27. Chapter 27

A/N: I think it's safe to say we're all pretty well-versed in what happened in this particular episode, so I haven't re-written all of the scenes from the episode, just what I felt was really necessary to the storyline, or where I was able to add some more Linstead/character moments into it.

Also, I am so silly and forgot to include a scene that was supposed to be in there a few chapters ago. So, when you read Erin, Mouse and Jay discussing something that happened 'three weeks ago' just go with it lol

Enjoy!

10th February, 2016

Erin sat in the rocking chair of Ben's nursery staring out the window as the sun began to peek into the morning sky. Her hands had been clutched around an empty cup for the past two hours; she was undecided if she needed a stiff drink or a cup of tea. Her stomach was a mess, her anxiety began rising from the moment she saw that Note in Olivia Benson's hand.

Where was he?

Was he coming for her, or someone close to her?

How would she keep her son safe?

She knew it was unrealistic for her to be concerned about Ben; Yates didn't know about her son. She had already given birth by the time they were on that case. But those thoughts - no matter how logical or irrational they are - were running a loop in her head; the last time she had to protect someone against Gregory Yates, she had failed.

Her stomach tightened further, and she bolted up from her seat for the fourth in the last two hours, rushing to the bathroom to throw up again; at this point it was more dry-heaving than anything else. She hadn't been able to eat anything after they reached Hank's house.

She rested her arms across the toilet bowl and lay her head down, groaning softly. She needed to get this under control and fast; there was no way Hank would let her work if she was running to the bathroom to throw up every five minutes. She was no good to anyone like this, and she needed to be on her A-game.

Erin closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths, jumping when she felt a cold wetness on her neck. She turned slightly and saw Jay kneeling behind her holding a wet cloth against her skin. She gave him a grateful smile.

"You need to get some food in you, sweetheart." Camille sighs as she holds the wet cloth against the young girl's neck "You're going to wither away if you keep doing this."

"I can't help it." Erin whines "You think I like feeling like this?"

"You have to relax Erin. If you keep working yourself this hard, you're going to break." Camille scolds.

"I can't relax Camille! I have to do well in my finals, I can't fail. I have to graduate. You and Hank did so much to put me through school, I don't want to disappoint you."

"Hey." Camille pulled Erin closer, hugging the 17-year-old as they both sat on the bathroom floor "You could never disappoint me. You're a bright girl Erin, you'll do well. I know you will."

"My stomach is killing me." Erin cries "I can't eat C, I feel like someone is wringing my insides out."

"You're stress levels are high, you're feeling anxious. You need to get some rest sweetie, no more studying tonight."

Erin lifted her head to protest "I have to finish-"

"Erin Lindsay, you will go to bed right now, or I will drag you by your hair and tuck you in between Hank and myself in our bed and force you to sleep."

Erin could see the determination in the older woman's eyes and nodded silently. Camille stood up from the cold tiles, reaching out her hand to pull the younger girl up to her feet. Camille wraps one arm around Erin's shoulders and walks her back to her room. She shuts the laptop and textbooks sitting on her desk while Erin gets changed into her pyjamas and gets into bed.

Camille bends down to place a kiss against her hair.

"Get some rest love, the work can wait." She whispers against her.

Erin closes her eyes and smiles softly "I love you, Camille."

"I love you too Erin, no matter what happens. That will never change."

Jay watches Erin as the smile forms on her dazed face "Where did you just go?"

Erin leans her face into his hand cradling her cheek "Thinking about Camille."

Jay nods in understanding motioning to the cloth "I remember you telling me that story; the night of your reunion, it was the first time you were truly vulnerable with me. I saw a whole different side of you that night."

"It was the first time I knew that I could let my walls down with you. The way you showed up for me … you made me feel safe." Erin shifts her weight to lean against Jay's chest and he sits down on the floor to hold her to him.

"Alright buddy, time to go." Jay says as he hands Ben over to Ella, their babysitter.

Ben whines as he tries to grasp his father's arm, upset at being separated from his parents. He cries in frustration and pulls the police beanie off his head throwing it on the floor.

