Denial
Thea and Dominic pulled themselves together, making it through the rest of Christmas dinner the best they could. Thea had to excuse herself from the table every now and then, where she would go upstairs and check on Jude who appeared to be sleeping through the entire day.
It was impossible to enjoy anything, knowing what they knew, and they were finding it hard putting on a smile and pretending to everyone that everything was fine.
"I can't do this. I can't keep faking a smile and conversation with everyone." Thea whispered to Dominic as they headed into the living room after finishing Christmas dinner, which they forced themselves to eat with very little appetite.
"I know." Dominic sighed, "I know." He nodded, "But what can we do?" Dominic asked. They were stuck in between respecting Jude's wishes, but also wanting her to do the right thing and go to the police.
"I'm… I'm gonna go check on her again." Thea said nervously, walking away and heading upstairs.
She reached the top of the stairs, walking into her parents' bedroom and looking over where Jude was lying, awake this time.
"Hey." Thea smiled softly, closing the bedroom door over behind her as Jude sat up a little in bed.
"Hey." Jude said quietly as Thea looked over at her.
"How are you feeling?" Thea asked her.
"I'm… I'm fine." Jude nodded as Thea walked over to the bed, sitting down on the edge beside her, "Is everyone still here? What time is it?" She wondered, not knowing how long she was asleep for.
"It's 8." Thea said, "Everyone is still here." She nodded, noticing the sadness on Jude's face as she realised it wasn't late enough for everyone to have disappeared yet.
"Oh, wait… Sean was gonna come at 8." Jude said frantically, "You have to call him and tell him he can't come." She said, sitting up, "Where is my phone? You need to get me my phone. I don't know where it is-"
"Hey hey… it's ok." Thea nodded, "Calm down." She said as Jude looked at her, "Don't you think it's best if Sean comes? Maybe… maybe you should talk to him-"
"No… No, I don't want to." Jude said as Thea looked at her.
"Jude… please. You need to go to the police. I will come with you, I'll be in the room with you, I'll stay with you the entire time." Thea promised as Jude looked at her with fear, "But please… you have to tell someone about this."
"I don't want anyone to know." Jude shook her head quietly, "Mom or dad."
"Ok." Thea nodded, "Ok… but you'll go to the police?" She asked as Jude looked at her.
"What if… what if I start to remember it and-"
"Jude, I know you don't want to think about it or talk about it, or believe it even… but it happened and you can't just ignore it." Thea said. She felt awful having to tell her sister to do anything after what she'd been through, but she couldn't let her not report this. The longer it got put off, the more it wouldn't get dealt with, "Take it from me, avoiding things makes it ten times worse." Thea nodded as Jude looked across at her.
"But I don't know what happened." Jude said, her voice breaking as tears welled in her eyes, "I don't know who it was and I don't know what happened." She said, "How will they ever take me seriously?"
"Because they damn well will." Thea said seriously, "You were drugged. Obviously you can't remember what happened." She said, "But that doesn't mean you forget about it." She said.
"What if he finds out?" Jude said, fidgeting with her shaking hands.
"Who?" Thea asked.
"Sean." Jude said.
"He should know about this." Thea said, "And if he works at the station, he might end up fighting out."
"No… no, I don't want him to know." Jude cried, "No, I can't do it… I'm not telling anyone… I… I don't even know if it actually happened… maybe it didn't… maybe-"
"Jude." Thea pleaded, taking her sister's hands in hers, "Please." She shook her head.
"I can't." Jude shook her head, taking her hands back and getting out of the bed, "I'm fine. It's fine-"
"Jude, it is not fine." Thea shook her head frantically, "You're probably in shock."
"No, I'm just… I'm just being paranoid. I'm fine." Jude nodded, "God, I should go downstairs and say hi to people." She nodded to herself.
"Jude." Thea shook her head. She could see her sister was just running on shock, on worry and nerves, "Jude, please-"
"No, I've been in here all day. I gotta go say hi to people." She nodded, opening up the bedroom door and walking out.
"Wait, Jude…" Thea walked after her, watching her walk downstairs and head into the living room.
She couldn't really put into words how her sister was reacting. It was denial in its fullest form. To see someone she loved so much, so terrified and traumatised was breaking her heart, and she felt so helpless. She didn't know how to handle the situation. How to help her sister. The damage was already done and that was the most upsetting thing.
"Hey." Jude walked into the living room where everybody was gathered around on the floor and sofa, stuffed from Christmas dinner.
"Oh, hey." AJ smiled, sitting on Punk's knee, getting up, "How are you feeling?" She asked.
"I'm fine." Jude smiled as Thea appeared into the living room behind, looking over at Dominic who was looking over at her wearily.
"You feeling a little better after your sleep?" AJ asked as Jude nodded.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Jude repeated.
"Hey, your dinner is still out there if you wanna grab some." Punk nodded to her, "Or there's some pie if you wanna go straight for the dessert."
"Maybe later." Jude smiled, "Shoot, I can't believe I forgot your presents." She shook her head as Thea watched her cautiously.
"Jude." Thea whispered.
"You know what, I can run out and get them, bring them over." Jude said.
