Doubt
"Thank you guys for coming." Cassie nodded, approaching her family after Jake's funeral service had finished at the cemetery. They'd all managed to come to support Cassie and Theo. Sean had also flown out earlier in the morning to pay respects to his former boss. Dean and Renee had also shown up with the rest of them.
"That's alright, sweetie." AJ smiled, "You ok?" She asked, rubbing Cassie's arm.
"Yeah, I guess." Cassie shrugged, "It just sucks." She nodded as Theo placed his hand on her shoulder, kissing the side of her head.
"So who's getting his job?" Dean asked, puffing on his cigarette as Punk turned to him, "What?" Dean shrugged.
"You picked a good moment." Punk nodded sarcastically, rolling his eyes.
"We don't know yet." Theo answered briefly, not wanting to get into it which they all could sense.
"Well as much as I love to hang around cemetery's, we should probably get back to work." Thea nodded to Dominic.
"Yeah, of course." Cassie nodded, "Thank you guys for coming." She said as Thea smiled.
"He's got some nerve." Sean scoffed as they all turned to him, to which he pointed out to them all across the cemetery, Sean visiting Jake's grave where the coffin had just been lowered and family and friends were dispersing amongst the place.
"Everybody behave themselves." Jude warned, sensing both her husband, her father and Cassie getting tense.
"Nothing wrong with staring." Sean shook his head.
"Agreed." AJ mumbled, looking over at Mark, folding her arms.
Before they knew it, all ten of them were stood, dressed head to toe in black, staring daggers across at Mark who eventually turned around and spotted them all.
"Should start digging a plot for him whilst we're down here." Dean said, puffing on his cigarette beside Punk.
"I'll get the shovel." Theo mumbled, looking on at Mark who had quickly turned away from them all once noticing they were all staring.
"How dangerous do we think he is?" Thea questioned as Dean passed her a cigarette.
"Not dangerous at all unless he gets Jake's job." Cassie estimated.
"If he can worm his way back into a uniform after being in prison, I'm pretty sure he can do a lot of other things we won't like." Sean said.
"Are we talking to him again?" Dean whispered to Punk without anyone hearing.
"Who?" Punk whispered back, turning to his brother.
"Sean." Dean mumbled, "What's the deal?"
"I think they're working it out." Punk assumed, although he wasn't really sure at this point.
"Maybe we should all stop staring." Jude nodded, feeling uncomfortable by the way they were all watching him, with deliberate intent to intimidate him, "We're like the damn Addams family standing here."
"It's a funeral. Everyone is the Addams family." Thea scoffed, "I really do need to get back to work." She nodded, checking the time.
"Yeah, let's all head out." Jude suggested as they began to leave the cemetery and head for their cars whilst Cassie and Theo stayed behind, looking over at Mark.
"Tell me why I shouldn't go over there right now and smack him." Cassie shook her head, feeling her blood boiling beneath her skin as she thought of what Mark had said to Theo. How he was playing everyone like fiddles around them. They knew his true colours.
"Because it's a funeral." Theo said, "And you're better than that." He turned to her.
"Am I?" She shook her head.
"He… mentioned something else." Theo said as Cassie turned to him.
"What?" She dreaded.
"I wasn't gonna say anything cause it's just… it's ridiculous. But I think he really believes it." Theo shook his head, "I'm not saying I do. And it wouldn't add up, but-"
"What did he say to you?" Cassie looked at him suspiciously.
"He thinks Chase is his." Theo said as Cassie raised her eyebrows, letting out a laugh and then pausing abruptly as she looked at him.
"And you're not laughing with me." Cassie said worriedly as Theo looked at her, shaking his head and running his hand through his hair.
"I know he's just getting in my head." Theo nodded, "But if you slept with him not that long before you got pregnant-"
"Months before." Cassie made clear, "It wouldn't have added up. Please do not make me stand here and confirm to you that Chase is your son." She said in disbelief.
