Proposal
"Hey, you're home." Theo smiled, watching as Cassie entered the living room, arriving home late on at night after a flight back from New York.
"I have a really bad hangover." Cassie sighed stressfully, taking her hoodie which was wrapped around her waist and putting it back on her body.
"You're a little pale." Theo nodded, watching as she sat down on the couch beside him, laying down and resting her head on his lap.
"How's my best boy?" Cassie asked.
"I'm all good, babe." Theo teased, brushing his hand through her hair.
"Not you." She scoffed.
"He's fine. We had a cool dudes only weekend." Theo said, "Went to the park and played some ball. Ate some burgers. Watched some superhero films." He nodded.
"Oh, you guys." Cassie smiled sweetly. Her heart warmed knowing how much effort her husband put into being a father.
"So is the hangover bad because you had too much to drink or because you haven't had alcohol in a while?" Theo smiled.
"Both." Cassie grumbled.
"How is Jude?" He asked.
"She's ok. Better than I expected actually." Cassie nodded, "She just seems so confused. I don't blame her." She said.
"You bump into Sean?" Theo asked.
"We bumped into him when we were out. I was very drunk at this point but from what Thea tells me, Jude started yelling at him and then kissed a stranger in front of him." Cassie said.
"That… doesn't sound like Jude." Theo shook his head.
"She may also have been very drunk like me." Cassie nodded, "I left her with an equally bad hangover."
"So they're still not talking?" Theo asked.
"Nope." Cassie said, "He came around this morning and spoke with Thea. I was still sleeping. She told me he… he does seem pretty sorry and also pretty lost."
"That's gotta mean something coming from Thea, right?" Theo asked.
"Yeah, that's what I was thinking." Cassie said, "I think they just gotta take that first step and talk to one another. Openly. Nothing is gonna change until they do that. It's gonna be upsetting and tough but… it's the only way."
"Well I'm sure Jude appreciated you guys coming over. Whether she told you or not." Theo said.
"It was nice to hang out just the three of us again. It's been a while." Cassie said, "How has work been?" She looked up at him, still with her head rested on his lap, "I'm not walking into any mess tomorrow, am I?"
"No, it's all fine." Theo smiled, "The leak in your office got fixed."
"Oh, thank God." Cassie said, "It's been like that for weeks. I don't know how many times I said to Jake."
"Well someone finally got round to it." Theo nodded, "Do you want me to make you some food?" He asked her.
"No, I ate like a pig on the flight home." Cassie said.
"How was Thea? She didn't mind carrying you and Jude home drunk?" Theo asked.
"I don't think she had a choice." Cassie laughed a little, "It was kinda nice just to relax, though. Take my mind off all of this stuff we've been going through." She nodded.
"Hey, I told you. You don't gotta stress about it. We'll work it out, no matter what it means." He nodded as she smiled.
"I know we will." Cassie nodded confidently, taking his hand and kissing it, "But until what point do we stop saying… if it happens then it happens." She said, "We do have options." She nodded.
"We do." Theo nodded, "I'm willing to ride your coat tails on this. If you wanna look into our other options then I'm right there with you."
"It just seems so overwhelming." Cassie said.
"I know." Theo nodded, stroking her forehead sweetly, "It's nothing we gotta rush into right now."
"There's no reason we still can't keep trying." She looked up at him, sitting up and turning to face him, "Maybe what they say is true… maybe once you stop trying so hard it happens." She said, climbing over him as he smiled, placing his hands on her thighs, sliding them up to her waist as she cupped his neck, "So let's just… be us again." She nodded.
"Ok." Theo nodded along. She was sure he would agree to anything she said when she had him like this.
"I don't wanna think about it." She emphasised, leaning down and kissing him as he kissed back deeply, running his hands through her hair as she moaned into his mouth softly. She felt like she'd really lost herself in the past few weeks with everything they were going through and she just wanted to feel like herself again.
After one of her worst hangovers, Jude managed to shower after her sister's left to welcome her daughter's back home after they spent a few nights with Sean. It was the most miserable thing out of all of this, having to pass the girls between them both.
"Hey, you two." Jude smiled so big, crouching down and hugging Mirren and Leela who came charging at her in the living room.
"Mommy, look." Leela turned her back to Jude who could see a very messy braid on her five year old's head, "I did it."
"But I helped you." Mirren said.
"Oh, it's so beautiful." Jude smiled, looking over at Sean for a second who was standing by the living room door, "Did you guys have fun with daddy?" She asked.
"Yeah, we had pizza." Mirren nodded, sitting her backpack on the couch, running over to Rex to say hello.
"I had a tummy ache." Leela frowned, "So I… I didn't have pizza." She sighed sadly.
