It's been a week since the team discovered Dani, since then she was placed in the custody of DCFS. Hank had started paperwork to become a foster parent, he'd visit Dani almost everyday after work sometimes the team would often join him. Some days Hank would take her to 51 and from the moment they met her the whole house adored the six year old.
Hank had to bring her back to the home she was currently staying at, Dani never liked this part of the visit she'd cry and beg for him to stay. It broke his heart to hear this little girl cry for him to stay, he picked her up going to the room she's staying in setting her down on the bed.
"Alright sweetheart, I'll be back tomorrow same time. You think you can be brave for me until then". He says gently.
"You promise you'll be back?" Dani asked.
"Of course".
"When can I live with you?"
"I don't know yet sweetheart but very soon hopefully".
The six year old then flung herself at the older man, he smiled and kissed her temple. The DCFS lady was watching the interaction between the two, she knew deep down Dani should stay with Hank but it wasn't up to her.
"Sergeant, you got a minute". The lady spoke, getting the attention of the two.
"Yeah".
He then left and went out to the hallway with the lady. "Sergeant first thing tomorrow morning we're going to be doing the home inspection you're background is cleared".
"Alright".
"We try to get Dani to interact with the other children or other adults but she shuts down until she sees you or someone from your team".
"Maybe she has trust issues after the condition we found her in".
"Maybe, I was thinking we should get her into counseling to help her open up see if she'll be able to trust more people".
"I know somebody at Chicago Med he's a psychiatrist, I can see if he'll talk to Dani get her to open up".
"Set it up".
"Alright".
"One more thing, the connection Dani has with you it's very nice. I wish most of these kids could have a connection with someone like you".
Hank smiled and shook the woman's hand, he checked on Dani one last time before heading out to go home for the night. Erin was at his house cleaning straightening up the entire house from top to bottom, she cleaned her old room out leaving just a bed, book case, the walls are white, the detective hopes once Hank is able to foster Dani and she gets to live with him they'll be able to do her room the way the six year old wants it.
When the front door opened Erin looked over to see her surrogate father walking in. "Hey how'd it go?" She asked, putting a cloth down.
"It went well, they're doing the home inspection tomorrow. My background checked out. This could be Dani's new home soon".
"That's great. I cleaned out my old room and maybe once Dani moves in we can let her decorate it the way she wants it".
"The DCFS lady wants Dani to go to counseling help her open up and maybe she'll learn to trust more people than us".
"That should work".
The next morning Hank was up bright and early doing some last minute clean up around the house, he made sure both his safes were locked and secure. The fridge, freezer, and cabinets were stocked. Everything was perfect. There was a knock on the door so he put the cloth away and fixed his shirt and jeans then headed to the door answering it.
"Sergeant Voight, I'm Kaylee Dalton. I'm here to do the home inspection". The woman says.
"Please come in". Hank replied.
The woman enters the house and begins to look around and inspect, Hank stands by as she writes stuff in her notebook. "Do you have a room for Dani?" She asked looking at the older man.
"I do it's upstairs, maybe if I get Dani she'll be able to decorate it the way she wants".
"Due to your long work hours who'd be taking care of Dani while you worked?"
"After school she'd stay at the District till I get off, if I need a baby sitter I have a couple friends I can ask. I know people over at Firehouse 51 I'm sure they wouldn't mind watching her".
"Do you have a safe and secure place for your firearms?"
"Yes ma'am".
Kaylee then checked upstairs and saw everything was fine, she had a smile on her face. Her inspection was now complete and she faced the older man with a smile planted on her face.
"Sergeant Voight I'm happy to announce that you passed the home inspection. I'm confident Dani will be happy here with you".
"Thank you".
"Dani should be good to move in either later today or tomorrow".
"That's great. Thank you again".
Kaylee left the house leaving Hank with a huge smile on his face, he then called Erin the good news and had invited the whole team plus 51 to his house, Will, Natalie, Sharon, and a couple others from Med showed up.
Everyone was standing around they were talking, laughing, then there was a knock at the door which made everyone stop and look as Hank went to open it. Kaylee was back with Dani beside her was the small suitcase that belonged to the six year old.
"Sergeant take care of her". Kaylee said.
"I will". Hank said.