"I'm not saying he isn't I'm just-"
"You're just what?" Cassie asked angrily, "Why are you even second guessing it?" She asked, "What the hell?" She shook her head angrily.
"I'm not. But he was in my ear with this bullshit and I just… I slept on it and it's all I've been thinking about. If you were with him close enough then-"
"Fuck you." Cassie whispered, walking away from him, briskly heading towards their car, ignoring her family calling on her as she got in the car and drove off immediately. She was in shock that he was entertaining the idea.
"What was up with Cassie earlier at the funeral? Looked like she stormed off pretty unhappy." Sean said, sitting at the hotel bar with Jude, having some coffee before he had to catch his flight back to New York.
"No idea." Jude shook her head, "She was probably just upset about Jake, I guess." Jude nodded, not having really noticed her sister, "Has there really been no update on Fred yet?" She asked.
"Nope." Sean shook his head, "Believe me, I'm as thrilled about it as you are." He sighed.
"You said someone spoke to his wife again, right? How did that go?" Jude asked.
"Nothing has changed since we last spoke to her. She's not heard from him since he disappeared after the murder." Sean said.
"He could be half-way across the world right now." Jude said.
"Was he looking for something in our house?" Sean asked.
"Me?" Jude questioned as Sean shook his head.
"No, something… maybe something that would incriminate him?" Sean nodded.
"And what would I have that would incriminate him?" Jude questioned, "My involvement in this isn't as much as you think it is. Lisa confided in me about her affair with him. That's all that happened." She nodded.
"Do you have something of Lisa's?" Sean asked.
"Besides some of her art work, no." Jude scoffed as Sean looked at her, "What? You think he wants that?"
"He might." Sean nodded, "It would explain your art studio being kicked up. That might have been what he was looking for." He said, "Did you happen to notice that it was gone?"
"N-No… I didn't look." Jude shook her head, "Why would he want her art work?"
"I have no idea." Sean said truthfully, "Right now he's still just a suspect. Just because he was having an affair with her doesn't mean he killed her-"
"Please, he's been missing ever since she was killed… of course it's him-"
"Or he fled because he saw how it looked and figured he'd be arrested for it, as the guy she was having an affair with." Sean said, "Think about it… why would he kill her in the academy? His work place? And if he did love her… why would he stab her several times in an elevator?" He questioned.
"I have no idea, Sean. I don't profile murderers for a living. That's all you." She nodded.
"Yeah and what a hoot it is." He groaned, running his hands over his face tiredly, leaning back on the chair as she watched him, extending her hand over and placing it on top of his as he looked across at her.
"I wish you could just stay for the night. All the girls have been talking about is how much they miss you." She said.
"I miss them too." Sean sighed, "I could get an early one out in the morning." He said as she nodded.
"They'll be so happy." Jude smiled as Sean nodded.
"I'll go see if they got a room available here." He said, about to stand up as she tightened her hand on top of his.
"I've got a room." She nodded as he looked across at her, "It's fine."
Theo got home later that night, having not seen Cassie all day since the funeral. He hated how they'd left things since they last spoke. He hated that Mark was getting into his head successfully, making him doubt his own wife.
He walked into the living room, looking over at Cassie who was sat in her pyjamas, hair still wet, fresh out of the shower it looked like.
"Hey." Theo said as she looked over at him, not saying anything, "Ok, I figured this is how you'd be." He nodded to himself as she stayed silent, staring at him, "Where were you all day?" He asked as she continued to say nothing, keeping her eyes on him, angry eyes, upset eyes, "Ok, well I'm sure this conversation is going to go well if you keep ignoring me." He nodded, tossing his car keys on the couch.
Cassie didn't say anything. She was scared to speak in case she regretted what she said to him. That was how angry she was. She'd had the full day to think about what he was implying this morning, and she only got more upset as the hours had gone by.
"Look, he brought it up, ok?" Theo said, "I didn't… I didn't think into it at first because I knew he was just being a dick but… I don't know, he looked kinda serious, and I know you were together, a few weeks before you were with me?" He questioned.
