Thank you to everyone that read and reviewed on the last chapter! Also just to clear something up, in this story Natalie will be Natalie Conte, which is her maiden name and Jeff doesn't exist in this story.


"What do you mean Erin?" He asks as I look up at him with tears in my eyes. This is going to be over before it even starts.

"Jay I have to tell you something,"

ERIN

"What is it?" He asks, looking over at me with confusion as he places a hand on my shoulder, only making it that much harder. He's the guy, the one that I've been chasing my entire life. But I have to let it go. He won't want me.

"I am not who you think I am," I tell him, every ounce of logic in my body telling me to shut up. This is just not something I talk about. Since I left Chicago, I've only opened up to Kim and Hailey about my past and that took years. I've only known this guy for a couple weeks and I'm ready to spill my soul.

"What do you mean?" He asks, looking right through me with those big blue eyes.

"My parents aren't Hank and Camille Voight, they aren't a cop and an English teacher that live in Beverly." I tell him slowly, the lump starting to form in my throat as it becomes harder to speak.

"What the hell are you talking about?" He asks me again.

"Just let me finish please," I say, feeling the tears about to brim my eyes. "My mom's name is Bunny Fletcher, she's a drug addict and I don't know who my father is. My name was Cassidy King and I grew up on the streets. I started selling drugs for a guy named Charlie when I was 14 and I've been arrested more times than I'd like to admit." I say, trying and frankly failing to keep the tears at bay. I can feel them free falling from my eyes and my bottom lip shakes. "Whenever I got out of line, he hit me," I can see the color drain out of his face as his hand balls up into a fist.

"Erin," He says. I can't really tell the look on his face. I can see the anger filling his eyes, but I know that he feels bad for me. They always feel bad for you. The pity is always there. I know it will always be there.

"One day, when I was 16, he beat me within an inch of my life," I tell him, trying hard to choke back the tears and get it all out. "That's when I met Hank, he saved me." I almost smile as I think back to that night. I remember waking up in a hospital room in so much pain, but he was there. And from that day, he hasn't left my side. "That's when it started to turn around for me. My name was changed to Erin Lindsay and I entered protective custody and I never really left. I've been running from him ever since,,"

"Erin," He says again, his hand now on my knee.

"That's why I can't be with you." I say through tears, "You are amazing and wonderful and better than anything I deserve,"

"You deserve the world," He says quietly, though I ignore it.

"But," I continue, "You come with publicity and photographers and news articles and I just can't risk that and it's not fair to you to have to hide away, that's not fair to anyone,"

"Erin we can fix this, I can put a security detail on you. You'll be safe," He tells me, "Or we can get him arrested. I can get him in jail for the rest of his life,"

"You still don't need to be associated with me. I can't do that to you and to your family," He looks at me as he thinks my sentiment over as he takes a few deep breaths, running his hands over his short hair.

"So we cool it," He tells me again, echoing his earlier solution,"For real this time. I can't lose you Erin. Not over your past, everybody has one and I definitely can't lose you over my name,"

"What?" I say, looking over at him in shock. I don't know what I expected, but it wasn't this. I thought that he would rage or kick me out of the room. But he just looks at me with those kind eyes.

"We stay out of the public," He tells me as he wraps his hand in mine, "I tell my family, but we stay careful. I'm willing to try if you are,"

"You are really willing to do this for me?" I say, still not able to shake the shock from my face. "We've known each other two days,"

"I don't care. I know that you are something different. I know that you are worth trying. So, are you willing to try?" I hesitate before answering him. I've never had this, a guy like this. He's willing to move a mountain for me, risk everything with his family, for me.

"Yes."


ERIN

"I'll call you okay?" Jay says from the back of the blacked out SUV as I stand on the sidewalk, still dressed in the same clothes from yesterday.

"I'm looking forward to it," I tell him. After my declaration this morning and his very surprising response, we talked and I think we've worked something out that'll work. We keep it on the down low. He's going to talk to his family and I'm going to talk to mine and I'll go down to his family's apartment in LA when he's down here, which I've learned won't be very much. I still wouldn't be able to tell you why I said yes to this. It's crazy and wild, it probably won't even work, but we're both willing to try.

It doesn't feel like real life. This isn't what happens to people, especially to people like me. I already had my miracle, I got Hank and Camille. That doesn't happen twice. But apparently, I'm willing to roll the dice.

"C'mere," He says as he looks over at me, a tease in his eye.

"What do you want Halstead?" I say with a bit of a laugh as walk back over to the car.

"You," He says with a smile as he loops his arm around my waist and pulls me in for a kiss. I can feel my heart stop for a second. He kisses me like no one has ever kissed me before. I feel myself start to melt into him,becoming more and more comfortable by the second.

"What happened to cooling it?" I say with a smile as I reluctantly pull away from him, instantly just wanting to kiss him again.

"I don't know when I'm seeing you next, we can cool it tomorrow," He says tell me with a grin.

"Okay," I say with a smile. "I'll call you tonight,"

"I look forward to it," He tells me, "I've got a question for you though,"

"What's up?" I ask as I lean against the frame of the dark car.

"What are you to me? Just for me to tell my family," He asks.

"What do you want me to be?" I ask him with a smirk. I almost have to stop myself. I can't believe the complete 180 that I've done in the last twelve hours. I guess my fear was always my past and he realized that fear.

"I'd like for you to be my girlfriend," He tells me, seeming almost laughable nervous.

"Your secret girlfriend?" I add, knowing the circumstances.

"Yes, my secret girlfriend," He tells me, that stupid smirk smeared across his face.

"Well you didn't have to go all seventh grade on me, but sure. Call me what you want okay?" I tell him as I hang on the frame of the car.

