A Family Affair

6

"Jay, you've got someone downstairs for you." Trudy announces, making her presence known at the top of the stairs leading into the bullpen.

Jay looks away from the board in the middle of the room and shoots the sergeant a puzzled look. "Did they say why they wanted me specifically?" He questions.

Platt shakes her head subtly. "She just said she wanted to speak to you and I didn't stand around asking why."

"Okay..." Jay says hesitatingly as he leans off Hailey's desk and follows the desk sergeant down the stairs.

When the two of them reach the bottom, Trudy points into the corner of the room telling the detective where this person was, leaving Jay to it as she returns behind the front desk.

Jay takes a few steps closer, his breath hitching in the back of his throat when the woman grins up to him, extending her arms out as if asking him for a hug. Instead of falling into her embrace, Jay crosses his arms over his chest and glares across to her.

"What are you doing here?" He asks, wanting to get straight to the point.

The woman sighs, bringing her arms back down to her sides. She waits a minute, to see if maybe Jay would put his guard down again, but when he keeps his arms tightly crossed she gives up. She huffs quietly. "I'm trying to make amends with everyone."

Jay widens his eyes slightly. "What? After you skipped out on mom's funeral?"

She nods, giving him an innocent look. "Yes because I've come to deeply regret what I did, I shouldn't have done that."

"She was your sister, so no you really should have not done that." Jay grits, lowering his voice as not to be overheard by everyone in the district.

"Jay, you have to know I was going through something just as you and Will were. Everyone grieves differently, but my way was very wrong, I know that. I am trying to fix my actions. I didn't know where to find Will or your father, but I knew you were here so I wanted to reconcile with you first."

Jay sighs, moving his eyes away from his aunt for a moment before locking them back on to her with a dark stare. "Dad's dead. He died six years ago. You would know that if you hadn't have vanished."

Her face drops to a state of shock. "I'm so sorry, Jay."

He cuts her off, removing one hand from the previously locked position and placing it in front of him, as if he were blocking her in someway. "Don't bother, it's too late for that. And you can stop with your whole apology thing now before you start it, cause I really don't want to hear it. But Will would love to hear it." He says, a subtle sly smirk on his face at the end.

His aunt smiles weakly in return. "Great, that's just great. Do you know where I could find him? I don't even know if he's still living in New York or not." She wonders.

Jay can't help but feel his blood warm at his aunt's comment about not knowing where his brother actually was, putting it into further perspective on how distant she had made herself for more than a decade, but he pushes it to one side as he sees the opportunity to get her out of the district. "He's back in Chicago, he's working at Gaffney Medical. You can't miss it, big hospital, I gotta get back to work." He says, pointing his thumb over his shoulder toward the stairs behind him.

She furrowed her eyebrows. "Aren't you gonna come with me?"

Jay immediately shakes his head. "Will and I aren't really on the best of terms right now, and no offense but I'd rather get shot," he says, already beginning to take a few steps backward. "I've really got to get back to work. You should go too."