My Blood

First Steps

Amanda, Nick and I stand upstairs on the Intelligence floor of the 21st District in Chicago. Their flight has just landed while I arrived with Mom, my newly discovered Dad and my now roommate Jay Halstead. After a weird nights rest in my new home, Jay and I drove to the 21st District, picking up Amanda and Nick on the way, so we could inform the rest of the team about the new updates on the case.

Dad stands in front of us with his hands in his pockets. "All right, you all remember Detective Rollins, New York Special Victims. This is Detective Amaro. And this is Fin's niece, Lily Tutuola." I was about to correct him when he walks in between the desks. "They have full jurisdictional powers here. And together..." He looks back at us. "we're gonna end this." He walks back over to the board. "All right, this pedophile ring, they're desperate, well-connected and clearly they'll do anything to avoid being exposed. We found the body in New York, but the head of the snake is here in Chicago."

Amanda walks over to the board and points out the main guy from New York. "Okay, so Bob Clinton, he is our middleman from New York. Now, NOMEC tells us that he was getting victims from a youth center in Times Square. Now, a lot of the kids were actually funneled to New York from here in Chicago, and according to our talks with Clinton, there is a higher-up, a true shot-caller."

Amaro continues from where she left off. "Now, Clinton was gonna give us a name, but he didn't make it 24 hours in jail. Was shanked in the showers."

Dad continues. "We like Lewellin... for financing the whole thing. Antonio, where we at with the shooter?"

The guy, whose name I just learned is Antonio, replies. "Well, due to the poor quality of the video, there's no match in the face recognition database. Best we got is male, white around 5'9", dark hair, 170 pounds, give or take."

I speak up. "I'll call my tech friend and see if she can pull up anything on her database." Everyone stares at me with confused looks on their faces. "What? Just because I'm an assistant doesn't mean that I don't have friends in high places."

I walk over to the break room and pull out my phone, dialing an all to familiar number. Penny's colleagues came to Labyrinth after Bella's death to try and find her murderer. They never got the chance to find her killer but they helped me cope with the trauma. I even confided in one of the colleagues. His name is Spencer Reid. We grew close and I even fell in love with him. Spencer will always be my first love, but he chose his job over me. So, when they left to go back to Quantico, Spencer left as well. Taking my heart with him as well.

After a few rings, Penny's voice sounds through the phone. "Go for Penny."

I speak through the receiver. "Penny, it's me."

A brief silence is heard through the phone. "Is it really you Lil?"

I nod my head with tears in my eyes. "It's really me Pen. I've missed you so much. How have you been?"

Penny stutters. "I-I-I've been good. Everyone's been good. Morgan left and we have some new members but everyone is good."

I whimper. "How is he?"

Penny responds. "He's been good Lil. He's been good. He still talks about you sometimes.

I scoff as I wipe the tears from my eyes. "Yeah right."

Penny tries to reassures. "Spencer loved you Lily. It broke his heart when he had to leave to go back to Quantico."

I roll my eyes. "Not as much as it broke mine but that's not why I called. Remember that favor that you owe me?"

Penny says. "Yes."

I nod my head. "Well, I need to cash in. My Dad is a Sergeant in the Intelligence Unit at the Chicago Police Department." When the phone goes silent, I continued. "Yeah, my dad's alive. I'll tell you later. The case that they're working on is a pedophile ring that have links to New York and Chicago. One of their officer along with their fire vic Andrew Lewellen was killed and we have surveillance of his death and his shooter. No face recognition so far. I can send the video to you for your face rec. For now, I just need everything you can find on Andrew Lewellen."

I hear Penny's fingers typing over the phone. After a few minutes, she responds. "Okay. It says here that he's been making payments once a month to Oakbrook senior community in the Western Suburbs."

I think for a moment. "Weird. Random question. Was he paying for anyone at that community?"

Penny responds. "Yeah. It says he's making payments on behalf of Matilda Hughes for her mother Dorothy. My system shows that she gets a large payment every month from a fake name and it is sent immediately sent to Oakbrook."

I nod my head. "Okay. Thanks Pen. Next time the team comes to Chicago, and that includes you, drinks are on me."

Penny chuckles. "I'll be sure to take you up on that. I'll keep you posted on anything that I find."

I say my goodbye to Penny and end my phone call as I walk back into the bullpen. "Okay. I talked with my tech friend and she said that your fire vic has been making frequent payments on behalf of Matilda Hughes for her mother Dorothy. From the way that she was putting it, the money comes from a suspicious source."

Dad nods his head. "Okay. Jay and Antonio. Head to Matilda's apartment and see if there's anything that you can find. Lily. My office." I look over at Amanda with a confused look on my face as I walk over to his office, closing the door behind me.

I stare at Dad with a weird look on my face. "Is everything alright?"

Dad looks at me with a serious look on his face. "I just wanted to check in on you. Make sure that you're all situated and everything is going good with Halstead."

I nod my head. "Everything is going good. I'm trying to find a job around here that pays enough so I can try and help Jay pay rent and try to keep my feet on the ground. From what I could tell, there's nothing so far and what is out there involves me taking my clothes off. So, big no no."

Dad nods his head. "Yeah. I actually wanted to talk to you about that." He walks over to his desk and pulls out a stack of paper from one of the drawers, placing it into my hands. "A couple of weeks back, the unit busted a club that was ripping off its customers and robbing them. After we busted them, the owners jumped ship and signed away their rights to an associate of mine. After you agreed to come to Chicago, I asked the associate if he could give the club to me. He agreed. So, my first step towards being a father to you is giving you this club to run it how you want to. All you need to do is sign and the club is yours."

After he finishes his statement, my mouth is already open and I had a shocked look on my face. "Wait just a sec. Three days ago, you just found out that I existed. And now, you're giving me a club and accepting me like you've always known who I am. Why?"

Dad shrugs. "Because you're my daughter. I care about you and your mother. I want to help you in any way that I can. And now you know that I'll always be there to protect you."

By the end of his statement, I'm already in tears. Without hesitation, I close the space between us and pull Dad into a hug, shedding my tears into his shoulder, He is stiff at first, but then he wraps his arms around my shoulders and pull me closer into the hug. For the first time in 9 years, I had finally felt something that I've been looking for. I felt safe. Calm. Relaxed.

I was home.