Paint with all the Colors of the Wind
"I thought mom was picking us up." James said, struggling his way into the passenger's side of the car whilst Sofia got in beside Sam in the back.
"Hi." Three year old Sam whispered, waving to Sofia.
"Hi." Sofia shook her head. To her, her little sister was the weirdest thing on earth.
"Mom had to stay back at the hospital a little longer." Dominic explained, "How was school? Did everybody eat and learn something?" He asked his two oldest children whilst waiting on the school traffic.
"Yeah." James mumbled, bored of the usual script his mother and father played when they got picked up from school.
"I ate everything apart from my banana." Sofia said, "I don't think I like bananas. I told mom this." She explained.
"I like nanas." Sam said.
"That's cause you're a baby and it tastes like mush." Sofia concluded as Sam glared at her.
"Well as long as you ate everything else, babe." Dominic nodded, "Hey, how's the leg doing?" He asked James.
"Still broken." James stated the obvious, "It's like it's been cut off. It's like I don't have it anymore." He said dramatically as Dominic rolled his eyes.
"That's a little bit dramatic." Dominic nodded.
"No, I wake up in the middle of the night and I think I'm amputee." James said.
"What's that?" Sofia asked.
"Someone who gets all their legs and arms chopped off." James turned into the back seat where his sisters looked at him, "Cut off by a saw." He nodded to them both, "The blood goes everywhere." He said as Sofia looked at him, unamused and unphased.
"I don't think that's what an amputee is." Sofia said smartly.
"Daddy, James is scaring me." Sam admitted, sitting in her car seat as she looked at her brother worriedly.
"Give it a rest." Dominic nudged James who chuckled to himself, "Can't you be nice to them just for once?"
"I'm always nice to them." James shook his head as Dominic rolled his eyes.
"No you're not." Sofia shook her head, "He told me to google who Charles Manson is last night." She told her father as Dominic turned to James.
"Someone was talking about him school and I thought you'd be interested cause you're weird." James turned to look at his sister.
"Please, both of you, just stop googling things. Period." Dominic nodded.
"Can I still listen to Alexa?" Sam asked.
"No, I'm sick of you listening to that dumb dog song." Sofia said.
"It's not dumb." Sam made a face at her sister, "I like it. And I like Alexa."
"You can still listen to Alexa, baby, it's ok." Dominic assured her as Sam smiled, "I gotta get gas. Can I trust you three to stay in here without any causalities? Or do I gotta bring you all out?" Dominic asked, driving into the gas station.
He took their lack of reply as the first, so he got out and began to put gas in the car whilst the three of them sat in silence.
"Sofia." James said.
"What?" Sofia said as James turned around, looking at both his sisters in the back.
"Charles Manson is going to be under your bed tonight." James nodded as Sofia rolled her eyes.
"No he's not." Sofia said.
"Yeah he is." James nodded, "He goes after girls with glasses." He said as Sam watched their exchange.
"He's not even alive." Sofia said. It was her job, as little sister, to make sure she wasn't affected by her brother's teasing, even when he deliberately terrified her sometimes.
"He's gonna saw your ankles and cut your feet off." James nodded as Sam clasped her hands on her lap, looking to and from them.
"So then I'll look dumb like you with a stupid cast?" Sofia asked as James scoffed.
"I'm getting it off soon." James made clear.
"Maybe you won't have any feeling in it. And you won't be able to play soccer again." Sofia teased back.
"Shut up." James shook his head, turning back around and facing forward, folding his arms unhappily.
"I need the toilet." Sam told them both as Sofia turned to her.
"Why do you always need the toilet when we're out?" Sofia asked exhaustedly.
"Yeah, can't you hold it in?" James shook his head.
"Roll down the window and tell dad." Sofia told her as Sam unclipped herself from her car seat and turned to the window beside her, pressing the button to put it down where she saw her father standing putting gas in the car.
"What? Who hit who?" Dominic asked.
"I need to go number one." Sam stuck her head out the window to talk to her father.
"You can't hold it in? We'll be home in like… ten minutes?" Dominic asked.
"Daddy, I'm going to pee my pants!" Sam exclaimed with concern whilst other people at the gas station turned around and looked over.
