Watching

"April." Punk called, walking into their bedroom.

"No, don't even speak to me." AJ warned, coming out of the bathroom in her shorts and t-shirt.

"It's 7pm." Punk noticed her in her sleep shorts.

"Well… I'm going to bed." AJ said childishly.

"I didn't mean it like that." Punk said.

"Yes you did." AJ turned to him, "You absolutely did."

"Well ok, maybe it kinda hurts my feelings a little that you had a whole relationship with this guy. You don't gotta punish me for that." He said.

"Your feelings can be hurt, I understand that, but don't you dare stand there and tell me how you think I was feeling during all of that." AJ said, "As if the entire time I was dating him, I wasn't thinking about you, wondering how my life had got to this, where… where I felt like I was doing it all over again." She shook her head, "I thought about you every second-"

"Ok… ok, I'm sorry." He put his hands up, "I know that. I'm sorry." He nodded.

"I was just trying to get on with my life. It had been five years already. I was lonely. And I know you were too. But I… I had to watch the girls grow up for eight years on my own. When they went to bed or they were at school, I was here on my own. I had no one to talk to."

"And I did?" He questioned, "We were in the same boat, Ape. I can understand the loneliness."

"I know you can." AJ understood, "But I was doing what I could to cope with it. Going out with Joey was just one of the things I did to try and cope with it. I mean you remember how we were when you got out of prison. We were two different people. It took us a while to realise what we'd both been through. We almost got divorced for crying out loud." She rolled her eyes.

"I know but this guy is smug, April. I was standing in front of him and he just had this look on his face. Like he didn't care about anything I said or anything you had said." Punk said.

"He's just trying to be a friend." AJ sighed.

"Ok then I trust that you feel ok with him, and I know you can handle yourself. I'm not trying to butt in and play your bodyguard." He assured, "I just want you to be safe."

"I am safe." AJ rolled her eyes, "Yes he's a little overly friendly. But what am I supposed to do? I've already told him he needs to back off." AJ shrugged, sitting down on the edge of the bed.

"Well maybe he didn't understand the first time. No harm in telling him again." Punk folded his arms.

"I can handle it." AJ shook her head.

"What's wrong?" Punk nodded.

"What?" AJ looked up at him.

"There's something wrong with you." Punk said as AJ shook her head, "There is. It's not just about Joey. You're off. You have been for a couple weeks now." He noticed. He thought due to Joey working in her department again, it was just stressing her out, but he knew his wife and he knew when something was bothering her, or something was on her mind.

"I'm not off." AJ shook her head as he sat down beside her on the edge of the bed.

"What's wrong?" He asked her.

"When I was at dinner with him the other night, at my boss' house." AJ began as Punk listened, "He… He was just talking to me casually and then he brought up Jude and… what happened to her."

"How does he know?" Punk immediately questioned.

"Let me finish." AJ said calmly, "Of course I immediately asked the same thing. He said he knew a cop in the station who told him about it." She nodded.

"Who's the cop?" Punk shook his head.

"Some guy called Mark." AJ shrugged, "Then I realised that Mark was the name of the cop who was just arrested in amongst all that chaos at the car dealership with Theo and Cassie." She said.

"And what did he say about Jude?" Punk asked defensively.

"Nothing. Just that he heard and he was sorry." AJ said, "I called him after and that's when he told me it was his buddy Mark that told him. I couldn't figure out for the life of me why a cop would give out that information. And if it was this Mark guy…. He also sent those pictures to Jude." AJ turned to Punk, "Who is he? Why does Joey know him? I have questions." AJ nodded.

"Yeah, so do I." Punk said, keeping his anger at bay, "Who is this Mark guy?" Punk shook his head.

"No clue. I was thinking about asking Cassie or maybe Theo but… I know how they get when personal stuff gets mixed in with their work." AJ said, "Especially Cassie. She hates it."

"Well this is different." Punk said.

