Broken

"How legit do you think this is?" Dean asked, "Be honest with me." He said, getting out of the car with his brother in the car park of a rehab facility.

"I mean… I think it's pretty legit. April said that Thea had a few appointments in here when she was younger and… the people were all really nice and-"

"I'm not talking about the place." Dean said, "I'm talking about her. How legit is she being? Is she even taking it seriously?"

"I don't know." Punk shrugged, "I can only take it how I see it. And to me she looks like she's taking it seriously." He nodded.

"But… you hear those horror stories about people who drink and do drugs all their life, and when they stop… that's when they die or overdose, take a seizure or some shit." Dean said.

"Oh, so… you'd rather she just kept drinking? And doing drugs?" Punk shook his head with confusion.

"No, I'm not saying that. I just… the feeling of her going cold turkey makes me nervous. I don't actually know what she's like as a person, I only know the drunk her." He said as Punk nodded, sighing to himself.

"Yeah, I know." Punk said, "But she wants to do this and I think… support goes a long way." He nodded.

"Or you just feel bad for her?" Dean turned to him.

"Well yeah, Dean… I do." Punk nodded, "Yeah, she's done and said things that we're not gonna forget. She's not been a mom to us but… she tried to do the right thing." He shook his head, "Her and dad. And it blew up in their face and cost them their lives. Dad was in prison his entire life. Mom… may as well have been in prison all her life given what she had to do." Punk said.

"Yeah, I know." Dean sighed, "Would have been a lot easier if that Mendez family perished in a fire years ago… I'm just saying." He put his hands up as Punk nodded.

"Yeah, wish I lit it myself." Punk mumbled, walking down the car park with him.

"You… spoken to Jude?" Dean asked, almost hesitantly.

"No." Punk shook his head, "Every time she calls, she just speaks to April." Punk shrugged.

"How is she?" Dean asked.

"Well, according to April she's great." Punk nodded.

"Come on, man. You don't want it go this way with you and her. I know she's your favourite." He teased as Punk shook his head.

"I don't have a favourite." Punk said.

"She was always there for you when no one else was. I mean… ironically it was her and mom who were there that first day you got out of prison. I know you don't forget that." He said, "Call her and check in on her."

"I don't think she wants to speak to me." Punk admitted truthfully, "I didn't handle her… moving away very well." He realised now.

"I'm sure she knows that it comes from a good place. You're just gonna miss her. I would if my kids left state." Dean said.

"I can deal with her moving away. I can try and get used to it but… it's why she left." Punk sighed, "It's like she left to get away from all of us."

"You know that's not true." Dean said, "She probably felt scared and unsafe after the wedding. And she always loved New York, right?" He said, trying his best to talk his brother round, "Maybe it's a blessing in disguise. Maybe she'll have a better life out there."

"I don't know. I'm just worried about her." Punk shook his head.

"Of course you are but… she probably will be safer out there." Dean assured him as Punk sighed to himself, "And if she's happy… that's all that matters, right?" He said as Punk nodded.

"Yeah, it… it just feels like she's ran away more than she's just… casually moved on." Punk said, "And I know that things are still up in the air with Janet but.. they're gonna find her sooner rather than later."

"Yeah, but for now it still feels like what if." Dean said as Punk nodded, "How's April feeling about it all?"

"She's… not saying much, actually." Punk said, "To me… or anyone for that matter." He said, "I guess there comes a point where we can only take so much." He said, "And hearing that her family is practically at the root of everything that ever went wrong for us… I don't know, she's super distant right now." He shook his head.

"I don't blame her." Dean shook his head.

"And the fact it's driving her kids away now, I think she's ready to lose it at any minute." Punk said, "I'm waiting on her screaming or something." He shook his head.

"It fucking sucks." Dean nodded, "You gotta just stay positive and… hopefully the cops find Janet."

"Yeah well whenever we ask Cass how things are going she just says she doesn't know. It's like she's trying to avoid it." Punk shook his head, "I don't know if they're all starting to resent me and April." He admitted truthfully.

"No, of course they're not. They're all grown up and dealing with their own stuff now. Don't think like that." Dean warned.

"Ok, let's just see what kind of mood she's in today." He shook his head, walking into the rehab centre where their mother had been in for a month, taking legit steps to get sober and clean for the first time in her life.

After the boys found out the real ins and outs of what happened back then, learning that their mother tried to do the right thing, and that she was pretty much trafficked by the Mendez family, they couldn't help see her in a different light.

They'd had a good conversation with her, an emotional one, and they vowed to help her get clean. Having the support from them was the first time Sam felt like she could really get clean, and she was taking it very seriously.

"Here's the other files from that case I want you to look at." Jake said, walking over to Cassie's desk and leaving some folders on it the next morning at work. She'd been doing a lot of admin work after coming back from her injury. She was desperate to get back outside on the beat but she knew she wasn't as fit and healthy as she was due to her injury, and that it would take time.

"Ok, thanks." Cassie nodded to him, taking the folders and sitting them over as she concentrated on her computer, noticing Jake wasn't leaving, "Anything else?" She asked him.

"I know your mom and dad are probably waiting on me calling them or visiting them with news about Janet." Jake said as Cassie nodded.

"Yeah they are." Cassie said, "And they're also asking me all the time if I know anything, which obviously I don't." She said, "It'd help me out if you guys just… found her." Cassie shook her head.

"Yeah, well it'd help everyone out, Cass but… it's easier said than done." Jake said, "We reckon she's somehow back in Puerto Rico so we're in close contact with the police over there but… it can be tricky." He said.

