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"Knock knock." Joey said, walking into AJ's office as AJ lifted her head, forcing the smallest smile she could as he walked on in, "These are yours. They were in the copy room." He smiled, sitting some papers down at her desk.
"Hey, I'm more than capable of getting up off my ass and getting them myself. It's really my only form of exercise." AJ scoffed, taking her glasses off and sitting them down, rubbing her hands over her face.
"I thought you went to yoga." Joey folded his arms.
"Well I do but… that's just to cleanse my aura." AJ nodded as he chuckled a little.
"I see." Joey nodded, "How's conversations going with Milan?" He asked her.
"You don't wanna know." AJ smiled, "Let's just say I've had some very aggressive phone calls."
"Nothing you're not cut out for I'm sure." Joey smiled as AJ nodded.
"Yeah, so I hear." AJ said, "I'm on vacation after today so I'm not even bothered about stress." She laughed a little.
"How long you on vacation for?" Joey asked her.
"A week. I'm going away with my husband. Celebrate our anniversary even though it was last month." AJ said.
"That's nice." Joey said as AJ nodded.
It had been a month later. They had dropped the spat with trying to figure Joey out and AJ simply humoured him when she had to see him. She didn't feel endangered or intimidated by him, and actually, the more she got used to him being around, the more things began to feel normal again. Punk had settled from holding anything against him, and so had the girls. There wasn't anything more they could do anyway.
"Yeah, I can't wait." AJ smiled. It was all she was dreaming of the past week, getting to disconnect with the world and escape with her husband where it could be just the two of them together.
"A break from the grandkids?" Joey nodded.
"And my kids." AJ nodded, "Don't tell them I said that."
"I won't." Joey smiled. He'd spoken with AJ about his run in with Cassie and Jude. They briefly talked about it and AJ explained that they were just protective. Joey understood and they moved on.
"Ok, you'll have to excuse me, I have to make another phone call." AJ nodded to him.
"I'll leave you to it." Joey smiled, leaving the office and closing the door over, watching AJ through the window.
"A guy threw up on me this morning." Thea sighed, sitting outside the hospital with Dominic who had dropped by on his lunch break to see her.
"That's nice." Dominic nodded, holding a small tub of ketchup as Thea dipped the fries she was eating into it. He was nice enough to bring her one of her favourite lunches from their favourite spot.
"It wasn't nice at all." Thea shook her head, "I can deal with a lot of things. Blood, urine… feces, sometimes." She rolled her eyes, "But vomit? Man, it gets to me." She groaned.
"The joys of being a nurse, huh?" Dominic nodded, "You still glad to be back?" He teased as she smiled.
"I still am, actually. I casted up the most adorable little boy today. He had a wrist fracture." She said, "He asked me all kinds of questions. It was great." She smiled as he looked at her.
"Look at you getting all broody." Dominic smiled.
"I am not." Thea laughed.
"You are. I saw it the other day too when we were at the store. That little baby behind us in the queue. You couldn't take your eyes off her." Dominic said.
"Well she was really cute." Thea shrugged.
"I thought we were done." Dominic said.
"Oh, we are done." Thea assured him, "I need a lot of things right now. Getting pregnant is not one of those. Plus I'm… I'm getting older. Once you reach a certain age you risk complications. Or you end up having twins. What a heart attack that would be." She groaned as he chuckled.
"I'd be going out for some milk." Dominic teased as she nudged him and laughed.
"You're the worst." She smiled as he nodded, "I'm in the ER until 7pm tonight." She groaned.
"My hard-working wife." Dominic smiled, kissing her cheek, "I'll have a bath waiting for you when you get home."
"Thank you." Thea smiled, "I said I would skype with Jude tonight but I'll probably end up falling asleep on her." She laughed a little.
"How is she doing?" Dominic asked.
"Yeah, she's fine. She's finally got a nanny for the kids so she's not got them stuck to her hip the entire time." Thea said, "She was nervous about leaving the girls with a stranger."
"All parents feel like that. We're just lucky we got your mom and dad around if we ever need them to watch the kids." Dominic said.
"Yeah, well we don't have them next week." Thea said, "They're going on vacation, remember."
"Oh, yeah." Dominic nodded, "So I assume things have settled down with that guy?"
"Joey? Yeah I think so." Thea said, "Between you and me, sometimes I think my mom and dad just get paranoid sometimes." She nodded, "And I can understand why."
"You think they think people are constantly out to get them?" Dominic asked.
