My Blessing

"What am I supposed to say to her?" Punk shook his head, "And why the hell did I even bring this?" He asked, holding up the pint of Jude's favourite ice-cream, "As if this is gonna help her."

"Hey, just relax." AJ rubbed his back, walking towards Thea's house, "You don't have to say anything to her. A hug will go a long way right now." She nodded, knocking on the front door as Punk took a deep breath.

He never thought he'd be coming to support his daughter under these circumstances. It seemed so unfair. So cruel. Something that had angered him like never before. And broken his heart just the same. As a father, he always wanted to protect his daughters, so this truly was his own neve ending nightmare.

Thea came to the door, opening it up as she looked at Punk.

"Hey." Thea nodded, letting them into the house, hugging them both. She could tell just by how her father looked that he knew.

"How is she doing?" AJ asked.

"Sean has just left." Thea said, "He was pretty shocked. I don't think he really knew what to say." She said, "But he's there for her one hundred percent." She nodded.

"Where is she?" Punk asked.

"She's upstairs in my room watching TV." Thea nodded, "Dominic has gone out for pizza. I figured you guys would come so I told him to get extra." She said as AJ nodded, "Where is Cassie?"

"She was staying over with one of her friends tonight." AJ sighed, "I was tempted to call her and… and let her know, I guess but-"

"No." Thea shook her head, "No, you can tell her when she's back. One day won't hurt." She said as AJ nodded.

"Do you have a spoon?" Punk asked Thea who looked at him. She could see how pale he was, how disoriented he looked, how worried and sick.

"I have many spoons." Thea smiled, walking away to the kitchen to grab a spoon for him.

"Is James down for the night?" AJ asked as Thea nodded, returning and handing Punk the spoon.

"Yeah, I just got him down ten minutes ago." Thea said, "He was being fussy tonight." She said, "So Jude wants to stay here for the time being. Me and Dominic went to her apartment and grabbed her a bag of some stuff. Kirsty wasn't in but… I think Jude wants to tell her as soon as possible."

"Yeah, I think it's best she stays with you or with us right now." AJ nodded.

"Can I go up?" Punk asked Thea as she nodded.

"Sure." Thea said, "She'll be glad to see you." She smiled as Punk nodded, walking upstairs and making his way to Thea's bedroom.

He opened up the door slowly, so not to give Jude a fright, walking into the room where he saw her lying in bed with a teddy bear, watching TV.

Jude looked away from the TV when she noticed him coming into the room. She could tell immediately by the look on his face that he knew. She hated the look of sympathy people were starting to give her, but his look was different.

"Hey." Punk smiled softly as Jude sat up a little in bed, sitting her teddy bear over on the night stand, a little embarrassed to be caught with him.

"Hey." Jude nodded, turning the TV down a little.

"What are you watching?" Punk asked, walking further into the room, looking on a the TV.

"I don't even know." Jude realised. She wasn't even watching it. She was just staring at the screen begging for her mind to go elsewhere.

"I brought you some ice-cream." Punk nodded, "Your favourite." He said as Jude smiled.

"Thanks." Jude said. She could see he didn't know what to say to her, and she understood why, "And you only brought one spoon? So… it's all for me?" Jude smirked a little as Punk smiled. Knowing his little girl was still in there was important right now.

"All for you." Punk smiled, sitting up on the bed beside her and handing her the ice-cream as she opened it up.

"This is the first I've ate all day." She realised as Punk nodded.

"Well that's good protein." Punk teased as she smiled.

"Yeah, right." Jude scoffed, tucking into the ice-cream.

"So you're opting to stay here for a little while?" Punk asked, "Thea must drive you insane."

"A lot less than she did when we were younger, believe it or not." Jude said, "She used to put soap in my retainer, you know." She said as Punk chuckled a little.

"I think that's just normal sibling behaviour." Punk nodded.

"She's really become the easiest person to talk to now." Jude realised as Punk nodded.

"You know the other week, I was talking to Cassie about prison and all that stuff, I told her if she had any questions I'd answer them no problem. You wanna guess what she asked me?" He turned to her.

"Something completely ridiculous?" Jude figured.

"What prison food was like." Punk nodded as Jude smiled.

"I love her." Jude nodded with respect.

