Brave
"Hey, is this your friend?" Jude smiled, stepping outside into the yard where her father was sitting at the stairs, petting a cat. Everyone else was inside.
"Yeah, he always comes over here. I don't know where he's from." Punk shook his head, "Which reminds me, how is the dragon thing?" He turned to her as she scoffed.
"Dad." She tutted, sitting down beside him, "He has a name."
"I forgot what it was." Punk admitted.
"Rex." Jude said, "Mirren named him. And he's fine. One of the girls from work comes over and feeds him." She nodded.
"When you planning on going home?" Punk asked her.
"Why? You want rid of me?" She smiled.
"No, of course not." Punk said.
"A few more days." Jude said as he nodded, "Are you ok?" She nudged him over a little.
"You're asking me if I'm ok?" He questioned.
"Yeah." Jude nodded.
"I'm fine." He assured her.
"Why is that such a shocking question?" Jude smiled a little, "Go on, you can ask me how I am." She waited as he smiled a little.
"How are you?" He asked her.
"I'm doing ok. It was a long day. I'm sort of tired." She nodded.
"Yeah, I bet." Punk said, "Does it… feel any better? I know it's a stupid question and I know all of this doesn't change what happened but-"
"It does." Jude assured him, "It makes me feel like what happened to me… someone is now paying for it. Someone is finally getting punished for what they did, what they've left me with." She nodded, "It is still taking a little bit of time to get used to the fact it wasn't just Jackson. It's kinda starting to feel like it was all an outer body experience." She shook her head.
"Shouldn't have taken almost ten years to get the proper truth." Punk shook his head.
He was mad. Of course he was. All he wished was for it all to go away for Jude. To vanish it from her mind forever. It was still a shock to him that Vincent had also attacked her that night. It was still sinking in. He would have done anything to get his hands on him, but he knew that wasn't going to get him anywhere. Jude herself made that very clear to him when she was younger, and he did his best to remember that.
"At least I got the truth." Jude nodded, "I mean he… he told Karen everything that happened. I always thought I'd never know because Jackson was dead." She said.
"Wouldn't you have preferred not to know?" He asked her.
"When it first happened? Sure. I wouldn't have been able to get up and look at him in that court if this was ten years ago. No way." She shook her head, "I desperately wanted to tell him that I forgive him." She admitted.
"Why?" Punk turned to her, "Do you?"
"No." Jude shook her head, "But I hope one day I can."
"You're just… a much better person than I am." Punk nodded, "I kinda hope he gets beaten to death in there." He shrugged as Jude nodded.
"I figured." Jude nodded, "I never thought he would own up to everything. If it wasn't for Cassie and Theo doing so much work, proving he was actually in Chicago at the time and not with his mom… I don't know, maybe he would have denied it all." She said.
"Well your baby sister doesn't give up or quit." Punk nodded.
"She quit soccer." Jude remembered.
"She got herself fired actually." Punk reminded her.
"Oh, yeah." Jude chuckled, "It must have been difficult to prove that. I mean it was ten years ago."
"Well hey maybe these cops are useful after all." He teased, nudging her as she smiled.
"It's not like anything dramatically changes, though." Jude nodded.
"Of course not." Punk said, "I mean… he's gonna die in there." He nodded positively.
"Was he… your friend?" Jude asked curiously as he turned to her, "Before? When you were young?"
"I had a lot of so called friends when I was young." Punk nodded to her, "All they did was get me into trouble. He was one of them." He said, "Did I think he was still a semi decent person? Yeah, I did. Well… up until he sold Thea drugs and… well this finishes it all off." He said.
"It was all him, wasn't it?" She looked at him, "Rio."
"Yeah, it was all him." Punk nodded. He'd accepted that by now.
"He ruined Jackson-"
"He ruined everyone he got close to." Punk said, "The annoying thing is, he's dead, and he's still doing it." He shook his head.
"I think he was just jealous of you." Jude nodded to him as he turned to her.
"Or he was just a psychopath." Punk added.
"Well, that too." Jude nodded.
"That was my shit, though. And somehow I passed it all onto you three." He shook his head.
"No you didn't." Jude shook her head, "He was just a horrible person. Evil. And clearly he had a gift at manipulating people into doing whatever he said. That's not on you." She said, "And now they're all gone. All of them."
"I'm just… sorry if you feel like I let you down. And I'm sorry that you had to go through all of this. And that you're still going through it." He nodded to her.
"You don't have to be sorry for me." Jude shook her head, "And you never let me down. Never." She promised him.
"You're right. Everything you said in court." Punk nodded, "Things have got to get better."
"The charity I work for, I speak with so many girls with similar stories to mine. All different ages." Jude said, "Majority of them don't get a day like this. Or some of them have tried and their attacker has been let go because there wasn't enough sufficient evidence. Or they weren't even arrested in the first place." She shook her head, "Something's got to give eventually, and when it does I wanna be front row to watch it all happen." She nodded.
