11. Chapter 11

Chapter rated M for child abuse. Trigger warning.

"Have a good day, baby. I love you." Erin kissed her little girl's cheek and set her down on the ground. "Sergeant Platt is going to pick you up like normal, and then we'll get some pizza for dinner, how does that sound?"

Kate nodded enthusiastically, hugging Erin's legs tightly. "I gotta give you a kiss for Jay," Kate reminded her and Erin leaned down to accept it.

"You're absolutely right. How could I forget?" She hugged Kate back, no longer worrying that she would break her. In the four months they had been a family, Kate had put on some much needed weight and began to look less like a ghost and more like a little girl. Jay had left earlier that morning to meet with a CI, leaving Erin with pre-school drop off duty with the caveat that Kate give Erin a kiss to give to him. "I'll see you in a few hours. Have fun today!" Erin squeezed her baby tighter and waved goodbye as Kate made her way into the classroom.

During Jay and Erin's last conversation with Dr. Handel, they determined that at their next session they would explain how Kate is Jay's biological daughter. Jay was excited but Erin secretly worried about what the revelation would do to her relationship with Kate. She thought of the little girl as her own and loved her fiercely, unable to imagine a life without her. The months she spent being a mother, despite all the complications, had been the best of her life. Her relationship with Jay had never been stronger, and she had never been happier.

"That's from Kate," Erin informed Jay after planting a kiss to his cheek in the breakroom, "And this one's from me." She gently pressed her lips against his, inhaling his scent and basking in her love for her partner.

"Well, if I knew that asking you to relay a kiss from Kate would lead to that," Jay trailed off and chuckled, kissing Erin's nose, "How did drop off go?"

"Smoothly," Erin replied, accepting the mug of coffee that he poured for her, "I told her we could get pizza tonight."

"Mm." Jay nodded, "I could go for some pizza."

"It's like nine in the morning," Erin rolled her eyes, heading toward her desk, "Only a few more hours."

Kate sat cross-legged on the story time carpet, listening to Miss Carlson read a book about farm animals. Some of the other kids were fidgeting, probably because snack time was next. Kate sat quietly though. She liked to learn about all the different types of animals and had been learning more about them through the many trips to the library with Erin, Jay or Sergeant Platt. Uncle Will had even brought by a bunch of animal documentaries that she and Jay watched because Erin always ended up falling asleep. There hadn't been a book about farm animals though, and Kate was fascinated by the silly cows who learned to type.

A knock came to the classroom door and two people entered. There was a man in a police uniform like Officer Garcia wore and that Erin and Jay only wore sometimes, accompanied by a lady wearing a navy blazer and pencil skirt. "Alexa Carlson? May we speak with you?" the officer said, flashing his badge for effect. Miss Carlson sent everyone back to the table for coloring with a promise to return to the story after she spoke with the guests.

Kate was incredibly nervous. She didn't recognize the officer or the lady in navy and Sergeant Platt had introduced her to every patrolman in the district. The group of adults spoke in hushed tones, occasionally flashing a glance toward her. "Ms. Carlson, I'm Maria Lucas from the Department of Children and Family Services. We've been informed that there has been an incident involving the father of Kate Halstead." The woman in navy peered over at Kate, who was supposed to be coloring but was regarding the group of adults warily.

"An incident?" Alexa Carlson asked, worry instantly appearing on her face, "What kind of incident?"

The officer and Ms. Lucas exchanged looks. "It appears Detective Halstead was shot and is being transported to the hospital. He is the only legal guardian to Kate, and we need to take her into protective custody," He paused, "And we are aware that Detective Erin Lindsay is also involved in Kate's life, but we have gotten word that she is injured as well."

Alexa Carlson's eyes were huge, "O-okay, well, Sergeant Trudy Platt normally picks Kate up at 3:30-"

"Sergeant Platt is dealing with the evolving situation at the 21st District, so we will need to take Kate into our custody," Ms. Lucas glanced over at Kate, "right now."

Ms. Carlson nodded and forced a smile as she turned to Kate, "Kate, could you come here for a second, sweetheart?"

