A/N: Hello hello everyone! I'm back with a fresh new chapter (one of my personal favorites of this story) and a lot of awesome ideas I can't wait to share in the future. Of course, you know that I am always open to reviews and PM's, so if you have any suggestions on where you would like to see the story go next feel free to let me know! Thanks for sticking with my through my weird hiatuses :)
With no family to inform of the victim's death, Jay and Erin made their way back to the district in the mid-afternoon. The whole car ride over they bounced ideas off of each other of whether or not this was a stranger or someone the victim knew and trusted. Without any information on her social relationships or past, the Intelligence Unit would be as good as lost until they found someone who actually knew Victoria Evans.
As they pulled into their usual parking spot, Erin spotted Maggie Halstead sitting on the bench outside of the district with a woman, who she assumed was her nanny.
"Surprise", was all Jay said as he unbuckled his seatbelt and got out of the car.
Erin couldn't hold back her smile as she watched a similar one spread across her partner's face. "So, that text message was not about the zoo", Erin pried trying to get the truth from him.
"I can neither confirm nor deny that", Jay said as he walked across the street. "All I can say is that I know you wanted to see her", he began to explain.
"Damn it. I ask too many questions", Erin quickly thought to herself as Jay made that statement. But, what he had said was true. She did want to see Maggie again.
"And I think it's time that I introduce her to everyone", Jay finished his statement.
Before Erin could say anything in return, Maggie spotted the pair walking closer to her and immediately sprung up from her seat, sprinting toward them as fast as she could.
"Daddy", she exclaimed preparing herself to jump right into Jay's arms. It seemed like such perfect timing. The second she jumped, Jay was there to immediately catch Maggie.
"Hey Mags", Jay said as he kissed her cheek gently and Erin watched Maggie squirm as his rough scruff made contact with her soft cheeks.
"Hi Erin", Maggie said as she made eye contact with her father's partner and gave her the biggest smile.
"Hi Maggie", Erin said returning the four year old's contagious smile. Erin noticed the smallest little dimples show in her cheeks when she showed that smile and it absolutely made Erin's heart swell with love for this little girl that she barely even knew.
Maggie wiggled out of her father's embrace, standing back on her own feet, right next to Erin as the nanny Jay described earlier came over to them.
"Rachel, this is my partner, Erin", Jay introduced them to each other as Rachel outstretched her hand to shake Erin's.
"It's really nice to meet you", Rachel said with a smile. As soon as Erin released Rachel's hand, Maggie tugged on Erin's shirt and attempted to pull her down to her height.
"Rachel got me out of school early today so I could come visit you and Daddy at work", Maggie said with a smile.
"But, I'm missing end of the day playground time", she frowned.
"Well, I am sure we can make it up to you", Erin said watching as a smile came over Maggie's face. Erin could tell Maggie was waiting for the way how they would make it up to her and she was desperately trying to come up with something. The Intelligence Unit really wasn't anywhere for little kids to hang out, but there had to be something she could impress Maggie with.
"Our sergeant upstairs has a big office and I bet if you ask really nicely he'll let you sit in his desk and pretend to be the boss", Erin finally came up with something.
The idea seemed to be perfect for Maggie as Erin saw her eyes light up with enthusiasm. "Will you play with me", she asked.
"Of course", Erin said tucking a piece of Maggie's hair behind her ear, as the fall wind blew it out of place.
"Alright. Are we ready to go inside", Jay asked as he came up behind them after discussing with the plans for next week with Rachel.
"Yep", Maggie said as she began to jump up and down. Knowing exactly where to go, after watching her father enter those double doors countless of times, Maggie led the way to the front steps outside the district. Of course, she did not know what was going to be behind those gigantic doors that her father opened up, for both her and Erin.
As the three of them made their way up the steps and through another set of giant doors, Maggie stopped in her tracks as she took in the number of people in the front lobby. Erin was the first to notice Maggie's sudden loss of energy and the shocked expression come over her face.
"Maggie", was all Erin said as she took in the overwhelmed expression on the little Halstead's face. Maggie didn't say anything. Instead, she simply reached out her hand, in search of some sort of comforting contact from Erin.
She was in a strange place, where everyone was bigger than her and she only knew two people. So, without even second guessing her actions, Erin linked her own hand with Maggie's small clammy one.
