
Antonio shook his head. "She did this for money, Mrs. Morris." He sighed. "We know this is hard for to hear… to believe… but kids… go off to college. They get away from their parents. Sometimes they get mixed up in bad things."
"What's going to happen to her?"
Josie stepped in. "She's been cooperative so far… we'll talk to the State's Attorney… try to keep her out of jail."
Mrs. Morris hung her head and sobbed.
Josie took her hand. "We have three daughters… two teens and an infant…" She looked to Antonio. "We worry about them… when they're out with friends… or hanging out with boys… but… you can't watch them every second."
"At least Amber's alive." Antonio whispered.
Mrs. Morris looked to them. "How do you do this?"
"I'm not sure I understand." Josie replied.
"You're married, you've got kids… how can you still do this job."
Antonio sighed. "It's not easy… especially seeing the things we see… but, we also know that there are people like us out there trying to stop these kinds of things from happening."
"Thank you…" Mrs. Morris sniffled. "Thank you for helping her… would I be able to see her?"
"Oh, of course." Josie said. "I'll have a couple officers take you to Chicago Med."
Antonio and Josie watched as Burgess and Atwater led Mrs. Morris down the stairs to take her to see her daughter. Antonio leaned against the doorway and sighed. "Jo, I don't know what I'm gonna do when our kids go off to college."
"You'll be fine."
"How did you handle it when Zoë was in Paris for school?"
"My mom was with her." Josie reminded him.
"Yeah, but still…"
"Look, part of this comes down to how that child is raised, and I'd like to think that we've raised all of our children right and that they wouldn't do this… but like you said… kids change once they're away from their parents."
Antonio shook his head. "I don't know… look at you… you turned out amazing and then your half-brother…"
"I don't think that had to do with how Hank or Camille raised him… that comes from his own bad decisions."
Antonio pulled her into his arms. "How did I ever get so lucky?"
Josie arched an eyebrow. "For?"
"Having you in my life." He kissed her.
"I believe you can thank Gaby for that." She chuckled.
"Hey, will you two stop locking lips?" Jay said walking by them. "Voight's got a plan."
"Duty calls." Josie reluctantly pulled herself away from her husband's embrace.
Antonio nodded and followed her to the bullpen.
Voight was standing in front of the board. He handed Antonio a file. "So… The Collins Brothers. They're thugs from Bridgeport. Both have extensive records for armed robbery & aggravated battery."
"So… they've graduated to drug smuggling using naïve college girls." Josie said disgustedly. "Great… they're gonna regret that when I my hands on them."
"Get in line." Erin said. She was definitely taking this particular case personally.
Josie had a strong suspicion that it was because she'd been through something similar as a teen. She hadn't ever asked her about it but she'd heard enough through the grapevine. She also knew that Hank thought of Erin as a daughter. They had a special bond that even she didn't have and Hank was her biological father.
"Cool it." Hank said. "Both of you. Had unis check out their LKAs… they're in the wind. DMV search says that Brendan Collins owns a black Ford van…"
"I'm assuming that these two bozos are using burner phones now… especially since they know Amber's been arrested." Antonio said.
Jin nodded. "Yep. Unis found their personal phones in the trash outside their LKA…"
"Keep digging." Voight said to him. "Get me any known associates. We need everything we can get on these two if we have any hope of getting those other girls back alive." He turned back to his office.
Erin looked to Jay before following him and closing the door.
"Wanna talk about what the hell is going on between you and Erin?" Antonio asked.
Jay shook his head. "Nope."
Josie joined Antonio at Jay's desk. "What's up?"
"Something's going on between Jay and Erin… they've both been uppity since we were at the gym… and she brought Justin along."
Josie looked to Jay. "What did you say?"
"What makes you thing I said something?" Jay asked.
"Men generally are the ones who make stupid comments." Josie said.
"All I did was say hi to your brother and offer to shake his hand. He looked at my hand as if it was a viper ready to attack him."
"Jay… he's fighting his own demons after getting out of prison." Jo reminded him.
"I get that, but I'm being civil."
Josie blew her bangs out of her eyes. "Ever think that Justin has a crush on Erin and he's jealous of you?"
"What? We're not dating."
