Conversation

"Hey, you made it." Thea smiled, watching her father walk along the edge of the soccer pitch to join her.

"I got held up at work." Punk shook his head angrily.

"Well don't sweat it." Thea smiled.

"How is he doing?" Punk asked, looking on at the pitch, trying to find his oldest grandson.

"His team are winning." Thea nodded happily, "He's doing good. He really enjoys it. And it's like a little friendship thing right. Being part of a team." She thought to herself as Punk nodded.

"Well you learn how to get along with others." Punk agreed, watching the game, "You didn't play sports when you were younger, that's why you don't get on well with others." He teased as Thea turned around angrily.

"I played soccer." Thea objected, "And I went to gymnastics."

"For how many weeks?" Punk rolled his eyes, "Three?" He estimated as Thea turned around.

"It's the trying that counts." Thea mumbled, a smile appearing back on her face as she watched her twelve year old son get the ball, making a successful pass to another teammate, "Good job, baby!" She yelled.

James looked over, rolling his eyes a little and looking away as Punk laughed loudly.

"Stop, you're embarrassing him." Punk shoved her.

"No, I'm encouraging him." Thea folded her arms, waving to James who pretended he couldn't see her.

"You're embarrassing him. Behave yourself." Punk shook his head, "I always thought Cassie would turn into the soccer mom."

"Well Chase is still young. There's time." Thea shrugged, "That is if she has time in between being a big scary detective." She nodded.

"You spoke to her recently?" Punk asked.

"No. I was figuring she'd call to tell me how it went at the fertility clinic but… I haven't heard. So I'm assuming it wasn't great news." Thea nodded to herself.

"From what I've gathered, it's just gonna be more difficult for them." Punk summed up.

"I figured. They've been trying for like… two years." Thea said, "Sucks." She nodded.

"Yeah. But there's still a chance. They shouldn't feel too hopeless." Punk nodded, trying to be as positive as he could.

"Cassie won't see it that way." Thea scoffed, "She'll think it's a sign that she's not supposed to have any more kids."

"No she won't." Punk shook his head.

"She will." Thea laughed a little.

"Well your mom says she's worried Theo is gonna leave her now… because of it." Punk shook his head.

"That's insane." Thea rolled her eyes.

"That's what I said." Punk nodded, "And then I thought about how insane it would have felt to hear that Sean and Jude were divorcing… but that's happening-"

"She's not mentioned anything about a divorce to me." Thea turned to him, "Did she say to you?"

"Well no but… it's gonna happen." Punk shrugged, "Right?"

"Well… ultimately that's up to Jude and Sean. Not you." Thea tutted, "You'd probably do good to keep yourself out of their business-"

"Oh, so if they get back together you're gonna welcome him back into our lives? After what he did?" Punk asked as Thea thought about it, realising how difficult it really would be.

"I would… I would do it for Jude. If it was what she wanted." Thea nodded.

"You're being weird lately." Punk looked at her with confusion as she looked up.

"Weird how?" Thea scoffed.

"Sensible." Punk said suspiciously, "What are you up to?"

"What?" Thea chuckled, "I'm not up to anything. I just think it's Jude's business. If she wants my advice, or your advice, she'll ask for it. But it's her life and… she's got kids with him. If this was just a stupid mistake… maybe they can work through it." She nodded.

"How do you make a mistake like that?" Punk folded his arms.

"You tell me." Thea raised a brow.

"Oh, don't go there. That is not the same thing." Punk warned, "Me and your mom were teenagers."

"Cheating is cheating." Thea shook her head, "Sean isn't a bad guy-"

"Well this makes him one in my eyes." Punk said, "I'd feel the same if it was Dominic or Theo, too." He made clear.

"I hate him as much as you do, don't worry, but if Jude wants to work it out with him then I'm not gonna make her feel bad for that. You shouldn't either." She warned.

"Does she want to work it out with him? Has she told you that?" Punk asked her.

"Not exactly but she's told me that she still loves him. She doesn't like the fact that she does but… she does." Thea nodded, "And from what she tells me, they haven't actually spoken much about it since it happened."

"Well at least she's with your mom for a few days." Punk said with comfort as Thea nodded.

"Look at my baby go." Thea smiled proudly as she watched James on the pitch, continuing to cheer and embarrass him as Punk chuckled to himself.

"Mommy, I made this for you at school." Chase said, taking a picture out of his bookbag in his room where Cassie was getting him ready for bed.

"Oh, let me see." Cassie smiled, sitting down on the edge of the bed, taking the picture from him as Chase leaned against her, "Is this me?" She asked him.

"Yeah… yeah, we had to show what our mommy's or daddy's did." Chase explained, "For jobs." He added, to be clear.

"This is so good." Cassie smiled, looking at the picture, chuckling at the obvious attempts to draw a police hat, "Did you do daddy to?" She asked him as he nodded, climbing into bed.

