Time To Think


"Morning." Thea smiled, walking into her sister's kitchen the next morning with some breakfast whilst AJ followed behind.

"Who let you in?" Jude asked unhappily, sitting at the kitchen table with a coffee, still in the same clothes as she had been in for the past few days.

"We let ourselves in." Thea said, "We brought some breakfast." She announced, sitting the breakfast down on the kitchen table as Jude looked at AJ.

"Hi, sweetie." AJ smiled softly as Jude nodded.

"Where is Sean?" Thea asked.

"In the shower." Jude said, swirling the last of her coffee around in her mug which read "ray of fucking sunshine" on it.

"And Mirren? What is she up to today?" Thea teased, sitting down at the kitchen table, unwrapping the breakfast burrito she'd bought for herself. She wasn't going to treat her sister any different. She never did.

"Don't you have kids of your own to look after?" Jude shook her head.

"Well… James is at that thing called school. And Sofia is with Dominic and dad. She thinks she's helping with the packing but… she'll just stand and watch." Thea nodded.

"Shouldn't you be resting your head?" Jude looked at AJ.

"Well I can rest from your couch." AJ shrugged as Jude looked at them both.

"I swear this family thinks give me some space means everyone come and annoy me." Jude shook her head, leaning back on the chair, running her hands over her face.

"You had breakfast?" Thea asked, "Here." She passed Jude over her favourite breakfast sandwich, "I got you your favourite, and look… iced vanilla swirl coffee." She shook the iced coffee.

"Ok well… I'm breastfeeding and I've already had my caffeine for the day, so… you can have it." Jude said, shaking the iced coffee back at her sister as Thea looked at her.

"I didn't know you were breastfeeding." AJ shook her head.

"Well I'm trying to." Jude said, "We've been using formula as a back-up. She's not been keen on my boobs so far." She shrugged.

"That's because you don't have any." Thea nodded as Jude looked across at her.

"I have more than you." Jude bit back as AJ rolled her eyes.

"Ok, what age are you guys?" AJ shook her head, "I'll drink the iced coffee." She said, "Let's not lose our minds over it."

"So you guys really came here to sit and watch a movie?" Jude asked them both. She was no fool. She knew why they were here, and as much as deep down she appreciated the support she had from her family, she really did just want to be alone, apparently that was not going to happen.

"Yeah, we can watch one of your favourites." AJ nodded.

"Fine. Clueless it is." Jude smirked, folding her arms and sitting back on the chair as Thea turned to AJ and groaned.

"Haven't you made us watch that enough over the years?" Thea groaned. She distinctly remembered being in her early teens, coming home from school where a younger Jude would play the movie Clueless every day. It was torture and Jude knew it was.

"No, I don't think so." Jude said, standing up and leaving the kitchen as Thea turned to AJ.

"She's mean when she's depressed." Thea scoffed.

"Stop. This is good. At least she's not throwing us out." AJ said, "Come on." She nodded, leaving the kitchen and walking into the living room were Jude had picked her usual spot on the sofa, switching the TV on whilst AJ sat down.

"Hey." Sean walked into the living room with Mirren, "I thought I heard you guys." He smiled.

"Oh, hi." Thea smiled, looking on at Mirren in his arms, "She's such a little angel." She shook her head, stroking her niece's cheek.

"What's up?" Jude asked him.

"I need to head into work quickly. I won't be long." Sean said, "She was kinda stirring when I got out the shower."

"I'll take her. I've not had a hold in a while." Thea nodded, taking Mirren from Sean, holding her in her arms.

"Thanks." Sean nodded, "What's this? Movie morning?" He smiled, glad to see Thea and AJ had come around to give Jude some company. He could only do and say so much. He knew Jude had a great relationship with all her family and to have them around, he knew was important for her, whether she would admit it or not.

"Yeah, we're watching Clueless, it's my mom and Thea's favourite." She nodded sarcastically, looking over at her mother and Thea who faked a smile.

"Well enjoy." Sean nodded, leaning down and kissing Jude, "I'll be back soon." He said as she nodded.

"Ok." She smiled softly, watching as he left the living room and headed out.

"Look at her little fingers. I could eat them." Thea sighed, sitting on the couch with Mirren whilst AJ sat beside, looking on and smiling.

"She is adorable." AJ added as Jude looked over at them.

"She just looks like every other baby." Jude shook her head as AJ and Thea turned to her.

"What?" AJ shook her head.

"Why would you say that?" Thea shook her head with confusion.

"Well all babies look the exact same." Jude shook her head as Thea stared over at her.

"Is that what you think when you look at her?" Thea questioned with sadness. It just wasn't something she expected to hear from her sister.

"Can we just watch the movie?" Jude asked, playing the movie as Thea turned to AJ who just shook her head to let it go.


"Daddy." Sofia skipped over to the back of the van outside their house in Milwaukee where Punk and Dominic were packing up boxes into the moving van to drive to the new house in Chicago.

"What's up?" Dominic asked her.

"I need the toilet." Sofia said as Dominic handed Punk another box up as he stood crouched in the van.

