Being There

"So my dad called." Thea said, walking into the bedroom where Dominic was already in bed.

"With good news?" Dominic asked as she got into bed beside him.

"As good as it can be right now, I guess." Thea said, "They're not gonna make any moves right now but apparently they've been monitoring a few drug gangs in that neighbourhood. They wanna try and get more evidence before they make a move." She said, "But… if you look outside you will find a cop car sitting. Apparently the detective my dad spoke to called the precinct here and asked for our house to have twenty four seven supervision." She nodded.

"Damn, they're really starting to treat your dad nice in the station." Dominic scoffed.

"Yeah, no kidding." Thea said, "They wanna come visit us but my dad said it might not be a good idea. Just incase someone follows them or finds out where we are." She said.

"Yeah, that makes sense." Dominic agreed.

"Spoke to Jude too. She said the baby is kicking a lot." Thea smiled, "Haven't heard from Cassie, though." She said.

"We'll see them once this is all blown over. Which will be soon." Dominic nodded, brushing a strand of her hair behind her ear.

"Do you think I'm a bad person?" Thea asked him as he looked in her eyes.

"Why would you even ask me that?" Dominic asked, "No, Thea. You're not a bad person."

"I've done so many horrible things. And I… I had the cheek to shame my dad for things he'd done. I'm… I'm just as bad." She shook her head.

"No you're not. You've done nothing wrong-"

"I murdered someone." Thea looked at him, "What does that say about me? Being able to take someone else's life?"

"It says that you're brave and that you love your sister, and that you done the world a favour by doing what you did." Dominic nodded, "He was a serial rapist. You can't possibly feel guilty about that."

"It's not about who he was it was just… the fact I was able to do it." Thea shook her head.

"You did it because of what he did to Jude. We all wanted to. There's no place for people like Jackson on this earth." Dominic reminded her, "None of this makes you a bad person." He cupped her cheek.

"I didn't feel like it back then. Or even a couple years ago. But now it… it feels like it's just hit me. Everything I did-"

"What is everything? What did you do that you think is so bad? Take drugs?" Dominic questioned.

"Well… yeah. And befriend people who were bad. Who weren't good for me." She said, "And you know about the whole thing that I haven't told anyone about before."

"Yeah and you don't need to tell anyone. It's none of their business." Dominic made clear.

"I still feel bad that I never told my mom. If she found out I went to Sam instead she'd be so upset." AJ sighed.

"You did what you had to do. That's something you hold close to your chest. You tell who you want. You're not obliged to let anyone know what happened or what you did. And it certainly does not make you a bad person. No one in this family would think that." He made clear.

"I still don't wanna tell them." Thea shook her head.

"You don't have to." Dominic nodded, "You didn't even have to tell me. It's no one's business."

"Yeah, I know." Thea smiled softly, taking his hand in hers, "I just feel like everything has built up. Like I'm having a midlife crisis or something." She rolled her eyes as he smiled.

"You're not in the middle of your life yet." Dominic chuckled.

"When's midlife?" Thea wondered.

"Like when you're in your forties." Dominic chuckled.

"Oh." Thea realised as he chuckled, "I didn't know that." She said, rubbing her head tiredly as Dominic watched her.

"You been sleeping?" He asked her.

"Not much." She said, "What are we gonna do about Sofia? She won't go to that playgroup. I can't take her to work. You can't." She said, "These pesky kids can be difficult." She teased as Dominic chuckled and nodded.

"She can come with me for the time being. But we gotta try getting her used to going to playgroup. Cause soon it'll be school and it's not like she can dip on that." He said as Thea nodded.

"Yeah, I know." Thea sighed, "Maybe once this is all over we can… move back to Chicago." She nodded.

"Well I know that would make you happy." He smiled as she nodded, "And I'm all about you being happy."

"I know." She smiled sweetly, "I'm sorry for snapping at you yesterday." She said as Dominic nodded.

"It's ok." Dominic nodded, "The only thing that bothered me was the fact you could think I would ever feel like I… picked the wrong one." He shook his head, "Or that I was unlucky with finding you." He said as Thea smiled a little, "I definitely picked the right one." He assured her as she smiled.

"I think you did too." Thea nodded as he chuckled, wrapping his arm around her as she curled into him.

"Hey, fatty." Punk nodded, walking into his kitchen where Jude was sitting the next day.

"Hey." Jude nodded, "I didn't know mom was at work today. I was coming over to get that brochure from her. She said there was a ton of baby stuff in it. I'm assuming you have no idea where it is?"