Kate knew she was supposed to listen to her teacher, so she slowly made her way from the table to where Ms. Carlson was squatting on the floor, "A-am I in trouble?" Kate asked, glancing nervously up at the officer and DCFS woman.

"Oh, no, um…" the young teacher looked up at the other adults for assistance.

"Hi Kate, my name is Maria and this is Officer John. Something's happened to your daddy, so we need to take you with us, okay? You can trust us, I promise." Ms. Lucas stroked Kate's little arm as the child's eyes widened. Ms. Carlson winced, well aware that Jay and Erin hadn't told Kate Jay was her father and as such hadn't been referring to themselves as Mommy and Daddy.

"J-Jay?" Kate asked, her voice wavering, "Is he okay?" She looked over at her teacher, who appeared just as confused as she was.

"Officer John and I are going to take you to him, right away, okay?" The woman smiled and placed her hands on Kate's shoulders, leading her toward the door. "We'll call with an update, Ms. Carlson."

"21st District." Trudy Platt barked into the receiver, stirring a mug of coffee with her pen. The usual lunch time rush had died down and she was starving and cranky.

"May I speak with Sergeant Platt, please?" A young voice asked over the phone.

"Speaking." Platt responded, opting to add another creamer into her drink.

"Hi, Sergeant, this is Alexa Carlson from Hillside Nursery School, I'm Kate Halstead's teacher-"

"Is she okay?" Platt interrupted, abandoning her coffee.

"Um, I was just able to find someone to cover my class for a minute and was calling to see if there was any news about Jay and Erin. Ms. Lucas said she would call but I haven't heard anything and I was just concerned knowing Kate's situation and-"

"W-what are you talking about?" Platt asked, cutting her off yet again. Dread began to fill the stomach of the seasoned officer as she waited to hear what the teacher was going to say.

"An officer and a woman from DCFS came to my classroom this morning. They said Jay had been shot and Erin had been injured at that they needed to take Kate into protective custody," Ms. Carlson rambled, "And I wanted to see if there was anything I could do-"

"What?" Sergeant Platt exploded, looking around her district in disbelief, "They said my detective had been shot?"

"Y-yes ma'am."

"Hold on," Platt left the receiver hanging as she hurried up the steps to the Intelligence Unit. "Halstead! Lindsay!" She shouted, ascending the steps and looking around widely for her detectives.

"Yeah Sarge?" Jay emerged from the breakroom, stirring a cup of coffee.

"You don't look shot to me," Platt brought a hand to her forehead, "Oh, God…"

"Trudy? What's going on?" Hank came out of his office, Erin right behind him. The older woman appeared to be close to tears.

"I-I've got Kate's teacher on the line-"

"Is she okay?" Erin interrupted, eyes wide.

"She said that an officer and a woman from DCFS came to her classroom this morning and told her that you," Platt gestured to Jay, "Had been shot and that you," she gestured to Erin, "had been injured and that she needed to be taken into protective custody."

"W-what?" Jay choked out, fumbling for his cell phone in his pocket to dial the number for the school.

"We need to get down to that school." Hank barked out and immediately Olinsky and Ruzek grabbed their coats and headed for the exit. He turned to Erin, who had gone pale and looked dangerously close to passing out. "Erin, sit down."

She shook her head, blinking back tears. Jay disconnected his call, putting his arms above his head. "Someone took my kid." He whispered, slamming his hand down on the desk, causing everything on it to jump, "We need to find her, now."

"Are we going to where Uncle Will works?" Kate asked nervously, taking a sip from the juice box that the woman had handed to her. She had been given very little information, only that she was being brought to where Jay was and that he and Erin were both hurt, "Are Jay and Erin going to be okay?"

"Not sure, kid." The officer replied, shrugging off his uniform as he sat in the passenger seat, "You just sit tight."

"C-can you call Sergeant Voight?" The little girl finally allowed tears to leak out of her eyes. She was trying to be brave but she was so worried. "Or my Uncle Will? Or Sergeant Platt?"

"No-can-do." He flashed a sick smile at Kate, causing her to cower backwards in the seat. There hadn't been a car seat, so she was sitting in the backseat unable to see out the window. She was becoming increasingly anxious about the situation, especially because she didn't recognize where she was going.

