Notes: This fic is based of what I think might happen in season 9 episode 13. If you get easily triggered by things please make sure you read the trigger warnings at the end of this note before you continue reading! None of this is cannon, obviously as 9x13 hasn't aired yet but I thought it would be fun to wrote a fic based of what we know and some theories that I have for the episode so this has all been made up in some dark corner of my mind.
This is my first time doing a fic with multiple chapters and it should be updated weekly so the last chapter is uploaded just before 9x13 airs!
I just wanna say a few thank yous to the people who helped me with this fic so first off i want to say thank you to Mar who came up with the amazing title of 'Troubled Waters'.
The second person i want to thank is Dynn for going through this and making sure that the medical stuff that is in here made some sense and that I wrote the right things I wrote have some medical accuracy to them.
And last but definitely not least the biggest shout out to my amazing beta reader Mak! Mak I cant thank you enough for being my beta and making my fic 100 times better than it already was, I appreciate you so so so much!
Now on to the trigger warnings, this fic does have some heavy topics so please make sure you read these before you continue.
This fic includes:
- talk about human trafficking
- kidnapping
- physical and sexual abuse
- drowning
If you're still here, I worked really hard on this fic so i hope you like it as much as I do, enjoy!
She was running out of time now and running out of air. She could hear muffled voices from above the water as she tried to pull her foot out of the rope it was caught on, but she had no luck. All she wanted to do was scream, but she knew she couldn't. 'I have to save as much oxygen as I can,' she thought to herself, trying to get the rope off of her foot again, but it seemed like there was no way it would come off.
Hailey closed her eyes, thinking of Jay. She had to get out, for him. She knew her time was running out, so she tugged on the rope harder, but like all the times before, it wouldn't budge. She was becoming light headed now and she pulled and she pulled, but it wasn't enough because the darkness soon took over and she fought it until finally the darkness won and everything went black.
Earlier that day.
The day started out like any other. Hailey usually woke up just slightly before the alarm (or in her case today, two hours before the alarm) and cuddled with Jay, showered while he made coffee, and then got dressed and went to work, with Jay driving of course. They walked into the front to be greeted by Trudy, who gave them each some court orders and some more items that had been delivered to the twenty first for both of them. She swore she didn't know what they were, but the pair of detectives knew that she most definitely did know, because Trudy always knew everything. They made their way up to the stairs of the bullpen– although not without Trudy making a joking comment at their expense as they walked away from her at the front desk of course.
As per usual, they were the first two there. Kim and Kev were on time ninety-nine percent of the time– Kev more often than Kim now since she had the school run with Makayla– and Adam was usually late unless he was with Kim or had gotten stuck with a bad spell of insomnia.
Hailey made her way straight to the break room and put the coffee machine on, Jay slowly followed her after putting his jacket on the back of his chair.
"More coffee?" he questioned, leaning on the door frame and smiling so she knew he wasn't judging her in the slightest.
"Yeah, well, you know how well I slept last night," she said with a sarcastic inflection, sighing while she shrugged her jacket off. Jay walked up behind her and took her jacket from her, pressing a kiss to her head.
"Thank you," Hailey whispered.
"I got you, always," he told her, draping her jacket on her chair for her while she poured herself a mug of coffee and then joined him at their desks.
"Hopefully today is just paperwork and us working out how to get the printer working again once Adam eventually breaks it," she joked.
"Hey!" An indignant voice came from behind her. "That was one time," Adam defended himself, walking into the bullpen with Kim and Kevin behind him.
"More like four times." Kev patted Adam's shoulder as he walked past him.
"Four times? No way I broke it four times?"
"That's just this one. You broke the old one for good, so we had to get a new one," Kim reminded him. She sat down in her chair at the side of her and Adam's desks, and Adam sat on the desk itself, on Kim's side as always.
"You really didn't know you broke it all of those times?" Jay asked, amusement overtaking his face.
"Well, I kinda thought so but I didn't say anything because Platt can be real scary when you break her equipment."