"Ok, alright." Dominic nodded, "Ok, get out of the car and we'll see if there's one in the store." He told her, putting the gas pump back on the hook whilst Sam opened the door and jumped out, running ahead of Dominic into the store which made James and Sofia laugh in the car.
Cassie sat outside in the yard, examining her nails, taking a deep breath as silence continued to fill the air. Jude sat a little beside her on a deck chair, sipping her glass of wine, doing it slowly to pass more time. They'd never had nothing to say to one another before. It was strange.
"You don't drink wine anymore?" Jude finally asked as Cassie took a drink from her bottle of beer, shaking her head.
"Not for a while." Cassie said, "I have to be in the mood for it." She said as Jude nodded, silence creeping back over them for another few minutes as Cassie tapped her fingers against her bottle of beer.
Jude and Sean had arrived over for dinner like planned. Mirren and Leela were happily playing with Chase, invested in all his toys, much different from what they were used to. Theo and Sean were breaking the ice some more in the kitchen, mainly talking about work whilst Jude and Cassie sat outside, saying nothing.
"Should have invited Thea." Cassie nodded.
"Yeah, could use her big mouth right about now." Jude said as Cassie smiled a little, looking down, feeling mad at herself for smiling. She was still incredibly mad. She knew it was immature and stubborn to carry on with the silent treatment, to carry on ignoring her sister, but the whole situation really had cut deep.
"Mom mentioned you got a house." Cassie said reluctantly, taking another sip of her beer.
"Yeah, it's about a half hour out from here." Jude nodded, "It's nice. Needs some work in some places but… it works for us." She said as Cassie nodded along, "Mirren was pretty close to being in Chase's class at school. Would have been nice."
"Yeah, Theo said." Cassie nodded.
"Would have helped me worry about her less. Knowing she knows at least one person there." Jude said, "I'm not thrilled about moving them out of their usual routine. Away from their friends in New York." She admitted.
"They'll be fine." Cassie nodded, "Kids make friends and adapt to changes way easier than adults do." She shrugged.
"Yeah." Jude agreed, silence filling the air again as neither of them said anything.
It was strange to feel so awkward and distant. They'd always been close sisters growing up. Whilst they'd both had their fair share of run ins with Thea, they'd never really got on each other's toes before. It felt unnatural. It felt wrong.
"How are you moving all your stuff from New York to here?" Cassie broke the silence.
"Hiring a moving team." Jude nodded, "It's the same guys who actually moved us from Chicago to New York when we left here. They remembered us." She said as Cassie nodded.
"And have you figured out what you're doing for a job?" She asked.
"Not yet. Sean thinks I should start my own business. Doing murals." Jude shook her head, not so confident in the idea, or herself for that matter.
"That… makes a lot of sense." Cassie nodded, "Out of everyone you do, those have always been my favourite. I loved when you did Chase's nursery." She said as Jude smiled and nodded.
"I do love doing them." Jude said, "I don't know how successful it'd be as a business, though." She shrugged.
"I guess you don't need to worry about money so much." Cassie said, "You probably don't even need to work with Sean's salary now." She said as Jude looked at her.
"Well I'd like to work." Jude shook her head, "For myself. For my own money." She nodded as Cassie looked at her.
"Right." Cassie said, silence creeping over them again as Jude sat her glass of wine down on the table with frustration.
"Ok, this is just stupid." Jude concluded, "This was a shit situation and I know it was. Sean could have went about it with a little more respect. I know that. And maybe I should have understood more why you were mad." She nodded, "I'm sorry for all of that. But I hate this. This isn't me and you. We don't fight." She shook her head as Cassie looked at her.
"I know we don't." Cassie said.
"I'm sorry that all of this has resulted in Theo not getting a job he was setting himself up to get. I was… trying to be happy for Sean and I get how that looked from your point of view. Like neither of us cared about you both. We do." Jude said, "I'm sorry. And so is Sean." She nodded, "Really."
"Ok." Cassie nodded in acceptance, "Ok, I forgive you." She said.
"Sean was telling me he was thinking about putting Theo on homicide with you." Jude said.
