In The Dark


"Why don't you just put the gun down?" Sean nodded calmly.

"No I won't." Fred shook his head, keeping the gun pointed at him whilst Jude stood a few feet away from Sean. Her first and only instinct was to go to her children. She had to know they were safe. It was the only thing she could think about.

She began to move towards the door when Fred pointed the gun at her, stopping her in her tracks.

"Don't go anywhere." Fred warned as Jude swallowed the lump in her throat, turning back to Sean helplessly who gave her a strong nod, a nod that told her they would be ok, even though he didn't know that for sure.

"What do you want?" Sean asked, "You know we've been looking for you. I'm a cop. And I'm sure you know that so… you must want something, otherwise I would have thought you'd be trying to avoid me." He nodded.

"I want the rest of her work." Fred nodded, "You have it. You taught her." He waved the gun at Jude.

"You can have a conversation with us without having the gun out." Sean nodded, feeling uneasy everytime Fred waved the gun in Jude's direction, "Nobody has to get hurt."

"I didn't teach Lisa." Jude shook her head, "She wasn't in my classes. I only looked at some things for her… just to help."

"You were always talking to her." Fred nodded.

"Not really." Jude shook her head, "Whatever art work I had of hers, I was going to give to her parents but then you broke into our house and took it. I don't have anything else belonging to Lisa. I barely even knew her." Jude said, "Please stop pointing that thing at me!" She yelled angrily, sick of seeing the gun in her direction. She hated guns.

"She… She told me that she told you about us." Fred nodded.

"She did." Jude said, "Is that why you've been on the run? You think me knowing about your affair with her is enough to incriminate you in her murder?"

"Of course it is." Fred said, "She wanted to end it. She told you that, right?"

"She did." Jude nodded.

"And next thing that happens… she shows up dead in an elevator." Fred said.

"If you had nothing to hide, you shouldn't have been worried. Only upset. Grief." Sean said, "Why run if you didn't kill her?"

"Because I see how it looks." Fred said, "You'd need someone to arrest… to make… to make everyone feel safer on campus, at the academy, and I was the guy. Once Jude told everyone about our affair-"

"I didn't tell anyone." Jude said.

"She didn't even tell me until you broke into our house." Sean said, "You're the one digging a hole here. I'm arresting you either way, for breaking and entering, for pointing a gun at us-"

"No, you give me the rest of Lisa's art work and then I'm gone again." Fred warned.

"You took everything. I have nothing else that belonged to her." Jude shook her head, "If you didn't kill Lisa, do you know who did?" She asked as Fred shook his head, not saying anything.

"Admit it." Fred looked at Sean, "I'm the first guy you'd arrest and pin her murder on." He nodded.

"Having had an affair with her doesn't give us any right to arrest you for her murder. We'd sure as hell like to question you about it all and ask about your relationship with her, to help our investigation, and if you had nothing to hide you'd do that, no questions asked." Sean said, "You've made this so much worse for yourself."

"I loved her." Fred shook his head, "I loved her and someone killed her!" He yelled hysterically as Jude looked at him.

She'd known the man for a few years working at the academy. She known him to be quiet. To keep to himself. Barely insert himself into any conversation. It was almost like a different person.

"So help us find who." Sean said, "Put the gun down, and we can have a chat." Sean nodded, "Jude doesn't have any other art work belonging to Lisa." He shook his head.

"I don't." Jude confirmed, "She only gave me a couple things to look at. And we only had one conversation about you really. And I kept it to myself. You running off was what made this worse." She said, watching as Leela suddenly peeped out from behind the door after toddling downstairs, dragging her Kermit the frog by his leg.

Jude's chest tightened, wanting immediately to shield her daughter, "Sweetie, go back to bed." Jude nodded calmly as Sean looked over worriedly.

"I can't sleep." Leela rubbed her eyes, "Daddy, I can't sleep." Leela said, running over to Sean who picked her up, watching Fred still pointing the gun at him, "Will you come read to me?" Leela asked Sean, sitting her Kermit on his shoulder and giggling as Sean forced a smile, trying not to show her how scared and worried he was that she'd now entered the scene.

