Big Heart

"How you holding up?" Punk asked, walking into the kitchen later on that night where Thea was sitting on her own.

"I'm doing ok." Thea shrugged, "You?"

"Yeah about the same." Punk nodded, sitting down at the table across from her.

"Karen called earlier. She wants me to swing by the station tomorrow to make my statement." Thea said as Punk nodded, "I wish we just told the truth. I feel like lying like this only makes it worse."

"Look, Dominic had the right idea to say it was him. It backs up the defence thing better. If you say you just stuck a knife in him, when he wasn't even touching you… I don't know how serious they would take that." Punk said truthfully, "I know he was a rapist, and he was evil, and deserved nothing less but… it's just better if we cover ourselves."

"And what happens if Dominic gets into trouble?" Thea questioned, "Then what?"

"He won't. It was self-defence." Punk said as Thea sighed to herself, running her hands through her hair, "Look, they just gotta take a statement from you because you were there. They'll wrap it up and Dominic will be let off." He nodded.

"I just don't want him to get into any trouble. He didn't do anything." Thea shook her head.

"He won't." Punk said, "Just go in there tomorrow, tell Karen what Dominic told you to, and it'll get cleared up." He said as Thea nodded, taking a deep breath.

"How is Jude?" Thea asked.

"She's not doing too good." Punk nodded truthfully, "She wants to stay here for a little bit. Sean is gonna go to her apartment and pick some things up." He said as Thea nodded.

"It doesn't stop for her." Thea said, "Knew it wouldn't." She nodded, "Dead or not, he still did what he did to her and she has to deal with that, live with it." Thea shook her head, "It's not fair."

"I know." Punk sighed, "I know it's not. We just gotta be there for her." He said as Thea nodded, "The real problem we gotta talk about is Cassie wanting to be a cop." He teased as Thea chuckled a little.

"I think she'd make a good one." Thea said as Punk smiled.

"Yeah, me too." Punk nodded.

"Me and Dominic should probably get going. We've hung around here long enough." She said, standing up from the table.

"Hey, this is all gonna be ok. We'll get through it together." Punk nodded, standing up and hugging her as she hugged back.

"Yeah, I hope so." Thea nodded.

"Hey are you ok?" Dominic asked, later that night as he found Thea in James' nursery in their house, "You've been really quiet." He noticed.

"I'm ok." Thea shrugged, "If I told you something would you promise not to tell anyone?" She asked him.

"That's kinda what marriage is, right?" Dominic said as Thea looked at him, "Yes, I promise." He clarified.

"I don't feel bad." Thea said as Dominic looked at her, "I don't feel bad that I killed someone." She said as Dominic nodded slowly, "I mean what does that say about me?" She shook her head worriedly.

"It says that you love your sister and your hurting for her, and that you did to Jackson what we all wanted to do." Dominic nodded.

"But I still took someone's life. Shouldn't I feel something?" Thea questioned.

"Do you want to feel something?" Dominic asked her.

"No… no, I don't." Thea shook her head, "That's the problem." She sighed.

"It's not a problem." Dominic shook his head, "Thea, he raped your sister. He was dangerous. God knows what he was gonna do next." He said, "You did what you did and if you don't feel guilty, I don't think that's a problem."

"Honestly, I'm worried that we… you get into trouble." Thea said.

"It's gonna be fine." Dominic sighed, wrapping his arms around her tightly, "You go into the station tomorrow and you tell them what we talked about, and it'll get cleared up. Karen knows what Jackson had done. She knows what kind of person he was." He said as Thea held onto him tightly, "I'm just so glad you're ok." He sighed with relief as Thea looked up at him.

"I love you so much." She nodded, looking up at him.

"I love you." Dominic nodded, placing his hands on her waist as he leaned down and kissed her.

She deepened the kiss as he stumbled back a little, lifting her up in a flash as she wrapped her legs around him, cupping his face as he walked out of the nursery and into their bedroom with her.

He placed her down on the bed, stripping his t-shirt off as she reached up and pulled him by his jeans over her, circling her legs back around him and taking his lips back against hers desperately.

"Oh, not this again." Punk groaned, walking into the living room, "I knew I could hear this nonsense from the kitchen." He shook his head.

"Doctor Derek Shepherd is not nonsense." Jude shook her head, sitting with her mother eating some ice-cream.

"Well if you like him so much why are you always watching the episode where he dies?" Punk questioned them both, "Huh?" He shook his head.

"It's just so sad." Jude sighed, looking over at the TV, her shoulders wrapped in a blanket as Punk folded his arms.

"Why don't you watch something happy?" Punk asked, "Like uh… the movie where the penguins dance?"

"Happy Feet?" Cassie took her headphones off, looking up at her dad with disgust, sitting on the opposite couch.

"Yeah. Happy Feet." Punk nodded as Cassie rolled her eyes, putting her headphones back over her ears and looking back at her phone.

"Why don't you just go do whatever it is you do around the house?" Jude waved her hand, reaching for the tissues as Punk shook his head, leaving the living room and heading into the kitchen.

