Jay's P.O.V.

It had been a week since I found out about Allie. I don't know how I feel about it. Kim had been hanging around my desk more. I'm pretty sure it was as much for me as it was for her. Intelligence got a new case, and this was bad. We were investigating three murders of teenage girls throughout Chicago that were linked because of the obvious similarities. The girls had been missing for two weeks before they were killed, and when their bodies were found a black rose was found intertwined in their hands. It had been positioned purposefully so that the thorns of the flower had cut through each girls' hands and caused postmortem bleeding. It was an absolute nightmare case, and Kim was obviously being affected the most. It didn't help that we were practically 3 separate teams with our own agenda. Voight and Hailey were trying to be able to give a big f you to the Deputy Superintendent because of the reform, and Kevin and Ruzek were still partly focused on Kevin's situation. So really it was me and Kim working on this case full time. She had been working at my desk, but then her phone rang so she went to answer it. She was just walking back over, and she seemed nervous.

"Jay, Trudy just called me. She needs us downstairs." Please tell me it's not some PT or homicide detective here to tell us there was another body. The one thing that I wasn't expecting when I walked down those stairs was to see Marina...in tears.

"Kim...Brooke...she...she wasn't at the diner when I went to pick her up after her shift." She started sniffling, and Kim immediately hugged her while I looked at Trudy. This didn't look good. I was almost certain what this meant, but god did I want to be wrong.

Jay's P.O.V.

"Brooklynn Marina Corson, Age 16, disappeared from her work, Agnes' Hope Diner, sometime between 5 a.m. and 6:50 a.m. which is when her Abuela had arrived at the diner to pick her up. She was the only person on the opening shift today. Mother, Allie Corson, is deceased due to a car accident when Brooklynn was one. Father is unknown. She is taken care of by her Abuela, who is the one who reported the missing persons, since her mother's passing. Brooklynn founded the Chicago Curtain Call Foundation around three years ago which is an organization that produces plays and then some of the benefits go towards a Chicago based foundation of their choice. She's a straight A student, is a part of multiple clubs, and from what we can tell she doesn't have any enemies." Kevin didn't even have to look any of this up. He knew her too. Hailey was the only one who didn't get the importance of this. I mean it was important before, but now that you know the victim it's personal. Voight read it off of Kim's face when she came back up five minutes ago after handing Marina over to Trudy.

Kim was a mess. She refused to look at the picture of Brooklynn that Adam had pinned on the board, and if you looked very closely her hands white from her clenching them so hard. I wanted to find her too. I felt like I had too…at the very least for Allie.

"How do we know she didn't just run away. Teens do it all the time." Kim's hands unclenched, and she shot Hailey a death glare. Uh oh. This was gonna be bad.

"Are you serious? Firstly there is no way she would leave her Abuela, the foundation, Zoe, her friends, or her life at school. You don't know her Upton, but I do. That girl has been a part of my life for 7 years. I've watched her grow up. She is just as important to me as Zoe. She loves school; is always so excited to learn. There is no way she would leave it, and don't even get me started on her family, Zoe, and the foundation. Brooke has fought tooth and nail to get the foundation to where it is today. She and Zoe are inseparable. When Zoe sleeps over at my place, so does Brooke. There is no way she would run. Secondly, are you serious Hailey? You do realize that the kidnappings were ruled a run away until the bodies were found. Are we just going to wait a week and pray her body doesn't show up somewhere. Like hell." She was going at her, and knowing Hailey (even if she was wrong) was mostly going to fight back.

"But we have no evidence that it is even the same guy. We should just hand the case over to missing persons." At that Kevin and I both had to grab one of Kim's arms to keep her from doing something to Hailey. Hailey wanted to find the guy who was doing this to show to the Deputy Superintendent that how she and Voight did things worked because of that she didn't want to waste time investigating. Kim kept wrangling in our grip trying to get out. God she was strong. Thankfully Voight stepped in before Kim got out and did something, or Hailey said something else.

"Alright…alright calm down. Atwater and Ruz go to the diner, talk to the owners, investigate, and see if there are any leads. Upton, you and I are going to her school to see if we can learn anything more about her personal life. Jay, you know the Abuela right?" I nod slightly. "You are going to stay with her, and try to find out as much as you can. Kim, you're gonna join him after you calm down. Take a walk, beat up a dummy; I don't care how you do it. After that go to the house and search her room." There we all went again. Our own separate teams. Even with it being personal, Intelligence is still three separate teams, but at least they were more focused and I had Kim. At least now I wasn't normal alone anymore.

