Hi, so this is the penultimate part of the Season 1 arc. I really, enjoyed this one and while a lot of it takes place in the present the next one will take place in the past (mostly).
I hope you enjoy this one, seriously the whole Jay/Hank scene nearly did me in so...
Disclaimer-Nothing here is mine.
Please Read and Review.
And some trigger warnings.
Born Under A Bad Sign.
Chapter 8-An Early Fall
As Pulpo comes back Intelligence is on high alert. Antonio asks Jay for a favour which leads Hank and Jay to share a moment. In the past Jay meets both Charlie Puglisi and Bunny Fletcher.
23rd November 2014
Pulpo.
It stuck in the mind of everyone, in the throat choking off your air. In the stomach constantly causing you to feel like you were going to be sick. It was universally accepted that the one group of people cops despised working with was cop killers and Pulpo was not just a cop killer but a murderer, a kidnapper and an international drug dealer. How he had escaped the needle Jay was still not sure. Only thing he knew in those two crazy days was that it was taking all that he had not to go back home to Hank's house and sleep in his own bedroom and pretend that he wasn't waking up in the night screaming with nightmares. One more time and he was sure that his neighbours were going to call the police and that was the last thing that he needed. It was embarrassing enough as it was.
He knows that Hank wouldn't say that would say that he had been wounded and needed help but Jay doesn't need to hear that. He get's it off Will whenever they can hold a conversation for more than ten minutes these days. Instead he throws himself into work and when they get Munoz and they send Pulpo back to prison he thinks that he can finally relax and then maybe…maybe set about repairing his relationship with the only parental figure he's got. Hank had always said that his home was their home and though he and Jay don't have the same relationship that he and Erin have, even though they've had screaming, knock down, drag out fights over the years born of the fact that they are too fucking alike sometimes (and he's a mature enough to acknowledge that though God knows back then he wasn't) he believes that to be true.
Two things get in the way of this grand plan to move on like a healthy, mature, respectable, professional adult. One. Pulpo shoots Antonio, kills Belden, two other patrol officers and escapes with his wife and kid into the great unknown and the second…well…the second just takes the fucking cake.
Charlie Puglisi is back.
The second Jay sees him coming down the stairs with Erin he can feel his blood go cold. He knows damn well why Charlie is back and it isn't because he is reformed like he's claiming, it isn't for Annie whose been raising his son alone on whatever cash and welfare that she can get or will take from Erin. It isn't because he cares and the man's eyes slide from Erin to Jay's and he grins as if he knows he's keeping the secret of that body buried off that road in the woods, is something they both think about sometimes.
But that's Charlie all over isn't it? Always looking for a loophole and having what he has over Erin and Jay? Well…that's enough.
"What the fuck is he doing back here?" he snarls as Erin slams the door of the car shut and puts her head on the steering wheel as if she's too tired to even lift her head. "I thought after he beat you half to death Hank handled him"
Carefully neither of them comment on what 'handling' means.
"I begged Hank for his life" Erin said to the steering wheel. "I never thought that he was going to come back to Chicago, Hank made it very clear that if he did there was nothing that I could do to stop him from…handling it."
"Shit Erin—"
"I didn't want his blood on my hands Jay, I was sixteen, I thought…I thought he would change, I thought I could change him. You remember?"
"I remember what he did to us yeah. I remember being forced into that car and if it hadn't been for the fact that I had been on the phone to Will at the time I don't think we'd have been found in time"
Erin nodded. "Look…maybe he is just here to see Annie? I don't know if she considered weather he should have a relationship with Travis"
Jay snorted. He had a very dim opinion of Anne on a good day. Girl had been a hot mess back then and from what he had heard she'd never stopped. Also he wasn't a fan of anyone who sat at a bar and watched two people be dragged into an SVU knowing that she had been the one who had lured them there. He held a dim view of her…Bunny Fletcher was a different story all together.
But that was another story for another time.
"We should tell Hank"
"Jay!"
"Erin let's assume that he's smarter than both of us for a sec okay? That means he probably already knows that Charlie is back. And even if he doesn't he's going to find out. Charlie could never keep what he was doing quiet back then and in case you've fucking missed it the man just walked into Hank's station and gave Trudy his fucking name!"
