The Little Things


"What do you mean she told you? She? As in the girl who was murdered?" Sean shook his head as Jude nodded, sitting her pencil back down, looking at him blankly, "Ok, talk." He said seriously.

"Well she was a student at the academy." Jude said.

"You told me she wasn't in any of your classes." Sean said.

"She wasn't. I didn't know her. I only spoke with her once. She came to one of my extra classes I put on during folio week." She shook her head, "She was really behind with a lot of work and I just asked her if… if there was any particular reason why." She nodded, "She wouldn't tell me but she was acting weird. I knew there was something up."

"And then she told you about her and teacher?" Sean asked.

"He came into my class looking for me for something." Jude said, "When he noticed Lisa talking to me he went all weird, turned around and just left the class like he was spooked." She nodded, "I'm no fool."

"You put one and one together and asked her?" Sean followed.

"Word had been going around that there was a student sleeping with a teacher." Jude said, "I try not to pay attention to any of that stuff. I think it's a load of nonsense." She rolled her eyes, "But… I figured it was them. I just asked her if there was anything she wanted to tell me. And that I'd keep it between us. And if she needed help, I could give it to her. Mentioned being married to a cop, just in case it made her feel a bit safer." She nodded.

"What'd she do?" Sean asked.

"She just told me that she'd ended it but that he kept showing up at her apartment. Harassing her with phone calls. She'd fallen so behind with her work because she didn't want to come to classes, in case she bumped into him." Jude said.

"Jude, this would have been really helpful back when she was murdered." Sean shook his head, "Why didn't you say anything?"

"Well we weren't really speaking to each other back then and… I didn't want to involve myself." She sighed, "You'd already figured out they were having an affair anyway-"

"Yeah, just by speculation from asking Lisa's friends and people at the academy." Sean said, "We haven't located him since she was murdered." He reminded her.

"I know." Jude said, "I should have said something, I know I should have. But then Theo got shot and… we were in Chicago." She shook her head, "I'm sorry." She nodded as he looked at her.

"Tell me this guy hasn't come near you." Sean nodded hopefully.

"He hasn't." Jude said, "But I'm assuming he knows that I know." She nodded.

"Did Lisa say anything to you that might have… lead to her being murdered? Was he abusing her? Anything like that?" Sean asked.

"No, she just said that she wanted to end it. She was trying to end it but he kept coming back to her. She told me she hated that she kept giving into him." Jude said, "I explained a little bit about what I do outside of work… the charities and groups I run… just in case it wasn't consensual." She nodded, "She insisted it was."

"Well… he murdered her in an elevator. Something is clearly wrong with him." Sean shook his head, "And he knows you were talking to her. He clearly feels threatened by what she told you. Probably hates that he doesn't know what she told you." He said.

"Do you think he was looking for me? At the house?" Jude asked worriedly as Sean looked at her, sighing to himself stressfully.

"I think it's best you go back to Chicago. See the girls. Stay with your parents for the time being." He nodded.

"I'm sorry." She gulped, "I should have said something." She nodded, "She didn't seem like she was in danger. Maybe if I said something sooner, she'd still be alive-"

"You took her at her word." Sean shook his head, "Even if you did say something, it didn't sound like she thought he might murder her." He said, "It's alright." He shook his head.


"How you holding up?" Thea asked, sitting on a bench in the park with Cassie whilst Sam was playing on the swings, dodging her way around the snow to get to her favourite park activities.

"Still hasn't sunk in." Cassie shook her head, "I still can't believe it. I was speaking to him just the day before." She sighed as Thea nodded.

"It's probably one of the better ways to die." Thea nodded to herself as Cassie turned to her, "As oppose to like a yearlong illness or something." She clarified.

"Right." Cassie shook her head.

"I'm just saying, when I go, heart attack sounds like the top option." Thea nodded as Cassie rolled her eyes.