"Yeah, Theo said." Cassie shook her head, "I'm not sure that's a great idea."
"Why not? You guys have worked together before." Jude said.
"Yeah when I was a rookie and he was… babysitting me?" Cassie questioned, "And then again when I was pregnant which… he was babysitting me then too." She rolled her eyes, "I just think it might be a little weird. Especially since homicide is all so new to me."
"Won't that be a good thing then? To have Theo with you to guide you?" Jude asked.
"Maybe." Cassie shrugged, "But again… it could turn into babysitting." Cassie nodded.
"Stop." Jude scoffed.
"He can just be a little intimidating to work with, that's all. He knows… everything about everything." Cassie rolled her eyes, "He's open to working in any division so… I guess it's up to Sean. It's gonna be weird getting used to that."
"Sean calling the shots?" Jude asked.
"Yeah." Cassie nodded, "It's still not really sunk in that Jake is gone, actually. I think that's partly why it's been tough for me and Theo too. Jake was always really good to us."
"Yeah." Jude agreed, "Sean is obviously going to do his best by you guys and the station. You know that, right?" She nodded.
"Yeah I know." Cassie nodded. That was the only thing she was certain of, regardless of her personal feelings, she knew Sean was no doubt up to being chief as much as Theo was. Their station was in good hands. The bitterness had left her enough for her to admit that now.
"How have you been?" Jude asked as Cassie looked at her, "I couldn't stop thinking about you after the miscarriage." She said quietly, as if there were people around, which there weren't.
"Oh, that." Cassie realised what she was talking about, "I'm fine." She shrugged.
"You've not had any… problems or anything?" Jude asked, "I'm asking cause I know nobody else knows. And I wanna make sure you're not bottling things up." She said.
"There was no complications." Cassie shook her head, "I was pretty early when I lost it so…" She shrugged.
"I know you guys are waiting on the adoption agency calling but… would you ever still try for another baby? Even a third baby?" She smiled a little as Cassie laughed.
"I keep joking with Theo and telling him that once we adopt the baby and get her home, I'm gonna fall pregnant the next week." Cassie shook her head.
"You said her." Jude smiled a little as Cassie nodded, realising she'd slipped up a little.
"Yeah, I've been doing that a lot recently." Cassie played it cool. She desperately wanted to tell her sister that it was a her, and that she was going to be a mother to a baby girl in just a couple of months, but they were keeping it a surprise.
"Gosh, that would be something that would happen to you." Jude laughed a little.
"Well I'm on the pill again for that very reason. Just incase." Cassie nodded, "I don't know if we'll ever try again. I think I'm gonna be pretty set as a mom of two." She said.
"Well I can't wait to welcome you to the mom of two club." Jude smiled as Cassie nodded, "Are we good?" She asked, feeling like the air was finally clearing properly between them.
"Yeah, we're good." Cassie nodded, "I'm glad you guys are coming here to live again. You… deserve a fresh start. Even if it came with a little bit of drama."
"Hey, we're Brooks', we don't come without the drama." Jude shrugged as Cassie smiled.
"Yeah, you got that right." Cassie agreed, raising her beer as Jude clinked her glass against it in cheers.
"Is there a way we can ban google in this house?" Dominic asked, sitting down on the step at the back door with Thea later that night, looking onto their dark yard whilst she finished her cigarette.
"I don't think so." Thea laughed a little, "Why?"
"James is googling who Charles Manson is and then telling Sofia he's gonna be under her bed at night." Dominic shook his head as Thea chuckled a little.
"Charles Manson? Really?" Thea shook her head as Dominic nodded.
"Said people at school were talking about him." Dominic said, "He actually enjoys terrorising his sisters."
"I mean… it is fun." Thea nodded, "Coming from the eldest sibling who spent a lot of years terrorising her two little sisters." She said.
"Well… Sofia doesn't really take his bullshit to be fair. It's Sam I worry about." Dominic shook his head, "She's so innocent. She really listens to what he says, you know."
"Oh, look at you. Worried about your baby girls." Thea nudged him, "You act like you don't have a sibling sometimes."
"Me and Scott actually got along with one another. We didn't spend our whole lives trying to tease each other." Dominic said.
