Blame
"Cassie." Punk said, standing in the car park amongst all the cop cars.
"Cassie." He repeated, looking on at his daughter who was standing staring at nothing, "Cass." He said a little louder as she turned to him, coming out of her trance.
"What?" Cassie looked at him.
"Are you… Are you ok?" Punk shook his head. In amongst so much chaos, the fear and the panic the night had brought them all, a life had been lost and he could see that life really meant something to Cassie. And his heart broke watching hers break.
"No, I'm not." Cassie said honestly. She was in shock. She wouldn't quite believe it yet. She kept expecting Theo to walk towards her, she was begging for it.
"I know you worked close with him and… I'm sorry-"
"He was my friend." Cassie whispered to herself as Punk watched her, "He was my friend." She told him as he nodded.
"I'm sorry." Punk nodded as she looked at him. He could see she was in shock, staring into space, barely saying anything. He wasn't under the impression that his daughter was friends with Theo. In fact, he was under the impression they didn't get along, going by things Cassie had said in the past, but he supposed he didn't know anything and regardless, an innocent young man's life had been taken tonight by the hands of another bad man the world had to offer them.
"I need to go talk to Jake." Cassie mumbled, walking away from him into the crowd of cops as he sighed to himself, running his hands over his face, walking over to the side where AJ was standing with Jude.
"You guys ok?" Punk sighed as they both nodded, "You ok?" He asked Jude, wrapping his arm around her as she hugged into him.
"Is Cassie ok?" Jude asked, "She seems really upset."
"Yeah well it was… it was someone she worked with every day." Punk nodded. None of them were under the impression that there had been anything else had been going on with Cassie and Theo.
"I should never have called her." Jude sighed to herself, "I shouldn't have got her involved. He told me to and I… I was scared-"
"Shh, it's ok." Punk sighed to himself, kissing her head and hugging her tightly as AJ rubbed Jude's back.
"You're ok, sweetie." AJ sighed, looking over and noticing Sean standing over by the wall on his own, "Phil." AJ got his attention, nodding over to Sean as Punk turned around, nodding to himself.
"Why don't you two go wait in the car. It's freezing outside." Punk nodded.
"Where's Sean?" Jude worried, looking around, still in a daze from the very stressful night she'd had.
"He's probably just talking to some other cops. Come on." AJ guided Jude away towards their car whilst Punk headed over to Sean who was standing by his own.
"Hey." Punk nodded to him as Sean looked up.
"Hey." Sean said.
"You ok?" Punk patted him on the arm as Sean nodded.
"Theo was a good guy." Sean nodded, "I shouldn't have… I shouldn't have went for Austin. That's not cop protocol. I shouldn't have done that-"
"He had a gun against Jude's head. No one is gonna blame you." Punk nodded as Sean sighed to himself.
"I didn't… I didn't even know what to do." Sean shook his head, still feeling extremely shook up after seeing his girlfriend, and the mother of his unborn baby in such danger like that, "I've never felt like that before." He shook his head as Punk nodded.
"I know the feeling." Punk understood as Sean sighed to himself, "It wasn't supposed to come to this." He shook his head with anger, "Jake told me they were keeping tabs… I thought these guys were gonna be arrested soon."
"Yeah well so did I." Sean nodded, "Welcome to how cops operate." He nodded to Punk, "It's not always in our control." He said as Punk nodded. He knew that at this point.
"Yeah, I get it." Punk nodded.
"And all this guy wanted was Thea." Sean nodded to himself, "Jude had a gun against her head for her-"
"Sean." Punk sighed.
"I'm not wrong." Sean said, "And you know I'm not." He said as Punk looked across at him.
"This isn't Thea's fault-"
"Yeah well how come she's safe in a different state? Cops supervising her and we're here with this shit." He looked around at the cops everywhere as Punk put his hands on his hips and sighed.
"Blaming Thea won't help anything right now." Punk assured him, "Jude is with April in the car. I think you need to take her home. Be there for one another right now."
"Yeah, fuck this bullshit." Sean shook his head, walking by Punk and heading over to the car where Jude was as Punk sighed to himself.
He ran his hand through his hair, looking over at Cassie who was talking to Jake. He assumed she no doubt would be evaluated and assessed after shooting Austin, but she didn't evens seem phased by it. She just appeared to be on another planet right now, and he didn't blame her. He just didn't know how much she really was hurting, because she held everything close to her chest.
"You ok?" Punk asked, getting home later on with AJ.
"Yeah, I guess." AJ shook her head tiredly as Punk threw the car keys in the pot at the door, "You?" She asked him, walking through to the kitchen.
"Yeah, I guess." He repeated after, "I just hope Jude is ok. After… After what was said tonight-"
"Yeah, don't… don't make me think about it." AJ shook her head as he nodded, "Where is Cassie?"
"She had to stay and talk to Jake." Punk said as AJ nodded.
"I hope you're smartened up." AJ looked across at him.
"What do you mean?" Punk shook his head.
"Cassie." AJ said, "And that boy. Theo." She said as Punk looked across at her, "I know a broken heart when I see one." She said as he looked at her with confusion.
"What are you talking about?" Punk shook his head.
"Oh, Phil. Use your head." AJ shook her head with frustration, "She liked him."
"No… she always said he was mean to her." Punk shook his head. The thought didn't even enter his mind. Cassie was a lot harder to get through to than Thea and Jude. She was distant. She kept things to herself. Feelings more so than anything else.
