Birthday Party

"I'm so glad you had a good time." Thea smiled, hugging Jude tightly in the centre of her kitchen, "All the pictures looked insane."

"It was amazing." Jude nodded, "We stayed up until the sun was setting. It was so beautiful." She shook her head.

"I bet your legs are hurting so bad." Thea smiled.

"Oh, you have no idea. When I got up to get off the plane when we landed last night, I literally couldn't walk." Jude shook her head, "Think I gotta join a gym or something."

"Yeah, please take me with you." Thea scoffed, "Look at his cake." She waved Jude over, opening up the white box as Jude looked on at the cake.

"Oh, how sweet." Jude smiled, "I heard about the monkey dilemma." She nodded.

"Yeah, looking back at it now it's kinda funny but… I wasn't settling until I got the giraffe." Thea said as Jude smiled.

"T, we got any napkins in here?" Dominic walked into the kitchen as Jude and Thea looked at him.

"Nice face paint, dude." Jude nodded.

"You like it?" Dominic asked.

"You look like an idiot." Thea said, looking at her husband's lion painted face, "I love t." She smiled as Dominic nodded.

"You're up next." Dominic said as she smiled, handing him over napkins.

The party was in full swing with family and friends coming by to celebrate James' first birthday. Thea and Dominic had decorated the entire house, put out some amazing party food and drinks and made sure their son was the centre of attention.

"Make sure if you give James any food that it's cooled down." Thea nodded to Dominic.

"Yeah yeah." Dominic nodded, walking back out of the kitchen as she smiled.

"So how was the hotel you were staying at? Nice?" Thea asked Jude, sticking some candles in the cake to prep it for bringing it out.

"Oh, it was amazing." Jude nodded, "The room was massive and we had such a nice view from our window." She said, "It felt so good when I reached the top of the Canyon."

"Yeah?" Thea smiled, "I bet." She said.

"Like I could start breathing again." Jude admitted as Thea looked across at her, "Like so many weights had been lifted from my shoulders." She nodded, "I called Stacy once we got back down, told her all about it." She said, referring to the therapist she had been seeing for months.

"What'd she say? I bet she loved it." Thea smiled.

"I thought she was gonna start crying." Jude chuckled as Thea smiled, "She was real happy." She nodded, "I think because I had been talking about it for long. The first session I had with her I was like… I wanna hike the Grand Canyon." She said, "Back then it felt impossible. Impossible that I'd find the strength or the enjoyment to do it." She said.

"And you did it." Thea smiled as Jude nodded.

"And I just finished up this year of college, thank you very much." Jude smiled. She was beginning to feel proud of herself again, proud of all the small, medium and large goals she was giving herself. Reaching them brought back her confidence. They made her feel like herself again after so long of feeling empty and nothing.

"So you're done for Summer now?" Thea asked.

"Yeah, all done." Jude said. She'd managed to still finish her college year, even with all the time she lost at the beginning. She had a great support system at college, and Kirsty was a huge help to her in picking up on all the things she'd missed.

"Now you can chill out and relax." Thea smiled.

"Yeah, well I'm working on some of my own projects so now I can really focus on them." Jude said. Through her recovery and therapy, she'd also found her passions again. It was an emotional rollercoaster, but she really felt like she was finding herself again, after all this time.

"Paintings or?" Thea asked.

"You know I don't create and tell until I'm done." Jude smirked as Thea rolled her eyes.

"Alright, Picasso." Thea nodded as Jude chuckled.

"Hey, you wanna do the cake now?" Dominic walked back into the kitchen as Thea chuckled.

"I'm sorry, I just can't take you seriously when you look like that." Thea laughed to herself as Jude smiled.

"Hey Dom, I think you look good." Jude nodded.

"Thanks, Jude." Dominic nodded proudly as Thea just chuckled to herself.

"I'm gonna go speak to other people, I guess." Jude said, leaving the kitchen as Dominic walked over to Thea.

"Hey, do me a favour." Thea said, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"What's that?" Dominic asked.

"Just… don't wash that face paint off until… I say." She smirked, running her hands down his chest as he chuckled.

"You're insane." Dominic nodded as she smiled.

"Ok, let's light this bad boy up." Thea clapped, grabbing the lighter and lighting the candles on the birthday cake.

Dominic picked up the lit cake as Thea walked on into the living room where everyone was. James was sat on Jude's lap on the couch, loving all the attention of course. They began singing happy birthday as Thea watched Dominic hold the cake out for James to see.

She wasn't a particularly emotional person, but for some reason she was getting choked up, trying not to let anyone see as she placed her hands over her mouth, watching as James smiled excitedly.

"Ok, you gonna blow them out?" Dominic asked, crouched down in front of James.

"Will I help?" Jude asked, looking down at James who looked up at her, "Will we blow them out together?" She asked her nephew who laughed at her, causing Jude to smile.

"Someone blow them out." Dean scoffed as Punk and AJ both elbowed him in the gut simultaneously standing on either side.

