A/N: I suprisingly wrote this chapter really fast. Probably because I know this is where I have wanted to get since the beginning and you all have been waiting for. So, please leave some reviews I love to know what you guys think. And if you haven't, don't forget to read chapter 9. It's short but important!
Erin stood behind the glass, motionless not knowing what to do or how to react. She hadn't heard any mention of her father or even his name in over a year. The only reason she had was because Mia had asked.
"Mommy, you don't look like Grandpa", Mia said as she looked at the brand new pictures Erin had recently set out.
Erin smiled as she walked over and sat down next to her daughter at the living room table. "Why do you say that sweet pea", she asked.
"You have yellow and brown hair and Grandpa has only dark hair", Mia explained pointing her and Hank in the picture.
"Well, sometimes parents have different colored hair than their kids", Erin said slightly laughing at Mia's comment.
"But, you have yellow and brown and so do I", Mia explained grabbing a piece of Erin's hair and her own.
"Are you sure Grandpa is your real dad", Mia asked again.
"He's the only dad I have ever known and the only grandpa you will ever know. And he's pretty great", Erin explained in as little detail as possible.
"Yeah, he is the best", Mia explained smiling as she took a glance towards the photo again.
"Erin", a voice suddenly spoke in the empty viewing area of the interrogation room.
Erin looked over to the door to find Jay standing there, leaning against the door frame. "You saw all that", he asked.
She just nodded her head, once again not knowing what to say. Jay took a step into the room and now leaned against table. "Have you had any contact with..", he began to say.
"No", Erin cut him off. "I am sorry. I didn't mean to snap", she apologized shaking her head.
"I haven't heard from him since I left home", Erin explained as she turned around to look into the interrogation room.
"Voight is downstairs with Eric in the gage", Jay said walking up to stand beside her.
"They found the address of your...of Sean's house and it's um looking pretty definite", he explained.
"I thought it would be like some criminal I made angry, not someone who I haven't spoken to in almost fifteen years. Someone who had no affiliation with me", Erin stated.
Jay turned to look at Erin and watched her stare blankly into the empty interrogation room, "I can't tell you that you will ever get your answer", he began.
"But, what I can tell you is that you are going to suit up downstairs with me, in fifteen minutes we are going roll out, we will show up to the house, and find Mia", he continued.
"And once all this is over, then maybe I can explain something to you", Jay finished.
"How definite is this", Erin asked turning her head towards him.
"We checked with some neighbors and they've seen suspicious activity there for the past year. Which makes us believe that he has started this since he took Mia and Clark was in on it as well. Which explains the long and confusing line of affiliates we have gone through", Jay explained.
Erin sighed as she ran a hand through her hair, "This is it", she whispered to herself.
"Come on", Jay said patting her on the back gently. "I will help you put your vest on", he stated getting her to smile in just the slightest.
xxx
"This is the man we are looking for", Voight said taking out a picture of Sean Lindsay's lasted prison photo.
"He was paroled about three years ago and was believed to be out of the state, but has now returned", he explained as he showed the picture to all of his detectives where the all stood in an alley across the street.
Erin made sure to look long and hard at the picture. She didn't even recognize the man that was shown in front of her. How was she supposed to? He was a dead beat and went to prison when Erin was only six years old. She never had any contact with him and for once Erin was glad she looked more like her mother.
"There are going to be children in there, no doubt. So, we enter with caution, just like the Clark bust a couple of days ago", Voight clarified as he folded the picture back up and stuck it in his pocket.
"Are we all ready", he asked. Everyone nodded their heads in unison, before turning around and heading towards the house.
On their way over, Erin triple checked all of her weapons and made sure she had her handcuffs even though she knew she wouldn't be the one arresting her father.
Her only mission was to get Mia out of there.
Voight and Halstead were the first to the door, with everyone else, especially Lindsay, close behind. "Hit it", Voight demanded in almost a whisper towards Jay.
Jay quickly reacted, using the circular battering ram as quickly as possible, in order for everyone to enter. "CHICAGO PD", Voight yelled as he entered in the lead.
