Will's heart raced in his chest when he held the results in his hands, three people's lives were about to change forever. Jay stood next to him watching, his fingers began tearing open the envelope and he pulled the papers out. Both brothers were stunned and shocked.
The test came back positive. Emmy was indeed their sister. They had a little sister. It was now up to them to care for her while their father is in prison.
"We...have a little sister" Jay said, finally getting his voice back.
"Looks like it," Will agreed.
"What do we do first?"
"First we tell her the results and go from there. When she's discharged I can take her home. My shift is almost over anyway"
"I can call Hank and ask for today off. You shouldn't have to do any of this alone"
"I don't want you getting in trouble"
"I won't. Once I explain everything to Hank he won't be mad. Emmy comes first now"
Will smiled. "You already sound like a parent"
The young detective smiled. "I guess I do. I'm gonna go make this call and I'll be back"
"I'll go tell Emmy the news"
Jay went to call his boss, Will had gone to check on Emmy. The young girl was eating breakfast and she drank some juice when she saw Will.
"Everything ok?" She asked, setting her cup down.
The older Halstead closed the door and sat next to her. "I wanna tell you something and you'll probably be upset when I do" He took a deep breath and began. "I ran your DNA with a sample of mine to be sure that you are mine and Jay's sister. We do believe you. We wanted to be sure, we didn't wanna get any hopes up if it turned out not to be true. Dad, he has a tendency to lie and toy with people's emotions. He's been like that for years. I didn't do this to hurt you I swear. We wanted to be sure, I didn't want you hurt if it didn't turn out to be true"
The eleven-year-old just sat there stunned and listened to what he said. It had taken her a few minutes to process what he told her. Will didn't blame her for being upset he'd feel the same way if he had been in her shoes.
"What did the test say?" Emmy asked softly, glancing at Will.
"It came back positive. You're our sister"
Her smile grew. "I have two big brothers"
The redhead had returned the smile. "That you doo kiddo, with Jay he's very protective. I'm the oldest and he's like that with me"
"Why's he protective"
"He has a very dangerous job"
"What's he do?"
"He's a detective for the Police department. He doesn't wanna see me hurt or now you for that matter"
"Do I get to see where he works?"
"That would be up to Jay and his boss. I will say, you have just gained a very big family Emmy"
"R-really?"
"Oh yeah. The people I work with are like my family. Jay's team is like family. You'll be able to get to know everyone"
"I can't wait"
Jay had gone back to the room and closed the door. "I just got off with my boss and he gave me a couple of days off to help out"
"Could I meet your team?" Emmy looked at him.
The young detective gave his mother a look, Will looked as if he did nothing wrong.
"She was bound to find out sooner or later don't give me that look" Will told his brother.
He sighed and knew he was right. "Sorry, I thought I'd be the one to tell her"
"Well she knows. Let's get going. We have a couple stops to make"
Will had signed the discharge papers for Emmy. Soon the three siblings had left, Will had to stop at Walmart. Not only did he need groceries, Emmy needed clothes and stuff. They headed inside the store, Will had one cart Jay had another. They would split up and hopefully make this a quick and easy trip.
"We'll split up" Will looked to his brother. "I'll get the groceries, you take Emmy get some clothes and other stuff she'll need"
Jay nodded. "Consider it done"
The redhead looked at his young sister. "Emmy, are there any foods you're allergic to so I know not to get"
"Peanuts and shellfish. I'm also lactose intolerant"
"No peanut butter, no shellfish, and soy milk"
"Could you get chocolate soy milk please" She gave the puppy dog eyes.
Damn those eyes, Jay used to give the same look when he was a kid and their mother caved just about every time.
"Chocolate soy milk it is. You stay with Jay, don't go wandering off"
"I promise"
They then had split up. Will had gone in search of the groceries. He made sure not to get any peanut butter and if he got any he had to label it so he wouldn't give it to Emmy. He grabbed some jelly, he wasn't sure which one she liked so he grabbed a strawberry and a grape. He liked grape, Jay loved strawberry.
He had gone to get other food, he had grabbed some kid food Emmy would like. His mind was still processing the fact that he and Jay had a sister, a kid sister they knew nothing about. When he and Jay cut all ties with their father they thought it would be best.
