Hi, so here is another chapter and I hope you enjoy it. I will do my best to bring you the next one sooner rather than later.
Disclaimer-Nothing is mine just the character of Bridget.
Please Read and Review.
And some trigger warnings for this episode (3x03) and the plot line that develops with it.
What Lies Buried
Chapter 19-Father Figure
Bridget's first day back goes a bit haywire when she is taken hostage by a deranged father who wants to find his daughter leaving the team to try and find a way out of this mess. (Includes a flashback)
2nd May 2016
Bridget's first day back.
It was a teacher day and Jay anticipated because of that it would be a quiet day at the district so it would be a nice day to ease Bridget in. He said in confidence because if Bridget had gotten one word of what was going on then she was going to probably curl back up in bed and not bother.
Things had been slowly getting better. He was out the hospital his sister was now not living at Voight's but had been while he had been there, Erin was sober, had cut her mother out of her life and was back on the job and Will declared with obvious glee that Bridget's incisions had healed nicely and she was back on the road to recovery.
Oh and his sister had stopped sleeping with his spare gun next to her which was something…anything…better than how things had been before.
And he was back with Erin…kind of…and Voight knew and didn't care which was just…so strange.
Anyway on May 2nd Bridget dragged herself out of bed and in the shower and then spent what Jay could only describe as too long on her hair and make up.
"Everyone's just going to be glad to see you" he said as he poured coffee into his travel mug. "They won't care if your eyeliner doesn't match your jeans"
"Piss off Jay"
Yeah she was back to normal.
Bridget came out eventually. She'd gone and cut her hair so that it fell to her shoulders again and was layered and she was wearing her blue jeans and a dark green short sleeved top. She looked for all the world a normal kid going to her part time job except for the two things that Jay noticed. One was the blue blanket dependably stuffed in the bag next to the laptop and the mass of mess that was his sister's bag and the other was the watch.
Voight's wife's watch to be exact.
"Don't" she said not looking at him. "It just…it felt right you know?"
He didn't and she knew it but he wasn't going to tell her that.
"You want to eat something?"
"No. I just…I just want to go to my desk and start working. There is gonna be work for me isn't there?"
"Yeah. We've worked cases since you know"
Carefully he didn't mention Yates. It was as if the monster existed only in hell which was where Jay was perfectly happy to leave him.
"You sure?"
"Would you like me to call ahead and tell Adam and Kevin to pull stuff out of the file room at random and throw it upstairs?"
Actually knowing Adam and Kevin they'd be more than happy to do that.
"No" she said looking shocked. "It took me a long time to get a system that works and that you all follow. Don't ruin it"
Jay laughed.
"Jay" Bridget said as she grabbed her jacket. "They're not gonna do anything are they?"
"Anything like what?"
"Like a surprise party or something—"
She shot him a look that was not out of common on his boss's face whenever one of them had done something particularly stupid—like lie. Jay sighed. Actually he did not know because he had studiously avoided asking but the reality was if he knew Adam and Kevin well enough then there would absolutely be a cake (neither one of them had ever needed an excuse to get one and both were exceptionally fond of his sister).
"Not that I know off" he said truthfully. "Come on, if I'm late I get my overtime docked"
"No you don't"
"No I don't but I still don't wanna be late so get in the car"
Mercifully she went.
"What in the name of God is that?"
That was Al and Hank peered round Kevin and Adam to see that the two of them were icing something that looked like it should be at the end of a paddock.
"It's a cake" Kevin said looking rather put out. "For Bridget. Adam bought it"
"Why does it look like that?" Al said staring at it.
"Because it was frozen and now it's not" Adam said with a manic look in his eye. How he had managed to get icing all down himself, the desk and all over Mouse who was licking the spoon Hank did not know but it really was like having kids again.
"When did you take it out?" Erin asked.
"About forty five minutes ago"
"Oh Jesus"
"Yeah well Al we didn't have much of a plan did we"
"Here" he said taking out his credit card. "Go and get something edible. Kid's just out of hospital feed her that and she'll go back in"
Adam licked his fingers and then caught his expression. Immediately he wiped his hands and then took the credit card.
"Sure thing boss."
"Order anything else on that and your on patrol until your dead. Kevin throw that away and can we be done with the home baking—Erin clean that mess up seriously"
"This" Al said in that sage tone he whipped out whenever he was feeling rather inspired. "Is why I never had anymore kids after Lexie"
"I thought it was because Meredith told you she didn't want any more kids"
Al scowled.