Antonio could see where Josie was going with this. They both knew that Justin liked Erin, but she would never see him that way. "No, but you work with her every day and closely… you're friendly with her. Anyone with two eyes in their head can see you like her… hell, pretty sure a blind man could see it."
"Hey, I found Brendan Collins' van."
Antonio nodded. "Tell Voight."
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Since, Al and Adam were staking out the tattoo parlour, the others headed out to try and catch Brendan Collins in hopes that he'd lead them to the girls.
"Alright, Jin. Work your magic." Antonio said over the radios.
Josie, Antonio and Voight were in one vehicle while Jay and Erin were in the Chrysler 300.
"Stand by." Jin replied. "Let me get comfy."
"We got eyes on the van yet?" Voight grunted.
"Said I'm getting comfy." Jin said.
Voight's body language said he was losing patience.
"Okay… got eyes on 'em… coming up 76th towards Western. He turned into an alley…. Heading south towards 77th..
"We're on it." Erin radioed in. "Got a visual!"
They were all in pursuit.
"Box it in!" Voight bellowed.
Suddenly there was a horn blaring and a huge crash as a large truck crashed right into Collins' van. Intelligence's vehicles screeched to a halt. Lindsay and Josie were the first ones out onto the scene.
"Sir, are you okay?" Erin asked.
The truck driver nodded, but was clearly shaken. "Yeah… I… I didn't see that guy."
Jay went over to him to talk to him.
Erin, Josie and Antonio moved on the van. Brendan Collins' head was through the windshield.
"5020 Lincoln… Emergency… roll an ambo to 7320 Western." Josie radioed in.
"He's toast." Antonio said.
"The girls!" Voight shouted.
They went around the van. They pulled open the back doors, terrified to see bloodied bodies, but the van was empty.
Jay came from the front of the van. "He had a 9 mil and throwaway phone."
"No trace of the coke… or the girls." Antonio said.
"So, every second that goes by… the less chance those girls survive."
"We're well aware of that, Erin." Antonio's temper was starting to flare.
"Hey!" Josie got between the two of them.
"Everybody stay cool." Voight ordered. He pointed to the phone that Jay had handed to Antonio. "Get that phone to Jin, ASAP." He turned to Jay. "You're coming with me."
"Where are you going?" Josie asked.
"Higher up the family tree." Voight slammed his SUV's door.
Once Jay was in the vehicle, it tore off down the street, leaving Antonio, Josie and Erin alone on the street with a dead body and a shaken truck driver.
"Now what?" Erin asked.
"We get this phone to Jin and try and find these girls that way." Josie said. "Antonio… can you stay until Patrol shows up… I'll come back for you?"
Antonio nodded. He knew that Jo wanted to talk to Erin about what's been going on with Jay and Justin. "I'll be fine."
Josie climbed into the passenger side of the 300 and Erin got behind the wheel. Antonio could only hope that Josie could get to the bottom of this. There was only so much more they could both take before the Voight family drama started impacting their work life as well as their personal lives. Antonio loved Dixie, but he didn't want his mother-in-law to move in with them.
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"So, what's going on with you and Hank?" Josie wasn't going to beat around the bush.
"What?" Erin turned down a side street to avoid an accident that was blocking the regular route back to the District.
"Antonio said something happened at the gym… Jay's acting weird… and then you and Hank are giving each other looks… not to mention the conversation I heard Jay and Hank having."
"What conversation?"
"Hank told Jay to keep it in his pants."
Erin pounded on the steering wheel. "I don't want you and Antonio getting dragged into this."
"Erin… I get that Hank and Camille took you in and they're the reason you've gotten to where you are, but I'm his daughter, whether or not he knew about me for the last 30 years… he's marrying my mom and whatever is going on between Justin, you and my dad… it's already impacting us. My mom's been staying at our place because Dad hasn't had time to spend with her to finalize wedding plans. We may not have been around a long time, and I get he's my dad… but Mama comes first and if this is hurting her, I'm not about to stand by to let that happen."
"Justin has a crush on me."
"I got that much."
"He thinks Jay and I are together."
"We got that too." Josie sighed. "Is he slipping?"
