After being briefed by the team on where they had gotten with the investigation, Erin spent the better part of what was left of the morning holed up in Hank's office trying to trace possible leads. After looking around the bullpen and noticing there were no free desks, she set up base in there hoping the quiet would help her work. She was also slightly relieved that she was blocked off from the rest of the team. Seeing everyone and being back had been emotionally draining, and if she sat out there and worked with the rest of them, she would be forced to remember that Al and Antonio were no longer amongst them. Even if Al was difficult to find around even when he was here.

But now, sitting in Hank's office, she was reminded of the circumstances that had brought her here, an unwanted reminder that the only father she ever knew was fighting for his life because of the bastard that had attacked him. She clutched at the chain around her neck, partially from frustration and partially from loneliness. Everyone close to her, everyone she had ever loved, always ended up suffering. And it wasn't fair. Erin was exhausted by all the tears she had shed. Not just for Hank, but for Al and Justin and Nadia and Camille. She was tired of having to say goodbye, and she would give anything right now to have Hank walk into his office and playfully scold her for being seated in his chair at his desk, before pulling her in for a hug and telling her in his gruff voice "I missed you kiddo". As angry as she had been when she had learned that he lied to her, and to Jay, and kept them apart after they left she was now just missing him. She wanted nothing more for him to awaken, and for things to be back to normal. Then, she could question him on the motives behind his actions.

And what made things worse was whilst she was desperate to find answers and had put her all into looking at potential angles, she had come up blank. The whole case was enough to give her a pounding headache. She understood why the team just kept on hitting dead ends. Two days earlier, Hank had been attacked by an individual in an abandoned house that the team were casing. In one of the rooms, Jay had stumbled across a ten year old boy, tied to a share with his hands zip tied and his mouth muzzled. Strapped to his chest was a device with just over two minutes left on the countdown. What was confusing about the whole thing was intelligence had been sent an anonymous tip that the property was a stash house for an up and coming drug lord they were investigating. What relation Tommy Barratt had to the ten year old boy, or why he was even there, was anyone's guess.

At first Intelligence thought Tommy may have been the anonymous tipper. But it turned out the boy had grown up in care, and was currently living in a foster placement. He was unable to identify Tommy Barratt from the images shown to him, and could not even place a name to Hank's attacker, and the man that had kidnapped him and set up the device. The man who was currently in the wind. And as if matters weren't complicated enough, upon request, the K9 unit and forensics had been called in to lead a manhunt once Hank had been attacked. Forensics had discovered traces of the laced heroin that was tied to Baratt, confirming that indeed, this was where this man had once kept his stock. But now Baratt, Hank's attacker and the drugs were nowhere to be found.

Erin sighed, glancing up from the case file in front of her and through the glass window to the bullpen. Jay was seated with his back to her, his hand folded behind his head as he talked to Hailey. The blonde detective was perched on the edge of his desk, arms folded, pointing to a few images on his desk every now and then. What made Erin feel so unsettled though was the fact that she was standing so casually close to Jay, her leg brushing up against his thigh. Another wave of envy ran through Erin for the second time that morning. In her three years of seeing Jay, publicly and in secret, she had never been able to be anything less than professional around him at work. That wasn't to say that Hailey wasn't being professional. Rather, it showed the difference around how wary Erin had to be about showing her boyfriend the slightest display of intimacy once she had clocked in. The thought only made Erin stiff, as she tensed up with the nostalgia she was facing.

Deciding she needed a change of scene and to get her mind off things, she picked up her now empty coffee cup from Hank's desk and headed to the breakroom. She needed some more caffeine in her system if she was going to survive the day without breaking something out of frustration. As soon as she opened the door of Hank's office, Jay and Hailey's gaze both snapped towards her. She could see Jay eyeing her questioningly, as though to ask her if everything was okay, but she avoided his gaze. After revealing her past to him last night, she had felt lighter as though she had unloaded the burden of keeping everything so bottled up and secretive. But now, she couldn't help but feel it meant she would be walking on eggshells around him, embarrassed that she had allowed herself to be that vulnerable in front of him.

"Everything okay Erin?" Hailey asked with a small smile.

Erin nodded, lifting her cup towards Hailey, not quite looking the woman in the eye or returning her gaze.

