Warning


"You could have killed someone." Cassie said quietly, sitting in her car behind the wheel whilst Theo sat beside her in the passenger's seat. His shirt was half buttoned up, untucked from his pants. His hair was a mess and she could still smell alcohol from him, "You could have killed yourself." She shook her head, turning to him as he sat looking straight ahead. She wasn't sure that he'd even looked at her yet.

"This doesn't have to be a fight." She made clear. She knew shouting at him right now wasn't the right move. She was a wise woman. She knew the last thing he needed was her yelling at him, regardless of how much he had upset her. Her father was right, he had been through a lot, maybe a lot that they hadn't taken seriously enough.

"You've been through a lot recently." Cassie nodded, placing her hands on the steering wheel, "And I know you're proud. And you bounce back from things like no one else I know." She said, "But you're human. And human beings can only take so much." She turned to him, watching him as he stayed looking straight ahead, not moving.

"The shooting, being out of work, the PTSD, losing Jake… losing a baby." She whispered as he ran his hand over his face, "That's a lot for a person to deal with in a short amount of time. And if you don't address it… if you don't open-"

"Stop it." Theo shook his head as she looked at him, "Stop… being my psychologist." He said.

"I'm not." Cassie defended, "I'm being your wife." She looked at him as he eventually turned to look at her, "You don't get to shut me out. That isn't how this works."

"I'm not shutting you out." Theo shook his head.

"You're shutting everything out." Cassie said, "And I've let you. I've let you just carry on. You walk around the station with a limp. You're not one hundred percent. You're not even fifty percent better." She realised, "You lost your mentor, a father figure, a friend… and I was in your ear about getting his job." She shook her head as she realised, "We lost a baby and I… I was only concerned about you not telling anyone." She said as he looked at her.

"Stop turning everything around on yourself." Theo shook his head.

"You shouldn't be back at work." Cassie nodded, "And you should still be in counselling for the shooting. And you should be grieving for Jake instead of worrying about getting his job." She nodded, "Because this isn't you." She pointed at him, "This. Fighting with me. Fighting with people at work. Arrested. Drunk driving. That's not you." She shook her head.

"What is me, Cassie?" He turned to her, "Huh? Letting people get into my head? Like my dad?" He asked.

"I didn't mean that." Cassie shook her head, "You were trying to tell me that you believed Chase isn't your son." She said, "You know he is." Her voice broke a little, "You know fine well he is yours. I found out I was pregnant in Puerto Rico. I was a few weeks gone. A few weeks since we had… that night-"

"I know he's mine." Theo nodded, "I know. I'm sorry." He shook his head, running his hand over his hair, "Mark made it sound so believable-"

"Because he wanted you to believe him. He is low life scum and he's jealous. And you need to stay away from him." Cassie said as Theo turned to her, "You shouldn't be at work." She shook her head as he nodded in agreement. It was the first she'd ever seen him give in. Admit that he needed to take a step back. And she was proud of him for that. Because he was very much losing himself.

"I'm sorry." He shook his head, "For upsetting you like that. I never wanted… I never meant to." He said, "I'm not sure I've ever made you cry before." He realised, a hollow feeling stuck in his chest.

"Yeah, nobody makes me cry." Cassie teased as he smiled a little.

"What am I supposed to do? I can't… I should be at the station right now. Jake is gone, that's what my job description is built upon. Showing up when he can't." Theo said.

"Well someone is just gonna have to show up for you instead. Show up for both of you." Cassie nodded, "You're not fit for work. Not this soon. And I should have said something sooner. I just… well I know you're stubborn like me but it's not worth it. It's not worth feeling like this. Getting arrested. Feeling messed up." She said.

"He'll get the job." Theo said unhappily, "He'll get the job and me and you will be stuck taking orders from him." He nodded.

"He might not. And if he does then… we deal with it. Professionally. And if we can't then we transfer-"

"They don't give transfers just cause you don't like someone you work with." Theo shook his head as Cassie scoffed.

