Rapid Fire

"What the hell are you doing? You can't just keep popping up at my work." Cassie said as Daniel opened the door to her in his house.

"I'm-I'm sorry. I should never have come." He nodded, attempting to shut the door over as Cassie put her foot down and stepped into the house.

"Move out my way, old man." Cassie shook her head, walking on into the house as Daniel sighed to himself.

Cassie walked into the living room which was very basic and simple, not that she was there to judge his interior design by any means.

"You should just go. You're right. I have no business coming to see you at work." Daniel understood.

"You can't just pop up and run away whenever you like. If you want to have an actual conversation then we can-"

"Was that my son?" Daniel asked, looking across at her with wonder, "Was that Phil?"

"Yeah." Cassie nodded, "Yeah, that was him." She said as Daniel nodded, "He's nice once you get to know him, I promise." She said, "So is my uncle. They're both a little… crazy but it's understandable after the life they've lived."

"He likes tattoos?" Daniel asked, looking at his own dark tattoos on his arms.

"Yeah, he's pretty covered." Cassie nodded.

"I was never a fan of coloured ink but he… he suits them." Daniel nodded to himself.

"Yeah, I think so." Cassie said, "He's got all our names on him. Mines is around a soccer ball. I played until I was sixteen." She said, "Wears his heart on his sleeve." She nodded.

"Clearly." Daniel nodded as Cassie watched him, "Last time I saw him he was… he was just crawling around on the floor." He shook his head, "There's no coming back from all that time I've not been there."

"My dad was in prison for eight years." Cassie said as Daniel lifted his head with shock, looking over at her, "He also served time when he was nineteen for a year. He was… a drug dealer." She nodded, "Ironically he hasn't had a drop of alcohol or taken any drugs in his life." She cared to add as Daniel looked at her, "But he missed the first eight years of my life. And eight important years of my sister's lives." She nodded, "And I know that eight years is nothing compared to fifty plus years but… you won't until you talk to them." Cassie said.

"He went to prison?" Daniel asked.

"Yeah." Cassie nodded, "Maybe you have more in common with him than you think." He said, "Of course, talking about the tattoos." She joked as Daniel smiled a little, looking over at her.

"It's certainly not something I wanted to bond over with, with him." Daniel scoffed, "What about Dean?"

"I mean… he's got a criminal record. A long one. But… no prison time." Cassie said as Daniel nodded slowly, "Look I can't force you to do anything, and maybe this is the wrong timing… my family are kinda going through something right now. But… clearly you're on your own here, and it feels unfair that you have a whole family ten minutes away who you know nothing about."

"There's a reason." Daniel nodded, "I walked out. And I… I wasn't there. I don't deserve a family." He nodded. He truly believed that.

"I believe you deserve a chance." Cassie nodded.

"It's not you who I walked out on." Daniel reminded her.

"I know that." Cassie said.

"Do you have a… a picture of him and Dean?" Daniel wondered as Cassie watched him. She could see he was in shock and awe, and she didn't blame him. Meeting his son for the first time, after all these years must have been extremely strange.

"Not one I can give you but… I'm sure I'll have one on my phone." Cassie nodded, taking her phone out and flicking through her pictures, "Here's one." She nodded, tapping on the picture and showing him as Daniel took the phone from her and stared at her.

"That's Dean?" He pointed to Dean.

"Yeah." Cassie nodded. In a way, it made her incredibly sad to see how taken back he was by this. She didn't know much about him, but she could tell he had human emotions which was always good to know.

"And… and who is that?" Daniel asked curiously.

"That's my mom." Cassie smiled, looking at the picture of her parents and Dean from one Christmas ago.

"They're not what I expected." He shook his head.

"What did you expect?" Cassie laughed a little, putting her phone back in her pocket.

"I'm not sure." Daniel realised as Cassie nodded, "I just don't see what change or good I could do for them now-"

"You never know." Cassie said, "I'm gonna leave you my number and if you need to talk or you wanna know anything either text or call me." She nodded, grabbing the newspaper and the pen sitting on the coffee table, writing her number down, "Just take the time to think about it and if in the end you… you really don't wanna see them then… I'll leave you alone." She nodded as he took the newspaper from her and nodded slowly.

"Ok." Daniel nodded to her.

"Ok." Cassie said, "I will… see myself out." She pointed behind her as Daniel nodded, watching her leave the house as he sat down in the empty living room holding onto the newspaper, thinking about everything.

"How'd it go at the station?" AJ asked, standing in the kitchen where Punk walked into.

"I mean… as good as it could have." Punk nodded, "Talked to a detective, Cassie's boss actually-"

"Did you behave?" AJ questioned.