"Ok, well you can use the bathroom in the house." Dominic nodded to her.

"But I need help." Sofia whispered as Dominic looked down at her.

"Alright." Dominic nodded, "I'll be back in a minute." He told Punk who smiled and nodded, watching Dominic head back into the house with Sofia.

He pushed all the boxes they'd put in the van to the back, trying to create as much room as possible to avoid more trips than necessary. He noticed a box which was labelled 'Thea's things' on the front of it.

He knew better than to snoop around, but he was curious. He opened up the box, smiling as he saw some sentimental belongings of Thea's, including her childhood stuffed animal, Harold, who he remembered her taking everywhere. He also saw the tickets from her first Blackhawks game he took her to. Pictures of her and her sisters over the years. Gifts and souvenirs she'd gotten. He never took Thea for the sentimental kind, but clearly he was wrong.

"Hey, sorry about that." Dominic returned to the back of the van, "I swear she needs to go to the toilet more times in a day than a drunk guy." He shook his head as Punk chuckled, closing up the box he was looking in and sitting it over carefully.

"Don't worry about it, I've lived with three of her before." Punk nodded.

"Yeah, I… I really don't know how you did that." Dominic said, "Sofia's a handful on her own. I couldn't imagine three of her." He shook his head.

"Well to be fair, April dealt with most of the growing up between them all." Punk said, "Thea and Jude as kids were a handful." He remembered, "Complete opposites too."

"Really? You wouldn't think that now with them being so close." Dominic said, handing him another box.

"Yeah, they were just so different from each other. But then again, I doubt any siblings are similar." Punk said.

"You and Dean are pretty similar." Dominic disagreed.

"You think?" Punk asked.

"Yeah, you got the same personality." Dominic said.

"I never really see us being alike but… maybe we are." Punk shrugged, "I used to think Cassie was a lot more like Jude but now that she's grown up more I see her more like Thea." He said.

"I think the cop in her brings it out." Dominic said as Punk laughed a little and nodded.

"Yeah, you're probably right." Punk agreed.

"How is Jude doing? Do you know?" Dominic asked him.

"April was gonna text me to let me know how it was going but she hasn't yet." Punk said, "I think she's just struggling a little with the baby and everything changing. It can be scary. Being a parent still scares me and all my kids are grown adults." Punk nodded.

"Yeah, it might just take a little bit of time for her to adjust. No one really knows what they're doing with their first kid." Dominic said, handing Punk up another box.

"Or second or third." Punk added as Dominic chuckled a little.

"Yeah, you're right." Dominic agreed, "How are things going with the cops?"

"They're good. I don't think I'm in any kind of trouble. It's weird how all their perspectives have changed on me since Cassie works there now. They actually treat me like a normal human being and not just an ex con. Which is always nice." Punk nodded.

"I bet." Dominic said.

"No charges are being pressed against me. It was self-defence. If it wasn't him dead it… it would have been me. And if I had to choose me or him, I'm choosing me." Punk shrugged.

"Doesn't it bother you that it was April's parents who caused so much trouble for you both? Without you knowing?" Dominic asked.

"I'm kinda struggling to be mad. I don't wanna be boring and it say it's my age but… I did the whole… being mad at everyone thing. Nothing about this information will change anything. I still went to prison. Is still served those two sentences. I still had a shitty childhood." Punk said, "Knowing they were to do with more than I thought… it's just changing the context around all those things."

"What was prison like?" Dominic asked.

"Well I wouldn't recommend it." Punk said as Dominic smiled, "I don't know, it's hard to describe to someone who… hasn't been. Your average person would probably think it's lonely and cold. Strict." He said, "And it was all those things but… also a lot more than I can't even get into. It's… it's not something I enjoy talking about."

"Sorry, I… I shouldn't have asked." Dominic shook his head.

"No, you're fine." Punk assured him, "There's just a lot there. Eight years was a long time. I saw a lot of… crazy shit." He shook his head.

"I can only imagine." Dominic nodded, "What about your dad? You thought anymore about what you're gonna do?"

"Not really." Punk said, "I guess I'm just taking this time as a breather, to really think about it all." He nodded, "I know Dean is doing the same. It's sort of hard to figure out what you want from someone you don't actually know." He shrugged.

"It's important you take the time to think about it." Dominic agreed, "Plus you've been a little pre-occupied with other stuff."

"Yeah, story of my life." Punk nodded.

"Daddy." Sofia appeared again, coming out of the house where she had been playing with her dolls, strolling out to the back of the van.

"Mhm?" Dominic looked down at her.

"I'm hungry." Sofia said as Punk just chuckled to himself, looking over at Dominic who nodded.

"Can you wait a little bit?" Dominic wondered.

"My tummy is making funny noises." Sofia explained as Dominic turned to Punk who just smiled.

"I can get the rest of these. Go fix her up something." Punk nodded.

"You sure?" Dominic asked.

"Yeah, go on." Punk nodded.

"Thanks." Dominic nodded, "Ok, come on, munchkin." He lifted up Sofia high in the air as she giggled, her little arms hanging around his neck as he walked back into the house with her to fix her something to eat.