Sorry for the delay! Summer is a crazy time of year, but I promise to post as soon as I have the chapters written :)

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Coming into the district on a Saturday majorly sucked. Coming in after school sucked but on a Saturday sucked more. The teen was used to being out late Friday night and spending the entire Saturday morning sleeping. But no - not today. Jay knocked on the door again. "Alex, get up," he said firmly for the third time. The only response he heard was an annoyed groan from under the covers.

Even though Alex wasn't out last night, her body still protested being woken up at 7:00am on the weekend.

"This is your last warning," Jay said a minute later when no effort had been made on her part.

"Leave me alone," she mumbled from under the covers.

Jay groaned - after the small progress they'd made, he was met with yet another challenge. Although this problem seemed to be more universal to teens. The detective looked around the room, trying to figure out what his next move was going to be that didn't involve yelling at a brick wall. Ah-ha! This time, he knew just what to do.

He marched into Alex's room (actually his bedroom) and stood by the bed, giving her one last chance to get up. When nothing happened, he ripped the comforter off her abruptly, exposing her to the cold air of the morning. She turned over harshly to face him and was about to say a slew of curse words, but just as she opened her mouth, he tossed a glass of water in her face.

She jumped into a sitting position at the unwelcomed action, wiping water from her eyes.

"Great, now you're up and done with your shower," Jay said with a devilish grin.

Alex's eyes were narrowed as she flipped him off. She then squirted the water out of her mouth, aiming to hit him. However, his reflexes were much faster and he quickly took a step back, allowing the water to fall onto the floor instead.

"Now get a move on, we're leaving in 10," he announced as he headed out of the room.

"You're the worst!" she yelled after him, to which Jay just smiled and waved, feeling like he'd won for a change.

While she didn't enjoy being woken up this way, there was a small part of her that reveled in the levity of the situation, almost enjoying a regular sibling moment. However, she shoved that feeling down into her vault, not letting herself truly process her feelings. Stowing them away was far easier.

As they headed up to the bullpen, Alex recalled Erin's advice from yesterday and the teen had made it her mission to think up ways to get Jay off her case. If she could get him to simmer down on things, then her life could go back to normal without him hovering and controlling her.

She'd managed to come up with at least one idea. Giving in to his stupid demands, albeit momentarily, might work in her favor, so she was willing to give it a try. As the teen walked past her brother's desk on her way to the break room, she pulled her phone out of her pocket and placed it on his desk. So far, Jay had come into the room to confiscate her cell each day, so he was shocked to see that she willingly left it behind.

He watched as she retreated into the room and took a seat at the table. He hadn't expected her to take some responsibility and initiative. It was a great feeling - almost like he was proud and reminded that change could happen. Instead of following her in as usual, he simply went to sit at his desk. He couldn't help but smile in relief as he placed her phone away in the top drawer of his desk. Maybe, just maybe, he was finally starting to get through to her after all.

There had been a lot of commotion around the office today. The Intelligence Unit was hard at work on a time sensitive case. The team had been in and out of the office all day, working various leads. About an hour ago, they'd returned with a prime suspect in tow.

The bullpen was dead silent and everyone was off in different parts of the building or out doing detective crap. Bored out of her mind since she'd finished her homework hours ago, Alex shuffled her feet as she walked slowly to the bathroom, trying to kill time. After finishing up, she started her way back, but the stillness and emptiness of the hallway peaked her interest. There wasn't a soul in sight, so she decided to pass the time by looking around.

She found a conference room tucked in the back of the hallway - nothing special, but she did make a mental note to persuade Jay to let her come to this room instead. Putting more distance between her and the others would be amazing. She found the locker room next. After opening a few lockers, she found Jay's. It was filled with normal clothes, gum, deodorant, and two photos: one of him and Erin and one of the siblings with their mom before she got sick. It was right before Jay had gone to basic training years ago.

Her breath was caught in her throat for a moment when she saw the photo. It reminded her of simpler times - time she longed to have back with her mother. It had been weeks since she'd seen a picture of her. Alex tenderly brushed her hands over the photo, admiring her mom's natural beauty. She yearned to have all of her own belongings with her again. So much had been left behind at her dad's apartment - clothes, scrunchies, special photos, and most importantly, a few treasured items from her mom. She hated that she'd forgotten so much in the haste of packing that night.

Tears pricked her eyes as she refused to blink, knowing that would cause them to spill over. The pain she felt in her chest increased with no end in sight. How she dreamed of the days when her mother was here - when she was surrounded by love and care instead of pain and disappointment. It felt like a distant universe after four years of hell had passed.

God, it hurt to not have her around. For the briefest of moments, she let her thoughts wander to what she'd be like today if her mother were still here. Would she approve of Dustin? Of her friends? Of her?

Before she had a chance to pack up her feelings and cram them down, a stern voice ripped her from her emotional journey.

"What are you doing in here?"

Alex immediately slammed the locker door shut out of reflex at being caught. She swallowed her tears, replacing them with her signature guarded look. However, when she glanced up, she saw someone she didn't readily recognize.

