can't change what you don't know

i saw nothing...

*following Wednesday*

Tatum got home slightly earlier since they let the kids go home sooner due to the mini heat wave on its way and the busses would be too hot for the kids who took them, but when she got inside the thing she saw will stick in her mind for the rest of her life. She closed the door and plopped her bag on the floor, "I'm home!" She called out and walked into the kitchen but she froze at the sight she was greeted with. There they were, her mother and her boyfriend Peter, but this was no friendly conversation between the two adults, Peter was holding a knife up to her mother's neck while her mother was trying to flee his grasp, "mom?" She spoke shyly. 

                 Peter let go of Cassie, as the woman stumbled to the side, and turned to point the knife at Tatum, "what did you see?" He slowly inched his way forward.  Tatum shook her head, "n-nothing..." she stuttered.  Peter shot her a warning glare, "I saw nothing..." Tatum added out of fear.  Peter threw the knife into the sink, "good, now I'm leaving for work I'll be back later" he walked out of the kitchen, grabbed his stuff and left the house.  Tatum turned to look at her mom who was stood with a fearful glare on her face just like hers, "mom what happened?" She stepped forward.  Cassie gave her daughter a hug which Tatum happily accepted since she did clearly need one, "sometimes adults fight baby, things happen. But you have to promise you you'll keep your mouth shut about what happens in here, okay? No telling your dad on the weekends" she warned her.

                   Tatum was beyond scared so she gulped and nodded, "did he hurt you?" She looked up at her in concern.  Cassie smiled sadly and shook her head, "no, I'm fine. We just had a little conversation, nothing too serious" she sighed.  Tatum didn't want that to happen to her so she smiled weakly and nodded, is this going to be a dirty little secret she has to keep from now on?  She really wanted to go over to the 21st district and tell her dad but she was even too scared to do that, so she decided to follow orders and keep her mouth shut. 

                  About 2 hours later it was now 6:30pm and it still was light outside so Tatum got her shoes on, "I'm going for a walk mom!" She called out from the front door, Peter wasn't back yet which was good.  There was a pause before Cassie replied, "don't be out all night!" She yelled back.  Tatum huffed, she always comes back early now, but walked out of the door and began walking.  She needed to clear her head so she decided to begin walking towards her dads work place. I didn't take her long before she found herself stood in front of the one and only trudy platt, "hey kiddo, you looking for your dad?" The older woman smiled. Tatum nodded and smiled back, "he's on call at the minute but he should be back soon, I'll let you up and you can wait upstairs" trudy nodded.

                   At around 6:45pm the unit arrived back after finishing up on scene and made their way upstairs, jay was the last one to make it up the stairs with hailey and furrowed his brows when he saw his daughter sat on his chair by his desk.  She was sat on her phone but looked up at the entourage of detectives flooding the bullpen, "hey you, everything alright? What you doing here?" He walked over to her and sat on the desk in front of her.  Tatum smiled at him, "I just wanted to see you, there's nothing to do at home..." she shrugged.  Jay smiled and nodded, "does your mom know where you are?" He folded his arms.  Tatum drew her lips into a thin line and paused before answering, "well I did tell her I was going for a walk" she smiled suspiciously.  Jay raised his eyebrows, "she doesn't know your here?" He ducked his head forward.

                  Tatum sighed, "I'm practically still on a walk, just sitting down" she smirked a little and waved at hailey who sat down on her own chair.  Jay shook his head and smiled, "you're crazy" he nudged her arm.  Tatum laughed and got up so he could sit down, jay smiled and exchanged places with her as she sat down on the desk, "look" she smiled happily and handed him a report card from her pocket.  Jay took it and read the grades she'd been getting, "Will helped me with biology so props to him" she swung her legs slightly. Jay smiled proudly, "back to straight A's huh? Well done honey, I'm proud of you" he smiled and handed her it back. Tatum smiled shyly and put it back in her pocket, she never gets praised by anyone else so it's nice to hear it every so often.

                   She stayed for a while, talked to hank and joked around with the team before it got somewhat late, "it's pretty late, you needing me to drop you off?" Jay nodded.  Tatum shook her head and smiled, "nah it's fine, I'll just run back" she shrugged. Jay smiled, "you sure? It's getting dark" he looked out of the window, it wasn't really getting dark, he was just paranoid.  Tatum smiled, "I'll be fine dad, besides it's only like 5 minutes away" she shrugged.  Jay nodded, "alright well please be careful and go straight home" he stood up and gave her a hug.  Tatum nodded, "I will" she hugged him back before turning around and giving hailey a fist pump as she walked out of the bullpen.  Hailey smiled at jay, "how's she coping?" She nodded and stood up once Tatum was out of sight.

                  Jay smiled, "her school grades are back up and she seems to be getting used to it. Cassies got a new boyfriend though, I don't think tates too keen on him" he rubbed his hand over his mouth.  Hailey furrowed her brows, "is he living with them?" She tilted her head.  Jay huffed, "yeah, I wasn't too happy about it at first but I guess it's not my place to say anything. Tate said something about people yelling at each other on Sunday though, she got me pretty worried for a sec" he sighed.  Hailey shook her head a little, "what'd she say?" She folded her arms.  Jay nodded, "she asked me if it was normal for people to yell at each other, I asked her why and she said she was just wondering. I tried not to think too much about it since she's a kid, kids ask questions all the time, but I don't know hails..." he huffed.  Hailey nodded, "you're right, I'm sure it was nothing" she smiled sadly at him, but if only they knew that it wasn't nothing...

Tatum was right, she ran home within 5 minutes and to her expectations Peter was home, but she was rather confused to see the adults sat on the couch cuddling each other, do they hate each other or love each other? She smiled weakly at her mom as Peter stared her down, almost making her uncomfortable as she walked towards her room. She flopped onto the bed and sighed, why can't she just live with her dad...?