Let me know what you think of this chapter :)
I'm working on the new few chapters, so there may be a slight delay in posting the next part. Thanks for all of your support along the way. This story has been so fun to write and I appreciate all of your reviews, messages, and feedback.
"Is that what you're used to? With Dad?" Jay asked, his voice shaking, a mix of anger and concern.
Alex's expression instantly changed at the mention of their father - it was like her body and mind snapped back into place in the present moment. The visibly shaken teenager vanished, replaced by a guarded, hostile expression. She swallowed hard once her brain had finally caught up with reality and digested what she'd just said, but the alcohol didn't let her dwell on it. She clearly wasn't grasping the gravity of what she'd inadvertently confessed. With her arms folded across her chest, she spat out, her gaze defiant, daring him to react. "Why do you care?"
Jay's heart clenched at her words, images of what her life with their dad must have been like playing in his mind. It only reiterated the urgency of getting to the bottom of what had been going on at that house. But right now he was in the midst of another problem that he needed to solve. He replied instantly, his tone pained but still assertive, "I would never hit you, Alex. That's not how I operate, and it's not how we're going to deal with things."
The defiance in her eyes wavered for a moment, replaced by a mix of confusion, relief, and vulnerability. But then the walls came up again. "Whatever."
Jay was lost in his own cloud of thoughts momentarily, but Alex's voice brought him back to reality. She was ready to move on, not grasping the intensity of the revelation. So she turned her drunken anger toward the other person in the room. "And fuck you for telling Jay about tonight," Alex accused, pointing a finger at Will.
"He needed to know. You're living under his roof now, " Will explained, keeping his tone the calmest out of them all, despite his heightened level of concern at this point. This was a side of his sister that he had never imagined existed.
She wasn't certain she meant anything she was saying at this point, and her current mental state wasn't helping. She was used to angry words being exchanged, to yelling, to hitting, to fighting, but she wasn't used to…the disappointment, the helicoptering, the level of…care and concern that was being shown. And she wasn't about to let down her guard. Not for a second.
"Yeah, well maybe I don't want to live there! I didn't ask for any of this!" she yelled back as she felt some rage tears push against her eyes. She fought hard to keep them from falling and succeeded. She turned her gaze to Jay. "You forced it all on me!"
However, anger simmered in Jay's eyes, building up like a raging tempest. Jay interrupted with finality, his tone brooking no argument. "That's enough. We're going home."
Alex, her inebriated fearlessness still very much in play, shot back, "That's not my home!"
Jay ran his tongue along his top teeth, trying to keep from screaming at her - they were in a hospital after all. He was quickly losing his inner battle with his temper. "Let me rephrase. We're going back to my place. Let's. Go. Now." He took a few steps toward the door, stopping beside her to gesture that she get a move on.
Alex didn't move a step. "You can't just drag me away. Emma is still here," she stated defiantly.
"She has her own family for that," Jay countered, the frustration evident in his voice.
Alex swallowed hard, trying to summon whatever sobriety she could muster. "Emma doesn't have anyone else right now. Her parents are out of town, and I can't just abandon her." As pissed as she was right now, she deeply cared for her friend. Emma had been there for her over the past year, and she wasn't going to abandon her in a freaking hospital.
Jay hesitated, his protective instinct clashing with his anger. "You think staying here is a way to avoid facing this?"
She shrugged, looking a bit more vulnerable now, "No. I just need to be here for her."
Will, sensing an opportunity for a compromise, added, "She has a point, Jay. How about we let her sober up here and ensure Emma's okay. It's better for everyone." And the unspoken benefit that it gave Jay time to cool off as well.
Jay stared at Alex, the silent battle of wills palpable. After what felt like hours, he finally sighed in resignation, "Fine. But you're coming straight back once she's discharged, understood?"
Alex nodded, relief flooding her features, "Fine."
"Good. Will, call me when it's time to get her ass home," Jay said tersely and walked out of the room as Alex yelled behind him.
"I said it's not my home!"
Will ran a tired hand down his face, secretly hoping that the whole ER didn't just tune in to his family drama. The room fell silent, neither remaining Halstead talking or moving. Even though Alex felt some appreciation that Will had come to her aid in convincing Jay to let her stay, she was still pissed as hell at him. After ten seconds, she said flatly, "You're still an asshole for doing that, especially after all I did for you growing up," before turning on her heel and heading toward Emma's room.
Six year old Alexa rubbed her eyes as she walked down the hall to the bathroom. Only a few night lights illuminated the path in the middle of the night. Suddenly, she ran directly into someone's legs.
"Ouch!" she exclaimed as she took a step back and looked up, shocked to find her oldest brother Will. He was wearing his normal clothes and carrying his shoes in hand.
"Alex, what are you doing up?" he whispered, clearly surprised.
"I gotta pee," she explained as if it were obvious. "Why aren't you in your jammies?" she asked with the curiosity of a typical six year old.
"Because," Will said flatly, refusing to explain more to a kid. She shrugged, too tired to press him more. Thankful, he took a few steps past her on his way to the front door before whispering back, "Don't tell mom and dad you saw me, okay?"
"How come?"
"Because Dad will get pissed," Will whispered.
"Oh, okay," she paused, understanding now, "I won't say nothing." Will gave her a quick kiss on the top of the head before he disappeared into the night.
And sure enough, Alexa stuck to her word the next day when their father asked the siblings who was talking in the hallway in the middle of the night. Alexa confessed that it had been her going to the bathroom singing a song, and since nobody else offered up any confessions, their father had no choice but to believe it, therefore sparing Will from the wrath.
Will was stuck alone with the memories that Alex had triggered. She was right - she'd covered for him more than once, which was very unfair to ask of a little kid. But he convinced himself that today's scenario was different. Jay actually cared about her wellbeing. He didn't need to protect her from Jay, because he'd never harm her.
Then the realization hit him like a ton of bricks. Will had multiple people in the house growing up to help him run interference with his dad when he'd done stupid shit. Jay, Alex, even their mom. He'd never stopped to imagine what it would have been like to grow up without having those buffers. Alex's drunken questions from tonight came flooding back to him, and a shiver went down his spine as he recalled her asking how many.
The hospital room felt cold and sterile compared to the pulsating energy of the party they had left. Alex, slowly sobering up, was still replaying the heated argument with Jay in her mind. She felt a twinge of guilt for having let her brother down, something she wasn't used to. She was used to being a disappointment for her father, but not her brothers. And on top of everything else, she'd never seen Jay pissed like that before. It was an unsettling feeling that she wasn't equipped to handle right now.
Beside her, Emma exhaled a puff of laughter, her rebellious spirit undeterred by the night's events. "That sounds insane, girl," she said, her eyes sparkling with mischief as Alex finished retelling the conversation from the consulting room (she'd clearly left out a few details).
Alex couldn't help but smirk in response. "Yeah, it was," she admitted.
Emma glanced at her, her voice lowered in a conspiratorial tone. "So, your detective brother. You think he's gonna be a buzzkill every time we want to have some fun?"
Alex hesitated, caught between the pull of her old life and her new responsibilities. "I don't know, Em," she replied, her voice tinged with uncertainty. When she saw a flash of concern on Emma's face, she quickly backtracked and stated with faux confidence, "But hey, he's not gonna be a problem. I'll figure something out."
A mischievous grin spread across Emma's face. "That's the spirit, Alex. We'll show him a good time."
As they plotted their next adventure, the weight of her brother's disappointment still lingered in a far corner of Alex's mind. But for now, the allure of rebellion and the embrace of her friend's infectious spirit seemed too hard to resist.