Here we go:

16. It was always you (from Guest).

Erin looked around, a beer in her hand and the legs crossed on the armchair on which, many years earlier, she spent whole nights.

The people around her, the ones she once considered her family, were still so noisy and funny that, if she closed her eyes, it wouldn't seem like a moment had passed.

But the years had passed and Erin had never been more aware of it.

The first lines of expression on their faces and the loss of the glint of innocence in their eyes, however, were not the clues that made her understand how that life had ended long ago.

They were a family, they always had been, but now, now, they really were a family.

That boy, who ran between all their legs, was now tied around Kevin's neck, who was spinning him in the air. And his crystalline laughter, so pure as to make her cry too, rang in the air of that house she was once her home.

"Hey…", a plate of cake emerged in her view and the next moment Hailey's indecisive face smiled kindly at her.

Erin took a forkful of cake while the other woman sat on the arm of the sofa next to the armchair.

"Hailey, hey. I'm so sorry, I didn't really know about you two. Not…"

"Don't worry. I think it was the thing he needed too. See you, talk to you."

They remained silent for a few seconds, the cheerful chatter and laughter that filled the room enveloped them like a blanket.

"Is he happy?"

Erin didn't need to indicate who she was referring to. She saw Hailey's eyes darting across the room where Jay was laughing with Kim and Adam as his gaze rarely strayed from his boy.

If even her question surprised Hailey, she remained impassive. She knew little of her, but from what she had seen working with her a few months, Hailey rarely showed what she thought. She was an excellent actress, she had the ability to hide her feelings behind her bright blue eyes and reading her could be a really difficult job.

"He's serene. I want to think he's happy too. For a long time he has not been. I like to think I helped him to be happy…and maybe it was like that. But then Danny came and I know his world changed."

"He is a beautiful boy. Everyone loves him."

"Jay and I don't have the best record at family level… And this unity is the whole family that we no longer have."

They remained silent for a few minutes, both too busy observing the people around them to really concentrate on a conversation. It was Hailey who, after a deep breath, turned to Erin with a determined look in her eyes.

"Let's not pretend, Erin. I'm glad you left when you did. I don't approve the way you did it though. Jay was destroyed and it took so long, for me, to make him understand he was a good man who could still give so much to others."

"I hated you so much", she added after a few seconds with a distant expression, "The first time he came to Intelligence with a coffee for me, I felt that hatred I felt for you starting to get smaller."

"Well, are you saying it was better for me to leave?", the slight hard inflection in her voice caught Hailey's attention as she shifted her gaze to her.

"I would never allow myself. You're a good person, you're a good cop and I'm sure you two worked your way. But get me, Erin. I look around and see Jay laughing with Danny in his arms. And Daniel is my child, do you understand that?"

She shrugged as she said the obvious. It was Erin who felt almost out of place in all that situation. It was not Hailey's fault, it was just her instinct to protect her son's father.

"What about Danny?"

"What?", Hailey looked at her sideways, the cake in her hands still uneaten.

"Will you tell me about him? It's nice to see him with others."

Hailey weighed her words, as if evaluating how much she could say them. Erin would have lied if she said she didn't admire her reticence to trust the world. Sometimes it was about survival.

"I didn't want to become a mother. Nah", she shook her head again under Erin's amazed gaze, "We had been together for about a year and, sincerely, being a mother was the last of my dreams. And then, out of nowhere, I was expecting Danny. And god, Jay was so happy."

"And you?"

"I was absolutely terrified. I remember taking a few days off and I disappeared. And, I know, Jay was totally crazy since I left but…I needed to be alone. And then I went home and he was there. And his eyes shone and I said to myself that maybe…maybe I could do it."

Erin noticed her winding the chain around her neck with her gaze lost on Danny, now climbing on Trudy's shoulders.

"And then Danny was born and had his freckles. And my world has suddenly tilted. The fate had given me the chance to be Jay's baby mom and sometimes I still don't believe it. He is a great father, I never had any doubts about this."

"Mommy?"

Both women jumped at the agitated scream of the boy running in their direction.

"Mommy! I think I got hurt!"

Danny stretched out his arms towards Hailey with a frowning expression and when she finally rested him on her legs, he showed her a scratch all along his forearm.

"Hey little monkey, what did you do this time?"

Hailey snorted amused passing a finger on the scratch and then leaving a light kiss on his red skin. The mischievous smile that popped on the boy's face made Erin smile too.

"Maybe I was looking for cake in the kitchen…"

"Ah, maybe…"

Hailey laughed shaking her head and the look Daniel gave her, so enraptured and in love, made Erin's heart beat a little faster.

Just a few seconds later, Danny realized Erin's presence and, faster than lightning, hid his face in her mother's hair and then curled up against her. Hailey squeezed it, running a light hand through his hair.

"Go to daddy and eat this cake together, okay?", she put him on the ground, extending the plastic plate with the slice of cake still perfect. He stared at the slice for a few moments before convincing himself and, after a second, he was already trotting away from them.

"Danny!", Hailey called him back almost immediately and the boy turned to her smiling.

"Not running", he mumbled before staggering towards his father sitting across the room.

"It will fall", sighed Hailey shaking her head.