"I'll be back in a minute." AJ said, getting up from the couch and following Punk into the kitchen, "Hey, you ok?" She asked him as Punk nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Punk said as AJ nodded, watching him sit down at the kitchen table, "You go watch the rest of the TV with Jude." He encouraged.

"I've already seen that episode a dozen times." AJ waved her hand.

"Believe me, I know." Punk nodded as she smiled, sitting down across from him, "I think it's good she's staying with us for a little while. Until she wants to go home." He said.

"Yeah, me too." AJ smiled, "I feel like I can just… take care of her now." AJ nodded, "I already promised tacos tomorrow night. She's eating better actually. She's got a good appetite." AJ said positively, "I just want to focus all my attention on her." She said.

"Yeah, me too." Punk nodded.

"Hey, was Thea ok? She was kinda quiet today." AJ said.

"I think everyone is just exhausted." Punk said as AJ nodded.

"I'm not gonna ask you what happened when you saw him today." AJ said, "I just want to know if you got what you needed from it?" She asked him.

"Yeah, I got what I needed." Punk nodded.

"I'm glad." AJ smiled, "It almost doesn't feel real that he's… he's really finished. He can't get to anyone anymore." She said as Punk nodded.

"Yeah." Punk said, "Karen said he's gonna be in solitary confinement, for the rest of his sentence… meaning, rest of his life."

"Good." AJ said bluntly as Punk nodded, "What about Dominic?" She asked.

"What about him?" Punk said, a little defensively.

"Well is he… is he gonna be in trouble?" AJ asked.

"No, he'll be fine. They'll tie the case up and he'll be let off." Punk nodded confidently, "It was self-defence, and Karen knows what kind of person Jackson was." He said, "I told Thea there's nothing to worry about."

"I hope there isn't." AJ nodded, "What do you think about Cassie talking about being a cop?" She smiled a little as Punk chuckled a little and nodded.

"I think…" Punk said, "She should go be whatever she wants to be, do whatever she wants to do… I sure as hell won't stop her." He said as AJ smiled.

"What you thinking?" She asked, looking across at him, wondering what was going on in his head.

"I'm thinking… finishing Rio wasn't gonna fix everything for us." Punk nodded, "Sure, we're all safe, but… we gotta be there for Jude and help her through this. Because she's living in a frickin nightmare every day." He shook his head as AJ nodded.

"I brought up going to some counselling or therapy but she shut me down. Actually her words were mom can you just step off my neck for a second." AJ nodded as Punk looked across at her, "In all my twenty-seven years of being a mom, dealing with everything mom's deal with, I've always found solutions. Even when Thea was sick and she was… going through her addiction." AJ said, "It wasn't easy but we got there in the end, all the rehab programs, all the meetings and counselling, they paid off eventually." AJ nodded, "I don't really have a solution for this." She admitted truthfully, "And as a mom, being the one who they expect to fix things… knowing I can't fix this for her…" She placed her hands over her forehead, taking a deep breath as she felt tears in her eyes.

"I know." Punk sighed, reaching over and taking her hand as she looked across at him, brushing her tears away, "We can help her through this. Be her support system. Do whatever she needs us to do to help her move on." Punk said as AJ nodded.

"She was always the one who… who came and checked on me on you birthday, when you were gone." AJ smiled, "Or when it was Christmas and Thanksgiving… she just has the biggest heart. She always has." AJ shook her head, drying her tears, "She never deserved any of this." She shook her head.

AJ came downstairs from putting one year old Cassie down to sleep, her other daughter's also both in their beds as it drew past their bed time.

She made her way into the kitchen, finally cooking herself dinner after a long day at work and picking her kids up from their respective baby-sitters/school, doing the homework routine and making them dinner, the usual things she didn't think twice about.

She sat down at the kitchen table, picking at her dinner, sitting her fork down and placing her hand over her face and sobbing to herself in the empty kitchen. She'd never felt so alone like this. She truly felt like the other half of her was missing. When it grew quiet at night and the girls were all in bed, and it was just her, all alone, everything just felt cold.

She never heard little footsteps coming downstairs and through to the kitchen.

"Mom." Seven year old Jude said, standing at the kitchen door worriedly as AJ looked up suddenly.

"Oh… hey." AJ smiled, drying her face, trying to pretend things were ok, especially for her daughters, "What are you doing up?" She smiled, holding in her tears.

"Are you ok?" Jude wondered, walking into the kitchen slowly.

"I'm fine, baby. Don't you worry about me." AJ promised as Jude looked at her. She was no fool.

"Are you sad because you miss dad?" Jude figured as AJ looked across at her, biting her lip, doing anything she could to keep her tears in.

"Yeah, a little." AJ gulped.

"I don't want you to cry." Jude ran over to her sadly.

"I'm ok. See…" AJ dried her tears up, "All better." She smiled as Jude stared at her.

"Do you want a hug?" Jude asked curiously. She was old enough to understand why her mom was sad, but still too young to realise the significance of her father no longer being around.

"Y-Yeah." AJ nodded, swallowing the lump in her throat as Jude climbed up onto her lap, wrapping her little arms around her neck tightly as AJ held onto her tightly, like her life depended on it.