Lunch


"Is she allowed some ice-cream?" Thea asked, sitting at a park bench with Jude, looking on at Mirren in her stroller whilst James and Sofia were off playing in the park. Taking advantage of the good spell of weather.

"You think I'm a strict mom, don't you?" Jude smiled, amused, sitting across from her.

"Well… no, I'm just asking. I can see her eyeing my cone up." Thea chuckled a little, watching Mirren in her strolling smiling at her, trying to get her attention, "She's so adorable." Thea shook her head.

"Yeah, I think so." Jude smiled, "And yes, she's allowed some ice-cream." Jude nodded.

"Hey, mommy says you can have some ice-cream." Thea smiled, sitting onto the edge of the bed, lowering her ice-cream cone over to Mirren for her to have a little bit, "Go on, get it all over your face." She nodded as Jude smiled.

Living in New York not only meant that she didn't get to see her family as much, but also Mirren didn't either. And she really wanted her to know her aunt, uncles and her grandparents. Her cousins too. It was so wonderful to see her interacting with the family.

"I think she likes it." Jude chuckled, watching Mirren trying to hold onto Thea's hand to keep the cone steady.

"Is that good?" Thea smiled, stroking Mirren's cheek softly, thrilled to be spending time with her as well as Jude.

"Ok, I think that's enough." Jude chuckled, seeing the ice-cream progressively covering Mirren's face.

Thea smiled, pulling the cone back and finishing it off whilst Jude cleaned up Mirren's face and hands from all the ice-cream.

"So she's not talking much?" Thea asked as Jude shook her head.

"Well apparently she says rice." Jude laughed a little, cleaning up Mirren's hands as the one year old tried to pull them away stubbornly, "She hates when I clean her hands." Jude shook her head.

"I can see that." Thea chuckled, watching Mirren whining a little, trying to back up into her stroller to get her hands away from the evil wipes, narrowing her brows at her mother angrily, "Look at that face." She laughed.

"She looks like Sean when she does that." Jude nodded, "Cheeky." She tickled under Mirren's chin as she smiled.

Thea couldn't help watch with a smile. She'd watched her sister, not necessarily up close and personal, but she had watched her turn into the most amazing mother. Given where she first started, when she was struggling to grasp it all, it was so beautiful to see how natural it all was to her now.

"So what's your plans for the rest of the week in Chicago?" Thea asked.

"Well I know mom's having us over for dinner as much as we can." Jude said, "And we're visiting Sean's mom, too. We're doing lunch with mom and Cassie." She said, "I'm pretty much fully booked." She nodded.

"It's nice to have you back for a little while, though." Thea nodded.

"It's nice to be back." Jude nodded honestly, "I guess I got myself into the mindset that this place was dangerous but… it was just her that was dangerous." She shook her head, "I was just scared."

"Do you think you rushed into moving away because you just wanted to protect yourself?" Thea asked.

"Well yeah, I know that's why we moved." Jude nodded, "But I do love it there. We have great jobs. I love the house." She said, "I just wish I could move all you guys out there. Would that be selfish?" She smiled.

"Maybe." Thea nodded as Jude sighed.

"I don't know what to do." Jude shook her head, "And Sean is so laid back, I spoke to him about last night in the hotel and he was just like, oh whatever makes you happy." She mimicked his voice the best she could as Thea smiled.

"Well, you can't be mad at that. He's obviously in the same boat as you, there's probably things he likes about New York and things he likes about here." Thea said, "It's a big decision for you to make."

"I know." Jude said, "Cause I see Mirren with everyone, she's loving all the attention and then when we go back to New York, she doesn't get any of that." Jude said, "I'd love for her to grow up with a big family." She nodded truthfully.

"You gotta think about it." Thea said, "For now just enjoy the week you got before you have to leave." She said as Jude nodded.

"I'm looking forward to having lunch with mom tomorrow. She's so happy we're all back in the one space again." Jude smiled as Thea nodded.

"Yeah, it's good to see her back to her normal self again." Thea agreed, "Is Cassie coming with us?"

"As far as I know." Jude nodded, "Why wouldn't she?" She asked.

"Well you know how she's been these past couple of days. Mom said she's just been going to work, coming home and going to sleep." Thea shrugged, "I mean it's not like her. She's always got way too much energy at all times."

"It's gotta be the whole thing with Theo, right?" Jude said, "And I don't blame her. You start catching feelings for someone, then you think they die, you have to grieve and accept it all… then he shows up out of nowhere?" She shook her head.

"He's saved my kids. Twice." Thea said, "And I think he cares about her."

