Hi, so here is another chapter and I hope you enjoy, this one is shorter but the next one should be longer.

I am going to keep this note short and sweet to let you get on with reading.

Thank you all so much for your kind reviews.

Disclaimer-Nothing is mine.

TRIGGER WARNINGS-for abuse of a minor and substance abuse.

Also as I said in the last chapter I am back at work now so updates might be a bit few and far between for a while.

Born Under A Bad Sign

Chapter 3-Chamelon

In 2000, Jay and Pat have a deadly confrontation that sees Hank pick up the pieces and in 2014, Justin is released from prison. Slightly smaller chapter.

5th January 2000

He lasted five days. Five days. That was it. That was all it was. Five fucking days before Jay thought that the bridge was still a good option only this time he didn't go there. He shoved some things in a bag and walked out the front door—well—he limped out the front door and he made it to the park before he collapsed on the grass. Everything in him was aching and hurting and bleeding and he was just…

He had took the card and he stared at it through his swollen eye and then he flipped out his phone. He would have forced himself into a sitting position but he knew he would vomit if any pressure was put on his ribs. Hell he didn't even have any booze in him but he was craving a drink. He eyed the store at the corner of the road but something made him pause.

And something made him call the number on the card. He didn't know what it was. He really didn't. Even years later he didn't know what it was that made him call that card but he called the card anyway. He called it regardless and it rang three time and each time it rang he thought that he should hang up but he didn't.

"Voight" came a voice down the phone and Jay made a small noise.

"Who is this?" the voice now was oddly gentle and Jay was seconds away from crying.

"I…I…"

"Jay is this you?" now he was almost whispering and Jay nodded before realising two things, one Hank couldn't see him nod his head and two when he nodded his head stars came out and danced around his vision and you didn't need to be Will with that fancy doctor's degree to know that, that was a bad sign.

A bad sign. Just like the one Jay was born under.

"JAY!"

He started forwards and the pressure on his ribs made him cry out.

"Yeah" he hissed through tightly gritted teeth.

"Jay are you good?"

"I don't…I don't know I don't know I…I don't know I am just…I just…he was going to kill me Hank and I…I..."

"Okay Jay, okay I'm listening, just…just tell me where you are okay and I will come and get you"

"I just…I'm at a park. By the gate."

"Okay. The one near your house—"

"Yeah"

"Okay well I'm on my way. Now you need to do something for me okay."

"Hmm?"

"I want you to stay awake for me"

Oh God did he really? Did he really want him to stay awake. Because Jay didn't want to. He wanted to sleep. He wanted to sleep. He wanted to lie down and sleep and never wake up again. He wanted to…he needed to…Oh God just let him sleep. Or better yet give him a drink. Anything to blur away the reality that his father had just tried to kill him.

For stealing a fucking bottle of scotch. That was it for Pat Halstead. A bottle of scotch stolen as the his football team lost.

"JAY"

But Jay wasn't listening anymore. He let the phone drop to the floor and he just lay there in a deserted park like he was trash staring up at the sky on a freezing Chicago night.

Not even a resident drug dealer to shoot him.

What a fucking way to go.

He was awoken by a phone call. Or his phone more adeptly buried near his elbow and he scrambled around for it hitting ring as soon as he could. He had just come off a double shift surely to God they could do without him for one night.

"Voight"

There was a small noise and he sat up scrubbing his face and trying to get awake fast. The noise sounded like an wounded baby animal and he pulled back to look at the number. It wasn't one he recognised but it was Camille who answered the unasked question.

"Is it the kid? Jay?"

"Who is this?"

There was another small noise and it left Hank in no doubt that he was sure that his wife was right and this was Jay Halstead. And then he spoke.

"I…I…I…"

He trailed off again and he reached for his jeans. Camille flipped on the light because she knew…she knew.

There was another noise and…

"Jay is this you?"

Another whimper.

"JAY!"

"Yeah" came the small whimper as he grabbed his shoes and Camille passed him his keys. You didn't have to be a cop to know that the noises that were coming down the phone were not good.

"Jay are you good?"

He was at his car now and that gave him enough time to get a location.

"I don't…I don't know I don't know I…I don't know I am just…I just…he was going to kill me Hank and I…I..."

There was an edge of terror in his voice and Hank felt something in him wrench a little. He hated bastards who hurt their kids and especially kids like Jay who despite their tough exterior were actually golden on the inside. A kid like Jay was not going to sit on a bridge in his city ever again if he could help it.

"Okay Jay, okay I'm listening, just…just tell me where you are okay and I will come and get you"

"I just…I'm at a park. By the gate."

Thank God he had checked out where the kid lived. He knew where he was. From what he sounded it had been a struggle for him to even get there and it was below freezing temperatures. How long could the kid last if he was injured?

Shit.

"Okay. The one near your house—"

"Yeah"

"Okay well I'm on my way. Now you need to do something for me okay."

"Hmm?"

"I want you to stay awake for me"

Jay made another small noise.

Come on kiddo just stay awake for me.

But he didn't.

"JAY"

But he didn't.

He got to the park in record time and he didn't have to look hard to find him, the kid had fallen into a pile of snow.

"Jay"

At first there was nothing but then as he shook him he moved and opened his eyes. They were hazy with pain but it didn't look like there was anything else mixed in.

He got a look at the kid and his stomach twisted in fury.

Jay had been through hell and back.

He had suffered blows to his face. One eye was swollen shut and weeping mostly and his mouth was covered in blood, there were handprints around his neck and his ankle was at an odd angle as was his wrist. He was holding his ribs with one hand and he was dressed in jeans and a thin jumper. There was a small duffel next to him and Hank knew just by looking at him that he had been in the process of getting out when he had been set upon by his father.

