Not to Plan
"Uh… hi, it's nice to meet you." Theo smiled nervously, extending his hand to Sandra after some awkward silence.
"You too." Sandra nodded timidly, shaking his hand.
"Why don't we go into Cassie's office?" Theo suggested, "It's just in here." He nodded, opening up the door for Sandra who nodded, walking on into the office as Cassie followed, pausing in front of Theo, glaring up at him for several seconds as he looked down at her.
"Oh, this is a big office." Sandra observed, taking a seat on the sofa in the corner.
"Yeah they give the big ones to the best." Theo smiled, walking into the office after Cassie, closing the door behind him.
"Is that so?" Sandra nodded, looking on at Cassie whose attitude had dramatically changed. She was tense, with the face of someone who was incredibly angry. It didn't take a genius to figure out who she was angry with.
"It's policy." Theo teased, "Can I get you a coffee or anything? Cassie said we were gonna head across the road to the coffee shop-"
"Oh, that's really not necessary." Sandra shook her head, sitting down on the sofa, "I won't take up much of your time. Not worth a coffee. It'd go cold." She nodded as Cassie gulped nervously.
"I thought… isn't this sort of like an interview?" Cassie asked.
"Not quite." Sandra shook her head, "That will come. I'm just here to collect the boring details from you both." She said, "One of our adoption professionals will meet with you, preferably at your home, to go through the more intricate details. I'll pass on all your information to them. Beware, there's lots of paper work for you guys to do."
"Oh." Cassie nodded, "Ok." She said, sitting down across from Sandra as Theo joined her.
"Full names and birthdays?" She smiled, taking out her notes and pen.
"Cassie Brooks. November 5th." Cassie nodded.
"Theodore Sanchez." Theo nodded, "July 12th." He said, turning to Cassie discretely who refused to look at him.
"So this isn't like a… a test or anything?" Cassie had to ask.
"No, of course not." Sandra smiled, "A little further into the process someone from the agency will conduct a home study. That looks a little more closely if you're suitable to adopt. And that's where they'll consider your reference too-"
"Oh, that's finished. My dad finished it." Cassie nodded.
"So you're already ahead of the game." Sandra smiled, "I have down here that you already have a son." She nodded.
"Yeah. Chase." Cassie nodded, "We aren't really telling him about this until we know for sure we're getting a baby." She said.
"That's a good idea." Sandra said.
"How long a wait are we looking at?" Theo asked, "I mean… could we get picked by a woman who is like eight months pregnant?" He wondered.
"You could." Sandra nodded, "Or you could get picked by a woman who is three months pregnant." She shrugged.
"Or we might not get picked at all." Cassie shrugged, turning to Theo angrily as Sandra watched.
"Well I… I do doubt that." Sandra said, "You seem like good people." She nodded.
"You only look into our records, right?" Cassie asked curiously.
"Family background check is also essential." Sandra nodded.
"So like… you need our parents history and stuff?" Cassie asked as Sandra nodded.
"It would be preferred. If they're still living. You said your dad did your reference." Sandra smiled as Cassie nodded slowly, "And you have two sisters?" She asked, looking at their profile, "Looks like a lot of love around to give." She smiled as Cassie nodded nervously.
"Y-Yeah." Cassie said, rubbing her sweaty hands on her thighs, turning to Theo nervously as he ran his hand through his hair. A family background check wasn't welcomed, that was for sure.
"You never thought to tell anyone about this Wilson guy? Not even me?" Thea questioned, sitting with Jude in her kitchen.
"I didn't think it'd matter what I knew." Jude shrugged, "Well, not until he broke into our house." She admitted.
"How does this family just stumble into these situations?" Thea scoffed, "Well you're probably better staying out here until they find him, right?"
"Probably." Jude nodded, "Although, I'm not sure what his problem is with me. It's not like I witnessed him murder her. I just knew they were having a weird affair."
"Makes him a definite suspect, though." Thea said, "You tell mom and dad?"
"No." Jude shook her head, "No, it'd only make them worry." She said.
"Is Sean still in New York?" Thea asked.
"Yeah." Jude nodded, "Yeah, he's staying to help with the investigation."
"What's the four one one with you two these days?" She asked as Jude shrugged.
"I met the other woman." Jude told her sister as Thea sat up, intrigued.
"Really?" Thea raised her eyebrows, "Oh, I'd be in prison right now if I were you." She realised.
"What good would that do me?" Jude shook her head, "Of course she thinks she's all innocent. It's hard to even find the effort to hate her." She nodded, "And then I slept with Sean before I came back out here." She said.
"You're a mess, Jude." Thea nodded honestly.
"I know." Jude ran her hands over her face and sighed, "I feel it."
