Christmas Day

"Merry Christmas." Thea smiled, arriving at her parents' house in the afternoon with Dominic and James.

"Hey, Merry Christmas." AJ smiled excitedly, giving her daughter a big hug, kissing her on the cheek, giving Dominic the same love.

"Hey, I thought I heard more voices." Punk came downstairs, "Merry Christmas." He smiled, hugging his daughter and son-in-law, "Is he really sleeping?" He noticed James in the carrier, in his little waistcoat which Jude had bought him.

"Yeah, he always fall asleep on car rides. He loves them." Thea smiled.

"Did he like all his presents?" AJ smiled.

"Well we had to open most of them." Dominic teased, "He did enjoy the gigantic Simba that Thea bought him, "We got a picture of him lying in the middle of it."

"How sweet." AJ smiled, "Give me your jackets." She said, taking their coats from them, "Go on into the living room." She said as they headed through to the living room to say hello to everyone else.

Everyone was already there. Dean, Renee with their two daughters. Sam too. As well as Cassie. Thea, however, couldn't spot Jude anywhere.

"Is Jude not here yet?" Thea asked Punk who came back into the living room.

"Not yet, no." Punk shook his head, "You know her, she's always late."

"Yeah, I suppose." Thea scoffed.

"Merry Christmas, sweetie." Dean walked over, already holding his third beer of the day.

"Why are you wearing those?" Thea chuckled, noticing her uncle had a pair of sunglasses.

"Yeah, take them off, idiot." Punk shook his head.

"No, leave me alone." Dean said, kissing Thea's head and hugging her tightly, "Dom." He nodded, moving onto Dominic and hugging him.

"Are we just waiting on Jude and Kirsty?" AJ asked.

"Yeah." Punk nodded.

"They went to a party last night. They're probably hungover." Thea shook her head as Punk looked over at her.

"Hey, did you two talk?" Punk asked her discreetly as Thea nodded.

"Well…I tried to talk to her. Apologised to her, told her I was sorry." Thea nodded, "She threw it back in my face. Didn't accept the apology and continued to make digs about my drinking habits." Thea nodded, "So… make sure we're sitting at opposite ends of the table." She suggests.

"Don't be ridiculous." Punk shook his head, "It's Christmas. You'll be civil." He warned fatherly.

"Whatever." Thea said, "I'm here to have a nice day. I'm not letting her ruin it." She said.

"I'll speak to her later about it. I haven't had a chance yet." Punk said.

"No, you just stay out of it and enjoy your day. Me and Jude will figure it out." She told him, "Dominic, do you wanna go get the presents from the trunk?" She said.

"Yeah, sure." Dominic nodded, passing James over to her in his carrier.

"Your presents are over there, Thea." AJ pointed as Thea nodded.

"Mom, oh my God, there's so many." Thea shook her head.

"Yeah, most of them are for James, don't get excited." Punk said.

"You two are insane." Thea smiled to herself, walking over to the presents, checking them out.

As usual, it was chaotic with everyone opening different presents, wrapping paper all over the place, talking over one another, showing different gifts to each other. It was typical Christmas.

"Why is Jude still not here?" Punk whispered to AJ.

"I don't know, did we definitely tell her 1pm?" AJ asked.

"Yeah, we did." Punk nodded, "I'm gonna call her." He said. It was starting to make him a tad nervous. He knew how much Jude loved Christmas and exchanging gifts, and it alarmed him to see how late she really was.

"Yeah, call her. That's almost been an hour." AJ said as Punk nodded, walking out of the living room and heading into the kitchen to get his phone.

Just as Punk was in the kitchen trying to call Jude, the front door opened, without anyone noticing due to the chatter amongst them in the living room…

"Who is this from?" Thea asked, unwrapping a huge bath toy for James.

"Us." Renee smiled.

"I love it." Thea smiled, "And I know he'll love it. He loves baths." Thea nodded.

"Dean picked it." Renee nodded as Thea smiled.

"I have the same one for my bath time." Dean teased as Thea chuckled.

"He's gonna love that." Thea smiled, looking at the box, getting distracted as she saw someone coming into the living room, looking up and letting go of the box a little.

"Jude?" Thea looked over at her sister who appeared to still be in last night's clothes, her hair untouched and her make-up smudged and slept on.

The room fell silent as they all noticed Jude walking into the living room.

"She's not picking up-" Punk walked into the living room, pausing as he saw Jude in the living room.

"I uh… I forgot everyone's presents but… I'll uh… I'll get them to you." Jude nodded to them, "I just forgot them." She said, rubbing her forehead, fidgeting with her hands as Thea looked across at her.

"Hey…" AJ stood up worriedly, walking over to Jude, "Hey." She smiled, cupping Jude's cheeks as Jude looked at her, "Baby, are you ok?" AJ asked quietly, "Come out here." She nodded, taking her hand and walking out of the living room to avoid everyone else's eyes on them.

"I'm fine." Jude nodded as her mother took her into the hallway.

"You don't look fine." AJ whispered, "Have you been home yet?" She asked, concerned.

"Y-Yeah… yeah, I've been home." Jude nodded.

"I thought Kirsty was coming with you." AJ said as Jude nodded to herself.

"Oh, yeah." Jude whispered to herself as AJ watched her.

Having had a daughter who was an addict, alcohol and substances, she could tell the difference between what was what. And she could tell Jude wasn't hungover or having any sort of withdrawal, which made her all the more confused.

"Is Kirsty not coming?" AJ asked.

"Uh… I… I don't know." Jude shook her head as AJ watched her.

"Baby, have you been out all night?" AJ asked her, "It's me. You can tell me." She nodded.

