Position Filled


"Do you know these people?" Thea asked, sitting in her sister's yard at a round table people watching, one of their favourite activities.

"It's Theo's family." Cassie nodded, sitting between Thea and Jude who looked at her, "Ok so I don't know majority of them but Theo does." She waved her hand, reaching for her bottle of beer on the table.

"I can't say anything. I don't know any of Sean's family." Jude scoffed, "Besides his high maintenance mother." She said.

"Remember when she came with us to get your wedding dress?" Cassie remembered, "And poor mom was acting on her best behaviour." She shook her head as Jude nodded.

"I remember that." Thea nodded with a smile, "How is Theo's rehab coming along?" She asked Cassie.

"Good." Cassie nodded positively, "Really good, actually. I haven't seen him this happy in a long time." She said, looking over at Theo who was standing with his brother, getting beers out of the ice bucket.

They'd turn their back yard into a Cinco de Mayo celebration zone and were blessed with a warm and sunny day.

"He looks good." Thea agreed, "What about the mental side of everything? He still thinking about the shooting?"

"Not as much." Cassie shook her head, "He was seeing the stations psychiatrist for a few sessions. PTSD is really common for us with things like that, and obviously Theo took the whole thing really personally." She said, "He's been really happy just being at home and spending time with Chase actually. Keeps joking about being a house husband." She smiled.

"It's good he was able to access a psychiatrist." Jude nodded, "Instead of being put on a waiting list or something."

"Perks of the job." Cassie nodded, "If you can even call something like that a perk." She said.

"It's free healthcare. It's a perk considering where we are in the world." Jude assured her.

"How are things with you and Sean?" Cassie asked as Thea opened her eyes back up from closing them to enjoy the sun, very much interested in Jude's answer.

"Great." Jude shrugged as they both looked at her, "What?" She looked at them with confusion.

"Really?" Thea asked.

"Why is it so hard to believe?" Jude asked.

"Well, don't make me point out the obvious." Thea said.

"We've been working through it." Jude shrugged, "It's been good having him back in the house again. And we're taking each day as it comes." She nodded.

"You still on anti-depressants?" Cassie asked.

"You guys are so nosey." Jude shook her head, "Yes, I am."

"Maybe they're disguising your feelings. Maybe when you come off them you'll go back to hating Sean." Thea nodded, teasing her sister of course.

"Oh, shut up." Jude rolled her eyes, "They're not a strong dosage." She said.

"How is the wounded soldier?" Cassie asked, looking over at James who was sat on a chair with his leg up, playing with Sofia's game console whilst the other kids ran around playing together.

"Getting restless." Thea nodded, looking over at James, "Lucky he got his patience from his dad and not me." She added.

"He'll be back in no time." Jude nodded, "Didn't you break your foot when you played soccer?" She turned to Cassie.

"My ankle." Cassie nodded, "You do really just gotta be patient. It's good that it was a clean break. It'll heal pretty well."

"Yeah I told him that." Thea nodded.

"Ok I'm going in for one of my crushed margs." Cassie nodded, standing up from the table with her empty beer bottle.

"Oh give me some of that action too." Jude nodded.

"I have crushed mocktails too." Cassie nudged Thea's shoulder, "You want one?"

"Sure." Thea nodded, watching Cassie walk off into the house, "Always good to know me and the kids take care of the mocktails." She said as Jude smiled.

"And dad." Jude added.

"And dad." Thea nodded, "Isn't it just the saddest that those two sober pests ended up with an alcoholic daughter?" She turned to Jude, "Sad and ironic."

"You'll never be their alcoholic daughter." Jude shook her head, "You're just their daughter. Enough with the self-pity."

"I know. Sorry. I've been having a bit of a rough time." Thea nodded, recognising her negative self-talk creeping up, "See, years ago, I would have just thought nothing of it and accepted that I was just a negative person but I get a free pass now because I have a precious diagnosis." She said.

"What have you been finding rough?" Jude asked, "You know you can always call me if you need to talk."

"I know that." Thea nodded, "I don't know. It's hard to explain it. Sometimes I feel like I don't have a good enough reason to be as sad as I get sometimes." She shook her head, "Therapy does help. And the meds." She said.

