The Long Haul

Chapter 5

A/N: I completely forgot to mention that this takes place around Season 3/4. I've updated the first chapter to include that detail. I hope you enjoy this next part!

It had been a full week. Seven days since their living and life situation had abruptly changed. It was a milestone for both Halsteads - Alex had managed to keep her act together for a full week by not doing anything that would raise eyebrows, and Jay had managed to successfully avoid the school conversion with their father.

"Jay? Earth to Jay," Erin repeated as she waved her hand in front of his face.

Seeing the hand invade his eyesight connected Jay back with reality. He blinked a few times and quickly looked around the bullpen, thankful to see everyone else caught up in their own paperwork or side conversation. "Sorry, I'm just..." Jay trailed off as his mind tried to come up with some lame excuse.

Erin didn't wait for an answer and nodded toward their break room, signaling him to follow, which he did. Once inside, she closed the door quietly behind them. "What's going on with you? You're distracted and it's making me nervous." And she had a right to be nervous after all - this was her partner who was supposed to have her back when shit hit the fan in the field. If he was distracted, it put the both of them in danger, and he knew it.

Jay's eyes darted around the room for a moment. "I just have some stuff on my mind."

A sarcastic laugh escaped her lips. "Obviously." When he didn't offer up any more information, she pressed. "So are you going to tell me about it?"

He ran his hand along his tensed jaw before deciding to let her in. "I still haven't talked to my dick of a father."

Erin's eyes softened, thankful he'd shared with her what was eating at him and also empathetic at what he was going through. But that didn't stop her from speaking her mind. She replied in disbelief, "Jay, you still haven't talked to him?" She was well aware that the school had told Jay a week ago to have Pat call them with approval to update the contact information. She had figured that it would have been taken care of by now.

Inwardly, he felt embarrassed at being called out on this, because he knew that he was purposefully putting it off. "I know, I know, okay? I need to do it." It was almost like he was trying to give himself a pep talk.

"Yeah, you do need to do it. The sooner, the better. Rip the bandaid off and tie up loose ends," Erin encouraged.

Jay nodded. "Yeah, okay. I'll do it after shift tonight." He felt his stomach tighten into knots.

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Alex was sitting on the couch at her friend Nick's house as she'd done so many times before with her small group of friends: Nick, Maddie, Dustin, and Emma. Nick's parents were super rich, so he had a whole section of their huge penthouse to himself. Not that he needed that type of privacy, because his parents spent more time outside the city than within, which was extremely helpful for Nick and his extracurriculars.

She'd started hanging out with this group just over a year ago. It had taken her a while to find her footing in high school, and she'd been stumbling through this difficult time without any real support at home or a mother to help guide her. She'd spent a while as a loner, keeping to herself and writing poems to pass the time. Eventually, it had come to a point where she was desperate to fit in - somewhere, anywhere - but she'd never admit that out loud to anyone. Deep down the innate desire to be liked and fit in ran rampant with teenagers, so she wasn't the only one.

After a few failed attempts with other crowds, she finally landed with one that accepted her. It honestly felt like a relief to hang with people who truly just didn't care. They weren't studious, but still did just enough to fly under the academic radar. She'd also been able to try out different activities than she had known possible - mainly ones that nobody in her family would approve of like drinking, smoking, abandoned warehouse parties, the list went on. It was a carefree lifestyle that she had so craved and she was able to embrace with this group, given that her father had stopped caring to keep track of her. Being with this group of friends numbed the years of grief at losing her mother and made her forget about her father's actions.