"N-No… No, I'm ok." Jude nodded, "I need to have a shower I think."

"Yeah, ok." AJ said, "You can borrow some of Cassie's clothes."

"Ok." Jude nodded, "I'm sorry I forgot the presents. I can… I'll go back and get them. I should." Jude nodded as AJ watched her.

"No, don't you worry about that." AJ shook her head. She couldn't understand what was wrong with Jude. It was like she was on another planet. She wasn't her usual bright, bubbly self, and of course it worried her.

"Are you sure? I can go back and get them." Jude nodded.

"No, you just go for your shower." AJ nodded as Punk came out of the living room.

"Hey." Punk said as Jude nodded to him, "Are you ok?" He asked.

"Yeah, she's gonna go for a shower." AJ nodded to him.

"Yeah, I'm gonna… I'm gonna go for a shower." Jude pointed to the stairs as Punk watched her. She looked like she was scared of everything as he watched her climb the stairs.

"April…" Punk said as Jude disappeared upstairs.

"I don't think she's been home." AJ said.

"Well where has she been?" Punk shook his head, "Why does she look scared?" He questioned worriedly.

"I-I don't know." AJ shook her head, turning to him, "Kirsty was supposed to be coming with her." She said, "I think she's came straight here from somewhere."

"Sean's?" Punk questioned.

"I don't know." AJ said, "I don't know." She rubbed her forehead, "Maybe she just had too much to drink last night, and she just crashed on her bed when she got home, woke up and realised she was late."

"Maybe you should go make sure she's ok." Punk said.

"She's going for a shower. Just give her time to wake up a little." AJ nodded to him, "I bet she'll perk up once she smells the food." She said light-heartedly, trying to ease both of their minds, "Speaking of… I better go start putting things in the oven."

"Ok." Punk said, watching her anxiously disappear to the kitchen.

"Hey, what's going on?" Thea walked into the hallway, "Is she ok?" She asked.

"Y-Yeah, I think so." Punk nodded.

"She didn't look ok." Thea said.

"I don't know if she's just had too much drink last night. She looks like she's just crashed in her bed and woke up half an hour ago." Punk said as Thea nodded.

"I'll go check on her and make sure she gets some of Cassie's clothes." Thea said.

"Yeah, it's better you go." Punk nodded.

"Ok." Thea nodded, walking over to the stairs and climbing them slowly.

She eventually made it to the top of the stairs, knocking on the bathroom door as Jude responded right away.

"Who is it?" Jude questioned.

"It's just me." Thea said, "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Jude said immediately, "I'm going for a shower."

"Ok." Thea said, "Ok well I'll go get you some of Cassie's clothes. Do you have any preference?"

"Just not a soccer strip." Jude attempted to joke as Thea smiled.

"Well you're really limiting yourself there." Thea smiled.

"Just something comfy." Jude said as Thea nodded.

She found it strange that Jude was acting fine, as if their fight didn't even exist. She was acting overly fine, yet seemed frightened whenever she spoke. It concerned her, it concerned all of them, but they were assuming that it was just a night of drinking too much had taken its toll on her.

"Ok." Thea nodded, "Can you come out so I can give you a Christmas hug?" Thea wondered.

"Uh… yeah, give me a minute." Jude said, staring in the mirror at herself blankly, standing up straight and turning around, opening up the door as Thea looked across at her.

"Hey." Thea smiled softly, "Merry Christmas." She smiled, giving her a hug, feeling Jude hesitantly hug her back.

"Merry Christmas." Jude said quietly as Thea pulled back from the hug.

The closer she got a look at her sister, the more she could see that she really wasn't hungover, and that began to puzzle her as to why she was acting so strange, why she had shown up to the house like this.

"So how was the party?" Thea asked as Jude nodded immediately.

"Yeah, it was fine." Jude said, "I uh… I really wanna shower so…"

"Yeah, sure. Ok." Thea nodded, "I'll leave some clothes out here then." She said.

"Ok." Jude nodded, closing the bathroom door over as Thea stood outside the door for a second. It was just totally out of Jude's character to show up late, never mind show up in last night's clothes. She couldn't not be concerned or curious as to what was going on.

Nevertheless, she got some clothes from Cassie's room, sitting them outside the bathroom and heading back downstairs, making her way into the kitchen where her parents were talking quietly to each other.

"How is she? Is she ok?" AJ asked immediately, completely high on anxiety and concern. As a mother, she just knew something wasn't right.

"Yeah, she… she seems ok. She just wanted to shower." Thea said, "Maybe she'll feel a little better once she's showered and changed." She nodded.

"Did she say where she'd been?" Punk shook his head.

"No." Thea shook her head, "Look, she's probably just had a late night, maybe too much to drink, woke up in a panic and just came straight here." She said, trying to ease their minds, even though she wasn't even convincing her own self, "I'll keep my eye on her, you two just… don't worry." Thea nodded.

"It's just not like her at all." AJ sighed.

"Thea's right, let's just let her get showered and ready." Punk nodded calmly, just as there was a knock at the door.

"I'll get it." Thea nodded, walking down the hall and opening up the door to see Kirsty standing.

"Hey." Kirsty smiled.

"Hey, Kirsty." Thea smiled, giving her a hug before she came into the house, "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas." Kirsty nodded, "Is Jude here?" She asked immediately.

"Y-Yeah." Thea nodded, "You haven't saw her?"

"No, she… she didn't come back to the apartment last night." Kirsty said as Thea looked across at her, not knowing what to think, running her hand through her hair, "Is she ok? She wasn't picking her phone up either."

"She's… yeah, she's ok." Thea said, with so much doubt, "Come on, I'll get you a drink." She nodded, closing the door over.