"Oh, so it was you!" Platt said, standing at the top of the stairs to the bullpen and making everyone jump slightly since they hadn't noticed her come up.
"Jesus Christ, did you teleport up the stairs?" Adam asked. "And no, I don't know what you think you heard, Sarge, but it definitely wasn't me, I would never do such a thing," Adam said, making his way to sit at his side of the desk.
"When something breaks, Ruzek, I always assume that it's you who broke it," Trudy replied. "And don't get too comfortable, a call just came in. A girl, most likely 10 or 11, was taken to Med after a couple almost hit her with their car."
"What's that got to do with us, Sarge?"
"Well, Adam, if you would be so kind as to let me finish, I'd tell you that the girl's wrists are bruised with ligature marks and she kept repeating that she has to get help for the others."
This sent a shiver through Hailey. Cases with kids really got to her, and so she zoned out as Platt explained a little more about the girl.
"Halstead, Upton, I want you to question the girl. Come with me," Trudy said, which made Hailey snap out of the trance she was in, and she jumped up and grabbed her jacket, following Jay and Trudy down the stairs and out of the bullpen.
"So Halsteads, how's married life treating you?"
"U-uh, Sarge?" Jay stumbled on his words.
"I know everything, Halstead Two."
"Why two? I was Halstead first."
"Yeah, well, I like her a lot better than you," Trudy told him, which caused Hailey to snicker, taking her mind off of what they had just been told for a second.
"In all seriousness, I need you two to be as good and as fast as possible on this because this girl likely escaped from what we think is one of the biggest trafficking rings in Chicago, and she is the only witness we have that's alive." Trudy told them.
"You think this is them?" Hailey asked.
"More like him." Trudy told them. "Micheal Rivera, he runs it all. There's just never been any solid proof, but we know it's him," Trudy continued. "I need you two to be fast with this because the chances are that he has hundreds of girls and boys. But remember that this little girl is traumatised. This is probably one of the worst cases of trafficking we've ever come across."
Both Hailey and Jay nodded. "We got this, Sarge, don't worry," Jay told her, and with that he and Hailey made their way to his truck.
"You okay, Hails?" he asked softly on the ride over to Med. Jay knew that cases with kids messed with Hailey's head, but he just wanted her to talk to him and to not keep everything bottled up inside.
"Trudy said she was ten. Ten years old, that's basically a baby." Hailey's voice shook, and Jay moved a hand off the steering wheel to place it on her thigh. Her hand came down immediately on top of his and gave it a squeeze.
"She's safe now, Hails. She's safe at Med and we're gonna go there and talk to her, and it might take a bit but she's going to help us find any others that this sick bastard has, okay?"
Hailey nodded. "I-I just, ugh, this is not what I needed today."
"I know, baby, I know. I promise you that when this case is over, we're taking a couple of days off and we're gonna relax and it's going to be perfect."
"I like the sound of that," Hailey said softly. "Thank you."
"I told you, I got you, always," Jay said as he pulled up in a spot in front of Med.
Once they were inside they were met by Will, and after some quick hellos, he took them to the room where the little girl was. Will left them to talk with her since he had other patients to attend to. Jay let Hailey go in first, and they both walked in slowly so as to not startle the girl.
The sight of the tiny bruised girl in the middle of a huge hospital bed broke both of their hearts. Jay stayed back as Hailey walked over to the girl's bed. The girl's tiny face was full of fear and all Hailey wanted to do was pull her into the tightest hug and tell her she was safe and that everything was going to be okay.
"Hi," Hailey said softly. "Can I sit?" she asked, gesturing to the chair next to the hospital bed and the girl nodded her head. Hailey pulled the chair up closer to the bed and sat down.
"My name is Hailey, can you tell me your name?" Hailey asked.
"E-Ellie," the little girl said. It was hardly a whisper, which shattered Hailey's heart even more. "He said my name was Iris, but it's not because Mommy and Daddy called me Ellie."
"Hi, Ellie, I'm here to talk to you. I'm police, do you know what that is?"
"Alyssa said I needed to find police because they help people, but he always told us that police are bad and that they won't help." she whimpered.
