Safe Haven

Fly A Kite

I hope you all had happy hoildays! Enjoy the chapter and let me know what you think :)

Jay had driven with his daughter towards the big meadow in the park for kite flying in the late afternoon. The wind blew well and the colorful kite, which they had previously tinkered together, flew through the air. Jay stood behind Charlie and helped her steer the kite in the air. Charlie was visibly happy and expressed the desire to fly. But it was exhausting to walk across the meadow and hold the kite line. Charlie's motor skills in the race was not so good yet, because most of the time she stumbled over her own feet. Also, the leash to the kite felt heavy as the wind blew , her dad was there too. He had crouched down to her level and helped her to held the leash. Nonetheless, they sat down in the grass and rested a bit.

"Daddy, you know what?" Charlie asked and started talking, "The other day Adam said that Trudy was also a dragon. But Trudy can't fly at all."

"I don't think Adam meant that kind of dragon" Jay smirked.

"But Trudy can't even spit fire," she wondered.

"Yeah, um, we just haven't seen her fire-breathing yet," he mused.

"Trudy is a real dragon!" She looked at her daddy in wonderment, "That's why she's always so mean to you."

"And that's our secret, Charlie" Jay said. Enthusiastically, she nodded. She loved sharing secrets with her daddy.

"Daddy, you know what?" Charlie asked curiously.

"Huh?" Jay asked.

"I'm married because Tom said if I kiss him we're married," she explained. Jay's curious expression disappeared and he looked at his little girl in shock. Of course, that was just kidding, but somehow he did not like Tom. Even if he did not know the boy.

"You kissed him? So right on the mouth?" Jay asked.

Charlie nodded happily, "Uh-huh, and now we want a baby."

"A baby?" Jay asked horrified. Jay's face went chalk-white. A baby? Did Charlie actually know how baby's come about? Does she just tell him that she will have sex? Charlie probably did not even know what sex is. How can the educators in Nursery School allow such games?

"Yeah, but the stork has not come over yet." Charlie said.

"Aren't you a bit young for a baby?" Jay asked, but Charlie shook his head and told him that her best friend already had two children.

"Catch me, daddy." Charlie demanded and ran away from him. Jay ran extra slowly so as not to spoil Charlie's fun. At one point, Jay's cell phone rang and Kim told him to come to the scene.

"Woah. So many blue lights." Charlie wondered, pressing her nose to the glass. Fire department, ambulance and the police were at a crossroads. She could not see much of that, as Jay parked offside as a precautionary measure. Jay did not want to take her with him, but he could not leave a 3-year-old alone.

"Charlie. Daddy has to leave. You stay in the car, okay?" Jay handed her his smartphone and opened a children's games app to make sure that Charlie did not even think about dumb thoughts.

"Casey! What happened here?" Jay asked stunned. A car laid on the roof. The other was total loss.

"Traffic accident. A drunk crashed sideways into the car of a small family," Matt Casey replied.

"How's the family?" Jay asked.

"Good luck in bad luck I would say," said Matt.

"Jay," said Kim, approaching slowly.

"Burgess. Where is he?" Jay asked tense and Burgess nodded over to the ambulance, where he sat in front of it and was interviewed by Antonio. Followed by Burgess, he approached. Without understanding, Jay looked at him. He had a small bloody wound. Otherwise, he seemed fine.

"Jay," he whispered.

"Why?" Jay asked stunned.

"I can explain everything to you," he said.

"Oh yes? You're drunk! You could have killed a family!" Jay hissed.

"Jay..." he said.

"You listen to me now. You won't testify until you speak to a lawyer. We're talking about drunk driving with a heavy traffic accident. You can go to jail for that, dad."

Angrily he looked at his father. He knew that he had been drinking a lot since his wife's death, but now he had exaggerated it.

"Mr. Halstead, if you refuse further treatment, we would need a signature here," said a paramedic and held out a document, which he quickly signed. Shaking his head, he looked at his father. His actions were simply incredible.

"Mr. Halstead we must ask you to come with us to the police station," said Antonio.

"Not necessary. I'll take him there." Jay said quickly and Antonio nodded silently.

Together with his old men, Jay went back to the car. Charlie watched the strange man as he sat down in the passenger seat.

"Daddy, who is the man?" Charlie asked curiously, looking up from the smartphone.

Even before he could answer, his dad looked at him suspiciously.

"Daddy?" He questioned and raised an eyebrow in horror.

"Charlie, honey, he's your grandfather" Jay explained.

"Oh." she said.

"I can't believe it. You're fathered a child and don't have the balls to tell your old man about it?" Pat asked stunned.

With an angry look, Jay looked at his father. Such a conversation was not suitable for a toddler, nor was Charlie actually his biological child.

Arriving at the district he took the already fallen asleep little girl in his arms and handed his father to Hank. He brought Pat Halstead into the cell for drunkenness. His statement was certainly not useful in this condition. Then they met in the break room. Jay sat on the couch next to his sleeping daughter while Hank sat down on a chair.

"You have two options," Hank said.

Jay, however, immediately knew what his sergeant wanted and shook his head, "It's his fault, Sarge. I want him to stand up to this responsibility."

"Are you sure?" Voight asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No. Of course, I don't want him to go to jail at worst, but there was a small family in the other car."

"I'll question him as soon as he's sober." Hank said, watching Charlie suck her thumb.

"I took her pacifier away. Now she sucks on the thumb." Jay grinned.

"Children grow up very fast. Like it was yesterday when you found the girl." Hank said.

"Without your connections to the youth welfare office, I certainly wouldn't have been allowed to adopt her," said Jay, "Thanks sarge."

"Not for that," said Hank, winking, "how is fatherhood?"

Initially, Hank Voight was not enthusiastic about the young detective's plans, but it served the child's benefit. In addition, the father-daughter team quickly became inseparable, even if Jay came for some days very stressed to work and tells the child painted the apartment.

"I wish it was easier," Jay smirked, "It's great to spend time with her, but if you want to be calm, is it difficult to move the child off, or is there an off button? And I haven't been to the Mollys for months."

"I'm sure your colleagues would love to take Charlie off for half a day," Hank mused.

"I have no doubt about that," Jay said.

"I'll give you a tip along the way, Halstead," Hank said, "It's not a good idea to let the child believe you're the birth father. One day, Charlie will find out the truth