Dani then flung herself at the older man and he picked her up effortlessly, Kaylee left just as Hank carried the six year old the rest of the way in the house.
"Dani I want you to meet your new family".
The six year old was a little shy when she saw the entire group she gripped onto Hank tightly but loosened her grip and smiled. He set her on her feet and went around the room and hugged everyone in the room. After everyone left Dani was beginning to feel drowsy so Hank picked her up and brought her up to the room laying her on the bed covering her up.
"Is this gonna be my room?" Dani asked sleepily.
"Yeah, tomorrow we're gonna decorate it the way you want it". Hank replied, tucking the blanket around her.
"Am I gonna live here forever?"
"We'll see but for now it's time for bed so we can decorate your room tomorrow".
"Ok g'night….daddy".
That had completely caught Hank off guard he froze in his spot, the older man hadn't expected Dani to call him 'daddy' yet. He figured she was a little out of it and didn't know what she was saying.
"Sweet dreams sweetheart".
He then kissed her head and quietly left the room, after leaving the room Hank had a huge smile planted on his face.
The next morning
Hank and Dani woke up, the older man began making breakfast which was pancakes and eggs.
"So sweetheart you have an idea for your room yet?" Hank asked, sitting a plate of food in front of her,
"Not really, I never had my own room before". Dani replied.
"I'm sure we can think of something".
The two ate and Hank was trying to get Dani to talk to get to know her better, to see what her interest are.
"I...I" Dani started but couldn't finish. She was afraid if she told Hank what she liked he'd tell her no.
"What is it Dani, whatever it is you can tell me".
"I like purple and pink". Her voice was soft and she looked down.
"We can paint your room purple and pink if you want"
The six year old looked at her foster father, a happy expression on her face. "Really?"
"Really".
"Thank you daddy".
When she flung herself at him he caught her and held her and didn't freeze when she called him daddy again, it filled his heart with happiness. After Justin was killed he'd was almost shut down from the world now that he has Dani he's starting to feel that happiness again.
A moment later there was a knock at the door and Hank went to open it and saw the team and the guys from 51 showed up.
"Come in everyone". Hank tells the people.
They all enter the house after Dani then made her presence known. "Hi everyone". She chirped.
"Hey kiddo". Matt greeted her.
"How's it goin squirt". Adam says next.
"Daddy says we can decorate my room today". Dani said happily.
Everyone went into shock when they heard Dani call Hank, daddy. They all then had smiles on their faces and hugged the pair. They then headed out to get the stuff for Dani's room, all the guys went to get the paint supplies and other stuff to decorate the room. The girls had taken Dani shopping for new furniture, the six year old looked around at all the choices but had a hard time choosing.
"Find anything you like Dani?" Gabby asked.
"Not yet". The six year old replies.
"I'm sure we'll find something". Erin spoke gently.
"I never had my own room before".
The women tried to hide their anger, when they heard about Dani it fired all of them up and wanted to kill the people who had traumatized her. Moving on the girls continued shopping, Dani found some pink curtains for her room. Erin had found some purple curtains next. The six year old found a new bed set but was afraid to say anything.
"See something you like sweetie". Brett says.
"I...I like the bed set, it's pink and purple it'll match my curtains and it also has butterflies".
Dani replies.
Erin smiled down at the six year old and got the bed set which caused the young girl to smile. "Thank you Erin".
"You're welcome honey".
After picking out a few ore bed sets the girls headed over to clothing, Dani had never seen so many clothes before she'd had always wore the same thing every day. She was so excited that the six year old just started going through all sorts of clothing, jeans, shorts, skirts, t shirts, everything.
"Everything's so pretty". Dani commented.
"You like something sweetie?" Stella asked.
"Yes".
The young girl picks out a few shirts in different colors, a few tank tops, jeans, skirts, she found a few sun dresses. After picking out her clothes the six year old then wanted to find some shoes. The women were so happy that Dani was slowly starting to open up.
On the other side of the store all the guys were picking up paint cans, paint brushes, Matt had gotten some large letters that spelt the young girl's name.
"It's a good thing that you're doing Hank, taking Dani in". Boden said.
"When...when Justin died and Olive moved with Daniel I didn't know what to do now that Dani's living with me I have a second chance at being a father". Hank spoke.
"Dani will have a home at 51". Casey says.
