Sam disconnected from Oliver and went back to the conference room that Dov and Chloe were set up in. He stepped in and Dov looked his way about to say something until he saw the look on Sam's face.
"What happened?", Dov asked.
"It's young, they found bleeding in her brain, they are taking her into surgery. They're worried about a stroke."
"Jesus," Dov began, "does she have any family here?"
"She was single, that's all I know. So far, it's just us. I'm going down there, Shaw's on his way. You two keep working this, I'll let you know if something happens."
"Will do," Chloe replied.
Sam was halfway down the hall to the elevators when he stopped, turned around, and ran back to Dov and Chloe. "Shaw told me that he may have something linking the baby to Barrie, I don't know what. I'll get it from him when he gets here, but see if you can use that info somehow."
Sam ran back to the elevators and jabbed the call button a few times, got tired of waiting, and went for the stairs. He jogged the few floors down to the E.R. waiting room and emerged into a crowd of officers. Word had gotten out and spread quickly. Sam remembered a similar scene when everyone was here for Jerry. The thought choked him up for a moment. He composed himself and sought out Andy.
He found her slouched in a chair facing the windows. He squatted down beside her.
"Anything new?", Sam asked.
Andy shook her head and put her head in her hands.
Sam wrapped an arm around her shoulders and comforted her. They stayed like that until Sam saw Oliver walk through the door, scan the room, and head their way. "Oliver's here," he lightly told Andy.
Andy lifted her head and stood up with Sam to talk with their boss.
"What's the latest?", Oliver asked.
Andy spoke up, "They rushed her back to the O.R. They would say anything except they had to go now and they would try their best."
"Is her family here? Next-of-kin?"
"Not yet," Andy responded. "I've got Chris and Marcy trying to track that down."
"Well then, I guess we wait." Oliver, Andy, and Sam all sat down.
"Oliver," Sam began, "I've still got Dov and Chloe working the baby girl, what's up with Barrie?"
"Detective Mitchell from Traffic got this information from Barrie P.D. The deceased driver of the car stole it from his mother who lives up there. His name is Sean Adams, her name is Edith Clarke. She re-married. Barrie informed her of her son's death, she's coming down tomorrow."
"We'll talk to her, but how does the baby fit in?", Sam asked.
"Don't know, mother said he has no children, doesn't even believe he has a girlfriend."
Sam's phone beeped, a text from Epstein. 'Baby's test came back. Significant neurological damage, suspect shaken baby.'
"I got to go back upstairs, Dov says they think the baby was shaken," Sam informed the group.
"Ah hell," Oliver muttered. "From the accident or before?"
"Didn't say, I'll go get some more details, and I'll pass along the Barrie information."
Sam walked over to the elevators, this time the doors opened immediately. When he got to the conference room, he found the doctor in charge of the baby's care standing next to the door.
"Detective Swarek," the doctor greeted him. "I just got done telling your officers that the baby girl has significant neurological damage. Unresponsive eyes, tremors, irritability, some signs of paralysis, even some seizures. All of those symptoms point to shaken baby syndrome."
"Can you tell if it was from the accident or before?"
"Oh, this happened before. Some of the symptoms are rather advanced. I'm afraid the quality of life for this poor child won't be very good."
Sam clenched his fists in anger. He turned to Dov and Chloe, "You guys got anything, yet?"
"Afraid not," Dov replied. "There's nothing here," he indicated the mess of papers scattered across the table.
"Doctor, can we get a DNA sample from the baby? I want to get it to our lab."
"No problem, Detective. I'll send it with a nurse right away."
"Thanks," Sam said as the Doctor left the room. Turning back to Dov and Chloe, "Okay, guys, here's what we got on Barrie…"
Sam filled them in and when he was done he told them to pack up here and rush that sample to the lab when it comes, have it ran against the driver, Sean Adams. Sam glanced at his watch. "It's not too late yet, I want it run tonight, don't take 'no' for an answer. We need to have this figured out when Mrs. Clarke comes in tomorrow."