"I-I want Erin." Kate whimpered, her head feeling heavier and limbs going slack, "I want Jay."

"Just go to sleep, little girl." The man told her. Kate fought to keep her eyes open. She knew she wasn't safe anymore.

"This is unbelievable," Alexa Carlson ran her hand through her hair as she nervously looked from Jay to Erin, "I am so sorry."

"It isn't your fault." Jay replied tensely, gripping Kate's backpack in his hands. "You did what you were supposed to do."

"We're getting the security footage now. And the badge number from the Officer John came back as being stolen last week. There's no way you could have known. These are professional criminals." Erin said, placing her hand on Jay's chest. "If you think of anything else, please call."

"She's been missing four hours," Jay murmured as they exited the office, "Alexa said she was taken at 10:30. We haven't gotten a hit off the car from the security cameras. She could literally be anywhere right now."

"We know that Jackson has roots in New York and Chicago," Erin stated, sliding into the driver's seat, "We've got alerts out at O'Hare, Midway and every train or bus station in the area. There's a BOLO out on the car. There's an Amber Alert out on her. We're going to find her."

Jay nodded wordlessly. The drive back to the district was silent, both detectives consumed by the fact that Kate's worst nightmare had come true. "Halstead." Jay snapped into his phone after it chimed. "Fuck." He blurted out, gripping the phone tightly in his fist, looking like he was going to smash it into the ground. "God damn it." Jay disconnected the call and covered his eyes with his hand.

"Jay." Erin looked at him urgently, pulling the Sierra over to the curb.

"They found the car in the long-term parking lot at O'Hare." Jay replied, not removing his hand from his face, "Olinsky and Burgess are talking to TSA now."

Erin didn't have the words to reply. She merged back onto the street and headed for the district, unable to speak.

"Flights out of O'Hare have been grounded." Platt informed the rest of the Unit, consisting of Ruzek, Atwater and Voight. "My contact at the TSA thinks that they are probably already in the air. We're getting information on outgoing passengers with any kid matching Kate's description."

Halstead and Lindsay tromped up the stairs silently, Jay sitting behind his desk and Erin making her way to the breakroom. "Uh, we know Jackson's got contacts in New York. Check out those flights first." Jay said thickly, glancing down at his phone. His background was an image of Erin and Kate tossing corn into the pond, Kate smiling gleefully and Erin beaming down at the little girl.

Platt nodded. "Will do." She offered a small smile, "Stay strong, Halstead."

"Halstead, if you can't be here, I understand." Voight said, leaning against Lindsay's empty desk. "If you and Lindsay need to go home-"

"I'm good, right here." Jay responded, "I just want to find our kid."

Hank nodded, "Alright, Atwater and Ruzek, go over all of Jackson's known associates. See if anything pops for the people who posed as DCFS and impersonated an officer."

"Got it boss." Ruzek replied, busying himself with the computer.

"Halstead, you and Lindsay go to Jackson's mother's house in case there's any evidence we missed over there. It's still a crime scene." Jay nodded, glancing around the bullpen for his partner. He knew the order was busy work, but he didn't care. He couldn't just sit around and wait.

Hank turned to the breakroom to see his daughter leaning over the sink. "Jay, I think some of the officers downstairs needed a recent picture. I'll send Erin down in a bit."

Jay nodded again, knowing he was unable to find the words to comfort his partner. He rose and headed down the steps. Hank approached Erin carefully, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. "We're gonna find her, kid."

Erin turned her head and looked up at her boss and father figure with tear-filled eyes. "Hank, this is literally her worse nightmare come true. We told her that we would keep her safe, and-" Her voice cracked, "and we failed to keep that promise."

Hank brought her in for a hug, holding her gently against his worn t shirt. Erin sobbed into his shoulder, unable to keep it together any longer.

"Hey Sarge, I got a hit!" Atwater called, standing from his desk, showing Ruzek.

Groggily, Kate opened her eyes. Her head hurt and she was cold, having left her classroom without her coat. She lifted her throbbing head and peered at her surroundings, quickly remembering that she had been taken from school because Jay and Erin were hurt. She was on a bed atop the covers, her shoes still on. It looked like a bedroom to Kate, but she had no idea where she was or who she was with.