"Sarge can I have the rest of the icing?"
"Jesus Mouse what are you twelve?"
Mouse just stuck the spoon in his mouth and grinned.
Bridget came up the stairs just as the office got back to normality. Adam had gone for the cake and Jay gave a put upon sigh.
"See…no party"
"No party" Erin said grinning and then she hugged Bridget. Bridget shot him a look over her shoulder but returned the hug and Hank shrugged. If he had mentioned anything to Erin about how Bridget was feeling post Nadia then it was entirely between him, Erin and the contents of Erin's drug infused bender.
"Look can we just have a normal day?" Bridget said as Kevin then hugged her. "Seriously…I just…just something normal?"
"Your lips to God's ears kid" Antonio said wrapping one arm around her shoulder.
"This mean Adam has to come back?" Mouse asked.
"Christ no. Seriously how old are the lot of you?"
But the thought of free cake did seem to make his team perk up for most of the morning.
Bridget turned and that was when he saw it.
The watch.
Camille's watch.
She was wearing it.
It shouldn't have made him emotional but it did.
Christ she should be here. Camille should be here to see this amazing girl. Their amazing girl. She should have been here for all of this. And Bridget should have gotten more than a watch, she should have gotten the memories that came with it too.
All those moments wasted.
He knew Erin was watching him so he looked away.
This was going to be a nice normal day after all.
At least until it all went to shit.
But wasn't that the story of his life anyway?
Bridget was in the process of filing the paperwork for the last case when she went to grab her Dad's work. He simply handed it to her and she added it to the pile. She had to get Platt to sign off on the overtime they'd collected but it shouldn't be too much of a struggle and then that was all of it done.
At least until Adam came back.
"Hey listen…shut the door a sec?"
Bridget shut the door and waited.
"So Justin's coming back today"
Oh. She had never even thought of that. The surprise must have shown on her face because he hastened to elaborate.
"It was always sort of planned but he's spending the next week or so here and he's bringing Olive and Daniel down"
"Daniel's my—"
"Nephew"
She sat down. That felt really strange to think about.
A nephew. She was someone's Aunt.
Bloody hell.
"Well anyway" her Dad said perhaps seeing her internal confusion. "Justin is…he really wants to meet you, obviously I know the two of you didn't get much of a chance before but he's…he's really keen now so I was wondering if you wanted to come over to dinner tonight and you guys can…meet…you know for real"
Meet Justin for real.
Meet her brother for real.
Her first instinct was to tell him no. She had two pretty good brothers. She loved both of them dearly. She didn't know if she needed another. It was easier with Hank because she knew her relationship with Pat was so terrible it was easy to fall into this relationship she had now. And it had been easy. Even before the whole secret had been blown wide open it had been easy to accept Hank as a father figure. As her father figure and she had just managed to get Camille in her head and now she had to deal with this one last hurdle.
Justin.
Shit she had not even thought of him.
But then again the second she thought it she felt like a complete and utter bitch. Because it wasn't Justin's fault either.
"It doesn't make any difference to him you know" Hank said softly. "He knows you have two big brothers. He knows that and he's fine with that. He's met Jay a couple of times"
"Do you mind if Jay and Will come with me?" she asked in a rush. She didn't know why it was throwing her off this whole meeting Justin thing. She had no idea why this was the thing that was throwing her off but it was.
"Sure"
Carefully she looked at him.
"Your sure?"
"Will and Jay are your family. You are mine and Justin's family. So if you want Will and Jay to come to dinner then they can"
There was something about this that Bridget really did think was almost too easy but instead she stood up and pulled the file on top of the rest of them.
"I'd better get these downstairs" was all she said and then she was gone down the stairs before she could do something utterly stupid.
Like cry.
Or panic.
Or both.
As she came downstairs she saw that the nine o clock rush had managed to hit the front desk and hit it hard. Trudy was dealing with what looked like a mess of people who all wanted the same thing at once. And they were doing it loudly.
Wonderful.
"Intelligence Overtime reports signed, sealed and need to be delivered" she said putting down the paperwork on the side of the desk. And she got nothing back for it either…
Well…she had said she wanted a normal first day back. Looks like she was going to get it.