"You know what helps you. You'll get through the rough patches." Jude nodded, rubbing her arm.

"Yeah, I mean I have Dominic, I talk to him about everything so it's not like I feel alone or anything." She nodded, "How has it been letting Sean back in?"

"Honestly, it's been going well. Maybe because we have this distraction with Wilson. I guess we've kinda banded together to figure out what the hell is going on with that." Jude nodded, "But… I can't say I'm not enjoying him being back in the house and back in my life… properly."

"That's good." Thea nodded, "You don't have to be ashamed of it."

"I'm still making sure I remind him every now and then of what he did. Maybe that's bad on my part but… just so he knows." Jude shrugged, "I hope mom and dad have a good vacation. They haven't had one in a while."

"Yeah, me too." Thea agreed, "They've both been looking kinda run down. Mom especially."

"I wish they'd both just retire." Jude rolled her eyes, "They can afford it."

"It's not always about money for people, though." Thea said, "They're both annoyingly hyperactive. Like Cassie." She said as Jude nodded in agreement.

"Yeah but they're sixty." Jude said, "Retire. Kick your feet up. Enjoy life now that all the hard work is done."

"I guess when you've hustled for so long you might not know how to do nothing with your life." Thea thought about it as Jude nodded.

"Well that's true." Jude agreed, watching Cassie giving Mirren and Leela some mocktails with fancy squiggly straws.

"If she gives me one of those straws I'll slap her." Thea made clear as Jude chuckled, watching Cassie hand out more mocktails to Sofia and one to Sam.

"I hope they hear from the adoption agency soon." Jude said, "That's been a while now."

"I think it can take a while, though." Thea said as Jude nodded, "And even then, when they get the call, the baby might not be born for another few months."

"I'm sure it'll be worth the wait." Jude nodded as Cassie came back over to them with drinks.

"Did I really need the same straw that the kids got?" Thea groaned, taking the drink from her sister.

"I thought you'd like it." Cassie frowned, sitting back down on the chair, "The kids did."

"So when is Theo going back to work? Give us the inside information." Thea nodded, moving her straw around the glass.

"We haven't talked about it." Cassie shrugged, "And I'm not bringing it up until he does. I just want him to feel better before he jumps back in." She nodded.

"Is the position for chief still open?" Jude asked.

"I shouldn't be discussing it with you two." Cassie shook her head.

"Oh, get real." Thea nudged her hard, to which Cassie spilled some of her frozen margarita on her bare legs.

"Oh, look what you did." Cassie whined, "Yes, the position is still open. That's all I know."

"So he could still get it." Jude nodded positively.

"Well considering he hasn't even been interviewed like the others, I don't think so. I don't even think he wants it." Cassie admitted, looking over at Theo who was messing around with Chase and his brother Matt.

"What's the situation with Mark then?" Thea asked, sipping on her drink, "Still think you mothered his child?" She asked between sips.

"I haven't seen him since… all of that happened." Cassie shook her head, "Which is a good sign."

"And I thought you were the responsible one." Thea tutted.

"She was sluttier than you." Jude scoffed, "She was a secret slut."

"Excuse me?" Cassie widened her eyes, "I was not. I had a few… canoodles with some people." She confirmed, "Is there something wrong with that?"

"No, nothing at all." Thea shook her head

"I think him being off from work all this time… he's realised there's more to life." Cassie nodded, watching as Chase kicked his soccer ball through Theo's legs triumphantly, which made her smile.

"So distance hasn't made the heart grow fonder?" Jude asked, "Does he even wanna be a cop anymore?" She questioned.

"I think so." Cassie turned to them, "But I think with the shooting and then losing Jake… makes you realise the important stuff. And it's not work." She shook her head, "I'm really proud of him for stepping back and realising he needed more recovery time."

"Yeah there's nothing wrong with asking for help." Jude agreed.

"Amen to that." Thea nodded, taking a sip out of her squiggly straw in her drink.


"Nice of your mom and dad to let us stay here." Sean said, sitting down in the AJ and Punk's kitchen across from Jude's after they'd gotten back from Cassie's. AJ had told Jude to use their house when they were coming over instead of spending money on a hotel. They were on vacation anyway and it made sense.

"Yeah, they're nice people." Jude smiled.