"Well… how come you haven't sent your little pet rat over to spy on them?" She asked cheekily, looking over at Theo who was standing at the coffee machine talking to another cop.

"A rat? Really?" Jake laughed a little, "Theo helped out a lot with what he done, going undercover over there. I know it was difficult for you and everyone else around him but, he did make a difference-"

"Oh, really? Because she's still out there doing and planning God knows what to my family." Cassie said.

"Your family will be safe." Jake nodded.

"Like they always are." Cassie mumbled sarcastically.

"Not to paint you as the… damsel in distress or anything but… wasn't Theo the one who got you to hospital?" Jake asked as Cassie looked at him.

"Ok, you can go away now." Cassie nodded to him, trying to avoid the subject as best she could.

"He really is sorry for what he had to do." Jake assured her, "When I had meetings with him about it leading up to it, he always mentioned your name, he wanted to make sure that you'd be ok-"

"How good of him." Cassie shook her head, glancing over at Theo again.

"You should talk to him." Jake nodded.

"You should let me get on with my work." Cassie said as Jake smiled.

"Yeah, as your boss, I should." Jake realised, walking away as Cassie looked back at her computer to finish her work, turning around and looking back at Theo for a few seconds.

She spent the entire year praying and hoping it could all be a nightmare. It could all be a misunderstanding and that he could come back. All she had wanted was to see him again, talk to him again, spend the night with him again… and now he was back, she just couldn't bring herself to go down that road again.

"Hey, Ape?" Punk called, getting home from work as he made his way through to the kitchen where AJ was sat reading a book at the table with a cup of coffee.

"Hey." AJ looked up with a small smile as he leaned over and kissed her hello, "How was work?" She asked, closing her book over and sliding it aside.

"Yeah, it was fine." Punk nodded.

"You not visiting your mom today?" She figured.

"No, well we saw her last night and she's doing good." Punk said, "Struggling but… cooperating I guess." He said as AJ nodded, "Is Cassie in a better mood today?" He asked her.

"Don't say it like that. She's dealing with a lot. If you think someone's dead and then just appear out of nowhere again, you're gonna be a little over the place, right?" AJ said.

"Yeah, I know." Punk understood.

"You had any calls from Jake?" AJ asked desperately. She felt like she was just wishing her life away at this point. She was living in constant fear that something was going to happen to her family. It was no way to live anymore.

"No, nothing." Punk shook his head, "If she's back in Puerto Rico it… it's gonna be harder." Punk said.

"She stabbed Cassie. That's warrant for arrest. Why aren't they doing anything about it?" AJ shook her head angrily.

"They are. It's probably a lot harder than we think." Punk said, "We gotta… we gotta somehow carry on with our lives right now. We can't just sit and wait around-"

"This is tearing our family apart, Phil." AJ said, wondering if he was digesting that, "Jude is gone. She doesn't even call. She's so scared and tired of this that she's just gone. Cassie was talking last night about getting her own apartment." She nodded, "Thea won't admit it because she's like you but I know she's struggling. She kept James from going to school the other day because she was scared." She said as Punk looked across at her.

"I know it's hard-"

"Do you? Because you're just going about your normal day like it's fine." AJ said.

"I'm trying to stay calm, April." Punk assured her, "Believe me, I know it's not fine." He said, "But someone's gotta keep their head around here." He nodded.

"There's just always something." AJ shook her head, standing up, "There's always something and it's always our problem. And that's affecting our kids now. It has been affecting them since they were little. What does that say about us?" She questioned.

"If you're looking for someone to blame, it's not us." Punk reminded her, "This is your family. Everything was always your family. We can't control that." He said.

"What if we moved? Remember when we had Jude and we said it'd be good to just… leave this place?" AJ nodded, "I mean… how different would things be?" She said, desperate to know, "Maybe you wouldn't have gone to prison." She said, trying to search for things to make herself feel better, to wonder, but with that came regret and sadness.

"We're not saying what if this and what if that. What happened, happened. And maybe it was all for a reason, maybe-"

"What was the reason for Jude getting raped then?" AJ questioned, "Don't you dare stand there and tell me that everything that's happened, happened for a reason."

"I'm not talking about what happened to Jude." Punk shook his head, "Of course I'm not." He assured her, "I'm just saying, we can't change the past. Our life happened, we made our own mistakes but we also got unlucky with our parents and the shit that happened with them-"

"My mom's right… out of all the guys in the world." AJ laughed a little as Punk looked across at her.

"What the fuck does that mean, April?" Punk screwed his face up, unhappily.

"I don't know." AJ shook her head stressfully, "I mean, it… it's us that's the problem, right?" She looked across at him, "My parents wanted to be to go to Puerto Rico with them when I was pregnant with Thea. I chose you. And ever since it's just been… one thing after the other."

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but are you… blaming me for all of this?" He asked her.

"No…" She waved her hands, stressfully running her hands over her face, "No, I'm not blaming you I'm just…" She sighed, looking over at him, "If I married someone else maybe they really would have left me alone." She said as he looked at her.

"I can't believe you just said that." Punk shook his head as she looked across at him, "You seriously just said that?" He questioned.

"I don't mean it the way it sounds." AJ sighed.

"I'm going to Dean's." Punk shook his head, not wishing to hear anymore, concerned about where her head was at with all of this as he heard her talk. He knew she was worried and scared, and that was possibly causing her to say such ridiculous things, but it still hurt him to hear it, especially after everything they'd been through.

"Phil, wait… I didn't mean it like that." AJ sighed, watching him leave the kitchen and head out of the house as she sighed to herself, grabbing her book and throwing it at the kitchen window, followed by a loud scream, which was followed by some excessive crying.