Erin felt a weird wave of deja vu come over her as she heard the screams of children once again. Adam and Antonio quickly caught the six or seven children that were sitting in the living room and brought them outside to the other patrol officers.
"Offender is fleeing from the back of the house. I'm in pursuit", Adam's voice came over the radio almost five seconds after he took some of the kids out of the house.
"Halstead with me", Voight ordered as they took off out of the house.
Erin turned around and watched them leave, "Don't worry. We are still here kid", Olinsky suddenly spoke up.
"Antonio and I will take this side", he explained turning towards the left side of the house.
Erin nodded as she turned to the right. Each door she opened just revealed another empty bedroom, while on Olinsky and Antonio's side they came upon every crying child.
Opening the last door on the right side of the hallway, Erin found it empty once again. She felt like she was playing some sick twisted game. How many doors can you open until you get to your prize?
Just as she was about to turn away, Erin barely heard small sobs coming from the room she had just opened. Taking a step in, she found it was indeed empty, but the crying continued.
There was another door in the room, Erin went to go pull on it and found it opened with ease, leading towards a basement.
Pulling out her flashlight, Erin heard the sobs grow louder and louder as she got closer. the closer she got, she also recognized the room. It was where the first picture she had received had been taken.
"Mia", Erin called out hopelessly. Whoever was crying could be a totally different girl. It may not even be her daughter.
There was silence for a couple of seconds, before a small voice filled the room, "Mommy", it called out.
Erin felt her heart plummet to her stomach when she heard the little voice she would never forget. Quickly shining her light over everything in the room, Erin finally came across her daughter sitting up on a mattress, dressed in dirty clothes, and clutching on to some ratty blankets. She was dirty and a mess, but she was alive.
"Mia", Erin repeated allowing her voice to crack, feeling the tears come to her eyes.
"Mommy! Mommy!", Mia screamed as she ran straight towards Erin and collided right into her legs.
Erin picked her up and felt her tears begin to soak through her bullet proof vest. "I missed you so much", Mia stated through sobs.
"I missed you too, Little M", Erin said as she felt her own tears fall on her cheeks. She gently ran a hand over her daughter's hair, feeling the knots in it, but she couldn't be happier that she was finally holding her again.
"Erin", Jay's voice rang out from the top of the steps leading towards the basement.
Mia's head immediately snapped up at the sound of another voice coming into the basement. Jay must have found a light switch because the lights quickly flashed on in the room and Erin finally got a more clear vision of her daughter.
Her dirty blonde hair looked as if it had not been brushed in weeks. Her clothes had little holes all over and her face was dirty. But, beyond all that, her bright hazel eyes still shined with the addition of little tear drops.
"I'm down here", Erin called out trying to cover up the fact she had been crying.
Jay came down the stairs quickly and took in the sight of Erin standing in the center of the room clutching on to Mia.
"Daddy", Mia exclaimed finally recognizing Jay as she tried to wiggle from Erin's grasp.
Erin reluctantly let go and watched as her daughter bolted towards Jay, who was fast enough to catch her.
"Hey M&M", Jay said as Mia buried her face into his neck, sniffling back some tears. Jay gently rubbed her back as he looked up towards Erin, who was swiping away excess tears with her fingers.
"Come here", he mouthed towards her as she smiled and walked over to them. Jay gently intertwined her hand with his own, before giving it a light squeeze. He desperately wished he could kiss her right now, but it wasn't the right time.
"Do I get to go home now", Mia asked glancing between her mother and her 'father'.
"Yes, baby you get to go home now", Erin said as she tucked a piece of Mia's un-matted hair behind her ear.
"I hear you guys yell and save everyone , but when there was no more yelling I didn't think you were coming to get me", Mia explained. "But, you got me", she finished smiling towards both Erin and Jay.