"Yeah, just going for a refill," she replied before proceeding to rush into the breakroom, hurriedly shutting the door behind her.

As soon as she was alone in the confines of the room, she leaned across the wall the couch was against and pressed her head back against it as she closed her eyes and let out a deep exhale. How would she manage another three days here? Seeing Jay with Hailey was enough to shatter her already broken heart.

"That kind of day, huh?"

Erin jumped, eyes snapping open at the voice. She followed it to see Vanessa by the coffee pot, cup in hand, stirring the brown liquid that filled it with a mixer.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," the woman quickly said, noting Erin's alarmed state.

Erin pressed her free hand against her chest as she worked to steady her breathing.

"No, you're alright. I just didn't see you, that's all."

Vannesa nodded, pursing her lips.

"I hope you don't mind me asking, I'm not trying to be nosey here or anything but erm… what's your story? I only ask because Kev said it wasn't his place to tell, and there's been all this talk about some Bunny and a Martelli case… I don't know, I guess I'm trying to get into the loop here I just..." she paused from her rambles, exhaling a breath and waving her free hand in the air dismissively, "you know what, forget I said anything!"

Erin warily eyed the woman in front of her. She didn't know this woman from the next, she was a total stranger. And yet something about their lack of connection was oddly comforting for Erin. There was something with her presence that exuded a familiar vibe to Erin. Like the woman in front of her had overcome some struggles in her own right, though she wore it well.

Sighing, she moved over to the couch and took a seat.

"Bunny was my mother," Erin began, "if you could even call her that," she added bitterly.

"Was? I'm so sorry for your…"

Erin shook her head.

"Don't waste your breath on condolences. Bunny not being in my life anymore might be the greatest gift life has offered me."

She didn't say it harshly, or even condescendingly. But her matter of fact tone had Vanessa widen her eyes at the statement.

"I know I sound like a total bitch right now but trust me, if you knew Bunny… She was never really sober whilst I was growing up. Drinking, drugs, a flurry of men, you name it. And each time she fell down a rabbit hole she brought me and my brother Teddy down with her. We didn't have electricity or hot water growing up half the time. Her jackass boyfriends would grope me or stare leeringly at me and she was too out of it to notice… I was only thirteen you know..."

Vanessa gave Erin a sympathetic look as Erin continued, fighting back the tears in her eyes at the painful memories of her past.

Vanessa began shaking her head pitifully hearing Erin's story.

"I had to sell myself to make sure Teddy and I wouldn't starve, I was eleven when I first realised if we were going to make it, I couldn't rely on Bunny to do anything. At first it started with petty crimes, theft, pickpocketing.. Anything to get my hands on a loaf of bread or some milk, but as I began maturing, I realised my body was useful to get more… Teddy was picked up by a paedophile ring and exploited and she didn't even realise.. And even after all those years, she still had some bullshit story to worm her way back into our lives and cause havoc. The last being nearly going down for distribution and being involved in the murder of her partner. FBI offered me a deal to let her loose if I took on a position with them and I guess like a sucker I took it thinking she would finally change… but when it come down to it, I can never rely on anyone but myself.. It's the only way.."

The painful memories caused Erin's voice to crack, the young woman unable to go on any further.

"That's rough."

Vanessa had so much she wanted to say as she stared at the broken woman in front of her, but the two words was all she managed to come out.

"Yeah," Erin chuckled humourlessly.

There was a pause. An awkward silence passed between the two women as they struggled with what to say next. Vanessa felt nothing but sorrow at what Erin had told her. Her whole life, she had chased the idealistic dream of growing up in a family. But if her family was anything like Erin's, if she had a mother like Bunny, she would have been grateful to have grown up in care, no matter how difficult her circumstances had been in the system. Finally, she spoke in a low voice.

"I grew up in care, guess my parents never wanted me. Thirty two homes and still couldn't find a family...I guess that's why I feel so at home here in intelligence. They're my family, you know?"

Erin nodded, offering the woman a small almost wistful smile.

"Yeah… I know…" she trailed.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is family never leaves you. They're still you're family and they're here for you. You should have seen how excited the guys were when they heard you'd returned. They still love you, and if there's anything, anything at all, you just have to ask them, or even me. I know we don't really know each other all too well, or at all for that matter, but if you do want, I'm here."