"Ok, I get it." Cassie nodded, taking a sip of her coffee as Thea turned to her.

"I'm sorry. I know you were close with him. You and Theo." Thea said, "If there's anything I can do."

"We'll be alright." Cassie nodded, "It just might take some time to feel real."

"How is Theo?" Thea asked.

"Upset." Cassie said, "Mostly quiet."

"Well they were close." Thea understood.

"Mark showed up yesterday." She told her sister, "To pay his respects apparently."

"Yeah, right." Thea rolled her eyes.

"I didn't know him and Theo were close before… everything that happened, happened." Cassie shook her head, "He never really said anything about it until last night."

"How close?" Thea wondered.

"Came up through the academy together." Cassie turned to her, "Closer than I thought, anyway. Which makes sleeping with him even worse, somehow."

"Look, we all got people we regret sleeping with. Believe me." Thea rolled her eyes, "You can't let it eat you up."

"If he was so close with Theo, why would he even make a pass at me?" Cassie shook her head, "Theo said it's obvious he's still hung up on me but I was never under the impression he ever was." She admitted.

"It's not like you have to see him again." Thea said positively, "I'm sure Theo was just… emotional yesterday."

"Yeah." Cassie nodded in agreement, "I was just surprised to find out they were such close friends. He's literally never mentioned that to me before. He's came up plenty of times. Usually with me being tough on myself for basically letting him out of prison-"

"Mom would be dead if you didn't bargain for a lesser sentence for him. He's a weasel. Paying his respects my ass." Thea shook her head, "Whatever friendship he had with Theo clearly died a long time ago."

"I tried to talk to him some more about it this morning but… he wasn't for having it." Cassie shook her head.

"Well he came back from the dead and found out his best friend slept with the girl he was in love with." Thea shrugged, "I wouldn't want to talk about it either." She said as Cassie nodded.

"I hate when he goes all quiet. I never know what to do. Normally it's the other way around. Me going in my weird little moods and him doing everything to get me to talk." Cassie smiled a little.

"He'll be alright." Thea nodded, looking over to keep her eye on Sam who was climbing up the chute backwards, "So when is the appropriate time to ask when Theo is stepping into Jake's job?" She asked with fear.

"I would have waited a week at least." Cassie scolded.

"Well?" Thea said.

"I don't know, Thea. None of us are thinking about that right now." Cassie shook her head.

"Sure. That's fair." Thea nodded, "Dad found the letters, by the way." She said as Cassie turned to her.

"Oh, wow. It only took him twenty years." Cassie said as Thea chuckled a little, "He told you about them?"

"Yeah, he said he found them and wasn't sure how to bring it up with mom. I told him I knew about them. Didn't mention that I told you and Jude about them, though." Thea said, "He said he didn't want to read any more until he talked to her about them."

"She did write a lot of them." Cassie nodded, "I wonder how he'll feel reading them. Not that I have a clue what she wrote but… I'm assuming it wasn't all happy stuff."

"I'd say ninety five percent will probably make him want to jump off the nearest bridge." Thea nodded as Cassie rolled her eyes, "I'm sure there's the occasional nice story. Me graduating. Our trip to Atlantic City-"

"That was awful." Cassie scoffed, "You were a bitch the entire time. Jude was in her anti-social phase of life and no one wanted to play with me. That's what I remember of Atlantic City-"

"I got us the suite, though." Thea smirked.

"By telling the lady at the front desk that our dad was dead." Cassie raised a brow.

"I slept like a baby in that bed." Thea nodded as Cassie shook her head.

"Maybe she won't want him to read them." Cassie said, "Maybe there's stuff she wrote that she doesn't want anyone to see. That was her outlet. Her therapy. Who knows how she was really feeling during all of that. We sure as hell wouldn't know. She was always so strong with us." She nodded.

"He's gonna talk to her anyway before he reads anymore." Thea nodded.

