Outlook

"What's wrong with you?" Theo asked, walking into the station where he saw Cassie sitting at his desk, her head leaning on top of it as she made unpleasant sighing noises of distress, "Tough day doing all that paper work, huh?" He chuckled.

"Just shut up!" Cassie lifted her head from the desk as some people in the station looked over, "Just… please, shut up." She sighed to herself, running her hands over her face as Theo watched her.

"More than just paper work, huh?" Theo figured, "Didn't you finish like two hours ago?" He asked her.

"Yeah. I did." Cassie said, "I don't even wanna go home." She shook her head.

"Why?" Theo asked, grabbing his things from the desk.

"Because that is where things always go wrong." Cassie nodded.

"Home? Really?" Theo asked.

"Yeah. Really." Cassie nodded, playing with the stapler as Theo watched her, "Also probably did something I shouldn't have done today." She nodded to herself.

"You wanna talk about it?" Theo asked her, putting his jacket on.

"Not particularly." Cassie shook her head.

"Do you want to go for a drink and not talk about it?" Theo asked her as Cassie looked up.

"You drink beer?" Theo turned to Cassie, sitting at the bar with her.

"Yes, why? Problem?" Cassie asked, "Would you rather I drink a glass of wine?" She asked him as Theo chuckled to himself a little, watching as she gulped down almost half the bottle of beer already.

"I didn't take you for a drinker." Theo said.

"I'm not." Cassie shook her head, sitting the beer down, "Saw what it did to my sister. Terrifies me." She said as Theo nodded to himself.

"She's got problems?" Theo asked her. He didn't really know much about her, even though he'd been working with her for almost a year.

"Not anymore. She's been clean for a long time." Cassie nodded, "But she… she got herself in such a mess." She shook her head, "Drugs, alcohol, guys…" She shook her head.

"Which sister are we talking about here?" Theo said.

"My big big sister." Cassie nodded.

"You're the youngest, right?" Theo nodded.

"Yeah." Cassie said, "Me, Jude then Thea." She said as Theo nodded.

"You worry about them?" Theo asked as Cassie nodded.

"Yeah well they've both been through a lot." Cassie nodded, "Feel like maybe I dodged a bullet."

"Being kidnapped and held at gunpoint doesn't seem like dodging a bullet to me." Theo said as Cassie turned to him, "Well… I guess technically that is dodging a bullet." He nodded as Cassie smiled, pointing her beer to him before taking another sip, "So what's the regret? What'd you do today that's making you so miserable?"

"Do you ever just plan something out in your head? You see it all playing out? Envision the what if and the what could be?" Cassie asked him.

"Sure." Theo understood.

"Well I did all of that and I guess I got upset when it didn't turn out how I thought it would." Cassie said.

"You gotta learn to keep your expectations low." Theo nodded.

"Yeah, maybe." Cassie said, "Or just learn to leave things alone." She nodded.

"Yeah that might work too." Theo nodded, watching her take another sip of her beer, "You look kinda stressed."

"I do?" Cassie chuckled a little.

"Yeah, a little." Theo nodded.

"You'd think I'd be used it by now with my family." Cassie nodded. She really felt like she'd hit a wall. Hearing about the dangers her sister was in. Getting the door slammed in her face by her grandfather. Trying to do the right thing all the time. It was exhausting her.

"Did your sister really kill someone?" Theo asked as Cassie turned to him, "Sorry, I'm just… I'm curious." He said as Cassie took another sip of beer.

"Yeah, she did." Cassie said simply, "The guy who raped my sister." She turned to him as Theo nodded slowly, "But he was also the son of the guy who made my mom and dad's life a living hell. And he also dated my big big sister, Thea. Beat her up." She said as Theo tried to keep up, "It's like a damn horror movie." She shook her head, finishing her bottle of beer and ordering another one.

"I guess you didn't really have a normal childhood." Theo said.

"I did, actually." Cassie said, "Just with the addition of some crime and violence."

"I find it kinda ironic that you wanted to be a cop." He admitted.

"I think I just wanted to be on the other side." She shook her head, "I saw the way cops looked at my parents. My mom told me about all the slurs that people would yell at her growing up. Cops especially. Telling her to go back to where she came from. She was born here." Cassie shook her head, "I want to change that."

"You wanna be a good cop?" Theo nodded.

"Yeah." Cassie said, "I do." She said as Theo smiled, "Why are you being nice to me?" She wondered. She didn't want to question it early because she really needed the company and didn't want to lose the opportunity to have a drink.

"What? I'm always nice to you." Theo said.

"Oh, please." Cassie shook her head as Theo chuckled, starting his second beer.

"Well I guess I just know you can take it." Theo nodded, "You're fun to tease. It really shows that you're the littlest sibling." He said as Cassie nodded.

"My sisters never really teased me, actually. There's such big age gaps between us." Cassie said, "I mean Thea has two kids, Jude has a baby on the way… they're doing tons of old stuff now." She shook her head Theo chuckled.

"You're not into any of that?" Theo asked her.

"Not really. I don't think about it honestly." Cassie said, "And I don't get relationships."

"You don't get them?" Theo chuckled.

"Don't see the point." Cassie shrugged.

"Why?" Theo asked.

"Cause God knows how it might end. I'm not signing up for anything that I don't know the ending to." Cassie shook her head as Theo smiled.