"Oh, that's too bad. Maybe you can have pizza with mommy soon, if your tummy ache is all gone." Jude cupped her cheek as Leela nodded.
"Where is Auntie Thea and Auntie Cassie?" Mirren wondered, noticing the house was quiet.
"They've gone back home, baby. They had to get on a big plane tonight." Jude explained, standing up straight, glancing over at Sean again. She knew he didn't normally hang around unless he had to talk to her.
"When will they be back?" Leela asked, "And is papa coming soon?" She asked.
"They'll be back soon. All of them." Jude smiled, "Why don't I stick a movie on for you both?" She asked, switching through the TV channels to get a suitable movie for them.
"And a snack?" Leela smiled, jumping onto the sofa.
"Hey, you just had ice-cream ten minutes ago." Sean laughed at his daughter's calculating ways.
"A little snack?" Leela wondered.
"A lot of ice-cream." Sean confirmed to Jude.
"Maybe let the ice-cream settle." Jude nodded to the girls with a smile, walking into the kitchen as Sean followed, messing with the girls hair on the way there as they both giggled and tried to pull him back. The one thing they were good at, was making things seem normal for the girls. As normal as it could be.
"Yeah she had two scoops and sprinkles." Sean reached the kitchen eventually, closing the door a little.
"So that's why she's hyper?" Jude nodded.
"Nothing out of the ordinary." Sean said, looking across at her as she looked back.
"Well?" Jude waited, "Normally you only hang around if you have something to say to me. When is your next night to have the girls?" She wondered, looking at the calendar on the wall which had her work schedule as well as different meetings she had pencilled in on it.
"I actually wanted to talk to you about us." Sean said, "What happened last night-"
"I was extremely drunk. Let's not." Jude rolled her eyes, "Thea filled me in. It's embarrassing. So I'd rather we didn't talk about it."
"We need to talk, Jude. I don't mean about last night. I mean about all of this." He said, "I love you. I love you and I… I'm not gonna just give up on us. I know that I'll probably never regain your trust, but it's not gonna stop me from trying." He shook his head as she folded her arms, "I miss you. I miss… I miss telling everything to you. The amount of times I've been at that dull apartment, ready to turn to my left or right, to tell you something about my day, and you're not there… it kills me." He shook his head as she looked down away from him. She knew the exact feeling he was talking about.
"I miss you too, Sean." Jude said, "But I don't think… I don't think I can do this." She looked across at him.
"All I'm asking for is a chance. A chance to prove that it was just one stupid mistake, and that I'll spend the rest of my life trying to make it better if it means I have you in my life again." He said.
"How am I supposed to believe you?" Jude shook her head, "I put everything into our relationship. I had all the trust in the world in our relationship… and look what happened?"
"And you have every right to feel that way. I know you're gonna doubt me but just… just let me prove to you that you don't have to. There's no one else I want to be with. What happened… what I didn't… it wasn't about being with someone else-"
"But it was." Jude said, "You can tell me you weren't thinking, you'd lost your mind, whatever… but you slept with someone else. How do I even let you back in?" She questioned as he looked at her. For a second she thought he might cry, but instead he shook his head and gathered himself.
"I pray to God you will, one day." Sean nodded, "Please-"
"Please what? What do you want from me?" Jude shook her head.
"I want my wife back. I want to be here in our house that we bought together, with our kids." He said, "I just want a chance to prove to you I'm not going to hurt you like that again, and that I never meant to in the first place."
"So you want to move back in?" Jude raised a brow.
"No, I just… I just want us to talk first." Sean said, "Or have dinner together one night. Maybe take the girls out together one day." He said, "Just something other than two minute conversations." He said.
Jude looked across at him, not sure what to make of his desperation. It was difficult to be so in love with him and yet so terrified of him hurting her this way again. She wanted to trust in him, to give him that chance to make things right, but it was difficult not to be afraid.
"I don't know." Jude mumbled.
"Please." Sean said, "Tomorrow, I get off at eight. I could come here and have a late dinner with you, or just coffee." He shrugged as Jude looked across at him.
She wasn't sure if it was still the lingering hangover, or if she was just starting to warm to the idea, or if the thought of spending another night on her own was just too much… but something told her to give him this chance.
"You can cook." Jude said quietly, looking down at the ground, not noticing the relief on Sean's face.
"Ok." Sean nodded, "Thank you." He said as she looked over at him.
"This isn't a forgive and forget dinner. This is just… a conversation." Jude made clear, still very unclear where her head was truly at.
"I know." Sean understood.
"You should go. I need to get the girls to bed soon." She nodded.
"Ok. I'll see you tomrorow then." Sean said as she nodded, watching him leave the kitchen, hearing him say goodbye and goodnight to the girls, hoping she wouldn't regret taking this small but important step forward.
