Hi, so here is another chapter and we only have four more left to go. I hope you enjoy this chapter and I will do my best to bring you the next one sooner rather than later.

Disclaimer-Nothing here is mine.

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Also please be aware like many other people within fanfiction I am having issues with receiving notifications of PMs/Reviews therefore if I don't reply to something immediately then that is it.

And there will be trigger warnings for the next chapter.

What Lies Buried

Chapter 20-Innocent When You Dream

As Hank and the rest of the team rush to stop Beckett before he strikes again, Bridget gets a visit from Steve Katz and asks Justin for a favour that he is not sure he wants to do.

May 2016

For a second he thought he was back in Afghanistan. The sky was starry, the heat was oppressive and there was a smoke in the sky. A car had been bombed and Jay was in Afghanistan watching a Humvee go up in flames. For a second he thought he knew what had happened and he would have to force himself to his feet and see his men dead, scattered all around him and then something was in his direct line of fire.

Will.

Wait? What was Will doing in Afghanistan?

And then the second his brain registered that thought it caught up with the rest of him.

Will was not in Afghanistan, neither was he. He had been at his bosses house and a car had exploded. Hank's car.

Bridget.

He forced himself up groaning as the pain shot up his back.

"Hurt?" Will asked sharply.

"Not terribly" he said groaning. "Bridget?"

"Here" came a voice and they both turned. Bridget was on her side watching them. She swept her dark hair out of her face and winced.

"Head lac" Will said immediately.

"Don't fuss Will" she said shaking her had and sitting up. "I've had worse"

"Don't remind us"

But Jay knew that look on his sister's face.

"Knee?"

"Oh yeah"

Will tutted. "You know you could speak to a surgeon—"

"WILL"

"Bridget"

Voight was there. And he was so Seargent Voight in that moment that Jay to hold back his shudder. Someone was going to pay for this and he reckoned it was going to be bad.

Very…very…bad.

"I'm fine Dad. Where's Justin?"

"With Daniel and Olive. Daniel seems fine but Olive isn't…Will do you think—"

"On it"

Will said staggering to his feet. "Jay call me an ambulance will you. Just to be safe"

"Yeah sure"

"This was Beckett" Voight muttered.

"Who?"

"Never mind. Get to the hospital and get yourself checked out. And then call the team and tell them all to get in"

And with that he was gone. Jay sighed. He was so in cop mode right now that it was almost easy to imagine that he was not affected.

But he was not a trained Army Ranger for no good reason.

And he could see that his hands were shaking.

They had diagnosed her with a head cut. Not even a concussion. Why that had required Will to run six thousand tests and why the head of plastics had to come down and stich her up herself was beyond her but suddenly everyone from Med was there.

Eventually however she was given the all clear (not before Will checked her scar which was perfectly fine thank you very much) and she hoped off the bed and grabbed her jacket. It was early morning by that time and she was aching in every bone of her body and in dire need of caffeine.

She had just gotten a cup of what had to be the most awful tea in human history (and that was saying something) from the vending machine at Med when she was aware that someone was watching her.

She'd seen him before. She knew she had. He was the guy that sometimes they signed their cases over too. She never handled that paperwork because there was always a chance that she could be called as a witness in court and nobody in Intelligence wanted her on the stand (they were smart like that). But she had seen him before.

He was clean cut in a nice suit for this awful hour in the morning and he was watching her.

Bridget who was in no mood to deal with any man with a plan at this hour (cause the second that she was cleared Jay, Will and Hank had all gone back to work with a glee that was honestly disturbing) and so she turned around and decided to grab the bull by the horns.

So to speak.

"Can I help you?"

"Bridget Halstead?"

"You know I am. You've met me before"

(That was what she thought but if she was being honest she was not going to tell him that. Girl had to have some power after all)

"Yes I have. Steve Katz Assistant District Attorney."

"And you're here at six am why?"

"I like to run before work"

Bridget wanted to ask why on God's green earth would you run in the morning when you could sleep but before she could he was speaking again.

"I need to speak to you about your father."

Oh God how much trouble could Hank have gotten into since he had left? Then again it was Hank and It had only been an hour and therefore…quite a bit actually.

"Oh?"

"Pat Halstead"

Oh.

