Catch Up
"You're not considering it, are you?" Thea questioned, sitting with her sisters in a Japanese restaurant the next night, tucked away in a booth in the corner.
"I don't think so." Jude shook her head.
"I don't like telling you what to do when it comes to… this. With everything you've gone through." Cassie said, "But… I think you have to decide what you'll benefit from it? What good is it going to do?"
"No good." Thea answered for her, taking a spoonful of ramen.
"Have you told Sean?" Cassie asked.
"Yeah. Last night." Jude nodded, "He was holding a lot back. I could tell. In the end he just told me that whatever I decide, he'll back me all the way." She said, "He probably just wanted to tell me to rip the thing up and forget about it."
"I don't think that would be such a bad idea." Thea nodded, "Like Cassie said… what would you gain from it? What's done is done-"
"He's asking for a chance to apologise. Face to face." Jude said.
"Jude, this man didn't call you a bad name or mug you." Thea said.
"I am well aware of what he did." Jude turned to her as Thea sighed a little.
"You think he deserves a chance to apologise? You think he deserves anything?" Thea asked.
"I don't know." Jude shook her head, "No. No, of course he doesn't deserve anything." She nodded, "But you don't know what it's like. There's this weird part of me that wants to… figure him out. Figure out why he did what he did." Jude shrugged, "It's not for you guys to understand." She mumbled as Cassie looked over at Thea.
"Maybe it's not." Cassie nodded, "We just don't want you to get hurt or triggered. You've got so much to look forward to right now. So much exciting stuff going on. You don't need this kind of thing dragging you back down."
"I'm not making any decisions just now." Jude nodded, "Can we just eat our ramen and change the subject?" She asked.
"You told mom and dad?" Thea asked.
"No. And I'd rather not until I figure out what I'm going to do. So… keep your silly mouths closed." She shook her head.
"Consider the silly mouth shut." Thea promised.
"And mine." Cassie nodded to Jude.
"Ok, change the subject." Jude insisted, wrapping her noodles around her chopsticks, "Mexico. How was it?" She asked Cassie before eating.
"Stunning." Cassie nodded, "It was the cutest little town where everybody knew everybody. They had town hall meetings for Christ sake." Cassie shook her head.
"Oh, I like the sound of that." Thea nodded.
"Yeah, it was great. Besides from everything going on with Theo's dad, of course." Cassie nodded.
"Yeah that really sucks." Jude nodded, "How is he? Theo?"
"He's ok. I tried to keep his spirits up. Got him to show me around, introduce me to folk. And I actually did have some civil conversations with his dad for the first time in my life." Cassie nodded.
"Because he's dying?" Thea raised a brow, "That's a little shallow."
"No." Cassie scoffed as Thea raised her unconvinced brow higher, "Shut up, Thea. You know not everything you think has to come out of your mouth."
"We weren't sure if you guys were gonna stay out there for… well until he passed." Jude said.
"Theo wanted to come back. And Raul did insist that we carry on with our lives." Cassie said, "Theo's gonna visit as much as he can and I'll tag along whenever I can too. We even discussed trying to get his dad out here for Lena's christening."
"You and your baptised children." Thea scoffed.
"When is the christening?" Jude asked.
"We haven't set a date yet. We're planning for it to be soon, though. So Raul can be there." Cassie nodded.
"That's a good idea." Jude nodded.
"Anyway, what's been going on with you guys?" Cassie asked, taking a sip of her water.
"Apart from Jude becoming famous." Thea scoffed, "Nothing."
"I'm not famous." Jude shook her head as Cassie smiled.
"I can't wait to read Chase and Lena your book." Cassie smiled, "It's so amazing. You're a published woman. That's gotta be the best feeling for you as an artist, right?"
"It does feel pretty good." Jude smiled, "It's a lot of pressure, though."
"A lot of pressure you're putting on yourself?" Thea confirmed.
"No." Jude scoffed, "Well maybe. But also pressure from this woman who is trusting me to illustrate her book. I just want it to be really great."
"It will be really great. It'll be amazing." Thea nodded.
"Cass, when are you back at work? Sean has really missed you guys." Jude let her know, twirling more noodles around her chopsticks.
"Tomorrow." Cassie said, "I'm actually looking forward to it. I've missed it. Is that sad?" She asked them.
"Yes." Thea answered quickly.
"How is Sofia? And her big floofy companion?" Cassie smiled.
"She's doing good." Thea smiled positively, "Yeah, she's thriving at her new school. Me and Dom had a meeting with her teacher last week, just to see how she was settling in. And it's going really great." She nodded.
"That's great." Cassie smiled.
"And the big floofy companion is doing great too. He's such a good boy. He'll sleep at the end of her bed every night. He truly is just like an extension of her. The confidence he's brought her is just crazy. It's pretty overwhelming to see actually, the way she's growing and adapting." Thea nodded proudly.
"She's the best." Jude smiled as Thea nodded.
"And James? Has he secured that girlfriend yet?" Cassie chuckled.
"Oh, no. Well… apparently, I picked up the wrong end of the stick. Listen to this." She said, "So this girl, Jess, she likes James. Remember that girl we saw at the mural? Came over and was speaking to him?" She asked Jude.
"Oh, yeah." Jude recalled.
"Ok, well… turns out that James likes her best friend, Elle." Thea said, "But he doesn't want to say or do anything because he doesn't want them to fight or fall out over it." She said.
"Ahh to be thirteen again." Jude smiled to herself.
"I assume you gave him some motherly words of wisdom?" Cassie scoffed.
"Actually, I was pretty stumped. He's kind like his dad so… I'm not surprised he's just ignoring it all to prevent any drama. Also, he's thirteen so I kinda found it hilarious because he's still so young." Thea said, "And then I panicked because I remembered that I got up to no good when I was thirteen."
