Doubt
"Thea seemed pretty positive when she called earlier." Punk nodded, walking into he and AJ's bedroom where he saw her sitting on the edge of their bed, taking her earrings out, "Hilary is hopeful that there won't even be a trial." He said as AJ nodded.
"It's kinda hard to be optimistic right now." AJ shrugged.
"Yeah, I get it." Punk nodded, "Gotta hold onto something, though." He said as AJ nodded.
"Do you think it's our fault?" AJ asked.
"What?" Punk shook his head.
"This. What's happened these last few weeks." AJ said, "I mean this is ties to our younger days. Have we just… brought it into the girls lives? Have we passed it onto them?" She questioned as Punk sighed to himself.
"No, we haven't." Punk shook his head, "And you can't think like that." He said, walking over to her and sitting down beside her.
"I just don't know what to do anymore." AJ shook her head, "Is just being there really enough?" AJ asked.
"I don't know if it's enough but it's all we can do." Punk nodded, "Thea's not going anywhere. I know court. I know what it's like to go in there and know that… you're getting a sentence. That's not Thea. She's not guilty of anything bad." He said, "Given what Jackson had done, and his history with Thea… I mean, he was put in prison for assaulting her. And what did he do the minute he was out of prison?" He said.
"I know." AJ sighed.
"She wasn't safe. None of us were. A judge has gotta see that." Punk said.
"What did Hilary say she could negotiate a plea deal of?" AJ asked.
"Thea would plead guilty to justifiable homicide and she would do community service and complete and counselling program." Punk said as AJ nodded.
"Well at least Hilary sounds like she knows what she's doing. Better than any lawyers you had in the past." AJ said.
"Yeah, my lawyer hated me." Punk nodded as AJ smiled a little.
"Well, you gave him a lot of business to be fair." AJ said as Punk nodded, "Can't figure out if I'm doing the right thing by taking a break from work."
"If you can't go and concentrate on what you've to do, you can't be there. I know you. You're running on nerves right now. Work is the last thing you gotta be stressing about." Punk said.
"I asked Jude if she wanted to come help me make dinner tonight and… she never did." AJ said, "She's been in that room all day."
"We gotta let her cope with it in her own way. When she needs us, she'll let us know." Punk nodded.
"My heart breaks every time I look at her." AJ sighed as Punk nodded.
"Yeah, I know." Punk said.
"Thea is oddly calm about all of this." AJ said, "Too calm."
"She's scared." Punk nodded, "I can tell." He said, "But I also think she's at peace with what she did." He said, "If Hilary manages to get the plea deal, this will all go away by next week." He said.
"Yeah, well let's hope." AJ nodded, listening as she heard laughter coming from the spare room where Jude had been hibernating in, "What's going on in there?"
"I think Cassie had gone in." Punk said, "I think she's handling all of this the best out of all of us." Punk admitted as AJ nodded.
"Yeah, I agree." AJ nodded, "It's nice to hear them laughing." She smiled, hearing her two youngest daughters laughing from the spare bedroom.
"Yeah, it is." Punk smiled.
"I think I'm just gonna rest my eyes for a little bit." AJ nodded, leaning down on her pillow, exhausted to say the least.
"Ok." Punk nodded, standing up from the bed, picking her legs up and placing them on the bed, "You want a blanket?" He asked, crouching down at the side of the bed, tucking her hair behind her ear.
"No, can I just have one of your sweaters?" She asked, her eyes already closed.
"One of my sweaters?" Punk laughed a little.
"Yes, please." AJ nodded.
"Ok." Punk said, a little confused, but nevertheless walking over to his closet and taking a sweater from it, "You wanna wear it?" He asked, walking over to the bed.
"No, just give me it." AJ said, taking the sweater from him, cuddling into it, tucking it under her neck and sprawling it over her top half.
"Ok." Punk said with confusion, leaving the bedroom and walking through to the spare room, opening up the door where he saw Cassie sitting on the bed with Jude, "Hey." He said to them both.
"Hey." Jude nodded.
"I'm going downstairs. You want me to bring you something up?" Punk asked them, "A snack or something?"
"No, we're good." Jude nodded, "You're welcome to join us. We're watching Sex and the City." She said as Punk nodded slowly.
"You know what… I think I might pass on that." Punk nodded as Cassie chuckled.
"Where is mom?" Cassie asked.
"I think she's taking an early night." Punk said, "She's… sleeping with one of my sweaters. You two wouldn't know anything about that, would you?" He asked as Cassie shook her head whilst Jude didn't say anything, "Jude?"
"Yeah, she did that a lot when you were gone." Jude nodded, "She would still buy your deodorant and spray it around the room." She said.
"Did she lose her mind?" Cassie raised a brow as Jude nudged her.
"I never knew that." Punk shook his head as Jude nodded.
"Yeah, I guess it still hasn't really left her." Jude said as Punk nodded.
