Catching Up


"Hey, thanks for meeting with me." Theo nodded, sitting down in a café on his lunch break as he watched his mother-in-law close her book over.

"I usually go out for coffee at this time anyway." AJ said, "Day off or lunch break?" She asked.

"Lunch break." Theo said, ordering a coffee as the waitress passed, "Days off don't really exist for me."

"Well they should." AJ said, "Or you'll get sick. Or make a mistake. Or both." She nodded, "One time when I was doing crazy overtime, the girls were younger and Phil was still in prison, I was so tired I wound up shipping three million worth of stock to a place it wasn't supposed to go to." She said as Theo raised his eyebrows, "Yeah, I thought I was for sure fired."

"I would too." Theo laughed a little, thanking the waitress who sat his coffee down.

"I would ask if everything is ok but I know it's not. Cassie told me what's been going on." AJ said as Theo nodded, "She said you were speaking with the principal last night? How did it go?"

"How I expected it to. He promised me he would look into it. He then assured me the school was safe, for everyone. That they prided themselves on being a diverse school." He said as AJ nodded.

"Doesn't really help you find who did it, though." AJ said as Theo nodded.

"That's why I didn't want Cassie to come along. I knew how it was going to go. How it always goes." He shook his head as AJ looked over at him, "And now she's in a bad mood with me because I'm not yelling and screaming about it like she is." He said.

"She's upset. And rightly so. We all handle things differently. I told her that." AJ said.

"My mom doesn't really talk to me about it." Theo said as AJ looked at him with confusion, "About how it is for us. Being from someplace else." He said, "She never did. All she would tell me and my brother is… just ignore it." He nodded.

"It's hard to have the conversation, I guess." AJ nodded, "Especially with kids."

"Oh, my mom won't even talk about it now." Theo said, "She pretty much blacks it out. I think I do too, to a certain extent." He nodded, "It's not until I see it happen to others, that it bothers me."

"Sometimes we tend to be tougher on ourselves." AJ nodded, "It's common."

"Cassie told me some stuff, about you when you were younger, some shit you had to deal with." Theo said, "So I know that you get it."

"I do." AJ nodded, "I remember I was walking down the street with Thea one time, she was in her stroller." She smiled a little, remembering her oldest baby when she was tiny, "I think I was going to meet Phil for lunch… I was stood and harassed by cops for fifteen minutes. They wouldn't let me past. You can imagine the things they were saying." She said, "Phil doesn't hate cops because of the trouble he's gotten into it, always getting arrested… he hates them because of how they treated me. Everybody knows that." She said as Theo nodded.

"And so how do I balance that?" Theo asked, "How am I the victim and the enemy?"

"You're not the enemy." AJ said, "You're a good person who does his job fairly, and right. And that's all you can do."

"I feel like I've given Chase this burden." Theo shook his head, running his hand through his hair.

"What do you mean?" AJ asked.

"He's six and he's already dealing with this crap. He doesn't even know it." Theo shook his head.

"That's not on you." AJ said.

"Ten years ago I put away this white supremacist from Joliet." Theo said, playing with his wedding band as AJ looked across at him, "A month ago I got word he was released for good behaviour."

"You think this was him?" AJ asked, "After ten years? I'm surprised he'd remember you."

"People like him remember." Theo nodded, "When I was interviewing him he told me he would come find me once he got out. At the time I was young and maybe a little arrogant. It didn't bother me." He said.

"And you haven't told Cassie." AJ stated as Theo nodded.

"I don't want her to worry." Theo said, "I thought I could just keep it on the down low until-"

"Until what? He starts messing with Chase?" AJ asked, "How can you be sure it's him? There's a lot of racists out there-"

"I just know it is. It's too much of a coincidence." Theo shook his head.

"Well then you need to tell Cassie. She should know." AJ nodded, "And you should get this guy back in prison." She advised.

"I'm trying." Theo said.


"Phil." Lucia called, walking down at the docks, getting Punk's attention as he turned around.

"Oh, hey." Punk smiled, "How are you?"

"I'm good. You?" She nodded.

"Yeah, I'm alright." Punk said, wiping his hands on a towel, "You got a boat out here?" He teased.

"Please, I wish." Lucia rolled her eyes, "No, I was actually trying to get a hold of Thea. She's not been answering my text messages or calls. I got her a little something for her anniversary." She explained.

"Anniversary? They got married in September." Punk corrected, "I think." He thought hard about it.