"Oh"

"Yeah look…I get you've been through a lot but…while you were unconscious the trial against your father was pushed back. States Attorney thought it probably wasn't best to bring it forwards what with their being a chance—"

"That I could die" she finished for him. He nodded.

"Go on"

"Well…your father…he's decided to plead guilty"

Bridget nodded. She was trying to go for calm and collected but the truth was she was anything but.

"Was there any doubt that it was going down that road?. I mean…I hadn't heard anything about it since he went to prison so I assumed there wasn't going to be a trial or anything like that?"

"Well no…to be honest considering what he was up against there wasn't much hope. His best bet was to take a deal so we did one. Fifteen years"

Fifteen years?"

"Voight didn't tell you?"

She swallowed.

No he bloody well hadn't.

"I was unconscious for four months"

"Yeah well…we agreed to this months ago"

He went for his beeper then which gave Bridget the opportunity to mentally curse Hank, Jay and Will to the bottom of the ocean because they had all known and kept it from her and this was really not what she had needed.

But then again…she had never asked.

Pat had been complicated. For so long she had been so focused on her relationship with Hank that she had never thought about Pat. Indeed her relationship with him had been so contentious even before the truth had come out she had never wanted to think about him.

No she thought to herself. She was not going to feel guilty about that.

"So what do you want from me?"

"Well in an ideal world a victim impact statement"

"A what?"

"Well. We'd like you to come to the sentencing hearing and tell the judge what Pat did to you. What his actions meant and how they contributed to the destruction of the life you had as you knew it. That sort of thing"

"That sort of thing?"

Steve Katz sighed.

"Look maybe I'm seeming callus about this but that's the truth. Judges listen to the victims in kidnapping cases—"

"I am not a victim"

Steve Katz looked as if he wanted to disagree with her but didn't. That was good for him. Bridget had not even had the chance to wipe her make up off since yesterday morning. She was not in what you would call a good mood.

"Okay, your not a victim. But you are at the same time. Look, I spoke to Voight and he was…reluctant about me asking you. But here I am. Think about it and give me a call"

He held out his business card and Bridget took it. It was the right thing to do in this situation she supposed but all she wanted to do was clench it in her fist.

And then he was gone.

She ran a hand through her hair and resisted the urge to bash her head on the nurses desk. It wasn't going to change anything after all.

"Hey are you alright."

She looked up blearily to see Justin stood there staring at her.

"How much of that did you hear?"

"Enough"

"So all of it"

"Yeah pretty much. You okay?"

She opened her mouth to answer and then shut it. Because if she was being honest with herself she had no fucking clue how to answer that one.

So instead she went with something simpler.

"How are Olive and Daniel?"

"Fine. Olive's got to stay for a bit so she's keeping an eye on Daniel. I got discharged in seconds. You?"

"Still standing"

"Yeah well…we Voight's are hard to kill"

We.

"You sure your alright?" he said and he was looking at her with such concern that she found that she was speaking the truth.

Damn older brothers.

"I hadn't though about him" she confessed. "I hadn't…I hadn't thought of him since it all started. He was arrested and I ran to New York and then it was Hank and trying to find a way to live and then it was Greg Yates and I just…I just hadn't thought of him."

"Sounds like your head was too crowded to think of him"

"I just…a victim impact statement? Seriously? I was hardly a victim was I. I had a good life no offense but I did and I—I don't want to stand up there and lie about it"

"Then don't"

She laughed. Actually laughed.

"Sure cause Dad's gonna love that"

"He'll understand."

"I hate that he has too. He's been very understanding so far"

"Comes with being a parent, trust me"

"Was he this understanding with you?"

"That's different. Pops and I have a very different relationship. It's…we've clashed time and time again because we rub off against each other. Cause were not that much alike to be honest. You and him are carbon copies of each other. Except in your looks. You look and you can act so like Mom sometimes it's staggering"

Bridget swallowed. She didn't know what to say to that. She had thought that she was fine with the causal mentions of Camille but she was still struggling with it. If Justin noticed it then he didn't comment on it. Though then again she did wonder just how much about it he actually knew.

"What do you want to do?"

She thought about it.

