The Long Haul

Chapter 17

Alex had been dreading the final bell on Monday, which honestly was quite strange for her. Normally, she pleaded with Father Time to go faster, wanting to get outside the confines of the school and somewhere more comfortable with her friends. 

However, the next two weeks were going to be quite different as she'd been sentenced to pass the after school hours at the stupid district where her brother worked. As if being in the presence of cops would somehow make her a better person by osmosis. She rolled her eyes just thinking about it.

But if doing as he commanded meant that he wouldn't press her for more details about her past or current personal life, she'd gladly suck it up and push forward.

"So you really gotta go to the police station...like every day?" Dustin asked as he draped his arm over her shoulders while they made their way down the hallway to their lockers after the final bell.

Alex leaned her head against his shoulder, secretly soaking up the closeness. Their relationship had always been very friendly with no strings attached. However, she couldn't help but notice that as of lately, he seemed to be getting more affectionate. Not that she was necessarily complaining, but she wasn't dying to change their arrangement at the moment.

"Yup. Every. Single. Day." She let out a sigh. "For two fucking weeks."

They arrived at their lockers, and Dustin leaned his shoulder up against the cool metal. He turned to Alex and brushed a lock of her hair behind her ear. In a low voice, he whispered with an exaggerated pout, "Speaking of fucking...I don't think I can wait two weeks."

Alex bit her lip as she seriously considered his silent offer. She couldn't deny the thrill of a quick rendezvous with him down in the school basement or at his house. But doing that meant the risk of arriving late on her first day of being grounded. With a regretful sigh, she was able to not give into the temptation. These two weeks just needed to be over with so she could get back to living her life.

She playfully put a hand on his chest to stop him. "That's why God gave you two hands - so you can use the other when one gets tired."

Dustin, clearly disappointed, placed his own hand over hers and acted as if he were wounded. "You're killing me, sweetheart."

Not wasting any time, she pushed up on her tippy toes and planted a quick kiss on his cheek, not daring to do more in the hallway in case a teacher was watching as they always were at this damn Catholic school. "Well it's a good thing there are no strings attached then, huh?" She laughed as she pulled back and started putting her books in her bag to leave for the day.

However, the teenage boy couldn't help but feel his heart slightly ache at her being dismissive and seemingly okay with him sleeping with another chick.

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As Alex neared the station, the dread of what was to come slowly took over. About a block away, her dread slowly morphed into anger at being in this situation. Not anger at herself, of course, but anger at her stupid brother for making her do this. She'd been fine for the last 4 years, and all of a sudden he was all up in her business.

She knew next to nothing about his job other than he worked in a supposed "elite" unit with only a handful of people, one of which was the girl he was screwing. The teenager shivered as she recalled walking in on them. Jay rarely mentioned anything about his job, and she didn't really care to find out more. This fucking sucked and she hated it.

Well, here it was. The 21st Precinct in all its glory. Alex gripped the strap on her messenger bag tighter as she took it in. It was...underwhelming to say the least. A plain building, cop cars parked in the side lot, people moving in and out of the main entrance. For being the place that housed some special detective group, it sure didn't seem like it.

With a loud groan, she made her way up the steps.

Inside, Alex took a moment to take in her surroundings, having no idea where anything was. She saw a gray-haired lady behind the main desk and made her way to her. However, Jay came jogging down the steps to the right and quickly intercepted her attention. "Hey, Alex," he called out.

"Hi," the teen replied stoically.

"Come on, let's head upstairs and get you settled."

Before either Halstead could take a step, the gray haired lady interjected, "Chuckles, who's the girl scout?" Trudy could tell the kid wasn't here on official police business like a witness, so as the Desk Sergeant, she felt she needed to know who was wandering into her building. That...and she was plain nosy.

Jay turned slowly and took a few steps back toward the desk. "Sergeant, this is my sister, Alex. Alex, this is Sergeant Platt. She keeps this place in working order."

"Sister?" Trudy looked between the two of them, trying to decide if they looked similar. The younger Halstead took in the interaction, unsure how she felt about it all.

"Yeah, thankfully the one and only," Jay replied with a grin as he tapped the desk twice, signaling his departure. He was a few steps away before Trudy replied.

"I don't see the resemblance."

Alex rolled her eyes, not sure if this lady was joking or not. She leaned in closer to the desk as she walked by, whispering, "That's because I'm our dad's secret love child and only just met Jay last week."

However, every word hit Jay's ears and he instantly groaned. Great to know the sarcasm was on full blast today. He reached back and gripped her arm, thrusting her forward up the stairs. He turned back to Trudy and held up an apologetic hand.

Well, at least Trudy knew who got all the sass in the family.

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Jay entered the code for the gate and motioned for Alex to enter, which she slowly did. Before she continued up the steps, he grabbed her arm, more gently this time, to stop her. Quietly, he reminded, "I know you don't want to be here and you're not happy about all this. But you don't need to put that on full blast to everyone, okay?" He was only met with pursed lips and an eye roll. "I need you to understand why we're doing this."

She shot him a withering glare, her frustration evident. "Yeah, yeah, you don't trust me."

"It's not only about not trusting you," he replied, his voice steady. "It's about helping you make better choices."

Alex huffed, her resentment palpable. "Whatever."

Jay knew she wasn't going to be thrilled to be here, but he had foolishly thought she'd at least give it some effort...or at minimum stow the sarcasm for a few hours.

At this point, he wasn't sure who was dreading the next two weeks more - her or him.

A/N: Sorry for the long delay between chapters. I've been very sick and thankfully have just started to feel better. Hope to have more chapters coming next week :) Please leave a comment to let me know what you think!