A/N: Sorry the update is a little late, uni has been ridiculously busy. Hoping to get the next few chapters out in the next few days. Hope you guys enjoy it, let me know what you think :)
It was Jay's first day back at work and he was as excited as a kid on Christmas morning. He had got out of bed an hour earlier than necessary so that he could make breakfast for himself and Erin. He savoured the moment as he completed two actions he thought he'd never get to do again, hang his badge around his neck and holster his gun against his hip. Jay was standing by the door with his jacket on and Erin's keys in his hand, ready to go to work when Erin strolled into the kitchen, her coat folded over her arm, in no hurry to get to work because it was never something she took for granted. When Erin looked up, she saw Jay fidgeting and as she walked towards him, she immediately felt the nervous energy radiating off of him. "Ready to go?" She said, already knowing the answer so not really paying attention to his response. And even though her eyes weren't on him, Jay still nodded and then held out her keys so they could finally leave for work and Jay could try and get back into the routine he so desperately craved.
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The whole unit knew that Jay and Erin were together. Everyone knew it even before the couple themselves announced it. Between longing glances and small but frequent touches, every member of the unit had individually become aware of the private relationship. So when on Jay's first day, the two walked up the stairs to the bullpen together, no one was surprised. Everyone called out, "Jay!" Excited to see him back to work and somewhat back to normal. The whole unit got up from the desks and moved over to greet the returning detective. After a series of handshakes and hugs, Jay was finally met with his boss's hand thrust in front of him to shake. "Welcome back Jay, we're all happy to see you healthy and ready to work," Hank rasped, then he looked around the room at his unit, lingering and not doing work. So he then said, "Now back to work, the lot of you."
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When the intelligence unit got the call about a crime scene, the decision was made that because the house had been cleared, Erin could come with to search for evidence, despite her insisting she's not focused enough to be out in the field. Because it was Jay's first day, he was not allowed to leave the precinct, so Erin drove over to the scene with Hank. "You know kid, it's been awhile since we've partnered up like this. I like having you in my car," he said, glancing over in his daughter's direction with a half-smile. "I like spending time with you too Hank," Erin responded and then she patted his hand before unbuckling her seatbelt to get out the car and enter the building. The house had already been cleared by patrol, so when the intelligence unit made their way through the rooms, no guns were drawn. The house looked as if it had been ransacked, but as they were trying to search for evidence, gloves were donned as they meticulously swept through each room. There was a body in the kitchen, which was being assessed by CSI, who were taking pictures and swabs. As Hank and Erin approached body, Antonio turned to face them and then updated them on the situation. He said, "The deceased was a male in his mid to late twenties, two GSW's. The shot to the stomach looks longer distance but the shot to the head looks close range. The wounds look similar in size, but the experts are going to use an algorithm back in the lab to compare the beveling of the skin and bone to see if the two shots came from the same gun. So at the moment we're not sure if it's two perps or one, but there's a load of evidence here to collect so I reckon we'll be here for a while." Erin and Hank both left Antonio and the CSI team to their work, and the two proceeded through the house. Atwater and Ruzek were out canvassing the neighbourhood, and Al and Jay were back at the precinct, and Antonio was downstairs with the body. As Erin and Hank made their way through the different rooms, they only anticipated collecting evidence. But as they walked into a bedroom upstairs, they found another victim. A woman, similar in age to the other victim with only one shot to the abdomen but it looked like the shooter didn't wait to see if she died because there was large smear of blood on the floor which suggested that she had crawled towards the door after she had been shot. Hank called out to Antonio downstairs, "Dawson! We've got a body up here." They waited a second and then they heard Antonio call out a response, "Ok, I'll send some people up, we're almost done with this one downstairs." When the first CSI team member arrived upstairs, Hank and Erin moved out of the room to let them work and they continued to search the upstairs. They found another bedroom, this time with no body, but it was decorated for a kid. The walls were pale yellow will different animals painted on them. There was a bed and not a crib, so they knew the child was older than a toddler. The cupboards looked well stocked with clothes and the shelves were filled with books and toys and pictures of the family. This child looked well looked after, but where was he?
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They searched the rest of the house, taking a particular interest in all the small places that a child could hide but there was still no sign of him. So the team all reconvened at the precinct to see if Jay, Mouse and Al had found out any information about who the perps were and where the kid could be. They'd got a hit from facial recognition and had found out that the couple were Dean and Rebecca Castle and they had four-year-old son Tommy. As pictures were being stuck to the notice board, Hank said, "Ok so we know who they are, and we've come to the conclusion that this was a robbery gone wrong. But why take the kid? Was he an unexpected witness? Were the doers not heartless enough to kill a child? And we still don't know why these very normal people were worth robbing and killing!" Al then peered out from his hiding spot and said. "I was checking his bank account and he just bought a flashy new car. Maybe someone saw him and then followed him back to the house." Everyone nodded along, seeming to accept Al's explanation, especially because the new car was nowhere to be seen when the team was at the crime scene. Atwater then said, "So the kid…." and left his statement open ended for someone else to fill in. It was Jay who finished his colleague's sentence and suggested, "He saw the crime and they didn't want any witnesses." The was a pregnant pause before Hank rasped, "Then we're on the clock. The more time they have this kid, the more likely they are to kill him. So let's go through street cameras, let's get back into the neighbourhood to canvas and let's get on the phone to the lab to see if there's any usable prints or hairs." Everyone seemed to process the information, but no one moved, so Hank then barked, "Now!"
