What's she Worth to You?

Mother

E R I N

I stare blankly at her, not believing my own eyes. She cocks her head to the side.

"It really is rude to stare, detective." I shake my head, shaking off the shock that struck me right as soon as I saw her face.
"Now, I'll ask again. May I come in?" The obvious and sane answer is no, but I can't make myself turn her away. I simply open the door all the way and she steps inside the precinct. I close the door behind her and turn around.

"I thought you were-"

"Downtown? Spending my credit card?" She finishes off my sentence and laughs, shaking her head.
"Of course not. You must think I'm stupid, you think I would make a mistake that substantial this late in the game?" Her laugh from before still lingers on her lips, lighting up her facial features.
"It's obviously a set up, I don't know how your team didn't see through it." My anger level rises and I clench my hands into fists.

"If any member of my team gets hurt-"

"Relax, geez Erin." She pauses.
"I won't touch your team, don't worry." She looks down at her nails.
"Not this time, at least." I shake my head, not giving in to her little game.

"Why are you here, Layla?" I ask and she sighs, walking over to the stairs leading upstairs to the bullpen.

"Always in such a hurry. Smell the roses, detective." She smirks at me, nodding her head over to the door.
"Why don't you come and open this door and we can go upstairs and chat." I scoff, shaking my head.

"They were right, you really are insane." She drops her shoulders and sighs.

"Well now you've just hurt my feelings. Why would you go and say a thing like that?" She says sarcastically.

"If you think I'm letting you up there you are truly mad." She laughs quietly and shakes her head, crossing her arms.

"I can get up there, with or without your assistance. But something tells me you're going to want to be up there with me considering the fact that all your evidence is up there." She gives me a look and I sigh, beginning to walk over.
"That's what I thought." I open the door and walk in front of her upstairs. We walk into the bullpen and I walk over and flip over the board, making sure she won't see what we're onto.

"This place is cute," she says, looking around. She walks over to a stack of papers, starting to look through it and I hurry over, taking them from her.

"Alright," I say after setting the stack down.
"Why are you here?" She sighs heavily and falls into Antonio's chair.

"Like I said, I just want to chat." I walk over, clearing the things off of Antonio's desk and sit on top of it.

"Okay, I'm listening. Talk."she leans back in her chair, smiling.

"You know very well why I'm here, Miss Lindsay." She pauses.
"I want my girls back, Erin." Her words take me aback and I shake my head, laughing somewhat louder than I meant to.

"You must be kidding," I manage to get out, but she shakes her head. I look back to her face and her smirk has disappeared, the look on her face now is stern and angry. I clear my throat and sigh heavily.
"You can't seriously think I'm giving you back those girls, Layla." She takes a deep breath and stands up from her chair.