Hard To Handle


"Hey, she's back." Jake smiled, sitting in his office the next morning where Cassie walked in.

"Hey." Cassie nodded.

"How you doing?" Jake asked, putting his pen down.

"I'm ok." Cassie shrugged.

"The family?" Jake asked.

"They're doing good." Cassie nodded, "Yeah, my sister and Sean are staying in town for the week. In fact, he's out there right now. Couldn't resist stopping by and telling us how good the NYPD is." She said as Jake smiled.

"Fucking asshole." Jake smiled affectionately.

"How's everything going with the case?" Cassie asked curiously.

"Well I'm gonna need a statement from you and your family. Just a few questions. It's ultimately down to the Puerto Rican police. We have our say in things but it got busted over there."

"And you wanted it to get busted here?" Cassie had already figured out, "Little irresponsible to wait for her to come over here and kill someone before you make a move."

"Yeah." Jake nodded, "Maybe you should run this place then. See how easy it is." He said with authority as Cassie put her hands up.

"Just doing what you'd do for your family." Cassie assured him as he nodded.

"Mhm." Jake nodded, "Well I'll give it to you, you're brave." He said, "Things like that separate you from the crowd. Things like that… will make you a sergeant one day, or captain."

"I thought things like that got me in trouble." Cassie tilted her head.

"Yeah, if you fuck it up." Jake said as Cassie smiled a little.

"Well I figured I'll be put on a different case now." Cassie said as Jake nodded.

"Yeah, there was a armed robbery downtown I want you to look at." Jake said, "Theo left the folder on your desk. He's working on it too." He nodded.

"Uh…" Cassie felt her insides turning, "I can work on it alone." She shrugged calmly.

"Well now he's wrapped on all of this, he needs to get back into the field as normal again. You two worked well together so-"

"Yeah but I'd rather not work with him." Cassie made clear as Jake looked over at her.

"Well, tough shit." Jake laughed a little.

"Please, Jake I-"

"Brooks get out of my office now." Jake nodded to her as she rolled her eyes, leaving the office and walking through the station. As if things weren't already awkward enough, to be forced to speak with Theo, out of her own comfort zone, wasn't ideal at the moment.

"Hey, partner." Theo smiled, sitting at Cassie's desk, spinning around on the chair.

"Get up." Cassie said, grabbing him by the neck of his jacket as he laughed and stood up, "Did you ask to work with me?" She huffed, sitting down at her desk.

"Don't flatter yourself." Theo shook his head, "Jake said we work well together." He shrugged, "So get your shit together cause we got a witness to go talk to." He said, patting her on the arm as she groaned, watching as he walked off, running her hands through her hair. She had no idea how she was supposed to do this.


"I'm so glad you guys are deciding to stay for the week." AJ smiled happily, sitting at the kitchen table with her youngest grandbaby on her lap, having breakfast with Jude.

"Yeah, me too." Jude smiled, "I managed to quieten my schedule down and Sean had some paid vacations to take too." She said, "And Mirren obviously has all the time in the world." She said as AJ smiled.

"Yes she does." AJ smiled, kissing Mirren's head and brushing her hand through her wispy hair as Jude smiled. It meant a lot to her to see how much Mirren meant to her parents. And it made her feel bad for taking that away from them. They'd not stopped fussing over her all day and night at the BBQ, in a good way, and it was so fun to see Mirren enjoy all the attention.

"I guess she's not normally used to all the people around." Jude said.

"I bet not." AJ said, taking a sip of her coffee, "So you haven't made friends in New York?" She smiled.

"No." Jude scoffed, "Making friends as an adult is awful. I mean, I have nice people I work with. And Sean does too. And we have nice neighbours but… friends? No." Jude shook her head.

"Don't you get a little lonely?" AJ frowned.

"No, well you know how I am. Such an introvert. I like being on my own sometimes." Jude shrugged.

"Yeah well there's nothing wrong with that." AJ said, "As long as your happy." She smiled as Jude nodded.

"I love my job there." Jude said, "Don't get me wrong, I loved my job here too but… they're just so eager to learn. It's so good when you get to teach people who legit want to learn and listen to you." She nodded.

She felt like she hadn't been able to really talk about New York and their new home and life there due to the awkward terms they left on. She'd missed venting to her mother so bad. It was so good to sit down and talk to her again.