"So, introduce me", Platts voice snapped Erin out of her own bubble with Maggie, watching as Jay turned around and noticed the pair were now holding hands.
"Maggie, this is Sergeant Platt", Erin said as she slowly led Maggie up to the front desk that was twice the little girl's height.
Maggie stretched her neck up and made eye contact with Trudy Platt, who had an out of character smile on her face. "Hi", she said, giving Trudy a small smile in return.
"How old are you, Maggie", Trudy asked curiously. "Four and three quarters", Maggie stated proudly, growing more comfortable in the situation.
"You're pretty smart, aren't you", Trudy said laughing. "Smarter than your Dad, who is going to have a lot of explaining to do to his team", she said looking in Jay's direction.
As Jay was defending himself, Erin felt Maggie tug on their intertwined hands and begin to pull her down. "Daddy was right", Maggie whispered in her ear. "Platt is very grumpy to him", she said.
Erin couldn't hold back the laughter that escaped her mouth. Of course Jay had told his daughter about the grumpy desk sergeant at the twenty first district. At the sound of Erin's laughter, Maggie's face lit up with a wide grin, pleased that she was able to make her laugh.
"Come on, let's go upstairs", Erin said as she led Maggie over to the stairs and began to show her how they logged in with their handprint at the gate.
"Better get up there before Lindsay tells the whole story", Platt said to Jay, finally allowing him to return his attention back to Erin and Maggie. Erin had now lifted Maggie up on her hip and shown her how her little tiny palm would not allow them to get through the gate.
Jay knew, as he watched Maggie giggle and smile while Erin talked to her on the stairs, that those two were soon going to be inseparable.
"See ya later, Platt", Jay called out as he left the place where he stood at the front desk and joined Erin and Maggie.
"What are you two doing", Jay asked as he climbed the steps up to the gate.
"Daddy! You have to let us in because my handprint doesn't work and neither does Erin's", Maggie exclaimed upon his arrival.
Jay simply obliged, putting his hand in the scanner and punching in the follow up code. Immediately the loud buzzing of the gate went off and all three were allowed entrance.
"Our hero", Erin exclaimed playfully, watching as Maggie laughed. She set the eager little girl back down on the ground, allowing her to climb up the stairs.
"You and I both know your handprint works fine", Jay said, teasing his partner.
"My right one does. But, my left isn't registered in the system", Erin explained. "It just makes a fun game for Maggie", she said smiling from ear to ear.
The two adults watched as Maggie repeated her freezing in place act, as she reached the last two steps to enter the unit. Immediately, Jay and Erin picked up their pace so they could stand next to her, where this time Maggie reached for her father's hand. As they approached the top step, Jay and Erin noticed no one from the Intelligence Unit was present in the 'bullpen'. Voight was in his office on the phone, but none of the other detectives were present.
"Wanna see where I sit, Maggie", Erin asked, disturbing the silence as she bent down and reached out her hand in Maggie's direction.
Maggie's nerves immediately washed away as she nodded her head in excitement to finally see where her dad and Erin worked. Jay watched as Erin led Maggie over to her desk and picked her up, so she was able to sit in her lap at her usual seat across from him. Maggie's curiosity was in overdrive as she took in all of the different things sitting on Erin's desk. There were dozens of colored post-it notes, pens, files, and a sole framed picture of the whole unit sitting on the desk. To Maggie, each of the objects were practically inviting her to check them out with her own two hands. So, immediately she picked up a colored pen and announced she would be drawing a picture for Erin.
"So, nothing on our D.O.A" , Voight suddenly asked as he came out of his office and looking directly at Jay. He had yet to notice Maggie's presence yet.
"Her name is Victoria Evans. She has no family and unless I find any priors in the system, no ties of any sort to the city of Chicago", Jay answered.
"I don't think it was a stranger either. Whoever did this knew her", Erin announced.
Voight turned in Erin's direction, to listen to what she had to say, but barely registered any of it as he took in the sight of the small girl sitting on Erin's lap. He knew she must be Halstead's kid. She was practically the spitting image of him. Voight was immediately grateful the whiteboard was turned over, so the four year old wouldn't be scarred forever by the images of the crime.
"Sarge, this is my daughter, Maggie", Jay introduced as he stood from his desk next to Voight.