"Ok. 1… 2… 3…" Jude said, leaning over with James and blowing the candles out as James watched with fascination, enjoying everyone watching him and cheering, "Look, it's a giraffe. Your favourite." She smiled as Thea watched tearfully.

"Hey, you ok?" AJ noticed Thea, "What's wrong?"

"Oh… nothing." Thea waved her hand, catching the tears from her watery eyes, "It's just… it's nice." She smiled as AJ nodded, rubbing her arm.

"It is." AJ smiled, "He's in his element." AJ nodded, watching her grandson playing with Jude.

"He is." Thea nodded, "He'll definitely sleep tonight." She said as AJ nodded, "He's growing up so fast." She shook her head, watching her son.

"How do you think I feel?" AJ said as Thea smiled, "You got forever with him." She said as Thea nodded.

"T, you wanna come help me cut this?" Dominic asked.

"Sure." Thea nodded, leaving the living room with Dominic to go cut up some of the cake, "I was thinking we could just give everyone a little bit right now and then give everyone tons to take home with them. Otherwise I'll just keep eating." She shook her head.

"Hey, are you ok?" Dominic asked, noticing her eyes were teary.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Thea assured him.

"You crying?" He asked.

"Yes." Thea said, "Yes I am." She nodded as Dominic raised his eyebrows. He knew his wife wasn't a crier.

"What's wrong?" Dominic asked her, placing his hand on her arm.

"Nothing's wrong. I think that's the whole point." Thea realised, "It's perfect. And he's so happy in there. He's got… a family who loves him." She nodded, "He's got us. We like each other, don't we?" She teased as Dominic smiled.

"Yeah, you're ok." Dominic teased as she smiled, wrapping her arms around his neck, "I love you." He said as she smiled.

"I love you too." Thea nodded, feeling his arms around her waist, going further down to her ass which caused her to grin.

"Dad is in the room." Punk walked into the kitchen as Dominic backed up, pushing Thea away a little as she chuckled, "Nice face paint." Punk nodded to Dominic.

"Yeah, why the hell is no one else getting theirs done? I feel like an idiot." Dominic said.

"It's a little late to feel like an idiot, baby." Thea nodded.

"Dean is getting his done right now." Punk nodded.

"I gotta see this." Dominic chuckled, walking out of the kitchen as Thea shook her head.

"Make yourself useful and help me cut this cake up." Thea said, passing Punk a knife as he took it from her.

"You been crying?" Punk teased a little.

"Mom talks too much in her old age." Thea scoffed.

"I wouldn't say the phrase old age around her. She'll pounce on you and you know it." Punk said, "It's normal. It's your kid's first birthday." He said.

"Yeah and I… I don't know, I think seeing Jude so happy too kinda got to me." Thea said, "She seems so peaceful. And look, I know she's not forgot about it all and everything is gonna be fine now. I get that. It's gonna be up and down. But she's… damn she's strong." Thea said.

"Yeah she is." Punk agreed, "You all are." He nodded to her as she smiled, nudging him as he nudged her back.

"Don't you think you're getting out of getting your face painted." Thea said.

"Hey, didn't I suffer enough when you and your sisters were little girls?" Punk asked.

"No, I want pictures and I want James to know his fun papa Punk got his face painted at his first birthday party." Thea smiled.

"I am fun papa Punk." Punk nodded proudly as she smiled.

"You look like an idiot." Jude nodded, sitting on the couch eating a piece of cake as Punk sat down beside her, half of his face painted like a butterfly.

"I think it's cute." Punk shrugged.

"Yeah for a five year old little girl, maybe." Jude nodded, "This is starting to look more like an insane asylum than a first birthday party. Look, even Sean has been captured." She said, looking over at her boyfriend getting his face painted.

"Hey he wanted it done voluntarily." Punk said as Jude just chuckled.

"It's crazy he's one." Jude shook her head, looking over at James who was playing with AJ, Cassie and Thea on the couch.

"I know. It's been a… quick year." Punk nodded.

"Yeah? Doesn't feel like it really." Jude said.

"They'll start getting quicker, trust me." Punk nodded, "So would you recommend the Grand Canyon."

"Yeah but you'd never make it up there." Jude laughed to herself.

"Excuse me?" Punk smiled.

"What? You're out of breath just going upstairs." Jude said.

"No I'm not." Punk defended, "I'd be an excellent hiker." He said as Jude just smiled.

"You'd like the view for sure. If you spent eight years locked in a prison cell, it's probably something you might wanna see." Jude nodded, "It was amazing."

"And you had the moment?" Punk asked as Jude nodded.

"Yeah. When you were talking about it months ago I don't think I knew what you meant. I guess back then I didn't see myself coming this far." Jude said, "But when I got up to the top and I looked out it was just… I just felt something different. I felt like me again." She nodded to him as he smiled, "And I know that… it's not gonna go away. It's gonna come and go. I'll have shitty days where it's all I think about but… I'm also gonna have really good ones." She nodded to herself positively as Punk smiled.

"Yeah, you are." Punk nodded, wrapping his arm around her and kissing her head. His daughter was a warrior, and she inspired him every day. He truly believed he wouldn't be the man he was today without his girls and all they taught him.