"You can't be in here," the guy repeated firmly, motioning for her to follow him out.

"It's okay. My brother works here," she explained as if that excused snooping around the lockers.

The guy folded his arms, not believing her. "Who's your brother?"

"Jay."

"Jay?" he repeated, his mind flipping through some information.

"That's what I said," Alex snapped.

A lightbulb went off in his mind. "Alexa?" he asked with a grin.

Her eyebrows went up, surprised that this guy knew her name, much less that nickname. She racked her brain for any idea of who this person could be.

"It's me–," he started to explain, but Alex cut him off, finally recognizing him.

"Mouse?"

"Yeah!" he exclaimed, happy she remembered him. "Come on, let's get out of here," he pulled on her arm gently, not wanting to cause any drama with the others if they found out she was snooping around.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Alex asked as she let him lead her out, realizing it was pointless to fight it. At least he seemed chill about her looking around.

"I work here," he explained, taking her into the empty bullpen.

Alex couldn't help but chuckle. "Work here? You're a cop?" The disbelief was evident in her voice. She'd met Mouse more than a handful of times. Mouse had come over quite a bit when he and Jay were on leave and then later discharged from the army. She didn't know too much about him, but he'd always been nice to her. However, she'd seen him drunk on more than one occasion when he'd been hanging out with Jay after their second tour. Not that he did anything wrong, but she had this picture of him and that didn't add up to working in a police station.

"Oh god no. They'd never let me in. I'm a civilian employee. I run all the tech around here." He motioned toward his desk by the stairs.

"Then why haven't you been here all week?" she challenged, trying to get his story straight.

Mouse chuckled - he saw some family resemblance with the 50 questions. "I took some time off." Alex nodded and he quickly added, "Wait, what have you been doing here all week?"

Her lips pursed, not liking that the tables were turned on her. "Because Jay's a controlling prick."

Mouse held up his hands. "Woah, woah, easy kid." Not that he had a problem with cursing, but he was completely taken off guard by the name calling. The shy, sweet pre-teen that he'd known was clearly long gone. He hadn't seen her since Claire Halstead's funeral, but he'd clearly missed out on some life events if she was suddenly hanging around the district. That was what taking two weeks of vacation would get him - he clearly missed out on some drama.

"Don't you take his side. He–"

It was like he literally opened a can of worms. As much as he didn't mind talking to her, he did have a time sensitive job to get done. "Alexa, as much–"

"It's Alex now," she interjected harshly.

"Sorry. Alex. As much as I want to hear why Jay's a prick, I have to dig up some text messages so we can get enough evidence on the guy we have in holding."

She nodded, understanding that he had a job to do and knowing better than to interfere with it. Without another word, she turned on her heel to retreat back to her cave. However, Mouse called after her, "Wanna watch me hack into the suspect's phone?"

Alex turned around with a glow in her eyes. "Hell yeah!" she replied, pulling up a nearby chair.

About fifteen minutes later, Jay came into the bullpen after he'd finished interrogating the suspect. He was pleased that they'd been able to pull more information out of him, and they were now able to go after the main suspect and this guy would only be charged as an accomplice.

As he turned the corner into the room, he was surprised to see Alex sitting there…with Mouse. The tech specialist saw his confusion and he immediately piped up. "Jay, you didn't tell me Alexaaa….Alex was here," he quickly corrected.

But Jay was all business at this moment when he saw that Mouse was working on the case. "Did the judge sign the warrant?" They needed that in order to dump the suspect's phone, and Jay was eager to put an end to this draining case.

"I'm still waiting on Rusek to let me know when it's done," Mouse replied, knowing exactly what Jay was getting at.

The detective nodded once, not angry but not pleased that Mouse was letting Alex watch an illegal activity since they were dumping a phone when they didn't technically have permission to do so. He didn't think Mouse was doing anything wrong by preemptively searching it - they did it all the time to keep a hot case moving because they knew the warrant would be signed. But it felt different when his sister was sitting there watching a not-so-legal thing happen.

"Come on, Alex, let Mouse work," Jay interjected, lightly grabbing on Alex's arm to get up.

"No," she said firmly without moving. Mouse had invited her to watch, and not that she'd say it out loud, but it was kind of interesting to see what he was doing.

Mouse diverted his gaze, not wanting to get between these two and whatever it was that was going on.

"Let's go," Jay said more firmly, his grip now stronger as he pulled her out of the seat.

"Get off me," she snapped, trying to shove his hand away. "You're hurting me," she lied.

When the detective heard those words, he immediately released her arm and looked at her apologetically as a wave of guilt rushed in. However, when he was met with her smug smirk, his eyes narrowed. "GO," he commanded firmly, pointing to the break room.

Alex knew she'd never win this battle and at the last moment before she retorted something back, she remembered that she was trying to keep a low profile around him. In response, the teen rolled her eyes and leaned in toward Mouse before she got up. With an I-told-you-so-look plastered on her face, she whispered, "See? Controlling prick."

And with that, she marched off to the break room, leaving the two men to share a glance.

It seemed like everything was one step forward, two steps back.