The festivities for the night soon came to a close as the people that occupied the space trickled out bit by bit. Erika personally thanked each attendee as they left the cafe. Natalie was with Hank by the coffee bar talking over something. The lieutenant shook his head as it not just the one thing Natalie wanted to tell Erika.

"Are you sure...it's a lot to take in" Hank looked down at the older woman, her beauty has not depleted one bit over the years. She was still the beautiful girl he fell for back in high school and she was now his, but he was afraid that the news would be too much for Erika and would cause them to split.

As the young woman closed the doors and the group of four headed back up to the apartment. Hank held tightly onto Natalie's hand, for he was nervous. Connor noticed the behavior and found it to be odd for the lieutenant as he never observed this side of the old man before.

Erika fixed herself a nice glass of water to replenish her throat from singing and to hydrate after the exhilarating performance. Connor made his way over to her and sat down on the couch neatly. The young woman laughed at how proper he was and proceeded to sit beside him so that her legs crossed over his lap and her back was against the arm of the couch.

"That was a night...ummm" she looked at Hank as he approached with his hand still holding Natalie's. As a daughter, Erika could not be more happy for her mother then cleared her throat as the old man sat at a chair across from her and Connor. Her mother took a seat on the arm of the chair and placed a hand on Hank's back in a supportive manner.

"Listen, kid I-" Hank started but Erika cut him off.

"I'm sorry for earlier, I was just defending my decisions and I wanted to be independent for once" Erika apologized for her behavior back at Eversen. The lieutenant cracked a smile and shook his head while releasing a small chuckle.

"Erika, I get why you did it and you were right you are old enough to make your own decisions" Hank used the situation at hand to ease into the topis he was going to discuss moments before "which is why we believe its time that you knew"

"You are old enough and I know you'll understand, sweetie don't let what we say change anything" Natalie assured Erika as she grabbed Hank's hand as the nerves consumed her. Erika's hazel eyes moved from Hank to her mother then gave them a confused look.

"If it's about you two getting together, I had a hunch in the cafe, because it's no-" Erika said but Natalie shook her head and gave Hank one last look before telling the young woman some unbelievable news.

"You remember that time you went abroad for a few years in Europe?" Natalie started slowly by mentioning a happy time for Erika--a time before meeting Conan "Well during that year...to cope with your father's death...Hank and I rekindled an old flame"

Erika gave her mother a somewhat horrified face as she immediately thought of the other thing, but nodded to let her continue with the story. Natalie took in a deep breath while looking down at a spot on the ground then back at Erika with motherly eyes.

"One thing led to another and...and I got pregnant and I gave birth to a healthy baby boy" Connor listened to the older woman's words and in an instant, he knew where this may lead.

"A baby? How did I not know?" Erika was too engaged in the story that the obvious did not come to her mind.

"We didn't want to worry you, you were in off in some European country learning new things for your cafe" Hank added as he rubbed Natalie on the back "but we were mostly scared to tell you given the timing"

"Wait if this happened then, then that means it was nine years ago" after a long stagnant pause Erika's eyes lit up and looked at the older couple for confirmation of what she thought.

"The baby...was Cole...he was really your brother" Natalie spoke and took in a deep breath as a few tears rolled down her cheeks. Out of the three, she was the strongest and learned to cope and journey through the processes of grieving. Yes, the loss of a child has quite an impact on the family, especially to the mother, but Natalie was stronger than most women.

"When he died and your disappearance soon followed me and Hank couldn't stay with each other, we parted ways to heal on our own...but when the news of you being alive came to me something clicked and all my sorrow was gone" Natalie confessed and wiped a few dried tears "I may not have both my children with me, but I was thankful for one to be still breathing, you helped me heal from the grieving"

"And now that Hank is overcoming the grief as well we thought we'd let you know...and" Natalie continued but Erika snapped. Her eyes were slightly red at the mentioning of Cole--he was her brother, her real brother.

"And he never knew, did he?" Erika looked at her mother with puffy eyes, she was not taking the news that well.

"We wanted to, we just didn't know how...we were going to wait until he at least seven...but that couldn't happen after the accident" Hank took in a deep breath and let it out the air in a slow stream. He looked at Erika with sad eyes, but he was staying strong for them.

"So why now? Why tell me this...now?" Erika avoided their gaze and looked out the window instead. Her mother sighed.

"Because so you will understand, that Cole was not my first child with Hank" Natalie finally spoke the real reason she wanted to have this talk.

"What are you talking about? I have another sibling?" Erika said to avoid the answer that would evidently be the truth.

"No...you're Hank's daughter...our daughter" Erika could not believe what her mother just said.

"You robbed me of the truth mom...I'm supposed to now believe that you were Cole's mom, that he's my actual brother, and that Hank...is actually my dad..." She spoke breathlessly and opened her mouth to say something, but didn't. Erika needed time to process all the information, so she walked out and grabbed some keys to a vehicle she had driven a few times. Natalie got up to chase after, but Hank grabbed her arm to stop her.

"Let her, she needs time...but Connor would you?" Hank asked his investigation partner, who was already standing up and heading for the door.

"I'm already on it, Hank...I'll see you two later" Connor said and left the apartment to go after Erika.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Yasss, to a double update! I hope you enjoyed the follow up as some of you guessed what I was planning the moment I wrote certain things in the last chapter. I hope the build-up was good enough for this kind of reveal, but what I'd like to know is your thoughts on this. What would this mean for Erika and Connor? Will this cause problems or solutions? Leave your opinions and thoughts in a comment! Much love to you all! 😘❤