Confrontation


"How are you feeling?" AJ asked Thea, wandering into the living room with a coffee.

"I'm ok, I guess." Thea nodded to her, watching as she sat down beside her, "How are you? How's the head?" She asked.

"It's a little sore." AJ nodded.

"Maybe you should be in bed." Thea said.

"No, I… I spent an entire week lying in bed in hospital." AJ shook her head, "This is fine." She assured her daughter, "Where are Dominic and the kids?" She asked.

"He took the kids out for some ice-cream. I didn't want them stuck in here all day." Thea shook her head, "We're supposed to have had all our stuff moved out from Milwaukee by tomorrow." She sighed stressfully, "We're gonna need to talk to the realtor." She said.

"I'm sure they'll understand." AJ said.

"Do you think dad is in trouble?" Thea turned to her.

"I don't know." AJ shook her head truthfully, "Cassie's there with him right now. It wasn't… it wasn't his fault. He did what he had to do." She said as Thea nodded, looking at her.

"Does it hurt? Losing your dad?" Thea asked her as AJ shook her head.

"No… no, he wasn't a dad to me." AJ shook her head.

"Why hold that kind of grudge for this long?" Thea asked.

"I think he was sick." AJ said, "I guess when you live in that world for as long as my parents have. You do the things you do, see the things you see… it can build up." She said, taking a sip of her coffee.

"But he said that he was trying to protect your from all of that. And that dad was to blame." Thea shook her head, "But how was he protecting you from it if… if that's what you grew up around?"

"I don't know." AJ shook her head truthfully, "I mean maybe… maybe it's guilt. Maybe it's guilt of not being a good dad, of hurting me over the years, so he's trying to shift it into your father." She shrugged.

"Do you think dad is gonna talk to Sam and Daniel?" Thea asked her.

"Maybe. But I think your dad is pretty tired of it all." AJ nodded truthfully, "Whatever he decides to do I… I fully support it." She said, "Whether it's talking to them or not."

"I think he should." Thea said, "Even if it's just to clear things up. It's obvious that your parents and his parents had some stuff going on years ago." She said, "It's… it's kinda weird that you and dad wound up together." She smiled a little, "You think that's what bothered your dad so much?"

"Probably." AJ nodded, "Well he made sure your dad went to prison the first time because he found out I was pregnant." She shook her head.

"You two are like a… a modern day Romeo and Juliet." Thea said as AJ chuckled a little.

"You know they kill themselves at the end, right?" AJ raised her eyebrows.

"No, I didn't. I skipped English class to go get high." Thea nodded truthfully as AJ laughed a little.

"You're an idiot." AJ added as Thea smiled.

"I was gonna take Jude out this morning for coffee." Thea said, rolling her head back on the couch, "I wanted to get her out of the house for a while. Last night was the first time she was out since having the baby." She said as AJ turned to her.

"Is she ok?" AJ asked with concern.

"I don't know. I think she might be struggling a little bit." Thea nodded, "Sean's worried about her."

"Well we should go see her." AJ said immediately.

"No, mom… you need to rest." Thea warned, "You were in a terrible car accident. Be kind to yourself for a little bit." She nodded.

"Well if Jude's struggling, I want to help her-"

"I think it's just a little overwhelming for her, that's all. You know what it's like when you have your first kid. It's scary. You don't know what you're doing. You're tired all the time." Thea said, "I think she's just trying to adjust to it all." She nodded.


"Hey, how's she doing?" Sean smiled, walking into the kitchen where Jude was sitting feeding Mirren at the table.

"She's fine." Jude smiled, looking down at Mirren, "She's perfect." She added as Sean smiled.

"How'd you sleep?" Sean asked, leaning in and kissing Jude as she kissed back.

"Ok, I guess." Jude nodded, "It was a crazy night last night." She shook her head, "I swear those docks bring nothing but chaos to my family."

"Yeah, I don't see you going down there voluntarily anymore." Sean said as Jude shook her head.

"Definitely not." Jude shook her head, "Are you going somewhere?" She wondered, noticing he had going out clothes on, rather than casual shorts and t-shirt.

"Well I brought the stroller downstairs, I thought maybe we could test it out." Sean nodded, "It's cold outside but… I distinctly remember you buying a shit ton of hats for her." He smiled, "Fresh air will do her some good."

"I uh… I'm not really feeling up to it." Jude shook her head.

"Why not?" Sean asked, "Just for half an hour or something. Come on, don't you want people to stop and tell us how cute she is?" He smiled.

"Not really." Jude laughed a little, looking down at Mirren, "She needs to go down after this anyway so…" She shrugged.

"She can sleep in the stroller, Jude." Sean reminded her.

"Look, I had a shit night last night, I just wanna… sit on the couch and put her down in her crib. I don't need to go for a walk." She shook her head.

"I disagree, I think you do, actually." Sean said as Jude looked up at him.

"What is your frickin problem?" Jude shook her head, "I'm tired, I've barely slept, I just… I just wanna chill out-"

"You've not left the house with her since you gave birth, Jude." Sean said as she looked up at him, "The health visitor is coming tomorrow, that's concerning for them."

"Why? Because I don't wanna go for a walk?" Jude shook her head with confusion.

"No, because you don't wanna do anything." Sean said, "I know this is overwhelming, and it's not anything we're used to, but I'm worried about you. You're barely even talking to me." He said.