"Sorry, I think he's feeding off our stress." Jay says picking up his son's beanie.

Ella smiles as she settles Ben on her hip "it's fine, he'll be okay once you guys are gone. It's always the goodbye that's the hardest. How are you doing?"

"we're okay, thank you." Erin forces a smile "So, what's the plan for today?"

"Wednesday's we usually go to the park. Don't we Ben?" Ella asks as she bounces the little boy on her hip "A couple of the girls on this block take the kids all together so they can play. It usually tires him out enough so he naps pretty easily after."

"Smart plan." Erin says, leaning forward and brushing ben's cheek with the back of her hand "We better go. Call us if you need anything okay? If we don't answer our cells, just call the department and tell Trudy Platt to put you directly through to me."

"Of course, I know the drill." Ella frowns "are you sure you guys are alright?"

Jay nods "Yeah, just a difficult case. We'll come and pick him up around 6:00."

They say their goodbyes, Ella shutting the door and Erin and Jay walking down the front porch steps to the car.

"Are you sure you're okay? I know this case has to be tough, but you just seem … off." Jay asks as they buckle into their seats.

Erin sighs "I was thinking I should stay at my apartment until this case is over."

"What are you talking about?"

"Voight seems to think I'm in danger. Now I don't believe that Yates is targeting me, I'm not willing to take that risk. No one's renting the apartment at the moment, there's still some of my things in there. Ben will be safe with you."

"Hey, come on." Jay reaches across the console and takes her hand in his "Yates doesn't even know Ben exists; you had already given birth by the time we took that case. He's safe, you know that, otherwise we wouldn't have left him today – let alone left him with the sitter."

Erin shakes her head "We can't guarantee that. Do you think I want this? I hate the idea of not being at home with you two, but we have to think about Ben's safety in all this. I can't expose either of you to the risks. I would never forgive myself if something happened to you two."

"No. We're not doing this. The last time we let Yates' actions affect our lives, it broke us apart. I'm not letting you sacrifice yourself for us this time. Whatever happens, we get through it together, just like we always have."

"You're right. I'm sorry, I'm just scared." She says leaning into him.

"I know, so am I." Jay admits "but we will figure this out. You and me."

…

Erin and Jay walked up the stairs to the offices of the Intelligence Unit; the entire team was seated behind or sitting on their desks and Antonio was standing before them all as he stuck photos onto the investigation board.

"Ok so this is what we know so far; Greg Yates escaped custody last night in upstate New York after killing two state troopers, two ConElectric workers, and a camper. He also shot Sergeant Dodds who, thank God, will make a full recovery. Pennsylvania troopers found the pickup truck he stole from the camper abandoned on a state road. State forensics lifted Yates' prints, and a motorist there identified Yates as pretending to have car trouble and knocking him out to take his car. He's repeated the pattern in both Ohio and Indiana."

Jay rested his body against the edge of his desk, his eyes trained on Erin while he listened to Dawson speak. She was walking back and forth between her desk and Ruzek's, her eyes scanning her team as she did. He would be lying if he said he wasn't worried about her; she had suffered one of the most traumatic losses of her life at the hands of Gregory Yates. She was still recovering, still rehabilitating. Jay trusted his partner implicitly, but he wasn't 100% sure she was in the right head space for this case.

Honestly, he wasn't sure if he was either.

"The last vehicle brought him to the Illinois border. Again, crime lab confirmed Yates' prints, but we have no more leads after that."

"Except one." Hank says as he enters the room, sticking a photo up on the board "Erin, she's the reason Yates is here."

Erin's eyes flick to the photo as she slowly paces, the note Yates had left to her on his victim's body, before shaking her head.

"No. He's just trying to get in our heads. We put out a BOLO, investigative alert, and AMBER alerts on the vehicle. Troopers are watching every highway coming into Chicago." Erin relays the information to the team.

"Troopers are watching every highway coming into Chicago. SVU is questioning Carl Rudnick, the guy Yates escaped with, who's now back in custody. Lieutenant Benson will be in touch when they have anything to report." Antonio adds.