"Look" Justin said quietly. "Pops isn't gonna shoot you for your feelings, there's a reason he hasn't told you about this probably because he knew that you'd be conflicted about it. He knows that for sixteen years Pat Halstead was for better—or most likely for worse—he was your Dad. Pops gets that. He gets that there are mixed feelings involved. And to be honest while you were in that coma he probably didn't think about anything but you living through it"

Bridget nodded and it was only to Justin that she would speak her mind.

"I don't want to testify against him"

"Alright then—"

"But I want to go and see him"

There was a lengthy pause and then Justin spoke again.

"Why?"

"Because…I just want to tell him that his actions didn't break me. That I managed to make it work. That I am not the unlovable little street rat he made me think I was. That I have a family, two families and that he can be in prison without me thinking of him but…but I want to do that face to face. Me and him. I don't want to do that in a court room"

"You told Jay or Will that?"

Bridget scoffed. Jay and Will and her had existed over the last few months by pretending they were orphans. Granted she had been unconscious for a good few bits of that but she also knew her brothers. She knew that they wouldn't want to go near him and he she didn't want them too. There was still good times between all three of them and Pat. They might be few and very, very far between but there they were.

"No"

"Then what do you want to do? You want to go and see him now?"

What she wanted to do was go home and sleep but she was too wired to do that. She was bone achingly exhausted and all she wanted to do was to fall asleep but a long and bitter road with experience had taught that, that wasn't going to happen. She was way to wired and there were way to many ghosts for her to sleep. Yates, Pat, this Beckett guy. And even if she could sleep there was no point. Chances are the second she did she'd have to go back to work or to school. Protection either way.

It must have shown on her face. Or maybe Justin was just naturally intuitive when it came to stuff like that. Or maybe it was like Jay and Will, when they both knew instinctually that something was wrong, that she wanted something, that she needed something…

"You want me to take you?"

"I don't need you to, I can get there myself but—"

"I don't mind"

"Don't you have a wife and kid here?"

"Daniel's fine, Olive's going to be fine. Lexie is going to come after school and babysit him. Do you want me to go with you or not?"

Bridget stared at him.

"Your serious?"

"Yeah"

"What about—"

"Pops can wait. If you want to do this, I'll drive you. I don't mind. Takes my mind of what's happening out there with whoever did this. Plus I mean…gives us a chance to hang"

"Yeah" she said slowly. She didn't know exactly what hanging with Justin entailed but it had to be better than second guessing.

"Come on. My cars out front" he said jerking his head. Bridget grabbed her jacket and then followed him out the front doors of Med.

Hanging with Justin very different to how she expected it to be. It was almost…normal. He asked a bunch of questions about what she liked and what she didn't like and in turn she asked him the same. Studiously they avoided any topics that could be dangerous like their parents and instead stuck to the easier ones.

"I don't get the point of sushi" Justin said sagely.

"Oh come on!"

"No seriously you couldn't get away with that shit in our house if you'd have tried. Pops hated anything that was just…food you know. Never could try anything other than the original good kind of American food you know"

"You mean the kind that clogs up your arteries?"

"That's the one. Though to be fair if a heart attack gets him I'll be amazed"

Bridget took a long gulp of her coffee.

"I was the opposite. I just…always wanted to try things. Also…I liked the fallout. I think sometimes I did half of the weird shit I did because I wanted some kind of reaction. Sometimes I got it, most of the time I didn't"

"Must have been hard. Finding out everything"

"You don't know the half of it—did Erin tell you how he told me?"

"No. She just said it was bad"

"He took me to Camille's grave"

"Oh Jesus" Justin said with a groan. "It's so Dad. It really is so Dad"

"Yeah"

"Bet your brother's liked that"

"Jay didn't, knocked him flat on his ass"

"I'd have paid to see that one"

"Yeah well…it is what it is"

"Can I ask you something? And it's okay if you don't want to talk about it?"

"Okay?"

"Do you ever think about what you might have missed? I mean, I'm sure you've got great memories—"

"I do"

"I know it's just…do you ever wonder—"

"Not really"

It might have been the tone in her voice that made him stop asking but in truth she didn't know how to answer. Unbidden the image of Christmas came into her mind. Bits and pieces of that life that she had seen in that comma. The world that could have been hers.

"Sometimes" she amended. "Sometimes I think about it"

"Okay"

"Do you think about it? What it would have been like if I'd have come home that day?"