Just as she was about to turn she noticed that one of the shouting nitwits had shoved a load of flyers out of a man's hand. Bridget sighed. She should have turned away—it would have been a lot easier if he had not but she did not.
Instead she went to help.
"Here" she said picking up the flyers and making sure they were neatly stacked. She saw that there was a picture of a girl on it.
"She's pretty"
"That's my daughter Sarah. Hey you haven't seen her have you? Maybe at a party or something?" he asked and she stared. He looked almost feral with desperation.
"No" she said passing them back to him. "I've been in the hospital for the last four months, no parties"
He nodded at her and she turned on her heal. She was about to go upstairs when she saw Roman and Burgess stood at the stairs laughing and chatting. She had not seen either one of them since the night…well…since the night that she had stabbed and she moved to speak to them when it happened.
The first thing was the screaming.
The second was something strong had grabbed her around the waist and picked her up her feet off the ground. The vice around her waist was like iron and before he could do anything but even think what the hell she was being dragged backwards and…
Oh that was gun.
Yeah…that was a gun.
And it was pointing straight at her side. Where the scar was. Where she had been stabbed.
And suddenly she couldn't breathe.
Somewhere between being dragged backwards and her Dad and Jay arriving her legs had gone out from under her. The fear was crippling her and she couldn't breathe because this was happening again. She was in a police station, which was arguably supposed to be the safest place in the world and she was being held at gunpoint. She had been outside a police station when she had been stabbed and abducted and now she was being dragged backwards to the door off the office and she could not fucking breath.
"Sir…sir…"
Oh God her Dad was here as well. She was being dragged backwards and as soon as she saw him and Jay she managed to get some sort of fight in her and push her legs back up so that she was standing.
There was some sort of a dialogue going on between her Dad and the man holding her so she caught Jay's eye.
"Breathe" he said once and she nodded letting her eyes close and she breathed in and out several times until she felt like she could get air back into her lungs. She still couldn't free her arms nor could she free the rest of her body but she could breathe and that was something.
"Sarge I've got a shot"
What she ever seen in Sean Roman she had clearly been wrong. What a complete idiot.
"No!" she shouted at the same time her Dad yelled something that might have sounded like "Hold your fire!"
(Thank God someone was in charge)
"We are not shooting" she shouted. "Seriously I did not just survive a stabbing outside here to be shot on my first day back. WE ARE FINE."
"Bridge"
"Jay I am fine now will you please all calm the fuck DOWN"
Studiously she did not look at her Dad. She thought if she looked at him now she might completely undo the very tentative calmness that she was clinging too. Instead she looked at Jay and she tried to commune with her expression that she had this. Clearly this man was looking for her missing daughter. Which was utterly ironic if you wanted her opinion but then again very few people ever did.
"Jay" she said finally and her brother looked at her with that look he had, had since they were children. He could read her very well—he always could but this time she could read him and she saw the moment he had to accept, a shootout here and now was only going to get her killed.
"Alright" he said softly. "You sure your good?"
She barely had time to nod and then she was being thrown to the floor. Her hands came out to block herself before she face planted the carpet and before she could do anything she found herself locked in the room with a panicked father with a gun. She flipped onto her side and watched him with wide eyes.
A nice normal day.
Chance would be a fine thing.
He had barely gotten back up the stairs before he was barking orders. To be fair most of the team knew what they were doing and set about to ripping apart the files that Jeff Frazier had brought with him.
Jay had come up his face set in stone.
"If it's someone that has to pull the trigger it should be me Sarge" he said his voice calm and his hands steady. "It needs to be me. Nobody else will get that good of a shot on it"
"Nobody is shooting anyone" Hank said trying to control his own breathing and stay calm. Twice now his team had caught him on the edge of a complete nervous breakdown and he did not want there to be a third. But the thought of his baby girl downstairs in a locked room with a madman with his fingers on the trigger was just beyond words. Why…why did this have to happen to her? Honestly. At this point he have just kept her locked in a dungeon. There was something to be said for that idea.
"It's just sod's law" Jay said shaking his head. "She was doing so good Sarge I mean she was doing so good and now this and…"
"Jay…cops first remember"
Bridget's brother and father second.
Jay nodded scrubbing a hand over his face. To save Bridget they had to solve the case and to solve the case meant finding Sarah Frazier.
Looking at the photo Hank thought she couldn't be a couple more years older than Bridget.
His phone rang.