"Well, until then I want us on every transient hotel, shelter, food bank in the city. Remember, this guy will kill or maim to get what he wants." Hank directs his team walking over to Mouse "Hey, flag the credit cards of the vehicle owners. See if there was a safe haven he used last time he was here."

Mouse nods before following his orders.

Each detective starts frantically typing on their keyboards and calling their sources, trying to see if they can find any new information on Greg Yates. Jay walks over to Erin, grasping her arm to stop her striding.

"Hey, you good? You still feeling nauseous?"

"I'm fine." She says distractedly "Oddly enough, being able to focus on this case is easing my anxiety. Means my imagination can't run wild."

Jay nods, not wanting to push her for more information "Alright, I'm gonna run with the carjack victims."

"Okay. Thanks."

…

"Sarge, I think I have something!" Mouse calls out, and the team all stop to look at him as Hank stands behind him at his desk. Mouse puts his phone onto video mode, showing Lieutenant Benson and Fin.

"We just spoke with Rudnick, apparently Yates befriended a guard who slipped him contraband phones. Found this in his cell," Detective Tutuola holds up a smart phone "with a search triangulating a Chicago neighbourhood; South Loop, around 16th and Indiana?"

Jay's eyes widen as he looks at Erin "That's near your old apartment."

"It doesn't mean anything." She says.

Hank sighs "Erin-"

Platt charging up the stairs interrupts them "Hank! Burgess and Roman just made notification of a triple homicide all in one apartment building, a fourth woman hanging on. All female. All nurses."

Fin and Benson look at each other, before the Lieutenant turns her attention back to the screen "Fin and I are on the next flight." She says before they hang up.

Hank looks at him team "Everyone move out!"

"You're benching me!?" Erin storms out to the car.

Hank trails behind calmly "I'm keeping you safe."

"We just left a scene with three dead nurses. I'm not the one you need to worry about."

"He's baiting you, Erin." Hank says.

"No, he's not. He's using me to get under your skin, and it's working." She barks back.

"Hey." He calls, grasping her hand to stop her "You make one mistake with Yates, you're dead. You get that?"

"If he wanted me, he would have found a way already. This is not about me."

"Well, I'm not willing to taking that chance." Hank says.

Their discussion is cut short by the shrill ringing of Erin's phone. She pulls it out of her pocket, groaning as she sees the caller ID before declining the call.

"It's Bunny. She's back from Reno, kicked husband number five to the curb." Erin says, continuing to walk to the car.

"She want more money?" Hank asks.

"I don't know what she wants!" Erin yells frustratedly "Hank, if I'm bait, let me be bait. I can draw him in, let me do my job."

Hank sighs "Just … get in the car, Erin."

…

"What have we got?" Erin asks as she and Hank come back into the offices. Mouse, Kim and Roman were all seated.

Mouse looks up at them "A woman called the hotline we set up, said she ran into Yates outside of the university Nell Carr teaches at. He was showing a photo of her on his phone, claiming she was his college girlfriend and he was in town for the week. No one's been able to find her since. Jay and Atwater are on their way now."

"What happened to the victim at the hospital?" Hank enquires "They were supposed to be covering her."

Mouse shakes his head "She died before they could get her to the hospital."

"This doesn't make any sense." Erin says "he was looking for Nellie Carr this whole time, first at the apartments and then here. But she's 40-something with red hair. It doesn't add up."

"Well, neither does the MO from this morning, but everyone who has ID'd him said he was specifically looking for her."

The office phone rings, and Mouse answers it immediately "Intelligence … yeah, Jay, hold on one sec." Mouse sets the phone down so it's on speaker "Tell them what you said.

"Hank, there's a note left in the car Yates drove here." Jay repeats.

"What does it say?" Erin asks, only to be met with silence "Jay. What does the note say?"

"… Too bad you're at the station, Erin. You're missing all the fun."

Mouse looks up alarmed "We've swept the entire building in and out. He's not here."

"What the hell is going on?" Atwater asks over the phone.

