can't change what you don't know

because im not

After a 10 minute drive hailey and jay found themselves sat at a junction along the side of Wabash looking out for the target vehicle but it was dead, the roads were quiet and hardly anyone was around, after all it was around 21:45pm on a Friday night. Jay huffed, "there's no deep dish around here anymore" he looked around at the restaurants. Hailey laughed, "how the times change" she smiled. Jay nodded, "I was thinking movie night tonight?" He raised an eyebrow. Hailey smiled and nodded, "I like that idea" she tilted her head and rested it against the window, both of them keeping an eye out for this vehicle in the process of their mini conversations.

About half an hour went by and there was still no sign of this vehicle so jay keyed his radio, "hey sarge I don't think they're coming, the roads are dead" he sighed. There was a static ringing before hank replied, "yeah that's fine, just bring yourselves back" he ordered sternly yet tiredly. The pair nodded before sitting up straight as jay put his foot on the pedal raring to get home earlier, they decided to take the neighbourhood roads since it was quicker and there'd be less road work going on but that plan would soon find them taking even longer to get back. They were chatting away when the mains channel buzzed, "call for any responding units, noise complaint coming from **23 west ave" the dispatch caller spoke bluntly. Jay looked over at hailey, "that's a block out, we might as well" he nodded. Hailey sighed but nodded, "5021 Henry, hold me and my partner down on that call" she spoke back.

~~~~~~~~~~

Tatum had drank most of the bottle in her hands, she could feel the rush surging over her now and she loved it, it's a feeling that'll never get old even if it's slowly damaging her liver in the process, but yolo, she doesn't care. Everyone around her was crashed out, they were all blacked out from the alcohol, Tatum was the only man standing so she was sat on the couch with her legs crossed, the bottle loosely in her hands and her eyes attached onto the blank wall opposite her, the music was playing fairly quietly in the background and the garage door was still open. Tatum mostly gets disappointed when drinking since she rarely gets drunk or ever blacks out, even now she wasn't really drunk, just a bit dazed.

~~~~~~~~~~~

After a few right turns jay and hailey were now slowly rolling down the street the dispatch centre had given them, but it didn't take long for them to drive by a house which had a garage on the side of it with its door open; there looked to be a few kids inside, colourful lights blaring and music playing, but it wasn't even that loud so they were confused at who could possibly be so irritated by it. Jay parked his car up as the pair got out, they put their guns in their back pocket, as standard protocol but they wouldn't need them, and walked up the driveway. They noticed that the house looked empty, or no one was home yet, but the kids didn't look to well either.

Hailey nodded at jay as they stood in the garage doorway, there were two girls huddled up on the floor under a blanket, one girl sleeping under a table, a boy sleeping on the couch and another boy asleep on a chair in the corner. The pair noticed the only girl that was awake more than anything else, "I'm gonna check her" she whispered to her partner. Jay nodded supportively, almost glad he'd made them stop by the house now, as hailey made her way over the beer cans and bottles on the floor, if they'd drank all this themselves jay was equally impressed and concerned for them all. Hailey noticed the teenagers dazed look and the fact that she was staring at the wall, not even noticing the fact that she's stood right in front of her, was worrying her.

Hailey checked the girls eyes, they were watering, probably from the alcohol, but they weren't red, "she doesn't look high" she stood back up and turned to look at jay. Tatum knew she was there, she saw them walk in, but she was in a whole world of her own to even interact with them, "because I'm not" she spoke blankly, making both detectives shoot their head in her direction again. Tatum met the blonde woman's gaze for the first time, "none of us are..." she spoke with the exact same tone again, no emotion. Jay walked over to hailey, "how about we get rid of that then we can talk" he smiled sadly and carefully removed the Smirnoff ice bottle from her hands. Tatum didn't put up a fight over a bottle which only had a few, maybe even 7-8, swigs left at the bottom and just let him take the drink from her hands, watching him as he put it down on the table before meeting his gaze again.