"I really appreciate it".
After a while of shopping they got everything for Dani's room, Hank had even gotten some lights to put up in the room. All the girls were finished shopping too Dani was so excited that she got to choose so many outfits and other stuff. Everyone headed back to Hank's house and the guys got started on Dani's room.
Dani was helping the girls make lunch for everyone else, they all decided to make tacos for lunch.
"So what should I do?" Dani asked.
"You can put the lettuce in this bowl right here". Gabby answered, handing her the stuff.
The six year old then opened the bag of lettuce and dumped it into the bowl and set it back on the cabinet.
"Now what?"
"You can help set the table while we cook". Erin spoke.
"Can I help cook?"
"We'll show you when you're a little older".
"Ok".
"Let's go sweetie". Brett says, taking the young girl's hand.
Once the young girl and Brett were out of the room, Gabby and Stella looked over at Erin who was cooking.
"Erin what else can you tell us about Dani?" Stella asked.
"Um well...Antonio found her in the closet of a drug house. Her father was the leader of the gang we arrested. She was terrified Dani wouldn't get out of the closet for Antonio but when she saw Hank she was relieved, I've never once seen that happen". Erin explained.
"I wanna kill the son of a bitch". Gabby said.
"We all did Gabby believe me".
Before another word was spoken there was a shattering sound and then crying, the women went to see what happened. One of the plates and glasses broke, Sylvie was cleaning up the glass and Dani was in the corner cowering and crying her knees were pulled to her chest. Erin then went to the upset six year old.
"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to do it! Please don't hurt me!" Dani cried.
"Dani it's alright sweetheart it was an accident". Erin spoke softly.
"P-please don't hurt me! I'm sorry!"
"Sweetie it's ok we're not mad it was all an accident".
"Y-you're not mad?"
"No honey, see it's all clean now".
Sylvie had cleaned up all the glass from the floor and dumped it into the trash can. "See all cleaned up".
The six year old looked up at Erin. "Y-you won't hurt me?"
"No sweetheart why would you think that?"
"I-I'd get in trouble if i broke things or made a mess, s-sometimes I would get hurt if I did that too".
"We won't ever hurt you sweetie we promise". Gabby says softly to the little girl.
"And we won't ever let anybody else hurt you ever again". Erin assured her.
Stella then gave Dani tissue to wipe her face of her tears and the snot. Up in the room all the guys had finished painting and after words they were all covered in pink and purple paint.
"I feel like a princess". Adam said.
"You may feel like that now but it's all worth it for Dani". Kevin spoke.
"All of it was worth it for Dani". Hank says.
"Yes it was". Boden said.
All the guys had went downstairs to see the girls setting up for lunch, Dani had seen her foster father and ran straight to him and Hank effortlessly picked her up and held her. Everyone hadn't seen Hank this happy since Justin was killed, it was nice to see that the older man was happy again.
"After lunch Dani you wanna see what your room looks like". Kelly say.
"Yes please and thank you". Dani replies shyly".
"You're welcome". They all replied.
Everyone gathered around the table and began eating the tacos, after lunch Hank had loaded the dishwasher. The six year old was so excited to see her room but waited patiently for Hank once he exited the kitchen he took her hand and brought her up to her room. Dani was bouncing with excitement ready to see her room and when the older man opened the door to the room the little girl's eyes widen.
The walls of the room were a light pink color and a purple color, when she saw the room Dani flung herself at Hank. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"
"You like it?" His voice was full of amusement.
"I love it. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!".
"You're welcome sweetheart".
"When can we finish decorating?"
"The paint's gotta dry first so maybe later today or tomorrow".
"I love you daddy".
Happiness swelled at Hank's heart when she called him that he wiped his eyes from the tears that burned in his eyes.
Erin was downstairs in the kitchen making coffee when her phone rang. "Lindsay...I'll go tell him thanks".
She then went to go find Hank and she found him talking to Dani. "Hank you got a sec".
"Yeah".
Hank then went over to his surrogate daughter. "What's up".
"We were checking for any other relatives of Dani's but couldn't find any, they did however find her mother's name. Did you ever know a woman by the name of Serena Taylor?"
The older man turned and faced Dani then wiped a hand down his face. "Yeah I knew Serena Taylor she was my CI".