Missing

"It's so pretty." Jude smiled, standing in front of the large tree that was up in the city beside the Christmas markets which her and Sean were visiting and spending the night at.

"It is." Sean nodded, "This is the first time I've been door here, you know."

"Really?" Jude turned to him.

"Yeah." Sean nodded, "I've always been working or too busy. Or… so I tell myself that." He said.

"We always come here." Jude smiled, "I have good memories down here." She nodded.

"Yeah?" Sean questioned, "Like what?"

"Being on my dad's shoulder and putting a bobble on the tree. Or even last year when we came and me and Cassie won a hot dog eating competition." Jude said.

"No frickin way." Sean laughed.

"Honest to God." Jude nodded, "And none of us knew Thea was pregnant at the time and I wanted her to do it too but she was about to be sick with the smell of the hot dogs." She chuckled as Sean smiled.

"So you really come here every year?" Sean asked.

"Every year." Jude nodded, "Even the year that… Thea was really sick, she was just out of hospital. But mom took us here anyway. Didn't shy away from it." She said.

"Yeah my mom didn't really take us to places like this." Sean shook his head as they began to walk through the markets.

"Why not?" Jude asked.

"No reason. Just… she was a single mom who worked full-time. Had like three jobs at one point." Sean said, "Saying she never really had the time feels dramatic but… she didn't." He said as Jude nodded, "She even worked on Christmas Day sometimes." He said.

"Did your dad never help out?" Jude asked. She was surprised as he normally didn't talk about his family. She'd been hoping he did, though, because she wanted to know more about him and his background.

"I don't know my dad." Sean nodded, "So… no, he didn't." He said as Jude nodded.

"I'm sorry." Jude said.

"No, don't be." Sean shook his head, "I don't know the guy so it doesn't hurt." He said, "It's just… it's weird, when I went to that game with your dad a few weeks ago, it was like… wow, this is what a dad is." He said as Jude smiled.

"That's sweet of you to say." Jude nodded, "Not many people like my dad." She chuckled.

"You can just tell he's someone who loves his family." Sean said as Jude smiled, "And would do anything for them. Don't get me wrong, I know who he is from the cops point of view but… that's what's so interesting about being a cop sometimes. You can separate the people who are genuinely bad people, and people who are just caught up in stuff." He said as Jude nodded.

"I used to think he was a bad person." Jude admitted as Sean looked at her, "More so when I was a kid, growing up. When you realise the significance of prison and what it is, who it holds… and you realise that your dad is in there." She nodded, "It's pretty rough."

"Yeah, I can imagine." Sean nodded.

"But I know him as my dad and it never made me love him any less or think of him any different than my dad." Jude said, "He made a mistake and it turned out to be a pretty bad one that it kept coming back to haunt him." She nodded.

"Yeah, we get that a lot with some people." Sean said, "Just getting caught up with the wrong people."

"I can imagine it's easy to do. Especially when you're young." Jude said, "You never told me why you wanted to be a cop?" She said.

"I don't know, it wasn't like it was a lifelong dream or anything." Sean admitted, "It just fitted with me, I guess." He said.

"It does." Jude agreed.

"So what's the plans for after college?" Sean asked her.

"I'm not sure. I think I might want to teach art, but do freelance on the side. So I have a steady income but can also do what I want with my own time." She said.

"That's a smart idea." Sean nodded.

"I don't know yet, though. It's still another year and a half away." She said.

"Yeah, you don't need to stress about that right now." Sean agreed, "You wanna go for a drink in here?" He pointed to the cute little outside bar which had patio heaters and lights outside to heat the place up and give it that festive feel.

"Yeah, this looks cute." Jude smiled, walking into the little wooden bar area, sitting at one of the benches whilst Sean walked up to the bar to get them drinks.

She was completely unaware that someone had been following them, and was now standing over behind a stall, watching her from afar.

"Here you go." Sean came back with drinks, sitting down across from her at the bench.

"Thank you." Jude smiled, "Hey, I wanted to ask you if you had heard anything else about… what happened to Chelsea." She said, "Me and Kirsty want to go visit her but we think it's best to give her the space right now."

"We've not found anyone if that's what you mean. And no other similar crime has been reported-"

"Is that what you do? Just wait for someone else to get raped?" Jude questioned.

"No, it's not like that." Sean said, "I just mean there's not a case profile building up. We don't even have a suspect." He said, "It's pretty cold."

"She must be terrified." Jude shook her head, "I couldn't… I can't imagine it."

"No one should have to imagine it never mind actually go through it." Sean agreed.

"You said that there had been other reports made by girls in the institute? Sexual harassment reports." Jude said, "Are they been looked back into?"

"Yeah. Most of them were anonymous gropes or… cat calls. All from a guy they either didn't see or didn't know." Sean said, "There is one girl who reported a stalker a couple months ago. She gave us a description of what he looked like. Said he would keep bumping into her and she always felt like he was following her, keeping tabs on her."

"Wouldn't it benefit to talk to her again, see if she could give a little more description or something?" Jude asked.

"Well when we tried to, her number doesn't exist anymore and she's moved address, and her new one hasn't been updated on the system." Sean said.

"Isn't that a little concerning? Since she was reporting a stalker a few months ago?" Jude asked.

"It happens, I guess." Sean said, "We are doing everything we can." He said, "Let's not talk about work, though."

"Ok." Jude agreed, "I'll probably be back down here again this week."

"Why's that?" Sean asked.

"Well now that Thea feels like she can move a little better, she wants to come down here with everyone and show James the tree and the lights." Jude said, "I think she was upset at the thought that she might not be able to. Especially since it's his first Christmas. But she's feeling good. Not amazing but better than she was."

