Decision

"So, I think your parents kinda liked me." Theo said, wheeling his way over to Cassie's desk on his chair the next day, "Don't you think?" He asked.

"Yeah, I think it went well." Cassie nodded, "You and my dad seemed to get along well." She pointed out as he nodded.

"He's actually not how I thought he was." Theo shook his head.

"How did you think he was?" Cassie shook her head.

"Well like…" He wasn't sure how to put it, "Like this…" He turned the computer around, typing in her father's name and scrolling down, opening up a mugshot from when he was nineteen and showing Cassie who laughed a little, "That's a scary guy." Theo concluded, looking on at the mug shot of Punk, bleached blonde hair, bruised eye and a cut up lip with a slight edgy smirk on his face.

"Your mistakes don't make you who you are." Cassie reminded him, clicking off the case, "He's not the thug everyone thinks he is." She defended as Theo nodded.

"He really loves you and your sisters." Theo nodded.

"Well, considering he's my dad, that's good to know." Cassie said as he smiled and nodded, "I uh… I never knew that your dad lives in Mexicali. And that you rarely see him." She admitted.

"Yeah, it's… it's not the best relationship." Theo shrugged, "He never bothered to make effort with me when I was younger so it kinda feels like… why should I make effort now? He re-married and has a new family so… whatever." He said.

"I'm sorry." Cassie said.

"Don't be." Theo nodded, "You didn't mention that you never met your dad until you were eight." He pointed out.

"It never really came up." Cassie said, "Plus, I don't even remember him not being there so it actually doesn't affect me as much as you'd think." She said as Theo nodded.

"I guess there's a lot we actually don't know about each other." He said as Cassie nodded.

"Yeah I think I realised that last night." Cassie said as Theo nodded.

"Why don't you come to my place for dinner tonight? I was gonna get Chinese food." He said as she looked at him cautiously, "We gotta spend time with each other, Cass." He nodded, "Just… friends hanging out, right?" He nodded to her as she looked across at him.

"Yeah." Cassie said, "Yeah, sure." She nodded, "I'm only coming for the Chinese food." She smiled as he laughed a little.

"I don't doubt that, honestly." He nodded as she smiled, watching him look around the station, "Oh, I suppose I gotta do some work." He groaned, stretching his arms up and yawning loudly.

"That'd be a good idea." She nodded as he stood up.

"You want anything whilst I'm out?" He asked her.

"No, I'm ok thanks." She nodded to him.

"Alright, be good." He tapped her shoulder, walking off down the station as she watched him dreamily, sighing to herself and shaking her head as she turned back to her computer.

"Kung Pao chicken, fried rice, fries…" Theo passed over the food to Cassie as sat at his kitchen table in his apartment.

"Been dreaming about this all day." Cassie admitted, opening up the boxes and grabbing her fork.

"Yeah, me too." Theo nodded, sitting down across from her and opening up his food tiredly.

"Hard day?" She wondered, tucking her legs up to her chest on the chair as she dug into the food.

"I had a witness call in early this morning, went to go meet her this afternoon and she didn't show up." Theo shrugged, "Sets me back a day, that's all." He said.

"You got her contact details?" Cassie asked.

"Yeah. I've left a message on her voicemail, but who knows." He shrugged.

"Dead end?" Cassie asked.

"Yeah, probably." Theo nodded.

"I have something for you." Cassie nodded to him as he looked over at her.

"What?" He asked curiously, watching her dig into her purse, pulling out what looked like a small piece of paper, walking over to his fridge as he watched her.

"There." Cassie smiled, sticking her first scan sonogram onto the fridge with a magnet, "It's a little ripped but I managed to Sellotape it back together." She nodded as Theo looked over, "I figured since you liked my parent's fridge décor so much." She shrugged as Theo smiled to himself, looking on at the no longer bare fridge with the sonogram stuck to it. It was pretty overwhelming.

"That's kinda scary." He laughed a little, standing up and walking over to it, "Where is it?" He asked her, screwing his eyes up as he tried to find the baby on the sonogram.

"See that little dot." Cassie pointed.

"Yeah?" Theo questioned.

"That's it." Cassie laughed a little.

"What?" Theo chuckled, "I was legit looking for a head." He said as she shoved him and shook her head.

"You're an idiot." She chuckled, "Next time we see it, it'll be bigger." She assured him, turning to him as she watched him look at it with a smile.

"Don't you want to keep it?" He turned to her.

"I made a copy." Cassie nodded, walking back over to the table as Theo joined her, "Did you tell your mom?" She wondered as he nodded.

"Yeah. Yeah, I told her." Theo said, "I mean, she just wants what's best for us." He said as Cassie nodded.

"Are you gonna tell your dad?" She asked him.

"Don't think so." Theo shook his head, "He's never gonna meet the kid so there's no point." He shrugged as Cassie nodded, "You know I feel like a real idiot." He admitted.

"Why?" Cassie asked.

"I had this… perception of your family." He admitted truthfully, "Just after hearing different things about them. Things that have happened to your sisters. I guess I thought I had them all figured out." He said, "And then when I met them last night… they made sure to make me feel welcome and I appreciate that." He nodded to her, "You've got a really good family." He looked across at her as she smiled and nodded.