"Yeah, maybe. Feels bad saying that cause… we all know what they've been through, the stuff they've had to deal with. I'd probably be the same." Thea nodded to herself, "But I think maybe the guy just has a crush on my mom and that's it. So what he goes to strip clubs? Doesn't make you a bad person."
"Yeah maybe it's just a little anxiety about it all for your parents. Which yeah, I understand." Dominic nodded.
"I hope they have a good time on vacation. They deserve it." Thea nodded.
"I'm sure they'll have a blast." Dominic nodded.
"What a day." Cassie sighed, grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge whilst Theo sat at the table doing some paper work.
"Yeah and mine is still going." Theo huffed as Cassie frowned.
"Can't you do it in the morning?" She asked, rubbing his shoulder.
"No, I should get it done tonight." Theo shook his head, "What were you doing today? I barely saw you." He said.
"I was called out to a house in the South burbs." Cassie said, "A guy was shot dead. Girlfriend said it was her ex." She said.
"Crime of passion?" Theo nodded to himself.
"Well… maybe, but we need more context. She was hysterical of course. Boyfriend shot in front of her. Plus she had a kid upstairs. But… the kid belongs to the ex, not the dead guy." She told him, sitting down at the table.
"Sounds like you got yourself a new project." Theo nodded.
"I know." Cassie said, "Weird how our job relies on people being out of control assholes. The assholes pay our bills, Theo." She nodded as he chuckled.
"They do." Theo chuckled, "Chase acted up before bed tonight."
"He did?" Cassie raised her eyebrows, "What was he doing?"
"Taking all his toys out of his box. Wouldn't get into his pyjamas. Had a tantrum on the floor." Theo shook his head, "It's not like him."
"Probably cause he was at daycare today and not with my parents. How inconsiderate of them to work on the same day." Cassie said sarcastically as Theo smiled.
"I think he's just playing up. He also had a tantrum at the store a couple days ago. Remember?" He nodded to her, "He wanted a soccer ball, as if he doesn't have ten out in the yard. So I said no. Then he yelled fine and sat down on the floor." Theo nodded as Cassie chuckled.
"That's a Brooks." Cassie nodded.
"So I just carried and left him there." Theo shrugged.
"Theo." Cassie scolded.
"What? Then he panicked and came chasing after me. Thought I was gonna leave without him." Theo chuckled, "It worked like a charm."
"I know but maybe let's not leave our child in the store unsupervised." Cassie nodded to him.
"He eventually went down ok." Theo said, "I think he's just getting older."
"Stop. He's just a baby." Cassie tutted, "Jude sent me a picture of the girls today. Her and Sean took them to the zoo." She said, getting her phone out and showing him the pictures as he smiled.
"Leela is adorable." Theo chuckled, "Look at her hair." He laughed, noticing two year old Leela had her hair in a band with it sticking up like a unicorn.
"She's hilarious. She's so like Jude." Cassie shook her head, "Mirren's more like Sean."
"They really love living over there, huh?" Theo nodded.
"Yeah, they do." Cassie nodded, "Wish I had the courage to up and leave."
"You'd miss Chicago. And your parents. Jude always seemed to me like the type to flee further away." Theo said.
"Yeah, she was." Cassie agreed, "Just sucks that I can't just go for a drive and see her. Well I could but it would take me hours." She said.
"I guess that's life. Growing up, you tend to lose contact with family. It's like I don't see Matthew for weeks on end sometimes." Theo said, referring to his little brother.
"Yeah, I know." Cassie nodded, "Lucky I got your face to see every single day, though." She said as he nodded.
"You are lucky, you're right." Theo nodded as she smiled, tapping his leg under the chair as he tapped hers back.
"Ape! I'm home." Punk called, walking into the house after getting home from work, "Sorry I'm late. Late delivery. Again." He rolled his eyes, rubbing his neck and cracking it from side to side.
He could see from the dark kitchen down the hallway that she wasn't there, so he headed upstairs right away.
He got to the top of the stairs and headed into their bedroom, "What a day." He mumbled to himself, walking over to the bed and sitting down, noticing the bathroom door closed where he assumed his wife would be.
"You showering?" Punk asked.
Dude to the lack of response he was getting, he stood up and walked over to the bathroom, opening the door and walking in, surprised to see it empty.
"April?" Punk called with confusion, walking back out of their bedroom, checking upstairs fully before heading downstairs and checking around. It was way past the time she normally got home from work.
He checked his phone to see if he'd had any missed calls from her, but there were none, so he gave her a call only for it to go to her voice mail.