"I don't know. He's pissed that Hank got him into the CTA… I don't know."
"Erin, what can we do to help?"
"I don't think there's anything any of us can do to help… Justin doesn't seem to want any of our help." Erin pulled into the parking lot. "I just don't want Hank to go down the road he tried taking the first-time Justin really got into trouble."
"Antonio and Gaby filled me in on that. Justin had been drinking, hit a dad and his son on the way towards a hockey game. Son ended up paralysed."
"Yep… and Hank went after Matt Casey to make him withdraw his report stating that Justin had alcohol in the car." Erin sighed. "Antonio had to arrest him in a sting operation. Look, you're in the hardest place… you married the best Detective in the District, and your father is one of the best cops in the city… and they've always butted heads."
"Erin, you've gotta get through to Justin at some point… it's gonna tear apart this team. I swear, Dad's about ready to transfer Jay to another unit."
Erin's phone chimed. "Speaking of Justin." She showed Josie the text.
"He left his wallet in here?" Josie turned around and sure enough, a black men's wallet was on the floor on the back seat. "Shit."
"So, whatta ya want me to do?" Erin asked.
"Tell him to come get it… you talk to him… tell him that Jay's your work partner… and that he's gotta stop messing with Dad… tell him that it's ruining a lot of things, not just him."
Erin nodded. She typed in a message and hit 'send'. "Let's see if Jin can't get us anything off that phone."
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Antonio had hitched a ride back to the District with some of the Patrolmen. They hadn't found anything that could point them to where they were keeping the girls. He headed up the stairs to the bullpen. He passed Erin as she was running back down the stairs. He went to Josie's desk. "Jo, where's Erin headed in such a rush?"
"Justin left his wallet in her car after they went to the gym this morning."
"Ah." Antonio hung his jacket up. "Did you talk to her?"
Josie nodded. "Yep. I told her she has to solve this shit because I won't stand by and let it keep ruining our work life and our personal lives. She can fix this, or my brother is going to be dealing with me."
"Southern sass still runs through your veins, huh?" Antonio smiled. "Well, anything on the burner cell?"
"Jin's still working on it." Josie grabbed her cell from her pocket. "Dad?"
"Jay's texting you guys an address… meet us there." Hank ended the call.
"What?"
"We gotta roll… and Dad's being pissy with me."
"We need to talk to him." Antonio grabbed his jacket.
"I'M going to talk to him." Josie holstered her gun. "If I need backup… I'll ask, okay?"
Antonio nodded. "Whatever you say, babe." They ran down the stairs, catching Erin as she was coming back up to the bullpen.
They arrived at a warehouse. There was no sign of movement. Antonio busted down the door. "CPD!"
They did a quick sweep of the warehouse, but they found no one.
Antonio looked around them. "Half the swag from Midway has to be here."
"No shit." Josie whistled. "Someone should be calling Robbery down here… or Major Crimes."
"Guys!" Jay's voice came from down a hallway.
Josie, Antonio and Voight ran towards them.
"Megan Benson." Jay whispered.
Josie gasped at the sight. Megan's body was laid out on a table and she had been gutted. "Jesus Christ!"
"Girl was 19!" Antonio exclaimed. "Still in school! Fuck!" He hit a wall.
"Why do only one?" Jay asked. "Where are the other two?"
"We're not dealing with a pro." Voight sighed. "Collins' got squeamish and ran."
Josie got closer. She wasn't squeamish. "Whoever cut into her… cut into the balloons."
The coroner appeared at that point. After a quick exam, she agreed with Josie. "Detective Dawson's right… they cut straight into the balloons… the cocaine's been destroyed."
"Thanks." Voight shook her hand. He made his way down the street to his SUV. He stopped to check his phone.
"No way that Collins' can afford this to happen to the other two girls." Erin said.
"Look, I got business to take care of." Voight said after rejoining them. "See if Jin's got anything yet." He took off, leaving the rest of the team wondering what the hell had just happened.
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"Jin, please… please tell me you've got something." Josie pleaded. They needed something. One girl was in hospital, another was in the morgue and they still had two girls missing, who were ticking timebombs.