"I'm still trying to figure all of this out. Give me a break." Jude shook her head.

"We're figuring it out together.." Sean said, "Or so we're supposed to be." She said as Jude ignored him, looking down at Mirren, "Postpartum depression is common in new mother's." He said as she looked up at him.

"Excuse me?" Jude tilted her head a little.

"I… I looked into it. It's extremely common. And it's nothing you should be ashamed of-"

"I am not depressed." Jude stood up angrily, "I'm tired." She said as he looked across at her, "Just because I don't wanna go for a walk doesn't mean I have postpartum depression, Sean. It just means I don't wanna go for a walk." She shook her head, leaving the kitchen with Mirren as Sean sighed to himself, running his hands through his hair.


"Hey, man. How'd it go?" Dean asked, showing up at the station as Punk walked out from a long interview with Jake.

"Just sort of going over everything." Punk nodded, "Cassie's in there working her ass off. I also had April's mom slap me this morning. I think she moved one of my teeth at the back."

"You can't afford to lose anymore teeth, brother." Dean sighed as Punk pushed him over, "You free to go?" He asked.

"Yeah, yeah they're gonna stay in contact. They might want some statements from Thea, Ape, Jude… everyone who was there." Punk nodded.

"But you reckon it's not gonna get you into any trouble?" Dean asked.

"I should be ok." Punk nodded, "He would have killed me if I didn't do anything to stop him." Punk said as Dean nodded.

"I don't suppose you being in that room all day has worked up an appetite for confrontation?" Dena folded his arms as Punk looked at him.

"Who are we confronting?" Punk asked him.


"I'll see you later, Rico!" Hamilton called, leaving his local bar as he walked out the doors, fixing his hat on his head as he stepped down, watching as a cigarette was pressed against his jacket, "Who the-" He looked up and saw Dean standing.

"Hello." Dean smiled as Hamilton scoffed, shaking his head and turning around only to bump into Punk.

"Hey." Punk smiled.

"What do you two idiots want?" Hamilton scoffed, walking his way around them in order to leave as Punk grabbed him back by the back of his jacket.

"Just to talk to our uncle, that's all." Dean said as Hamilton paused, turning around to both of them.

"What are you talking about?" Hamilton looked at them both.

"We're talking about you being our uncle." Punk said, "Uncle Greg. Has a nice ring to it, right?" He turned to Dean who nodded.

"Alright, Brooks cut the crap." Hamilton warned, "How… How did you find out?" He looked at them both.

"We've been finding out a lot recently." Dean said, "We know all about the night our dad was arrested."

"For killing a girl? Yeah? What's there to know?" Hamilton shook his head.

"Well we know it wasn't him who was driving." Punk said, "It was our mom. We know we were there." He said as Hamilton looked at them nervously, "And we know you signed off on the case so… explain to us why our dad got arrested that night and our mom went free?"

"I'm not in the mood for any of this." Hamilton scoffed nervously, turning around to walk away as Punk pulled him back.

"Don't make me beat up my crippled old uncle." Punk frowned, "What happened?" He spat as Hamilton stood between them, looking at them both.

"Well what do you think happened?" Hamilton spat, "Your dad didn't want your mom to go to prison. I knew it was her who was driving because I… I'd not long spoken to them and I saw her get behind the wheel." He said.

"He's your brother. Why would you put him in prison?" Punk questioned.

"He didn't want Sam to go down for it. I tried to convince him that it would… it would be bad news. It would be a life sentence but… but he didn't want her to go down." Hamilton said, "So I… I did what he asked."

"And then you watched our mother take us back home where she… she wasn't fit to look after us?" Dean asked.

"I tried getting you boys out of there. Multiple times." Hamilton made clear, "I even… I even looked into adopting you." He said as they looked at him, "But you always ran away and… wound up back at the house. I remember you both telling me when you were eight and nine that… that you had to stay with your mom." He said, "She wasn't around but you guys cared about her." He nodded as Punk looked down, turning to Dean who didn't say anything.

"Ok so… what about after? What about you constantly harassing us as teens? What about you shouting to April and Thea that they should go where they came from?" Punk spat angrily as Hamilton looked down.

"I'm not proud of… of the type of cop I became." Hamilton assured them both, "It ran away with me and there's no excuses." He said, "When I saw you hanging around with Mendez I… well I knew her family from back in the day, I knew they were trouble and I figured you'd wound up involved with them and… and I was right. You were both trouble, don't pretend you weren't." He said.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Dean asked, "Why didn't you tell us you were our uncle?" He shook his head.

"Because… I don't know, I… I felt like it was too late." Hamilton said, "I didn't get on with your dad. He was trouble just like you two. I always tried to do the right thing and he didn't." He said, "And I was sad about how our relationship diminished and… how his life pretty much got taken away from him." He said, "I don't know, it was… it was hard to see you boys."

"You talked to him lately?" Punk asked.

"No I haven't spoken to him since way back, when he was arrested." Hamilton said as Punk looked at him, turning to Dean.

"You could have looked out for us, man." Dean shook his head as Hamilton looked at both of them.

"I know that now." Hamilton said.

"Yeah well… too late." Punk said, "Way too fucking late." He shook his head, turning to Dean who nodded.

"Let's go." Dean nodded, walking past Hamilton as Punk followed, heading down the street as Hamilton sighed to himself.