"You never lived anywhere else, right? You were born here?" Sean asked as she nodded.

"Yeah, my only childhood home." Jude nodded, "It was a lot louder than this." She confirmed as Sean nodded along.

"Yeah I bet." He said, "Good memories, right?" He nodded.

"Yeah, well good and bad." Jude shrugged, "Walking in here on Christmas day wasn't my finest hour." She shook her head.

"Right… yeah." Sean shook his head, wishing he never said anything, which Jude picked up on.

"Lots of good memories though." She smiled, "I used to sit in here and paint for hours." She looked around the kitchen, "Cassie fell and bit her tongue right there." She pointed to a spot in the kitchen, just beside the door to the back yard, "And Thea told us she was getting married in here." She smiled, "My dad got arrested in here." She suddenly remembered.

She remembered sitting at the dinner table with her sister, sitting across from her mother's parents whom were nothing but strangers back then. She remembered her mother smashing a plate, loud angry voices charging in, her father complying whilst her mother shrieked at the bad men who took away her father. She remembered.

"I thought you were super young then." Sean said.

"I was." Jude nodded, "Just about to turn six." She nodded, "I still remember it. The rest is a blur. Thea probably remembers all of it by the second." She said, "I think that was the only time I've ever seen my mom lose it. Despite everything she's been through in her life… that's the only time, for me anyway, that I remember seeing her just… breakdown."

"What's going on?" Five year old Jude mumbled, sitting at the dinner table after the house had quietened and her father had been taken away. She sat beside Thea who wasn't anything. Who, despite still being just thirteen, knew exactly what had just happened to their father.

"I think your daddy's got into a bit of trouble." Janet smiled playfully at Jude who stared back at her.

"I don't know. I don't know-" AJ cried on the phone hysterically as she walked towards the kitchen, "They just arrested him and I can't… I don't know… if there's anything…" She felt liquid spilling from her eyes and nose continuously as she spoke to Dean on the phone, begging him to come to the house immediately.

"I'm at the house." AJ nodded, walking into the kitchen, only then just realising her parents were still here, and her daughters were looking at her like she was an alien, wondering what the hell was going on.

She hung up on Dean whilst he was in mid-sentence, looking at her parents who only offered her a "we're not surprised" smile.

"You need to get out of my house right now." AJ nodded, drying her tears quickly, not doing much good as more continued to pour out.

"Let us be here for you right now." Janet nodded sincerely.

"No, get out." AJ said, feeling her chest so tight she thought it might rip apart, "I need you both to leave. Right now." She nodded seriously.

"April, you should sit down. Remember you're pregnant. Stay calm." Robert nodded as AJ shook her head.

"N-No." AJ shook her head frantically, "No, just get out." She said whilst Thea and Jude sat watching in silence.

"April-"

"Get out of my house!" AJ screamed as Jude jumped, taking a hold of Thea's arm under the table without realising, "Get out!" She screamed hysterically.

"Oh, for God's sake, April. Always with the dramatics." Janet stood up, shaking her head, nudging Robert to stand.

AJ began pacing, her hands shaking, her mind racing, trying to figure out how it had come to this. How the thing she feared the most was actually happening.

She came back to her senses and realised her parents had left, looking on at Thea and Jude who sat staring at her. There was no point trying to pretend she wasn't crying. Her face had become a blotchy mess. She had become a mess, and they had very much witnessed every second of it.

"Where'd daddy go?" Jude finally whispered just as Dean entered the house like a gust of wind, storming through the hall and into the kitchen.

"Who dropped him in it?" Dean asked immediately, "Someone had to have. We're careful. You've not got shit on you or anywhere we don't know?" He asked her as AJ shook her head, mumbling to herself as she continued to pace the kitchen, in between sobbing.

"April!" Dean yelled, taking AJ by the shoulders as AJ looked up at him, "Sort yourself out." He said quietly, discretely nodding his head in the girls direction as AJ looked at Thea and Jude who continued to stare at her.

"They have to go." AJ nodded, realising she was in no fit state to pull herself together. She couldn't be brave or put on a face right now, so the only option was to remove the girls from the situation.

"Renee is coming." Dean assured her, "Thea, take your sister into the living room, yeah?" He nodded calmly to the girls.