"It's a huge deal to work there, Jude." AJ nodded, "I'm so proud of you. I hate that you left on such… negative terms, I feel like we never got to talk about all the exciting things that came with you moving." She said.

"Yeah, I know." Jude said, "I didn't think you'd wanna hear it."

"Of course we did." AJ said, "We're so happy that you're happy there." She assured her daughter as Jude smiled.

"Now that this is all over, maybe it does feel like we were trying to run away from it." Jude nodded.

"We all wanted to run away from it." AJ assured her, letting Mirren play with her hands in front of her, "But you've got a home there now. A life. Me and your father are not mad about that. We're so happy for you. You always loved New York."

"Yeah, I did." Jude nodded, "It's crazy busy at all times. I thought Chicago was bad." She laughed a little, "So many beautiful places to run and go hiking where we live."

"It's crazy that I haven't even seen your house yet." AJ sighed, "Me and your dad will come visit you soon. You can show us everything." She nodded as Jude smiled.

"That'd be good." Jude nodded, "There is part of me that… feels like, now this is all over do we move back? Do we stay?" She questioned, "I have no idea." She sighed.

"Well it's a big decision." AJ nodded.

"It is." Jude sighed, "I do miss you guys. It's so convenient living here and being ten minutes away. There has been times where all I wanted was to get in my car and drive here, or drive to Thea's and speak to her." She nodded, "But I also know that I'm happy in New York too. Sean's happy. We've got real good jobs." She said.

"It's something you really gotta think about hard." AJ nodded.

"Yeah." Jude sighed, "Is dad really back at work already?" She asked.

"No, he's visiting Sam. I think Thea was going with him today actually." AJ said.

"Oh, yeah." Jude remembered, "You been to visit her?"

"No, not yet." AJ shook her head.

"Do you plan on visiting her?" Jude asked.

"Not anytime soon." AJ said, "I mean, I feel just awful for what she went through, but she still said some mean shit to me and I… I don't think I'm ready to see her just yet." She said as Jude nodded.

"I think if anything it's good for dad and Dean." Jude nodded.

"Yeah, definitely." AJ said.


"Mom said you'd been here when you were younger for some appointments." Punk said, locking the car door over as he walked towards the rehab facility with Thea, who had asked to come with him to visit Sam for the first time.

"Yeah. Some counselling." Thea nodded, "I remember it being nice." She said as Punk nodded, "Wasn't a fan of it at the time, obviously." She said as Punk nodded.

"I think she'll be glad to see you." Punk said as Thea nodded.

"Did it really change that much for you?" She asked him, "So much that you're willing to help her get better and actually consider a relationship? I mean, not long ago you said you'd never speak to her again."

"I didn't know the details." Punk said, "I thought she'd made her own choices and mistakes. I thought it was her idea to… do what she was doing." He said, "And then the more we uncovered, finally figuring out that she was made to do it, to keep us safe… of course it changes things." Punk said, "Cause I know deep down there is a mom in there who was trying to do right by her sons. I never thought there was." He said truthfully as Thea nodded.

"Does she know about Janet being dead?" Thea asked.

"No, I gotta tell her today." Punk nodded, heading into the facility, signing in at the reception before heading off to his mother's room as Thea followed.

He knocked on the room door before walking on, noticing Sam sitting over at the table doing a crossword puzzle. The strangest thing was actually getting to know his mother. He was actually learning things about her. There was no drunk mask pushing it all below the surface.

"Hey." Sam looked up.

"Hey, look who I brought." Punk said as Sam noticed Thea walking into the room, smiling to herself.

"Hey, it's my pal." Sam smiled, watching Thea walking into the room.

"Hey." Thea smiled.

"You didn't have to come here." Sam shook her head.

"I wanted to." Thea shrugged.

"How you feeling?" Punk asked her.

"Oh, you know… worse every day." Sam nodded.

"Good, means you're pushing through." Punk said as Sam rolled her eyes, "Brought you some more gummy bears." He said, sitting them on the table.

"Where's Dean?" Sam asked.

"Working. He's gonna drop by later." Punk told her, pulling a chair out for him and Thea.

"You're not cooped up in this room all day are you?" Thea wondered.

"No." Sam said, "I wish I was." She laughed a little, "They make me go to counselling and… therapy." She waved her hand, still displeased about it.