"There were only two numbers in it. One was the prepaid cell that was Sean's… it's dead and Patrol found it in a dumpster… but the second number, I tracked to this guy." Jin taped a picture of a white male to the board. "Ryan Porter."
Jay took the file. "Male, white… 26… Long sheet for possession."
Erin peaked over Jay's shoulder. "Worked as a paramedic for 3 different ambulance companies, and got fired from all of them."
Antonio's head shot up. "I know that M.O… 10 to 1, Porter's a play doctor."
"A what?" Josie asked.
"I busted a few back in my Vice days. They're EMTs who work for private ambulance companies. They barely make ten bucks an hour… so the ones who want to make more, sometimes will provide under the table services like patching up gangbangers and such."
"Shit." Josie knew what that meant. This guy was a crooked paramedic who was using his training for corrupt acts versus the good they were meant to do. She looked to Jay. "Forward Porter's picture to Al and Ruzek… they need to be on the lookout for this guy. We're burning all their main hideouts, they'll have to circle back there eventually."
A couple hours passed, Voight rejoined them and they were going through different scenarios on how to get the girls back. Al's voice came through their radios. Collins, Porter and the two girls were there. Everyone dropped what they were doing and booked it out of the District.
By the time they got there, there wasn't much to do. Al was fuming. Antonio and Josie suspected that Adam, being a brash rookie, had stormed in without waiting for the backup to arrive. Paramedics were loading the girls up and taking them to Med. Patrol was bringing Porter to a squad while Al had Collins. Erin lost it on Collins. Hank had to hold her back.
"Erin, Erin…" Hank and Al pulled her away from Collins. "Come on."
Hank reassured her. "Don't worry… we'll make sure this guy gets buried." He smacked Collins outside the head. "You hear that, huh? You listening, you're done." They handed him off to be loaded into a patrol car. Hank then went over to Burgess & Atwater to congratulate them on the work they'd done.
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Josie waited for her father to arrive in his office. They needed to talk, and she'd wait as long as she had to to have that conversation. She was texting Antonio to check on the kids when Hank sauntered back into his office. "Dad." She stood up.
"Josie… what's wrong?" Hank stopped in his tracks.
"We need to talk, Dad… like tonight… now." Josie hoped that this wasn't about to ruin her relationship that she was just starting with him, but she couldn't take the drama anymore.
Hank hung up his jacket and sat at his desk. "Okay." He sighed. "How long you been waiting?"
"Since Porter and Collins were sent to holding."
"Jo… the kids."
"Antonio went straight home. If he had had his way, he'd be having this talk instead of me."
Hank grunted. He respected Antonio and he knew he was a damn good cop, but having him as a son-in-law was making life a little more challenging. "Okay, so let's talk."
"Dad, what the hell is going on around here?"
Hank shrugged. "Not sure what you're talking about."
"Dad… come on… there's a hostile work environment between you, Erin and Jay… Justin is pissed off at the world, taking it out on you and now, it's being taken out on the rest of us."
Hank sighed. "I'm tryin, Josie… I really am."
"Not hard enough, Dad… Mom's been staying at our place. She thinks you don't want to marry her anymore."
Hank's head shot straight up. "What?! No! That's… no! Josie, I want to marry your mother… I just have to help Justin get everything straight."
"Dad… the kid's 22… he's an adult… you can't keep diggin' him out… he'll never learn to work on his own."
"Josie…"
"Dad, I know exactly what it's like to be a parent… I've got 5 kids… the twins are teens, Eva is 13… I get it… I get that you want to make sure he can reach the stars, but unless he wants it, Dad… you're doing a lot of work for nothing. You can't help someone who doesn't want it."
Hank leaned back in his chair. He knew that Josie had a point. He felt that he was dragging Justin out of a hole instead of helping him climb out on his own. "What do you think I should do?"
"I think you need to let Justin fail… if he needs to hit rock bottom again to learn how to be a contributing member of society, then so be it." Josie said. "I don't want him to go back to prison or anything, but he needs to learn that he can't have you constantly bailing out. He needs to learn that he's an adult and he has to be accountable to his own actions."
Hank groaned and rubbed his jaw. "I don't know how to do that. For the longest time, it was just me and him."
