It was 10:02 on a Friday night and Hailey Baffert was already pretty buzzed-just not for the reasons one would typically think. No, she wasn't at one of Gotham's hottest clubs or even some dive bar in the Narrows, she was sitting cross-legged in front of her closet attempting to come to terms with how out of touch with the world she'd become.

At least the bottle of wine was helping.

"What do normal, 26 year old women wear for a night out on the town? Do they put makeup on? Okay, well obviously they put makeup on, but what does that entail? Eyeshadow? I could probably accomplish that but wait...I'm guessing they use blush...Do I even own blush? Maybe I could just slap myself around a little? Or would that do more harm than good?" As she pondered over these deeply philosophical thoughts, she made the mistake of glancing at her bedside clock.

"Holy shit it's 10:15 already?! Amanda's gonna kill -" and without missing a beat there came a loud knock on her apartment door.

"Hailey Elizabeth Baffert I swear to God you'd better answer this door within the next twenty seconds or I'm kicking it in!" her sometimes-close friend but often-mortal enemy shouted.

Hailey instinctually began to analyze her current situation in the most objective way possible - a habit she had developed from working as a forensic scientist in GCPD's criminalistics lab. She glanced to her right and noted the half-empty bottle of pinot grigio resting in her hand, looked down at her outfit and realized she was still wearing boy shorts and a tank top, then reached up to feel her hair only to remember it was still in a messy bun. After taking a couple seconds to absorb this information, she finally came to the logical conclusion that she was, indeed, totally screwed.

With a sigh she clumsily got up from her sitting position and took another swig from the wine bottle as she walked over to answer the door. Right as Hailey opened it a red-faced Amanda had been readying herself into a kicking position.

"Jesus, you really were serious about kicking the door in," Hailey noted with an appreciative smile, remembering for a second why she was friends with this girl.

Amanda completely ignored her friend's comment and stormed into the apartment. "I would say 'hi' and hug you right now Hailey but I'm way too busy noticing that you look like the poster child for 'single-girl-in-her-twenties' when you should be dressed and ready to come out with us! What the hell?! Brandon and Dave are waiting in the car downstairs! I should have known better than to trust you to get yourself ready!" She then sniffed Hailey's breath and immediately jumped back a few feet. "Whoa there tiger, smells like you are about 40% sauced right now. Give me that!" And with that she yanked the bottle of wine out of her friend's hand, paused for a moment, then took a long swig herself before running to the kitchen and throwing it in the fridge.

Hailey stood awkwardly in her small living room as Amanda walked back. She knew her childhood friend exaggerated a lot, but at the same time she also felt bad for being so socially inept. Amanda had been planning this little double date for the past two weeks, giving Hailey plenty of time to warm up to the idea and prepare herself for a night out (which had become few far between these last couple years), but at the last minute - as usual - she choked. It was so typical of her. Over the years her life had started to revolve around work so heavily that instead of getting excited about these things, she grew nervous and uncomfortable.

"Hey, look, I'm sorry," she started but Amanda cut her off. "Yeah yeah, I get it, you're sorry for being such an awkward friend, yada yada yada. I don't care, just come here and I'll help you get ready." After settling on a white silk tank tucked into a black mini skirt, Amanda quickly helped tame Hailey's shoulder length blond waves by pinning one side of it back. Throw in some mascara and strappy nude stilettos that had lain forgotten in the back of her closet and Hailey decided she looked pretty decent. She threw her phone in her purse and headed out the door but before they got to the car Amanda said "Wait, hold on a second." She silently pulled out some red lipstick from her purse. Hailey almost ran back into the apartment but decided she owed her friend at least this for being so difficult and allowed her to carefully apply the smooth, crimson color to her mouth.

Amanda's blue eyes shown as she smiled from ear to ear. "Five minutes to get you ready. That's record time! I should quit my day job." She then hopped into the front seat. Hailey took a breath and slid into the back. She could sense this was going to be a long night.

One hour later...

Hailey now knew the true meaning of hell on earth. It meant being stuck in a bar with an oversexed, moronic firefighter while your best friend canoodled with her boyfriend in a different booth. Not even a whiskey on the rocks could make this guy appealing to her.

"So then, like, we all drew a bunch of dicks on this guy's face while he was passed out and then we peed on him. It was totally hil-aaaaa-rious."

If she had to listen to one more "hil-aaaaa-rious" age-old frat story from this guy's time at Gotham University she was going to vomit out of shear boredom. While she nodded and drained the rest of her drink, she decided to pull out her phone and play solitaire only to find that she had a missed phone call from Commissioner Gordon over in major crimes.

"Fuck, sorry I have to make a call," she said without even looking at the meathead next to her while she slid out of the booth.

"Oh yeah, totally, no worries. When you get back I'll tell you about when we streaked across the football field!" She inwardly blanched as she dialed Gordon back. But as she put the phone to her ear the call went straight to a dial tone. "That's weird..." she thought. It was rare for Gordon to let his phone ring more than once let alone turn it off. Before she could think too hard about it she got a call from the major crimes unit secretary.

"Hailey? This is Patty from MCU. There's been a situation on 17th and Leland. A seedy bar called The Boilermaker. They found the missing congressman. He's alive but there's a couple of bodies we need looked at. How soon can you get over there? I know this is your night off, but I still thought I'd call. If you can't make it I understand."

"Hallelujah!" She realized this was her out and she wasn't about to pass it up. "No worries Patty I'm not busy at all! I'll catch a cab and be there in ten!" She practically giggled her response into the phone she was so happy. After saying goodbye to a disgruntled Amanda, she left without sparing a glance at her evening's "date."

It may have been nearing midnight, but it wasn't until Hailey tipped the cabby and walked through the flashing blue and red lights that she felt her night had truly begun.