Unfolding


"Where's Cassie? Where'd they take her?" Jude grabbed hold of Thea who came back into the wedding venue's main reception, "Where is she?"

"I-I don't know." Thea shook her head, walking back into the reception with Dominic, "You need to get out of that dress." She advised.

"Sean said he can't find mom and dad." Jude said as Thea grabbed her by the arm

"Yeah, I… I don't know, I don't know where they are." Thea shook her head, taking her sister towards the hotels rooms.

"I'm gonna go look for them." Dominic whispered to Thea who nodded, squeezing his hand and looking up at him before he ran off in the opposite direction to go help Sean find AJ and Punk, and to figure out what the hell was going on.

"Where is Sean?" Jude asked, her head all over the place as she looked around, even though Sean had told her after leaving the bathroom that he was going to look for AJ and Punk.

"He's off to look for mom and dad." Thea nodded, "Where's your room key?" She asked, approaching the honeymoon suite.

"I don't have it." Jude shook her head, "But… But Kirsty is in there with the kids." She nodded, remembering Sean telling her that Kirsty was with the kids, whilst Thea knocked on the room door.

They waited a minute before Kirsty opened up the door with eight month Mirren balanced on her hip

"Hey." Kirsty said with relief as Jude and Thea walked in.

"Oh, come here, baby." Jude sighed to herself, taking Mirren from Kirsty desperately, holding her close to her, completely forgetting about the blood down her dress, just desperate to hold her angel baby girl, "Momma's here, it's ok." She sighed, kissing Mirren's head.

"Where is everyone?" Kirsty asked worriedly as Thea closed the door over, leaning against it and taking a deep breath, shutting the danger out.

"Sean and Dominic are looking for my parents." Thea nodded to her, running her hands over her hair, "Where's the kids?" She asked, walking over to the couch area as Kirsty looked at her with confusion.

"What?" Kirsty shook her head.

"James and Sofia?" Thea questioned, turning to her and turning back to the rest of the room, walking around the corner where the bed was, noticing no one was there.

"I don't have them." Kirsty shook her head as Thea walked back into the seating area.

"What the hell are you talking about? Yes you do." Thea said. The thought of anything else wasn't possible.

"No, I just… I just had Mirren. I thought you and Dominic had the kids." Kirsty said as Jude looked over at Thea who had gone a white, almost grey colour.

"We don't have them. Dominic thinks they're with you." Thea said, never feeling as bad as she did right now, the pit of her stomach doing constant turns, feeling sick to her stomach.

"They're not with me." Kirsty shook her head.

"Oh my God." Thea placed her hands over her mouth.

"They'll still be in the hall." Kirsty nodded hopefully as Thea ran out of the hotel room, holding her dress up as she ran down the corridor as fast as she could, running all the way through the reception and into the party, looking around.

She felt like the room was suddenly spinning as she desperately tried to spot her children, "James!" Thea yelled loudly, "Sofia!" She called desperately, bumping into Dean, "Have you… Have you saw James or Sofia?" She asked her slightly drunk uncle.

"Yeah they were… they were dancing over there." Dean pointed around the dancefloor, unhelpfully to no fault of his own.

Thea continued looking, calling their names as her heart beat began to go rapid, feeling like the walls were closing in on her. It was one thing for them to be under attack, but not to have her children with her, in her safety, she felt like she was going to throw up.

"James!" Thea yelled loudly, looking under tables, "Sofia!" She called, suddenly bumping into Dominic.

"What are you doing?" Dominic asked her.

"I can't find the kids." Thea grabbed his arms as he looked at her.

"What? They're with Kirsty." Dominic was sure.

"No… no, she only took Mirren back. They're not in here!" Thea said, tears of panic and worry rising to the brim and pouring out without any control.

"W-What? No… no, they were… they were right here with Kirsty." Dominic shook his head in disbelief.

"They're not with her." Thea cried, "And they're not in here." She placed her hands in her hair, feeling like she couldn't breathe as Dominic stumbled back a little, placing his hand on the back of a chair, "Dominic." Thea cried, looking at him worriedly.

"Ok… Ok, you… you search the rooms, the bathrooms, any closets or stock rooms around here. I'll start outside." Dominic nodded, "Maybe… Maybe they're with your parents." He said, trying to stay positive even though he felt like throwing up.

"Where are my mom and dad?" Thea begged to know, "And Cassie? Jude… Jude is covered in blood and Cassie just… disappeared."

"We'll find them. We'll find them." Dominic said frantically, "Go… go, start looking." He shoved her lightly as Thea ran away out of the party, which to everyone else, was still going on as normal.

"Any sign of them?" Sean walked over to Dominic, "I've called the cops, they're on their way."

"The kids are missing. James and Sofia." Dominic told him, "And I… I don't know where Cassie went either." He said.

"I thought James and Sofia were with Kirsty." Sean shook his head.

"No, no she just took Mirren, she thought we were with them." Dominic shook his head in a panic as Sean ran his hand through his hair.

"Ok… ok, the cops are on their way. You go look for the kids outside, I'll… I'll try find Phil, April and Cassie." He said as Dominic nodded, splitting up from each other to go on search parties.

Dominic ran outside of the hotel, noticing on the ground the trail of blood down the steps and winding round the car park. He ran his hands through his hair, noticing the trail of blood stop in front of an empty car space.

"Fuck." Dominic gulped worriedly, "James!" He called desperately, running around the car park like a headless chicken, never being so worried sick in all his life, "Sofia!" He called.