Justin.
Shit.
"Hey Pops"
"Hey you get in ok?"
"Yeah we were just thinking about taking Danny to see where his grandpa works, maybe introduce him to his Aunt Bridget?"
Damn, he sounded so hopeful as well.
"Now's not a good time"
"Oh—she—does Bridget not want to meet us or—?"
And now he sounded hurt.
"No it's not that it's just…were having what we might call a bad day. She's…I think she's gonna come round tonight, I just…I think both her brothers are gonna come round with her"
"That's fine. I mean is that fine for you?"
"Yeah"
"Alright then" Justin said still with that tone in his voice that said he could read through what was going. All it would take was a look at the news to realise what was going on.
"She…I mean she is fine with this?"
"Yeah she's fine. Look I've gotta go okay, I'll see you later kid"
Jay was watching him.
"Were going to yours for dinner?" he asked in a tone full of scepticism.
"Justin is back and I asked Bridget…well…she mentioned you and Will going with her"
"Sure" Jay said with a shrug. "I'll call Will. Of course Bridget might accidently start World War Three as she crosses the road but…"
"Just…just find Sarah Frazier."
"Antonio's got a lead."
"You think Bridget can keep him calm long enough?"
Jay stared at him.
Yeah Hank was not completely filled with confidence either.
"Find the girl"
Bridget was breathing. Calmly.
First thing that she realised was that despite the situation this was not the worst case scenario. Yes it was incredibly bad but the truth of the matter was that this man was not the worst monster in the world. He wasn't Greg Yates. And because he was not Greg Yates she could breathe.
Calmly.
"What's your name?"
"Excuse me?"
"Look, I am on the verge of a full blown panic attack here. So…talk…please"
He eyed her for a second and then something in his face seemed to soften. Which was nice though his hand on the gun certainly didn't.
"Frazier, Jeff Frazier."
"Bridget Halstead"
He eyed her for a second.
"How old are you?"
"Seventeen. Where did you serve?"
He raised one eyebrow.
"Is this a trick? Get me to reveal myself to you?"
"Do I look like a cop? I have a brother he served in the Rangers and…and I suppose I have another. He's in signal corps"
Wow she supposed she did as well.
Jeff Frazier watched her for a second.
"They outside looking for my Sarah?"
"Jay is. So's my Dad…the one who tried to talk you down. Great move taking me hostage"
"Yeah well…I originally wanted a cop I just…" he trailed off and she knew that it was the closest right now she was going to get to an apology.
"Your Dad…he a good cop?"
That was an easy question.
"Yeah. He's…look you've made a lot of really shitty decisions today but picking his house…and though I shouldn't say it probably kidnapping me that was the best"
She thought he was working hard to hide his smile so she managed a small one back.
"You alright?"
"Not really. It's just…I've haven't done well in enclosed spaces since…well…" she trailed off but then…what the hell?
"You heard of Greg Yates?"
"That serial killer doctor freak?"
"Yeah. He…he killed a…a friend of mine who worked here and he stabbed me and left me for dead in the trunk of the car outside my Dad's house."
"Jesus fucking Christ"
"Indeed"
"I was gone most of Sarah's life. The one time she needed me…I wasn't there. Tell me something your Dad a good one?"
"He's…yeah I suppose he is. And your not a bad dad"
He snorted. "Kid don't talk about things you don't understand"
She made to move forwards but he pointed the gun at her and she reared backwards her head bumping against the desk.
"Ow"
He said nothing but Bridget was nothing if persistent (stupidly so according to Will) and she ploughed on anyway.
"Your not a bad Dad. You want a bad Dad you've got mine"
"I thought you just said that your Dad was good?"
"I did. I meant my other Dad"
And before he could speak she launched into the story.
Jeff Frazier listened with wide eyes and then he gave a low whistle when she was finished. It was the most friendly thing he had done since she had met him.
"Jesus. I really did pick the right place. Only a Dad like yours is ever gonna get why I'd do this"
"He never did it" Bridget pointed out.
Jeff Frazier laughed as if she said something truly amusing but she could not see the amusement in it and there was no amusement in his laugh. It was like he had lost the ability to laugh a long time ago.
"Oh kid…don't kid yourself. If a cop was standing in the way of him and you, he'd have done exactly what I would have done"
Bridget was about to open her mouth but before she could there was a banging knock at the door.