"Sounds to me like you're scared." Theo said.

"No, I'm just smart and everyone else is stupid." Cassie shook her head, "My mom broke her heart for eight years because my dad went to prison. She was a mess. I mean I don't remember it, but from what my sisters tell me… she was miserable and… so lost without him." She said, "I swear I'm never gonna let myself depend on someone like that. No way." She shook her head.

"I think that just means that your parents really love each other." Theo assumed, "Which means you're saying you don't believe in love." He nodded.

"Maybe I don't." Cassie shrugged, consuming most of her second beer.

"You're bullshit, Brooks." Theo chuckled to himself.

"Why?" Cassie laughed, "Ok, look around." She said as Theo looked around, "I guarantee all the couples in this room, maybe only one or two of them will last." She nodded, "So what's the point? What are we all wasting our time for?" She questioned.

"I gotta say, you got a unique outlook on things, I'll give you that." Theo nodded, "So what was Cassie like as a kid then? Did she have a miserable outlook on things back then too?" He teased.

"No." Cassie said, "She played soccer. Striker, thank you very much." She added, "She was shy, I guess. Was desperate to grow up."

"Yeah, why is that?" Theo asked, "When you're a kid you wanna grow up so bad and then when you've grown up it's like… I didn't ask for this." He said as Cassie chuckled.

"Yeah right." Cassie agreed, "I had a good childhood. My parents did their best, that's always enough." She nodded as he smiled, "What about you?"

"I played football." Theo nodded.

"Yeah, thought so." Cassie said.

"Hey, what does that mean?" Theo chuckled.

"You just… look like the type to play football in high school." She shrugged.

"I think that's called being judgemental." Theo said.

"Really? Like when you just judged me for having a beer?" Cassie asked as he smiled a little, going quiet, "Yeah, that's what I thought." She smiled as he nodded, "Siblings?" She asked.

"Little brother." Theo nodded, "He's a good kid. At college." He said.

"Parents?" She asked.

"Happily married." Theo nodded as Cassie smiled, "To other people." He added.

"Oh." Cassie realised.

"No, it's better that way. They weren't happy together." Theo said as Cassie nodded.

"Yeah sometimes it's more damaging for parents to stay together than split up." Cassie said as Theo nodded.

"Yeah, I agree." He nodded, finishing his beer off, "What did your dad actually go to prison for?" He asked as Cassie turned to him.

"Don't like you haven't looked up my family's history." She scoffed.

"I actually haven't." Theo said honestly, "I know others have in the station but I never." He said.

"Supplying and distributing class A drugs." Cassie nodded.

"How'd he end up doing that?" Theo asked.

"I don't really know." Cassie admitted, "Shitty childhood, maybe? He and my mom didn't really have much growing up. I guess they did certain things just to get by. I guess his mistakes caught up to him. It seems to be a pattern that happens to everyone in my family." She nodded.

"Something going on right now? With your family?" Theo asked.

"There's always something going on with my family." Cassie nodded.

"Something I should know?" Theo wondered.

"I'm sure you'll find out soon enough." Cassie shook her head.

"Sounds to me like you're fed up of it." Theo said.

"I love my family." Cassie nodded, "I love my mom and dad. I love my sisters. My niece and nephew. My uncle. Cousins. My aunt. My sister's boyfriend and my other sister's husband-"

"Yeah, that's a lot." Theo nodded.

"But I just feel like I'm constantly waiting for someone to just… drop dead." Cassie said, "That's not normal, is it?"

"I wouldn't say so." Theo shook his head.

"I just always have this dreaded feeling that something is about to go wrong." She sighed to herself.

"Isn't that just because so much stuff has gone wrong. I mean it's true what they say, the things we're most afraid of are things we've already been through." Theo nodded, "The world hasn't been kind to your family. I'd say it's pretty normal that you feel that way."

"What's normal?" Cassie laughed a little.

"Boring." Theo nodded as she turned to him, "Normal is boring." He said, clinking his beer bottle against hers as she smiled a little.

"We probably shouldn't do this." Cassie said, stumbling into Theo's apartment later that night, both drunk but aware of what was going on, kissing their way through the apartment and pulling at each other's clothes.

"Yeah we shouldn't." Theo agreed, taking his shirt off as she backed him against the wall, kissing him roughly as he picked her up, walking towards the bedroom, putting her back down as she took her t-shirt off.

"I don't want anything from this." Cassie made clear. She didn't. She didn't want a relationship.

"I know. I heard you earlier." Theo understood, "It's just sex." He nodded as she undone her pants, pushing them down and kicking them away.

"Yeah." Cassie agreed breathlessly, undoing his pants as he stepped out of them, feeling her push him down onto the bed.

"It won't be awkward at work." Theo shook his head.

"No, of course not." Cassie said, climbing on top of him, kissing him as he rolled them over, lips staying attached.

"I don't want a relationship." Theo made clear.

"Good cause you're not getting one." Cassie nodded, pulling his face back down, reattaching her lips back against his, rolling back over where she was on top, "Don't roll me back over." She warned as she stayed on top.

"Yes ma'am." Theo chuckled, reaching up and unclasping her bra as she smiled against the kiss. Neither of them wanted the drama or excess relationship commitment. The fact they were both on the same wave length really made this more enjoyable.