Adam and Kev basically ran down the stairs, Hailey and Voight followed though Hailey watched Kim to make sure she didn't get snapped at again. it wasn't before long that they were all gone, and it was just Kim and myself in the bullpen. I wanted to check in on Kim who was glaring at Hailey's desk then at the board before going to the picture. She lightly touched the picture of Brooklynn, and that's when I saw that her eyes were slightly watering. Kim was barely holding it together, and none of the others saw.

"Hey…uh look I know this must be hard on you. We'll find her." The tears started to fall as she turned completely towards me.

"We have to Jay. She's been through so much, and yet she's one of the kindest people I've ever met. Brooke is more than just Zoe's best friend; she's family. Last summer Abuela had to have a knee replacement so for the month after Brooke stayed with me because Zoe was with her dad for most of it. The only time she would hang out with friends when I wasn't working or at Molly's was when I had the day off. Otherwise Brooke refused too, and demanded that we had a movie night or that we went to the library so she could recommend books for me to read. Whenever she did go somewhere she would text me where she was going, when she got there, when she left, and when she got back to my place. Brooke is safe. She knows that Chicago is dangerous, and takes extra precautions. I honestly expected something like this to happen to Zoe before it ever happened to Brooke." The tears started to slow, and I put my hands on her shoulders and squeezed them slightly.

"We'll find her. She'll be ok. If she has half the strength of Allie, Abuela, and you then she is sure as hell strong enough to beat this." I knew it wouldn't bring her that much comfort. We knew that there were some things that you just couldn't beat. That everyone had a limit before they gave up. We can just hope that we find Brooke before she reaches hers.

Jay's P.O.V.

I had waited for Kim to calm down before we headed down to see Marina. She wouldn't really talk, and was just staring at a picture of Brooke on her phone and kept repeating mija with tears in her eyes. She kept jumping whenever a new patrol came into the district. She knew that they would most likely find her if she was out there so I had suggested that we go back to Marina's house so that she could be more comfortable. Kim drove Marina in Marina's car, and I followed with my truck. When we arrived Kim volunteered to look in Brooke's room while I sat down with Marina. I had to ask the big question. The one that could decide whether this was a part of our case or was something else. I didn't want to ask it, but I know that it will be the main thing Voight asks when we get back.

"Marina…who is Brooke's father. Is it someone who could possibly do this? Would she recognize him? Is it possible that she went with him somewhere? Would she trust…"

"No. She doesn't know who her father is." She did though. I could tell by the tone of her voice.

"But you do." Marina looked at me with tears before shaking her head no.

"I have my suspicions, but I've never mentioned them to Brooke. It was one of Allie's main requests that she left in her will in regards to Brooke. There's a safe deposit box that Allie left in Brooke's name. In her will she said that Brooke was only allowed to have access to it when she turned 18 because at that age she felt Brooke would be mature enough to understand the situation." And knowing Allie there is no way she would've made it easy for anyone except Brooke to open that box which meant we weren't gonna get anything from that.

"Ok…well…who do you think it is?" She took a deep breath before looking into my eyes sympathetically. Was it that bad?

"Jay…Brooklynn was born on March 6, 2005." What was she getting…wait Allie and I "hung out" when I had a 2 week leave in July of 2004, but that was 8 months…so Allie was pregnant when we got together for that short time. I don't know how I feel about that.

"So it was whoever Allie was with in June of 2004. Have any ideas because that might take a while to track that far ba…"

"Jay…Brooke…Brooklynn was born at 8 months; a month premature." What…8 months… that means…that means that Brooklynn could be my daughter…and she was missing. Most likely in the hands of a serial killer. I'd probably never get to see her, to talk to her, or to protect her.

"Are you sure?" I said it harsher than I meant, but I just found out I might have a daughter, and Marina has had suspicions about it since Brooklynn was born but never contacted me. I could've been there. Maybe Brooke wouldn't even be missing now.

"No…yes…I know that you two were together in July when you came back, but I don't know everything Allie did. But Jay I've watched Brooke grow up, and she reminds me so much like the both of you. Her personality…she started the foundation to make Chicago a better place like you and being a part of the cpd, and her freckles. They reminded me so much of you and Will when you were younger." I needed a direct answer before I allowed myself to break down.

"Can I have a strand of her hair from her hair brush?" Marina looked relieved. Probably because it would give her an actual answer.

"Of course…her hairbrush is either in her bedroom or her bathroom. It's blue." I nodded towards her and went up the stairs while passing Kim who before she had a chance to question what I was doing was asked by Marina to help her make some tea.