"I can't believe I'm going to say this but… why don't you give him a chance?" Thea nodded, "If you could move on from him, you would have by now. You'd be divorcing him, no problems." She said, "Clearly it's not what you want."
"It'll always be there, though." Jude shook her head.
"Yeah and maybe you'll learn to forget it and… forgive him one day. The man clearly still loves you. He's been like your little lap dog for almost a year. Doing everything you ask. Yes ma'am. No ma'am." She shook her head as Jude rolled her eyes.
"I know he loves me. That wasn't ever the problem." Jude said, "Not for the most part anyway."
"No one will judge you if you take him back. If that's what you're worried about." Thea said, "You won't be weak or stupid for taking him back. If you guys can work through it and get on the other side of it all then… we'd all encourage that. For you, for the girls." She nodded, "Don't hold back because you think you'll be the idiot taking back her cheating husband."
"If he cheats again-"
"He won't." Thea shook her head, "You can only be so stupid. And if he does… well dad will definitely go back to prison." She figured.
"If we take it slowly." Jude nodded to herself, allowing herself to acknowledge what she'd already known all along. That she couldn't move on from her husband.
"Yeah." Thea nodded in agreement, "You don't have to be Cassie." She teased, "Took her what? Thirty years to let Theo in?" She rolled her eyes.
"Well that's different." Jude laughed a little, "How is she anyway? Busy I'm assuming."
"I think they had a meeting with the adoption agency today, actually." Thea nodded, "I hope it goes well for them."
"Don't speak to me." Cassie nodded, walking back into the station after seeing Sandra out, "In fact, don't even look at me." She added as Theo followed her.
"Ok, well that's childish." He said as she turned to him, causing him to knock into her.
"I have never been more mad at you than I am right now." She let him know as he put his hands on his hips, looking down at her, "I mean… what the hell was that? And on top of that, now we know they have to do background checks which does not work in our favour."
"Hey, that's all on your family. Not mine." Theo scoffed as Cassie glared at him.
"Right, you're just the crazy lunatic father to be who beats up his colleagues-"
"He's not my colleague-"
"Oh, whatever!" Cassie yelled as some people turned around.
"He was starting shit with me. He shouldn't even be here." Theo shook his head angrily, "He deserved it-"
"I don't care if he deserved it. You could have picked a better time." Cassie nodded, "I mean she looked horrified-"
"She wasn't here to assess us. You heard her." He said, "She just wanted more of our boring details."
"You don't think she's gonna pass on any information that she got from this visit? Of course she will." Cassie said, "I do not want to mess this up when it is our last option to have a baby." She shook her head.
"We won't." Theo shook his head, "I can… I can call her later and explain the situation. Defend myself."
"No, you'll just make it worse." Cassie rolled her eyes, walking off towards her office as Theo followed her, "What were you even fighting about?"
"He was just being a prick." Theo shook his head, "Thinks he's gonna get chief. Started telling me there'd be no hard feelings. Said he looked forward to working with you again… look, he was just being a dick." He nodded, "And he was pushing my buttons."
"Can we erase my parents records?" Cassie asked, sitting down behind her desk anxiously, logging onto her computer.
"No." Theo scoffed, "Of course you can't."
"God, Thea's too…" Cassie put her hand on her forehead, "Will they look into her?"
"Why? What did she do?" Theo shook his head, forgetting.
"Killed someone in her kitchen." Cassie looked at him bluntly as Theo folded his arms.
"The someone was a rapist." Theo shrugged, "And your parents stuff isn't so bad."
"Are you kidding me?" Cassie looked at him, "This is a nightmare." She sighed stressfully, "We're never going to get a baby at this rate."
"Of course we are." Theo shook his head, "We're good parents. And good people. We got everything we need to give a kid a good home and… a good life." He nodded, "The adoption agency is going to see that." He assured her, walking around her desk, crouching down in front of her, "Please just trust me." He nodded.
"I trust you." Cassie nodded, "But I'm still mad with you." She shook her head.
"Alright." He nodded, standing up and heading for the office door as she watched him lock it over, closing the blinds on the window before making his way back over to her.
"What are you doing?" She asked suspiciously, smiling a little as he crouched down and pushed her back on her chair a little, opening the button of her pants and pulling them down as she lifted her hips to help him get them off.
"You don't look so mad with me now." Theo nodded.
"Yeah well keep going where you're going and we'll see." She nodded as he chuckled, pushing her panties to the side and scooting her forward towards his mouth.
"You ready for the game?" Dean asked, walking into his brother's kitchen later on that night, finding him sitting at the table reading one of the letters, "You're still reading those damn letters?"