"Did dad just get arrested?" Thea finally spoke up. She knew what she'd witnessed, she just couldn't understand it.

"Go into the living room." Dean nodded gently, "Come on." He walked over to them, taking Jude's hand and leading her out of the kitchen as Jude continued to look back at her mother with confusion.

"I don't think I've ever witnessed my mom cry." Sean admitted as Jude recounted that not so pleasant memory, "Not even when the girls were born or… when we got married."

"Well that's a no brainer." She said as he looked across at her funny, waiting on her continuing, "She's never really liked me, has she?" Jude smiled a little, "Or my family."

"She likes you." Sean scoffed, "Our families are just different." He shrugged.

"She thinks you could do better than me." Jude nodded.

"No she doesn't." Sean denied, although deep down he knew his mother had never gotten along with Jude the way he'd envisioned his mother and wife getting along, "You guys are just… really different."

"You never told me what she said. When you told her you cheated." She said.

"She was pretty mean." Sean recalled, "No way to treat the mother of your children, was her exact words I believe." He nodded.

"No way to treat anyone really." Jude added as Sean nodded, looking across at her, "I mean… how would you feel if it was all reversed?" She asked, "If it was me who cheated?"

"Can't really imagine it." Sean admitted.

"So imagine it." Jude nodded, "Imagine what it'd be like knowing someone else had kissed me. That I'd helped them take off my clothes." She said, "My bra." She said, "Panties." She whispered as he nodded, running his hand through his hair, irritated just by listening.

"I get it." He assured her.

"Imagine… all the things you love doing with me… to me… then imagine someone else doing them." She said, "I'm moaning and begging… and it's not for you." She shook her head as he scoffed.

"C'mon, what are you trying to do to me?" He laughed a little as she smiled and looked down, shrugging.

"Just trying to get you to see my perspective." Jude nodded.

"I didn't sleep with Kate because I… wanted her." He made clear as she just nodded, accepting that now.

"I'm sorry… I know I bring it up a lot and we're supposed to be moving on. I do feel like we are." She said, "I just… I think it's important if it's on my mind to talk to you about it. I feel like that's what's getting us the most progress." She admitted truthfully.

"Yeah I think so too." Sean said, "I do hope one day it doesn't hang over us as much."

"Me too." She said quietly, standing up from the table and walking around to him as he turned in the chair to look up at her, "I'm not sure I'll ever understand why it happened but… somewhere deep down, I think I know you never wanted to hurt me." She nodded, running her hands through his hair.

"Never." He shook his head as she leaned down and kissed him, cupping his cheeks as he stood up, suddenly becoming the one bending down to her, lifting her up and sitting her on the kitchen table as he began to pull her clothes off.


"Well, my frozen margaritas went down a treat." Cassie smiled happily, walking into the bedroom where she saw Theo standing, holding the phone to his ear, pacing at the bottom of their bed.

She had butterflies in her stomach. She could see the way he was pacing, taking in the conversation, that it was important information, and she could only assume it was the adoption agency. Hopefully with good news.

She waited patiently, sitting down on the edge of the bed, standing back up, too agitated to sit.

"Ok. Ok, thanks." Theo nodded, taking the phone from his ear and hanging up on the call, pausing for a second before looking over at Cassie.

"Was that the adoption agency?" Cassie nodded, starting wonder why he didn't look happy, "Were we picked?" She laughed nervously, placing her hands over her mouth.

"Wasn't the adoption agency." He shook his head as Cassie frowned, her shoulders dropping unhappily as she folded her arms, looking on at him with confusion.

"So… who was it? Why do you look so serious?" She asked him.

"It was the board." Theo nodded as Cassie raised her eyebrows.

"Yeah? Well what were they saying?" She asked curiously, "Is it about being chief?" She asked hopefully.

"They've filled the position." Theo nodded.

"Ok. And?" Cassie waited, "Is it you?" She hoped as he shook his head. Her stomach sank again, not in a good way, "Oh, please don't." She shook her head.

"It's not him." Theo shook his head immediately as Cassie shook her head with confusion, "It's not Mark."

"So who?" Cassie asked.

"Sean." Theo looked across at her, tossing his phone on the bed as Cassie looked at him in surprise.