"It's very nice to meet you, Maggie", Hank said with a smile. "Your voice is really scratchy", Maggie immediately announced. All three adults laughed at her unfiltered comment to the man she had just met. Obviously, Maggie was not afraid to tell the truth.
"Well, that's because I talk all day in order to keep your Dad and all of the other detectives in line", Voight said.
"We've got miniscule evidence at the crime scene", Ruzek announced as himself, Dawson, Atwater, and Olinsky entered the room.
"There was some blood smear where the body was located, but it most likely belongs to the victim", Atwater announced walking past Erin and Jay and towards the direction of the whiteboard.
"Kev", Jay practically shouted before he could even get his hands on the whiteboard. The last thing he needed right now was Maggie having nightmares from what she saw on that whiteboard.
Kevin immediately stopped his actions and by now, since everyone was looking at Jay, they noticed Maggie. "Uh..guys, this is my daughter Maggie", he said. At the sound of her name, Maggie sprung from her seat with Erin and walked over to Jay, who picked her up.
Erin watched as expressions of complete shock overtook each detective's face, except Antonio. Jay had told her that Antonio knew about Maggie, but had never met her, similar to Voight.
"Well, it is very nice to meet you, Maggie", Antonio smiled, getting a smile in return from the little girl.
"You're my Daddy's friend", she exclaimed. "You helped him get his police job", she stated proudly.
"I hope that's all you shared with her", Antonio laughed, patting Jay on the back and then returning to his desk.
"Well, I am glad my assumptions were right", Olinsky spoke up. All of the detectives looked over at him, not understanding anything Alvin was saying. "What? I rode in your car with you once and there was glitter everywhere and I was just you know worried that..", he began to explain.
"OKAY!", everyone yelled at the same time, immediately shutting down Alvin's story before he even could finish telling it.
"Well, I am glad the first thing you thought of was that I had a kid", Jay laughed along with everyone else.
"Can I go back and color with Erin", Maggie leaned over to whisper in Jay's ear. "Yeah, of course", Jay said setting her down on the ground and watching as she went back to her comfortable spot with Erin.
"Look Halstead, I am not gonna say much because your kid's around, but Atwater and I are kinda offended we didn't know", Adam piped in.
"Yeah, man. I thought we were friends", Kevin added to the conversation.
As the three 'fought' back and forth with each other, Maggie leaned back in Erin's arms and looked up at her. "So, are you the only girl", she asked.
"Yep. It's just me", Erin said with a sad smile. If Jules were still alive, she would have loved meeting Maggie. Jules was great with kids, mainly because she had two of her own. She always dealt with the hard cases involving kids and made sure they were placed in good homes. Now that she was gone, Erin was trying so hard to live up to her legacy in the Intelligence Unit.
"I wouldn't like it if my whole class was boys", Maggie commented, sticking her tongue out at the thought.
Before Erin could respond back to Maggie, Hank came out of his office again. "Alright. I have requested to have all financial and lease forms on the warehouse where our victim was found on my desk as soon as possible", he announced.
"But, apparently that won't be until Monday morning", Hank clarified. "So, go home. Enjoy your weekend", he stated, before returning back to his office.
Erin looked up and watched as a giant smile came to Jay's face. She knew exactly what he was thinking. He gets to take Maggie to the zoo this weekend.
"All right, Mags. It's time for me to head home", Erin said lifting Maggie off her lap and setting her down on the ground in front of her.
"But, we didn't even get to play", Maggie complained, a frown coming to her face.
"Well, I am sure next time your Dad brings you here we will have plenty of time to play", Erin reassured her.
As Erin said those words, Maggie's little mind began to run wild with ideas. She quickly ran over to her dad, with no explanation to Erin, and whispered something in his ear. Erin looked over at the two, confused as to what they were talking about, but knew it must be something good as a smile spread across Jay's face. After they finished speaking, Maggie ran back over to Erin and tugged on her sleeve.
"Do you want to come over and eat pizza tonight and watch a movie and play games. Daddy said it was okay if you wanted to", she whispered, extremely rushed and filled with excitement.
Erin looked over at Jay, who now had an even bigger smile across his face. He arched his eyebrow, a silent question to her, which made Erin feel weak at the knees. Erin looked back down at the little Halstead that stood in front of her, who had an identical grin across her face. As she thought about her answer, Erin knew she was officially wrapped around this little girl's finger.
"I would love to come over"