"Yes, I behaved." Punk said defensively as she smiled, "He was a nice guy, actually. Kept saying how great Cassie is. I got dad proud." He nodded as she smiled, "Told him everything that Thea told me. Also gave him names and addresses. He said they'll be looking into it. They're aware of gangs and drug circles in the southside operating so I guess it's something they've already been tracking, which is a good thing." Punk nodded.

"Can't they just go arrest them right now?" AJ asked, "I mean… if not for drugs and harassing Thea then for assaulting you. You just have to look at you for evidence."

"He took notes of everything but he said they'd rather build a case up to get them good." Punk said as AJ nodded, "He also said he'd call the Milwaukee precinct and have a car outside Thea's house."

"Oh." AJ said with surprise, "That's good." She nodded.

"Yeah, he was a nice guy. He's taking it seriously." Punk nodded, "So if we can just… maintain this for however long we need. Keep ourselves safe. These guys will be caught sooner than later." He said as AJ nodded.

"Yeah." AJ agreed, "I just don't want Thea thinking this is all her fault. I know her. I know how she thinks. She'll be thinking that she's dragging us all down into a mess that she thinks is her fault." She said, "I wish I could see her." She sighed sadly.

"We'll see her soon." Punk nodded, "She's safe with Dominic and the kids." He said as AJ sighed to herself, "So she got into some trouble when she was young. It happens. We did." He said as AJ nodded, "But she never did anything wrong. She chose to… know the wrong people."

"I should have known. I should have protected her from that stuff. I mean look where I came from. Look what I went through as a teenager. Why wasn't I more protective-"

"April, you were. You put trust in them. She was old enough to know her right from wrong-"

"But I knew she was in a difficult place. I knew she was." AJ shook her head.

"You had… so much on your plate. Three kids. I wasn't here. A job. A house. Bills. I can't imagine how difficult it was and you did the best damn job at raising them-"

"This is not evidence of that." AJ shook her head with disappointment.

"Hey, you look at me." He said, tilting her head up by her chin to look at him, "You are the best mom in the world. Fact." He nodded, "Nothing is your fault. I think as parents we just feel like we need to take blame, so the girls never feel guilt. But I don't want you feeling that guilt." He said, "We're gonna be ok. Thea is gonna be ok." He nodded.

"Yeah… I know." AJ sighed, wrapping her arms around him as he hugged her tightly.

"I'm gonna call Thea later and let her know everything." Punk said as AJ nodded, "Cassie not home yet?" He wondered.

"No, she text saying she was staying late at work." AJ said.

"Feel like I've barely saw her this week." Punk shook his head.

"Yeah, me too." AJ nodded, "She's probably just burying her head in work." She said as Punk nodded, "Ok, you go call Thea and I will make some coffee." She patted his chest as he nodded, leaning down and kissing her softly.

"You are… amazing." Theo said, collapsing down on the bed beside Cassie who chuckled.

"I know." Cassie nodded casually as he put a hand under his head, turning to her and watching as she scratched the palms of her hands.

"Why do you always do that?" Theo asked.

"What?" Cassie turned to him.

"You scratch your hands. You nervous or something?" He laughed a little.

"Oh… no, it's just habit." Cassie nodded.

"Stress habit?" Theo asked, "Cause you're still stressed about something and I'm assuming it's got something to do with your dad showing up at the station today who… by the way, not a very pleasant guy."

"Yeah, well you don't know him." Cassie said, "You need to get to know him before you make that call." She said, "My sister is just… in some trouble. Thea. We're trying to get it fixed."

"Can I do anything?" Theo asked.

"No, it's fine. Not really much you can do anyway." Cassie nodded as he looked at her. Even though he wasn't trying, he was getting to know her a lot more intimately than he did before. Not because he was asking, but just through their casual hook ups.

"What's with the dragon on your hip? Kinda freaks me out a little when I go down there." He chuckled as Cassie smiled.

"It's a tattoo I have with my sisters." Cassie nodded, "We all have one."

"That's sweet." Theo said, "You got any others?"

"No, just that one." Cassie said as Theo nodded, "Look you don't have to fill the awkward silence-"

"It's not awkward." Theo shrugged.

"Well you don't have to ask me things just because… we're doing this. We can still keep doing this without having to know each other." She shook her head. She didn't want a relationship. She wasn't interested one bit. She was human and she was delighted about all the sex, especially with a good looking guy who, despite his attitude, was a respectful and good person. But she wasn't interested in dating him. Not even secretly.

"I know that but… we still gotta talk to each other." Theo chuckled, "Don't worry, just because you tell me something about yourself doesn't mean I'm gonna fall in love with you." He shook his head.

