A/N: There's a surprise appearance in this chapter. I also threw in a Platt/Erin scene, simply because Platt is one of my favorite characters.
Erin sighed, exasperated. Cami had only been up for three hours, but it was very obvious that today was going to be a long day. The two year old seemed to have endless energy today, but was also extremely grumpy, and the slightest little thing made her burst into tears. She glanced at her phone, considering texting Jay or Hank to make sure it was okay to do what she was about to suggest to Cami, but decided against it, knowing what the answer would be. No, better to ask for forgiveness than permission. "Hey, Cami, let's go to the park!" she suggested.
Cami looked up at her mom excitedly. "Park!" she exclaimed, immediately running to her room and coming back a minute later with her shoes.
Fifteen minutes later they were at a nearby playground. Erin sat down on a bench while Cami excitedly ran towards the sandbox. She breathed a sigh of relief at finally being out of the apartment and finding something to do that would keep her daughter happy. She wasn't sure her sanity would have survived a whole day cooped up in the apartment with Cami the way things had been going.
"Erin?" a woman's voice called from behind her.
Erin's heart dropped. It couldn't be. There was no way. She'd left town when Erin had, and even if she was in Chicago, what would she be doing at a playground? But Erin would know that voice anywhere. She stood up and turned around slowly, coming face to face with Bunny for the first time in three years.
"What are you doing here, Bunny?" Erin asked, trying to keep her voice steady. "You were supposed to leave Chicago."
"I did," Bunny began. "But I couldn't stay gone forever. You know how it is. My whole life is here!"
"Yes, I know exactly how it is," Erin replied angrily. "Because my whole life was here, too, but I had to leave it behind to save you! The agreement was that you were supposed to leave Chicago and never come back."
"Erin," Bunny whined. "You know I couldn't do that."
Erin turned her back on her mother. "What I know is that you murdered your boyfriend for drugs and money. What I know is that you would be rotting in prison right now if it weren't for me! What I know is that you're not supposed to be in Chicago, but here you are," she bit out. She started to walk towards Cami, but Bunny shot out a hand and gripped her arm tightly.
"Erin, don't walk away from me! I need your help," she pleaded.
"No," Erin snapped, wrenching her arm out of Bunny's grip. "You don't get to do this. You don't get to come back into my life, asking for help; not after what you've done."
"Johnny's brother is after me," Bunny said suddenly. "Please, Erin; he wants to kill me! I need your help. I'm your mother; you have to help me!"
Erin whirled around, glowering at Bunny. "Yeah, well, that's your own fault. You're the one that killed his brother," she hissed. She turned back around and started to head towards Cami, but stopped suddenly. "How did you find me?" she asked, slowly turning back to face her mother.
Bunny shrugged. "I was just walking by and saw you."
"Don't lie to me, Bunny," Erin warned her. "I know better than that. This isn't exactly the type of neighborhood you typically frequent."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Bunny protested.
"I'm only going to ask you one more time: how did you find me?" Erin ignored Bunny's question. She didn't have the patience to play her mother's games today.
Bunny shrugged. "I heard rumors that you were back in town, and they said that you were at this park a lot."
"Who said that?" Erin demanded.
"Why does that matter?" Bunny retorted. "I just told you that someone wants to kill me and all you care about is how I found you."
Erin opened her mouth to reply but was interrupted by Cami running to her. "Mommy! Ouchie!" she cried.
Erin quickly turned her attention to her daughter, kneeling down to look at the finger Cami was holding out. The little girl had a splinter of wood stuck in her finger, likely from the wood surrounding the sandbox. "It's ok, Peanut; it's just a splinter," Erin assured her, holding her daughter's finger in her hand. "I'm going to pull it out and then we'll put a bandaid on it, okay?"
Cami nodded, her little eyes filling with tears as Erin carefully grabbed the end of the splinter and pulled it out. "Hurts, Mommy."
"I heard you had a daughter," Bunny remarked from behind Erin.
Erin ignored her, picking her daughter up and carrying her over to the bench. She sat her down before rummaging around in her backpack for a bandaid. She carefully applied it over the area where the splinter had been before kissing the little finger. "All better," she assured Cami. "Why don't you go play for a little longer while Mommy talks to this woman, okay?"