They were tired of being his punching bag, ever since their mother's death Pat consistently had blamed both his sons for it. Will had been 17, Jay was 15. The day after her funeral he started drinking heavily and used. Whenever he was drunk or high he had gone after and attacked his sons. When they both turned 18 they left that hell hole and never looked back.
In doing so they had left their baby sister with him, Emmy didn't know the truth about any of what her father did. If Will knew his father as well as he thought he did, Pat would lie to her and do it behind her back. They weren't sure how Emmy saw her father. Caring? Loving? He hadn't been that in years he probably won't ever be like that. It would probably be an act for Emmy.
Will was lost in his thoughts; he forgot he had been standing in front of the same shelf for a while. He came back and went back to shopping.
Jay had been in the girls clothing aisle with Emmy, he had no idea how to pick out girl's clothes especially for an 11 year-old. He just let Emmy pick out whatever she wanted. The cart was filled with a lot of stuff shirts, pants, dresses, skirts, leggings, and socks.
While Jay was on his phone taking care of something Emmy moved the cart over one aisle, she was looking at bras. She saw the training bras she grabbed a set and put it over top of her shirt trying to see if it'll fit. When Jay saw his sister gone his eyes had gone wide and his heart raced.
She was just right there in front of him with the cart, now she and the cart were gone. Going to check he looked in the next aisle and saw her. He sighed in relief.
"Emmy, what are you doing?" Jay asked her.
"Trying to see which bras fit" She answered, looking at herself in the mirror.
She held the bras up against her shirt with her good hand and tilted her head, not sure what to do she looked to her new brother. "What do you think I should get?"
In Jay's head he wanted to say none of them. He had been an older brother for nearly half a day and he was already protective of her. Seeing her hold up the training bras made him shiver. Not only did he not know about this stuff, he didn't want her to know about it or have it. He scratched the back of his head nervously.
"I guess whatever you like and whatever fits. Just have nothing showing. Yeah just keep everything covered up" Jay says very nervously.
"I think that's kinda the point Jay" She chuckled.
Will had found his siblings; he stood behind his siblings watching with an amused look. Emmy had seen him over Jay's shoulder and started laughing. Jay looked confused and turned and saw his older brother with the sama amused look.
"How long have you been standing there?" Jay asked, his cheeks bright red.
"Long enough to know that you're protective of Emmy after not even a day and a half yet. And you don't want her wearing a training bra" Will answered.
"She's too young"
"She's 11 and at that age to where she needs them. Not to mention she's gonna have a period and all"
"Dude gross don't say stuff like that, it's disgusting"
"It's a fact of life little brother. Can't help it"
"Can we get out of here? I'm not very fond of crowds"
Making sure they had everything they needed and that Emmy needed, the three Halsteads went to check out, paid for the stuff and left. Will had driven them to his apartment.
The three siblings had carried everything inside, Will and Jay began putting the groceries away. Emmy had started putting her stuff away in the guest room. Jay looked to his brother.
"I can't believe we have a sister and dad never told us" He said quietly.
"Nothing about that man amazes me anymore. I just hope he didn't put Emmy through what we went through" Will replied just as quiet.
"Should we maybe ask her? I don't know if she knows the truth about dad"
"We can and see what she says"
"I'm scared Will"
The older Halstead looked to his brother. "Why are you scared?"
"Think about it man, I'm a cop. Detective. I put the worse of the worse away, if any of them ever finds out about Emmy.."
"Hey don't think that way, she'll be safe. We'll keep her safe together. Nobody is gonna hurt her, as long as she stays with one of us and follows the rules. She'll be fine. We have you to protect us and she has us to protect her"
"We weren't there to protect her from dad"
"We are now, dad won't hurt her anymore. Nobody will. Emmy has us"
"She has us and a lot more"
"She has a big family to look after her"
After putting the groceries away Will started lunch and it was nearing noon, Emmy had put away all her stuff and managed to have a quick shower. The eleven-year-old was brushing her long wet brown hair, once it was brushed she put it in a loose ponytail.
