A/N: we're getting close to the end now; there's only about 5 or 6 chapters left.
"Be careful out there; I want you back in one piece," Erin said softly as she hugged Jay goodbye the next morning. "I love you."
"I love you, too, and I will," Jay promised, leaning his head down and kissing her. "We're going to find them, Erin."
"I know you will," Erin replied. "But until you do, I'm going to miss you."
"Unca Jay!" Cami cried from her bedroom, interrupting the couple's goodbye.
Erin sighed and turned to hear to her daughter's room, but Jay reached out and stopped her. "I'll get her," he informed her before turning to Antonio, who was waiting to take him to the precinct. "Give me just a few more minutes," he told him before heading off in the direction of Cami's room.
"Jay's right," Antonio told Erin, "we're going to find Bunny and Ray."
"I know you will," Erin assured him. "I just wish Hank would let me do it my way; it'd be so much faster."
"Voight is never going to willingly put you in harm's way unless he feels like he has no other choice," Antonio informed her. "And Jay would never let him hear the end of it if he did."
"I know; it's just hard to sit back and do nothing," Erin confessed. "I miss the days of being in the thick of it. And it's even harder when it's my own case."
"Do you think you'll go back to field work once Jay moves to New York?" Antonio asked.
Erin shrugged. "I want to, but I don't know. I don't know that it's fair to Cami to have so much instability in her life. Besides, if both Jay and I are constantly in danger, where does that leave her? She deserves to know that at least one of us is going to come home to her every night."
Antonio nodded, understanding all too well the toll their careers took on their children. "Just make sure you don't lose who you are for the sake of your daughter."
"Mommy!" Cami squealed as Jay walked into the room with her in his arms.
"Hi, baby girl," Erin cooed, taking her daughter from Jay. "Let's tell Uncle Jay and Uncle Tonio goodbye, and then we'll see about getting some breakfast, okay?"
Erin sat on the couch in the safe house that evening after putting Cami to bed, thinking about what Antonio had told her earlier. The things she'd struggled with the most since becoming a mom was how to balance being a good mother with not sacrificing her own happiness and identity. As a single mom, it was especially hard, as there was no one to help raise Cami; the responsibility rested fully on her shoulders, a fact that terrified her given the example she'd had in Bunny.
She was determined to give Cami the life that she never had herself, but in doing so, she'd had to give up a job that she loved. As much as she missed being in the field and hated being stuck behind a desk dealing with paperwork, she'd never regretted her decision. But now she found herself wondering if it had been the right decision. Should she have tried harder to find a compromise?
She was pulled from her thoughts by the sound of her phone vibrating on the coffee table. She reached out and grabbed it, smiling when she saw Jay's face on the screen. "Hi," she answered happily.
"We got her, Erin. We just arrested Bunny," Jay informed her, leaning against the wall outside of the interrogation room. He desperately wanted to be in there, but Hank had made it clear that under no circumstances was Jay supposed to enter the room. He knew it was probably for the best, but that didn't make it any easier. "Hank and Antonio are talking with her now."
"Good. I'm not going to hold my breath that she'll cooperate, but at least I know she's not out there anymore." Jay could hear the relief in Erin's voice.
"I'll call you back as soon as we know anything," Jay promised before hanging up. He quickly stepped into the room attached to the interrogation room, glancing through the double sided window that allowed him to see into the interrogation room without anyone in there seeing him. "Anything?" he asked Hailey, who had been in there the whole time.
Hailey shook her head. "Bunny's already changed her story twice," she informed her partner apologetically. "Voight's trying to cut through all of her bullshit, but it's not going to be easy."
"I want a lawyer!" Bunny insisted.
"You can have one just as soon as you tell us what you know about Ray," Hank replied, his voice calm. He knew Bunny well enough to know that getting her to tell the truth wouldn't be an easy feat, and he was prepared to wait as long as it took to get it out of her. He leaned forward, folding his hands and placing them on the table that separated him and Bunny. "Look, I know that you're involved with him somehow; I just need you to tell me how."
Bunny sighed, rolling her eyes. "I told you; he's Johnny's brother. Somehow he found out that I was the one responsible for Johnny's murder and now he wants me dead."
"If he just now found out and suddenly wants you dead, why did you come back to Chicago?" Antonio questioned her. "I'd think you'd want to get as far away as possible."
"Well, I heard Erin was back in town, and I wanted to make sure she was okay," Bunny insisted.
Hank stood up, pushing his chair back, and leaned forward, his hands on the table. "Stop lying!" he growled. "You've never cared about Erin. The only person you care about is yourself. I know you wouldn't be back in Chicago if you didn't think you had something to gain by being here. Now tell me what it is!"
"I'm not telling you anything. You turned my daughter against me and turned her into some cop that thinks she's better than everyone just because she carries a gun! She's just like you," Bunny retorted.
"I'll take that as a compliment," Hank informed her. "It's better than the alternative, which is her turning out just like you: some whore who earned her nickname because she was constantly hopping into bed with men."
"Ha! Some good it did her," Bunny scoffed. "She still ended up knocked up. She's a little slut!"
"Sarge!" Antonio grabbed his boss as Hank lunged across the table, trying to get to Bunny. "You're done in here; let's go," he instructed, forcing Hank out into the hallway. "Take a minute and cool off. Ruzek, you're with me."
"Let me try," Burgess spoke up, surprising everyone. "Seriously, maybe it will help having a woman in there."
