Erin sat at her desk, the pen she held in her hand alternating between hitting the coffee mug and the wooden top as she stared at the computer, her eyes shutting every so often to ease the headache she had started to develop. She had been sat in the same position for the past 2 hours as she waited to hear from the Attorney's office.

"Hey, Er." Antonio spoke as he neared her desk, "there's a Peter Stone from the DA office here for you." He continued, pointing behind him in the general direction of the stairs.

Finally, she thought.

The female detective stood at the sight of the man behind Antonio, her hand reaching out as she greeted him. "Peter Stone, right? I thought you were going to call so we could arrange meeting later." She wondered aloud.

Peter Stone nodded. "I hadn't intended to just show up Detective but I had been nearby and considering that the welfare of a child is involved I was happy to bring the meeting forward and get the ball rolling." He explained. Noticing the still blank expression, he continued. "I can rearrange for another time if that's-"

"No. No." Erin quickly dismissed that idea. "This needs to be sorted."

With a nod, Stone looked around, quickly catching sight of the other Detectives looking at the pair curiously. "Is there somewhere we can go and discuss?"

Erin nodded, motioning towards the break room, Jay had just walked out of. "This way."

Jay gave her a small yet encouraging smile as she passed by and disappeared into the privacy of the break room.

Sara Lindsay strolled into the bullpen around lunch time, having arranged to go for food with her mom and Jay, if the weren't caught on a case as they reasoned.

She was instantly introduced by the usual hustle of the detectives as they searched through files, began their reports or walked for hours going nowhere as they hoped to find something, something to make their case stick.

"Where's mom?" Sara asked, her legs swinging underneath her from where she plonked herself beside Jay on his desk.

Jay looked up, a soft smile supporting his features. "She's with the DA in the break-room." He explained, his elbow resting on his chair and hand cupped his chin. Noticing the sudden worry that appeared on the young girl's face, he reached forward and tilted her face so she looked at him. "They're just talking logistics, no need to panic."

Sara nodded, not sure whether or not to believe her mother's boyfriend. Swallowing, she nodded again. "Where are we going of food then?"

1 week later

"I thought you left with the others." Sara commented as she caught Antonio holding one of the photos he had always kept on the desk.

From what Sara could see it was one of Eva and Diego, his two children. He hadn't seen them for a while from what she could gather, Laura had made things difficult and that's why the Detective had thrown himself into his work a lot lately.

Antonio looked up at the girl, she was dressed in fitted black trousers, a light blue blouse and a blazer to match. She was neatly presented and was the spitting image of Erin Lindsay. Well, maybe adding a beanie and switching the blouse for a v-neck shirt would complete the look but as far as court was concerned, she looked very respectable. He, himself had been in a suit too.

"I had some stuff to sort out here." Antonio shrugged. "How are you holding up kid?" He asked, hoping to deter the attention away from himself.

However, Sara had quickly caught on and dismissed the question at an instant. "Are you taking the job?" The teenager asked carefully.

Antonio chuckled. "You heard then?"

Sara nodded. "I heard Grandpa Hank talking, I didn't know for sure it was you but you stopped behind and you've been hugging your desk like there's no tomorrow." She shrugged simply.

"You spend too much time with Detectives, kid." He smirked.

"I'm going to- I'm going to miss you." Sara said, her voice cracking slightly as she stepped closer towards the man.

In an instant, Antonio was up on his feet and opening his arms out to embrace the teenager. She quickly accepted.

"I'm not going to be going anywhere Sara." Antonio promised. "I'm only a call away." He whispered.

"Sar- Sorry, I didn't know you were still up here." Erin apologised as she took note of her teary eyed daughter. "Everything okay?" She asked, gently.

"Sara here was just wondering if it was too early for her to claim my desk now that I'm gong to be heading over the street." Antonio chuckled.

Erin laughed too. "My daughter is not going to be a cop, Antonio." She warned, lightly.

"Watch this space, mom, watch this space." Sara hummed, non chalantley to which Erin rolled her eyes.

Looking towards the clock, Erin sighed. "We better go now, sweetheart. Everyone's going to be waiting for us."

Sara stood, side by side with the other pupils that had been directly involved in the attack as they all waited for the jury to reach the verdict. It had been 5 weeks since the incident and all anyone wanted was closure. They had been subject to two days of back and forth blame, spinning different stories that put the students at fault. Sara had faced her father with a strong front and had not let him break her. But it was nearly over and when it was, they could put this all behind them and move on with their lives.

"Have the Jury reached a verdict?" The judge asked the red-headed woman.

Whilst everyone quietly whispered amongst themselves as the jury reappeared in the room, Sara looked out to the court and in that moment she realised that her Dad had never been her 'dad' he had just been a father, he made sure she was watered and fed but he barely took the time out to watch her grow, that had all been down to a group of people.

"Yes, your honour."

It was Jay, Antonio, Kevin, Olinsky and even her grandpa Hank. They had been her 'dads', they had been the ones that helped organise every birthday party, attend sport meetings, watch her as she became captain of the cheer squad, held her when she was sick, they were the ones that had stood by her mom every day as she brought up a child single handedly.

"And what's the verdict?"

"Guilty."

What comes next for the Lindsays?