"I don't even think I'm halfway through them yet." Punk shook his head, "It's weird cause I really thought I've been out this long that I've pretty much found out everything that happened when I was gone, even the smaller stuff, but… I don't think I'll ever know all the things I missed." He said.
"Well it was a long time." Dean nodded, "And a lot happened."
"I have no idea how I would have handled Thea." Punk admitted truthfully as Dean laughed a little.
"Yeah, we all felt like that." Dean said.
"I mean… say I never went to prison and she still ended up going down the path she did, I have no idea how I would have handled it. Reading about it is difficult. Reading April's perspective of it is difficult. I can't imagine living through it." He shook his head, "Seeing her the way she was."
"Definition of a troubled teen." Dean nodded, "But so we were." He shrugged.
"You were around." Punk said, "Was it him? His influence?"
"Jackson?" Dean asked as Punk nodded, "Honestly, I don't know. I didn't actually spend much time with him. Probably because I was angry that he was the reason you were in prison." He said, "I always thought he was too old for Thea anyway. But anytime I brought up with AJ she would just shut me down and tell me that she felt the same but that Thea was happy around him. And she wanted Thea to be happy." Dean shrugged, "So I kept my nose out of it. Wish I hadn't now, obviously." He nodded, "If there was ever a person who knew the ins and outs of Thea's life back then it was Sam. And even if she was still here, she wouldn't give anything away. She loved Thea like a daughter." He nodded.
"Yeah, I know." Punk nodded, "I just… I feel bad. Cause most the time when I was in prison, I would get so jealous of you all with your freedom and the fact you all had each other." He said, "It never occurred to me that you'd all be dealing with your own shit." He said, "I remember the last time Thea visited me, when she told me she didn't want to see me anymore. At the time I didn't notice but looking back now… she looked awful. I didn't even question it." He shook his head.
"You were dealing with your own stuff, too." Dean said, "You had no one. You're right, we had each other. And that got us through. And we got onto the other side of all that shit." He nodded.
"I just wish it wasn't so hard for her. For all of you." Punk said, "April has wrote about you… staying here a lot." He looked at his brother who nodded.
"I wasn't all that fun to be around." Dean nodded, "I was drinking a lot and you know Renee doesn't take my bullshit." He said, "She kicked me out a couple times." He nodded, "That wasn't long after you'd gone, actually."
AJ was woken up through the night to six year old Jude tapping on her shoulder. She quickly opened her eyes, no longer a heavy sleeper like she was when her husband was here.
"Is it the baby?" AJ asked immediately, sitting up, "Is she crying?" She wondered.
"It's Dee." Jude said, "He's at the bottom of the stairs." She explained as AJ shook her head with confusion.
"What?" AJ shook her head, getting out of bed, taking Jude's hand and leaving the bedroom, getting to the stop of the staircase where she saw Dean was slouched at the bottom of the stairs, leaning against the wall.
"What's he doing?" Jude whispered, looking up at her mother.
AJ watched Dean and quickly came to the conclusion that he was drunk and had either been kicked out of his house or locked out. Which meant he came to his second residence.
"He's just… He's just come here to sleep over." AJ nodded to Jude, crouching down in front of her, "It's still during the night so you get back to bed, ok? You make sure all your stuffed animals are tucked in, ok?" She said.
"Ok." Jude whispered, running back to her bedroom as AJ stood up straight, looking down at Dean at the bottom of the stairs and sighing.
"Dean." AJ sighed, walking down the stairs, reaching the step he was sitting on at the bottom, sitting down beside him as he turned to her.
"Renee told me to come back when I was sober." Dean nodded to her, "I was gonna go to Sam's but she wasn't home."
"I don't mind you coming here." AJ assured him, "I just don't want to see you like this." She said, "You know it doesn't help. Not in the long run."
"Yeah, I know." Dean nodded, "I just… I just really miss him." He shook his head, "And I hate seeing you here on your own with the kids." He sighed.
"I know." AJ nodded, "I miss him too." She said, with a lump in her throat.
"How is Cassie?" Dean asked, quickly drying his face.
"Sleeping better." AJ smiled as he nodded with a smile.
"And you?" Dean asked as AJ shrugged.
"I'm getting through, babe. What choice do I have?" AJ shrugged as Dean nodded.
"No choice, I guess." Dean nodded, "I can crash on the couch and be gone before the girls wake up."
"You should go home and try and fix things with Renee. I know she doesn't want to see you like this." AJ said.
"No, she'd been drinking too. It's best we wait until we're sober." Dean said as AJ nodded.
"Well the couch is yours." AJ said as he nodded, feeling her wrap her arms around him, leaning her head on his shoulder. They took turns of getting each other through.