"Well, that was a little different." Jude reminded her.
"Oh before I forget, who let mom dye her hair purple?" Cassie raised a brow.
"It's blue now." Thea chuckled.
"You're joking." Cassie said with concern.
"She's not." Jude said, "It's blue. And it's annoying that she looks amazing with it."
"Or she's near a mental breakdown." Cassie mumbled.
"They're also decorating the living room with bright floral wallpaper." Jude said as Cassie shook her head.
"What's wrong with them? All these bright colours… it doesn't make sense." Cassie shook her head, "It's like watching the Addams Family turn into Smurfs." She scoffed as Thea choked on her ramen broth, coughing and laughing at the same time whilst Jude patted her back and also chuckled.
"You finished it!" AJ squealed, entering the living room whilst Punk closed up the ladders, finally finished with decorating their living room.
"I finished it." Punk said, smiling upon her reaction, upon seeing how happy and pleased she looked.
"Oh, I love it. I love it so much." AJ smiled, "Don't you?"
"It might grow on me." Punk shrugged casually as she nudged him and smiled.
"You love it." AJ said.
"I'm honestly just glad it's done." Punk said, "Gladder to see how happy you look. It really is the little things in life, huh?"
"Happy wife, happy life. Always." AJ confirmed.
"Believe me, I know." Punk nodded, walking through to the kitchen with the ladder whilst AJ followed happily, almost with a skip in her step.
"Now you get your gift." AJ grinned.
"My gift?" Punk asked, sitting the ladder against the cupboard in the corner, "What's my gift?"
"Apart from the tray of donuts in the car waiting for you, and all the really nice things I'm going to do to you in bed later…" She said as he grinned, folding his arms triumphantly.
"That's all I need." He put his hands up.
"Come. Come see." She told him, opening the door in the kitchen which led out to their back yard.
He followed after, smiling at how excited she was, that alone was the best reward he could have gotten.
"Oh, what's this?" Punk noticed beside his bird feeders which he had made, a large bird house as well as a bird bath beside.
"I got a house and a bath for your birds." AJ smiled as Punk raised his eyebrows, "And I put some fairy lights around their house so they can see at night."
"This is sweet." Punk smiled as AJ nodded.
"I know how much time you spend out here, and how much birds we get because of the feeders so I thought… I don't know, I thought you might like this." AJ smiled.
"April, I love it." Punk nodded to her, "Thank you." He said as she smiled.
"I know it's something that helps you." She understood as he nodded.
And she wasn't wrong. It was a hobby and personal activity he took part in as almost a kind of therapy. He found it to be soothing and relaxing. He knew his wife had noticed it.
"I really love it." He nodded to her with appreciation, "These birds have it so good at the Brooks house. They don't even know it."
"Baby, I know. We're like the pigeon lady in Home Alone." She said as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder and chuckled.
"So, now that you're both back let's talk assignments." Sean nodded, standing in his office the next morning with Cassie and Theo.
"So you really did miss us?" Cassie smiled, amused.
"Of course I did." Sean nodded.
"What have you got for us then?" Theo asked.
"Pretty nasty stuff, actually." Sean said, "A body was found in a dumpster behind a Greek restaurant about a mile out." He explained, handing Cassie the folder which she opened, immediately wincing once she saw the pictures, "She was a Jane Doe for about a week and then she was identified as Stella Fitzgerald. Seventeen. Also known as Fitzi."
"God." Cassie groaned, handing the folder to Theo who took a look.
"What I've got so far is that she was basically homeless. Dead mom and a deadbeat dad who we still haven't located." Sean said.
"And we're assuming she didn't stumble into this dumpster?" Theo nodded to himself, shutting the folder back over.
"I'd bet good money on that not being the case." Sean nodded, "Over to you guys. She's homeless and not white so… naturally the press isn't picking up on it. Yet." Sean said, "But I still want a briefing on it every morning, yeah?"
"Sure." Cassie nodded.
"Alright, good to see you both." Sean said as they nodded, leaving the office whilst walking through the precinct together.
"Nothing says welcome back like a body in a dumpster." Theo nodded, making their way towards Cassie's office.
"She was homeless. So… where are we going to start?" She asked rhetorically, already knowing the answer.
"The streets." Theo confirmed as she nodded.
"Let me get my things." Cassie said, heading into her office to grab her coat and other essentials whilst Theo waited at the door.
"My mom gave Lena some mashed banana." Theo told her whilst looking at his phone, messages and pictures from his mother pouring in of Lena with mashed banana all over her face and hands.
"Did she like it?" Cassie smiled, rushing over as he showed her the pictures, "Looks like she's wearing most of it." She scoffed as Theo chuckled.
"My mom said she liked it but lost interest after a while and started playing with it." Theo read the message as she smiled.
"My sweet baby." Cassie smiled, looking on at the picture whilst Lena into Theo.
"She is a sweet baby."
They both turned around upon the voice standing behind them, looking on at Mark who stood in uniform.
"How'd I never notice you were pregnant?" Mark pointed to Cassie.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Theo asked before Cassie could.
"Oh, I work here." Mark nodded innocently as Cassie narrowed her brows, "Back on narcotics. Don't know if I'll be as good as you, but I'll try my hardest." He nodded to Theo, putting his hands in his pockets.
"Since when do you work here? Sean wouldn't… he wouldn't have hired you or… after what you did to Jude..." Cassie shook her head, looking back to Sean's office.
"Well Sean doesn't get to decide those kind of things. Being chief isn't all that, you know." Mark smiled.
"So, which rich parent was it that bought you your way back in then? Mom or dad?" Theo nodded as Mark smiled a little and looked down, trying to keep his composure.
"I'll see you guys around." Mark smiled to them both calmly, walking by them down the precinct.