"I think it's a little more than us just not liking him." Cassie said as Theo sighed, "I'll drop you off at the house. Chase is with my parents if you want to go get him later on once you clear your head." She said as he nodded.

"Yeah, I will." Theo nodded as she turned the car on, "I'm sorry." He said, "For everything I said. About Chase… as if I don't believe you. I do. I was an idiot for even entertaining Mark's opinion." He shook his head as Cassie looked at him, "And I'm sorry you had to come get me from jail. I was… more scared to call my mom, though." He admitted as Cassie smiled, looking over at him as he smiled back.

"I'd be scared to call your mom too." Cassie nodded.

"Do you forgive me?" He asked as Cassie looked at him. She somehow still felt upset from what he had said the night before, but she also kept in mind that he was clearly dealing with a lot.

"Come back to me at the end of the day and I'll let you know." She nodded.

"Alright." Theo said, happy with that answer for now. He'd work for forgiveness if he had to.


Later that day after Cassie had dropped Theo at home and headed to work, she was sat in her office when a patrol officer knocked and walked through. She looked up and saw it was Daryl, one of the men she'd broken in with from the academy. They were the last two standing from their class. Others had either changed careers or transferred.

"Hey, you alright?" Cassie asked as he nodded, "What's up?" She looked up from her work.

"How's Theo doing?" Daryl asked.

"He'll be fine." Cassie nodded positively, "Everyone out there talking about him?" She assumed.

"No. No, I just wanted to check. I was on early this morning and heard." Daryl said as Cassie nodded, "He's here, by the way." He said as Cassie looked at him, "Mark."

"Where?" Cassie asked.

"Jake's office. I told him that Jake's wife hadn't been in yet to clear it out. That we weren't going into it yet. He went through anyway." Daryl said as Cassie stood up, "Don't do anything stupid." He said, watching as Cassie walked out of her office.

She made her way to what used to be Jake's office, bursting in the door where Mark was sitting behind the desk.

"Get out." Cassie said as Mark smiled.

"I was only looking." Mark put his hands up.

"I don't care. Get out of this office. Get out of this station. You don't belong here." Cassie nodded, "Nobody wants you here."

"The board does." Mark nodded, "I could be running this place in a couple months. You gonna tell me to get out then?" He asked.

"What is your problem?" Cassie shook her head, "Huh?"

"I don't have a problem, Cassie. You're the one with the problem. I'm just doing my job-"

"You're an ex con. You shouldn't have your job anymore." Cassie said as Mark nodded.

"Ok, fair. You shouldn't have a criminal record when you're a cop but… I did my time-"

"You were released early. You didn't do shit." Cassie spat.

"I did community service. I grew as a person. I've moved on from all of that bullshit. I'm taking this second chance seriously. You can believe me or not-"

"What is your problem with Theo?" Cassie asked, "Why are you trying to get in his head?"

"I'm not. He just takes everything the wrong way. Always did." Mark shook his head, "I just told him the truth. I told him that we slept together and a couple months later you were walking around here all pregnant." He shrugged, "I didn't say anything cause… well, I knew you were getting around with a lot of people back then-"

"Shut your mouth." Cassie spat, "Don't act like you knew my business back then. Chase is not your son. You know damn well he isn't. If you want that paternity test I'll give you it, though. If it helps you sleep at night." She nodded.

"I was only stating my curiosity." Mark shrugged.

"When we were together… when I thought Theo was still dead… you never mentioned how close you both were." Cassie said.

"Would it have mattered? Would you not have fucked your dead boyfriends best friend?" Mark asked, "He wasn't even your boyfriend then." He screwed his face up, "You guys were just messing around like a couple of idiots."

"I just find it weird how you never mentioned it." Cassie said, "In fact, sounds to me like you're jealous of him. Jealous of everything he has. His job, his relationship with Jake, his promotions… me." She nodded, "And what do you have? Your mommy paying for your record to be expunged?" She frowned as Mark looked up at her.