"There's no way Yates could know where Detective Lindsay is." Mouse says.

"Except he does, so figure it out." Hank barks.

"Yes sir." Mouse says focusing back on his screen.

"Halstead, Atwater. Get back here as soon as." Hank orders.

"We have a couple more people to talk to, half an hour max." Jay answers before ending the call.

"What about you two?" Hank and Erin switch their focus to Burgess and Roman "Anything else on the helplines?"

"Not so far. We've got an investigative alert out on Yates and Nellie, her car, cell phone, and credit cards." Burgess explains.

"Alright, I want uniforms door to door through that campus. Get recruits if you have to. We got to figure out what the connection is between Yates and Nellie."

Platt and the Commander walked up the stairs, the gentleman eyeing Erin as she was working at her desk.

"Voight." He says motioning to the Sergeant's office.

The two walk in and Platt stays in the bullpen to set up the map linking the information for the hotline calls.

"Shouldn't Detective Lindsay be home? She's too personally involved in this case." The Commander states.

Hank crosses his arms, looking at his boss defiantly "The safest place for Lindsay is right here in my station."

"… Fine." Commander agrees "New York SVU is en route. Should be here in the next two hours. What do we know so far?"

Hank sits behind his desk, pulling up his file to show the Commander all the information he has, his eyes occasionally looking out to watch Erin.

Just because he had benched her, didn't mean she wouldn't try to sneak out while he wasn't looking. He knew her better than that.

…

Erin stands in front of the board, her eyes staring at the blank spot above the word 'Nadia Decotis – April 12, 2015'.

"Can I help you, Detective?" Trudy asks, carrying a box towards the board.

Erin's eyes don't move from the board, "You didn't put up Nadia's picture with all the other past victims. Nadia is not up there."

Trudy looks down nervously "Her name is up there. I … I thought maybe a photograph …"

Erin gives her a small smile, appreciating the older woman's concern "She should be up there with everybody else. It's okay."

"Absolutely, I'll fix it. Sorry."

Erin squeezes the older woman's hand, "Thanks Trudy."

"We're wasting time, Commander. He's playing games with us." Erin grumbles.

"I don't give a damn. I'm not risking this entire office district because of your hunch. We wait for the Bomb Squad, and that's that." The Commander ordered.

The entire 21st District was standing outside in the freezing cold of Chicago, waiting for the Bomb Squad to finish checking the building and specifically the package that had been delivered to Erin Lindsay at the front desk.

Erin was pacing back and forth in front of the box, grumbling to herself about how ridiculous this whole situation was.

"Er, you gotta calm down. Crowley's barely okay with you working this. If you keep pushing, she's going to suspend you."

"He's playing mind games Jay!" Erin whisper-yells "He's trying to distract us, meanwhile Nellie Carr is god knows where, suffering at his hands. We need to find her."

"We will, but you need to take a breath and relax, otherwise you're going to be benched. Please." Jay says, taking his hand in hers "Just take a minute."

Erin listens to his instructions, gripping his hand firmly as she closes her eyes and takes a few deep breaths.

"Package is clear!" A voice calls, and Erin's eyes snap back open as she pushes her way through to the front of the group, taking the switchblade that Hank offers her and carefully opening the box.

Just because the Bomb Squad had cleared it, doesn't mean it was 100% clean.

There were a few audible gasps through the crowd as Erin opened the box, revealing the cut-off hand of the earlier victim from Nellie Carr's apartment, with a piece of paper within the fingertips.

Erin slowly reached in and pulled the paper out, slowly opening it as she read the words "Why don't you answer the phone when your mother calls?"

Before she had a moment to think about what that could mean, her phone rings. Bunny's photo fills her screen for the second time that day, and she looks at Hank and Commander Crawley.

"He knows she opened the box. He's here watching, fan out now!" the Commander orders the uniformed officers, everyone spreading out and frantically trying to find Yates.

"That means this morning, it wasn't Bunny who called. It was Yates." Erin says looking at her boss.

"He must have spotted you. Called from his phone, made it look like Bunny's." Hank theorises "Just answer it."