Well…that was something. At least this time it didn't involve a bridge.

"Hey kiddo"

"Hank?"

"Yeah"

"You came?"

He sounded so fucking surprised as well. Jesus. Good thing nothing really broke his heart anymore.

"Yeah I came son."

"I didn't know what else to do?"

"Yeah I know you didn't. You did the right thing calling me okay. Now I'm gonna help you stand"

"Hurts"

"Yeah I know it does Jay but I'm gonna help you anyway. We need to get you to a hospital"

"In system then…don't have anywhere else to go"

"Yeah you do kiddo" Hank said hauling him to his feet with one hand and grabbing the duffel with the other. "You have me. And you're coming home with me"

They set his ankle and his wrist. They got him clean, wiped the blood off him, arrested Pat and gave him some really good drugs and that was the end of that. How that somehow transpired to him being fostered by Hank and Camille he really didn't know but when Jay next woke up it was to find someone feeding him soup in a nice warm clean bed and giving him drugs to take the pain away. If he might have cried then Camille didn't judge him and after two weeks he was out of bed and…and it was odd…he didn't even want a drink.

It wasn't smooth sailing, it wasn't the happy ever after that he thought it would be but it was enough. For right there and then that was enough.

3rd February 2014

"Justin's getting out of prison today"

"I know Erin, Hank already told me"

"He wants us there at the gates."

"He coming with?"

"No"

Jay put down his coffee mug. "Hang on, Justin walks out the gates for the first time and Hank doesn't want to be there? Well…that's gonna do wonders for their relationship"

Erin shook her head. "I don't understand it either but he says he has to do something."

Jay sighed.

They were tackling a wonderful case that involved drug mules, all American girls and thirty rounds of cocaine. It was hard and messy and painful and he thought that he was going to scream at the stupidity of the world but then again he couldn't because…because if someone at fifteen had offered him a one track booze filled, Pat free way of making cash he'd had taken it without looking back.

"So it's just gonna be me, you and Justin on his first night of freedom, what a fucking fantastic night this is going to be"

"Jay this rivalry between the two of you exists only in your head"

"Oh please"

"No I mean it"

"And as I've told you Erin, Justin and I have never clicked right. He's never liked it that I came to live with you. I didn't have great legs remember"

Erin ignored that comment. There was nothing that could be said and he didn't want to have that argument again. Justin and he clashed because Justin and he were two alpha males who had been raised by an alpha male and both of them had very different relationships with Hank. Hank had been the guy who had saved Jay and in the process he had seen what Hank did. He loved Hank when he was at home and there were times when he hated what he did behind the badge. Justin was never like that. And the two of them had clashed mainly because Justin hadn't wanted a brother and Jay had already had one.

Erin had been the buffer between the two and Erin had been Hank's girl through and through. If Hank asked Erin to shoot Adam one day she'd take out her gun and say where did he want the bullet. That was the just the nature of the beast.

"We should be there Jay. All of us. He's walking out the gates and he needs us"

Jay's plans tonight had been to stalk Lennie Rodiger some more and preferably piss of his father in the process. He felt like he needed a good fight. Seeing Ben's dad's broken expression and his Mom making the cake, he felt like he was finding the body all over again. They had never judged him for that which was far more than he deserved. He needed a fight and a drink tonight and Erin knew that.

"Alright fine" he said finally. "But don't tell me to be nice to him if he's being a dick back"

"Learnt that when I was seventeen" Erin said finally quirking a smile over the rim of her coffee cup.

"I still don't get it" Jay said taking another swig as the doctor came towards them. "It should be Hank doing this you know"

"I know. But he has his reasons Jay"

"Yeah well…someone better tell Justin that" Jay muttered. "Cause believe me Erin he will pick up on him not being there"

He was right of course and he didn't need Erin to tell him otherwise. Justin came out the gates singing and hugged Erin. He kissed her as well which Jay thought just laughable because Erin was not above punching him in the balls and then to Jay's complete and utter surprise he hugged him too. And he hugged him. Like squeezed him, his ribs and almost lifted him up. Jay had never been hugged like that by Justin or by anyone but he found himself grinning nonetheless.

"Freedom" Justin said grinning. "You both good?"

"Oh yeah" Erin said grinning. "Listen your Dad—"

"I don't care—"

"He wanted to be here—"

"Erin seriously the man doesn't care" Jay said. He didn't need a fight breaking out between the three of them and Erin sensing his tone caught on.

"So" Justin said slinging an arm around both of them. "Let's get drunk, I haven't had a drink in two years"

"Justin drinking was what got you sent there—"

"Jay you want to go?"

"Justin—"

"Come on when have you needed an excuse?"

There was a barbed wire comment behind that but Jay wasn't in the mood to pick up on it right now.

"Come on then" he said grinning. "Come on Erin we can get food on the way back. Justin's been eating prison food he needs a good deep-pan pizza"

"Oh hell yes!"

Erin giggled and she and Justin walked to the car with Jay. Justin got in the car and Erin caught his eye over the edge of the car and Jay knew that despite the smiles between them he knew they were both thinking the same thing.

This happy go-lucky Justin dancing around the place like he was untouchable and on top of the world, yeah this was so, so not gonna last.

And there you go, I hope you enjoy and I will see you next time.

Next Chapter-In the past Jay and Erin bond while causing trouble for Lennie Rodiger, Jay meets Al and Jimmy and in the future the fight is on to save Justin from himself as New York's SVU comes to town.