Hi, so here is another chapter and I hope you enjoy it. This does deal with the SVU part of Season 2 so Trigger Warnings. Also I tried to be sympathetic the character of Teddy but it's hard to be sympathetic to a character that you have never heard of before who pops up for an episode and a half.

Also I was going to make a second part to this Season 5-to the first part of Season 9 and focus on the Jay/Hailey and Hank dynamic but I am not sure. If carrying on this story into the post-Erin years is something that you are interested in please let me know.

Disclaimer-Nothing here is mine.

Please Read and Review.

Born Under A Bad Sign.

Chapter 11-Everyone And Their Brother

As Intelligence catch a case from CFD and Olivia Benson herself comes to town, Erin's personal life is put at the forefront of the case. In the past Jay remembers the last time he saw Teddy Courtney (Newsflash, it was not a very successful visit)

17th January 2003

"Erin of all the stupid things you have done this is the worst"

And that was saying something.

Jay had been driving when he had gotten Erin's call. She had come skidding out of the house with a young boy in tow and they had both climbed into the back seat and she had told him under no uncertain terms was he to drive.

"Whose house was that?" he asked again because she still wouldn't give him an answer.

"Teddy's Dad"

"And—"

"My brother"

And then he had heard the story and that lead them back to his opening line. Which was that this was the stupidest thing that Erin had done yet.

And that was saying something.

Erin shot him a look over her shoulder. Teddy Courtney was eyeing him as if he was dirt which considering Jay was sure he was breaking some kind of custodian law or something, was not very nice.

"Jay we just gotta get Teddy back to Hank and we can figure it out"

"Why isn't he staying—"

"His Dad hated Hank and he took Teddy but he can't stay there now. We can sort it all out when we get home but please will you put your foot on it!

"No" Jay said firmly. "This is the spare car Erin it's worth more than my life if I fuck it up. I don't know what on earth possessed you to just turn up and take him—"

"I HAVE A FUCKING NAME"

Jay scoffed. Yeah he really didn't like this guy. He was screaming Bunny Fletcher and not in a good way and Jay who still had nightmares from that event was not in the mood.

"KID IF YOU WANT ME TO FUCKING TAKE YOU ANYWHERE YOU WILL SIT THE FUCK BACK DOWN"

"DON'T FUCKING TALK TO ME LIKE THAT YOU—"

But what he was he never got a chance to find out because Teddy had leaned over and had tried to grab the wheel and Jay had elbowed him as they had gone onto the freeway and then they had hit something.

And that was that.

3rd April 2015

It had been a good few months.

Of course the case load had not stopped but things were…settled now. Or at the very least Jay thought so, he thought it good that they were not running ragged trying to drag their families out of the mess.

And he had three days of unused furlough that he was being forced to take, that meant lie in, gym, long shower and browsing Netflix and Jay liked that. Though to be fair he was going to end up watching the West Wing he just knew it. It had been the thing he and Camille had watched together while Erin had stared at them both as if they were mad and Hank had pointed out that people like Jed Bartlett were too good to exist.

And then as if the fates themselves had just heard him think that on a random whim he felt a buzzing in his pocket that he knew came with catching a case.

Great. There went his night of the West Wing and Thai food.

"Halstead?"

"Jay it's Hank…we've…er….we've got a problem?"

"Oh God what did you do?"

There was a silence to that flippant remark in which Hank managed to convey a message—do not fucking mess with me now—it had Jay reaching for his shoes in a way nothing else did.

"Okay. No jokes. But seriously Hank what happened"

"I need you to come in. We…Erin's caught a bad one, you can take your furlough afterwards no questions asked but I need you to come in for this one"

"Alright. But you've got to tell me what's happening"

"It's Teddy"

"Who?"

"Courtney"

And it slammed into him. The memory of Erin's brother. He had only met him the once when he had ran away from his Dad and had insisted that he would rather go on the streets than go back and then…

Well then, they had been in the accident.

Jay had come out of it with minor injuries and Erin had broken her arm in two places. Teddy had come out fine too uncooperative and yet fine. He was adamant that he had not caused the crash but Jay had not been in the mood. Teddy had stormed off to New York as soon as he could leave the hospital room and Erin had blamed him and refused to speak to him for a month which had put an end to their sex life to be sure and had made them deeply unpleasant to live with but Jay had been adamant that he was not going to lie for the fifteen year old boy who had grabbed his steering wheel and sent him into the path of oncoming traffic.

"What's he done now?"

"It's what's been done to him"

"Oh yeah?"

"Jay…you know that Firehouse 51 responded to a fire this morning?"

"No but then again I don't know everything about the Firehouse that played a part in your downfall"

That was a lie. Jay knew everything about Firehouse 51 that a man could know. He had spent weeks studying them trying to find a week spot. Hell that whole thing with Gabby Dawson had been one part desire, one part calculation and one part screwing with Matt Casey and Antonio just to see how they ticked. He had been angry then. He wasn't angry now. Not much anyway. Somewhere along the way he had done what Hank had been telling him to do since the age of fifteen. Somehow, he had found a way to let it all go and to focus on what was important.