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Despite taking the kid because they didn't want him to talk, the perps were sloppy enough to leave their prints all over the house. There were the prints of two different perps – Frank May and Laurence Kantar. The two had long histories of breaking and entering and small robberies. Neither of them had ever been violent, so the intelligence team hoped that meant that the pair wouldn't kill Tommy, but they couldn't be sure, so they were moving as fast as possible to try and get a location. They decided it was best to go undercover in the bar they frequent and then follow them back to wherever they were going. By the time Adam and Al were fitted with earpieces and dressed appropriately for a scummy bar, it was already 8:00pm. While Jay and Mouse stayed back at the precinct, the other members of intelligence were stationed in cars outside the bar. Hank and Kevin were in a SUV across the road from the front door and Erin and Antonio were also in a SUV but were parked around the side. Erin and Antonio were listening to Adam and Al but were also catching up because the suspects weren't yet at the bar. They'd talked about Antonio's kids and wife and as they started to talk about Jay and his recovery Erin suddenly became very pale and clammy. Antonio furrowed his eyebrows and asked, "Are you ok Erin? You look a bite pale." But before Antonio had finished his sentence Erin had opened the car door, leaned out and vomited. After a few minutes, once she felt like her stomach had settled and the fresh air had calmed her, Erin sat back in her seat and shut the door. Antonio silently passed her a bottle of water and a packet of mints to clear the taste out of her mouth. Erin said, "Thanks Tony. I feel fine, maybe I ate something off at lunch." The lie felt bad as soon as it had she had said it. Erin barely let her lie sit for a minute before she corrected herself and said, "That was a lie. I didn't eat something off. I was sick because I'm pregnant. And morning sickness is false because it's definitely all-day sickness. And we haven't told Hank yet, so Jay and I would appreciate if you'd keep it on the down low." Antonio's eyes went wide at Erin's admission and then before she could react, he had pulled her into a hug. "That's great Erin, I'm so happy for both of you, you'll be great parents!" A few minutes later there was chatter over the microphones, so their conversation was pushed to the back of their minds.
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Adam and Al easily befriended the two suspects and even convinced them to take them back to their place so they could continue the party. Once they were inside, Adam and Al managed to get them under control before calling out for the rest of intelligence to come inside to search for the boy. Hank and Kevin went upstairs, while Erin and Antonio searched the downstairs. There was a door in the kitchen that took the pair down into a basement. As soon as the door was opened, they could hear crying and sniffling, so they knew they had found Tommy. Antonio said into the radio that they'd found the boy and were going to coax him out of his hiding place. Erin softly said, "Tommy, we're the police, we're not here to hurt you. We want to take you home." As they came down the stairs, they couldn't see him anywhere and the more noise the detectives made, the louder Tommy's crying became. As they progressed further into the room, they realised the only place he could be was under the bed. So Erin sat on her knees and peered under the bed. The sight she saw was Tommy, curled up in a ball, tightly hugging his knees, pushed up against the wall as far away from Erin as he could be. Erin reached a hand under the bed and said, "Hi Tommy, my name is Erin and I'm here with my friend Antonio and we're just going to sit here until you're ready to come out." Erin then swiveled her legs around and sat with her back against the bed and Antonio sat down next to her. They heard some shuffling, but the boy didn't crawl out, so Erin turned to Antonio and said, "Tony, maybe once we get back to the precinct, we can get some ice cream, what do you think?" Antonio smiled at her and said, "You know, I think that can be arranged. What do you think Tommy, fancy some ice cream?" As Antonio finished asking his question, the detectives heard movement, so they stood up and helped Tommy get out from under the bed. Although his crying had stopped, his eyes were red and puffy, and he was using his left hand to hold his right forearm which looked bruised and swollen. Erin gave him a small wave and Tommy waved back at her. Erin then crouched down to his height and said," Hi Tommy, we're going to take you somewhere safe now, but first I think we should take you to the doctors because that arm looks a little sore …yeah?" Tommy just nodded, so Erin then said, "Want to walk up the stairs or want to be carried?" The little boy thought about it for a second before he lifted his arms up to Erin gesturing that he wanted to be carried. Antonio moved to lift him up, but Erin was much closer, and she thought Tommy would be more comfortable with a female, so she lifted him into her arms and began to climb the stairs out of the basement.