He pulled into the parking lot and shot her a look that she had seen on her own face many times. It was like looking the mirror. That dark amused look with the smile. It was the one she used whenever she had pulled on over on someone. It was the one she used time and time again.

"Sometimes" he parroted back.

She stared at the gates for a second. Still she didn't get out the car and he didn't either.

And then…

"You don't have to come in with me"

"Oh yeah I do."

There was something in his voice that made her look at him.

Justin gave a long, slow smile.

"Pops isn't the only one who has been looking for this guy for a long time. I too have wanted to look this bastard in the eye for a long time"

And with that he got out of the car. Bridget dumped her jacket and stepped out into the week sunlight and she swallowed the last of the coffee and together they walked into the prison.

May 2015

He was aching all over and a phone call from his father was really not what he needed. He needed a hot shower, a hot meal and some sleep and another lecture about the fact that he had to step up and be a father—and the way his Pops was hinting probably a husband—was just not what he needed at this given time.

And the influx of calls from Erin and from Al didn't help either. He knew that Erin would voice her opinion weather he was in Chicago, in another state or halfway to the moon but he didn't know why his godfather was calling him. And then there had been one single phone call from his Dad which was…odd too.

He was sure that if it was something to do with the job he'd have heard about it. A long time ago Justin had learnt what happened when a cop was killed in the line. He knew what happened. This was not it. Which meant it wasn't about the job. Something else had taken place and it was clear that it had been something big if just by the phone calls that he was getting.

And yet everyone that mattered was calling him.

Christ at this point he wouldn't put it past that smug prick Antonio to try and call him.

He dithered over who to call but Justin knew that there was a reason why there was only one phone call from his Dad and he damn well wanted to know why.

To his credit he picked up on the first ring.

"Justin"

There was something…something in his voice that sent the hairs on his arm rising. He had no idea what was going on but it was bad. It was very, very bad. He had heard that tone of voice only twice before. Once he had been eight and he had been told that his little sister was not coming home. The second time he had been fifteen and he had been told that his Mom wasn't going to get any better and that the end was shockingly near.

"Pops you okay?"

There was a long pause.

"Pops?"

"It's Bridget. It's your sister"

For a long moment he didn't get it.

"I don't—"

"I've found her"

Justin felt his knees go and he sat on the bed breathing hard. There was that undefinable, indescribable emotion in his Dad's voice again and he knew…he just knew that this was the moment. That the body had been found. That baby Bridget had been washed up—or what was left of her and he breathed in through his nose trying not to throw up the bile that had just gone up his throat at a staggering pace. It took him a second before he could speak again and when he did he was rather pleased with the fact that his voice was stable.

"Where?"

"Canaryville"

"Jesus. What happened?"

"She's…I screwed it up, I told her wrong"

"What?"

"Justin she was right in front of me, she was right in front of me the whole time and the second I saw that blanket I just…I told her wrong and—"

Hang on.

"Hang on. Bridget's alive?"

There was a long pause before his Dad spoke again.

"Yes."

Justin didn't throw up but it was a hard task not to.

"Where? Who? I don't—"

"You've met her?"

What?

"It's Jay Halstead's sister"

Jay Halstead's sister—

And then it popped into his head, the memory old and distant of Erin and him in a gym with a guy—Jay who was with his little sister. She'd looked at him dark hair and dark eyes and told him flatly that she was not a thing and he had almost wanted to laugh. He had thought it was funny, a girl like that, all dark sparkle and arrogance and confidence working for his father and all along she had been…his sister…

Of course she had been.

"Holy shit"

His sister was alive. Sixteen years and she was alive.

"Are you okay?"

There was a long pause.

"Not really…I fucked it up."

Justin breathed in and out and tried to control his breathing before he vomited. If he was going to have a breakdown experience had taught him that doing it over the phone was not the best idea in the world.

"Tell me everything"

May 2016

They were hunting Beckett. Well actually they had a lead on Beckett, the best lead that they had so far and he was pissed.

Bunny fucking Fletcher.

One day he was going to lose his rag completely and throw her in the river in winter and watch as she didn't come up for air.

It was especially hard when there was cash missing and everyone was thinking what they weren't saying.