Jay liked to think that this was proof that he was a work in progress.

It could mean…anything else.

"They caught a case for us?"

"Arson?"

"Worse. The man they rescued had a box of kiddy porn"

And just like that Jay knew his good mood had gone.

Great. Just great.

He hated cases such as these.

"Alright. But…but what's that got to do with Teddy?"

There was a very long, very pregnant pause and then Jay's brain caught up with the rest of him.

"Oh" he said softly. "Oh…when?"

"Erin thinks right after he left for New York, she doesn't know how. Bunny always said he went up there—"

"He was heading up there the night of the accident" Jay said remembering. "He didn't want to come home with Erin he wanted to go. And he ditched her straight out of the hospital room. Fleeced some nurse into giving him painkillers and then he was gone if I remember right. Isn't Teddy the reason why Earl was hired in the first place?"

Hank snorted but said nothing.

"She okay?"

"No she's out of her mind. Looks like he was trafficked to New York and not just him, hundreds of kids. I called Olivia Benson and she says we can head up there but I need you with me, I need you watching Erin's back cause I got a funny feeling she's gonna do something real stupid. Especially if Teddy's dead"

Jay nodded and then realised with a swoop of stupidity realised Hank couldn't see that.

"On my way"

Within an hour they were wheels up and heading to New York. Him, Hank and Erin.

It was not a pleasant ride there.

17th January 2003

"Son of a—"

"Jay"

"Hank for once this is not my fault, that little shit—"

"Jay don't you dare blame Teddy for this"

"Erin if you grab the wheel of a car as the driver is on the freeway accidents WILL HAPPEN. A five year old can understand this so why doesn't your fifteen year old brother?"

"SHUT UP"

That was Hank and Jay winced. He was leaning back against the gurney and he was sure that the firefighter who had helped him walk over to the paramedics was eyeing Hank as if he was unstable which was not…out of the realm of possibility.

"What happened? And don't even think of lying to me because I will know and you are all in enough trouble as it is"

"Teddy grabbed the wheel. Erin wanted me to take him to your house but he didn't want to go. I don't remember much else after that."

Hank had always told him to tell him the truth so he could lie for them. And Jay had learnt that the only way to do that was to do the one thing that wasn't easy for him. Trust. He had to trust.

And so he trusted Hank.

He trusted Hank with this anyway.

"You okay?" Hank said watching him carefully. "Because your white kid"

"I'm not…I'm just tired…"

"Concussion protocol" the firefighter next to Jay said sharply his eyes on Hank and his gaze was not what one would call friendly though Jay didn't know why. Hank was harmless…mostly…when it came to stuff like this. "He needs to get to Med" and with that he pushed the gurney away from Hank with an expression that would have frozen ice over.

"Whose that?" the Fireman asked casually. "Dad?"

"Closest thing" Jay said groggily.

"Hmmm"

"BODEN!" came a shout and with a pat on the shoulder the fireman was gone.

It would be a long time before Jay saw him again and he was pretty sure the man didn't remember him.

Good.

3rd April 2015

Olivia Benson was a fucking beast.

And God help him if she sent him one look and one half eyebrow he would be on his knees in front of her before he could blink. Talk about the ultimate power trip. Olivia Benson was the female cop that female cops wanted to be and the one that men wanted to be with. Jay watched her in tandem with Hank and felt strangely odd.

He tapped his nail again the edge of the desk as Rollins and Amaro came through the door with Teddy…or what he assumed was Teddy and he stood up.

"Teddy"

"Ja—Jay?"

"Yeah"

Teddy looked at him with wide eyes and then the ghost of the boy he had once been was gone.

"Good…Lordy Jay-Jay you got hot"

"Yeah I did. You look like shit"

Teddy flashed him a grin.

"You still crawling into my sister's bed"

Great…off all the shit that Erin could have told him and it was that one that had stuck.

"Depends. You still grabbing steering wheels?"

Teddy shot him a long look and then…

"If I have to talk. It's to him"

"Bastard"

"Damn straight pretty boy"

"Jay"

"Sergeant Benson?"

"Honey the name's Olivia" she said with an eyeroll.

"Yeah Olivia?"

"I need you to talk to Teddy"

"Oh no"

"Oh yes. He won't talk to anyone but you"

Jay sighed scrubbing a hand over his face.

"Look…Sergeant…Teddy and I…we don't have the best of relationships. In fact we hated each other when we were coming up. One of the best days—"

"Jay"

"He doesn't want to talk to me"

"Yes he does. In fact…I got the impression he wants to talk to you very much"

Jay for the life of him couldn't think why.