"I'm here to help you, sweetheart, I promise I'm going to help you as much as I can, but I need you to help me too. Do you think you can do that?"
Ellie nodded and then her eyes wandered over to Jay. The both of them could tell that he scared her, her experiences with men obviously only being bad, and she shrunk down into the bed.
"Hey, hey, it's okay, he's not going to hurt you, he's my friend," Hailey told her. "He's police too."
"Like you?"
"Like me, look," Hailey said, showing the girl her badge and then pointing to the one Jay had on his belt.
"C-can I see?" Ellie asked, pointing to Hailey's badge.
"You wanna hold it?" Hailey asked and Ellie nodded. Hailey unclipped her badge and handed it to the girl, gesturing for Jay to pass his as well. Jay unclipped the badge from his belt and handed it to Hailey who placed it in front of Ellie.
"See? It says Chicago police, detective."
"Detective," she repeated, looking down at the badges. "This part is different," she said, pointing at the numbers.
"Yeah, like everyone's name is different, everyone who is police has a different number."
"Your police name," Ellie said, and Hailey smiled. The girl had been through so much, but was still so innocent.
"Can I ask you a question, Ellie?" Jay asked, and she looked at Hailey, still a little unsure about him, and Hailey nodded her head.
"We're both here to protect you, Ellie, I promise," Hailey told her.
"Okay," Ellie told him.
"You said something about a 'he' earlier? Do you know his name?"
"I think I heard one of the other ones call him River?"
"Rivera?" Hailey suggested.
"Yes, like that," Ellie said.
"What did Rivera do? Can you tell us what his job is?"
"He's in charge of everyone, even the other big guys," She breathed out.
"Can you tell us more? What do these other guys do?" Hailey asked.
"T-they played with us sometimes, that's what they called it. S-sometimes they'd take us to other guys we've never seen before and they would play as well, but it wasn't fun play like I was used to at the park, it hurt a lot." Both Hailey and Jay winced at what she told them, tears forming in both of their eyes.
"Did Rivera hurt you?"
"He used to a lot. Not so much now, the new ones are his favourites. I used to be his favourite, he told me before, and then a new girl came and she was his favourite," she told them, tears spilling from her eyes.
"Hey, you're okay, you're safe now. He's never going to hurt you again, I promise," Jay reassured her.
"Hey, Ellie, can you help us just a little bit more?" Hailey asked. "I've got two more questions for you and then we're done okay?"
"Okay," Ellie said, voice small and sniffling.
"First question, you mentioned another girl named Alyssa that told you that police are good. Can you tell us anything about her?" Hailey asked.
"She's my friend, she said I was the smallest so it would be easier for me to get out."
"Can you tell us how you got out?" Jay questioned gently.
"There was a window. She said she couldn't take any of us through the door because her dad and his friends would see."
Hailey and Jay shared a confused look and Jay pulled out his phone. Hailey guessed he was likely texting one of the team.
"Her dad?" Hailey questioned.
"She said her dad was upstairs and that he was a bad man. She came back two more times after the first time, and on the last time she got me out of the window and told me to run as fast as I could and to find the police."
"Alyssa Rivera, daughter of Michael Rivera." Jay turned his phone to Ellie. "Is this the Alyssa that helped you escape?"
Ellie nodded fast. "Yes, that's her, that's my friend."
"We have another witness," Jay breathed out. "I think this means we got him right?"
"I hope so," Hailey responded. She turned to glance at Ellie before addressing him again. "You have a picture of Rivera on there too?"
"Yeah, here" Jay confirmed, turning the phone back around again. "Ellie, is this the man that you said was in charge?"
Ellie nodded her head again after looking at the picture for a couple of seconds, then looking back down to the badges in her hands, looking for some sort of comfort and safety after seeing the picture. "That's him," she told them. Her voice had gone back to barely a whisper again, obviously this man terrified the tiny girl.
Jay and Hailey shared a look. They had a positive ID, he was going down and they were going to make sure of it.
