The Long Haul

Chapter 12

Will had been getting ready for a double shift when Jay had called. He didn't often work two shifts back to back, but he'd been asked to cover for a night shift colleague at the last minute, and he caved and said yes. He could use the overtime pay to be honest. Since he was about ready to leave, Jay offered to swing by to give him a ride to Chicago Med, so they could talk in the car.

Jay's mind had been filled with all kinds of thoughts intermingled. He barely kept it together before blurting out the second his brother shut the door, "All this stuff is making me nervous, Will." Jay pulled out of the parking lot onto the narrow street.

"Nervous? Why?" It was an interesting choice of emotion that took the eldest by surprise.

Jay looked at his older brother like he was an idiot. "Alex is clearly doing something she shouldn't, man. And we're not even sure what's really going on. How does that NOT make you nervous?"

Will couldn't stop the chuckle that escaped his lips as his nonchalant personality was on full display. "She's a teenager. That's what teenagers do. Make poor decisions and skip class." He knew Jay was on edge about everything right now, and he understood it to an extent - Jay had always been one to worry and assume the worst in literally every scenario. Being a war veteran and Chicago detective would do that to anyone. However, Will chose to see it from a different light and always had. Alex was just being a stupid teenager doing stupid things like he had done.

"Yeah, well maybe you did that crap, but I didn't." He wasn't lying - Jay had been much more on the straight and narrow compared to his older brother. "But I'm telling you, something isn't right. This is more than just 'teenager' stuff."

"What makes you say that?"

Jay gripped the steering wheel harder as a flash of anger passed across his face at recalling the conversation with their father. "Well to start, she lied about joining the debate team. I checked and she's never been a part of it."

Will tried to contain his laugh. "I mean, debate team? Alex? Seriously? Even I can see through that."

Jay threw a bitch face at his brother's accusation that he should have caught the lie. "I catch people in lies every day, Will. She's damn good. And on top of it all, Dad said she stole money from him."

Will wasn't quite ready to jump on the Jay thought train. He wasn't terribly close to his sister either, and being a rebel himself as a teen, he wasn't ready to believe she was dabbling in stuff she shouldn't. "He told you that?" he questioned with an undercurrent of disbelief.

He shifted in his seat. "Well not exactly, but he practically implied it."

The redhead let out an annoyed sigh. "Yeah, and we should believe everything a drunk says or implies," he added to make a point that Jay was likely reading between lines when there was nothing to read.

Jay fell silent for a moment as the feedback processed. Will had a point - their dad was a drunk bastard who had said all kinds of crazy shit over the past few years. But Jay had always been able to tell the difference between the crazy and the truth. He pushed aside the seeds of doubt that Will was trying to plant. "You know Dad never gave her a curfew?"

That caused Will's eyebrows to raise. "Seriously? I'd say she's damn lucky then. We always had to be home at 10 on the dot."

"She came home at almost midnight the other weekend and acted like it was nothing. Tell me, Will, what's there to do in Chicago after 10?"

Will knew exactly what type of point Jay was trying to make. He was well aware of what happened late at night - he had firsthand experience from his crazier days and he also saw the consequences of it when he worked the night shift at the ER every now and then. He took a deep breath to make sure he kept his tone in check. "We know Dad's a dick and treated her like shit, so maybe you should loosen the leash on her a bit and give her some space to cope. Not every mystery is a crime, but you keep assuming the worst. She's our little sister, not a criminal."