Erin takes a breath, Hank and Jay walking closer to her as she clicks answer. Gregory Yates' face fills her screen, a scared Nellie Carr stuck to his side. Erin feels her stomach grow queasy again.

"Detective Lindsay! How lovely to see you again. Do you know Nellie Carr?" Yates says, not giving her a chance to speak "Nurse Nellie, this is the wonderful Detective Lindsay. Detective- Do you … are those dark circles under your eyes? Can't sleep?"

Erin huffs "You've been keeping me busy. But you have my attention now. What do you need?"

"Where is he?" Jay asks Mouse.

"I'm on the phone with Lindsay's carrier. Let me see what I can do." Mouse whispers, not wanting to alert the man on the phone.

Yates smirks, his eyes flicking to Nellie before looking at Erin once more "Gosh, what do I need?"

"Did you want the concern of the city? You got that. Wanted the whole district to sit up? Look, see?" Erin turns her phone around to show him the flood of officers searching for him around the precinct "You did all this."

Erin turns the phone back to face her "But you keep sending clues – notes – to me, so why don't you tell me where you are? I'll come to you."

"You already know where I am." Yates says, his grip on Nellie tightening.

Erin's eyes narrow slightly, scanning the background of where Yates is calling from. It does look familiar, but she doesn't want to believe it.

"Why don't you pretend I'm not that clever and tell me anyways?"

There's a glint in his eyes as he responds; he's enjoying this too much.

"And ruin all the fun?"

"Fine." Erin snaps "Then tell me why you killed those four nurses when what you really wanted was Nellie?"

"You're trying to get me to confess with witnesses present. You're recording this call without my permission Detective, and without my legal representative present. You should know better than to play games with me." He replies, his hand moving up to Nellie Carr's throat where he places a knife against her skin, the woman letting out a panicked whimper.

"Okay, Okay! Then why me? Why are you leaving all the notes for me?"

"You have something I desire detective." The vulnerability in Yates' voice catches both him and Erin off guard, and for the split second he lets his guard down she can swear she sees pain in his eyes.

Yates clears his throat, focusing his attention back on the woman "I've been thinking a lot about religion; the story of Cain and Abel. Do you know it?"

Erin nods "Cain, the firstborn of Adam and Eve, a farmer. Abel, the younger, a shepherd. God favoured Abel, and Cain murdered him for it."

"God favoured one child, more than the other. He drove Cain to insanity. And, if they were the only descendants of Adam and Eve, it makes us all descendants of a murderer; does it not? It makes us all responsible for the sins of those before us."

Jay looks over at Mouse, signalling for confirmation as he stands behind Erin's hands and out of Yates site. She looks up at him and he mouths "Pinging his phone now."

Erin focuses back on Yates as he laughs softly "What does that have to do with these nurses? Do you think God is favouring them over you; You're Cain in all of this?"

"Oh I am no longer Cain." He chuckles "And I will be seeing you real soon, Detective." Those are the last words she hears before both he and Nellie Carr fall out of the view of the frame, before Yates hangs up.

"Wait, no!" She says as the screen goes black "Goddamit!"

Mouse shakes his head "He powered down. We lost the trace."

"Mouse, how the hell does he know where she is or what we've been doing!?" Jay exclaims.

Mouse concentrates on the floor, his eyes moving frantically as he thinks, before his head shoots up and his hand juts out "Your phone. Let me see your phone."

Erin hands it over to him, confused as he types and taps frantically on her screen "Detective Lindsay's phone … it's using five times the regular data. That means-"

"Spyware." Jay sighs "He's been tracking her phone from inside it. But how would he have access to it? When?"

Mouse shrugs "The first sign of any spyware is three weeks ago. Around January 22nd."

Jay's eyes widen "That was around the time someone broke into the car at the house." He turns to Erin "Remember, you'd left your phone in there? We thought it was a miracle that they hadn't noticed it in the compartment, but maybe …"

"He planned it." Erin shakes her head, panic setting in "Fuck. He's too many steps ahead of us, he's had all this time to plan. How the fuck are we going to catch up to him?"