And he knew that it showed on his face.

"Jay…please"

"Oh alright but if he's looking for a friend that's gonna be a hard role for me to play. We didn't like each other the one time we met, especially because he wouldn't accept any responsibility for his own actions back then and we certainly don't like each other now even if he is not responsible for his actions now"

It was the closest that he got to telling Olivia Benson the secrets of his past but he heaved himself to his feet and walked into the room with her and the girl…Jocelyn.

"Jay"

"Teddy"

"You look good"

"You look like shit"

Teddy snorted once. "You speak to all victims like that?"

"Thought this was a day at the office for you?"

Teddy's mouth curled upwards.

"Do they know that you're an alcoholic? That your Daddy used to hit you?"

"Doesn't matter what they know about me" Jay said easily letting the jabs slid off him (but boy was he going to have a conversation with Erin about shit that she had told his brother).

"And your one to talk about shit Dad's. I remember that night when you grabbed my steering wheel"

Teddy flashed him something that might have been a rueful smile.

"Ted"

"Yeah…"

"You need to help us find this boy. Don't do it for Erin if you still blame her, for not looking for you or whatever, don't do it for Hank. Do if because you know what he's going through. Hell do it for me if you want to. Do it for the girl standing next to you but for God's sake help us"

It was always hard to tell with Teddy weather or not you had pushed him too far. There was mutual dislike between them and it wasn't going to go away. Jay had always believed that Erin had coddled Teddy and make excuses for him in a way that Will would have never have done for him and Teddy had made it clear that he had thought Jay nothing more than a pretty boy who had fucked his way into a safe environment.

All things considered there was no earthly reason for Teddy to want to know his opinion but maybe that was why he had asked for it anyways and even though Jay had felt like he was walking through treacle Teddy had helped them.

The ring was broken, everything was over and then one of their own had been shot and Hank got that look in is eye and then he was back in Chicago before he had time to take in the change in weather or the fact that Olivia Benson's arrival into their district stunned most of the female cops in a stunned hero worship kind of silence.

Even Platt.

And that was saying something.

4th April 2015

"You done with the paperwork from IRT?"

"Yeah" Jay said cracking his knuckles. "Things a bitch. You know half of this they aren't even going to read. It was a cop killer for crying out loud"

"Yeah well…you did good"

"Yeah well…a lot of it was Teddy"

"A lot of it was you giving hm a push in New York. I know you and him didn't like each"

"We still don't" Jay said honestly. "He's always…I don't know…I don't know if it's jealously or if it's just a clash of personality but we didn't get on after the crash and he left pretty quick after that."

"Yeah…he never liked that you and Erin were a thing back then either"

"You knew?"

"Not until that night. And Erin deflected pretty well but…the way she couldn't look at me when I asked her was key enough. What shocked me was that Camille had known before I did"

That threw Jay off.

"She did?"

"Yeah. She knew what the two of you were doing before you had even done it. She was the one who put Erin on birth control. Her view was that the two of you were gonna do what you were gonna do and it was easier for us if we just let you do it but made sure you were protected"

Here he shot Jay a look.

"You were protected right?"

"Course. We might have been a little bit broken back then but we weren't suicidal"

Hank gave him a long look but didn't say anything to that blatant lie. Truth was back then they could have done anything and everything and not known about it.

"You want a ride back to your place?"

"Sure"

The car ride was mostly silent and then Jay spoke what had been on his mind.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Hmm?"

"You and Olivia Benson. Are you…I mean…

"Jay she'd eat you for breakfast and spit you out again"

Damn he sounded almost amused.

"No I don't mean me I mean…Hank did you see the way she was looking at you in there?"

"Looking at me?"

"Yeah Hank. Like lowkey flirting with you"

Fortunately they were at his place when Hank stopped the car.

"No she wasn't"

"Yeah she was."

"Oh"

There was a pause. Jay thought he might have stunned him a little which was amusing because Hank had always been utterly clueless when it came to woman flirting with him.

"You could you know"

"No I couldn't"

"Yeah you could. Nobody would mind"

Very carefully he didn't mention Camille but the name hung there anyway.

"I would mind" Hank said very quietly.

Jay chewed his bottom lip for a second but before he could say anything Hank had already leaned forwards and opened the door on the passenger side for Jay to get out.

"Goodnight Jay. Take your furlough. Come back in a week. And don't do anything that gets you on the evening news"

Jay bumped their shoulders together and grabbed his stuff.

He knew a dismissal when he was getting one.

He was out like a light as soon as his head hit the pillow.

And for once when he slept, he didn't dream.

And there you go, expect a little bit of a time jump towards the next chapter and I will do my best to bring you the next one sooner rather than later.

Next Chapter-Will is back! There is a surgery on the dining room table, unresolved issues with the brothers and in the past Jay relapses after whiplash from Erin causes him to spiral. Slightly shorter chapter.