Dov and Chloe said they'd handle it and Sam left to head back down to the elevator. Again, it opened right up. Maybe the night was turning around, Sam mused to himself. As he pushed the button for the main floor, his phone rang. It was Oliver. He answered but the call was breaking in-and-out. Reception wasn't that good in the elevator shaft. "Oliver… Brother, I can't hear you. I'm heading back down, I talk to you in a minute." He disconnected and when the car came to a stop and let him out, he walked in to the fear he'd been trying to keep buried. Officers silent with thousand-yard stares, some struggling to stay composed, others huddled in small groups quietly trying to comfort each other. He found Andy sitting with Oliver in one of the latter. Peck and Foxx had joined them. He hustled over and squatted down in front of his wife.
She tried to speak but couldn't get anything out between the sobs. She didn't need to, Sam knew. He looked to Oliver "What happened?"
"They, um, lost her on the table." Oliver let a few tears run down his cheeks, sniffled, and recomposed himself. "Too much hemorrhaging in the brain."
They all processed that for a minute then Sam asked, "Do Diaz and Zettle know? Have they found a relative?"
"I let them know, they identified a brother in London. They were reaching out to London P.D. to make the notification."
"Okay, I'll fill in Epstein and Price." He whipped out his phone and composed a brief text to Dov. He kissed Andy on the top of her head and cradled her into his arms.
"I've got Epstein and Price taking a DNA sample from the baby to our lab to run again the driver. Just to nail that loose end down before his mother comes in."
Oliver nodded, "Good call."
Nobody else said anything for a while. There was nothing left to say.
The next day, parade was understandably muted as a heavily somber mood hung over the division, over the whole service, for that matter. Anytime an officer died in the line of duty, support poured in from all over. Every officer in the Service as well as the fire department had wrapped a black band around their badge, and got back to work. Because that's what first responders do.
Oliver didn't have much to offer so he just took role and announced the parings. "Everybody, stay safe today and keep everyone else safe," was how he concluded before returning to his office."
Sam kissed Andy good bye and told her he was here if she needed anything. Dov was already at their desks when Sam got there.. "Did we get those test results back yet?", Sam asked.
"Yep, they just got dumped a few minutes ago, while we were in parade."
Sam opened it up and looked at the results. A match, Sean Adams was the baby's father. "Have you see the results?"
Dov nodded.
"Well, at least we know the poor girl has family," Sam said. "If the doctor is right, she is really going to need it." Family Services had custody over the baby right now so Sam shot the case worker an email on the findings. Ms. Clarke was due in soon so Sam and Dov sat, waiting for her to arrive.
Oliver was sitting in his office trying to rub a building headache away when his phone rang. He reached for it blindly, missed the first time, but grabbed the receiver on his second try. "Yeah, this is Shaw," he answered.
"Hello Staff Sergeant, this is Detective Carter from SIU."
"What can I do for you Detective?"
"I just wanted to say I'm sorry for your squad's loss. And don't worry, we won't be investigating anything any further. I've cleared the whole incident and signed off on it."
"I happy to hear that Aaron."
"Yeah, well, her actions probably saved that Baby's life. If she had slammed in to that car, I shudder to think what would have happened to that poor kid."
"As it turns out, the baby has some neurological damage. The docs think she was shaken before the accident."
"That's just fuckin' awful. How could a person do that?"
"I don't know man, it's a sick world sometimes."
"Yeah. Well, anyway, we all know Young was a hero. And there won't be anything that besmirches that from us."
"I appreciate it Aaron."
"Take care of yourself, and your squad." Carter clicked off and Oliver placed the receiver back in its cradle and let out a sigh. Maybe a little relief? He was really dreading having to tell Young's brother that his heroic sister was facing possible investigation from SIU. Part of the immense weight of everything that had transpired in the last day just came off his shoulders. He gathered himself and got back to work. He had to lead, that's what everyone was looking up at him to do and that's what he would do.