Worthy

"Hey, I'm home!" AJ called, getting home after a long day at work, throwing her keys in the pot by the door, listening to her daughters in the kitchen. She took her coat off, walking down the hall and into the kitchen, pausing at the door and folding her arms as she watched Jude and Thea wrapping five year old Cassie in bubble wrap at the kitchen table.

"Hi, mommy." Cassie smiled.

"Stop moving." Eighteen year old Thea told her as Cassie stayed still.

"What are you doing?" AJ asked tiredly but with a little bit of a smile.

"They were giving all this bubble wrap away at college for free." Thea told her.

"We drew sticks for who should get wrapped in it." Twelve year old Jude nodded.

"And what happens after she's wrapped up in it?" AJ asked.

"We're gonna throw her out the window." Thea turned to her mother as AJ stared at her, "No, I'm kidding. We're just gonna get her to run at things." She nodded.

"She's five." AJ scoffed. Sometimes she was speechless.

"Mommy, I want to do it." Cassie made clear, swinging her legs back and forth as she sat on the chair, allowing her sisters to wrap her up in the bubble wrap.

"Of course you do." AJ nodded, "Have you guys ate?" She asked.

"Thea made dinner." Jude nodded.

"There's some leftover for you." Thea told her mother.

"Thanks, babe." AJ smiled gratefully, "So how was school and college everyone?" She asked, turning around and looking at the girls, too busy interested in what they were doing.

"Oh, I touched a frog today." Cassie told her mother.

"That's gross." Jude said.

"You should have kissed it." Thea said, "It would have turned into a sexy guy." She nodded as Thea nudged her, "What?" She laughed.

"Cassie, don't kiss any frogs." AJ warned seriously as Thea chuckled, "What age are you?" She questioned her eldest.

"What?" Thea laughed innocently as AJ just shook her head. In a way, she was just grateful to see her eldest daughter becoming herself again. It had been a rough two years with her, but she had been clean for many months, and had even started college after the summer. She was extremely proud of her in every way. There began to feel normality again. Normality… just without her husband.

"Jude, did you… go see your dad today?" AJ asked calmly.

"Yeah." Jude replied as AJ just nodded. She hadn't seen her husband in almost two years. It was an ache she felt in her life every single day. Without him, she didn't feel like herself. But there came a point where she had to live her life, and given the huge fight they had on their last meeting, she felt the demise of their relationship had already came and gone.

"You know, I think it's gonna snow tonight." AJ thought to herself, looking out the kitchen window. Sometimes she just spoke to herself. Some things her children weren't interested in talking to her about. She'd gotten used to it over the years.

"Ok, you're ready." Thea nodded, "Can you stand up?" She asked Cassie who jumped onto the ground, her arms out, wrapped in layers of bubble wrap with just her face visible.

"That's not too tight, is it?" AJ worried.

"No." Cassie answered.

"Ok, go run into the front door." Jude nodded to Cassie.

"Oh, you two are the worst." AJ shook her head, "Cassie, don't do that, baby." She advised.

"She wants to." Thea laughed, "She's a maniac."

"Ok, look out!" Cassie yelled, running down the hall and into the door, the bubble wrap protecting her from a hard collision, only causing her to fall back as she crashed against it.

AJ tutted whilst Thea and Jude laughed.

"She's not a toy." AJ shook her head.

"She's ridiculous, that's what she is." Thea chuckled.

"I'll do it again." Cassie announced, getting to her feet and running back into the kitchen.

"Ok, go." Jude nudged her as Cassie began running towards their front door again, only this time, Dean had walked in, jumping with a fright as Cassie came running towards him, smacking into his legs and falling over.

"Oh my God." AJ laughed as Dean looked at Cassie with confusion, looking through to the kitchen where the girls were laughing.

"What kind of madhouse is this?" Dean shook his head, helping Cassie up.

"Uncle D, it's me." Cassie made sure he could see her face.

"I see you." Dean laughed, popping a few bubbles on the bubble wrap as she giggled.

"Ok, that's enough with the bubble wrap." AJ nodded to them.

"But it's funny." Jude laughed.

"You've had your fun. Unwrap your sister." AJ told them both as they huffed, "Cass, come get that off." She said.

"Coming." Cassie ran back into the kitchen, popping around in the bubble wrap as AJ shook her head, walking out of the kitchen and down the hall to see Dean.

"What's up?" AJ laughed a little.

"I've almost forgot why I even came here." He admitted as she smiled, "Oh, Renee said you have some brochure for her." He remembered.

"Oh, shoot. I forgot about that." AJ remembered, "Yeah, it's in my purse." She walked over to the doorway, lifting her purse up and taking a brochure out, handing it over to Dean.

"Thank you." Dean said, "How is the Mendez slash Brooks household doing?" He asked her.

"I'm just home, actually. Thea was in charge for the night." AJ said.

"Well that explains the bubble wrap." Dean said as AJ nodded, "She ok?"

"She's ok." AJ smiled, "You don't have to keep asking."

"Habit." Dean shook his head.

"I uh… I gotta tell them about Joey tonight." She nodded to him as Dean fake gagged, "Oh, stop that."

"What?" Dean shrugged.

"You've not even met him before." AJ said.

"No, but I know he's just another suit in an office." Dean said, "Plus… it… it feels wrong, April." He admitted.

"Oh, don't April me." AJ said.