"I find that hard to believe." Cassie said cockily.

"Let's say we got ten questions each and we gotta answer them." Theo said as Cassie turned to him.

"Fine. You ask first." Cassie folded her arms, lying in bed naked beside him in the most unromantic way she possibly could.

"Ok…" Theo thought to himself, "Celebrity crush?" He asked.

"Leonardo DiCaprio." Cassie nodded.

"I agree, he is very nice to look at." Theo nodded, "Uh… you're on death row, what's your last meal?"

"Mom's tacos." Cassie nodded immediately.

"That was a quick answer." Theo chuckled, "Mom most make good tacos."

"She does." Cassie nodded, "Next."

"Guilty pleasure?" He asked.

"Chip sandwich." Cassie said.

"The hell is that?" Theo laughed.

"Chips on a sandwich. Two pieces of bread, butter, dump the chips on it, fold the sandwich over… best thing in the world." Cassie said.

"That sounds dry." Theo nodded, "Favourite music?"

"I love old music. Billy Ocean, Jackie Wilson, Duran Duran, The Jam-"

"That's the most ghetto Punk taste I've ever heard." Theo chuckled to himself, "Where'd you listen to stuff like that?"

"My dad and my uncle." Cassie said, "Old music just sounds so much better." She nodded as Theo smiled as he looked at her, getting a little distracted, "Next." She turned to him.

"Uh… embarrassing sex story?" Theo smiled.

"You really wanna know all these things?" Cassie asked, slightly amused.

"Yeah, everyone loves a good embarrassing sex story." Theo nodded.

"I threw up on a guy." Cassie nodded to him as Theo raised his eyebrows, "Whilst I was going down on him."

"No." Theo laughed loudly, "You've gotta be kidding me."

"Really not sure how I made it through that alive, thinking back." Cassie thought to herself.

"Why did you throw up?" Theo shook his head.

"I have bad gag reflexes." Cassie shrugged as Theo laughed louder.

"You're ridiculous." He chuckled as she smiled to herself. She did enjoy hearing him laugh.

"Five more. Make them good." Cassie nodded.

"If you could punch one family member, who would it be?" Theo asked as Cassie laughed.

"What? You can't ask me that." Cassie chuckled.

"I can and I did. You gotta answer." Theo said, "Come on, I bet someone came to mind right away when I asked." He said as Cassie thought to herself.

"Yeah, but I don't know why." She shook her head, "Jude." She said as Theo chuckled, "Probably because Thea would absolutely kick my ass in a fight."

"Something that makes you smile?" Theo asked.

"Old couples." Cassie nodded.

"You're so anti-relationship, though." Theo said.

"Yeah, I am but… other people aren't and I dig that." Cassie said, "I think it's sweet when you see an old couple sitting on a bench. Or they're helping each other. I think it's sweet." She smiled to herself as Theo watched her, "Also watching people fall makes me smile." She added as he nodded.

"Something you hate?" Theo asked.

"Double standards." Cassie nodded.

"I figured." Theo nodded, "Favourite family memory?" He asked her as Cassie thought to herself.

"It's a pretty early memory." Cassie said, "But I can remember it like it was yesterday." She said, "I had to have been eight or nine." She nodded, "My dad was not long out of prison and I… I was just getting to know him. And it was the first time that all five of us spent time together, at the same time." She said, "We were down at the docks and… we had hot-dogs and… played card games, watched the fish… first time we were an actual family." She smiled to herself as Theo watched her.

"Sounds nice." He nodded sincerely as she turned to him and nodded.

"It was." She said quietly, looking at him as he looked back, "Ok, last one. Make it a good one." She broke eye contact with him as he nodded.

"Uh… your worst fear? What is Cassie afraid of?" He smiled.

"Losing someone I love." Cassie nodded, "I guess most people are but… it really scares me." She admitted, "And I feel lucky that I've never really lost anyone close to me. I'm really lucky." She nodded to herself, "But it terrifies me."

"Yeah, I get that." Theo nodded, "Is that why you don't like relationships?" He asked.

"Yeah, it's that… it's other things." Cassie said as he nodded, "Life can be unpredictable and I don't wanna get attached to something I have no control over."

"You can't live like that, though." Theo shook his head, "You can't be scared to… live."

"I am living." Cassie said, "I don't need a relationship to feel fulfilled." She shook her head as he nodded slowly.

"That's fair enough." Theo nodded.

"Ok… my turn." She smiled deviously, turning onto her side and thinking of some questions to ask him. She wasn't realising how much of an escape this was really becoming. A good escape.