Please Remember Me

Chapter Twelve

Erin sat at her desk tapping her pen on her keyboard. She was worried about Jay in the hospital, she visited him this morning before work and would go again tonight if shift ended normally with no overtime.

He was getting out today though and should be back at work tomorrow. She decided to go to his apartment later. Even though she really wanted to be there for Jay, overtime around here was like gold. And Erin knew she had to do everything possible to get her place back in the unit.

"You trying to tap up a storm there Lindsay?" Adam questioned with a chuckle and Erin just laughed it off. She was anxious. She still didn't feel like she belonged there.

Although Erin had spent more than half of her police career in Intelligence. Her two year 'sabbatical' quickly changed the groups dynamics.

Luckily Erin, Kim and Hailey had managed to rekindle their friendship and Erin managed to gain her best friend back. They went over to each other's apartments for dinner a couple nights a week and Hailey would often show up unannounced with arms laden full of ice cream and soda. She knew it was the way to Erin's heart. And slowly but surely, Erin let her walls down around her best friend again. Hailey and her went through everything together, being partnered together until Jay was back in action.

Erin remembered one night where Hailey had shown up at her apartment out of the blue with tear stained cheeks and arms full of blood.

Erin didn't know what had happened until Hailey said,
"Allie" Erin immediately understood. Allie was Haileys girlfriend, they had been dating for nearly a year and she stopped by the district a few times.

Hailey and her really hit it off, she was sweet, caring, but most importantly she understood the demands of Haileys job and would often stop by the district on overtime shifts to drop dinner to everyone.

They all loved her, but wanted to kill her as soon as they found out she ditched Hailey for some guy and had moved to Florida. Hailey was heartbroken laying on Erin's couch with her head in her best friends lap crying her eyes out. Erin had noticed Haileys arms had been covered in blood, but it wasn't until her best friend went to wipe her nose that her sleeve got pulled up and Erin's heart shattered into a million pieces.

She grabbed Hailey by the arm, her friend winced at the pain. Trying to play it cool,
"Show me your arm" Erin said with a demanding tone, Hailey was taken aback. She was scared of Erin finding this out. Finding it all out.

"Hailey pull up your sleeves right now" Erin's voice cracked, she wanted to help and care for her best friend but right now she just felt so useless. Why didn't she see this? Why didn't Hailey reach out for help? What drove her off the ledge to do something like this to herself? Erin's mind quickly shut off as Hailey pulled up her sleeve and on her pale skin.

Fresh cuts, all the way up to her shoulder. Some of the older ones left gnarly scars on her arms, the newer bloodier ones would leave scars too. Both girls broke down into sobs and cried to each other for a bit,
"What happened Hails?" Erin asked in between voice cracks.

"Honestly..." her voice was quiet. She was heartbroken and upset, and so confused. "I don't know how it started, but probably from the day that I met you and I met everyone. You guys were all so tight knit and seemed to have perfect lives. It destroyed me that I could never have anything remotely close to that, I believed that everything that happened with my dad was my fault... I stopped for a while before you left. Then Jay spiraled out of control. Hank promoted me up and I started working with him. He was a mess, so was I. We'd hook up then I'd leave and go sit in a bar across town until all hours of the morning trying to forget you and what happened with Jay. I felt so guilty, that the reason you left was because of me..." Haileys voice trailed off. Her whole body now shook, she had never tried to open up to anyone like that. Not since Allie. Her heart was broken, but Hailey knew that Erin understood.

"I'm sorry Hails" Erin started,
"No Erin it's not.." Hailey was cut off.
"Hailey listen. You know I didn't have it easy growing up either, none of us did. I find it so heartbreaking that we're all so good at hiding everything that when someone new steps in no one notices anything wrong. You know what happened when I was little with Bunny, you know about how Jay and his dad, and how his mom died. How Kevs parents were killed in a car accident. How Adams mom left when he was three. Antonio's relationship with Laura, Al's family drama with Michelle and Kim's parents divorcing when she was seven. What happened to Justin. We're all far from perfect, but we're here for each other. I know what you carry isn't easy, and you know if you ever need help carrying it all you have to do is ask" Erin told her best friend who cried some more. But all Erin could think about was, when she saw Hailey.

Erin thought that the blonde was perfect for Jay, and maybe she was right. But for now, all she had to do was comfort her best friend...

Erin was lost in thought when Adam came over to her desk with a stack of papers.
"Here, they're all old case files from a couple years back that Voight thinks will fit with the new case we just picked up. The rest of us are going to see one possible lead, Kev and Antonio are at the warehouse right now looking into any possible leads for the whereabouts of the kids. Can you and Kim try and find any connections with anything?" Erin nodded, motioned Kim over, and thanked Ruzek before he departed.

This case was brutal, fourteen kids all under the age of 15 had been kidnapped from their homes or schools and taken to a warehouse. Four were left dead, the other ten assumed to be alive.

Erin flicked through the files until she saw a name that made her heart stop, Johnny Sandoval. Not here. She thought. Not here, not anywhere. It's over.