"I don't trust Joey." AJ nodded to him truthfully as Punk looked at her, "I don't feel endangered by him or… unsafe around him." She made clear, "But… there's just something about him."

"I think you gotta talk to Cassie about it." Punk nodded.

"Why me?" She questioned.

"Cause she won't yell at you like she will with me." Punk said, "She's a cop, I'm sure she can look into it."

"I just hate feeling like things are happening around me that I'm not aware of." She shook her head, "It's happened too much in my life."

"It's gonna be fine." Punk said, wrapping his arm around her shoulder as she leaned her head into him, "It could just be that they're buddy's and he mentioned it to him cause you and him had a thing." He shrugged, "I know we've lived a life where it's hard not to think of the worst, but try not to." He said, kissing her head as she nodded.

"I'll do my best." AJ sighed.

"So apparently Chase was baking cookies with your mom all day." Theo said, walking into the kitchen after putting Chase to bed for the night, finding his wife in the kitchen with a spoon dug into a carton of ice-cream.

"Yeah, she gave me a batch to take home." Cassie pointed over, "She seems kinda quiet."

"Your mom?" Theo asked.

"Yeah. And normally when mom is quiet there's a reason for it." Cassie said, "Which makes me nervous."

"She seemed fine when I saw her the other day." Theo shrugged.

"Well maybe I just know her a little better than you." Cassie nodded, "Did Chase go down ok?"

"Yeah, he's fine." Theo nodded, "Do you want me to make you some proper dinner or are you good with the ice-cream?" He smiled.

"What's on offer?" Cassie smiled.

"Well there's chicken we gotta use up." Theo said, opening up the fridge as Cassie sat down at the table.

"You heard any more about Mark and that whole case?" Cassie asked him, sitting her ice-cream to the side.

"No just that he didn't get bail and they got a lot of people for questioning. The CIA have been doing most of the work." Theo nodded, "Kinda glad it's out of my hands now."

"Yeah you don't need that level of stress." Cassie agreed.

"Just back to busting good old regular dealers in the surrounding neighbourhoods." Theo nodded.

"Always a fun time." Cassie said as Theo nodded.

"Hey when you said you wanted to focus on your career and stuff, do you have anything in mind? Anything you wanna work towards?" Theo asked her, prepping some dinner for them.

"Not anything in particular but… I'd maybe like some bigger title in the future. Like… detective or something." Cassie shrugged, "And I can't work towards that if I'm going off on maternity leave again."

"Yeah, I get it." Theo assured her.

"I'm not saying never, you know. Just not right now." She said as he nodded.

"Hey you don't gotta explain to me. We gotta be in a place where we both agree on it. And I know it's different for you. You gotta go through an actual pregnancy and all the physical stuff. It's easy days for me, I just get to be a cheerleader."

"Yeah you do." Cassie laughed a little, "In a few years. I'd love for Chase to have a little brother or sister." She assured him with a smile.

"I guess I was thinking about wanting them to be close in age but look at you and your sisters. You guys have big age gaps between you and you're the closest siblings I know." Theo said as Cassie smiled.

"Yeah well growing up Thea was always a teenager to me. It wasn't like we played together. She was actually more like a mom to me and Jude. If mom was working she would pick us up from school and make us dinner. We'd make her do our homework for us. I think it made her a lot more protective of us. She's seen us both as babies and watched us grow up I guess." She nodded.

"She is protective over you guys." Theo agreed.

"That can be related to BPD, actually." Cassie nodded, "Relationships can be intense. I've been reading about it as much as I can." She said.

"How has she been doing?" Theo asked.

"Good as far as I know. She starts back at work next week. Just part-time, though. But I think it'll be good for her." Cassie said, "And she's still been going to therapy twice a week. I think maybe that's what she's always needed. She's such a closed book."

"You aren't so open yourself, either." Theo hummed.

"I am with you." Cassie defended.

"Yeah after a couple days of me trying to get whatever it is out of you." Theo chuckled.