"It might be therapeutic." Cassie thought about it, "I mean, I don't know how much dad knows about those eight years. I'm sure he got the run-down of the basics but… it was a long ass time."

"I still don't think he even knows half of it." Thea said, "And I don't think he wants to." She nodded, "I'm not just talking about me. I know I kinda steal the spotlight during those years but… you guys didn't have it so easy either. Little things that I know would cut him up." She said, "Jude getting bullied and having those panic attacks. Uncle Dean struggling with alcohol. You and your stupid asthma attacks-"

"Hey." Cassie scoffed, laughing a little, "Those were scary."

"You always picked your moment, though. Christmas Day. Really?" Thea nudged her as Cassie laughed a little.

"I guess it's a way for him to still learn about us." Cassie said, "Kinda weird." She admitted.

"Yeah." Thea nodded, "It is."


"How was he?" AJ asked, making dinner in the kitchen as Punk made his way through from dropping his father off at his house.

"He was fine. He didn't like the fuss, if it wasn't obvious." Punk said, "Set in his ways, I guess."

"I could tell." AJ laughed a little, "I picked up this card on my way home from work. For Cassie to give to Jake's wife." She showed him as he nodded.

"Yeah, good thinking." Punk nodded, watching her turn back around to the veg she was chopping, "Still kinda shocking to think about."

"I know." AJ shook her head, "Maybe we should send flowers too." She thought to herself as Punk watched her, "What do you think?" She turned to him, noticing he was looking at her funny, "What?" She said.

"I uh…" He paused, scratching the back of his neck as she waited for him to continue, "When I was in the attic the other night." He said, "Well I found these letters." He explained as he watched her face form into realisation, sitting the knife she was holding down as she turned away from him, "I read a couple." He nodded, "But then I stopped because I… well I could tell they were personal. Personal to you. And that maybe you didn't want me reading them, even if they were addressed to me." He said, "You never mentioned them before."

"I didn't want to." She said bluntly.

"I figured that." He nodded, "I uh… I understand if you don't want me to read them. If you want to seal them back up and keep them some place only you know." He said as she turned to him, tears glistening in her eyes, "Why didn't you send them to me?" He whispered sadly as she turned away, using her sleeve to wipe the tears spilling from her eyes.

"I was going to." She nodded, a lump caught in her throat. She had never gave the letters a second thought. They'd always been something she'd locked away in her heart, locked away in their messy attic with the confidence no one would come across them, "I went to post the first one and I never got round to it. Probably didn't get the chance with the girls. Then I planned on posting a second one along with the first… then I just started writing one most days… and knowing that I didn't really have to send it to you… I don't know, I felt I could be more honest. No one was going to read it so I could write down everything I felt. No matter how bad it sounded." She said, "I don't know, I guess it was how I stayed sane." She shrugged.

"I read a few." He let her know, "But I didn't want to read any more without letting you know I'd found them."

"Do you want to read more?" She asked.

"Maybe." He nodded, "Yeah. If you'd let me." He said as she nodded.

"Ok." She nodded, "There's nothing I wrote that I'm embarrassed about or… don't want you to know. I've just… sort of forgot how much I was probably hurting back then." She said, "I'm sure I wrote a lot of dumb shit-"

"Missing my tongue was a personal highlight for me so far." He teased as her face broke into a smile, laughing to herself as she was reminded of the kind of things she wrote.

"As you can tell, those were the really hard days." She teased as he chuckled, walking towards her and wrapping his arms around her as she leaned her head against his chest.

"I get it if it's stuff you want to keep to yourself. I won't push you on it." He assured her.

"No, it's nothing I'm embarrassed about." She said, "To be honest I just forgot about them." She admitted truthfully, "It'd be good for you, probably. There's probably stuff I've wrote about, about the girls, that I've not even told you. Stuff I've forgot. The little things." She realised.

"Yeah I've picked up on that." He nodded, kissing her head as she hugged into him tightly.