Hey guys thanks again for all you're support and for continuing to read my story. I hope you enjoy this chapter :)
Grace and her friends tried to make it through the rest of the day without getting into any more problems. Although, Gracie was pretty quiet for the rest of the day anyway. Nothing felt worse than feeling like she had got one of her best friends suspended from school and almost taken off of the basketball team.
The whole situation was stressing her out and by the end of the school day she was beyond the point of calming down.
Jay and Hailey couldn't pick her up after school because they were on cases most of the time when she finished school so they had gotten information from the school before she started back about which bus stopped near the 21st district.
At the end of the school day Gracie got on the bus and got off two blocks away from the district, walking for the remainder of the journey. When she reached the 21st she put on a fake smile and said 'hi' to Trudy who let her upstairs.
"Hey kid, how was school?" Jay asked as he saw Gracie coming up the stairs and walking towards the break room.
"It sucked." She said solemnly and went into the break room shutting the door, not saying anymore.
The team looked at each other with concern, the others had gotten to know Gracie over her first week she had been staying at Jay's and Hailey's and they really liked her. Suddenly, Gracie didn't just have two family members she had seven all protective of her.
Hailey and Kim were interrogating a suspect so would be a few minutes. Hank looked at Jay who looked unsure of what to do.
"Jay." Hank said and gestured for Jay to come into the doorway of his office.
"Sarge, I'm sorry I know it isn't convenient having Gracie here at the same time as suspects and whilst we're working on cases. Me and Hailey just want to be around to help her with homework and all and..." Jay began to explain before Hank interrupted.
"Hey Jay look it's not that, she's welcome anytime up here. We told her about all the confidentiality stuff. She's in the break room when we bring suspects through here. It's all good, you bring her here anytime you need to. We like seeing her she's a good kid." Hank responded.
"Yeah she is, thanks Sarge I appreciate it." Jay said and Hank nodded.
"Look Jay, all I was going to say was that I know how tough it can be at the beginning. Asking yourself whether your doing the right thing when it comes to raising and taking in a teenager. You feel clueless and you question yourself, but the most important thing is to be there for her, reassure her and listen to her. Once you've got all those things right you're half way there." Hank said with a reassuring smile to Jay.
"I just wanna do right by her Sarge and sometimes it's hard to tell whether I am. I've never even raised a kid before and now I'm raising a teenager." He explained running his hand threw his hair in stress.
"Jay, you and Hailey are giving this kid the best home. You're doing a great job, all she wants is to be loved and you two are doing that just fine. Everything else, you'll work out one step at a time." Hank responded patting him on the shoulder.
"Go see you're kid Jay, she needs you." Hank said and Jay nodded walking back towards the break room.
"Thanks Sarge."
"Anytime." Hank responded as Jay walked into the break room.
"Hey..." Jay started in a concerned tone.
"I'm sorry Jay, I tried I really did. I tried to be calm and stay out of trouble but Raffy got suspended because of me." She said and gasped for breath a little as she cried. Jay pulled up and sat down on a chair opposite where she was sat on the couch. He leant down a little to make eye contact with her so he could try and calm her down.
"Hey slow down, it's ok just tell me what happened alright? Deeeeeep breaths that's it, in and out." Jay reassured gently.
"Ross was running his mouth about my Dad being in jail..." Gracie said and Jay sat and listened.
"What did he say?" Jay asked annoyed at how she had had to put up with this.
"He said how they'd all found out about him beating me up. He said that he did it to be able to get into jail and avoid having me. Raffy got annoyed, he wanted to shout back but I told him to leave it so we went to class..." Gracie started to explain.
"Ok.." Jay nodded in understanding, but feeling frustrated but trying to remain calm to keep Gracie calm.
"Then at lunch I was meant to be meeting Raffy and Travis and Chloe by the bleachers outside but as I was going outside Ross's girlfriend Tanya pushed me over and took my iPod..."
"Ok are you hurt first of all?" Jay asked and Gracie shook her head. "Did you get your iPod back?" Gracie looked down and got the smashed up iPod out of her pocket holding it in her hand. "Let me see that..." He said in a gentle voice and carefully opened her closed palm looking at the smashed up mp3. "Did Tanya break this?"
"No, Ross did it when I said stuff back to Tanya. I couldn't let her push me around like that, but when she shoved me on the floor I just..." She hesitated not knowing whether to explain or not.
"It's ok you can talk to me alright?" Jay reassured encouraging her to carry on.