And just when, after the umpteenth 'daddy' screamed, Danny was about to tumble to the ground, Jay caught him with one arm while the other grabbed the plate already almost on the ground.

"Crisis averted", smiled Erin.

"This time", other woman laughed, smiling at Jay's gaze from afar.

"Would you like another child?"

Hailey was silent and, for a moment, Erin wondered if she had heard her. But then, when she thought she would never answer her again, she opened her mouth.

"I haven't been thinking about anything else for a month", she smiled with a lost look in a world of his own, "How are you? I was in New York a few weeks, years ago, but it didn't seem appropriate to call you."

"I ... New York is beautiful, I like it. By now, I have learned its rhythm. I'm where I should be."

"I really hope you can be happy, Erin. Really."

Hailey smiled at her before shaking her head and hiding behind her own hair. She saw her nod and followed her gaze until found Jay looking at Hailey with raised eyebrows.

And it was all clear to Erin. She remembered Hailey's arrival in the kitchen a few hours earlier, as she had checked that Jay was fine without saying a word.

They controlled each other silently in every situation. They were always partners, on and off the field.

"It was always you, Hailey."

Erin opened her mouth before really thinking and found herself almost regretting what she had said before the prolonged silence of the woman next to her.

She saw Hailey glance from her to Jay, now busy convincing Danny not to squash the cake on Adam's jeans.

"I mean, I've known Jay for years. But that look…I've never seen it. It was always you. It's a compliment."

She squeezed her arm before walking away. It had been a strange evening, unexpected was the word that best described it. Painful? No, not painful. She had finally closed a chapter and was happy with it. Seeing him so happy made her more satisfied with how it had gone.

She still regretted so much that she ran away as she did, but if she remained probably Hailey would not have covered that important role in his life. And that blue-eyed boy would never have been born.

She felt almost stupid looking behind her and seeing Hailey laughing with Kevin and Vanessa and Jay making fun of Adam together with Kim with Danny lying on him, but all she felt was gratitude. She had been part of that family for years and, a part of her, felt pain so deep in the center of her chest that she was no longer part of it. And at the same time, she was so grateful to the world for making Jay find some peace. She had always wished him the best in life, despite having caused him so much pain.

"Hey, kid."

Erin jumped as she felt a hand resting on her shoulder. She would have recognized the deep voice that caught her off guard in any situation. She turned to find Voight looking at her sideways.

"You know this is your family too, don't you?"

By now she was no longer even surprised by the man's ability to read her.

"It was, not anymore. It's your family now. I'm fine in New York, I like what I do, what I am. And now I'll go away more serene because I know that I have not ruined everything."

"There will always be a place for you here, Erin. You never doubt it."

She nodded absently, "Are you okay? You happy?"

Voight stared at her severely for a few seconds. He knew her well enough to know that he was trying to escape from his speeches.

"I am lucky. I guess after losing everything, I have now found something."

His gaze wandered among the people in the room.

"You have a good team. I know they work well."

"We had some bad losses and some bad situations."

Erin knew him well enough to hear the flicker in his voice, imperceptible to anyone else. He knew that Hank was remembering her gone, Al's death, Antonio's gone…

"You know that, despite everything, I'm always there for you, right?"

"I know, but these people here are my everyday. Erin, you live in New York, don't make my mistake. Don't live in the past."

She nodded looking out the window. Danny's crystalline laughter penetrated her to the center of the heart.

"What are you thinking about?"

"That I'll leave shortly."

"That's not true."

Erin sighed and let out a sarcastic laugh. Did she really still believe she could lie to Voight?

"I think…I'm really happy Jay is happy. I'm happy he went on. I think I understood that coming here tonight, to tell him what I has said, was a mistake. But I also think I'm happy to have done it. Because seeing him like that makes me happy too. It means that I haven't completely destroyed him."

"Uh…Jay has had a bad time with self-destruction. And I almost feared having to remove him from the unit. But then that little blonde woman who, in some ways reminds me of you, started kicking his ass really really seriously."

Voight squeezed her shoulder and smiled at her, "And then Danny was born. I'm not ashamed to admit I was touched when I held him for the first time."

"You sound almost soft, Hank…"

"I've lost everything, everything. And then, I held Daniel and realized that life was still worth living."

"I'm really happy to see you like this. I leave with a lighter heart."

She left him a kiss on the cheek, delicate as a feather and then, with a light heart, went towards the door.

She turned back one last time only to impress what she had lost so many years before in her memory.

Hailey was slipping under Jay's arm while Danny laughed grabbing one strand of blonde hair with one hand. His other hand was tight against the collar of Jay's shirt that held him against his body as left a kiss in Hailey's hair.

He was fine and she, light-heartedly, did what she did best.

Erin silently walked out the door without greeting anyone.

Hi guys. Here I am with a new chapter which is the sequel to the previous one.

Now I'm passionate about Danny and, in my head, I still have some interesting scenarios. Would you like to me to go on?

I always thank everyone for following me with so much love.

I have to do two special thanks:

- this chapter was recommended to me by cb150681. Thanks and I hope I understand what you wanted! Let me know what you think.

- the other special thanks is to a person I met here and who, I have no doubts about it, is helping me so much to move forward in my fics. Thank you, now and forever. You know it.

See you soon!

I hope you are all well in this crazy world.