"Don't be silly, Jude. Just relax." Dean nodded to her, "Why don't you go get yourself a drink and come sit down?" He smiled.
"Yeah… yeah, I think I will actually." Jude smiled, leaving the living room.
"She seems much better." AJ said, sitting back down on Punk's lap.
"Yeah, maybe she just needed a nap to recharge." Punk nodded as Thea rubbed her forehead stressfully, leaving the living room and heading through to the kitchen where Jude had disappeared to.
"Jude." Thea said, watching her sister pour herself a glass of wine, "What are you doing?"
"Having a drink. It's Christmas." Jude nodded casually.
"You can't… you can't just ignore this." Thea said, walking over to her, taking the glass of wine from her.
"What are you doing?" Jude shook her head.
"I don't know you're feeling right now and I have no right to tell you how to act right now, but… as your sister, please… you have to go to the police, Jude. Ok, screw everyone else and what they think… this is about you, your safety, your… dignity." Thea shook her head as Jude looked across at her, "You can't let whoever did this to you get away with it… I just… I'm so sorry." Thea shook her head as Jude watched her in shock, "If I could change places with you I would." She said. And she meant that. In a heartbeat.
"Jude. We've got a visitor!" AJ called from down the hall as Jude continued to look at Thea. Seeing her sister upset and emotional, listening to her words, that's what made it real, that's what made it sink in, and that's when it hurt the most. Her own mind was desperately trying to divert her attention.
"Hey." Sean appeared in the kitchen with a smile as Jude turned to him, "Merry Christmas." He smiled cheerfully as Jude looked at him, "Are you ok?" He wondered, turning to Thea who was looking the opposite direction to avoid him noticing her tears.
"Yeah." Jude smiled immediately, finding strength from somewhere, "Merry Christmas." She smiled, wrapping her arms around him tightly as he hugged her back, kissing her head.
"Have you had a good day?" Sean asked as Thea sighed to herself, "Hey, Merry Christmas Jude." Sean nodded as Thea turned around.
"Merry Christmas, Sean." Thea nodded.
"Let's go into the living room. My mom has presents for you." Jude smiled to Sean as Thea watched her.
"God, I hope she didn't go overboard." Sean said, wrapping his arm around Jude, leaving the kitchen with her as Thea ran her hands through her hair, her own hands shaking as she placed them on the chair.
"Hey." Dominic walked into the kitchen, "What the hell is going on?" Dominic shook his head, "She's just… she's acting like nothing has happened."
"Who the hell are we to say how she should be acting right now." Thea shook her head, "I just… I don't know what to do. I want her to deal with it in her own ways but… she needs to go to the police."
"And she's said she doesn't want to?" Dominic asked.
"No, she's adamant she's not. She was even trying to tell herself that she was just being paranoid and that maybe nothing happened." Thea said.
"What if… nothing did happen?" Dominic wondered as Thea looked at him.
"She told me she woke up naked in the bed." Thea said, "And that she felt like she'd had sex." She shook her head, placing her hand over her mouth as Dominic sighed to himself.
"What about Sean? Is she gonna tell him?" Dominic asked.
"She doesn't want to." Thea said, "She doesn't want to tell anyone." She said, "And look I… I don't blame her. And I don't know how she's feeling right now, I can't even imagine it but… the right thing for me to do right now is get her to the police station, isn't it? Tell me I'm doing the right thing here… if I'm not then I'll… I don't know, I'll just be a shoulder to cry or on or a support system but… just tell me the right thing is for her to go the cops." Thea nodded. She needed to hear it from somewhere else.
"She needs to go to the cops." Dominic nodded, "But… it has to be when she's ready." He said as Thea looked at him and nodded.
"God, can you… pour that glass of wine down the sink, please." Thea said, looking over at the glass of wine Jude had poured.
"Sure." Dominic nodded, taking the glass and pouring the wine down the sink.
"I could down every single one of those bottles right now." Thea nodded, looking over at the wine and spirits sitting over on the counter.
"I'd pour them all down the sink but I think your mom and dad would be pissed after buying it all in." Dominic said as Thea nodded.
"Dominic, I don't know what to do." Thea shook her head, "I don't. I can't believe she was…" She shook her head, not being able to say it. It just didn't feel real. It was hurting her so bad that she couldn't even imagine how her sister was actually feeling.
"Come here." Dominic sighed, pulling her into his arms as she hugged into him tightly, "We're gonna be there for her, and we're gonna help her and do everything we can." He said, kissing her head as Thea sighed against him.
Sam made her way into the kitchen with an empty wine glass, looking over at Thea and Dominic, pausing for a second.
"Thea." Sam said as Thea broke away from Dominic's hug.
"What?" Thea shook her head.
"Are you gonna tell me what's wrong with Jude or… are you waiting on me asking?" Sam asked as Thea looked across at her.
"W-What?" Thea shook her head defensively.
"What's happened to her?" Sam questioned, "She's in there acting like a crazy person. She shows up here looking like she spent the night in a dumpster. She sleeps all the way through dinner." Sam said, "Start talking." She nodded as Thea looked at Dominic with a gulp.