"Not a fan?" Thea asked, sitting down with her dad at the table.

"God, it's depressing." Sam said.

"It's supposed to help you." Punk said, "It's good for the mind." He nodded, opening up the candy he'd brought as Sam slapped his hand away.

"Don't bring me them for me and then eat them like you did last time." She warned, snatching the packet from him as Punk leaned back on his chair. He was learning that some things about his mother, was just who she was.

"So how long have you been sober?" Thea asked curiously.

"Seven weeks on Tuesday." Sam said, "Not that I'm counting." She joked.

"That's real good." Thea nodded. She knew the power of encouragement, "Do you feel better?"

"Not particularly." Sam said, "I'm a lot better compared to the first week. I was ready to walk out the next day." She said truthfully.

"It's good you stayed. This is a big deal. I know how difficult it is." Thea nodded as Sam looked over, nodding with her.

"I know you do." Sam smiled.

"We've actually got some news." Punk said.

"Who's pregnant?" Sam asked.

"No one." Thea laughed a little.

"Janet's dead." Punk nodded as Sam looked across at him, "We were in Puerto Rico over the weekend and… it all came to blows. Her whole business is busted and she's… she's dead and gone." He said as Sam looked at him, quickly looking down at the ground whilst Thea turned to Punk.

"She's dead?" Sam asked, still looking down.

"Yeah, she's dead." Punk nodded, "Dead and gone, for good." He made clear, watching her closely as he saw her wipe under her eyes, realising she was crying.

"You ok?" Thea sighed, placing her hand over on her grandmother's arm.

"Yeah… yeah, I'm just… I'm being stupid." Sam said, drying her tears. It wasn't a cry of sadness. Absolutely not. It was a cry of relief.

"No you're not." Thea said, "She did horrible, horrible things to you… and others." Thea said, "She finally got what she deserved." She said as Sam nodded, drying her tears as Punk watched. It was very sad, because the more he saw his mom sober, the more he could see just how much damage had been done. All led by Janet. He didn't blame her for breaking down to tears at this news. This no doubt, joyous news.


"Just stop talking." Cassie shook her head, walking into the police station later that night as Theo followed.

"Hey, this was your fault." Theo followed her.

"My fault?" Cassie laughed a little, "Please, you let him get away right under our nose."

"Yeah, because you told me to page in for back-up, which we didn't even need." Theo said angrily.

"Then next time, don't listen to me. You didn't anyway." She shook her head, storming over to her desk.

"Hey, you can be an ass to me out of the uniform, and you can be pissed, but when we're out there, working together, we do just that… we work together." Theo said, "I trusted you to make the call-"

"Yeah and I did. Now deal with it and get over it." Cassie said, "When I'm out there, I don't need you to protect me. So all the… standing in front of me bullshit, you can drop it." She said, "I'm just as equal to you out there."

"Oh, yeah sorry I forgot you hate double standards." Theo said.

"Yeah, you're right. I do." Cassie nodded, "Just leave me alone." She warned.

"We gotta write up this report." He shook his head, putting his hands on his hips, trying to calm down. Perhaps working together when things weren't ideal between them wasn't such a great idea. Especially in a job like theirs.

"I can write it myself. Just leave me alone." Cassie nodded to him, sitting down at her desk.

Theo shook his head, grabbing a chair and sitting down beside her, "We were assigned together, we're doing it together." He made clear as she looked at him, "Start typing."

"Hey, I'm not your rookie anymore." Cassie made clear, "Things have changed around here. You've been gone a year." She said.

"Yeah, I have. Nice of you to tell me about your thing with Mark." He said childishly as Cassie turned to him.

"What?" She looked at him unhappily.

"He told me about you and him." Theo said as Cassie groaned.

"It's like a damn high school in here." Cassie sighed, "Do you want me to apologise for sleeping with someone else? Only… I just, you know… thought you were dead." She spat as he looked at her, "I mean, that's none of your business. Don't bring anything up I did whilst you were gone as if I owe you an explanation. Don't." She stood up.

"Cassie." Theo said, watching her budge by him, heading away down the station as she reached the ladies bathroom, walking inside and locking herself in a stall.

She leaned back against the cubicle door, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. She wasn't sure how she was going to do this. It was a lot more difficult to be around him, to argue with him, to work with him, whilst knowing she was carrying his child. She had no idea how to handle any of it.