The little girl gingerly pushed herself off the bed, peering into the bathroom for a sign of anyone she recognized. Panic set in as the handle to the door turned. She froze and a tall figure entered the room. Kate recognized the man immediately, his sour scent assaulting her senses and sending her up against the wall. "Hey there, Katie." The man's deep voice reverberated against the flimsy walls of the motel room, "Did you miss your Uncle Bobby?"

Kate let out a whimper as the man took another step closer to her. "I was sorry to hear about your dad. Shame he had to die, just like your mother. What was his name…Jay. Detective Halstead. Always too bad when an officer of the law bites the dust." Bobby let out a snicker, watching the little girl's eyes fill with tears. "Don't worry, Mr. P and I are gonna make everything better."

She trembled against the wall, unable to press herself back any further. "Come here, Katie." Bobby held a hand out but Kate pulled her arm back and shook her head vigorously.

"No thank you," she whispered, tears now streaming down her cheeks, "I-I don't want to."

"You don't have a choice." The large man grabbed her arm and tugged. Kate yelped and squeezed her eyes shut as his calloused hand made contact with the side of her head.

Atwater's search of Paul Jackson's known associates matched the fake officer John to a man named Kyle Anders, a young man whose cousin had been a friend to Jackson but was killed distributing Jackson's drugs. The woman who posed as DCFS was Jackson's current girlfriend, Sarah Harding. TSA had records of Anders and Harding, with a sleeping Kate in tow, boarding a flight that landed at La Guardia Airport in New York. Unfortunately for Intelligence, the flight had deplaned in Queens a half hour before the flights from O'Hare had been stopped on the tarmac.

Hank was in contact with Lieutenant Oliva Benson from NYPD's Special Victims Unit, utilizing resources and connections from both NYPD and CPD to find Kate. Jay and Erin were planning on taking the next flight out of Chicago, but were stuck in the airport due to a massive late October snowstorm that was burying the city in over a foot of snow. Driving didn't appear to be a good option either, as the storm had caused massive delays that would turn a twelve-hour drive into a day-long trek.

Kate had been missing for nearly 24 hours before Intelligence discovered that she had been taken to New York, and SVU was hard at work trying to pinpoint her exact location. SVU held Kyle Anders in custody but he was refusing to talk without speaking with a lawyer and making a deal.

"Erin, I promise you I will give you a call as soon as I hear anything," Detective Amanda Rollins promised, gripping her phone tightly. As a mother herself, Rollins was sympathetic to Erin's position. She disconnected the call and turned to her lieutenant, "I can't imagine what they're going through."

Benson shook her head, "Carisi and Fin are canvassing the area where Anders was picked up. He's still in there with his mouthpiece but I'm hoping that starts talking soon."

"It's only a matter of time until they get here," A harsh voice hissed loudly, "We don't have time to set everything up here." Kate struggled to open her eyes. Her mouth was dry and her head was still pounding as she blurrily regarded Paul Jackson and Bobby Hannigan arguing in front of her. She was laying on the bed again, face down in the musty pillow. "We need to get out of here. I'm taking Sarah and we'll meet you at the country house."

"Are you sure, boss?" Bobby looked over at Kate, who was staring at them through swollen eyes. "You think I can make it, just me and the kid?"

"You're going to have to. We got about a half a mil comin' in from the next webcast, so you better deliver her." Jackson cocked his gun and pressed it into his partner's chest, "Or else."

Bobby nodded intensely and Jackson lowered the gun. "Good. Now I'm gonna say goodbye to my girl." Jackson grinned widely at Kate, who scrambled to her knees, wincing at the pain in her left arm.

"Katie, I'm leaving. Come give me a hug goodbye." Jackson approached the bed as Kate backed up against the headboard. "Don't be like that."

Kate shook her head and whimpered as Jackson grabbed her by the arms and roughly pulled her against him. She wriggled and tried to pull away, attempting to kick him. "Hey!" He shouted and twisted her arm. Kate let out a shriek of pain and pushed away, tumbling off the other side of the twin bed with a thump.