Whose Blood
"Look at this place." Jude said, walking into the living room, collapsing down beside Sean and shoving the laptop in front of him as she showed him a wedding venue she'd been looking at, "It's a hotel but they do weddings, small or big." She said, "It's a little far out but it's not like we're having hundreds of people going." She said as Sean took a look at the laptop.
"Looks really nice." Sean observed, "Is it in the budget?" He asked her.
"Yeah." Jude nodded, pointing to the bottom of the screen where the prices were.
"Yeah, just." Sean scoffed, "Maybe we could find something cheaper." He turned to her as she frowned.
"But I like this place." Jude said, "I mean, the hotel rooms are stunning. Look at the honeymoon suite." She said, flicking through some of the gallery pictures to get to the honeymoon suite, "Isn't it nice?" She smiled, "I could be on that bed in a year's time." She whispered in his ear as he laughed a little.
"Is this how you're gonna get me to agree to things?" Sean chuckled as she smiled, watching him turn back around and look at the honeymoon suite, "It is nice." He nodded.
"It's the first place I've looked at that I can actually see us getting married in." She admitted as he turned her, noticing her looking at the laptop with excitement. It was all he wanted her to feel.
"If you think this is the place then… it's the place." Sean smiled to her.
"But do you? It's not just about me." She made clear, running her hand down the back of his head.
"I can definitely see you on that bed." He assured her as she chuckled.
"Good. Me too." Jude smiled excitedly as he laughed, watching her take the laptop back, sitting beside him with it in front of her, "I've shocked myself, I didn't think this was gonna be exciting but it is." She said as Sean smiled.
"Why don't we go check this place out at the weekend? Talk to the manager and… maybe even set a date." He raised his eyebrows as she raised hers.
"Ok." Jude nodded with a smile, "And hey, I don't want you to think that all this stuff actually matters to me. I mean, it does but… all that matters is that we're getting married." Jude smiled, "These are all just really pretty extras." She said as he smiled.
"Yeah, I know." He nodded, leaning over and kissing her sweetly as she kissed back.
"Are you still not talking to me?" Dominic asked the next morning, walking into the kitchen where Thea was having breakfast and ignoring him, "What do you want me to do and I'll do it. I feel like an ass-"
"You are an ass." Thea mumbled as he nodded.
"I never meant for it to come out the way it did. Like that's all I see you as. Of course it isn't." He said, "I just meant that I… I don't need the fancy dinners to be in love with you and want to spend time with you." He said, "I love you as you. I love you when you're rushing around crazy and you're wiping snot from Sofia's nose and getting James to eat his veg. I love all that shit." He said as Thea looked at him, "You don't have to tone it all down for me. It's me."
"I was just trying to do something nice for once. Give us a break." She nodded to him, "Clearly you didn't get that."
"I did. I do get it." Dominic said, pulling out the chair beside her and facing her, "And I'm sorry that I hurt you and made you feel like I didn't appreciate it. I did. But that's not us. I know you. You're not a candlelit dinner person-"
"No, I'm a pizza person who takes my clothes off." Thea turned to him, shaking her head.
"No, that's not what I meant." Dominic sighed, "That just came out. I know you won't believe it but it was meant in a good way."
"Do you have any idea how degrading that sounds? How humiliating?" Thea asked.
"I know, I'm sorry. It just came out and… I didn't mean it in the way you took it." He said, "But some of our best dates and memories are just… us hanging out." He reminded her as she looked at him, "And I know things had been difficult lately with our shifts clashing and the kids, but I still love you through that. We don't need to have a romantic dinner for me to appreciate you, or for you to appreciate me. That's not us." He said, "Is it?" He questioned as she looked at him.
She knew what he was saying, and she knew it wasn't them. They found their romance elsewhere, doing other things, and it went to show how well he knew her and what he knew she really wanted.
"I just thought it'd be nice to try it." Thea shrugged.
"It was. But I know you, and I know that stuff like that doesn't fulfil you." He said as she looked at him and nodded. She figured maybe she'd tried to hard to be other people they weren't, and he recognised that the second he walked into the house last night.
"It doesn't." Thea agreed, "You could have been less mean about it, though." She said, still not backing down.
"I know that, and I'm sorry for that. I couldn't sleep thinking about what I said. It was… really not how I meant it." He assured her, "I just don't want you to ever feel like you have to change, just because we're growing and things are moving forward." He said, cupping her cheek softly as she looked at him.