"You really wanna talk about mothers?" Mark laughed, "That's rich."

"I feel sorry for you, actually." Cassie nodded, "Yeah, it's… it's kinda sad." She said.

"I'm not looking for trouble, Cassie. I'm just here to get a job. It's that simple." Mark said, "Theo bumped into me the other day, we got talking, I told him I was curious about Chase-"

"You said to him that if he stayed in Puerto Rico when he was undercover, that I'd be with you." Cassie said as Mark looked at her, leaning his elbows on the desk.

"Yeah, he didn't like that." Mark agreed, "He was trying to act the tough guy, alright? I had to hit him where it hurt." He shrugged.

"You're a joke. You've messed with people's lives. You messed with my sister. You messed with my mom when she was attacked by that lunatic Joey. You messed with me." Cassie said, "And now you're messing with my husband."

"And what? That's where you draw the line?" Mark questioned.

"No, it's where I tell you to back the fuck off." Cassie said, placing her hands on the desk and looking down at him.

"Or what, Cassie?" Mark asked, leaning back on the chair, "It is not my fault that Theo is starting to lose his wires up here." He nodded, pointing to his head, "Maybe I would too if some freak shot up my police station because of my inability to act quicker-"

"You don't know shit." Cassie spat, "I swear you'll never get that job. I'll make sure of it." She nodded, "Stay away from my husband. Stay away from me." She spat, walking out of the office and slamming the door behind her.


"So where is the first born?" Jude asked, sitting on a bench with Thea at the park whilst their girls played together, keeping an eye on them.

"He's too cool for the park, obviously." Thea said.

"Oh, I see." Jude smiled.

"No, he's at the Cubs game with Dominic." Thea nodded.

"So it's just you and the girls." Jude nodded.

"Me and the girls." Thea smiled.

"I like Sofia's new glasses." Jude said.

"Well she doesn't. She wants to wear contacts." Thea shook her head.

"I do prefer my contacts." Jude admitted, "But I always figured it was because of my job, and doing all the art projects. She's maybe a little young to start putting them in." Jude said.

"She only hates them because James teases her about them." Thea said as Jude scoffed, "No, I'm serious. She got real upset with me last night about it."

"She's a middle child. We do get upset." Jude nodded as Thea smiled a little, "That's why I didn't want three kids. I couldn't bare making Leela a middle child." She groaned dramatically as Thea rolled her eyes, "I actually might get my tubes tied." She said.

"Oh, don't be dramatic." Thea shook her head.

"It's not being dramatic." Jude laughed a little, "I don't want anymore kids. I don't think Sean does either." She shrugged.

"So?" Thea turned to her, "You still wanna stay married to him?" She questioned.

"Yeah." Jude nodded, "Yeah, he stayed at the hotel with me last night. I asked him to." She said, "I just know I can't let him go so… if I can't let him go then I should work out how to get through this with him. I think I was more afraid of being the woman who takes back her cheating husband only for him to do it again and everyone around her to say I told you so." She said, "And maybe I'm stupid for thinking it but… I don't think he'd do it again." She shook her head.

"He'd be like… the dumbest guy on earth if he did." Thea said, "Does this mean you're staying in New York?"

"I think so." Jude nodded, "That's where the girls lives are. Their friends, their schools. I don't want to uproot them like that. Especially if me and Sean can work through what's going on." She said, "There'd be no reason to."

"I'm glad you guys are gonna work it out." Thea nodded sincerely, "I've hated seeing you so miserable and… just… not yourself." She said.

"Yeah it's not been fun." Jude agreed, "And now I'm tangled up in some bitter affair slash homicide that I didn't know I was."

"You're a busy girl." Thea nodded as Jude rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, tell me about it." Jude shook her head.

"It would have been nice." Thea admitted, looking over at the four girls playing together, "If you lived here again. They could have spent more time together."

"Yeah, I know." Jude nodded.

"But I know you'll do what's best for you." Thea nodded, taking her sister's hand as Jude smiled and squeezed Thea's hand tightly.