Cami nodded, scampering off towards the nearby playset, and Erin turned her attention back to her mother. "Leave. Now," she demanded. "I'm not going to help you anymore, Bunny. You did this to yourself."
Bunny scoffed at her. "So it's like that, is it? You can't even help your own mother?"
"No," Erin replied. "I'm not. I'm done helping you. It's your own fault that you're in this situation."
"Fine," Bunny seethed. She started to walk away, but turned to look back at Erin. "You know, you deserved everything that happened to you. You always were such a tease, and once you became a cop you thought you were so much better than everyone just because you carried a gun." With that, she turned and stalked off.
Erin stood frozen in place. Bunny's words were eerily similar to the words that Ray had said to her when he'd raped her. Surely there was no way Bunny was involved. How would Bunny have known that she was in New York? Besides, hadn't Bunny just told her that Ray was trying to kill her, too?
Erin's hands shook as she pulled her phone out of her pocket and quickly called Hank. When she didn't get an answer, she hung up without leaving a message. She considered calling Jay, but decided against it. "Cami," she called to her daughter, "want to go see Uncle Jay and Grandpa Hank?"
The whole way to the district, Erin's head was on a swivel. If Bunny had been able to locate her that easily, then it couldn't be that difficult for Ray to find her, even if Bunny wasn't working with him as Erin suspected she was. She tried to push down the panic she was feeling, not wanting to scare Cami, but by the time she arrived at the district, she was barely keeping it together. She burst into the lobby, making a beeline for Platt's desk.
"Erin? What's wrong?" the desk sergeant asked, knowing immediately from the look on Erin's face that something was up.
"Is Hank here?" Erin asked, struggling to keep her voice steady.
Platt shook her head slowly. "The whole team's out right now," she informed Erin apologetically.
The tears of fear and rage that Erin had managed to fight back the entire way to the district finally spilled over, no longer able to be tamped down. She tried to form words, but failed, her emotions finally winning the battle.
"Hey, you," Platt called to a patrol officer. "Watch the desk for me," she ordered before walking out from behind the desk and wrapping her arm around Erin. She led her to the office off of the lobby, closing the door behind them. "Talk to me, Erin. What's going on?"
"Bunny…she found us at a park today," Erin informed the sergeant, her voice quavering. "She claimed that Johnny's brother was trying to kill her, but…something isn't right. I don't know how she found me. I tried calling Hank, but he didn't answser."
Platt reached out a hand and rested it on Erin's arm. "I'll be right back," she promised Erin. She quickly stood up, slipping out of the room and making her way back to the desk. The patrol office started to leave, but she stopped him. "Uh uh. I didn't say you were done yet. Stay here," she instructed him. She grabbed her radio off of her desk. "5021 Alpha, this is 2021. What's your status?"
Hank was surprised to hear Platt's voice and call sign come over the radio. "Just wrapping up here then heading back to the district. What's going on, Trudy?"
"Hank, you and Jay are needed back here as soon as possible."
Hank and Jay exchanged glances before taking off for Hank's SUV. "Copy that. On our way back now," Hank replied as he started the vehicle. They had been at Ray's last known address, hoping to find the man, but there had been no sign of him. It was evident that someone had been living there recently, but no one had been there for a few days, at least, and whoever it was had left in a hurry, as there was a half-eaten plate of food on the table.
Hank drove as fast as possible back to the district, lights and sirens on. Neither he nor Jay said anything to each other, both of them too worried about Erin. For Trudy to call Hank over the radio and let them know they needed to return to the district, something had to be really wrong.
Jay was out of the vehicle before Hank even put it in park. He took the steps two at a time, needing to know that Erin was okay. He burst into the lobby, looking around desperately for any sign of Erin or Platt.
"Halstead!" Platt called from the door of the office off of the lobby.
"Where is she? Is she okay?" Jay asked frantically, trying to look past Platt into the office.
"She had a run in with Bunny when she was at a park with Cami today," Platt informed Jay just as Hank walked up behind him. "She's okay other than some bruising on her arm, and Cami's unharmed, but she's pretty shaken up."
"What happened?" Hank demanded.