"Figured it's the adult thing to do, right?" She shrugged.
"There's no rules." He assured her.
"I just hear girls at work, and that's what they do when they're kids are staying with someone else." Thea said.
"You don't have to compare." Dominic said.
"Yeah, I know." Thea said, "But you were late and you did piss me off." She tutted as he nodded.
"I know, and I'm sorry for that. I am." He nodded sincerely as she looked at him, "When are the kids getting back?" He wondered.
"I'm picking them up later in the afternoon." Thea said as Dominic nodded.
"Then why don't we go out for ice-cream? Go for a walk in the park?" He asked her as she looked at him with a small smile. He got her. He knew her so well and knew the things that really brightened her day. Things that did fulfil her more than a candlelit dinner.
"Sounds nice." Thea nodded to him, "First, you have some extra making up to do, though." She smirked as he smiled across at her, watching her get up from the kitchen table, about to walk out as he grabbed her by the hand and pulled her back, kissing her passionately as she kissed back, feeling him pick her up and sit her on the kitchen table.
"Here will do." He said as Thea bit her lip and smiled, feeling him pull her jeans and panties down, watching as he crouched down and disappeared between her legs as she rolled her head back.
"Cassie, how did things go at the hospital the other day?" Jake, Cassie's main boss approached her at her desk, which once used to be Theo's.
"It was ok. He was still pretty out of it so I didn't get much out of him." Cassie told him as he nodded, "He did care to tell me that his ex-girlfriend was the one who invited him out that night, so I'm gonna go talk to her later." She nodded to him. She was handling a case of her own with a few other cops, glad to have something to sink her teeth into.
"That's good. Maybe return back to the hospital to get more from him when he's a little more alert." Jake advised as Cassie nodded.
"Yeah, I will." Cassie nodded, "Has there been anymore phone calls?" She wondered.
"No, actually. None yesterday and none today." Jake nodded, "I also contacted the department in Puerto Rico just to alert them about it. Maybe they paid her a visit, gave her a warning." He said as Cassie nodded.
"Yeah, maybe. Well just let me know if she calls again." Cassie nodded.
"I will." Jake nodded, "She's just a woman grieving."
"A woman grieving can be a dangerous one." Cassie nodded, "Even more so an insane woman grieving." She shook her head.
"So I assume you don't call her gran fondly?" Jake said.
"Barely met the woman. I just know she's trouble. I know the whole family is. My parents still treat me as the baby so they like to soften things for me. Don't tell me the full extent to things but… search Mendez in the system, you get it all."
"Best not to look into it too much. You don't wanna fry your head too much with it." Jake advised.
"Yeah, I know." Cassie said, "I got more important shit to be getting on with." She nodded.
"As your boss, I agree." He smiled to her as she nodded, "Keep up the good work." He nodded, patting her on the back and walking off as Cassie smiled.
She looked back at the computer, getting a glance of the teddy bear Theo had given her which she'd sat his badge in between, sat in the corner of her desk. It always made her smile.
"Hey, I need some help!"
Nurses and doctors turned around, gasping a little as they saw a man holding a young girl in his arms, keeping his hand on her waist to apply pressure.
"Oh my God." A nurse came running over, "Someone get a bed." She called back to her colleagues.
"Her name is Cassie. She was stabbed at her sister's wedding." He nodded frantically, looking down at Cassie in and out of consciousness, watching as one of the nurses wheeled a gurney over.
"Place her down here." The nurse instructed as the young man lay her down on the gurney, looking at her blood soaked dress at the side, following the nurses as they wheeled her down the corridor, already beginning to cut her dress open.
"Is she gonna be ok?" He asked, following like a lost puppy as they wheeled her through some swing doors, a nurse stopping him in his tracks.
"You can't come any further." The nurse nodded to him as he ran his hands through his hair, "Are you family?" She asked him curiously as he shook his head.
"No… No, just… just a friend." He nodded slowly.
"Did you see what happened to her?" The nurse asked as he shook his head.
"No." He said, "I know who it was, though."
"Well, police will be called shortly so… it's best you stick around." She advised as he looked across at her.
"I am the police." He nodded, "But I'm sticking around anyway." He nodded nervously, pacing back down the corridor, running his hands through his hair anxiously.
