~The past strikes back~

Chapter 1

"Yeah um, no way" Erin laughed at Jay as they made their way up the stairs to the bullpen. "What, why not?" Jay replied, playing hurt.

Erin let out a laugh and went and sat down at her desk. She spun around the desk chair before turning on her computer.

She sighed when she saw that it needed updating. "Great," she muttered to herself. She looked bored around her surroundings. Her gaze got fixed on her half-filled, chipped coffee cup that stood on her desk.

She picked it up and brought it to her mouth. Big mistake. She immediately spat out the cold, bitter liquid. Erin swore over it and gave Jay a dark look when she heard him giggle. She pointed at him warningly before standing up and entering the breakroom.

She poured the coffee into the sink and sighed when she saw that the coffee was over, she would need to brew new.

She set down the coffee cup with a thump on the sink and took down the coffee filters and coffee powder.

A few minutes later she happily walked out of the breakroom with a cup of hot coffee. The coffee was certainly not so good, but it was better than a four-hour-old coffee in any case.

Erin placed the coffee cup on her desk. Ugly rings showed where it usually stands. She needed to try to wash them off sometime. Some time that wasn't now.

The update was ready so she could start the paperwork. People think that detectives only are out in the field 24/7, but unfortunately being a detective includes a lot of paperwork as well. Their latest case might not have been so difficult to solve but it really included paperwork.

She sadly realized that she wouldn't be done by one or two hours at the earliest. "I'll need a beer after this!" she grunted. Everyone else in the room began to giggle at Erin's poor patience.

"Me too." Ruzek finally said. "I'm in too," Jay laughed. "Me too," Burgess said.

Erin was just about to open her mouth to say something, but she was interrupted by the loud ringing of her cell phone. She picked it up and went to the locker room. The display showed a number that she did not recognize.

She pressed answer and said, "Erin Lindsay." She listened intensively but she only heard someone breathing on the other side. "Hello, anyone there?" No answer.

She hung up and sat down on the bench. The uncomfortable feeling embraced her.

In normal cases, she had probably just thought that someone had happened to call her, but she wasn't sure about that, because of the strange things that had happened throughout the week. She had received flowers and notes delivered to her. On the notes were single words, which did not belong together. It was strange and uncomfortable.

She shook off that discomfort and stood up. It was certainly nothing, just someone who wanted to joke with her.

She was just about to go back to her desk when the phone rang again. The display showed the same number as before.

"Yeah?" she answered shortly. Nothing now either, just someone's breathing. She hung up again but almost immediately the phone rang again. She sighed and answered again.

"Erin, why are you hanging up on me?" said a dark voice, pretending to be hurt before letting a dry laugh out.

She tore the phone from her ear. Knew too well who it was. She quickly blocked the number and walked briskly to the sink and grabbed the crockery. She squeezed hard, really hard, and looked up in the mirror and saw herself, but the 13-year-old version. The already drugged girl who roamed the streets with them. With him. The memories flowed back.

She closed her eyes and shook her head. No. Why would it be him? How could it be him?

She turned on the tap and splashed up cold water on her face. Get yourself together, it can 't be him, it is impossible, she told herself. She wiped the water off her face using the sweater sleeve before leaving the locker room. No one looked up when she arrived, and she was thankful for that. She returned to her work and tried not to think about the conversation and her past life with them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few hours later, everyone was done for the day and began to gather their things. "See you at Molly's," Ruzek shouted before disappearing quickly down the stairs, closely followed by Kim. One by one, everyone disappeared down the stairs and, at the end, only Erin and Jay were left.

"Hey, can I ride with you? My car is being repaired." Erin raised on of her eyebrows. "Some lamp that was broken," he added. She grinned and said "sure. C'mon, let's go." Jay nodded and followed Erin.

They had sat down in the car when her mobile phone rang again. She looked at it nervously before picking it up. She exhaled when she saw that it was only Hank. "Hey Hank, can I call you later? I'm driving," she lied. She didn't want to talk to him right now. Couldn't, talk to him after the call. The only thing she wanted right now was that damn beer she was longing for. "Yeah, of course kiddo." said Hank before hanging up.

"You, okay?" Jay asked as she lowered the phone from her ear. "Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" she said questioningly, turning the car key and making the car humming. "You know, you looked pretty worried when the phone rang, plus you just lied to Hank," Jay chuckled but fell silent as she replied, "Yeah um well, it's nothing. Just a weird conversation I had before, nothing serious." He nodded, "Wanna talk about it?". "Not really, or at least not now." she said, looking him straight in the eye just like the first time they made love. He shook off the thought of the glorious night. No matter how much they both wanted it, it couldn't happen again. They knew Voight's rules.

When they got to Molly's, they saw their colleagues standing gathered in a cluster in front of the door to the bar. Erin and Jay looked at each other questioningly.

They approached the others and Jay wondered what it was all about. "Their closed today." muttered Ruzek annoyed. "Well, I guess I have to go home," Antonio said with a deep sigh. "Yeah same," Kim mumbled.

Erin tugged at Jay's jacket and he turned to face her. "Beers at my place? Think I might need that little chat." she said softly. He nodded and they waved goodbye to everyone else before going to Erin's car again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Erin fished the keys out of her jacket pocket and unlocked the door. They hung up their jackets and Erin started going to the kitchen to get them beers.

Out of nowhere came the first punch that hit her right in the stomach. She doubled over, desperately craving for air. In the background, she heard Jay screaming her name. she got two more punches to the stomach and then one to her face. The blood began to ooze down from her mouth.

She gathered herself and looked up at the dark-clad attacker, she just managed to block the next punch. Now it was her turn, she began to strike punches against her attacker.

In the background, she saw Jay fighting two big men. Suddenly someone from behind her grabbed her and hurled her into the plaster wall, which immediately bent inward in the form of her. She slid to the floor, grunting in pain.

One man leaned over her and held her to the floor. She tried to dodge from the man's grip but was not even close to succeeding.

"JAY," she shouted when she saw one man holding him and another pressing a piece of cloth over his nose and mouth. Eventually, he stopped fighting the chemicals and became still.

The man holding the piece of cloth went over to her and placed the damp cloth over her nose and mouth. She held her breath, refusing to inhale. "You know you can't hold your breath forever," he chuckled.

Finally, she had to breathe. Everything around her began to spin and eventually the darkness embraced her.