NOTES: This fic is based of what I think might happen in season 9 episode 13. If you get easily triggered by things please make sure you read the trigger warnings at the end of this note before you continue reading! None of this is cannon, obviously as 9x13 hasn't aired yet but I thought it would be fun to wrote a fic based of what we know and some theories that I have for the episode so this has all been made up in some dark corner of my mind.
This is my first time doing a fic with multiple chapters and it should be updated weekly so the last chapter is uploaded just before 9x13 airs!
I just wanna say a few thank yous to the people who helped me with this fic so first off i want to say thank you to Mar (@marxupton on twitter) who came up with the amazing title of 'Troubled Waters'.
The second person i want to thank is Dynn (@haileychrlie on twitter) for going through this and making sure that the medical stuff that is in here made some sense and that I wrote the right things I wrote have some medical accuracy to them.
And last but definitely not least the biggest shout out to my amazing beta reader Mak (@alonsosupremacy on twitter), Mak I cant thank you enough for being my beta and making my fic 100 times better than it already was, I appreciate you so so so much!!
Now on to the trigger warnings, this fic does have some heavy topics so please make sure you read these before you continue.
This fic includes:
- talk about human trafficking
- kidnapping
- physical and sexual abuse
- drowning
If you're still here, I worked really hard on this fic so i hope you like it as much as I do, enjoy!!
Chapter One
She was running out of time now and running out of air. She could hear muffled voices from above the water as she tried to pull her foot out of the rope it was caught on, but she had no luck. All she wanted to do was scream, but she knew she couldn't. 'I have to save as much oxygen as I can,' she thought to herself, trying to get the rope off of her foot again, but it seemed like there was no way it would come off.
Hailey closed her eyes, thinking of Jay. She had to get out, for him. She knew her time was running out, so she tugged on the rope harder, but like all the times before, it wouldn't budge. She was becoming light headed now and she pulled and she pulled, but it wasn't enough because the darkness soon took over and she fought it until finally the darkness won and everything went black.
Earlier that day.
The day started out like any other. Hailey usually woke up just slightly before the alarm (or in her case today, two hours before the alarm) and cuddled with Jay, showered while he made coffee, and then got dressed and went to work, with Jay driving of course. They walked into the front to be greeted by Trudy, who gave them each some court orders and some more items that had been delivered to the twenty first for both of them. She swore she didn't know what they were, but the pair of detectives knew that she most definitely did know, because Trudy always knew everything. They made their way up to the stairs of the bullpen– although not without Trudy making a joking comment at their expense as they walked away from her at the front desk of course.
As per usual, they were the first two there. Kim and Kev were on time ninety-nine percent of the time– Kev more often than Kim now since she had the school run with Makayla– and Adam was usually late unless he was with Kim or had gotten stuck with a bad spell of insomnia.
Hailey made her way straight to the break room and put the coffee machine on, Jay slowly followed her after putting his jacket on the back of his chair.
"More coffee?" he questioned, leaning on the door frame and smiling so she knew he wasn't judging her in the slightest.
"Yeah, well, you know how well I slept last night," she said with a sarcastic inflection, sighing while she shrugged her jacket off. Jay walked up behind her and took her jacket from her, pressing a kiss to her head.
"Thank you," Hailey whispered.
"I got you, always," he told her, draping her jacket on her chair for her while she poured herself a mug of coffee and then joined him at their desks.
"Hopefully today is just paperwork and us working out how to get the printer working again once Adam eventually breaks it," she joked.
"Hey!" An indignant voice came from behind her. "That was one time," Adam defended himself, walking into the bullpen with Kim and Kevin behind him.
"More like four times." Kev patted Adam's shoulder as he walked past him.
"Four times? No way I broke it four times?"
"That's just this one. You broke the old one for good, so we had to get a new one," Kim reminded him. She sat down in her chair at the side of her and Adam's desks, and Adam sat on the desk itself, on Kim's side as always.
"You really didn't know you broke it all of those times?" Jay asked, amusement overtaking his face.
"Well, I kinda thought so but I didn't say anything because Platt can be real scary when you break her equipment."
"Oh, so it was you!" Platt said, standing at the top of the stairs to the bullpen and making everyone jump slightly since they hadn't noticed her come up.
"Jesus Christ, did you teleport up the stairs?" Adam asked. "And no, I don't know what you think you heard, Sarge, but it definitely wasn't me, I would never do such a thing," Adam said, making his way to sit at his side of the desk.
"When something breaks, Ruzek, I always assume that it's you who broke it," Trudy replied. "And don't get too comfortable, a call just came in. A girl, most likely 10 or 11, was taken to Med after a couple almost hit her with their car."
"What's that got to do with us, Sarge?"
"Well, Adam, if you would be so kind as to let me finish, I'd tell you that the girl's wrists are bruised with ligature marks and she kept repeating that she has to get help for the others."
This sent a shiver through Hailey. Cases with kids really got to her, and so she zoned out as Platt explained a little more about the girl.
"Halstead, Upton, I want you to question the girl. Come with me," Trudy said, which made Hailey snap out of the trance she was in, and she jumped up and grabbed her jacket, following Jay and Trudy down the stairs and out of the bullpen.
"So Halsteads, how's married life treating you?"
"U-uh, Sarge?" Jay stumbled on his words.
"I know everything, Halstead Two."
"Why two? I was Halstead first."
"Yeah, well, I like her a lot better than you," Trudy told him, which caused Hailey to snicker, taking her mind off of what they had just been told for a second.
"In all seriousness, I need you two to be as good and as fast as possible on this because this girl likely escaped from what we think is one of the biggest trafficking rings in Chicago, and she is the only witness we have that's alive." Trudy told them.
"You think this is them?" Hailey asked.
"More like him." Trudy told them. "Micheal Rivera, he runs it all. There's just never been any solid proof, but we know it's him," Trudy continued. "I need you two to be fast with this because the chances are that he has hundreds of girls and boys. But remember that this little girl is traumatised. This is probably one of the worst cases of trafficking we've ever come across."