"Gotta let her feel how she wants to feel, though." Jude nodded.

"Yeah, I know." Thea said, "I just don't want her to be scared of loving someone."

"She will figure it out." Jude nodded confidently, looking over at Mirren who had fallen asleep in her stroller sitting up, "All this attention got her exhausted." She laughed as Thea looked on with a smile.


"Nobody tell your dad we went for ramen, you know how he gets." AJ shook her head, sitting down at lunch with her three daughter's in an authentic Japanese café bar. Her husband's favourite.

"Is he at work?" Jude asked, sitting across from her mother and Thea with Cassie sat beside her.

"Yeah." AJ nodded, "And then he's going to see Sam after."

"Did you go see her?" Thea turned to her.

"Not yet but I've decided I'm going to." AJ said, "I know she's did and said a lot of horrible things but… doesn't mean she deserved what happened to her. And your dad said she's really taking this seriously. You know, getting better." She said.

"She is." Thea agreed, "When I saw her I couldn't believe she was actually sober."

"Is she acting any different?" Jude asked, "It's just, I don't really know her without the drugs and alcohol." She admitted.

"She's still kinda the same, just… easier to talk to." Thea nodded, "I think it's good, if not for herself then for dad and Dean. It's not too late to get better and recover from that. And who knows maybe she'll get a good relationship out of it with them." She said, "I for one would like to see that. After all the shit that's happened."

"Yeah, me too." AJ agreed, looking over at Cassie who wasn't adding much to the conversation, sitting playing with the wrappers from the chopsticks, "Speaking of… relationships." She looked over at Cassie who looked up.

"Let's not." Cassie said seriously.

"What's going on with you and Theo?" AJ asked, "Have you… talked to him at all yet?" She wondered.

"Yes, and I told him I just want some space. So if we could all not talk about it, that'd be great." She nodded to them all.

"Ok." AJ nodded, "Ok, well how's work?" She asked her.

"Fine, I guess." Cassie shrugged as AJ nodded, looking over at Jude who made a confused face at her. It wasn't like Cassie to be so short with them.

"You working on a new case?" Jude asked as Cassie nodded.

"Yeah, there was an armed robbery downtown a couple days ago. I went to speak to the witness the other day and he got away so clearly he knows something about something." Cassie sighed stressfully, "Trying to locate him has been a nightmare." She shook her head.

"You'll get him." AJ nodded confidently as Cassie smiled to her softly, "I don't know how you girls have such high pressured jobs." She shook her head.

"Is finger-painting high pressured?" Thea looked over at Jude, chuckling as Jude kicked her under the table.

"Mom, you run a huge department for a huge company." Cassie laughed a little, "That's high pressure." She said.

"Yeah but it's all desk work and conference calls and boring stuff." AJ said, "You girls are out there really making a difference."

"Finger-painting is making a difference?" Thea smiled over to Jude, enjoying teasing her as she always done.

"Just shut up." Jude rolled her eyes, "Actually, I'll have you know that I've actually been working with the New York City alliance against sexual assault." She nodded, "It's sexual assault awareness month and they reached out to me after finding out about the group I run in the academy."

"I didn't know you ran a group at your work." AJ looked over at her.

"Yeah, there wasn't any sort of guidance or help there for that kind of stuff and I was talking to Sean about it one night and he told me to just go create it myself. So I did." Jude nodded, "It's just a safe place, I guess, for people to come talk about their experiences, or just listen to others." Jude shrugged as AJ smiled.

"That's a really good thing, sweetie." AJ smiled proudly as Jude nodded.

"Yeah well I think it's important." Jude nodded to them.

"It is." Thea said whilst Cassie nodded with a smile to her sister.

"So now you're working for an actual organisation?" AJ questioned as Jude nodded.

"Yeah, just volunteering and stuff." Jude said, "I think it's really helped me, actually. You always think you're the only person to have suffered and gone through that, and then you meet tons of other people who share similar stories and experiences. I mean, it's sad in a way but… it's also really cool to help other people." She nodded, "Makes you feel less alone, I guess."

"It's a great thing." Cassie nodded to her sister.

"Why didn't you say before?" AJ asked.

"I guess with everything going on, not being in contact as much, kinda made it difficult." Jude said.

"Well I think that's amazing, Jude. Really." AJ nodded proudly.

"Ok, what are we getting?" Jude asked, looking at the menu.

"I could eat the whole damn menu." Cassie admitted truthfully as they chuckled. It was becoming way too easy for her to keep her secret to herself.