"No, not her wedding anniversary." Lucia scoffed, "Uh… sober anniversary." She said, not sure if that was the correct wording.

"Oh, right." Punk nodded, "Well I know she's been busy with work and the kids. I've barely seen her myself, and I don't know why Thea has a phone because she doesn't use it." He rolled his eyes as Lucia smiled.

"Don't I know." Lucia nodded.

"How you been doing? Me and April haven't saw you in a while." He said, walking along the board walk with her.

"I'm ok. Just getting by, I guess." Lucia said, "My Uncle Paolo is selling the club." She told him.

"Yeah?" Punk asked.

"Yeah." Lucia nodded, "My mom would have been so mad." She shook her head.

"Good." Punk mumbled quietly as she smiled a little, "Is he moving?"

"Not from Chicago." Lucia shook her head, "Just… moving on from the club."

"Good for him." Punk nodded, looking over at Dean who had headphones on whilst attending to one of the boats in between dancing with himself.

"You guys have a lot of fun down here, huh?" Lucia smiled a little.

"I don't embarrass myself like him, I promise." Punk shook his head.

"My uncle always says you two are the last ones standing." She said as Punk turned to her, "Everyone else is dead or… in prison." She said as Punk nodded to himself.

"He's the last one standing." Punk corrected, looking over to Dean, "I did the prison thing, remember." He turned to her.

"At least you've stayed out." Lucia nodded.

"To your mother and father's disappointment I'm sure." Punk said, looking out at the water.

"If you talk to Thea before me, tell her to pick up her damn phone." Lucia said as Punk nodded.

"I will." Punk smiled.

"I'll catch you later." She said, walking off down the board walk as Punk chuckled at Dean tripping up over some rope.


Jude was in her class getting prepared for her afternoon seminars when she heard a knock at the door, looking over and watching as Sean walked in. She split her time between teaching art, fulfilling her own projects which entailed entering different pieces in competitions and exhibitions, as well as her charity work. Sometimes she wished she could split herself in two to get everything done, but she managed.

"Hey." Sean nodded. They hadn't spoken since their dinner the other night.

"Hi." Jude looked at him briefly before going back to what she was doing, "My class is about to begin soon." She told him.

"I know." Sean nodded, "I know, I was just coming to see how you are. And I was actually here working anyway. So far we know the victim from last week had just split up with her boyfriend." He told her.

"So he killed her?" Jude scoffed, "In a public place?"

"The boyfriend was a married teacher who works here." Sean said as Jude looked up.

"Who?" She asked, folding her arms.

"Fred Wilson." Sean said, "You know him?"

"In passing." Jude nodded, "Thankfully I don't speak to many of the teachers here." She said, feeling better about that decision than what she normally did.

"Well I was here to question him but… he's not here." Sean said.

"What is it with married men these days, huh?" Jude joked with herself, returning back to her desk as Sean scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, "At least you didn't cheat on me with some young, perky student. There's always a silver lining to everything." She nodded to herself as Sean sighed.

"Yeah, I didn't actually come by to talk to you about the case." He said, "I was hoping to see the girls tonight. Actually, I thought maybe we could spend some time together with them. Take them out for some pizza or something-"

"I have a meeting tonight." Jude said, walking around the class, sitting down some textbooks on the desks as he watched her.

"Well I can pick the girls up from school and then we can pick you up after your meeting." Sean suggested, "For the girls."

"No, don't do that." Jude warned, pausing at one of the desks as she looked over at him, "We don't get to use them or involve them in what's going on between us. No way." Jude shook her head.

"We haven't been together all four of us in six months." Sean said, "I'm taking them out for pizza anyway, I'd just… really like it if you came with us. And I know the girls would." He said as Jude looked over at him, "And no, that's not me using them to get to you… they're our kids."

"Alright." Jude agreed, "Ok." She nodded quietly. Her back was still up against the wall, but she did want her daughter's to be as unaffected as possible by all of this.

"Jude, I know you're nowhere near ready to even consider giving us a chance." Sean said.

"Nowhere near." Jude agreed.

"But I'm gonna keep annoying you like this." He said as she rolled her eyes.

"Lucky me." Jude groaned, making her way back to her desk, "You need to go now, my class is starting soon." She looked at the clock.

"Ok, I'm going." Sean nodded, "Think about what kind of pizza you want." He smiled as she looked over at him with a raised brow, "Alright, I'm going." He laughed a little, backing out of the class as Jude shook her head, not because she was mad, but because she caught herself smiling.