Antonio watched as the pen he threw bounced off his desk and hit Kev square between the eyes. "Dawg, I know you're my superior and all but you gotta watch where your aiming these things." Kev joked as he picked the pen up and threw it back to Antonio's side of their desks. They had been partnered together after Kim had left for maternity leave and when she returned, Voight decided to shake it up and partnered her with Jay, Antonio didn't like it, but Kev was a great, so he didn't complain.
Antonio sighed and slumped in his chair, "Sorry, it's just Sylvie and this counseling she's making us do, we've been in it a year and I don't think we've gotten anywhere; she still won't let me come home." He picked the pen up and pretended to be interested in it.
"How's she doing?" Kev asked knowing they had been having problems since Elias had gone missing. "She's getting better, she said something about going back to work, that's the first she's mentioned going back in a long time." Antonio shrugged his shoulders and spun his chair around in a circle. "I don't think she'll ever be the same again, he's been gone fourteen months and he's been officially added to the missing children's data base. I think she blames me for not finding him." He stared up at the board next to their desks with his case on it, they hadn't had a new lead in almost three months.
"You know none of us have given up and we never will, he's family." Kev tried to comfort Antonio, knowing that he was hurting too.
"Sylvie?" She felt a tap on her shoulder and turned slightly but was careful to keep her eye on Sophia playing on the swings. "Sylvie Dawson? Right?" Sylvie nodded her head skeptical of the blonde woman, she didn't recognize her. "It's me Tashia." Sylvie gave her a confused look, "My little girl, Maddie, used to play with Sophia about a year ago here at this park, I used to have brown hair." The woman clicked in Sylvie's memory and she smiled, "Sorry, it's been a long year, and it's cold so my brain isn't working I guess." She faked a chuckle.
"Oh, for us too, I had a baby boy and life's been a mess since." Sylvie watched as Tashia pulled a toddler from the stroller and sat down next to her. "How old is he?" Sylvie asked hoping to get a glimpse of his face, but he was wrapped up in his snowsuit and blankets. "Just turned a year, his name is Oliver."
Sylvie stared at the baby a moment, he looked a lot bigger than a year old and she couldn't for the life of her remember Tashia ever mentioning being pregnant or looking pregnant for that matter. "Where's your other one, a boy, right? Isn't he about a year now?" The mention of Elias pulled Sylvie from her thoughts, "He's a year and a half, and I'm not sure where he is, he was kidnapped fourteen months ago." Sylvie was always sharp when talking about the subject, she just didn't have it in her to care if others thought she was being brash or rude.
"Oh, I'm sorry." Tashia apologized but Sylvie shook her head, "Please don't apologize, I'm sick of the apologies, he isn't dead, and he will come home." Sylvie stood, preparing to leave, "Can I see him?" Sylvie wanted to see the baby, she knew it was crazy but she wanted to see every face of every little boy who passed by her hoping she would recognize Elias but she knew he would have changed so much in the last year and a half that she would never recognize him even with the age progression from the FBI.
Tashia gave her a funny look, "He's sleeping and it's cold, I'm not uncovering him." She snapped. "Sorry, it's just a thing I do, maybe next time, you guys have a good day and stay warm." Sylvie smiled at the woman trying to play off the situation that had turned odd and she quickly left to gather Sophia.
"Come on Syl, I've done eight of these and all that it does is disappoint you." Antonio stood across from his wife in the locker room at district. "I have a feeling about this one, she came to me and was acting odd and this boy was a lot bigger than a year Antonio." Antonio stared at the pacifier in the bag, he hated doing this but knew it made her feel better. She was on a mission to eliminate every remotely Hispanic looking little boy in Chicago from being Elias. "You've had a feeling about all of them, the last one had Eva's nose, remember?"
Sylvie groaned and reached to grab the bag from his hand, but he pulled it back, "If you're going to mock me, I'll just have Kim or Adam do it." She snapped at him. "I'll do it, but you have to promise not to get upset or mad at me when it isn't him and…I want to have dinner with you and the kids every night this week." Sylvie contemplated a moment, "Fine but don't expect too much."
"Dude you better not drop my kid." Adam warned Antonio as he held a nine-month-old clone of Adam above his head. "God is that what I sound like?" Antonio laughed. "Worse and Kim will kill both of us if even a strand of hair is missing. You know she's momzilla." Antonio sighed and handed Wyatt off to Adam. "I don't blame her, do you?" Antonio shook his head as plopped on the couch.
"Sylvie wants me to run another pacifier she lifted off a lady at the park, she has a feeling about this one too." He ran his hands down as his face as Adam sat next to him with the baby squirming on his lap. "Are you going to run it?"
"Of course, if I lie to her, she'll know. She always knows when I'm lying, it's her superpower." He laughed as he reached over and grabbed Wyatt from Adam to play with him. "We missed all this, if we ever get him back, he'll be walking and talking." Antonio stood Wyatt between his legs and let him balance while he held onto his hands.
"It's not an IF it's WHEN, Wyatt's gonna need his best friend to show him how to do stuff and to keep him out of trouble." Adam grinned at Antonio, knowing his kid would be the ornery one and would need one of Antonio's perfectly behaved children to keep him on the right path. "I hope you're right; I miss him more than you could ever know. This isn't something I would wish on my worst enemy."
Laura pushed her way through the door with Sophia trailing behind her, Sylvie had not taken Sophia to the grocery store since Elias had been kidnapped and Laura was her designated babysitter on grocery days. "Do you need any help putting stuff away?" She asked as she made her way toward the kitchen. "No, I'm almost done." Laura could hear the frustration in Sylvie's voice.