"I know I do." Cassie assured him, "People hear things about my dad being in prison, my mom's family… it's like they think we're some sort of circus family. They don't know shit." She shook her head, "I have good parents who gave me amazing memories, an amazing childhood. If I can be half as good a parent as they are, I'll be happy." She nodded as he smiled.

"They'd be happy to hear you say that." Theo nodded.

"I hope my dad didn't show you too many embarrassing pictures of me." She shook her head, tucking into her food as he smiled, looking over at her.

"No, they were all good." Theo said, "My personal favourite, the Rubik's cube." He nodded as Cassie chuckled and nodded.

"Mom made good handmade Halloween costumes." Cassie nodded.

"And your dad told me about you getting kicked off your soccer team." He shook his head.

"Quitting made me feel bad so I just… I wanted them to kick me off." She shook her head as he laughed to himself.

"You're crazy." He shook his head, "I uh… I honestly didn't expect to get on so well with your dad." He admitted as Cassie smiled, "He's pretty cool. And I appreciate them welcoming me in like that."

"They'll class you as family now." Cassie nodded.

"Does feel sort of weird, huh?" He looked across at her.

"What do you mean?" Cassie asked.

"Well I'm meeting your parents, getting welcomed in like that, we're having a baby together and… we're just friends?" He questioned as she looked across at him, "Just not really your normal situation, is it?" He shrugged as she looked over at him.

"I think it's better this way, for now." Cassie nodded to him, "We're so unprepared for this, and I think getting into a relationship when something this important is happening for us isn't the smart thing-"

"Why? Cause you're scared it fails?" Theo asked him.

"No, because… I think there's more to worry about right now, don't you?" She asked as he nodded slowly, looking across at her, silence filling the air awkwardly, "I was thinking about asking Jude to paint the nursery." She broke the silence.

"Why?" Theo shook his head with confusion.

"She can do like murals and stuff. I was thinking once we find out if it's a boy or a girl we could decide on something. I know she did like a safari for Mirren. It was so cute." Cassie said.

"Yeah, that sounds cool." Theo nodded, "So like… when do you think it happened?" He asked her as she looked over at him.

"What are you talking about?" She shook her head.

"You getting pregnant." Theo said.

"We only slept together once since you got back." She laughed a little, "So my guess is that night."

"Yeah but which round was it? Cause that was a lot of sex." Theo nodded to himself, looking over at her and watching her blush, "A lot of sex that you initiated."

"Excuse me?" Cassie smiled a little, "You didn't exactly do much to stop it, did you?" She challenged.

"Hey, I was just following your lead." Theo shrugged innocently.

"Oh, really?" Cassie laughed a little as he nodded, "You're an idiot." She concluded as he smiled.

"She's down." Sean announced, waving the sound monitor in his hand as he walked into the kitchen where he saw his wife sitting at the table on the computer.

"She go down ok?" Jude asked him.

"Out like a light." Sean nodded, "What you doing?" He asked her.

"Looking at houses in Chicago." Jude said.

"You are?" He said, walking over to the table and sitting down beside her, "Are we moving and you forgot to tell me?" He smiled a little, turning to her.

"No, I'm just looking." She assured him, kissing him on the lips sweetly as he gave her a few more pecks before she looked back at the laptop screen.

"Where's your head at with it?" Sean asked her.

"God, I don't even know." Jude admitted, "I love it here. I really do. I love my job. I love this house. I really could see Mirren growing up here." She nodded to him, "But… I do miss my family." She nodded to him.

"I know you do." Sean understood.

"And with Cassie being pregnant, I wanna be there for her, and it's not like I can just drive on over to see her." Jude said, "And I loved seeing Mirren with everyone when we stayed for that week last month. I'd love for her to be close with her cousins." She nodded, "I just don't know what to do." She sighed to herself.

"Well you're looking at houses so… maybe you're more opposed to moving back than you think." Sean said, "It's no trouble to me, it's pretty easy for me to get a transfer, but I know you've been doing a lot of extra work here. Would you really be able to leave all that?"

"I don't think so." Jude shook her head, "It's the first time in my life where I feel like… what happened to me is actually serving some kind of purpose." She admitted.

"Then I don't think that's worth jeopardising." Sean said, "Cause I see it too. You're legitimately happy here. Yeah, I know you miss your family but… when I come from work and I hear you talk about your day, and everything you did… I frickin love it." He nodded as Jude smiled, "You're happy and that's the most important thing to me."

"I love you." Jude smiled sweetly as he kissed her cheek.

"And I get the whole thing about you wanting Mirren to grow up with her cousins but it's not like she'll never see them. Things were crazy for the past six months we've been here. Maybe we can finally get your family to come out and see this place. And we can always go visiting." Sean nodded, "Plus we can get Mirren a little sister or brother buddy to play with soon."

"Oh, really?" Jude smiled.

"Yeah, if you're down." Sean said as Jude smiled and nodded.

"Count me in." She nodded, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him sweetly as she closed the laptop down.