Lexie had called Al to say she was on her way to the hospital and she was babysitting Daniel because Justin and Bridget had gone off somewhere which was news to…everyone. It was odd and also a little worrying. Hank had no idea what Justin and Bridget could do when left alone together but he did think it wasn't going to be any good. Bridget was his child in personality, Justin was his mother and there was no way they had gone for coffee and a walk down memory lane. Instead they were doing something and whatever it was Hank was sure his blood pressure was going to rise to the high heavens when he found out what it was.

Turns out he didn't have long to wait.

"Voight?" he said answering his phone.

"Hey Hank this is Josh Mendes from Statesville"

Hank knew Medes well, he had made the jump from police to prison officer about ten years ago and more to the point he was one of the good guys. He was by the book and was more than capable of holding his own. He had also kept an eye out (discreetly) on Justin and had two daughters which made him sympathetic to what Hank had been going through when he had been inside.

Not that he had been looking for sympathy though. It had just been one more scar to bare while he was in there.

"Listen I know you know about my girls. I know when Scarlett had chemo last year you budged the health insurance. I've always been grateful for that so I thought I'd give you the heads up"

"Okay—"

"Your girl just showed up. Bridget. With your son Justin. Both of them are demanding to see Patrick Halstead"

What the fuck?

"Why?"

"I don't know. Well she's demanding to see him, your son just looks like he wants to storm the building my guess is I don't think he wants her to go in alone but…listen Hank I owe you and I know what's going on with you and this man—I can turn them both away if you want. Your call"

His call. Like hell was it his call. There was a reason Bridget had gone to see him and there was a reason that Justin had taken her and he was damn well going to find out why. Even now the thought of her being in the room with him (despite the fact that he had raised her—and done a piss poor job of it, if you wanted his opinion—for the first sixteen years) set his teeth on edge.

But there was a reason she was there and there was a reason that Justin had taken her.

"Nah it's fine. Let them do what they've got to do"

"Ok. I'll let you know when there done"

"Thanks Mendes"

"You alright?" Al said softly as he hung up the phone.

"Yeah." He said turning back to the board. "Just seriously thinking of microchipping both of my kids"

Al the fiend, looked like he was trying not to laugh.

May 2016

Prison was really not a nice place.

The second that thought came to her mind, sat in the private waiting room she thought she was going to laugh. Prison was not designed to be a nice place. However she was struggling to get past the grey walls and the guards and the fact that he was here.

She didn't want him to be here. She didn't know what she wanted but she knew it wasn't this.

Pat met her in the visiting room sliding into the chair with that same look that said he was unimpressed with her. Bridget was well used to this look and it was almost reflex to tilt her head to the side and give him the same look she used to give him when the B- wasn't good enough, when the hockey goals weren't good enough, when the fact that she had stayed home to wipe her mom's vomit up while he went out and got pissed wasn't good enough.

"Well look what the cat dragged in"

"Hey Pat, I'd say your looking good but…"

Pat snorted.

"Whose this?" he said jerking his head in Justin's direction.

"I'm Hank's kid. The one you didn't take"

"Ah. Well…I suppose I didn't leave him completely despondent"

Justin made a noise that seemed to speak to a level of violence that not even Bridget could comprehend even after everything that she had seen and been through. She found however that she was resisting the urge to grin for reasons that she didn't understand.

"I came because the ADA wants me to give a victim impact statement at your trial"

"A—I gave you one hell of a good life you little—"

"I've decided not to do it" she said cutting across him. "You know that I could bury you if I wanted. But I don't want to do that because you know what you are right, compared to what abject hell you have put everyone else through I did have a pretty good life. I have two great brothers, and I had a mother that was wonderful in so many ways. And you know what…you don't get to take that away from me. I am not going to give you the satisfaction of standing there and saying that it was all nothing. Because it wasn't all nothing. It was real and it was good."

"So why are you here?"

He sounded board. He sounded so fucking board and Bridget knew that she was good. That whatever happened right now she was good. She was so good.

"To say goodbye. Because this…this is the last time you see me. I don't care if your in here for fifteen years or a hundred and fifteen, I don't care if you die in here or if you die on the outside, I don't care. Because while I had feelings that might have been fatherly for you once I don't have them for you anymore because I've seen what a real father is, I've seen what a real father can do. And believe me that is not you"

Pat stared at her and she got the impression that for the first time he was really seeing her.