"What's wrong?" Laura moved behind the island to grab something for Sophia to eat. Sylvie slammed the pantry door with a huff, "Antonio." Laura sighed; she tried her best to stay neutral when it came to Antonio, but she always somehow got dragged into it. "What'd he do?"
Sylvie slumped onto the barstool, "He keeps pushing to come home and I'm not ready yet." Laura sat next to and wrapped an arm around her, "I think you should let him," Laura started cautiously, "He's got his issues but you know as well as I do that this is where he belongs, in this house with you and his kids, he deserves it and so do you." Sylvie laid her head down and sighed, "I know" Sylvie huffed. "He can't keep living with Matt and Gabby, eventually you're going to have to let him come home or let him know that it is over."
"Divorce? We are not getting divorced." Sylvie was confused why Laura would even suggest it. Laura shrugged her shoulders, "I never thought I would divorce him either but here we are. Hey, maybe the next wife will let us hang out with her too."
Sylvie rolled her eyes at Laura; she knew exactly what she was doing, and she wasn't going to let Laura get under her skin. "We're not. We're just having a hard time." Laura stood, "I have to go, but maybe you should start trying as hard as he is at putting you two back together."
"You got mail." Hailey dropped the stack on Antonio's desk as she walked by. "Thanks" he spun around and smiled at her as she sat down at her desk across from Adam. He spotted the manila envelope and pulled it out, knowing it was from the crime lab. "Hey look, test results on the latest pacifier, anyone care to do the honor?" He held it up in the air and Kim grabbed it out of his hand.
"I'll do it this time." She moved to Adams desk and sat on the edge and started at ripping it open. "Why do we even do this?" Jay asked from across the room. "It makes Sylvie happy." Antonio spun to look at him.
"Or because it might actually turn out to be positive." Kim jumped off the desk, "The DNA is a match to yours Antonio." Antonio jumped up and snatched the results from Kim's hands as Kim stared at him in disbelief.
"There is no fucking way." Antonio grabbed his cell out of his pocket and dialed Sylvie. "Get down to district now, I'll explain when you get here." He didn't elaborate and hung up. "We need to get as much information as we can from her and see if we can get prints off the pacifier." Antonio started barking orders at Kevin.
"Everyone clear your desk; Elias is top priority." Voight spoke from his office doorway. "This is the first major clue we've had in over a year and we're not going to lose him again. Hailey you handle Sylvie when she gets here."
"Voight" Antonio started to argue, "No, you two are too emotional with each other. Hailey will talk to her; I need you out here working it."
Sylvie didn't know what to expect when she arrived at district, she always expected the worse. She walked up the stairs and toward the desk when Antonio appeared from the gate. "I'll explain later Trudy." He rushed as he pulled Sylvie by the arm up the stairs and through the gate. Sylvie pulled her arm from him and stopped, "What is going on?" She planted her feet on the stairs and refused to move.
"We got a positive DNA hit on that pacifier." He grinned at her as she started back at him in complete shock. "No, you didn't, stop teasing me." He grabbed her shoulder and looked her in the eyes, "Yes we did, you know I would never joke about that, you're going to talk to Hailey, you need to give her any information you have, every single tiny detail you can remember about that woman."
Sylvie didn't know what to say or do, she just stood there completely shell shocked. Antonio grabbed her and pulled her into a hug, and she started crying. "This is the lead we needed, and we couldn't have done it without you." He put his forehead to hers and wiped her eyes with his thumbs. "We're going to move fast on this so I'm taking you straight to Hailey, my goal is Elias is back with us today." He kissed her on the forehead and pulled her up the stairs.
"Sarge, we have an address, Hailey and Adam are headed that way to sit on it." Antonio poked his head into Voight's office on his way out of the building. "I want you to stay here with Sylvie." Voight knew it would be a fight, but he didn't want Antonio anywhere near the house.
"Excuse me? I'm going." Antonio growled at him. "I'm not arguing, stay with your wife." Voight grabbed his jacket and pushed past Antonio without another word. Antonio watched as Voight disappeared through the door and turned and headed toward desk where Sylvie was sitting. "Hey," he approached her and sat on the desk in front of her, "You okay?"
Sylvie nodded her head and grabbed his hand and pulled herself closer to him, "Do you think he remembers us?" he pulled her up into a hug and held her, "It doesn't matter if he does or doesn't, we're his parents and he'll know we love him."
"Why didn't you go with them?" she held onto him, she had forgot how much she missed being in his arms where she felt safe, like the world couldn't touch her. "Voight told me to stay with you, no offense but I would rather be there."
"I'm glad you're here." She mumbled into his chest, "I can't hug anyone else like this without it being awkward." She was nervous and the tension between them was there, but it felt lighter somehow, like a light was finally at the end of the tunnel they had been trying to escape for the past year.
Antonio hated sitting and waiting, it was torture, Sylvie watched as he paced back and forth through the bullpen. He stopped and messed with something on Adam's desk and then checked his phone and sighed. "What the fuck is taking so long, it's been four hours, and no one is updating me."
"If we don't hear anything that's good right?" Sylvie asked hoping that they would get the outcome they all wanted and needed. "It means nothing has happened yet." He huffed and sat in Kim's chair and started organizing the files on her desk to distract himself. "What will happen if they do get him?" She wanted to know but she was also trying to distract him. "He'll go to the hospital; we'll probably have to do a DNA test." He stood again and started pacing. "Ugh, this is torture, I need to know what's going on."
Antonio and Sylvie heard a noise, and both turned their heads toward the stairs, Platt was standing there clearly annoyed with her task, "Well come on both of you." She motioned for them to follow her. "Both of us? Where are we going?" Antonio was confused.
She smiled at him and started happy dancing, "I think there is a little boy at Med who needs his mom and dad."