Hey Jude
"Hey, you ok?" Sean sighed, guiding Jude through to their kitchen after they got home from the hospital. He'd been with his girlfriend for long enough to know just how important her mother was to her. She was Jude's go to, and on some level, her best friend. If not afforded with a mother, she was the type of woman one would wish to have a mother like.
"I don't know." Jude said, a little disoriented as she walked into the kitchen.
"You want some tea?" Sean asked her, "Or some food?"
"No… no, I'm not hungry." Jude shook her head, sitting down at the table slowly, "Where's my phone?" She panicked.
"I've got it." Sean assured her, taking it out of his pocket, "Here you go." He passed over to her as Jude took the phone and looked at it to make sure she hadn't missed any calls or messages on the way home.
"Where's Cassie and Thea?" Jude asked.
"They're staying at your mom and dad's. Dominic and the kids are there." Sean said, "We'll go see your mom in the morning, ok? You need to get some sleep. It's almost 4am."
"I'm not even tired." Jude shook her head as Sean sat down beside her, "I'm not." She insisted.
"You're just in shock." Sean nodded, rubbing her arm softly, "Once your head hits the pillow you'll pass out." He said, "You need your rest, Jude."
"I need my mom." Jude corrected stressfully as Sean sighed to himself, "She's not supposed to get hurt." She shook her head with tears in her eyes.
"They have her in a stable condition. That's a good thing right now. She's not in any pain and she's getting the care she needs." Sean assured her, "Her head just needs some time to heal, baby. Just look at that way. She's healing whilst she's out of it." He nodded, drying her tears for her.
"She's always there for us." Jude shook her head, "It was always her. I-I love my dad but… for the longest time he wasn't there. And it was just her." Jude said, "I don't know what I would do without her." Jude said with confusion. She really didn't. She was haunted by the sudden change in her life with her mother being hurt. Things felt so wrong without her being a phone call away.
"She'll wake up." Sean nodded, "She's gonna wake up, baby. She just needs a bit of time." He said as Jude nodded, drying her tears and hugging into him tightly. This was a different kind of scared she'd never felt before. It was hollow and weighed her down heavy. Like nothing would ever feel right again. Her mother was just someone she absolutely couldn't lose.
"It's a girl." The nurse announced, placing a squealing baby girl onto AJ's chest as AJ cried with a smile on her face.
"Oh my god." Punk leaned over, standing beside the bed, looking on at the screaming baby girl who had just made her entrance into the world. He'd missed out on this with Thea, so it was an extra-large rollercoaster ride for him, so much so it brought unexpected tears to his eyes.
"It's a girl." AJ smiled, feeling the newborn baby against her chest, the most fulfilling feeling in the world, turning to Punk and cupping his cheek as he smiled.
"Yeah, look… she's here." Punk said in a high pitched voice as AJ chuckled through her tears.
"She is." AJ nodded. It really was like everything in the room had been blacked out, and it was just the two of them with their new baby girl, who was as beautiful as ever.
"She's got so much stuff on her but she's still the best thing I've ever seen." Punk shook his head with confusion which caused a few of the nurses in the background to laugh.
"She's amazing." AJ shook her head, looking on at the baby girl in her arms. Her heart full just at the sight of her.
"I'm so proud of you." Punk shook his head in awe, beyond amazed at everything he had just witnessed, and beyond proud to have another beautiful daughter, "Hey Jude." Punk whispered, leaning over as AJ chuckled.
"I love you so much." AJ cupped his cheek, "So much." She shook her head, tears of happiness still rolling.
"I love you too." Punk shook his head, leaning in and kissing her passionately whilst their little bundle wriggled between them.
AJ pulled back from the kiss, looking down at baby Jude and gasping, "She's just so beautiful." AJ shook her head, "And she looks like Thea." She smiled as Punk nodded.
"She does." Punk smiled, kissing her head, sitting down beside her on the bed, "I literally can't look away from her." He shook his head with awe, looking down at Jude who was looking up at them, having the tiniest of everything, "Hey Jude." Punk whispered again as AJ smiled.
"She's gonna hate that." AJ shook her head as Punk chuckled.
"I don't care." He smiled sweetly, "She's my little Hey Jude." He said as AJ smiled.
"Yeah, she is." AJ smiled. Her heart was full of wonder. Wonder of what this baby girl would grow up to be like. Who she would grow up to be like. She promised herself she would always protect her from everything. That she would put everything including herself, behind her needs.
"What's wrong?" AJ asked, looking down at eight year old Jude, dropping her at school, noticing her daughter slightly unenthusiastic and unhappy to be heading into school.
"Mom, come on! I'm gonna be late." Fourteen year old Thea called out from the car, hanging out the window.