"Put it down." Jude whispered to Fred, shaking her head as Fred kept the gun on Sean and now Leela.

"Daddy will be up in a second. I need you to go back to your room, ok?" Sean told Leela, putting her back on the ground where she stayed put.

"Lee, do as your told." Jude nodded to her daughter anxiously.

"I'm going anyway." Fred mumbled, looking at Leela, beginning to slowly lower his gun, "Don't follow me." He raised his gun back up to Sean.

"I will get you, one way or another. For bringing my wife into your… fucked up relationship." Sean nodded

"That was Lisa. Not me." Fred shook his head whilst Leela took a hold of Sean's leg, starting to feel a little uncomfortable as she looked over at the stranger in their house, "I won't be put away for something I didn't do-"

"Stop running away from it then." Jude shook her head.

"If I find out you have any more of her work..." Fred spat angrily, stepping towards Jude, reaching out to grab her, not before Sean took him down to the ground.

Jude backed away immediately, taking a hold of Leela's hand and pulling her out of the living room as the five year old turned back to watch what her father was doing to the strange man.

"You go upstairs and into your room, ok?" Jude nodded, taking Leela to the bottom of the stairs, her voice shaking.

"But mommy-"

"No buts." Jude shook her head, "Up, up you go." She nodded, trying to remain calm, guiding Leela up the first few stairs, watching as she ran up the rest, dragging Kermit with her.

Her first instinct was to get Leela out of the way, and to protect her from seeing Sean so mad and violent.

She made her way back into the living room frantically where Sean was on top of Fred with his knee dug into his back. It wasn't hard to believe. Fred wasn't particularly a match for Sean in terms of strength.

"Get my handcuffs, they're in the kitchen." Sean nodded to her a little breathlessly as she nodded, running out to the kitchen, finding the cuffs and taking them back into him as he got them around Fred's wrist.

Sean had thought for a minute that he was going to have to let Fred go, what with the gun constantly pointed at them, threatening them, and with Leela in the room. He wasn't prepared to take the risk. But once he saw Fred approaching Jude, ready to grab her with all his anger and frustration, he didn't give himself the choice.

"Should I… Should I call someone or?" Jude asked, trembling a little as she ran her hand over her hair. Having this man, this very paranoid and confused man in their home felt like such an invasion.

"No, I'm going to take him in." Sean nodded, getting to his feet, "Are you alright?" He asked her as she nodded, "Leela…" He looked around the room worriedly.

"She's upstairs." Jude nodded.

"I didn't kill her!" Fred yelled, lying on his stomach on the floor with his hands cuffed behind his back.

"Get your ass up." Sean spat, pulling Fred up to his feet as Jude watched him.

"Jude, you know me." Fred shook his head frantically as she watched him. She was beginning to think that perhaps he was suffering from some skin of mental illness, "You've worked with me for years now." He nodded, beginning to cry as Sean looked at Jude, "Do you think I could do something like this?" He questioned as Jude looked at him.

"Come on." Sean shook his head, pulling Fred away from Jude, taking him outside and putting him in the back of the car, locking it over before approaching Jude who stood at the door.

"Why do I believe him?" Jude shook her head.

"Cause you're an empathetic person and he's clearly ill." Sean said.

"All he's interested in is getting her art work." Jude said, "I don't know." She shook her head. Her mind was spinning to say the least.

"Will you be alright here whilst I take him in? I can have someone come round-"

"No, it's fine." Jude shook her head, "I'll be ok. Are you ok?" She asked him.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Sean nodded.

"I should go check on Lee." Jude nodded, "Call me when you get him there… let me know what's going on."

"Ok, I will." Sean said, leaning in and kissing her before heading back to the car, driving off with Fred in the back whilst Jude closed the door over and headed upstairs to check on Leela.


"I have no idea how my sister does this." Thea shook her head, holding onto a bench in the middle of a walkway, popular with joggers and dog walkers, out of breath and holding her side where a stitch had formed.

"Me neither." Lucia agreed, sitting down on the bench and opening her bottle of water.