Hailey scooted the empty alcoholic cans off the table and sat down on it in front of the young girl, "can you tell me your name sweetie?" She smiled. Tatum kept her head still and her face blank, "Tatum gracelyn Walker...but you can call me Tate for short. Or you can just call me whatever you want, I really don't care" she shrugged. The two detectives looked at each other sadly, now it was clear that maybe whatever alcohol she had been drinking was starting to hit her. Hailey nodded, "well it's nice to meet you Tate, I'm hailey and that's jay. We're with the Chicago police department, you're not in trouble don't worry, we just had to respond to a noise complaint, everything looks okay though" she smiled weakly and looked around. Tate nodded, "well, that's pretty unfortunate" she turned her lips into a line, making jay smile a little.

Hailey smiled a little too and tilted her head, "are your friends okay?" She nodded to the blacked out kids in the garage. Tatum nodded, "mmhmm, they just can't hack the drink..." she looked at a crashed out Luke on the couch next to her then back to the officers in front of her. Jay smiled a little but it was kind of sad, seeing so many kids wasting themselves these days, "how old are you hun?" Hailey added. Tatum laughed a little, "the real question is, how old are you?" She pointed to hailey with a small smirk, maybe the drink was hitting her more than she thought. Hailey looked over her shoulder at jay who was smiling, "I'm 33" she looked back to the kid and nodded. Tatum raised her eyebrows, "you?" She pointed to jay, he laughed a little but nodded, "34" he smiled weakly. Tatum nodded slowly, "and I, my friends, am 13" she let her head hang low a little bit, kind of ashamed that she'd been drinking and had been caught while doing so.

Hailey smiled sadly as jay double checked that the other kids were okay too, "what's going on in here? Just a little celebration party?" She added. Tatum shook her head, "there's no special occasion, just drinks" she shrugged. Hailey frowned a little as jay looked at her sadly, "is there a parent nearby?" He smiled sadly. Tatum laughed a little at the question, "parents? Never heard of them" she shrugged then immediately gasped right after, "well maybe I have, kinda. No yeah, I really have. I've got a mother, she doesn't really like me though, I got a dad but I'm not allowed to know who he is, I'm pretty sure my moms Virgin Mary or something. Then there's my step dad, ooo, but he's not a nice man..." she rambled on, the drink had definitely smacked her in the face now.

Jay looked at hailey with raised eyebrows, "he isn't a nice man? Everything okay sweetie?" Hailey smiled, usually when kids make remarks like that it meant them were being abused, "oh yeah, everything's perfect, it really is" she nodded sarcastically, her body was letting the drink take over her mind. Jay sat down next to his partner, "hey Tate, look at me okay?" He snapped his fingers lightly which made her head snap up quickly, "is someone hurting you at home?" He looked into her eyes which we're getting darker and darker. Tatum shook her head, "nu-uh, they're just dicks" she shrugged and reached for the alcohol bottle in between the two. Jay gently grabbed her hand as she somehow managed to grab the bottle from the table, "no no no, we're not gonna do that" he took it from her hands and placed it behind him and out of reach.

Hailey looked at jay and nodded, "I think it's time we get you home, did you walk here or is this your house?" She smiled sadly. Tatum shook her head, "I walked..." she looked at them both blankly, that look she was giving them both scared jay, it was an 'I'm giving up' dullness in her eyes. Tatum grabbed her bag, "I walked here so I'll walk home..." she stood up but jay stopped her, "hey it's okay, we'll take you home, it's too dangerous for you to walk back on your own" he made sure she sat back down since she didn't look sturdy on her own feet. Tatum laughed a little bit, "oh thanks my guy, that's pretty kind of you" she offered him a fist pump. Jay couldn't turn the kid down so he gave her a fist pump which made her smile a little bit, also making him smile. Hailey let out a small chuckle, "what about your friends? What're they doing?" She smiled sadly.

Tatum nodded, "well this is Riley's garage and house but they're all sleeping here" she looked around at them. Jay nodded, "on their own?" He added. Tatum shook her head, "no no, her brothers inside the house sleeping, they'll just let themselves in when they've sorted themselves out" she wiggled her fingers, they were starting to go fuzzy. Hailey smiled, "alright, well we'll leave them here and make sure the doors shut. What about you? Do you know your address?" She asked softly, she knew the kid would know her own address but wether she could remember it in this state would be a different matter. Tatum nodded, "yeah...it's **48 Wilson street" she continued twirling her fingers around the hem on the ankles of her jeans. Jays head shot towards hailey, did she just say what he thinks she said? Oh god...