Meanwhile Thea had ran into every closed door she could find, searching high and low in the hotel for her children, calling out their names desperately. She banged on every hotel room, disturbing guests and begging them to tell her if they'd seen two children. But none of them had.

She ran down to the basement, yelling out their names when in the most unlikely fashion, she heard her mother calling back.

"Thea!" AJ yelled from inside the basement closet.

"Mom?" Thea ran over to the closet door, turning the lock and opening it up.

"Oh, thank God." AJ sighed with relief, wrapping her arms around Thea tightly.

"What the hell are you guys doing in here?" Thea shook her head, so confused, her head spinning.

"My brother is here, he locked us in." AJ explained.

"Are you ok? Is everyone ok?" Punk asked, both he and AJ walking out of the closet.

"No… No, James and Sofia are missing." Thea cried as AJ and Punk looked at her, "And your mom is here and… and I think she hurt Cassie but we can't find her. And we couldn't find you guys either and… and Jude is in the room with Mirren but I can't find James or Sofia." She cried hysterically as AJ placed her hands over her mouth.

"Oh my God." AJ said, feeling her heart palpitating, everything she feared coming true. She knew being trapped away from everyone was her mother and brother's chance to attack, somehow.

"What do you mean you think she hurt Cassie? Where's Cassie?" Punk asked worriedly.

"I don't know, she… she bumped into Jude and I think she was bleeding, she was bleeding. Jude had blood all down her shirt and your mom had a knife." Thea tried to explain as best she could in her frantic state, "I can't find James or Sofia." She said in so much distress.

"Ok, ok… let's get out of here." Punk said, first and foremost, running up the stairs as Thea and AJ followed.

"Dominic is outside looking for the kids and I've searched everywhere in here. We thought… We thought Kirsty had them but she didn't." Thea explained.

"We'll find them." AJ assured her daughter, squeezing her hand tightly, "We'll find them." She promised, getting up the stairs and out of the basement, running back to the rooms and knocking on the honeymoon suite which Kirsty answered.

"You guys are here." Kirsty noticed with relief as AJ and Punk walked into the room where Jude was standing with Mirren in her arms, still in her now bloody wedding dress which Punk and AJ both noticed right away.

"Oh my God." AJ whispered.

"Thea, go find Dominic and keep looking for the kids. April, go with them." Punk nodded.

"Ok." AJ nodded, "Come on." She grabbed a hold of a very frantic and frozen Thea.

"Jude." Punk turned to Jude, "Where's Cassie?" Punk asked.

"I… I don't know." Jude shook her head tearfully, "I bumped into her on my way to the bathroom. I… I didn't think anything was wrong, I thought… I thought she was just giving me a hug or something… and then she left and I… I looked down and saw all the blood, and then… Janet came out of the bathroom with a knife that had blood on it." Jude shook her head, frozen with fear as Punk ran his hands over his face stressfully.

"So no one has saw Cassie?" Punk asked as Jude shook her head.

"Fucking hell." Punk took a deep breath, "Did anyone see where Janet or Rob went?" He asked Jude turning to Kirsty who shook her head, "Did anyone see anything?!" Punk yelled angrily, not meaning to as he watched Mirren begin to cry at his loud and angry voice.

"Dad." Jude scolded a little, placing her hand over the back of Mirren's head as Punk took a deep breath.

"Just… just stay here. Don't go anywhere. Lock the door behind me." Punk warned, running out of the hotel room and closing the door over, running down the corridor and out to help his family search for Cassie and the children.


"How is she doing? Is she ok? Is she gonna be ok?" Theo asked a nurse who walked by him as he paced in the waiting area. He was in some sweats and a hoodie where he still had his hood up, shielding himself. Not the typical cop he used to be.

"She's out of surgery. Stable for now but we'll know more when she wakes up. She had three blood transfusions. She lost… a lot." The nurse nodded to him, "We're keeping a close eye on her."

"Can I see her?" Theo asked desperately as she looked at him.

"Are you family?" She asked him as he looked down, rubbing his sweaty palms against his sweats.

"Yeah… yeah, I'm her brother." Theo shrugged as the nurse looked at him. She knew he was lying, but he could see how concerned he was.

"Down through those doors, fifth door down." The nurse directed him as Theo nodded.

"Thank you." Theo nodded, rushing down the hospital corridor, through the swing doors as he counted five rooms down, opening up the door and walking in where he saw Cassie lying in bed, machines and monitors bleeping around her as he noticed the oxygen tube around her nose.

He pushed his hood down, walking over to the bed slowly as he sighed to himself, grabbing out the chair from the side and sitting down by the bed.

"This wasn't supposed to happen." He muttered, reaching over and taking her hand as he sighed to himself, watching her chest move up and down slowly as she lay peacefully still.

It weighed him down every day, for almost a year, for having to leave the cruel and unfair way he did.

"Cass, I can't… I can't stay here with you." It killed him to say, "I can't… I can't let them get away. Not now." He shook his head, reaching over and brushing her hair from her face, "I'm gonna help your family." He nodded. Absence had truly made the heart grow fonder. He'd had to watch her from behind the shadows the past year, and he dreamed about the day he didn't have to hide. He didn't have to be the ache in her heart anymore. But right now, this wasn't over yet.

"Hang in there for me." Theo sighed, leaning over and kissing her head, sitting her hand down beside her as he backed out of the room and left the hospital.