Not Your Fault

"Why are you all staring at me?" Thea mumbled, looking over at her family who weren't saying anything, not really knowing what to say.

"Your sister is… she's just upset." AJ nodded, looking over at Thea, "She didn't mean any of that." She said as Thea looked down, feeling pretty humiliated and exposed. She loved and trusted her family, but there were certain things she wished could remain private, things she tried to forget about and move on from.

"Sounded like she did." Thea said, looking over at her mom and dad who were just looking at her. She knew they wanted to ask, but the good parents in there were probably trying to avoid it.

"Thea, she was really close to the cop who died last night." Jude added, "She is really upset. Don't… Don't take anything that she said to heart-"

"Yeah well… it's not like she was lying." Thea shrugged, "I ran away and left you all with this. It's… It's all my fault." She nodded.

"It's not your fault." Punk shook his head, "You didn't put any of us in danger. No one blames you." He nodded to her as she rubbed her forehead.

"You guys don't have to say it. I can see by the looks on your faces that you all know that this wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for me and… my habits." She nodded.

"You were protecting your family." AJ said, "We get that." She assured her, "You didn't do anything wrong." AJ assured her.

"It's not your fault, Thea." Jude shook her head whilst Sean sat quietly beside her, choosing not to say anything.

"I should have stayed. I should have been the one dealing with it. I let you get hurt." She looked at her dad, "And… I put you in danger." She turned to Jude, "And Cassie looks like she wants to kill me." Thea nodded to herself.

"No, she's just… she's upset." AJ shook her head, looking across at Thea. She didn't want her eldest daughter to feel responsible for this.

"I mean… what did you expect was going to happen?" Sean looked over at Thea, "Did you think you'd run away to another state and that would be it sorted? Fixed?" Sean asked as Thea looked at him, "Surely, with the parents you have, you should know that these types of people don't go away. Not until someone is dead or they have money. That's how they work." He said.

"Sean." Jude placed her hand on his arm to calm him down.

"You think this is my fault?" Thea asked him.

"I don't think it. It is your fault. You left your dad to go to the cops and deal with it. I had to watch Jude have a gun against her head!" Sean stood up angrily as Jude placed her hand over her forehead, "She's seven months pregnant. She spent all night in the ER having panic attacks, throwing up, crying." Sean said.

"Sean." Punk shook his head.

"No…. no no no, she needs to hear it." Sean said, "You had to have known that if you left town, we'd all be in trouble. But you did it anyway. You never told anyone and why? It's not like we all don't know about your past addictions."

"I didn't want anyone to worry." Thea shook her head. She'd never felt more unwelcomed by her own family before. If she didn't feel guilty and worried before, now she just felt like the worst human being alive.

"We know that." AJ nodded, "We told you to stay in Milwaukee. You couldn't have done anything to stop this. It's ok." AJ assured her.

"Why are you sugar coating this?" Sean asked AJ, "She got us in this mess-"

"Yeah and this is a family." AJ looked across at Sean, "And we don't blame anyone for anything."

"Yeah? Well she was the first to blame her dad for everything she went through." Sean turned to Thea as Punk looked over.

"Ok, Sean that's enough." Jude stood up, "Let's just go home." She shook her head, scared her boyfriend would say any more, "Go out to the car." She said as Sean walked by Thea and left the house, "He's just upset. It's been a long night and morning." She explained to her sister.

"Do you blame me for this?" Thea asked Jude who looked across at her.

"No." Jude shook her head, "I don't blame you." She assured her, turning to her parents, "I'll see you guys later." She nodded to them.

"Bye, sweetie." AJ sighed, watching as Jude walked out of the kitchen and left the house, leaving Thea in the kitchen with AJ and Punk.

"I uh… I think I might just call Dominic and tell him to stay in Milwaukee." Thea nodded, quickly drying tears from her eyes, in hopes her parents wouldn't see, "I'll just drive back up."

"Why?" Punk asked, "You should stay. Be there for your sisters-"

"They don't wanna be around me, that's very clear." Thea shook her head, "Sean is right. I should have known you guys would be in trouble and… I just left." She shook her head. It was confusing to her now that she never would have thought about the safety of her family. She felt disgusted with herself, way more than she ever had before.

"Thea, this is not your fault and I can't keep saying it." Punk made clear, "You left and… you were protecting your family. You didn't know these guys were gonna target us next. It was safer for you to stay in Milwaukee. Your safety isn't any less important as Cassie and Jude's. You did the right thing by staying. We dealt with it. It's… it's over." He said, "Everyone just needs a bit of space."

"Space from me." Thea nodded, "I should have known better. All I've ever did is bring everyone else down with me." She said, "Jude and Cassie."

"No you haven't." AJ shook her head.

"I did used to steal Jude's lunch money." Thea nodded to them, "And when she found out I was, she started…" She paused, feeling a lump in her throat, "She started sliding it through the bottom of my bedroom door." She said, tears rolling down her cheeks, "She was just a kid."

"Baby, you weren't well." AJ said, "You needed help. We… No one judges you for any of that." AJ made clear, "We both know what it's like to have made mistakes and have them catch up to you." She said, "It can weigh you down, and you… you feel like everything is your fault." She said, turning to Punk who nodded in agreement, "But it gets better and you realise that you were only trying to do the right thing."