"Not got a clue." Punk nodded truthfully, "I can have a look for it, though." He said.

"Did you talk to Thea?" Jude asked him.

"Yeah, spoke to her last night." Punk nodded, "Brought her up to speed with everything. Makes me feel better that there's a cop car watching her house." He said, "And it looks promising that the cops will get this group."

"Yeah well hopefully it's soon." Jude nodded.

"Yeah, it should be. Right now we just gotta look out for ourselves." He nodded.

"I thought mom would have taken a couple days off work." Jude said.

"Well you know your mom, she doesn't really stop for anything." He chuckled to himself.

"Yeah, that's true." Jude nodded.

"You want some food?" He asked her.

"I've just ate." Jude shook her head as Punk nodded, "But… is that donuts over there?" She asked as Punk nodded.

"Yeah, you want one?" He chuckled a little as she nodded, watching as he went over to the box of glazed donuts, taking one out and putting it on a plate for her.

"The day I come here and there's no donuts lying around, I'll know there's something wrong with the both of you." Jude nodded as Punk smiled.

"How's the baby shopping coming along?" He asked her, sitting down at the table across from her.

"Yeah, it's ok." Jude shrugged as he looked at her.

"Just ok?" Punk asked.

"Well we were supposed to be going today, into town to get some stuff but Sean got called into work." Jude said as Punk nodded slowly, "And now he has to work on his days off next week too." She said, "And I know that it's not gonna be like this forever. He's just working on a case right now that needs a lot of attention." She said, "But… it's not like I'm gonna be pregnant for the first time again. I wish he realised that."

"Have you talked to him about it?" Punk asked. He missed the days where he sat at the kitchen table begging his daughters to eat their Spaghettio's. Now he was listening to them talk about their husband and boyfriend problems.

"Yeah, he knows how I feel. And I know he's sorry about it." Jude understood, "It's just hard to get excited about this stuff on my own." She shrugged.

"I'm sure his job will calm down soon." Punk nodded, "I thought you were painting the nursery?"

"I am. I made a start this morning." Jude nodded, "And then I'm teaching a class tomorrow morning so I'm all art'd out this week." She said as he smiled.

"Like you're complaining about that." He smiled as she nodded, "If you want… I'm not busy right now, I could come into town with you and help you get some things?" He asked her as she looked across at him.

"Yeah?" She asked as he nodded.

"Sure. I don't mind." He nodded as she smiled.

"Thank you." She smiled, "You secretly like shopping anyway." She scoffed.

"I have three daughters. I've taught myself how to enjoy shopping." Punk nodded as she chuckled.

"Let me finish my donut and then we can go." She nodded as he smiled.

"What are we doing? I thought we were going to talk to a witness?" Cassie turned to Theo, sitting in his car as they pulled up on the street.

"We are but I wanted to show you something first." Theo nodded, "Get out." He said as Cassie shook her head with confusion, getting out of the car and shutting the door over behind her.

"Do we have time for detours?" Cassie folded her arms.

"You're the rookie. I'm the pro. We got time for detours." He nodded as she scoffed, walking over onto the sidewalk with him.

"Well what are we doing?" Cassie asked.

"Going in here." Theo said, walking towards a small store on the corner as Cassie looked at it, "You're gonna love it." He nodded as Cassie followed him curiously.

They walked into the store, Cassie following behind Theo as she realised it was a record store. It was small and cramped but extremely cute.

"What is this?" Cassie smiled a little.

"They sell original records here from the fifties, sixties, seventies…" Theo nodded to her as Cassie looked around at all the shelves.

"Originals?" Cassie asked, walking down one of the aisles, pulling out some records as Theo watched her.

"Yeah." Theo nodded as Cassie turned to him.

"What are you doing this for?" She shook her head, "I hope you're not trying to impress me." She said worriedly as Theo chuckled.

"Just wanted to show you it." Theo assured her as she nodded.

"Well that's ok then." Cassie smiled, "Because it's pretty cool." She nodded, pulling out some records going along the aisles as Theo smiled watching her, "My aunt and uncle would love this." She said, "I didn't even know this place was here." She shook her head.

"It's kinda small. Easily missed." Theo nodded, just watching her as she took out records, admiring the smile on her face as she done so.

He then watched as an old couple walked into the aisle from the other end, noticing Cassie smiling to them happily, which only made him smile more.