"Here I was preparing for some tough questions." Punk said as Jude smiled, her smile fading as she realised what her dad was deliberately trying to do. And somehow… it was working.

"What was prison food like?" Jude asked curiously.

"Honestly, not as bad as you think." Punk said, "Don't get me wrong. I wouldn't take it over your moms tacos ever again but… it wasn't the worst thing about prison."

"What was the worst thing?" Jude asked, "Besides the obvious."

"I had a cell mate who never shut up about Jesus." Punk nodded, "He was on the top bunk and I was on the bottom. He read his bible before going to sleep every night and when he was falling asleep, his arm would hang off the edge and he'd drop the damn thing on my head." He shook his head, "He was harmless, though." Punk nodded to himself.

He turned to Jude who had sat her ice-cream on the night stand after a few mouthfuls, "I'll have some more later." She nodded.

"I'll get Thea to put it in the freezer for you." Punk said as she nodded, drying tears that were running from her eyes down her cheeks as Punk sighed.

In the middle of her father distracting her, it just hit her again. It came in waves. Very real and imprisoning waves of fear and reality. Reality of what was happening. What had happened. And then the tears came.

"Jude." Punk sighed.

"I'm alright." Jude nodded, drying her face.

"No, you're not." Punk shook his head, shuffling over and wrapping his arm around her as she hugged into him, "I got you." He nodded, kissing her head as she cried into him. He couldn't describe the pain he was feeling as he held her. The ache he had for her and what she was going through. He just knew he had to be there for her right now.

"She's asleep." Punk said, walking into the kitchen later on after leaving Jude upstairs after she'd fallen asleep.

"How is she?" AJ asked, "Oh… you know what, don't answer that. It's a stupid question." AJ shook her head at herself.

"Here, stick that in your freezer." Punk handed Thea the ice-cream, "She had a few spoonful's and then stopped."

"Ok." Thea nodded, taking the ice-cream and putting it over in the freezer.

"When are you going to the station tomorrow?" AJ asked.

"Whenever she wakes up and decides." Thea nodded, "When Sean started to sort of come round from the shock, he said that he'd be there and that he'd make sure it was cops who he trusted and he knows will do their best to find who did this." She said as AJ nodded.

"Good." AJ said as Punk folded his arms, not saying anything, "Does he think it's linked to the other attacks that happened?"

"He didn't say. I think he had his boyfriend hat on more than his cop one." Thea said, "He was really shocked." She nodded.

"I'm gonna go call into work and let them know I'm not gonna be in tomorrow." AJ said, leaving the kitchen as Punk looked over at Thea.

"What?" Thea shook her head.

"This Jeremy guy…" Punk said, "What do I need to know?" He asked her.

"Clearly mom has already told you." Thea said.

"Yeah briefly." Punk said, "What's his address?"

"How stupid do you think I am?" Thea rolled her eyes.

"What?" Punk shook his head.

"Oh, yeah. I'm gonna give you his address so you can go murder him." Thea scoffed, "High chance it's not him, Jude woke up in a completely different house." She said.

"High chance, low chance. I don't give a shit." Punk said seriously as Thea looked across at him, "Give me his address and don't make me ask again." He said, a little more serious and definitely a lot scarier than she expected.

"Fine." Thea said, writing the address down on a piece of paper, extending it over to him as he took it from her.

"You threatened him and told him to stay away from Jude?" Punk asked, putting the address in his pocket.

"Yeah, like a week ago." Thea said, "He bumped into Jude when I was her one time. He was super weird. Creepy. Looking right through her." She said, "As if that wasn't bad enough, then I saw him creeping on us at the markets, and to top it off, he was the one who invited Jude to the party on Christmas Eve." She said as Punk nodded slowly.

"Ok." Punk nodded, taking the information in calmly as Thea watched him.

She walked over to him, a little closer, "If you're gonna do something about it, make sure it's him and make sure you don't get caught." Thea said quietly as Punk looked at her, "And if you're offering any front row tickets." She said fiercely as Punk looked at her, "Count me in for one." She said.

"What are you two whispering about?" AJ walked back into the kitchen with her phone.

"Nothing." Thea said casually, "Did you phone into work?"

"Yeah, they can manage without me." AJ nodded as Punk just looked across at Thea as he felt the piece of paper with Jeremy's address on it in his pocket.