Emmy had changed into a long sleeve purple checkered shirt with the matching pants, it was a tad cold in the apartment especially after her getting out the shower. Once she was dressed she slipped a pair of socks on and went out. Jay was setting the table when he saw his sister.
When he saw her he couldn't believe how much she resembled him and his brother, if he didn't know any better he could have sworn she was Will's daughter. She had all of his facial features down to a T. The most the young girl had of him was the brown hair, his was short, her was longer and came down past her shoulder. Her eyes were a bright ocean blue color that were his. And he saw his smile on her face. Emmy was a Halstead through and through.
The young girl had seen Jay looking at her. "You alright Jay?"
"Yeah" He said, coming out of his thoughts. "You just look so much like both of us, more so Will"
"I guess I do, don't I" She smiled softly.
"Em, I wanna talk to you about dad"
"When's he getting out of jail?"
"I don't know. That's up to the judge"
"What did he do?"
The young detective then had realized she didn't know what their father was doing, he had shielded her from it.
"Emmy, dad did a lot of bad stuff. He got into a lot of wrong crowds"
She had frowned. That didn't sound like her father. "What kinds of wrong crowds?"
"He drank a lot, he used drugs"
That had caused her to put her head down. "I think that's what he was doing when I had caught him that one night"
"What happened"
"Dad always told me when he had people over always stay in my room, never come out. Not for anything. He made sure I stayed in there for a while. He brought my food, something to drink. One night I had to go to the bathroom, so I left my room. After I used the bathroom I heard talking from the kitchen. I went out. I saw dad and some other people at the table, they were cutting something on these little mirrors. It looked like powder. One of them saw me and got dad, dad was mad like really mad. I never seen him mad before. He pulled me back to my room. He put me over his knee and spanked me really hard, it hurt to sit. He told me don't tell anyone what I saw unless I wanted him in jail and me to go to foster care, I didn't know what he meant. I guess now I do"
"Emmy, besides that one time he spanked you. Did he ever hurt you? Did he hit you, did he...did he.." He couldn't finish. He was a cop and this question was always hard to ask a young kid. "Did he ever touch you?"
"No, never. He never touched me like that, he never let anyone hurt me. He only spanked me that one time"
The young detective let out a sigh of relief he didn't realize he was holding. Thank god, Jay had thought to himself. It was bad enough Pat put him and Will through hell, he didn't want Emmy to suffer the same fate.
"Jay, why didn't dad tell me about you guys?"
"Will and I, we didn't get along with dad very well. After mine and Will's mom died, he treated us very badly. He drank a lot, he started using drugs, he..he blamed us for her death. She was sick with cancer and one night" Jay cracked up, till this day talking about his mother's death hurt. It was like an open wound. "One night she went to sleep...and she passed away in her sleep"
The young girl had gone to hug her brother. "I'm sorry Jay, I'm really sorry"
He held his sister for a moment and sniffed back the tears, he wiped his eyes. "Not your fault. But pretty much ever since she died he changed. He took his anger out on Will and I a lot. If we had known about you, one of us would have taken you right away"
"I'm here now, that counts for something"
He had given a smile. "Yeah, it does. Doesn't it. Until we can find a more permanent solution on where you'll stay while we work, you'll have to come with us. More so Will"
She frowned. "I can't go with you?"
"My job is very dangerous sweetheart, I don't want you in the middle of anything I do. I try to keep Will from it. Besides that's not stuff a little girl should be seeing or hearing"
Half of Intelligences cases were sickening even for them, if it could make their stomachs turn. It would easily do the same for Emmy.
"I'll be able to meet the people you work with right?"
"You will. I have to tell my team about you, my boss already knows. They'll help me keep you safe"
Will was listening in, he could already tell that Jay was already protective of their new sister. As was he. Since their mother's death for both brothers it felt as if there was a missing piece inside them. Now that Emmy's here, Will feels as if the missing piece is being filled very slowly. He'd never get his mother back but he now has his brother and sister.
He smiled as he watched his younger siblings talk, it's been only a day and a half. Jay and Emmy were talking and joking as if they had been best friends for years and they'd been reunited. Will knew that his sister was gonna be in for some crazy adventures now.