"I have no regrets Bridget" he said quietly. "None."

"Neither do I" she said just as quietly. "But we are done. We are done now. You and me. I've got a family that works for me."

He looked at her and he seemed to teeter on the edge of speech and she wondered if he was quite as cold hearted about her as he pretended to be. Once upon a time she supposed they had a good relationship, he had taught her how to fish and how to shoot and how to punch. He had made comments on how short her skirt was and how much make up she was wearing. He had added his own barbed comments over time but he had for sixteen years just been a Dad. She'd thought it was all normal. All of the snide comments and snide looks and that feeling of never being good enough. She'd never had that with Hank because it had been so natural. He had always considered her good enough from that second she had knocked on his door after Edwin Sidwell to that second that she had left his house last night.

"Well you always were good at landing on your feet"

"Yeah" she said grinning. "Yeah I suppose I always am. Oh and by the way thanks for the whole asking after me after I was stabbed"

He sighed.

"You always did make it about you didn't you. I had enough to worry about. You said yourself. You have a new family now and you don't need me. And I don't need you. It was always Mary…always"

She nodded. It didn't hurt anymore. He had once told her he felt nothing. Now she felt the same. Finally Bridget and Pat Halstead had come full circle.

"Goodbye Pat."

He stared at her for a long second and then he nodded and then he was gone and she was still sat at the table even after the door closed. She dropped her head into her hands before running them through her hair.

"That was brilliant" Justin said quietly.

"No it wasn't"

"Yeah it was. You spoke your truth, the whole truth and nothing but. It doesn't matter what happens next. You did it"

She turned in the chair.

"Don't make it sound better than it is. Please"

"Okay" he said softly. "But it is pretty impressive"

She laughed and then forced herself to her feet. Justin wrapped one arm around her and she leaned her head on his shoulder and let him pull her out of prison. The guard smiled at them as they left though it did seem to take a while to get their stuff.

"Justin you know it's like I have three of you don't you? You, Jay and Will"

"Yeah I know. And Jay and Will seem pretty cool."

She nodded as they stepped into the fresh air.

"Any chance we don't tell Hank were here?"

"Not one chance" Justin said with a wry grin. He jerked his head at the gates and she looked.

"Oh for fuck's sake"

And there he was, leaning against his car bonnet watching them.

Hank.

"Shit"

"Yeah" Justin said sounding highly amused. "But at least for once it's not me. Makes a nice change"

"Prick"

He laughed once.

"Well" her Dad said watching them as they came to the car. "This was a nice surprise phone call"

"Yeah well the nice visit from the ADA about the victim impact statement that I am not going to give was a nice surprise as well"

Her Dad shot her a look.

"You alright?"

She thought about it.

"Yeah. I think I'm good. For once I really, really think I'm good"

"Aha"

"You should have seen her Pops, real fucking impressive"

"I wasn't" she said shaking her head. "I wasn't I just…I just said what I had to say. That doesn't make me brave or impressive or anything. It just makes me honest"

It was clearly a losing battle with both of them.

She wanted to try and explain it but instead she did something else that took even her by surprise.

She stepped forwards and hugged him.

She tried to but everything she couldn't say to Hank into that hug and a lot of things she had said. She didn't know if he understood it but his hands came around her and he hugged her back with just as much feeling in it. It was not even odd anymore. Pat had never hugged her, had never wanted to hug her and yet Hank did. All the time. Like it was normal. And it was normal. It was a step forwards into the future that nobody, not Pat, not Greg Yates, nobody could take from her.

Justin was there too somewhere suddenly all arms and the three of them were just there.

Family.

It didn't diminish the presence of Jay and Will or the love that she had for them nor the need that she had for them but it felt good all the same.

"Don't think this let's either one of you off the hook" came a mutter somewhere from above. It was her Dad and Bridget grinned. Somewhere above them Justin cackled a laugh.

For now, all was good.

And there you are, I hope you enjoy this chapter and I will do my best to bring you the next one sooner rather than later.

Next Chapter-Hank goes after a Doctor dosing his patients with chemo leading to shocking revelations from both Hank and Bridget, a moment for Erin and a full circle moment for Bridget and her mother.