"It was more than a few weeks." Cassie said, "I was setting myself up for you to apologise to me right now… but you're still really going to go on about this?" She shook her head.
"Yeah… Yeah, I am." Theo nodded truthfully, "Because I don't know what you were doing when I was in Puerto Rico, and when I came back you were all over the place until you got pregnant-"
"All over the place?" Cassie stood up, "I thought you were dead and then you just showed up as if nothing had ever happened, asking me to go for a drink with you, working with me again as if I didn't attend a… a fake fucking funeral for you." She threw her hands up angrily, "When I found out I was pregnant I was only a couple weeks gone. A couple of weeks since we were together." She said, "Unless you think I lied to you." She said as he looked across at her, watching her laugh a little, "You think I lied to you?" She nodded in disbelief.
"No, I'm not saying that." Theo shook his head, "No, I just…"
"The kid looks just like you, you idiot." Cassie shook her head, "What the hell is wrong with you?"
"Kids look like kids." Theo shrugged as Cassie raised her eyebrows.
"Why are you letting him get into your head?" Cassie shook her head, "This is how he is going to get the job as chief. He's already got it as far as I'm concerned." She nodded as he looked at her, "You always let people get in your head. I mean look at your damn relationship with your dad." She spat as he nodded to himself.
"Yeah, go on. Keep throwing your stones." Theo nodded, "I don't know, it's starting to feel like you're being a little too defensive about this." He said.
"I'm not defensive. I am infuriated." Cassie assured him, "If I knew Chase was Mark's… why would I lie? To either of you? What the hell would I gain from that? Tell me." She nodded, "We weren't even together when I got pregnant. If he wasn't yours, I wouldn't have even told you I was pregnant. It wouldn't have had anything to do with you." She shook her head.
"Well you sure as hell took your time warming up to the idea of us being together. Were you just… testing the waters? See if I'd stick around or something?" He asked.
"Seriously, what is wrong with you?" Cassie shook her head. She suddenly felt like she was talking to a stranger. She suddenly felt like she was going to burst into tears, something which rarely ever happened, "You're hurting me right now." She made it clear to him, "And you're letting him win."
"Well he said he was going to ask you for a paternity test." Theo said.
"I want you out of this house." Cassie realised, drying her tears as Theo looked across at her. He wanted to console her, apologise for hurting her, apologise so much, but all he could think about was what if, was Mark's words in his head, taking over him completely until he truly believed them, even when she assured him it wasn't true.
"I'm not leaving my house." Theo shook his head.
"Then I will." Cassie nodded, walking past him and running upstairs whilst Theo stood in the quiet living room, listening to her moving around upstairs.
Five minutes later she came downstairs with a bag over her shoulder and Chase sleeping in her arms as she carried him to the front door.
"Where are you even going?" Theo walked after her, "Don't go." He shook his head, looking on at Chase, fast asleep, resting his head on her shoulder.
"My mom and dads." Cassie said, her voice crumbling as she left the house, heading for the car as she put Chase in his car seat, closing the door over.
"Cassie, come on. I… I'm just thinking about what he said and-"
"Don't." Cassie shook her head tearfully, "Just don't." She dried her tears, getting into the car as he watched her reverse out of the drive and speed away.
Cassie drove to her parents, barely seeing where she was going from all the tears in her vision. She'd never been so hurt by him before, it was causing a pain physically in her chest. She had no idea how he could question her on something like this. She couldn't understand it. How he believed a manipulative ex con over her, his own wife, mother of his child. She didn't understand.
She pulled up outside her parents, only realising then that she was still in her pyjamas with wet hair. Nevertheless, she got out of the car, lifting Chase out and heading to the door, knocking and waiting. She'd never gone to her parents like this before. Any small, stupid fight she had with Theo would send her to Thea's normally, but this wasn't a small stupid fight.
She waited a minute or so before she heard the lock turning on the door, watching her father open the door as he looked at her with confusion, watching as she burst into tears.
"Can I come in?" Cassie cried as Punk nodded immediately with concern.
