Disclaimer: I own nothing except my imagination.

A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed, followed and favourited the first chapter. They always scare me, even so when I work on a new ship or new fandom so I really appreciate your support. Here's chapter 2 for you guys.

The anger was clear on the woman's face. Kim's ex and Avery's dad was not a good guy and that would be the first thing to look into when he talked with his team.

"So Avery wasn't lying." Jay didn't even bother to supress his smirk now that he was with an adult.

"What do you mean?"

"I'd just like to point out that she's a stealthy little eavesdropper." He genuinely smiled at her. "I asked her simple questions like her mom's name, which she cheekily called mom so I asked her about how other adults called her and she told me how you called her Kimmy."

"Oh god, my sister is going to kill me, she hates it when I call her that."

"Your secret's safe with me." He promised. "So, I asked her what you called her dad and she said an ass."

"Crap." She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, it's a complicated and long story."

"It's okay, we have time. How about we start with his name."

"His name is Owen Jacobson and he and my sister have been separated since Avery's birth."

"How has that relationship been?"

"Not so good but Kim always said that Avery needed to know who her father was even if she didn't give her his last name."

"That must have been another source of tension."

"Since the jump. He was mad that Avery didn't share his name, that my sister made the decision to give her our last name."

"And how has it gone since then?"

"There were some good days and some bad days, as you can imagine." Jay took notes of everything she told him. "He started showing up more, begging my sister to let him see his daughter."

"And did she?"

"Yeah. Things were actually going well for a while. He would come pick her up every other week-end and whenever he had the chance when Kim stayed at work late during the week."

"What does your sister do for a living? Avery said something about helping kids who don't have moms and dads?"

"Yeah, she's a social worker with DCFS."

"Your niece is a bright little girl." Everything she had told him was checking out so far.

"My sister calls her a genius." Nicole chuckled.

"I'm starting to see that." He smiled. "She also said that she's not allowed to see him anymore?"

"Yeah, my sister got a restraining order against him a little over two months ago after he was dumb enough to leave my five-year-old niece in a car by herself while he went into a bar for more than thirty minutes." The anger had returned to Nicole's eyes. "Kim told me that he lost any parental right he ever had to her a week ago. If you ask me, it's good riddance. My sister doesn't need a dead beat as a father to Avery, she's doing a very good job at raising her all on her own."

"I just have one question left."

"Sure."

"What does Owen do for a living?"

"He's a mechanic."

"Alright thanks a lot. If you think of anything else, give me a call." He slipped his card across the table. "I'm going to go see my team but I'll be back later and hopefully Ms. Burgess will be awake to answer a few questions, give us a better understanding of what happened."

"Thank you, for everything." Nicole stood.

"Sure." He smiled and stood. "Tell Avery that I will come see her later please, she was scared the last time when she thought I was going to leave."

"I will. Thanks Detective." He nodded and watched her go before Will came inside the break room.

"So, what did you find out?"

"Interesting stuff. Call me when she wakes up please, I'll head over to the district and see what Voight found at the scene. I'll need to ask her some questions but I'm pretty sure I already have all I need."

"Alright." They hugged before Jay walked out of the ED and drove towards the district. His hand was tapping angrily against the middle console of his truck, his brain putting two and two together but hoping like hell that he wouldn't be right. He climbed the stairs from the back two at a time before he made it to the bullpen where the rest of the team was waiting for him.

"So, what did you find out?" Voight asked first.

"The mom is Kim Burgess, five-year-old daughter named Avery. Owen Jacobson, ex-husband, father to the little girl, up and down relationship with them both, restraining order issued against him by the mom a couple of months ago, lost parental rights a week ago."

"Alright, I want to know everything about this Jacobson guy, what he does, where he lives, who he sees in his free time."

"Ms. Burgess's sister told me he's a mechanic." He didn't need to look at the notes he took, they were already seared in his head.

"Shit." Kevin's tone made him turn his head, the look he found in his eyes telling him what he hoped wasn't what he thought. "You're going to want to look at the mom's car." He made him follow him down the stairs and Jay could feel his jaw muscles tense as he went. "We had them tow the car here, Voight wanting us to check every box with what you told us."

"Please tell me you didn't find what I think you did?"

"Cut break line, yeah."

"Son of a bitch." He growled. "This had to be him."

"It makes sense with what you said about his job is."

"Yeah. Come on, let's go see if the team found something else ." They went back up and pictures were already set up on the board. Kim Burgess's picture was at the top of the board, a picture of Avery next to it but there was also a picture of a man, Owen Jacobson written under it. Jay stood in front of it with arms crossed and legs held apart, his shoulders tense. "So, this is the coward."

"Yeah." Erin came to stand next to him, giving the lowdown to the rest of the team. "Short sheet, few arrests for possession when he turned twenty-one, couple of fights in bars, the last one being the restraining order against him filed from Ms. Burgess a couple of months back."

"Where is he now?" He turned to the rest of the team.

"We pinged his phone, he's sitting in a bar on the South Side."

"We need eyes on him Sarge, now." Jay was riled up, the whole team could see it. Voight motioned him inside his office and Antonio followed behind his partner, leaving the rest of the team with questions.

"We have to be careful Jay, we don't have proof, it's just circumstantial." Antonio offered.

"He tried to kill his FIVE-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER!" He bellowed. "He's a mechanic and he knows how to cut break lines. That's a potential vehicular homicide, we have to do something."