Antonio exchanged glances with Hank before shrugging. "It's worth a try," he replied. "Come on."
Kim stepped into the interrogation room with Antonio and tried to remain calm as Bunny looked her up and down, judging her. "What, are you Hank's newest project? He couldn't keep Erin under control so he chased her off to the FBI in New York and replaced her with you?"
"How'd you know she was with the FBI?" Kim asked calmly. She knew that was something that neither Erin nor Hank would have told Bunny about.
"I have my sources," Bunny responded snidely.
"That's not good enough!" Antonio yelled, slamming the table in front of Bunny, causing her to jump.
"I see what's happening here. You're playing bad cop good cop with me," Bunny laughed nervously.
"No. That's not what's happening here," Burgess replied, leaning over the table across from Bunny. "Because we're both the bad cops here. Erin is our friend, and thanks to you, she's in danger. We know you've been feeding information to Ray. Now, tell us. How did you know that she was in New York or working for the FBI?"
"I…I…" Bunny tried and failed to come up with an excuse.
"The truth, Bunny. Now!" Antonio demanded.
Bunny sighed. "Fine; I wanted to know where Erin was, you know, in case I ever needed help or anything. So I called the headquarters and finally got lonely broad who was willing to talk. She told me that Erin didn't work for Chicago PD anymore and that the address they'd been given for her last paycheck was in New York."
"And the FBI?" Burgess prodded.
Bunny shook her head. "I'm not giving you any more information unless you can promise me that none of this is going to blow back on me."
"That's not going to happen," Hank replied, opening the door and stepping inside before closing it behind him. He leaned back against the closed door, crossing his arms. "Erin sacrificed everything to get you out of your last mess; I'm not going to let her do that again. Now, you can tell us the truth, or we can find Ray and get him to tell us everything. And if that happens, I can promise you the DA isn't going to be willing to strike a deal."
"You don't even know where he is!" Bunny protested.
Hank pushed himself off of the door and walked towards her. "No, but you do. You see, I had one of my people look through your phone, and you know what they found? You've been talking to Ray. In fact, your last phone call to him was just yesterday, right after you talked to Erin at the park."
"He said if I told him Erin's location he'd let me live!" Bunny rushed out. "I was scared for my life."
"So you were willing to give up your own daughter?" Hank exploded.
"She's not been my daughter since you stole her from me at fifteen!" Bunny argued. "I didn't have any other options!"
"So what's your excuse for telling him where Erin was in New York?" Antonio interjected. Bunny looked up in surprise, and he continued, "We know it was you, Bunny. No one else knew she was there."
Bunny slumped in her chair. "I want a lawyer. I'm not saying another word until I have one," she insisted.
"You know, Bunny; the way I see it is you can willingly tell us everything you know now, without a lawyer, and I'll tell the DA's office that you cooperated, or we can get a lawyer in here and you go to jail for the rest of your life for conspiracy to commit murder," Hank informed her calmly.
"He's been blackmailing me since right after Johnny's death," Bunny confessed. "At first, he didn't know that I was the one who'd killed Johnny; he just thought I'd stolen his money. I told him that I didn't have any of Johnny's money because my daughter was a cop and she'd made me turn it over. Next thing I know, he's starting to ask around about Erin, and then he's coming back to me and telling me that he loves me and he wants to be with me and everything. I fell for it; he was just so charming-"
"Get to the point!" Hank exclaimed, slamming his fist on the table.
"I might have let it slip that Erin was in New York," Bunny stated defensively. "He disappears for a couple of years, completely ghosting me! A couple of months ago he shows back up randomly, and he tells me that Erin is an FBI agent in New York. I don't know how he found out, and I didn't ask. He told me that Erin is coming back to Chicago and wanted to see me. He offered to drive me here, and I agreed. Once he had me in the car, he told me that he knew everything about how I was the one who killed Johnny and that if I didn't cooperate, he'd kill me!"
Hailey shook her head as she and Jay listened in. "Wow, that is one messed up lady" she stated. She glanced at Jay, "You doing okay?"
Jay shook his head, struggling to keep his temper under control. "Everything that Erin went through is because of her. I wish I could say I was surprised to hear that she'd give up Erin to save her own life, but that's just like Bunny."
Hailey reached out and squeezed his arm "Do you want to call her?"
Jay shook his head, running a hand over his face. "Not right now. I don't even know how I'm supposed to tell her about this."
"You're not going to," Hank said from the doorway. "I will."
Jay shook his head. "Sarge-"
Hank held up his hand, stopping Jay. "There's no sense in arguing. I'll be the one to tell her. There's no sense in you having to be the one to do it."
"What's going to happen to her?" Hailey asked. "Bunny, that is."
"She just gave up Ray's location; Ruzek and Atwater are working on making sure it's legit before we hit it. But either way, she's going to prison for a while," Hank replied. "I'll make sure the DA throws every charge in the book at her."
"What about Johnny's murder?" Jay wondered. "She confessed to killing him."
Hank shrugged. "Whether or not that's admissible is up to the DA's office," he informed the two partners. "Because of the fact that she asked for a lawyer and didn't get one, they may throw that out. But it will definitely ensure that the case is reopened, and if there's any remaining evidence tying her to the murder, they'll find it."
"Sarge?" Atwater appeared in the doorway. "The address is good. It looks like we've got him."