"Yeah… I gave it to him already." Chase told her sleepily.

"Well good job, baby. I'm gonna put this on the fridge." Cassie smiled proudly, standing up from the bed and helping him in, tucking him under the covers and planting a kiss on his cheek.

He was so tired from his day at school that he couldn't even manage a bedtime story, pretty much falling asleep after Cassie kissed his cheek goodnight.

She smiled as she left the room, turning the light out and closing the door over a little, making her way downstairs and into the kitchen where Theo was sitting.

"I got a drawing." Cassie smiled as Theo looked up.

"Oh, yeah. I got one too." Theo pointed over to the fridge as Cassie looked, chuckling to herself, "What?" Theo asked with a smile.

"He's drew muscles on you." Cassie noticed.

"Very accurate, don't you think?" Theo nodded.

"Very generous more like." Cassie chuckled as Theo just smiled, watching her stick her drawing next to his on the fridge.

"We look good." Theo nodded as she smiled.

"We do." Cassie agreed, opening up the fridge and taking a beer out, popping the top open and taking a drink.

"How did your meeting go with the medical examiner?" Theo asked her.

"Do you know how long it takes to strangle someone to death?" She asked him.

"Four to six minutes." Theo nodded with confidence.

"And I have lawyers breathing down my neck about manslaughter." Cassie chuckled, shaking her head, "I hate lawyers."

"Well… you're a cop. Of course you do." Theo nodded, "So it's being ruled as death by strangulation?"

"Yeah." Cassie said, sitting down at the table across from him, "Six minutes that women spent realising her husband was… strangling her to death." She shook her head as Theo looked across at her.

"Not a pleasant way to go out." Theo said as Cassie nodded, taking another drink from the beer, "Are we gonna have this conversation?" He asked her, sliding his work to the side.

"What are we even supposed to talk about?" Cassie shook her head, "Unless there's something you want to say to me." She looked at him.

"Like what?" Theo questioned.

"I know you want another baby." She said, "And I… probably can't give you that." She nodded, "You probably need to have a conversation with yourself actually." She nodded. She seemed like stone on the outside, but it was hurting, a lot.

"What are you talking about?" Theo shook his head.

"I've heard it before. Guys leaving their wife's when they realise they can't have children." Cassie nodded as Theo raised his eyebrows.

"You think that's what I'm going to do?" He questioned with surprise as she shrugged, "You're so stupid sometimes." He nodded sincerely as she nodded along, not taking offence. Part of her knew he was saying it with fondness.

"I know." She nodded.

"Jesus Cass I'm not gonna leave you." Theo shook his head, "How the hell could you think that?"

"Cause I know you really want another baby." Cassie said.

"Yeah, with you." Theo nodded, "Not with anyone else." He made clear as she looked across at him.

"This might never happen for us." Cassie nodded, "I can… I can train myself to be ok with that, and maybe you can too but I don't want it to be something you… you resent me for later in life." She shook her head.

"I would never." He shook his head, "If it happens, great. If it doesn't… that's ok." He nodded to her.

"You're just saying what I want to hear." Cassie nodded.

"I'm not." He said, "I don't want you thinking that you're at fault."

"Well technically I am." Cassie said.

"You're not." He said, "Are you happy and healthy?" He asked her.

"Well… usually, yeah." She nodded.

"Then that's all that matters to me." He said, "We don't need to put any pressure on ourselves."

"I thought you'd be more upset." She admitted, a little surprised to see how calm he was.

"Sure I'm upset. But… not at you." He said as she smiled a little, "It's just one of those things."

"Yeah." Cassie nodded, "I mean… what were the odds of me getting pregnant with Chase?" She realised with a smile.

"The odds were in our favour that night." He nodded as she smiled.

"I'm so glad we have him." Cassie nodded with teary eyes, looking down. Somehow it felt a little different. Knowing that being pregnant was supposed to be a difficulty for her, it made her want to hold her son tighter than ever.

"Yeah, he's alright." Theo teased as she smiled, wiping her tears, "Are you ok?" He asked as she nodded.

"Yeah." Cassie nodded, "You?"

"Yeah." He assured her, "Come here." He nodded.

She got up and walked around the table, sitting on his lap and curling into him, "At least we don't have to act like rabbits anymore." She said.

"Oh, why?" Theo frowned sadly as she chuckled.

"Not crazy ones anyway." She smiled, resting into his neck, "I'm sorry it couldn't be more straight forward than this."

"You don't have to apologise." Theo made clear, "Please don't apologise."

"Ok." Cassie said.

"I love you." He said, kissing her head as she smiled.

"I love you." She said. Her fears had never really stemmed from him being upset about their situation, because she knew he wasn't capable of being upset over something that was out of their control. Her fears came from her own sadness that this wasn't going to be as easy for them as they thought.