"Smoking a carton a day won't help." Thea nodded to herself, sitting down beside Lucia.

She laughed at first when her friend had suggested to go for a Sunday morning run in the park, and then she realised the challenge was quite exciting. Now they were both realising what a huge mistake it was.

"We should have just went for coffee and waffles." Lucia nodded. It was her first time attempting to run also.

"Yeah let's just do that next time." Thea nodded, laughing a little as Lucia smiled.

"It's the trying that counts, right? We still get a participation medal." Lucia shrugged.

"Sure, you tell yourself that." Thea nodded, brushing the hair that had come out of her band back, "It did clear my head, though." She realised.

"It cleared my head cause all I could hear was my heart beating." Lucia shook her head as Thea nodded in agreement, "You been alright recently? You've been a little distant. Surprised you agreed to do this, actually." Lucia admitted.

"Just been going through a couple rough patches." Thea said, "I'm alright." She nodded.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Lucia asked, "Please tell me if there is." She nodded.

"Stuff like this helps." Thea nodded to her with a smile. She was lucky to have Lucia. She was a crucial part of her overcoming a lot of fears she had of abandonment. A lot of issues she dealt with in her illness. Having such a good friend in Lucia really was important to her.

"How is your family doing?" Lucia asked.

"They're getting by." Thea nodded, "Yours?" She turned to her.

"They're good." Lucia nodded, "It was my mom's anniversary last week. We always have dinner at my uncles house. Just me, Charlie, Kyle and his family." She said, "The people who really knew her I guess."

"No anniversary dinners for your dad?" Thea asked with a raised brow as Lucia turned to her, "Sorry, that wasn't funny." She realised quickly.

"No one actually ever mentions him around me. Or Kyle." Lucia shook her head, referring to her older brother.

"Well, I can understand why." Thea said.

"I don't know anything about him." Lucia said, "Besides the obvious stuff."

"I don't really, either." Thea shook her head, "If you want that kind of information you'd be best asking my parents. They knew him when they were just kids." She nodded.

"Did they start off as friends?" Lucia asked. She was pretty clueless when it came to her father and what despicable things he had done. She'd lived a life shielded away and protected, and it continued to be that way. Having Thea as her friend had become her outlet, her way of finding out more about her parents.

"I think so." Thea nodded, "I don't know the finer details. Probably because my parents don't want us to know what they got up to." She assumed, "My mom's family had a lot do with things. I know that much. You could always ask your Uncle Paolo. I'm sure he knows plenty."

"I try but he always says my life will be more peaceful without knowing anything." Lucia rolled her eyes, "As if I'm not forty years old." She shook her head as Thea smiled.

"He might have a point, you know." Thea nodded.

"Yeah." Lucia mumbled, "How is Cassie getting on with the adoption stuff?" She asked.

"They're waiting on a phone call to let them know they've been picked by someone." Thea said, "It can take a little while apparently."

"Hopefully they don't have to wait too long." Lucia nodded, "Imagine if she got pregnant as soon as they adopted the baby." She thought about it.

"She'd have a heart attack." Thea chuckled, "I don't know how likely that would be with her endometriosis. I used to think she'd be just over exaggerated when she had period pain but… maybe should have paid a little more attention." She shook her head.

"Yeah it's not fun." Lucia agreed from experience.

"Did you ever think about adopting?" Thea turned to her.

"No, I like my child free life." Lucia smirked as Thea scoffed.

"And I'm not at all jealous." Thea teased, "Hey if you're ever really serious about wanting to know about your dad and all that stuff, I'm sure my parents wouldn't mind talking to you. At least to tell you some stuff they knew."

"I think I have a pretty good idea about who he was as a person." Lucia said, "Not a good one obviously. I just… Part of me wants to know how he got into all that stuff. Drugs. Basically grooming kids into dealing his drugs." She shook her head.

"Talk to my parents. They might know." Thea said, "Or even just my dad." She nodded as Lucia thought about it to herself, "Alright, are we trying this again or going for waffles?" She stood up, both of them having had enough time to catch their breath.

"Yeah, I'm thinking waffles." Lucia nodded, getting up from the bench.