"In a minute." AJ waved her hand, looking down at Jude who wasn't saying much. She wasn't a chatty kid. She went about her business and didn't really have much to say at the best of times, "What's wrong, baby?" AJ shook her head.
"I don't want to go in." Jude looked up at her.
"Why not?" AJ asked, brushing her hand through Jude's hair.
"People are being mean to me." Jude told her as AJ sighed to herself.
"Who?" AJ shook her head.
"Some girls." Jude said, holding onto the straps of her backpack, "They call me weird."
"Baby, don't you listen to them." AJ shook her head, crouching down in front of Jude.
"But they say it all the time." Jude huffed dramatically, "And they don't let me play tig with everyone." She sighed, "So I have to stand on my own." She said, "Why are they being mean to me?" She asked her mother desperately as AJ sighed to herself.
"I don't know, sweetie. Sometimes people can be mean and… there's no reason for it." AJ said, "But you just can't listen to them. You are so beautiful and smart and amazing." She nodded, "You're literally one of my favourite people ever."
"Ever?" Jude asked.
"Ever." AJ nodded, "And it's because you're you, and I love you." She said, "There's nothing wrong with being different. And liking different things. Normal is so boring. That's what daddy would say." She nodded.
"No, I told daddy when I visited him in the room and he said I should hit them." Jude said as AJ widened her eyes.
"No, baby. You don't have to hit anyone." AJ pleaded, taking Jude's hands into hers, "Please… don't hit anyone." She said nervously, "You know what's better than hitting someone? Or saying mean things back to them?" She asked.
"What?" Jude asked.
"If you just ignore it." AJ nodded, "Because those kids will get fed up, and you'll be the badass who isn't fazed by anything." She said as Jude smiled a little, "Do you trust mommy?"
"Yes." Jude nodded.
"Then I promise you, what they have to say doesn't matter." AJ said, "And you shouldn't believe anything that comes out of their mouths." She said, "Because it's not true."
"Mom!" Thea called from the car, "Cassie is crying!" She called on behalf of her two year old sister, sitting in her carrier.
"Come here, Thea. Bring Cassie." AJ called over, "Let's get a second opinion." AJ smiled, playfully bopping Jude's nose and standing up straight.
"Mom, I'm gonna be so late." Thea shook her head, getting out of the car, carrying two year old Cassie over to her mother.
"Thea, when people say mean things to you, do you believe them?" AJ asked, taking Cassie from Thea, making wide eyes and nodding to Jude as Thea turned to Jude.
"No, of course I don't." Thea shook her head, "Is someone being mean to you?" She asked Jude protectively.
"They call me weird." Jude frowned as Thea turned to AJ with concern.
"So what if you're weird?" Thea shrugged, "I'm weird. We're all weird." She shook her head as Thea looked up at her big sister, "I'd rather be weird than boring, right?" She turned to AJ.
"Right." AJ nodded along.
"Kids say mean things all the time, Jude. You don't gotta listen to them." Thea said. She could tease her sister all day long, but when it came to other people, they absolutely were not allowed to tease and bully her sister, "You have your friends, right?"
"Yeah." Jude nodded.
"And me and mom think you're pretty cool. Don't we?" Thea turned to AJ who nodded.
"Oh, the coolest." AJ nodded, "Cassie thinks you're cool too." She said, turning to the two year old in her arms who was watching everyone going by her.
"Cassie barely talks." Jude informed them both.
"Well if she could talk more I bet she'd say wow Jude is so cool." Thea nodded as Jude smiled a little.
"Promise me you won't care what other people think of you, baby." AJ said, "You're so amazing."
"You are." Thea agreed.
"Ok." Jude nodded to them. She trusted her mother and sister the most in her life, so if they thought she was amazing, that was all she needed to know.
"Ok." AJ smiled, "You go learn tons and have the best day." AJ nodded.
"Little weirdo." Thea winked as Jude smiled, "Go on." She said as Jude nodded, running off into school as AJ watched her with a smile.
"Fuck them kids." AJ shook her head as Thea nodded.
"I didn't know she was being teased." Thea said, walking back to the car with her mother whilst Cassie clung around AJ.
"Neither did I." AJ shook her head, "She told your dad, though."
"She tells him everything." Thea rolled her eyes, "What'd he say about it?"
"That she should hit them." AJ scoffed. It was a Punk answer she wasn't shocked about.
"Of course he did." Thea chuckled lightly.
"Can you get her back into her seat." AJ said, passing Cassie over to Thea who nodded, "Thanks for helping me out there." She nodded.
"That's ok." Thea said, "I'm the only one that's allowed to tease her." She said as AJ nodded with a smile.