"Come on, let's get out of here", Jay said finally releasing Erin's hand and passing Mia back to her mother carefully.
xxx
Erin sat outside her daughter's hospital room, anxiously tapping her foot and constantly checking the time. After Erin and Jay got Mia out of the basement, Voight immediately insisted on her being checked out by a doctor just like the rest of the kids. Even though, Erin hated hospitals she knew it was the best thing to do for Mia.
Jay dropped them off at the hospital before going back to the district to make sure everything was in order. Mia was quickly taken away by some doctors to get her evaluated and make sure nothing was seriously wrong. Erin tried to go with her, but they wouldn't allow it, saying they needed to asses her on her own.
Erin hated just being outside of the room where Mia was. She was only four years old and Erin hasn't seen her for a year, she felt like she should be in there.
"Wow, you listened to the doctors for once", Voight's voice suddenly announced as he sat down at the seat next to Erin.
Erin smiled as he handed her a cup of coffee, "For your nerves", he remarked. Taking a long sip, she wrapped her fingers around the paper cup taking in it's warmth and feeling semi-relaxed.
"When Mia was born, you wanted to hold her the second she came out", Voight stated. "You didn't even give the nurses a chance to clean her up", he laughed slightly.
"She's my baby", Erin whispered.
Voight glanced towards her, noticing the bags under her eyes and the smudged mascara from crying. "I am sorry I didn't believe you in the beginning", he apologized.
Erin looked up from her mug and gave him a little smile, "It's okay, Hank. She's back now and that's all that matters", she explained.
"Miss Lindsay", the doctor quietly announced as she came out of Mia's room.
"How is she", Erin immediately asked standing up and facing the doctor.
"Our worst fear was that she was malnourished, but it seems that for the past year she was well fed and got plenty of fluids. Mia is a little underweight but, it's not dangerous. She has a fractured wrist that never healed properly and hasn't been exposed to any Vitamin D in quite some time", the doctor began.
"What about..", Erin began to trail off not wanting to say it and then have it be true. If there was a god out there, she prayed that Mia had not been abused while she was down in that hole.
"Your daughter is very lucky, Ms. Lindsay. Unlike some of the other children, she was not harmed in any physical or sexual way. We did a full exam", the doctor explained watching Erin sigh in relief.
"Than why the fractured wrist", Voight questioned.
"That's something you will have to ask Mia when the time comes for questioning", the doctor explained.
"I can take her home, right", Erin asked.
"Yes, but take it easy on the questioning for now. She needs her rest. I'm sending her home with some vitamins to take daily and we should schedule another appointment, just as a precaution", the doctor explained.
"She is getting dressed right now with the nurse, but feel free to go in there. I will be back to check her out in a minute", the doctor finished before walking towards the desk in the center of the hospital.
"I'll stop by later tomorrow. I need to complete some business with this case", Voight explained as he began to turn away.
"Hank", Erin called out before he could get far. "Please don't stretch the limit with this case. I know it sounds weird, but I just want answers", she requested.
"And if I don't get them, then I give you complete permission to do whatever you need to", Erin finished.
Hank nodded at the end of her mini speech, "Take a couple days, kid. I will come by tomorrow afternoon to see her and we can talk a little bit more", he stated now walking away.
Erin hoped he had heard everything she had said and fully understood why she needed this. All she wanted was some answers.
Peeking her head into Mia's hospital room, Erin saw her sitting on the bed with a t-shirt that was a couple sizes too big on her and some little sweatpants.
"Mommy", Mia called out outstretching her arms requesting for Erin to come sit with her.
Erin smiled as she hopped on the bed and allowed for Mia to lean back on her chest.
"You look just like your mommy, Mia", the nurse remarked as she put Mia's dirty clothes in a garbage bag.
Mia smiled, not knowing exactly what to say, but turned back to her mother, "Do I get to go home now", she asked.
"Yep, you just have to get your medicine and then we are home free", Erin joked a little.
"Is my room still purple", Mia asked.
"Still that beautiful purple, sweet pea", Erin answered allowing a smile to grace her lips.
"I can't wait to go home and see all my stuffed animals", Mia stated.
"They have definitely missed you", Erin joked. "And so have I"