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Alex sighed, one hand rubbing his back while the other squeezed his forehead. There were exactly as many bandages as Jamie had indicated on the form, exactly as many gauze pads, and the rest of the inventory looked equally as accurate. As much as Alex had checked in the last hour anyway, which was probably twice as long as it had taken Jamie to do it, and in the end it still didn't tell Alex what Jamie had been doing here.

He wasn't going to get an answer from the silence, though, and Jamie was long gone.

He didn't know what had gotten into Jamie. The kid could be a handful and a half when he was in the mood, sure, far more so than any of the self-described 'overachievers' on the squad, but he and Alex had butted heads enough times that he knew where the lines were. And he certainly knew better than to use that kind of language.

Of course, Alex hadn't done much to diffuse the situation. Hell, if you wanted to get technical, he'd been the one to instigate the confrontation. He could have been far less accusatory than he had been. He should have been less accusatory; however Jamie tried to hide it, he was a good kid, and Alex knew it. Today was just...not a good day.

With a sigh, Alex steeled himself to stand, grabbed a bottle of the strongest Tylenol they had, and with a quick word for the team lead on duty headed for his car. Between his back and his head he was of no use here. And the next time that Jamie was on duty he'd try again and see if he could get a better answer out of the teenager when he was a little calmer. Hopefully when they were both a little calmer.

Getting into his car was always an interesting exercise when his back was screaming, and the fact that he didn't want to move his head didn't precisely improve the situation, but eventually he was in and turning onto the main road. As much as he wasn't a fan of holidays, he was very glad of the lack of traffic that should mean that he was home and in bed within twenty minutes. Right now, unconsciousness would be a gift.

The sight of a figure stretched out on the bench at the bus stop on the corner made him frown. Homelessness wasn't generally a problem in this neighborhood, but—

Shadows faded as he made the turn, his headlights illuminating the figure fully despite the heavy clouds overhead and light rain still falling, and Alex swore and pulled over. He might not know what was going on with Jamie, but leaving him lying on a bus stop bench in the rain on a day that the buses weren't even running wasn't something that he was willing to consider.

Jamie didn't move when he shut off the car and approached, and Alex reached down and gave the narrow shoulder a quick shake. "Jamie, wake up!"

Jamie's shirt was damp under his hand, but he only had a moment to register that as Jamie came awake with a snarl.

"Stop!" Alex barked as Jamie flailed his arms, forcing Alex to jerk away or get hit. The abrupt motion was enough to leave him gasping in pain from his back—and making him see stars from his head—and by the time he could focus again, Jamie was pressed against the side wall of the stop, eyes wide. "Jamie, it's me!" he snapped.

Jamie blinked hard, looking around for a minute before his eyes met Alex's. "Alex? What happened?"

"You were asleep," Alex said. "Why, I don't know. You know it's nearly freezing out here, don't you? You're smarter than that."

"I don't…that wasn't supposed to happen." Jamie swiped at his eyes, looking far younger than he was. "I just wanted to rest for a little bit."

"What are you doing here?" Alex pressed, despite what had happened at the station. "The busses aren't even running today."

"I know. I just…." He shrugged, looking at the ground.

"Come on," Alex said, gesturing towards his car. "I'll give you a ride. Where's home?" He wasn't exactly thrilled with the idea, or the delay in getting himself home, but leaving Jamie here was not an option.

"I don't know."

"What? Where's your family?"

Jamie scowled and started to snap something and then shook his head, cutting off the half-formed words. "I don't…whatever. Fine. Don't know, don't care, in prison, and in a nursing home over in Crossville but she doesn't know who I am all the time so even if the weather was good enough to make the drive it's always a crapshoot if I should go or not. Happy?" He shrugged and then grabbed his backpack off the bench, slinging it over his shoulder and taking a step out of the bus stop. "It doesn't matter. Thanks for waking me up. Sorry I ran my mouth before."

"Jamie, stop," Alex ordered. "Where are you supposed to be?"

"Nowhere."

"On Thanksgiving?"

"Well, my foster parents dumped me last week, Catie's out of town, everyone else is celebrating with their families…the station was the best option I had, so nope, nowhere is all there is right now."

Alex frowned. He was aware that no one in Jamie's family had ever showed up at the station, even on the couple of 'family nights' they'd held at Jennifer's insistence, but it had never even crossed his mind that Jamie might be in foster care. He'd assumed that the social worker who'd contacted him before Jamie's placement on the squad had been involved because of Jamie's juvenile record. And the 'dumped' comment…Alex didn't know much about how foster care was supposed to work, but that did not sound good.

"I'm fine," Jamie said, taking another step away. "It's not a big deal."