Erin was surprised and taken back by the officers words, but she shot her a grateful look nonetheless.

"Thanks Vanessa."

Vanessa perked up the corners of her mouth with a quick smile, before dropping them and after squeezing Erin's shoulder, she made her way out of the breakroom.

Erin quickly filled up her cup with coffee, eager to get back to work after the heavy talk she had not expected to have. As she stepped out of the breakroom, Ruzek called out to her.

"Hey Linds, come here a sec,"

Upon hearing her name being called, Erin noticed Jay's gaze fell on her, whilst Hailey's remained on Jay.

Looking straight ahead at Adam, she made her way to his desk. He handed her a manilla envelope as she placed her cup down on his desk. She gave him a questioning look but he merely raised his eyebrows at her as though to say, go on have a look.

A small gasp escaped Erin's lips as she opened the folder and stared at the image in front of her.

The entire team now had their eyes trained on Erin, having heard her gasp in the pin drop silent room.

"Elisha Nicotero?" she questioned Adam.

The young detective nodded back at her grimly, knowing exactly who the woman was having found the lead. The rest of the team looked absolutely clueless, except for Jay who had stood up and made his way over to her. Using her free hand, Erin gripped the edge of Ruzek's desk with such force that her knuckles turned white.

"Erin, you okay?" Jay asked concernedly behind her.

He knew exactly where her mind had gone, and he was afraid of what this meant for her.

"Alright guys, call me clueless here but who the hell is Elisha Nicoterro?" Kevin asked rubbing his forehead above his furrowed eyebrow with his thumb.

"An old CI of mine, friend of Nadia's, not sure if you all remember the woman who had O'D'd in my bathtub…"

At the mention of Nadia's name, the room became silent, everyone glancing at each other unsure of what to say. Vanessa, who had been oblivious to who Nadia was, was the first to speak.

"So what does this Elisha have to do with our case?"

Now Erin's head perked up in curiosity. With this, she was as in the dark as the rest of the team.

"One of our pods picked up this man," Ruzek walked over to their investigation board and slapped an image onto it, "heading into Barratt's stash house three times in the last six weeks. It took a while, but facial recognition maged to ID him as one Charles 'Charlie' Granger. Granger has been hard to track, I haven't found any deeds on his name or found an address yet but his record shows he's served multiple sentences for low-level distribution. Now it turns out Granger is a womaniser with some lovely lady friends, one of them being Elisha Nicoterri."

He now slapped some more images on the board, all of Charlie with Elisha at various locations, mainly clubs.

"Where is Elisha now?" Kim asked.

"She works at a bar on the South Side, I managed to get an address."

"Nice work, Adam," Hailey spoke once Adam had finished his briefing. She then turned to Erin.

"Hey Erin, if you don't mind…" she paused for a moment hesitating, "I didn't want to take you into the field for obvious reasons but you know this woman. We could use a hand out there and if it's not too much trouble.."

"Say no more. I'm coming," Erin said.

She had saved Elisha from serving time, now was the time to cash in her chips. If anyone could get information from this woman in the instance she didn't cooperate, it would be Erin.

"Great!" Hailey said, clapping her hands together.

"Vest up everyone, Erin, you'll ride with Jay in the Sierra. I'll take Hank's car."

Jay opened his mouth to speak, likely to question her desicion but Hailey shot him a look that said her mind was made up. Erin and Jay were partnered up, that much was certain.

Author's note: Thank you all for your patience on this chapter. It's been difficult finding things to write for specific chapters. Not much Linstead in this one but it was necessary in order to set up the quirky Linstead we're used to. I know Hailey's decision to partner them up won't make much sense to some of you, but I plan on explaining it at the beginning of the next chapter. I honestly had no intention of having Nicoterri in the plot, but it was a spur of the moment decision. This chapter was literally written sentence by sentence with no idea what the next would hold, and when I thought of Elisha, I thought it would be a great way to bring up Nadia, maybe even visit a grave scene in the future, all whilst having Erin more involved in this case and intelligence despite the circumstances surrounding the secrecy of her working with them again. Let me know what you think, and again, I'd love to hear your thoughts.