Meeting Jay's eyes almost hurt more than the injuries she had sustained over the last 24 hours. Instead of the light emotions and love she'd grown used to during their relationship, all she saw was guarded mistrust. The same mistrust was evident in his closed off body language; he sat back in the chair as though he didn't care but his arms were crossed in front of his chest to keep her locked out. She knew she couldn't look at him and manage to get her story out, so her eyes returned to her hands which were still fidgeting with the blanket.

"When I left 6 months ago, it wasn't exactly voluntary. The FBI had my mom implicated in that drug case we were working. They also had been collecting dirt on our team while trying to find information to lure me in. I was given the ultimatum: join them in New York as a member of their team or they were going to put my mom away and take down the Intelligence unit. I was done with cleaning up after my mom but I couldn't let them destroy the unit, my real family. And with everything else that was happening here, the choice seemed easy at the time.

"During the first month there, I was in training 12 hours a day. I decided that despite the circumstances leading to me being in New York, the job deserved a fair shot. The second month it became clear they were going to need to send someone deep undercover to break up the sex trafficking ring they were going after. My hard work during training and my history with these types of cases combined with being a new face made me perfect for this op.

"Two of the girls who had gone missing attended the same school. Once all the staff was cleared we set up an office in the basement. My hair was dyed to make me look high school age and I was put under as a student. Each day I would show up for school and spend the day working in the basement. During the afternoons I would wait tables at a local diner near where another couple girls had gone missing. Apparently I played the part well because about two months in I was taken as I left work.

"From that point on, I was deep under but had a tracker and a mic on at all times. The things I saw, some of the things I had to do, were horrible but I knew my team was gathering more and more information. It's amazing the amount of things people will say in front of you when they think you're worthless.

"I was moved around a lot until eventually one of those moves took me and a group of other girls here to Chicago. I'm still not sure what went wrong last night. The usual guy put me in a car but instead of going to meet a client, I was taken to an alley and attacked. I'm not sure if my cover was blown or if my time was just up, but either way I can't stay here. If they find out I'm not dead, they'll hunt me down. I can't put you in danger like that."

By the end of her story, Erin was crying lightly. Jay was no longer sitting but pacing restlessly behind the couch. About halfway through, Hank had covered her hands with his own, both in a show of support and to keep her from picking a hole in the blanket.

When Hank spoke, his voice was even rougher than normal with emotion. "You're crazy if you think we're letting you go anywhere."

Erin knew this would be his response. She resigned herself to the fact that she would be in Chicago, and possibly this apartment for as long as it took to close this case. She met Hank's eyes and let out a sigh. "Then I'm going to need a favor…. Can you get me an untraceable laptop and a burner phone?"

AN: Now you know where she's been, what happened, and more importantly, why she hasn't been in touch the whole time she's been gone. The next chapter will be a good one: lots of one-on-one Linstead interaction!