"And we will." Voight tried to calm him down, putting a hand on his shoulder. "We are going to grab every piece of information on this guy and we're going to build a case against him. You want to do this, we do it by the book." They were interrupted by Jay's phone ringing.

"It's my brother." He opened the line. "Is everything okay?" She's awake. "I'll be right there." He hung up. "Victim is awake."

"Bring Antonio with you, we'll keep working the case." The two Detectives left and headed towards Med. The ride to was quiet, Jay's mind turning, Antonio keeping an eye on his best friend and protégé. They were greeted by Will when they walked inside the ED.

"We did some more tests on her to make sure that we had no surprises but other than a massive headache and soreness, she's doing good."

"Thanks. Do you think she's good enough to be questioned?"

"Just try to keep it as mellow as you can, her sister and niece went down to the cafeteria to grab a snack." Jay understood that he only had a small window until her daughter returned.

"Will do." Antonio nodded and Will opened the curtain to let them in.

"Kim, I'd like you to meet my brother Detective Jay Halstead and his partner Detective Antonio Dawson." She nodded and gave Jay and Antonio a smile.

"I heard I owe you a thanks for taking care of my daughter." She smiled at Jay, a smile that he returned.

"She's a great kid, bright little mind on her."

"I always said that she was a genius." She smirked. "She said you asked her questions, stayed with her until my sister got here."

"Yeah, just a few questions, didn't want to overwhelm her." She nodded in understanding.

"You have questions for me too." She assumed.

"Just a few. Your sister and daughter filled in a few gaps but we still need to know what happened just before the accident happened."

"Anything you can give us would help with our investigation." Antonio added.

"Sure." She ran a hand against her stitches and closed her eyes before opening them again. "I remember running late to pick up Avery from the babysitter. I had called her already saying that I would be late but she was okay with watching her a little while longer but even the little while longer was starting to become too long so she agreed to come drop her off at my work place."

"Your sister mentioned you work for DCFS."

"Yeah, as a social worker. The case I was working on today was particularly long and tough."

"What's the address of your workplace?"

"5001 S Michigan Avenue." Jay looked at Antonio and then back to Kim. "What? Why?"

"Trying to establish a timeline with where the accident happened." Jay told her. "My brother and I were driving back home from here when you drove through the red light."

"I tried to break, the damn things wouldn't work."

"There's a few lights between Michigan Avenue and where your car hit the post."

"I was lucky I guess." She shrugged. "There wasn't much of anyone on the road and I caught green lights only it turned yellow and I had to actually stop."

"Avery said that the two of you were singing and then you became scared."

"Wouldn't you be scared if your breaks were failing?"

"Yes, I'm sorry." He could admire the fight in her. "Your sister also told me that your ex lost his parental rights recently."

"Do you think he could have done that?"

"That's what we're trying to figure out ma'am." Antonio was mostly listening but he spoke when he needed to.

"Kim, please call me Kim."

"Kim, do you have any reason to believe that he could have come after you after he got the news?" Jay asked.

"He showed up at my door and we got into a massive argument but I haven't had contact with him since then. I was fully expecting to get papers served but do you really think that he could have done this? His daughter was in the car." Tears were finally welling up in Kim's eyes.

"Why are you sad mom?" All three looked at the door when they heard the little voice.

"It's nothing honey." She wiped them away as Nicole mouthed her an apology. "Do you remember Detective Jay?" Avery nodded and smiled as she climbed into the bed next to her mother.

"Hi Jay." She beamed, as if she had known him all of her life.

"Hey Avery." He smiled back at her. "This is my partner Antonio."

"I have a friend at school named Antonio." She was completely oblivious to the tense scene she had just walked into. "But we call him Tony."

"That's what I call him too." Jay winked at the little girl, catching Kim's eye. "You know what? I happen to know where Will keeps the ice cream in here. Do you think you can go with your aunt Nicole and my partner while I spend five more minutes with your mom?" Jay asked her. He recognised the trust in her eyes and she just nodded.

"I hope it's vanilla, it's my favouritee."

"You are just in luck." Will smiled at her. "That's the only one we have left." The adults laughed as she jumped off the bed and threw her little fist in the air.

"Perfect." She giggled, going for her aunt's hand and the four of them stepped out of the room, leaving Kim and Jay alone.

"Thanks Detective Halstead, I don't want her hearing this."

"No need to thank me, and you can call me Jay." She nodded in agreement with a smile.

"So you really think that my ex is the one responsible for the accident?"

"That's what we're trying to piece together but we do have evidence that someone did tamper with your breaks, which would explain your inability to stop at the red light."

"I had my car serviced earlier today for an oil change, could that have anything to do with it?"

"I'm not sure but I will need the information for the garage you go to." She found a pen on the table next to her and scribbled the address for him. He pulled his wallet out of his back pocket and pulled a card out, handing it to her. "We are working on your case but if you see or hear anything out of the ordinary, I want you to call me, day or night."

"Okay, thank you Detective, I mean Jay." She corrected herself as Nicole, Avery and Antonio returned.

"Anytime." He looked at Antonio who gave him a nod and they left the three girls.

"Be careful Jay." Antonio warned him as they walked to his truck.

"Careful about what?" He asked in confusion.

"We've been partners for a long time, and friends since longer than that. You're getting attached."

"No, I'm not." He defended himself.

"I'm just saying, be careful." Not another word was said between the two as they returned to the district to try to piece everything else together.

A/N: So what is going on with Jay and is Antonio right to be worried about him? Please leave your thoughts before you leave, always love to read them. - Sarra