"It does." Dean shrugged, "If you're moving on you… you gotta tell Phil."

"I don't even know if it's gonna go anywhere." AJ shrugged.

"And? You should still tell him. You are still married, you know." Dean reminded her.

"Yeah? What marriage is this?" AJ questioned as Dean sighed.

"I know it's hard for you. And I… I support you moving on. I don't like it. But I just want to see you happy now." Dean nodded, "I just don't like my brother being in the dark, that's all. He's already in the dark with everything that happened with Thea-"

"We agreed that telling him wouldn't be fair on him." AJ said.

"I know." Dean put his hands up, "I know that. But this is different."

"I don't wanna visit him." AJ shook her head as Dean looked at her.

"Jude still going?" Dean asked, looking into the kitchen where the girls were unwrapping Cassie's bubble wrap.

"Yeah, every day after school." AJ nodded, "She's stopped telling me about him. I think she thinks I don't care."

"Well… can't blame her." Dean nodded.

"I don't want her to feel like that." AJ said.

"Then talk to her. She's thirteen. She'll… understand somehow." Dean said.

"I do my best these days to avoid talking about all of that." She admitted.

"Well… that's not gonna help you I'm afraid." Dean said.

"I know." AJ said.

"I better go. Renee will be mad if I'm late for dinner." Dean said as she nodded with a smile, "I'll catch you later."

"See you later." AJ smiled, watching him leave the house.

Later on, Cassie had gone to bed whilst Jude and Thea were still awake. They were older, in their teens, and harder to set routine for.

"Why are you doing homework this late?" AJ asked Jude who was sat at the kitchen table doing homework.

"Cause I didn't do it earlier." Jude told her as she nodded, pouring herself some coffee as Thea walked into the kitchen with wet hair and an oversized t-shirt for a night dress.

"Your leg is bleeding." Jude noticed as Thea looked down.

"God, it won't stop." Thea shook her head, putting her foot up on one of the chairs as AJ passed her a towel.

"I don't know how you can wash your hair and shave in the one go." Jude shook her head, "That's like a work out."

"Sorry, on behalf of being Puerto Rican." AJ nodded to them both.

"I don't usually but I have a date night tomorrow." Thea nodded happily as AJ just nodded. She tried her hardest to take interest in her daughter's relationship with her boyfriend, but it was difficult.

"Where you going?" AJ asked.

"The three dots." Thea nodded.

"Who do you think you are?" Jude laughed as Thea turned to her, "He's playing you. Get your taco bell order ready."

"Shut up." Thea rolled her eyes.

"That place is pricey." AJ nodded.

"Well Jackson has a good job." Thea shrugged as AJ just nodded along. She had to pluck up the courage from somewhere.

"I gotta talk to you both." She nodded as Jude looked up whilst Thea turned to her.

"What?" Thea asked suspiciously.

"Sit down." AJ nodded to her, taking a seat across as Thea slowly sat down beside Jude.

"Your wet hair is dripping on me." Jude scoffed, shuffling her chair away from Thea as Thea leaned over and rung the tips of her hair out on Jude's homework notebook, "Thea!" Jude yelled, punching her sister on the arm as Thea chuckled.

"Hey, quit it. Seriously. You guys make me tired sometimes." AJ shook her head as the girls stopped acting up, looking across at their mother.

"Well go on. What is it you wanna talk about?" Thea asked her.

"Yeah, I got a lot of homework to do." Jude nodded, "Wet homework." She glared at Thea who smiled.

"Ok, well… it feels really weird for me doing this so just… keep that in mind." She nodded to them both.

"I like weird things. Go on." Thea nodded, intrigued.

"I uh…" AJ looked at both of them. It really hurt. It hurt to look at her daughter's, the daughter's she'd brought into the world with the man she loved so dearly, and to tell them this so called news. It was very strange, "I've been on a few dates with this guy." She nodded to them as Jude's head tilted a little.

"Huh?" Thea shook her head.

"He's from work." AJ nodded, "And he's… he's really nice. And we've been on a couple dates. Several couple of dates." She said, "And I wanted to be sure that things were worth telling you about. That's why I waited a little bit." She said as Jude shook her head.

"You're… married." Jude shook her head as Thea looked across at her mother.

"Since when were you wanting to date other people?" Thea questioned.

"It just sort of… came about. He asked me out for lunch on our lunch break and I went. Then it turned into dinner outside of work and… I do like him." AJ nodded to them.

"This is… a little random." Thea shook her head with confusion.

"I know it is. And I know that it's really weird for you guys. I get that. But I… I need to move on, I think. Your dad is… he's not getting out soon. Not even close. And we don't even see each other-"

"That's on you." Jude said.

"Hey, he blew up on her." Thea turned to Jude.

"Look, this isn't really about him." AJ made clear, "It's not gonna change anything. He's… he's still your dad." AJ nodded.

"I wanna meet him." Thea folded her arms, "This guy." She nodded. She was equally protective of her mother, and this wasn't something she'd expected from her. She needed to know whoever this man was, was good enough to be even spending time with her.

"I don't." Jude stood up, leaving the kitchen as AJ sighed.

"Now you wanna pretend you care about your dad?" AJ asked her as Thea smiled a little.

"It's not about dad. I care about you." Thea nodded, "I wanna make sure he's not wasting your time." Thea said, standing up from the table and leaving the kitchen as AJ sighed to herself and reached for her coffee.