"You sure you guys don't want anything up?" Punk asked out of his thoughts.
"We're fine." Jude nodded to him.
"Ok." Punk smiled to them both, closing the door over as Cassie turned to Jude.
"You never told me our mother was a psychopath." Cassie said as Jude scoffed.
"Hey." Jude said, "She just missed him." She said.
"Yeah I got no recollection of that time." Cassie said.
"Lucky you." Jude nodded.
"Do you think it's gonna happen to Thea?" Cassie asked, "Do you think she's gonna go to prison?" She asked. She could be stubborn and brave in front of her parents, pretend she knew everything would work out, but it didn't stop her from having doubts, and there was no better person to share those doubts with than her sister.
"No, she's not going anywhere." Jude shook her head, "Not with her and Jackson's history and… what he done to me." She nodded, "There's too much in her favour. It's gonna work out." Jude nodded with a smile as Cassie nodded to herself, looking down as Jude stared at her, "What?" She said.
"Do you remember it?" Cassie asked quietly as Jude turned away for a second.
"Some of it." Jude nodded, "It's like… flashes." She said, "I can remember him pulling me up the stairs." She said as Cassie listened, "And grabbing my hair." She nodded. When she said it out loud, she felt it, as if it was still happening to her.
"What about… the actual… you know…"
"I can remember some of it." Jude nodded, "It's not like a clear memory. It's just bits here and there. I think that's because I was drugged." She said as Cassie nodded, "You don't wanna hear this." She shook her head, hesitant to talk to her little sister about this. Her little sister who she was meant to protect.
"Hey, you can talk to me about anything." Cassie nodded, "Just because I'm the little one doesn't mean I can't be of service." She smiled as Jude nodded, "I think it's good if you talk about it."
"It's hard." Jude nodded, "I just hate how I feel like a completely different person." She said, "Like there was the before me and now there's… the after me." She said, "I just feel like a completely different person." She shook her head.
"You're not different to me." Cassie made clear, "I don't look at you any differently. You're still my big sister. You're not your attack." She said as Jude turned to her.
"I don't like how grown up you've gotten." Jude admitted as Cassie chuckled, "I'm serious. Who allowed it?" Jude questioned as Cassie smiled.
"Practically an adult." Cassie nodded, settling under the covers, leaning into Jude who smiled. Comfort and company was important. Her family were incredibly good at understanding the type of comfort she needed. Not the suffocating kind, but just being there at the right moments. She truly didn't know how she would be getting through this without them.
"Hey, you want me to go put him down?" Dominic asked, walking into he and Thea's bedroom where Thea was lying on top of the bed with James asleep in her arms.
"No, he's ok here." Thea smiled, getting a sense of peace from holding her son at this distressing time, "His cuddles are the best." She said.
"Damn, I really do have competition, don't I?" Dominic said as Thea smiled, watching him walk around the bed, laying down on the bed beside her.
"That was a lot of information to take in today." Thea admitted as Dominic nodded.
"Yeah, it's a lot." Dominic agreed, "She knows what she's doing, though."
"Yeah, she kinda scares me." Thea admitted, "But… I can tell she's really gonna help me."
"Yeah, she means business." Dominic nodded.
"I'm not getting my hopes set on no trial." Thea said, "She can promise me whatever, but… I gotta prepare myself for anything." She said, "The way the world has treated me and my family over the years… I don't know, I just suspect it's gonna be a fight like everything else has." She nodded.
"Good job you never back down from a fight then." Dominic turned to her as she smiled.
"Yeah I think this might be the one time that awful quality could work in my favour." Thea nodded.
"I think it's a good quality." He nodded, taking her hand in his as she smiled.
"I keep getting waves of… what if." Thea said, "I gotta know what I'm up against here."
"Listen to me." Dominic said, "You are not going anywhere. Jackson was a terrible, terrible person. Not human. You did what you had to." He said.
"You reckon a court is gonna agree with that?" Thea questioned.
"If they have sense. Yes." Dominic said, "I mean… the guy was put in prison for beating you up." He said as Thea sighed, "It's a no brainer. You get off with this. You will." Dominic nodded.
"I can't imagine my life without you both." Thea shook her head, placing her hand on James' back, kissing his little head.
"You don't have to." Dominic said.
"I guess it's just there, at the back of my mind." Thea nodded, "I don't know how my dad did it." She shook her head, "And then not to mention he had bratty me to deal with when he got out." She shook her head.
"You are not going to prison, Thea." Dominic said, followed by a knock on their door.
"I should get it." Thea nodded, "Take him." She sat up slowly, passing her sleeping son to Dominic as he watched her leave the bedroom, worried about her doubts.
Thea made her way downstairs, walking towards the front door and opening it up to find Karen standing.
"Hi, Thea." Karen nodded.
"Hey." Thea said.
"Can we talk?" Karen asked.