"I know that, Dad… but he's driving a wedge between you and the rest of the family and he's interfering with how this team works… he's got you questioning Jay, when you know damn well that there's nothing going on between him and Erin."
"How can you be so sure? You have to see the way they stare at each other."
"So?!" Josie threw her arms up in the air. "Antonio and I are MARRIED… we give each other similar looks and we don't let our personal life interfere with the JOB. Dad, you have to trust all of us on your team… otherwise, Internal Affairs will pick us apart, one by one."
"What do you know about Internal Affairs?" Hank asked.
"I'm not stupid, Dad… I know that they're butting their nose in here because you're out of prison. I don't know the how or the why, but I also don't care. I know you're a damn good cop, and I know that you're the best chance we have to keep Intelligence from falling to rat shit, but I also know that IA isn't going to just slink back into the shadows because you're a good cop."
Hank grunted. "You're wiser than your years."
Josie shook her head. "No, I'm being practical. Tell me how I can help, please?"
"I asked Erin to keep an eye on him… you know, so he wouldn't think I didn't trust him."
"You don't trust him, though." Josie said. "If you did, you wouldn't be keeping tabs on him or having Erin babysit him."
"I don't want him to get locked up again." Hank's voice echoed his pain.
"Dad," She reached across the desk and took his hand. "I know that, and none of us want to see that see either, but he has to want that too."
Hank nodded. "Is Dixie still at your place?"
"As far as I know… We've been trying to help her with wedding stuff, but she wants you there to help too." Josie squeezed his hand.
Hank nodded. "Okay, I'll come pick her up… and I'll do my best to help plan the wedding."
"Have you talked to Justin?" Josie asked.
"Not yet, I went to Erin's… and I asked her to look into this guy." He handed her his cell.
"I've never seen this guy."
"Justin's supervisor said he never showed for training today."
"Kinda hard because his wallet was in the back of Erin's car." Josie told him.
"You talked to Erin?"
"Yep… after we chased Brendan Collins down."
"Jo."
"No, Dad… I can't just stand by and let this happen."
"You're more like your mother than you know." Hank sighed. "This guy was Justin's cellmate in Statesville. He's bad news."
"I get that, and I'm pretty sure that Justin knows that too. So, you have to let him choose what life he wants, okay?"
Hank nodded. "Yeah… gonna be harder said than done though."
"I get that, Dad… I do, but we need to get going tonight, or else, I'm crashing on your couch."
Hank chuckled. "Okay, okay. Let's go, kiddo."
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Antonio locked the door after bidding Hank and Dixie a good night. He leaned against the door. "What the hell did you tell him?"
"That Justin has to learn to sink or swim on his own, because every time Dad tries to save him, he's telling Justin he doesn't have to be accountable for his choices."
"Well… that's the truth."
"Exactly. I also reminded him that despite being his daughter, I've raised twins on my own for a while, and we have 5 children at home now. Being parents to teens is almost the same thing as having a son who acts like a teen despite being an adult."
"You really weren't kidding when you said that you wanted to resolve this." Antonio pulled her into his arms.
"No, I was not." Josie stood on her tippy toes to kiss him. "I know that I missed out on actually having family drama for 15 years, but I really don't need it all piling up at once now. I don't need to make up for lost time in that department."
"I get that." Antonio brushed her hair from her eyes. "Bed?"
"Yes, please." She sighed. "I'm beat… I think I could sleep for the next week."
That thought was ruptured when Grace's piercing scream echoed down the stairs.
"Hold that thought." She said. "I'll go take care of Grace."
Antonio watched as Josie made her way up the stairs to the nursery. She was something else. He watched as she went into the nursery to calm their crying infant daughter. He made his way up the stairs and watched from the doorway. Josie was sitting in the rocking chair in the corner, gently rocking Grace back to sleep. He leaned against the doorway and smiled as Josie recited "Love You Forever" off by heart. He knew that Josie stood for family before anything else, and that whatever was going on between Voight and Justin wasn't going to interfere with their lives much longer.
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A/N: I know it's been a long time coming and you've all been extremely patient. More to come soon. Updating all the 'novel' type stories, then heading over to work on some Brettonio stories. Let me know what you think!
Cheers, Nicole