Jeff Frazier reloaded his gun
And just like that the happy little moment was over.
Jeff Frazier appeared in the doorway still dragging Bridget. Hank catalogued her for injuries but she seemed unharmed. Clearly he was still gripping her tight but she wasn't watching him she was looking at the SWAT guys. Even as Erin was explaining about Sarah, about the girls and the girl explained about Blue Lake she was watching Jay. Her eyes flickered to Mouse and then to the SWAT team again and then finally onto the girl just as Jeff Frazier was asking what had been done to his little girl.
Had he not been holding a gun to Hank's daughter's head he would have felt sorry for him. Genuinely he would. He knew what it was like to not have answers, he knew what it was like to feel the desperation underneath crawling at your skin until you wanted to scratch it out by any means. He knew what it was to think about the worst case scenario and dream of it until it was keeping you up at night clawing at your mind.
He had been where Jeff Frazier had been and it was not a pretty path. Had he not been holding Hank's daughter at gunpoint then…
Then he'd probably feel sorry for him.
But then again…
And then just when it was getting really dangerous Bridget did something totally out of character.
She stomped on Jeff Frazier's foot. It caused him to yell but then her elbow went into his gut and she twisted her arm going for the gun. She did something and twisted her whole body and then the gun was out of range and that was enough for Jay to leap into action. Jeff Frazier was on his knees before he could blink and Bridget was standing there her face flushed but pleased.
He'd hugged her before Frazier had even left the room. He didn't care that everyone was watching. He didn't even care that she had not instigated it which was usually how it worked. All he cared about was that she was alright. Bridget however hugged him back.
"Took you long enough" Jay said with a knowing look in his eye.
Bridget pulled back and scowled at him.
"We aren't all ex-Army Rangers Jay. Besides…I believed him"
"Yeah well believe him or not we've still got work to do" Hank said gruffly. Christ this kid was going to be the death of him he was sure of it. Never mind what Justin had done over the course of nearly thirty years Bridget was breaking his record in just over a year.
"Your going to find his daughter?"
"Just in time for him to go to prison" Jay muttered. "Come on let's get you upstairs"
"Wait prison? Your going to arrest him?"
Hank shot Jay a look and he knew that they were both thinking the same thing.
Was she serious?
"Bridget. He took you hostage. He brought a loaded weapon into a police station. He might have had a good reason but yeah he is still one hundred percent going to jail"
Bridget said nothing for a second.
"It doesn't seem right" she said finally.
"Yeah well it's the law"
Bridget said nothing again and then.
"Sometimes the law sucks"
"Yeah it does"
"Not helping Jay"
"Sorry Sarge"
"Mousey!"
"Bridgey!"
"Quick one Mouse. How much time does someone get if they bring an unloaded gun into a police station and take someone hostage?"
Mouse to be fair was on the uptake pretty quick.
"Depends" he said nudging the evidence bag forwards. "Probably half the amount of time he'd serve if the bag was loaded. Hope that answers your question. Adam brought you cake so I think I'm going to grab a slice"
And with that he left leaving Bridget with the evidence bag that he had ever so helpfully not sealed shut.
Eventually they found the girl. Eventually Frazier was reunited with his daughter and if everyone decided to go and grab coffee and then drink that coffee while they were reunited then it had been a long day and they were deserving of a break.
Eventually however it all had to come to an end.
Frazier had looked as if he wanted to say something but then had clearly changed his mind and Hank dragged himself back to his office to see Bridget typing away at her laptop with an expression that butter wouldn't melt.
"Commander Fisher called" she said smiling. "Asked me to write up an incident report. I've just emailed it to you. Now I get why you guys don't like them"
"Aha."
"Also I've just called Will. I need to get changed before I go to yours so shall we meet around eight?"
"Wait—your coming?"
She looked up at him and grinned.
"Sure"
It was too easy. He knew it was too easy. But he didn't care. He really didn't care. His kingdom for a cold beer.
"Okay."
He opened his own laptop and read the first few sentences and then doubled checked the evidence that Mouse had brought up.
"BRIDGET"
"Yeah Dad?"
She sounded so innocent.
Oh like that was going to work.
"What is this?"
"My report. And Mouse brought up the gun"
"You know I stared down the barrel of that gun when it was pointed at your head. Looked loaded. This one isn't?"
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. So are you seriously telling me you never saw him load that gun?"