"She liked him." AJ nodded, "And I don't know what was going on between them. But I watched her tonight. She's… she's twenty-one years old." She shook her head, "And she just had to watch someone die like that." She shook her head with anger, "I am sick… sick of my daughter's getting hurt." She shook her head.
"April." Punk sighed.
"No, I am. I'm sick of it." AJ said, "What next? Who is next? Me and you?" She asked as he looked across at her.
"You're upset-"
"Damn right I'm upset." AJ agreed, "And I'm sick and tired of watching my daughter's cry and suffer. All three of them." She shook her head, taking a loud deep breath as a lump got caught in her throat, placing her hand on one of the kitchen chairs as Punk watched her.
"I know… I know." Punk understood, "I get it." He said as she breathed out a loud cry, placing her hands over her face as her shoulders shook, "April." He sighed, walking over to her and wrapping his arms around her tightly.
"There's a lot of paper work that goes on when an officer kills on duty. You'll also have to go through a psychiatric evaluation. It's just… standard procedure." Jake explained to Cassie, walking back into the station, "There will always be an interview that takes place with a panel. It sounds scarier than what it is but… until it's all cleared up I… well you need to take a leave of absence."
"What? No… I need to be here." Cassie shook her head.
"You can't. And we have to take your gun and badge for just now." Jake said.
"What?" Cassie looked up at him, "Why?" She worried.
"Cassie, we're not firing you. It's just procedure. Ask any cop who has… taken life on duty. You gotta go through the process. Until then, you gotta take some time off." He nodded, "I think you might need it. You're just a kid-"
"I'm not a kid." Cassie warned as he nodded.
"Well you're definitely inexperienced to have gone through what you did tonight." Jake said, "And we lost one of our own. And Theo was your partner. Just… take the time off." He nodded as Cassie sighed to herself.
"He… jumped in front of me." Cassie shook her head, "Should have been me."
"He was a brave cop. But… it shouldn't have been anyone. Bottom line." Jake said, "Sometimes this happens. Things don't go to plan. This is what being a cop is-"
"No, being a cop is preventing what happened tonight from happening. You were supposed to be keeping tabs on this guy." Cassie said, "You were supposed to make a move sooner. And you waited… you waited because you were greedy and you wanted all of them at once but you should have just moved when you could!" She yelled as some people turned around.
"Cassie, you're upset-"
"No! No, it was your job to stop this!" Cassie cried, "What are you all looking at?!" She screamed as everyone turned away.
"Cassie, you need to go home." Jake nodded. He wasn't taking anything she said to heart, "Go get your things and… go look after yourself. I'll check in on you. I'll keep in touch." He nodded to her.
"He shouldn't be dead." Cassie cried as Jake looked at her.
"He thought you were great. Told me you'd be a captain in no time." He nodded to her as she dried her tears.
"Well he… he taught me a lot." Cassie nodded, drying her tears as Jake nodded.
"You taught him a lot too." Jake smiled softly, "Go on. Get yourself home." He said, rubbing her am softly before walking off to his office, officers coming to and from the station, being a busy night for them and all.
Cassie ran her hand through her hair, sighing to herself as she walked through to the back of the station, walking over to Theo's desk, noticing the gift basket still sitting, tears permanently in her eyes as she walked over to it.
She looked at the unfinished paper work he had sitting on his desk, picking it up and promising herself she would finish it for him. She then noticed the bear sitting beside the gift basket which he'd given to her earlier on, picking it up and holding it against her chest, tears pouring down her cheeks. She missed him.
Punk sat at the kitchen table, knowing there was no chance at him sleeping, drinking a coffee and waiting on Cassie coming home which she eventually did at 3am.
"Cass?" He called, listening as she came into the kitchen, "Hey." He nodded to her.
"Hi." Cassie said, "Where is mom?" She asked him.
"In bed." Punk nodded, "How… How did things go with Jake? What's happening?"
"Well I have to take a leave of absence until they review it all." Cassie nodded, "Had to hand in my gun and badge." She shrugged, "And I will also be psych evaluated." She nodded to herself as he sighed.
"I'm sorry." Punk shook his head, "You'll… you'll be back in no time." He nodded.
"Yeah, well… that's that." She nodded as he looked at her. He wanted to ask, but he also wanted to respect what she chose to tell him, but he also wanted to comfort her, "I'm gonna… go try and sleep-"
"Cassie." Punk stood up as she looked across at him, "About Theo…" He said as she looked at him.
"What about him?" Cassie looked at him as he sighed to himself.
"I'm… so sorry." He nodded as she looked across at him, "I'm sorry you had to see that and I'm sorry that… you lost someone close to you." He said. He figured if he couldn't say what he literally wanted to say, he'd get it across somehow.
"Do you want to ask me something?" Cassie looked at him bluntly.
"N-No… no, I just-"
"He was my friend." Cassie nodded, "And I really cared about him." She said as he nodded, "And he shouldn't be dead." She said.
"I know." Punk said, "I'm sorry."
"You can call Thea." Cassie said, "Tell her we cleaned up her mess." She spat, "Even if Jude and Sean almost got killed and an innocent life was taken."
"Cassie-"
"I'm going to bed." Cassie nodded, walking out of the kitchen and heading upstairs as Punk sat back down at the kitchen table, placing his hands over his face.