"We're going to figure this out, it's going to be alright." Jay holds Erin by her arms, forcing her to stand still "You need to take a deep breath. In through your nose, out through your mouth."

Erin did as instructed, trying her best to calm the tightening she felt in her stomach, but it was no use.

"Alright, building's been cleared! Let's get back to work people!" Commander Crawley yells.

Erin pushes her way through, racing upstairs and into the bathroom before anyone can come in and see her. She runs to the trash can near the door, arms gripping the top as she empties the little content that was in her stomach.

"This is serious déjà vu if I've ever seen it." Erin's head shoots up, Trudy Platt standing behind her leaning against the sink "You good kid?"

Erin sighs "I'm fine Trudy, it's just the stress of this case. You all don't need to keep worrying about whether I'm gonna fall off the rails. I'm solid."

"I know you are."

"You do?" Erin asks surprised.

Platt nods "I'll admit, I was hesitant about you working this case, but you put my mind at east."

Erin folds her arms over her chest, leaning her shoulder against the wall as she eyes the older woman "And how exactly did I do that?"

"I didn't avoid putting up Nadia's photo because we all knew her," Platt sighs "I was worried it would upset you. But, seeing the way you handled yourself, it shows me how far you've come since the last time I found you in here. I know you're stronger now than you were last time; just don't let your emotional ties to this case cloud your judgement, alright?"

Erin smiles gratefully "I appreciate that Trudy, and I promise you; my focus is exactly where it needs to be."

Platt nods and begins walking out the door "Alright then, let's go nail this son of a bitch." She pokes her head back in a second later and scrunches up her face "And wash your mouth before you come out of here. I don't need your puke-breath stinking up my district."

Erin rolls her eyes at the woman but lets out a short laugh at her antics; she had needed to hear that from Platt. From someone who had been as close to Nadia as she was, and someone who wasn't directly a part of her team – almost impartial to the case – that she believed in her. She needed to hear that someone trusted her instincts and her strength.

She wasn't going to let Gregory Yates break her again.

"Well well, look what the cat dragged in." Adam's comment turns the attention of his team – in the middle of gearing up – to the two SVU detectives entering their offices.

Lieutenant Benson and Detective Tutuola smile at unit as they say their hellos

Olivia makes a beeline for Erin who's standing at her desk helping Jay secure his vest. She wraps the younger woman in a tight hug "Been getting updates on you. How you holding up?"

"Glad you guys are here." Erin shrugs in response "You're just in time actually, They're heading over to my apartment."

Olivia looks at her confused "He's at your apartment?"

"We think so. I'm sure Hank will explain in the car." Erin says clipping in Jay's vest "I have to stay here, Voight's benching me."

"it's the right call. I would do the same if I were him." Benson says and grabs a set of hear before following the team out to their cars.

…

"It's clear." Atwater calls from his position in the kitchen.

"Clear here too." Antonio says walking out of Erin's bedroom.

"We got something!" Jay yells from the nursery, and the team rush in just as Ruzek opens the wardrobe.

"No, no! Stop!" Nellie Carr cries as she sees the doors open, her relief instant when she realises it's not her captor."

"It's okay, we're the police." Adam says bending down to undo her restraints "Where's Yates? Where'd he go?"

"I don't know. He's not out there?" Nellie asks.

"He left you here?" Benson questions, surprised "This doesn't make sense."

"He said if I left … he'd be outside waiting to kill me. He said I had to stay inside." Nellie's voice trembles as she holds back her tears "Is he gone?"

"Yeah, it's alright. Come on, let's get you out of here." Adam says, pulling her up into his arms and helping her walk out of the apartment.

"Tear this place apart, see if he left anything behind." Voight says to his team as they disperse.

"Shit!"

Voight and Benson turn to look at Jay. He's turned with his back facing them, staring down at Ben's cot and frantically pulls out his phone. Voight pulls up beside him, eyes wide.

"Oh my god."