Bridget turned and looked him dead in the eye.
"I never saw him load that gun"
Damn.
"You'd have to get your lying skills from me didn't you?"
She tilted her head to the side and stared at him.
"You know he said something to me, Jeff Frazier. I ended up telling him about the whole…well…me and he said that you would have done the same thing if it was all that was standing between you finding me"
Oh damn.
"Your point being?"
"He's right isn't he?"
He was. He was so right. Had he been in Jeff Frazier's situation he would have done exactly the same thing. Hell he nearly killed a fireman to save Justin. What was a cop to save Bridget?
"Doesn't mean what he did was okay—I came down those stairs to see you and him together and I swear to God kid you are going to be the death of me"
"It wasn't like I planned."
"I know. But I'm your Dad. My job to keep you alive"
Bridget shot him a look that was one hundred percent her mother.
"Still standing"
"Yeah well…let's keep it that way."
"You look terrible"
"Thanks Justin. Great to see you too"
"Seriously Pops what did you do run a marathon on the way to work?"
"Feels like it"
"So she's coming then?"
"She went home to change and she said she was coming but listen…you gotta go slow with her. She's come a long way since you last saw her but things trip her up all the time. And seriously don't mention Greg Yates"
"Pops come on"
"I mean it Justin she freaks whenever she hears the name"
"You know I'm kinda nervous. Feels like we've been waiting forever for this. Or at least I have. Our whole lives just on this meeting"
It did. It really did.
"Wish Mom was here"
"Yeah"
"Sorry Pops—"
"No it's fine, I wish she was here as well"
June 1998
Camille was cooking.
That in itself was not unusual. What was unusual was that she had asked Meredith to take in Justin for the night and was cooking really good food.
Like his favourite kind of food.
That was really unusual.
His kind of food usually consisted of stuff that his wife was sure would see him in the ground before the bullet got him. The fact that on Tuesday in the middle of the year she was making steak with the duck fat potatoes and the mushrooms coated in the cream was either going to be very good or very bad.
"Hey" he said dropping his keys on the desk.
"Good day?"
"Yeah…Cam…why are we eating steak mid week?"
She poked her head through the kitchen and grinned. Yeah something was really off because this morning she had not been in such a good mood as she was now. This morning she had all been for shooting him in the face because the gutters hadn't been cleaned.
"What I can't do a nice thing for you?"
"Cam I love you seriously but I not had what you would call the easiest day so—"
"Talk about ruining the surprise"
"What surprise?"
"Of for the love of—read the damn envelope and be happy I love you"
There was a letter on his side of the table. A doctors letter and he thumbed it open.
It only took him one second to read it and when he did it was with utter disbelief that was morphing at a rather rapid rate to complete and utter happiness.
He looked up to see his wife smiling that smug little smile.
"Your pregnant?"
"Couldn't believe myself when the Doctor told me but yeah. It would seem so. Apparently I'm about three months along which does explain a lot of things come to think of it."
"Is it…is it safe?"
She shrugged. "That's for them to worry about right now. I just…Hank you are happy aren't you?"
Happy? Happy didn't even come close to what he was feeling right now.
"Yeah" he said right before he kissed her and the perfect night could continue. "Yeah I am really fucking happy"
August 1998
"ank—Hank!"
"What?"
"Wake up"
"Oh for the love of—why?
"Because I'm five months pregnant and I say so"
"Oh Camille, seriously I have a mountain of paperwork to do tomorrow, and I've just closed three murders on what has to be the hottest day of the year so why—"
"Feel"
"Feel what?"
"This"
She took her hand and placed it on the bump where their baby was growing. Hank waited patiently he might add and then…
"Holy shit is that?"
"Yep. She's kicking. Madly."
"She?"
"Call it gut instinct. Anyway she's kicking up a storm here."
"Probably too warm like the rest of us"
"Don't be smart Hank it's three in the morning"
"You're the one who woke me up!"
"Because your daughter is kicking"
Daughter.
He had to admit that really did have a nice ring to it. He had told himself that he didn't care if it was a boy or a girl (and hand to God he really didn't) but he wouldn't lie. He'd really like a girl.
The baby kicked again as if to confirm that she was a girl and that she was here to stay.
Not that he would have it any other way.
2nd May 2016
The doorbell rang and that effectively pulled him out of memory lane. Justin was already opening the door.