"You both have to say that. You're my parents." Thea shook her head.

"If you had done anything wrong, we'd let you know." Punk made clear, "You haven't. Your sisters have both had… a rough night. They're upset-"

"And it's because of me." Thea shook her head. There was no way for her to think of it as anything other than her own fault. Her own fault for moving and leaving things up in the air. Her own fault for expecting her family to be safe when they were clearly in danger. She thought she'd come to terms with it being out of control but now… now it was clearer than ever that all of this was because of her.

"It's not." Punk said, "You have any idea how much I hated myself after Rio took your mom and Cassie years ago. I blamed myself. I told myself I shouldn't have left them in the house themselves but then… then I realised that it was out of my control and I couldn't do anything about it." He said as Thea shook her head.

"I should just go." Thea shook her head, drying her tears as AJ sighed to herself.

"Please don't. You've just got here. And we wanna see Sofia and James." AJ smiled, "And Dominic. You should all be here-"

"I don't think anyone really wants me here right now." Thea shook her head, "I'm just gonna go." She said, escaping out of the kitchen as AJ sighed.

"Thea, wait." AJ sighed, running after her whilst Punk stood in the kitchen sighing to himself.

"What?" Thea sighed, turning to her.

"I…" AJ paused, wondering if she should even bring it up, "Did you…" She looked at Thea, "Did you have an abortion?" She shook her head as Thea looked at her.

"Yeah." Thea nodded, "I did."

"Why didn't you tell me?" AJ shook her head, "Why-Why did you go to Sam? I was right here." She said, hurt and confused.

"Because you had your teenage pregnancy. And I saw how badly she turned out." Thea nodded as AJ looked at her, hurt.

"Thea." AJ shook her head, her heart hurting as she watched Thea dry her eyes.

"I'm sorry." Thea shook her head, opening up the door and leaving the house as AJ took a deep breath, running her hands through her hair and wandering back into the kitchen where Punk was sitting.

"That was a lot." Punk nodded to himself as AJ sighed to herself, sitting down across from him, "I don't think I've ever saw Cassie like that." He admitted.

"Yeah, me neither." AJ sighed, "I'm gonna kill your mother." She shook her head.

"I don't feel like that's my business." Punk shook his head.

"She was seventeen, Phil. We're her parents. We…. I deserved to know. I… I should have taken her. I should have been there with her. Not Sam." AJ shook her head.

"Maybe she was just scared to tell you." Punk shrugged tiredly, "I don't want her blaming herself for this. Guilt is a fucking illness and it can… it can mess you up." He said, "This was out of her hands. Even if she was here, the same thing probably would have happened." He said as AJ nodded. There was no pointing the finger at anyone, especially not towards any of their daughters.

"Cassie is just really upset right now. And Sean too. He's worried about Jude. They've all been through it. I think we all just need a bit of space." AJ said as Punk nodded.

"I'm gonna go check on Cassie." Punk nodded, standing up from the table and leaving the kitchen whilst AJ sat in her own thoughts.

Punk made his way upstairs, knocking on Cassie's bedroom door, walking in where he saw her sitting on her bed watching TV.

"Hey." Punk said.

"Hey." Cassie said, "I'm not apologising." She made clear.

"I didn't ask you to." Punk assured her, "I know you're hurting right now."

"That's not why I said what I said. She needs to hear it. No one else is gonna tell her. You all tiptoe around her-"

"You might not think it, Cassie, but your sister is sensitive-"

"Please." Cassie shook her head.

"She is. She takes things to heart. The only problem is, she does it quietly. Kinda like you." He said.

"I am not like her." Cassie said.

"Cass, this wasn't her fault. This was out of her control. If she was here it still would have ended the same or worse, it could have ended with Thea getting hurt." Punk said, "It's a shitty situation. I know. But it's not Thea's fault."

"If she hadn't been such an idiot when she was younger, everything would have been fine." Cassie said.

"It's hard not to be an idiot when you're young." Punk nodded.

"Yeah? Well me and Jude did just fine." Cassie said.

"She had a rough time, Cassie. You gotta… you gotta give her a break. It's addiction. You don't choose it." Punk said, "And bringing up things that your sister did or has done to… to hurt her like that isn't cool." He said.

"Can you just get out?" Cassie asked as Punk looked across at her.

"I know it's rough-"

"No, you don't." Cassie spat, "Theo was a good person. And he helped me. He was nice to me. He didn't care that… that this family is so fucked up. He didn't go looking into all your files. He was good and kind." She shook her head, "And he didn't deserve to die like that." She said. It was incredibly hard for her to come to terms with him being gone, especially when she was just trying to figure out how she really felt about him.

"I know he didn't." Punk said, looking across at her, "Everything he taught you, you've got that with you forever." He reminded her as she looked across at him.

"Things just don't feel the same." Cassie shook her head as Punk sighed to himself.

"Wasn't just a friend, was he?" Punk figured. He was no dummy.

He took her silence as agreement as he walked over, sitting down on the edge of the bed, "Come here." He nodded as she sighed, rolling her teary eyes, "Just come here." He nodded as she leaned over, hugging into him as he kissed her head, staying in an embrace for as long as she needed.