"Well at least she can make it down to show James the tree." Sean smiled.

"Yeah, I'm glad for her." Jude smiled.

Meanwhile the figure watching from behind a stall had walked off, heading down towards the large tree, looking around it intensely, scanning all the bobbles with names and messages on it.

"How are you feeling?" Punk asked, later on in the week, heading down to the markets with everyone, including Thea who was so excited to finally get to go after not knowing if she was able.

"I'm ok." Thea nodded to him, pushing James in his stroller, "It's still painful, obviously but… I can do things. I can move better. I feel like I have my freedom back again, you know?" She nodded to him.

"You look a lot more upbeat and happier." Punk noticed.

"Yeah, it was starting to really get me down." Thea nodded, "Especially with Dominic needing my support too." She said as Punk nodded, looking over at Dominic who was walking with Jude, AJ and Cassie.

"How's he been doing? I… I wanna talk to him about it but I don't wanna make him uncomfortable or anything." Punk said.

"You won't. He'd appreciate you asking." Thea smiled, "He's doing good. I mean it's a tough time anyway at this time of year, all the alcohol and… what not." She groaned, looking over at the outside bar.

"Yeah, I bet." Punk nodded.

"But hey I'm just glad I get to come down here this year and show James the tree." Thea smiled.

"Me too." Punk nodded, approaching the busy tree, "Hey, you cold?" He asked, wrapping his arm around AJ who appeared to be shivering.

"Yeah, and I got three layers on. Something wrong with me." AJ scoffed.

"I'm not complaining." Punk smiled, rubbing her arm as he kept his arm around her closely.

"It doesn't stop being pretty." Jude shook her head with a fond smile.

"It's sad seeing the bobbles with messages to people who have died." Cassie frowned, adjusting her hat.

"Christmas can be hard for some people." Thea nodded, "When you've lost someone." She said.

"We're lucky." Jude nodded, looking on at the tree as Punk turned to AJ with a warm smile as she leaned her head against his chest in his embrace.

"Hey, buddy… you wanna see the tree?" Thea smiled sweetly, reaching into the stroller and lifting James into her arms as Dominic smiled, "You like all the lights?" She whispered, kissing his head.

"You got a bobble for him?" Jude asked.

"Yeah." Dominic nodded, reaching into the bottom of the stroller and picking up the bobble they'd bought specially for James' first Christmas.

Punk watched as Thea held James, pointing to the tree and touching some of the lower branches as James rested in her arms. It reminded him of the first time he and AJ took Thea, when she was just a baby. It was a full circle moment to see his daughter doing the same with her own little family now. It was special.

"Hey mom, where did you put our bobbles?" Thea asked.

"Oh, it was around here somewhere, to the left." AJ looked around for the bobbles.

"Right there." Punk noticed, "Above the group of reindeer bobbles."

"Oh, yeah. I see it." Dominic nodded, "Do you want me to put this beside those ones?" He asked Thea.

"Yeah, do that." Thea smiled, watching as Dominic put the bobble on beside the other ones, "He's fell asleep." She chuckled, noticing James asleep against her shoulder, "Not that exciting, huh?" She fixed his hat on him with a smile.

"Hey, did you guys not put a bobble on for me?" Jude questioned, noticing she didn't have a bobble up.

"What?" AJ shook her head, looking over at the bobbles.

"We did." Punk nodded, "It's not there?" He questioned, looking over.

"It's just Thea, Cassie and James." Jude said.

"We definitely put one on for you." AJ said, "We stuck them on real good, too." She said, turning to Punk who nodded.

"Maybe it blew off." Jude shrugged.

"Phil, go write another one. The bobbles are over there." AJ said as Punk nodded, wandering off and grabbing a bobble from the basket, writing on it with the pens beside the basket, putting Jude's name on it and sliding it on beside the others.

"I don't know how it came off." Punk said, "Because they stick right on."

"As long as you didn't forget me." Jude folded her arms.

"Never." AJ shook her head as Jude smiled.

"There." Punk smiled, standing back, "Am I allowed some donuts now?" He asked his wife who chuckled and nodded.

"Yeah, you've been a good boy." She patted him on the back, walking off towards the other markets as Cassie and Jude followed.

"I'm glad we got to do this." Thea smiled, taking a sigh of relief, staying beside the tree.

"Me too." Dominic smiled, leaning in and kissing her softly as Thea held a sleeping James in her arms, kissing back. There was no place she would rather have been right now, with no other people than her family.

"We don't have to walk through the markets if it's too much with… the bars and stuff-"

"No… No, I can do it." Dominic nodded as Thea smiled, "If you can push yourself to get down here and get stronger every day… I can too." He said as Thea smiled, leaning back in for another kiss.

They eventually broke apart.

"You put him in." Thea said, passing James to Dominic who leaned down into the stroller to put his son in.

Thea fixed her jacket on her, smiling as she looked at the tree, turning around to watch Dominic putting James in his stroller, when in the corner of her eye she noticed Jeremy, who had bumped into Jude when they were having coffee. And she noticed he was looking over at her, standing by himself beside a stall.

She glared over at him, watching him quickly turn around and eventually walk off.

"What's up?" Dominic asked, noticing a change in Thea's face.

"Nothing." Thea said, looking over fiercely to where Jeremy had been standing, turning over and looking at Jude standing with Cassie at one of the stalls.

"You sure?" Dominic asked.

"Yeah." Thea nodded, turning to him, smiling and nodding, "Yeah, I'm fine." She linked her arm through his, "Let's go buy some crap we don't need."

"Yeah." Dominic smiled, walking away from the tree and joining the markets.