"All I've been able to get out of her is that Bunny found them at the park, told Erin that Johnny's brother is trying to kill her, and asked for Erin's help. She keeps saying that something isn't right, but that's all she'll say," the desk sergeant informed the two men, stepping aside to let them enter.
Jay entered first, Hank right on his heels. "Erin?" he called softly as he knelt next to her, not wanting to scare her.
Erin sat in a chair, shaking, as tears ran down her face. Cami was sitting on the floor nearby, playing with some toys while occasionally glancing up at her mom. It was clear that the little girl was concerned about Erin even though she was too young to understand what was going on.
"Halstead, take Cami upstairs," Hank ordered.
"Sarge-"
Jay began to argue, but Hank cut him off. "Now," he insisted, his voice making it clear there was no room for argument.
Jay sighed but nodded. He stood up, placing a kiss on the top of Erin's head before walking over to Cami. "Hey, Squirt; what do you think about going upstairs? I think Uncle Tonio has some snacks for you in his desk."
Cami looked up at him. "Unca Jay, Mommy hurt," the little girl told him sadly.
"I know, kiddo; Grandpa Hank is going to help her," Jay assured as he picked her up, grabbing the backpack that was sitting on the floor next to her. "That's why we're going to go upstairs."
Once the door had closed behind Jay and Cami, Hank took a seat in the chair next to Erin. "What happened, Erin?" he asked gently.
"Bunny's back," Erin stated, turning to look at him. "She found us at a park. I know we shouldn't have been there, but Cami had so much energy and I just couldn't deal with it, so I took her to the park. Bunny just appeared out of nowhere. She told me that Ray wants to kill her and asked for my help. I told her that I couldn't help her. She got mad and told me that I deserved everything that happened to me. She said I was always a tease and that I thought I was better than everyone because I carried a gun." She took a breath before continuing, "Ray said almost the same things when he raped me. Hank, I think Bunny's connected to this somehow."
Hank fought to keep his anger under control. Bunny wasn't even supposed to be in this city. He'd told her in no uncertain terms that if she ever set foot in his city again, there would be serious consequences. "Did she say how she found you?" he asked. "Or what she's doing back in Chicago?"
"She said that she heard rumors I was back in town, and that they had told her I was at that park a lot," Erin answered. "She wouldn't tell me who told her, that, though. She also knew about Cami. I don't know how much, but she said she'd heard I had a daughter."
Hank slipped out of his chair and knelt beside Erin, wrapping his arm around her as she began to cry again. "Listen to me; we're going to find her and we're going to figure out her role in this whole thing, okay?"
"I was so scared," Erin whispered. "If she is working with Ray, he's going to find us. I tried calling you, but you didn't answer, so I came here."
"You did the right thing, kiddo," Hank assured her. "If Bunny knew what park you would be at, there's no telling what else she, or Ray, knows. You were right to come here."
Erin turned towards Hank, burying her face in his shoulder as he held her. "I thought I was done with her; I never thought I'd see her again. I never wanted her to know about Cami," she whispered sadly.
"I know," Hank comforted her. "It's okay; I'm going to get the team on this and we're going to find her, okay? I promise."
After a few minutes, Erin pulled back, wiping her eyes. "Thank you, Hank," she told him.
"For what?" Hank asked, surprised.
"For always being there for me," Erin replied. "For coming into my life just when I needed someone the most and saving me. I've lost track of the number of times you've saved me, not to mention the number of times you've cleaned up one of Bunny's messes."
"You're my family, and one of the best things that ever happened to me. There's nothing I wouldn't do for you," Hank informed her. He squeezed her shoulder. "You feel like going upstairs yet?"
Erin nodded, standing up. "Cami has to be so scared. I tried to hold it together for her, but I just couldn't."
"I'm sure she's fine," Hank assured her. "She's with Jay, and the rest of the team is likely back by now, too."
Platt watched from behind her desk as the father-daughter duo made their way up the stairs to intelligence. She didn't know all of the details of Erin's case, but Hank had told her some of it, and her heart went out to the former detective that she'd always had a soft spot for. She'd been through so much, and now her good-for-nothing mother was somehow involved, too. Platt found herself hoping that Bunny would show her face at the district, even though she knew even Bunny wasn't that stupid, just so that she could have the pleasure of arresting her herself.