"Okay," He tells me, "I'll see you soon,"

"Get out of here before a paparazzi swarms my house," I tell him with a smile. Truth be told, the last thing I want to do is tell him to leave, but I know that standing in my driveway isn't going to work either. I'll see him soon enough.

"Goodbye Erin,"

"See you later Halstead," I say before reluctantly shutting the door and watching the SUV roll back down my street. I stand there for a minute, still shellshocked over how much my life has changed in the last week. It's insane, completely insane. But it's real.


JAY

I'm shocked to say the least. When she told me that she had something to tell me, I don't know what I thought she was going to say, but it definitely was not that. Maybe that she was going to tell me that she had commitment issues or that her parents hated my family or something. I didn't think she would say that she used to be someone else or that a drug dealer almost beat her to death. Nothing like that.

I just wanted to give her a hug, hold her tight in my arms and tell her that everything was going to be okay. I saw the fear in her eyes, the way they iced over and the way that her lip quivered when she said his name. It nearly broke me.

I don't know what it is about her that makes me feel this way, what tempted me to come find her and make her mine, what makes me feel like I would walk to the end of the world for a girl that I barely know. My mom always said, that when you know, you just know. And I guess I know.


"Well you're back early," Abby says with a smile as she notices me walking into her office, family pictures smiling back at me from every wall, of course dominated by her daughter.

"Meetings were quick and the plane flew fast," I tell her as I plop myself on one of the couches in her office, that horrible feeling of plane scum still all over me.

"And why exactly did you come here?" She asks as she walks over to me, pulling her impossibly tall heels off as she throws herself on the other side of the couch, her shoulder length hair perfectly curled as always. "Though I'm not complaining, you're giving me an excuse to take a break,"

"I have to talk to you," I admit to her. While she's not the first person I'd like to talk to, I know I should. She'll know what to tell me, whether or not I want to hear it.

"Oh Lord, what did you do this time?" She says as she sits up frantically.

"Remember that girl from the pictures?" I tell her nervously as I pull on my fingers, my telling nervous tic.

"You did exactly what I told you not to do didn't you?" She says with a sigh as she falls back into the couch.

"I'm sorry Abby,"

"What are you sorry about?" She asks. The two of has have always had a completely open policy, even when we were younger. She was always my greatest confidant, always there to listen, even though I was just her annoying little brother. Even after she went to college and got married and we both grew up, if I ever needed to talk, I knew that Abby would always be there with an ear. But we aso made a deal to never lie to one another.

"I told you last week that she was just a friend, and she was. But I wanted her to be more than that,"

"What changed?" She asks as she looks over at me, those big blue eyes matching mine.

"Her mind," I tell her carefully. "She was willing to jump for me, willing to take a chance."

"Jay why is this girl such a big deal?"

"She's different, than any girl I've dated before. She doesn't care that Mom's the President, it took me a week to convince her to even agree to go out with me,"

"But," She starts for me, knowing what's coming.

"She's got a past and it's not great," I say reluctantly. I didn't want to have to tell her and Erin definitely didn't want to let me tell her, but I knew that if this got out, we'd need to have a plan in place, both to take care of the media and make sure that Erin is safe. Abby will be able to keep her mouth shut, while quickly and quietly putting together that plan.

"You were quite the playboy in college and we took care of that didn't we?" She says jokingly.

"It's not like Abs," I tell her, my voice low.

"What do you mean?" She asks, realizing the severity of the situation.

"She's from Chicago, not a great area of the city. Her mom was a drug addict and she doesn't know who her father is." I say quietly.

"She's in college though right?" She says, looking for the bright side. "That's easy to spin,"

"Abby I'm not done," I tell her as I try to settle her down. I just want to get this over with, I hate that I have to do this.

"Sorry, sorry, I'll shut up," She says as she nods over at me.

"She used to deal drugs and her boss I guess, some guy named Charlie almost killed her when she was 16. She entered protective custody and I guess she never really left,"

"What do you mean she never really left?" Abby asks as her brow furrows.

"She changed her name and she never changed it back, because that guy," I say, so much anger in my voice. "He's still chasing her,"

"Wow," She says quietly as she looks down at her lap. There's few things that will render my big sister speechless, but I guess this fits the bill.

"That's why she didn't want to even try. She didn't want to tarnish Mom's reputation and she didn't want to be found," I tell her. I can see the sympathy on her face. She went through something similar with her husband Graham, not to this degree, but his father is well known for being a very Conservative senator and it's a bit of an understatement that party loyalists on both sides weren't super happy with the union.

"What changed her mind?"

"I told her that we'd be careful, make sure that no one found her and that if they did, it wouldn't get back to Chicago,"

"Jay you know that we can't promise that," She says, telling me everything that I already know.

"We can try," I insist.

"Okay," She says softly, "I need to meet her,"

"What?" I exclaim at her. I expected her to lecture me, tell me how stupid it was. I didn't expect this.

"I will make sure that it happens quietly and I won't tell Mom or Dad or Nora or Will or Maddie, but I need to meet her," She says again.

"Why?" I ask. "Do you not trust me?"

"You know that I trust you JJ, you're my little if we are going to go to bat for this girl, if our family, if the freaking White House is going to go to bat for her, I need to know her. And I need to know why she's worth it," She tells me, a foreign force in her voice. I groan. Erin's not going to like it. She's going to hate it. I don't like it either. But we don't have a choice.

"Okay,"


Sorry it took so long to get this chapter up! I've been writing lines in like four minute sessions backstage, so it's been a little crazy, but I hope you guys liked it! If you did, please let me know with a review!

Xoxo,

Addie