"Hey Sarge" that was Jay and his brother Will. They'd both thought to bring beer and following them was Bridget in a nice pair of jeans and a black top. The watch was still there as well.
"Hey Dad" she said carefully. Justin caught his eye but mercifully said nothing.
"Hey Bridget. You remember Justin"
"Yeah" Bridget said her hands going to the back pocket of her jeans. "Yeah I do."
"It's err…it's nice to finally meet you"
"You mean when I'm not crying my eyes out?"
"Yeah…it's…it's really nice to meet you"
Bridget nodded. "It's err…it's really nice to meet you too."
Justin stared at her for another second and then hugged her. Bridget stiffened for only the smallest of seconds and then she hugged him back and for the first time in seventeen years Hank's children were in the same room together, in their own house together, with each other.
Olive chose that moment to come in with Daniel. Bridget's raised eyebrow told everyone she had not forgotten about the first time that they had met but she didn't mention it. Jay muttered something about beer and then it was easy. There was no other way to describe it. It was just easy.
Olive at some point had to put the baby down but Justin who had been holding Daniel said with a smile.
"Hey do you wanna hold him?"
Bridget who had been pouring herself a glass of water nearly dropped it.
"Hold him?"
"Yeah, he's your nephew. And he's been hearing stories about his Auntie Bridget"
"Oh boy" Jay muttered.
"Sure" Bridget said though she didn't sound very sure. "But I've never held a…baby before"
"It's just like holding a football really"
Justin passed Daniel to her and she held him at arms length. Daniel to his credit just stared at her kicking his legs in the air.
"Oh boy" Will muttered.
"Just like a football seriously it's easy"
"Justin this is how I hold a football"
"Really?"
"Loosing battle there bro" Jay said taking a swig of beer. "She hates the damn sport"
"Really?"
Daniel gave a little gurgle at his father's high pitched shout. Bridget still holding him as if he was an unexploded grenade managed to get him onto her hip where he immediately became fascinated by her hair.
"Oh yeah" Will said nodding. "Seriously ask her what team she supports"
"I don't support a team, I don't see the point of watching twenty two men kicking a ball around—"
"That's soccer"
"Whatever"
Oh boy.
Now even he was beginning to feel offended. If she'd have tried that shit when his father had been alive he'd have considered it a form of child abuse. And suddenly he couldn't stop himself smiling.
"I like hockey"
"No you used to play hockey—and not very well"
"Fuck off Jay"
"Bridget"
"Dad if the baby learns how to speak in the next ten seconds fair enough, if not then I don't think anyone's hurt"
"Jesus" Justin whispered. "I just…I didn't realise how much like Mom she'd be"
"Yeah"
"I mean…wow…I just…she should be here to see this"
Justin looking at his sister with wide eyes didn't get it. He really didn't get how much Hank wanted that. Camille should be here. His wife would have loved this, hell she'd have adopted Jay and Will on the spot. Even now she'd know what to do about Bunny Fletcher and Erin and James Beckett who had already been freed.
But she wasn't.
It went surprisingly ok.
Dinner was nice. The company was nice, the conversation deviated away from any majorly traumatic subjects and Bridget and Justin had got something that might be a brother sister relationship out of it. Certainly by the end Bridget seemed to have bonded completely with baby Daniel. In fact looking at the two of them together Jay suddenly realised that Bridget could have a baby herself.
That was…disturbing.
But eventually it had to come to an end and they walked back to the car normally. Justin and his wife were going home one way and them another but they were still one big group in the middle of the street when Justin put his car keys into the car.
That was when he heard it.
A faint buzzing sound.
He knew that sound. He knew that sound in his nightmares, the sleeping ones and the waking ones, he knew that sound and he knew what would follow.
That was the sound of a detonator being triggered and what would follow would be utter devastation and destruction.
He knew what that sound was.
It came to him in one second and he looked up and saw his boss looking at him. He too had got it and Jay grabbed Bridget by the waist and Will by the arm and shoved them both hard across the street face first just as Voight shouted "DOWN"
And the car completely exploded.
And there you go, I hope you enjoy this chapter and I will do my best to bring you the next one, there are only five more chapters of this story left so I hope you enjoy.
Next Chapter-As Hank and the team rush to stop Beckett before he strikes again, Bridget gets a visit from ADA Steve Katz and asks Justin for a favour that he is not sure he wants to do.