HEY, I'M BACK! Sorry for such a long wait. I have been writing like crazy in the past week or so and I am giving you guys an early Christmas present, or late Huhakkah one, or whichever holiday you celebrate. I have a ten-hour drive to my grandma's house tomorrow and so I should write some more. I will try to update at least one more time before winter break is over but no promises.
Jay was at Molly's drinking his problems away when Erin and Antonio ambushed him.
"Who was that on the phone?" Erin asked, getting straight to the point.
"My sorry excuse for a father," Jay answered. He was buzzed and glaring at his beer.
"Ok, why was he calling you?" Antonio asked. He wasn't sure if they were going to get anything out of him, but it was worth a shot.
"Apparently, Maddie hasn't stopped talking about Wisconsin since Will took her home last night and my dad blames me and thinks that I threatened Will into letting me spend time with my sister." Jay took another sip of beer.
"Why does he think you threatened Will?" Erin asked, slightly confused. From what she had seen, the siblings got along great.
"In my father's eyes, I'm his disappointment of a son," Jay answered. "He doesn't like that I was military and now I'm a cop."
"Oh, ok, why doesn't he let you see her?" Antonio asked. Jay either answers this question or he shuts down completely.
"Because I wasn't there for my mom till she had 3 months to live left," Jay's voice wavered. Antonio and Erin were shocked. Jay never talked about his past. They sat in a moment of silence. Jay took another gulp and finished his beer. He was halfway to the counter to pay when Antonio and Erin got out of their shock.
"Woah, Jay, you don't think you're driving home like this, right?" Antonio asked.
"I'm not that drunk," Jay replied. He finished paying his tab and started to head out the door. "If you guys want to drive me home, then fine, but someone's gotta bring my truck home." He took his keys out and handed them to Antonio.
They drove him and his truck back and made sure Jay was in his apartment before they went back to Molly's.
The next few weeks were normal for Intelligence. They worked cases and drank at Molly's. The only difference now was that Will sometimes joined them. Antonio and Erin didn't ask about Jay's father, but they couldn't seem to forget the look Jay's eyes had when he mentioned his mom. The whole team was all interested to see the "younger brother" side of Jay. The brothers teased each other whenever they could, and, much to everyone's amusement, pulled pranks whenever possible.
One day, about one and a half months after the team met Will and Maddie, the team was about to start their day.
"Everyone, listen up!" Voight ordered as he walked out of his office. "We got a case. We got a vandalizer going around the city and tagging military buildings."
"Why are we working this?" Antonio asked.
"The tags are a different language and the higher-ups want to know if it's some form of terrorism," Voight answered.
"What language?" Alvin asked.
"Don't know," Voight said as he put pictures of the tags on the whiteboard. There were five tags in all. Three of the pictures were the same tags but in different places.
Jay got up and walked to the board. He swallowed and said, "It's Pashto."
The fact that Jay knew that made everyone a little nervous. The team was silent for a little bit. Antonio and Al exchanged glances. Finally, Al spoke up, "What's it say?"
Jay's face got even paler and his breath started picking up. He immediately turned around, and quickly walked to the locker room, and called Mouse.
Jay was halfway to a panic attack when Mouse picked up.
"Yo, Jay, what's up, man?" Mouse answered cheerfully. He heard Jay's erratic breathing and immediately started calming Jay down. "Jay, breathe with me, ready, in, out, in, out."
When Jay calmed down, Mouse asked, "Wanna talk about it?" Mouse that there was a 50-50 chance Jay would actually want to talk about it.
"Not over the phone," Jay said raspily. He cleared his throat, "Could you come to the district?"
"Absolutely, I can be there in twenty minutes." Mouse replied instantly. "Just try to stay calm and keep breathing, okay?"
"Okay, when you get here, just say that I asked you to come," Jay told him.
"Got it, see you soon," Mouse said. Jay just hummed in reply. He continued sitting in front of his locker until he was in control of his emotions.
While Jay practically ran out of the bullpen, the team was in shock. Erin immediately started to go after him, but Antonio held her back.
"Antonio, let me go," Erin said.
She struggled against him a couple of seconds before Alvin said, "You can't just go barging in the locker room demanding for answers. That's going to make Jay have a panic attack if he doesn't have one."
Erin stopped struggling and took a breath. "Okay, then I'll go and calm him down."
"You can't do that either," Alvin stopped her again.
"Why the hell not?" Erin yelled. "He's my partner and needs some help. You guys are making it so I can't!"
"How do you know he wants your help?" Antonio asked. "If he is having a panic attack, he's gonna want someone who has dealt with panic attacks before or someone he knows can calm him down, which none of us have, except for maybe Alvin."
"Okay, then, Al, can you go check on him?" Erin asked impatiently.
"I'm gonna give him a couple of minutes first," Alvin said. He turned to Antonio. "My guess is that he is going to try to reach his Army buddy." Antonio nodded.
Antonio had a dark look in his eyes. "What do you think got him messed up so bad?" he said to Al.
"If your theory from a month ago was correct, I have a pretty good idea," Alvin said gravely. The team seemed to be talking amongst themselves as they waited for Jay to come back.
A couple of minutes later, Alvin got up from his desk and started walking towards the locker room. He gently knocked on the door and entered. He saw Jay sitting with his back against the wall and leaning his head against it. His breath was even but shaky.
"How ya doing, kid?" Alvin asked gently. Jay just shook his head.
"Mouse is on his way," Jay said.
Alvin nodded, "That's good. The team seems a little worried about you. You kinda ran out of there, you wanna talk about it?"
"Not really," Jay breathed out, "But I know I need to give an explanation to the team."
Alvin just sat there, it had been a long time since he talked about his time in the military. He did remember that remembering the good memories helped. "Well, since we are waiting for Mouse, how'd you two meet?"
A smile played across Jay's face. He chuckled, "We were put on separate sides for a drill and we got super competitive with each other. Afterward, at dinner, we almost ran into each other. We recognized each other and sat together and we hit it off immediately. We learned that we were both from Illinois and that we are middle children. From that day on, we were inseparable."
"That's cool," Alvin said, "Voight and I were like that when we were at the academy."
"100 years ago?" Jay teased. He was glad Alvin was here. They sat in silence a little bit longer.
Again, sorry for the wait. I wish you all a Merry Christmas and I'll update as soon as possible.