"I have one more question, you up for that?" Hailey asked kindly.
"Just one more, I want to sleep," Ellie told them and yawned.
"You've done so good, just this one and you can sleep as much as you want."
"Really? As much as I want?"
"As much as you want, I promise."
"They never let us sleep much, I'm always tired."
"I know," Hailey whispered. She didn't think her heart could break for this poor tiny little girl anymore than it already had.
"Just one more, okay? Can you remember what the place you escaped from looked like? Any little thing you can remember would be such a big help."
"We go in the van to the place. We always go in the dark so we can't see, but the sun was there when I was running, there was grass and trees, like the park, I remember that from before, they said we weren't supposed to talk about before." Her little voice trailed off.
"Can you remember anything else about this place or the place you come from in the van?"
"The place we come from in the van is big and the floor is always wet and it's always cold and it smells. I don't like that place, I like the other one better. It's warm there but that's where he always is and I don't like him."
"Can you remember anything else from the cold place?"
"Lots and lots like me, in the warm place there's only a little bit of us, I heard them say it's too dangerous to have too many there."
"You're doing so good, Ellie, just one last thing. Is there anything more from the warm place you can remember?"
"There were always loads of voices but there were more than just the ones that hurt us, and it was big and white and it was- it was like- like a…"
"Like?"
"Like this?" Jay asked, showing her a picture of a big, white house with an appearance of great grandeur on his phone.
Ellie nodded. "That looks like it."
"Like a castle?" Hailey suggested.
"Like from the story books my mommy and daddy used to show me before." Her eyes spilled tears again and Hailey took her tiny hand in her own.
"You're going to see your mommy and daddy again soon, okay?"
"Really?" she sniffled.
"Really, and Rivera and all his guys? They're never going to hurt you again." Hailey told her.
"No more questions? I'm done now?" Ellie asked.
"No more questions, sweetheart, you did so good. You're so brave, probably one of the bravest people I've ever met."
Ellie sniffled and moved over to hug a very shocked Hailey. After a few seconds of processing what was happening, Hailey wrapped her arms around the girl's tiny frame, tears welling up in her own eyes and threatening to spill. Jay watched with a small smile on his face.
After a minute or two, Ellie pulled back after hearing a knock on the door. Jay opened the door to Will, a patrol officer, and a man and woman standing behind them.
Hailey saw who was at the door and shared a look with Jay, they both nodded to each other before Jay stepped outside to explain to Ellie's parents what happened and Hailey explained to Ellie what was about to happen.
"Who was that, at the door?" Ellie asked, fear evident on her face.
"Hey, it's okay, I think it was your mommy and daddy."
"My mommy and daddy are here?"
"Yeah, I told you they were coming, didn't I?"
"You did," Ellie breathed out, obviously overwhelmed with the thought of seeing her parents again.
"You don't have to see them right now you know, you can wait a bit, it's entirely up to you."
"It's up to me? But they're adults? That's what he would always say, that we have to listen because they are adults and we're little."
"Hey, you're not there anymore, and no one is going to make you do anything you don't want to do."
Ellie seemed to ponder her words for a moment in wonder. "I think, I think I want to see them."
"I'll go get them. I'm going to have to take our badges back though, kiddo."
"Oh," she said, obviously disappointed.
"How about this, I take them back now while you spend some time with your mom and dad, and then I come back later with a new one just for you?"
"And I'll get my own police name?"
"And you'll get your own police name, I'll make sure of it."
"I think you're the best police person I've ever met."
"And I think you're the best and bravest little girl I've ever met," Hailey said, fondly. "I'm going to get your mom and dad now, and I'll see you later, okay?"
"Okay, bye Hailey."
"See you later, sweetheart."
Hailey took the badges back and stepped outside where she was met with Jay, Will, the patrol officer, and Ellie's parents.
"This is Detective Upton," Jay introduced her. "This is Sarah and Oliver Monroe, Ellie's parents," He continued, now addressing his partner.
"Is she okay? Why did you stay and not come out here with Detective Halstead?" Sarah asked.
