Butting Heads


"Hey, your sister is in town. I thought she would have come to see you." AJ said, standing making coffee in the kitchen where Thea stood.

"She's in town already?" Thea asked.

"Yeah, she said she wanted to be here for dad's birthday." AJ nodded.

"Of course she did." Thea rolled her eyes subtly.

"So her and Sean are just gonna spend the week here." AJ smiled happily as Thea just nodded.

"Great." Thea nodded as AJ turned to her.

"Oh, Thea. Grow up, sweetie." AJ shook her head with frustration, "What the hell are you even mad about? Cause I don't think Jude even knows."

"I'm not mad." Thea shrugged stubbornly.

"You are." AJ said, "She's your sister. You guys are close. Stop being a child." AJ suggested.

"No, I'm sorry, she doesn't get to have a free pass to tell people how to live their lives and… and to make me and Cassie feel bad when she isn't even here." Thea shook her head.

"I figured you might have gotten over that by now. She clearly didn't mean it the way you've taken it. She was just worried about your father." AJ said as Thea just shook her head.

"I went to see Chrissy the other day." Thea said, changing the subject.

"How is she?" AJ asked.

"Yeah, she's fine." Thea shrugged, "Maybe I was just being a little paranoid. She still seemed sort of… out of character, though." She nodded.

"You know I can bring it up to Renee if you want me to. She might shed a little light onto it. Girls tell their mothers everything. If they're good mothers that is." AJ added.

"No… no, it's fine. You don't have to say anything to Renee." Thea said, "It's just me being paranoid I think. I get that sometimes. Think there's every little thing wrong with everyone around me." She shook her head.

"Yeah, I get it." AJ nodded.

"How are you doing?" Thea asked her, walking over to the fridge and taking out some items to make herself a sandwich, "I bet you feel a little better knowing that Joey is locked up in county now."

"Yeah, I do." AJ nodded, "Still think about it though." She shrugged as Thea nodded.

"Yeah well I don't blame you." Thea said as AJ watched her load the sandwich up, pouring some chips onto it.

"Thea, what the hell is on that sandwich?" AJ shook her head.

"Just some turkey… provolone cheese, lettuce and tomato because health comes first." She reminded her mother, "Lots of mustard." She smiled happily, "Chips." She poured more chips on before closing her sandwich over.

"You eat like your father." AJ shook her head as Thea crunched into her sandwich.

"I still haven't found a Halloween costume." Thea groaned.

"Look online, there's tons of ideas on there." AJ nodded.

"I'm familiar with the online concept." Thea smiled sarcastically as AJ tutted, drinking her coffee, "This is really hitting the spot, you know." She nodded happily, enjoying her sandwich, perhaps too much.

"I can see that." AJ nodded with a small smile. She knew exactly what was going on with Thea.


"Hey, guys. I need your opinion." Thea walked into the living room where Sofia and James were sitting, watching some TV before being summoned for their baths by their father, who was currently running the bath upstairs.

"What?" James looked over at her whilst Sofia kept her eyes on the TV.

"Should mommy dress up as a devil or an angel for Halloween?" Thea asked them.

"An angel." James nodded.

"A devil!" Sofia yelled with a grin, "A devil, mommy. Angel's aren't scary, James." Sofia told her brother unhappily.

"Neither are witches." James looked at her.

"Yes they are." Sofia gasped, "Witches are very scary. And… And I'll be a scary witch." She declared as Thea put her hands on her hips.

"Guys, I need you to both decide for me." Thea nodded.

"Mommy, you have to be a devil." Sofia folded her arms.

"Whatever." James shrugged, no longer interested in debating about it, watching the TV.

"Ok, I will find a costume online somehow." Thea nodded, "You wanna help me look?" She asked as Sofia nodded, just as there was a knock at the door.

"I'll get it." James slid off the couch, running out of the living room and opening up the door where Jude was standing.

"Hey, sweetie." Jude smiled upon seeing her nephew.

"Hi, Aunt Jude." James smiled, getting a hug from his aunt who came into the house, squeezing him tightly.

"How have you been?" Jude asked him, "You excited for Halloween?"

"Yeah. I'm gonna be a pirate." James told her.

"Oh, that's a good one." Jude smiled, "What about your sister?"

"She's gonna be a witch." James said, "I said she didn't need a costume and my mom gave me into trouble." He scoffed as Jude chuckled and nodded. Growing up and having children, nieces and nephews was like watching mini versions of her and her sisters running around. It was just great.

"Is your mom around?" Jude asked just as Thea walked out from the living room, looking over at Jude, "Hey." Jude said.

"Hi." Thea nodded.

"Aunt Jude." Sofia squealed, pushing by Thea's legs and running over to Jude, getting a tight squeeze from her too.

"Hey, I hear you're gonna be a witch for Halloween." Jude smiled.

"Yes, I am." Sofia nodded, brushing her hair from her face, "And mommy's being a devil." She said as Jude nodded, looking over at Thea.