"I don't think Trudy knew"
Jay snorted. Hank might not have told Trudy what had happened that night but there was no way in hell that she didn't fucking know. You don't have a twenty year friendship with Hank Voight and Alvin Olinksy and not fucking know what they are capable of.
"Look…let me put some feelers on the ground first. Could be he isn't here to cause trouble, could be he's here for Bunny, god knows she ripped him off the last time, if…if he's hear to cause trouble Jay I'll take the rap for it. God knows it was my mess that I dragged you into"
"Don't" Jay said suddenly feeling very tired. "Don't Erin please…I was the one who dug the fucking grave while he had you on your knees with a gun to your head. I was the one who shoved the body in there…it's gonna be my DNA on whatever remains. All of it. And I chose to get in that car with you. I chose to stand by you then. Let's just…let's just get Pulpo back in a cell"
"It won't be a cell" Erin said as she put the car in drive wiping her fingertips under her eye. She pulled away from the station—away from prying eyes and Jay took her hand in his own and linked their fingers together.
"I don't want to think about that" he said finally though he couldn't help but think of anything else since Hank had told them that under no circumstances was Pulpo getting back to the cell alive and that they all just had to sit there and be accomplices to murder. Seriously! Had the man learnt nothing from the Matt Casey debacle? Had he not realised that there were lines that they shouldn't cross. That the grey area was sometimes too much to put on people? That it defined careers. Adam and Kevin just starting out. He and Erin with mud and blood and shit all over their boots and just keeping their heads above water. Al who was good for twenty years if anyone just bothered to look. And Antonio who had already gone after corruption uncaring of the consequences.
There was a man hunt for a multi-cop killer out there and here was Hank Voight just assuming that nobody would notice if he faded from view.
"Jay I know you don't like—"
"Erin he's gonna end up dead or in prison again if he does this. And I don't want that because despite it all—"
"Jay he's your friend and your mentor—"
"ERIN HE'S LIKE MY FATHER! But you heard him up there. He doesn't care about anyone but himself in this. His house. His unit. Shit…sometimes the way he goes on I think he just wants to die so he can be with Camille again cause if he goes back to prison, which is looking like a certainty if he throws Pulpo off the bridge tonight, he is going to be killed before he makes it dinner"
Erin looked at him for a long second her eyes brimming with tears. It was more personal for them now than it had ever been. Something about Charlie walking back in as if there was no care in the world had set them both on edge.
Puplo was just the match that was dangerous close to setting them both on fire.
And as it was they found him.
And as it was Hank took him away.
And there was nothing Jay could do to stop it.
He sat there for a long time at his desk wondering what to do about it. What he wanted to do was drink it all away. Adam and Kevin had decided that they were fine with whatever happened it seemed and Erin would never turn away from Hank or what he was doing or with who and there was nobody that he could talk to, Jin was AWOL and Mouse was a wreck and…
And there was one person. One person who understood the dangerous complexities that came with working with Hank Voight.
And so instead of getting black out drunk he went to find the one man that he never thought he would go to his entire career with a badge.
Antonio.
And surprisingly it worked.
Shit. Jay was going to end up liking the man after all he just knew it.
Al had been all but watching Pulpo meat his maker when sirens blasted once and then there was the sound of running feat.
Jay.
Well…it could have been a lot worse.
Jay ran down to the docks and man did that kid have legs on him. He skidded to stop in front of Hank without a hair out of place—the bastard and then without skipping a beat said clearly—
"Stop it"
"Jay" Hank started but Al shushed him. He was not in the right mood for this he could tell. Ever since Jimmy had turned up he had been off…he knew it, Meredith had known it, Lexie had known it. Something about tonight…it had been Belvin. Granted they had not worked together but they'd come up together and when a guy you came up with died you felt the loss.
Even if he had been a total dick.
"Antonio doesn't want this"
"What Antonio wants doesn't matter"
"Seriously! Your justifying this shit because he nearly killed one of your men. Well he nearly killed Antonio, he killed his partner of five years and Antonio DOESN'T WANT THIS. Nobody on your team wants this. Erin and I…we don't want you back in prison Hank. It was hell for us the first time and…Hank we can't lose you so please…please just let this end here…"
Jay trailed off and it was the plea in his voice that Al knew Hank was struggling with. On one hand there was the desire to see the monster that was Pulpo annihilated from the Earth. On the other hand Hank had his children. Justin. Erin. Jay. All of them earning a spot in Camille's heart and therefore Hank's. All of them worthy of Hank laying down his life for them.