"She seems like she'll be okay considering everything she's been through. She's a brave kid." Hailey started. "I stayed to explain to her who was here, not a lot was ever explained to her so she deserves that much."
"Thank you." Sarah said, gratefully.
"You guys are going to get the sick bastard that took our little girl right?"
"That's the goal. Ellie gave a positive ID on our main suspect and that's what we need to get a warrant on all the properties in his name, which is being processed as we speak, but you two don't need to worry about that now, all you need to do is go be with your little girl again," Jay told them. "A patrol officer will be stationed at her door at all times until our suspect and everyone else involved is in custody," Jay reassured them. "And that's all I have to tell you right now, so go and be with your girl." He gestured to the door.
Sarah, her eyes filled with tears, pulled Hailey into a hug, whispering thank yous into her ear while Oliver shook Jay's hand. Hailey, Jay, and Will watched as they walked into the room and were reunited with their daughter. Hailey felt tears prick in her eyes and quickly wiped them away, but not quick enough to hide them from Jay, who rubbed her arm gently in a comforting gesture.
"Four years that kid's been missing." Will said "Four years, they thought she was dead."
"Four years is a long time." Jay said.
"A lot can happen in four years." Hailey added, giving Jay a soft smile.
"Jesus Christ, just get married already," Will said exasperatedly, which caused both Hailey and Jay to laugh softly.
"What's so fun— wait, no, tell me you guys didn't." Will said in utter shock. "Tell me you guys didn't go and elope."
Hailey had a small smile on her face and Jay's grin could have rivaled the Cheshire Cat's.
"I'm kind of offended that you guys didn't invite me." Will fake pouted. "I'm so happy for you both," he continued, pulling his brother into a hug and then moving to hug Hailey.
"I've always wanted a sister," Will exclaimed, and her smile grew.
"I don't have a shortage of brothers but I guess one more wouldn't hurt," Hailey said, causing both Jay and Will to laugh. Jay didn't think his smile could grow any bigger, but watching the interaction between his brother and his wife proved him wrong.
"I hate to break up the moment, but the warrants were approved so we gotta go." Jay told them, showing the message he had just received.
"Go kick ass, you two!" Will said and turned to Jay, putting both hands on his little brother's shoulders. "And for the love of god, don't get injured or shot please."
"I'll try my best." Jay shook his head, amused at his brother's antics.
"I've always got his six, don't worry." Will nodded and waved goodbye to the pair as they exited the hospital. As they were walking back to the truck, Hailey handed Jay back his badge and clipped back her own.
"I forgot we let her hold them," Jay said.
"She didn't really want to give them back, so I promised to get her one of her own."
"How are you gonna do that?"
"We have a Trudy Platt," Hailey reminded him, which made him snicker.
The pair got into the truck and made their way back to the twenty first to coordinate how they were going to search Rivera's properties at the same time so that no evidence could be destroyed or any kids moved to different locations.
As they were driving back, Jay noticed Hailey picking at her nails.
"Hails? Hailey? Hey?" Jay tapped her leg and broke her out of her trance.
"Sorry, what?"
"You wanna talk about it?"
"Uh, I don't know, I just…I just hate this job sometimes," she sighed. "What did Ellie ever do to deserve any of that? She's just a tiny kid who's hardly lived her life, and she was snatched from her back yard when her parents turned away for all of 60 seconds."
Jay squeezed her leg. "And she's safe and back with her parents now."
"But there are so many that are still out there, there's not just this ring, there's so many more, I just—" She trailed off, tears unwittingly welling up in her eyes.
Jay squeezed her thigh gently. "And we're going to take this one down today and others in the future, okay? We're good at our jobs, and we're already doing as much as we can to help make the city a better place, okay?"
Hailey nodded, throat tight. "Thank you."
"For?"
"For always knowing the right thing to say."
"I got you, always." Jay told her, squeezing her thigh one more time before pulling into a spot outside the twenty first. The both of them then headed inside to coordinate with the others for the raids.
Notes: Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
Comments and Reviews are always appreciated!
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