"Mouse! You need to send a car to Ella Lewis' address, make sure they don't leave until I get there. Tell Erin to meet me there!" Jay yells.

"Your babysitter? What's going on?" Mouse asks.

"He knows about Ben. I think he's the next target." Jay says before hanging up, his eyes focused on Voight "We gotta go."

Jay runs out of the room without another word, Voight following closely behind. Benson walk over to see what had startled the detectives; a picture of Jay and Erin holding Ben in the hospital on the day of his birth was ripped up and thrown beside a plush teddy bear that had been sitting in the crib– it's head now torn from the body.

"Come on, Come on!" Erin yells as she bangs her hand against the front door of Ella's house. She had been trying for the past five minutes, hoping that maybe the young woman just couldn't hear her.

The skidding tires of the 300 alerted Erin to the arrival of her partner, she ran down the stairs as he and Voight jumped out of the car.

"They're not here!" she cries.

"Have you tried calling her?" Jay asks pulling out his phone.

Erin shakes her head "It's going straight to voicemail. She knows not to leave her phone, she's never not answered the phone before."

"Mouse!" Voight says into his phone "Find Ella Wills' location, she's not at the house."

"I'm not getting any signal from her phone. I think it's been turned off." Mouse says "Last location is the next block over, at the local convenience store. But that was almost an hour ago."

"Dammit." Voight mutters.

"Sergeant Voight!" Kim calls out "I've got something … put me on speaker."

Voight follows her request "We're listening Burgess."

"the scanner just picked up a call. A woman was killed at the Humboldt Park; three blocks down from Ella Wills' house. Several others injured. The description witnesses gave … it sounds like Yates."

Erin's eyes widen "Ella said she was taking Ben to the park. They do it every Wednesday."

"Burgess, call the team and tell them to get here NOW!" Voight yells as they all get in their cars.

…

"BEN!?" Erin yells as she runs through the witnesses, trying to find her son and his sitter.

"What happened?" Voight asked, quickly approaching the crime scene.

The officer on the scene explained "The suspect came up behind the victim, slit her throat before she could even react. A few men and women, we believe to be her friends or neighbours, tried to stop him but he shot them all. Everyone scattered the second gunshots were heard, we're still trying to round up witnesses and account for all the kids that were here. The gunshot victims have been taken to Chicago Med; paramedics reckon most of them will survive, but one kid's got the bullet too close to his carotid artery – we won't know for sure until after he's had surgery."

"How many injured in total?" Jay asks.

"including the victim, six. All in their 20s from the looks of it" The officer answers, and Jay takes a moment of relief at the fact that his son is not a part of the victim list; there was still hope.

"What's odd is that the suspect took the time to leave a note on the victim's body. Doesn't really seem like a normal MO for someone who would kill so publicly."

Jay looks nervously to Voight before he walks over to the victim, cautiously lifting the sheet "It's her."

"I can't find them!" Erin says as she rushes over to her partner "Maybe she went somewhere else, or-"

She stops short when she sees Ella laying under the sheet, kneeling down next to the young woman and picking up the yellow lined paper that lay resting against her bloodied shirt.

"Detective." Jay looks up to see a uniformed officer standing beside him "we found this by the slide."

Jay takes the navy blue beanie in his hand with the words 'Property of the CPD' stitched in white across the front, blood smudged against the words.

"No, no, no." Jay whispers.

"He's not dead." Erin looks at her partner, tears filling her eyes as she shows him the note.

'And here I thought you had learned from the law of unintended consequences. So much for not keeping secrets from each other, Erin.'

"Yates took Ben."

A/N: I hope you guys like the twist I have chosen to put on the original storyline; I thought it would make more sense to incorporate Ben into the Yates drama given that the whole reason this story even came about is because of the addition of Ben Halstead into the original storyline of CPD.

I don't know why, but the final note I wrote seems lame but I was trying to think of something Yates would say and I spent way too long trying to figure out the perfect words for that one sentence so hopefully it doesn't sound too cheesy or dramatic lol

Please drop a review and let me know what you think, it means more than you know x

One more chapter!

Maddie :)