"Save me a spot." He nodded to her as she smiled.
"Is mom ok?" She asked him.
"Yeah, she's ok. She's proud of you." He nodded, "We all are."
"I just feel like I can stop questioning everything about that night." She nodded, "Not that it's enjoyable to know the details but it's not so much something that was stolen from me anymore. Not as much, at least." She said.
"Hey, it's freezing out here." AJ stuck her head out of the door, "Are you guys gonna come in and get some food?" She asked.
"Yeah, we'll be there in a minute." Jude nodded to her as AJ smiled.
Meanwhile in the living room, Thea was sitting on the couch beside Cassie, going in for another slice of pizza as Cassie watched her.
"You're such a beast." Cassie scoffed.
"Shut your mouth." Thea told her casually.
"This baby is gonna come out a little chunk." Cassie chuckled.
"Good. Fat babies are cute." Thea smiled.
"Yeah, until you have to push it out." Cassie reminded her as Thea groaned.
"Yeah that part is unpleasant regardless." Thea nodded.
"I'd hate to see what it looks like after three kids." Cassie scoffed as Thea turned to her.
"It looks perfect." Thea nodded to her as Cassie rolled her eyes.
"Where is Jude?" Cassie asked.
"I think she's outside with dad." Thea said, "She's so brave." She shook her head as Cassie nodded.
"Yeah, she is." Cassie said, "And she's right, you know. The system is fucked up. And I work in it." She shook her head.
"Yeah and you do the right thing when you can." Thea nodded to her, "It's not just about cops, it's about everyone, everyone believing people when they see they were assaulted. Everyone should just shut up and listen some more." She shook her head as Cassie nodded.
"He barely even looked at her." Cassie said, referring to Vincent, "You think he's remorseful?"
"No." Thea said bluntly, "And I don't care what he feels."
"I hope she can get some more closure from this. I really do." Cassie nodded, "It's shackled her for so long. I hope this is where she can really move on."
"Well she knows what happened now. Not that it should make it any easier but… maybe not having to think about what if and what happened is a big weight off her shoulders. But… I'm not gonna pretend I know how any of it feels."
"Me neither." Cassie nodded, "I remember when it just happened. I was just a teenager. I desperately wanted to do something to make it better for her. I never thought ten years later I'd be arresting one of the people who was responsible." She shook her head.
"You did good. You and Theo." Thea nodded, looking over at Theo who was sitting playing with Chase and James.
"Thanks." Cassie smiled. They had worked hard, day and night, and the fire was fuelled because she loved her sister so much, and she just couldn't give her all to making sure she got the justice she deserved, and of course her husband was there to help and guide her, just like he'd always been.
"Sweetie, are you hungry?" AJ asked, standing in the kitchen, watching Jude and Punk come back inside, "There's pizza in the living room."
"Fatty will have ate it all by now." Jude scoffed.
"I'm sure there's still some left." AJ smiled as Jude nodded, leaving the kitchen and heading into the living room where the rest of the family were, "What were you two talking about?"
"Just stuff." Punk nodded to her.
"Just stuff?" AJ questioned as he nodded, "You good?" She asked him.
"Yeah." He assured her, "She's brave as hell."
"She is." AJ nodded proudly, "We had ourselves some tough children." She said as he nodded with a smile.
"Yeah, we did." He said, "And sometimes I think they've done a better job at raising me than I've done raising them." He admitted.
"Don't sell yourself short." AJ shook her head, "You're the best father in the whole world. And I'm so glad my babies are your babies." She smiled as he chuckled.
"Me too." He nodded, wrapping his arms around her waist, watching at the corner of his eye as Sofia came marching into the kitchen.
"Papa." Sofia said.
"What?" Punk turned to her.
"I brought you some pizza." She told him, holding out a slice of pizza, "Aunt Jude told me to… to quickly give you some before my mommy finished it all. Because she's extra hungry because of the baby."
"Oh, I see." Punk nodded, "Well thank you." He chuckled a little, taking the slice of pizza from her, which looked like most of the toppings had fallen off on the journey to the kitchen.
"You're welcome." Sofia smiled, "Can I have some?" She asked, hanging around, placing her hands behind her back and swaying her foot from side to side as Punk smiled to himself, turning to AJ who also smiled. It reminded them of Thea.
"I suppose we can share." Punk nodded, winking playfully as she grinned.
"You guys enjoy." AJ smiled, leaving the kitchen whilst Punk picked Sofia up, taking a bite of the pizza and handing it to her as she took a bite.
"That's good." Punk said as she nodded along causing him to chuckle as he carried her into the living room with the rest of the family.