And here was Al. Pathetic maybe. But here he was. Willing to take the out when it was presented to him.
"Hank…Dad—"
It was ripped out of Jay's whole very being. The one moniker he had never given Hank and the one moniker Hank had been craving for. Jay and Erin had been the extra's to Hank and Camille…the children that could have been that had been. The son and the daughter they had both wanted after Justin.
And here it was.
Shockingly. Achingly. There.
And at that name Hank pulled back and Al took his shot. This was not Eddie. This was not Browning. And he wanted to go back to Meredith tonight and have her hold him as if they were twenty again and the world was perfect.
Jay looked away and that was all he needed. Hank would follow Jay. For all the distance between the two of them Hank was Jay's Dad. And there was no way that Hank was going to let Jay walk away from him. It was over the day that Hank had seen the boy on the bridge.
Al had known that. Al had known that the second he had gotten the call from Hank that there had been a kid on a bridge and that kid had been worth something.
All in all…he was just glad that he didn't have to kill someone.
Because…because Eddie had been the final nail in the coffin that had been his marriage. And if he had any chance of being with Meredith…of being with the woman that he loved heart and soul then he was going to fight for her.
And so Hank went with Jay and he went back to Meredith and Pulpo went to prison.
And it was good.
For now. For now it was good.
Jay stalked into the bar as if he owed it and Hank watching him felt a love for the boy stoke up. What he felt for Jay was nothing if not the love that a father would feel for his son even if it was a tinge of irritation mixed in.
"Your gonna listen before you shoot me"
Yeah because Hank was going to shoot him. It was Jay Halstead for crying out loud! Like there was a scenario where Hank would ever hurt about Jay Halstead. Like would ever hurt his boy. Because that was what Jay was…his boy. His son.
Even if he struggled to say it out loud.
"Manhattan" he said to the barkeep and then he turned to Jay.
"Jay?"
Jay shot him a look as if there wasn't a history of Jay calling Hank to pick him up in the gutter.
"Sometimes I'm right, sometimes I'm wrong"
Jay inhaled his Manhattan.
Hank ignored that and he carried on regardless.
"I make the best decision I can. Sometimes it's right. Sometimes it's wrong"
Jay said nothing for a second and then…
"I didn't kill him…and you knew that. And God damn you Hank you still thought that it was me."
Hank said nothing for a long time and then his hand came out and took Jay's in his own and it didn't matter beyond that. Because it was Jay and his Dad and everything between and everything afterwards. Hank and Jay and Jay and Hank and words that didn't have to be said.
"I know"
"Do you?"
"Yeah. Jay…Jay I…I know you"
And that was all that could be said.
Because it was Jay and Hank and Hank and Jay and it was everything in between and everything after.
"You saved my life." He said at some point around the third drink. "You saved my life and I always looked forwards to saving yours"
Because it was true. It was all that he could give Hank for everything that he had done for him.
It wasn't enough.
But it was all he had.
October 18th, 2002
It was only a deep abiding love and respect for Erin that would get him out of bed this early in the morning.
Erin who would claim later that both her Mom and her best friend off the streets were in danger. Erin who would shake him awake from the deep slumber he had been clinging too. Erin who had watched as he'd dressed himself.
And then there had been the arrival. Bunny at the bar a slurring mess. Annie her face wet with tears. Jay one arm around Erin who had turned to pick up the phone to Will who had at that moment (God bless him chosen to ring)
There had been the gun to the back of the head. Him swearing at Will. Charlie Puglisi pushing Erin onto her knees and the decision that he had made. To go with Erin come hell or high water. For it was Erin Lindsey and Jay Halstead and there was no way that they wouldn't be with each other.
Thank God he had been on the phone with Will.
Thank God Will had called Hank.
But that was a story for another time.
And there you go, I hope you enjoy this chapter and i will do you my best to bring you the next one sooner rahter than later.
Next Chapter-In the past Erin and Jay battle Charlie Puglisi as he makes them do the unthinkable. Hank walks through fire to find his kids. In the present it's much the same. Until someone ends up dead. Final Chapter of the Season 1 arc.