"That's just how some people are." Cassie waved her hand, listening as there was a knock on the door, "I'll get it." Cassie stood up from the table, "Better not wake my baby up." She worried, leaving the kitchen and walking down the hallway, opening up the door where she saw Dan standing.

"Hey." Dan nodded to her.

"Oh, hi." Cassie smiled, "How are you?" She asked, letting him into the house as Dan stepped in.

"I'm alright. How are you doing?" Dan asked her, "Busy at work?"

"As always, yeah." Cassie said.

"Is the little man asleep?" Dan figured, walking through to the kitchen with Cassie.

"Yeah, Theo just put him down." Cassie nodded, walking into the kitchen where Theo noticed Dan.

"Hey." Theo smiled, "Just in time for dinner." He nodded to Dan.

"Oh, I've already ate." Dan assured, "But it does smell good." He thought.

"Yeah, Theo pretends he can't cook." Cassie nodded as Theo just laughed to himself, "You doing ok?" She asked Dan.

"Yeah, I'm getting by." Dan nodded, "I wish I dropped by earlier, could have seen the little guy. How is he?" He smiled. He was close with Cassie and her family. They had him over for dinner from time to time.

"Oh, he's fine." Cassie smiled, sitting back down at the table, "He was at my mom's all day. They baked cookies. You can take some home because there's a ton there." Cassie pointed as Dan smiled, "Now I sense you're here to talk to me about something then." She figured as Theo turned around curiously.

"Well yeah… yeah, it was just a quick thing." Dan nodded to her, "Well you know how you were telling me about that guy your mom had a thing with and now he's working with her again?" He asked as Cassie nodded.

"Yeah, Joey." Cassie said.

"Well I saw him the other night. He was going into a Gentleman's club downtown with another guy." Dan said, "So being as foolish as I am, I went inside and he… was meeting with a lot of people in the space of an hour. It looked seedy." He nodded, "I couldn't get close enough to hear anything but there was definitely something weird going on."

"Doesn't surprise me." Theo said, "From what I've heard about the guy."

"I don't know anything about him honestly." Cassie said, "I just know my mom is kinda struggling at work with him being around again. I thought it was just cause it reminded her of… all those years ago." She said, "But her and my dad like to keep things to themselves sometimes." She said.

"Well I didn't really want to go speak to your dad, but I think maybe it'd be best to be cautious about him-"

"I don't know why you're still scared of my dad." Cassie said.

"I'm not scared." Dan scoffed, "Naturally I'm just closer to you so I'm telling you." He nodded, "Just to keep your mom in the loop."

"I appreciate that." Cassie nodded to him, "She has been sort of quiet lately." She admitted. There was a worry there about this man who she felt like she knew nothing about. She didn't like knowing he was around her mother again, and by what Dan had told them, it wasn't someone she wanted around her mother.

"Does anything not seedy happen in a Gentleman's club?" Theo scoffed.

"You'll never know, baby." Cassie assured him in a warning tone as he nodded, "I should probably let my dad know, although I don't want him flipping his switch." She thought to herself, "Maybe we could look a little into him." She thought, turning to Theo.

"Nuh uh… last time I dug into you and your family's problems I wound up dead and in Puerto Rico for a year." Theo said, "Don't think so."

"Then I will." Cassie said, "He'll get curious and stick his nose into it eventually anyway." She told Dan.

"I can hear you, you know." Theo said as Dan smiled to himself.

"Just giving you the heads up." Dan said as Cassie smiled.

"Well thank you. Although… I didn't take you for the watchful protector type." She admitted truthfully.

"Well… Sam would expect me to keep a look out on things." Dan shrugged, "She really liked your mom."

"Yeah they pretended they hated each other all the time." Cassie said as Dan smiled, "Why don't you stay? You don't gotta eat, I'll make you some coffee." She told him.

"Oh, ok." Dan nodded to her, taking a seat as Cassie smiled. She never wanted him to be lonely. She really did feel like she had a grandfather in him and she was glad for that.

A/N: Who is Joey, really? More to come!