"Fancy that." Jude smiled a little as Thea narrowed her eyes at Jude.

"Guys why don't you go back and watch your movie. Mommy's gonna talk to Aunt Jude." She told them.

"You said we were looking at Devil costumes." Sofia looked up at Thea unhappily.

"We will later." Thea nodded, "Go on." She told them, watching as they headed back into the living room.

"Sorry to… show up unannounced. Not like you would reply to a text message of a call, though." Jude said.

"Maybe not. I'm a very busy person." Thea said, walking off into the kitchen as Jude followed.

"Too busy to talk to your sister?" Jude questioned, "Enlighten me. What the hell have I done?" She shook her head.

"You know." Thea shook her head, "You know why I'm mad."

"Ok, so I'm guessing that when I bitched at you and Cassie for not being there for dad, you took it the wrong way. Cause it's you and you take everything the wrong way." Jude shrugged.

"First part is true, second part is not." Thea said, "You have no right to tell me or Cassie how to live or what to do when you aren't even here. I know you were concerned, and he's… he's a man of very few words, so I know that when he needs to talk it's usually better if someone's there to listen, but I was in the middle of a twelve hour shift. Cassie's mother-in-law had just broken a hip. We were busy." Thea clarified.

"That's not why I'm mad. I wasn't even mad in the first place. I just said to you guys that you should look out for him. That he can be a closed book. I didn't say to you guys that you're terrible human beings for not dropping everything and listening to him." Jude said.

"Well that's how it sounded." Thea said, "But… I'm assuming he spoke to you and everything was sunshine and rainbows."

"What is your fricken problem?" Jude shook her head, "You're… You're mad at me and I have no idea why."

"That's cause you live in your own damn head." Thea said, "You always have."

"Why are you making this so personal with me when all I said to you both was to watch out for when dad needs to talk about something, because he normally doesn't want to. To sum up, that is what I said to you both. Cassie didn't take it the way you have. She doesn't even care-"

"Cassie doesn't care about anything." Thea rolled her eyes.

"I haven't done anything wrong, I won't have you make me feel like I have." Jude said, "This is exactly what I don't miss living in New York."

"Oh, of course." Thea laughed.

"Is this some weird symptom of bpd?" Jude questioned as Thea glared at her, "Acting like a bitch?"

"You don't get to do that." Thea warned her, "Don't." She said.

"I've done nothing wrong. I gave you some heads up on dad and how he is when he has something to say but doesn't want to. I was trying to be helpful, Thea." Jude said, "I wasn't telling you how to live your life or to drop everything just to check on dad. It was fine. He spoke to me and he figured it out. I was just trying to help-"

"Oh, because you know him better than us?" Thea questioned as Jude looked at her.

"I have the patience for him more than you two do, yeah." Jude nodded. "But he didn't want to speak to me. He wanted to speak to you. Because he wanted your advice on how to let a dad into your life." She said as Thea looked across at her, "And he wanted to speak to Cassie because she knows Dan the most out of all of us."

"Well, he spoke to you about it so whatever." Thea shook her head.

"Don't be like this with me. I would never tell you what to do and you know that." Jude shook her head, "It's ridiculous that you and I still have these childish arguments, as if we're still teenagers."

"Oh, hey Jude." Dominic smiled, walking into the kitchen, suddenly feeling the awkwardness in the room.

"Hey, Dominic." Jude smiled to him as he nodded, turning to Thea who wasn't saying anything.

"Uh… I was just coming to get the kids for their bath." Dominic said, "Is everything ok?" He wondered.

"Yes, fine." Thea answered quickly as Dominic nodded, collecting the kids from the living room and taking them upstairs.

"This is stupid. I'm here for the week and I don't wanna be arguing with you over something that was never even said." Jude shook her head.

"I just think you get a pass on a lot of things, so for you to shame me and Cassie like that-"

"I wasn't shaming you, Jesus." Jude said loudly with frustration, "I swear when I speak, you just choose what you wanna hear. You always have." She warned her.

"It's true. You live way out now. I visit mom and dad every week. If anyone is there for them, it's me. So for you to be on the phone to me, telling me this… yeah, it rubbed me the wrong way." Thea said.

"Well then you just took what I said wrong, and that's not my problem." Jude said, "If you're waiting on an apology, it is not coming. I did nothing wrong, I said nothing wrong." She said. She was sure of it.

"Fine. You don't apologise for much anyway." Thea shrugged.

"You're one to talk." Jude laughed a little.

"I have to get the kids ready for bed." Thea nodded to her as Jude looked at her.

"I can't believe you're being like this over something so ridiculous. You've been less mad at me for worse things I've said. I genuinely don't understand you sometimes." Jude nodded.

"Well maybe it's the bpd." Thea nodded smugly as Jude looked across at her.

"I'll see myself out." Jude shook her head, walking out of the kitchen and leaving the house as Thea sat down at the kitchen table, running her hands through her hair and sighing.