"I just froze, I kept seeing my Dad again, when I was down on the ground like that night after he was kicking me and he was just standing over me, looking at me. I couldn't stop em, like I couldn't stop him." She said in a quiet, defeated tone.
"And none of that was your fault. That stuff, when you get frozen up like that, it's tough and you can't control that you understand?" Jay said and Gracie just nodded slightly not fully convinced.
"Later in the cafeteria, Ross came up to me and started yelling at me, saying how I'd told the principal about what had happened and got him thrown off of the basketball team. I said i didn't but he wouldn't leave it. He threw this other kid's cup of water over me so Raffy tried to push him away, but then Ross punched him and they started fighting." Gracie said tears rolling down her face as the stress of her day got to her.
"Alright, ok. This is not on you ok?"
"I tried to stop them Jay..."
"I know you did ok? I know that and I know it feels bad right now and you feel like it's your fault because Ross was mad at you but it's not your fault."
"It's not Raffy's either..."
"I know that too. He's a good kid he really cares about you. He chose to do what he did because your his friend and he wanted to defend you. He wouldn't want you feeling guilty for what he did though. What did Raffy get?"
"He got kicked off of the team for a month then he's on probation for the rest of the season and he got suspended for two weeks they're gonna send him class work and assignments online."
"He'll get through it he's a good kid and he'll get them on side again soon enough." Jay comforted and saw Hailey walk back into the main bull pen it after she finished interrogating the suspect. "I'll be back in one sec ok? Get your stuff and come meet us out there." Jay said and she nodded.
"Hey is she ok, the others told be she'd come back upset." Hailey said a little panicked.
"She's getting there, she just got a little freaked out and was starting to have another panic attack, but she's calmed down a lot since she first came back in." Jay said raising his hands in the air a little in an attempt to calm Hailey who looked worried for their foster daughter.
"What happened?" Hailey asked in response.
"Ross, the kid that was messing with her the first time we met her, he's been pushing her around again. It got so bad today that when Raffy tried to get him to back off, Ross punched him and they ended up fighting." Jay summarised before Gracie came out of the break room with her backpack on.
"Hey is everything ok, I heard you had a rough day." Hailey said going up to Jay and Gracie putting a hand on Gracie's shoulder as they came out
Jay and Gracie explained everything that had happened at school in the car as they were on their way back to the apartment.
"Hey can we still go see the Blackhawks?" Gracie asked as they reached the apartment.
"Of course sweetie as long as that's what you want?" Hailey said with a smile. "We can go in and get ready then we can get some food when we're at the center."
"Yeah, Will called me a few hours ago when he was on lunch, said he was all still good to meet if we were." Jay confirmed.
"Great. Well it is great because they're gonna win so..." Gracie said in response with a smile.
"La la la la..." Jay said putting his hands over his ears.
"Oh you've gotta be kidding me...still?!" Hailey said jokingly with a smirk on her face at Jay's reaction.
"What?" Gracie half chuckled with a smile.
"Jay and I went on a date together a few months ago wanna guess where he took me before we went out to dinner?" Hailey asked still shaking her head and smiling at Jay's reaction.
"The hockey?" Gracie guessed with a little uncertainty.
"The hockey." Hailey confirmed with a nod.
"Great choice right?" Jay said a little sure of himself which earned a slight glare but then a nod from Hailey.
"To be honest it was actually really nice." Hailey added in approval. "Except this one couldn't stand any pregame talk about winning."
"It just, it completely ruins the juju." Jay explained which made Hailey smirk again.
"You're a cop, how can you be superstitious?" Gracie asked as they walked into the apartment.
"Exactly! See." Hailey said looking at Jay with an 'I told you so look' which made him smile and wrap his arms around her from behind her.
"You two gonna gang up on me until she goes to college or?" Jay smirked as him and Hailey walked towards their kitchen.
"You're putting up with me till I go to college old man?" Gracie joked.
"Not if you keep ruining my juju I won't." Jay responded in the same sarcastic, joking tone with his familiar 'Halstead grin'.
"He's joking." Hailey clarified with a smirk lightly elbowing Jay in his hold.
"Yeah you're here for the long haul kid. Go get your jersey on Pre-K."Jay added making them all laugh as they all went to get ready.
That's it for this chapter! Thanks for reading I hope you enjoyed it! I'll be updating again very soon which will be based around them seeing the Blackhawks all together. Look forward to sharing the next chapter with you all :) EQ x