When I'm up all of the stairs it's easy to tell which room is Brooklynn's. It had a wooden B that was painted, probably by her, and a bunch of those wall sticker quotes. Most of them are from plays or musicals if I recognized them correctly. Obviously I didn't know most of them. Inside her room looked like an average teenage girl's room. Her bed was made with fairy lights hung above it. There was a large cork board in the middle of one wall that was loaded of pictures, playbooks, and flyers. Zoe's face littered the pictures along with other kids in a view. Those two really were best friends. On the other wall there was a bookshelf filling the wall. I found her brush on her desk that was by where the cork board was. I put a glove on, and pulled all of the hair off of it and put it into an evidence bag. Then I snuck down the stairs, heard Kim and Marina talking in the kitchen, before slipping out the front door to drive to Gaffney.

Jay's P.O.V.

I know I probably shouldn't have gone to Gaffney. I could've easily just sent a strand of my hair and her hair to forensics for a comparison, but that would've taken more time. I wanted answers as fast as I could. That meant going to a bigger lab and putting it on the priority list. Which I did. I snuck in through the pediatric entrance to try and avoid Will, I didn't have the energy to answer his questions. Then I gave the technician direct instructions to deliver it to me in front of the side entrance of the ER. I just wanted some peace to think, and there was no way I could've lasted being near peds again with all of the children with their parents. Not when mine could possibly be…

"Hey! There you are. Here's your comparison. The intern was new and saw Halstead and immediately brought it to me." Damn it.

"Uhh…thanks Will." He handed it over to me before just standing there staring at me while I was sitting on the curb staring at the folder.

"Sooo what's it for? Normally when samples come from pd it's labeled Chicago Police Department, and then the name of whoever requested it." Oh crap. I could tell him, and he would most likely refuse to let me leave the hospital without him, or I could work this case. And find my daughter. God…I was already saying she was mine even without seeing the results. There is a possibility that Brooklynn isn't mine.

"It's for the case that we're working on: the kidnapping murders. I just needed fast results." Thankfully his pager went off so I didn't have to worry about him questioning anymore.

"Ok well I gotta go. Stay safe." Then he ran back in, and I could breathe again. It's not that I didn't want Will to know, obviously he'll know when we find her, but I wanted to process it before telling him. I wanted to get to know her before I told him about a girl, that was his niece, that he didn't know anything about. He'd have questions about her and I wanted to be able to answer them. At least have Kim here so she could answer them. God Kim was closer with my possible daughter then I was. I only just met her last week…because of Kim.

"Jay! Seriously running off without telling me!" Damn…I guess I didn't go unnoticed.

"Hey Kim." She looked upset, and slightly sympathetic but that was hidden well.

"Don't hey Kim me. Right now you and I are partners, and you took off. It took me ten minutes before I realized that you should've been back from whatever you were doing. I checked the whole house, and then had to basically interrogate Abuela in order for her to tell me why you left so quickly." She then looked down at the folder.

"Is that it?" Kim sat down next to me while asking. All I could do was nod my head while I continued to stare at it.

"I wouldn't be surprised if it was a match." I shot my head up. What was she talking about?

"You two are a lot alike. You don't know how many times I've been reminded of you when I was with her or vice versa."

"Like what?"

"Like how you were with Ethan. I know you still check in on him. Most of the kids that are a part of the foundation came from bad situations like that. She started it to give kids a place to be able to have a safe place and support system. It started with her inviting a bunch of kids at her school that she knew were struggling to come over to her house for a home cooked meal and a movie because she knew most of them didn't have that. Then that grew and grew, and now those kids who are a part of Curtain Call have a creative outlet. They have a place where they can get tutoring, therapy, and a family that provides support." She's only 16.

"She did all of that at 13?" All Kim could do was nod and smile.

"All over three years. She has your perseverance too. I couldn't tell you how many times she spammed emailed major Chicago corporations and then convinced them to donate money to the foundation. It was the equivalent of banging down doors." We didn't even know if she was my daughter or not, but we were talking like she was.

"She sounds pretty amazing."

"Brooke is; I call her Chicago's Hope when she isn't paying attention. She hates when people praise her so we just do it behind her back." I could tell that she was starting to be affected by bringing up these memories so I turned my attention towards the folder. No matter how much I wanted to interrogate Kim about Brooke I needed to know for sure if she was my daughter.

"Can you open it?" She nods and I hand it over. I knew what it was going to say. I just knew in my heart what it was going to say. I just didn't know how to feel about it.

"Congratulations Jay, it's a girl." Kim didn't try to make it comical, or happy, it was just to try and distract ourselves for a second. Once that second was over I broke. I cried, and Kim hugged me while reality set in. I had a daughter. A daughter that I had never known about, and a daughter that I might not ever be able to know. I missed everything, and now as soon as I found her I lost her.