"Well you guys went through a lot, to be fair." Thea nodded, "How is he? You see him recently?"
"No. I spoke with him on the phone last week. Him and Michelle were away for the weekend somewhere. I can't remember where." Dominic shook his head, "So what's the worst thing you did to Jude and Cassie then?" He asked, "Clearly James gets his heinous side from you." He said as she chuckled.
"The worst thing?" Thea thought about it, "As children?"
"Well I'm hoping you still don't terrorise your sisters as an adult." Dominic said as Thea shrugged.
"Jude hates spiders." Thea told him, "One time I caught one from the yard and put it in her pencil case before she went to school." He nodded as Dominic looked at her, terrified to say the least, "Apparently she ran out of the class screaming." Thea chuckled to herself.
"I know I shouldn't say it… but you are going to hell." Dominic nodded.
"I know." Thea assured him, "Cassie was a little more difficult. She's so much younger than me so I guess I did feel a little bad teasing her. One time me and Jude wrapped her up in bubble wrap and made her run at things in the house. Furniture. The front door." Thea nodded as Dominic chuckled, "I can handle our children teasing and tormenting one another. What I can't handle is our son asking me why he has a boner every morning." She shoved him as Dominic chuckled.
"Oh, c'mon. It was funny." Dominic said.
"Why would he even ask me?" Thea shook her head, "I'm his mother."
"Cause he's a little shit." Dominic chuckled as Thea nodded.
"Sofia is almost ten." Thea shook her head, "I got my first period when I was twelve. I mean… I'm gonna have to have that conversation with her soon." She nodded, "Unless you wanna volunteer."
"Babe, I have no idea what even happens with a period." Dominic shook his head, "I know the things you gotta buy at the store. And chocolate. That's where my knowledge starts and finishes." He nodded.
"Well you should learn." Thea said as he scoffed, "I'm serious. What if something happens to me?"
"Well don't say things like that." Dominic shook his head sadly.
"I'm just saying." She linked her arm through his and leaned her head on his shoulder, "It's just good to be prepared. And it'll be good for the girls if they know they can talk to you too. It doesn't make it so taboo and weird. I'll give you a crash course. The basics."
"Oh, great." Dominic nodded as she chuckled, "Ok, instead of the worst thing you've done to your sisters, tell me something nice you did for one of them." He said, "Make me believe you're still a good person, Thea." He teased as she smiled.
"A nice thing… hmm…" Thea thought about it, taking a few minutes as Dominic chuckled.
"Take your time." He nodded.
"Oh, I know." The nodded, "Ok, so Cassie was obsessed with Pocahontas when she was a kid, right? I mean… obsessed." She emphasised.
"Ok." Dominic nodded, not sure where this was going.
"And you know in Pocahontas she talks to grandmother Willow, the tree?" Thea asked him as Dominic shook his head, "Ok, anyway… she talks to this tree which is basically this old wise lady. Cassie would go out to our tree in the yard and talk to it all the time. She got so upset because she never spoke back to her or had a face." Thea explained, "She was like… six or something."
"Ok?" Dominic waited for more.
"Me and Jude found her sitting outside one night, just sitting in front of the tree looking up at it. I think we both got the idea at the same time." She said.
"What'd you do to the tree?" Dominic asked nervously.
"Cassie." 19 year old Thea tapped her little sister in the middle of the night, standing with Jude in the six year old's bedroom.
"Cassie." Jude nudged Cassie harder as Cassie began to open her eyes, looking up at her sisters and rubbing the sleep from her eyes.
"Is it school time?" Cassie asked.
"No, not yet." Thea shook her head, "We need to show you something." She told her.
"Show me what?" Cassie asked, "I'm tired, Thea." She mumbled sleepily, closing her eyes back over.
"It's grandmother Willow." Jude said as Cassie opened her eyes back up immediately, "She's outside." She nodded.
"She doesn't speak to me, Jude." Cassie sat up, suddenly wide awake.
"I know but she's definitely there. We've saw." Thea nodded.
"Show me." Cassie demanded, getting out of bed, running over to her dresser and yanking out her bath robe.
"Ok, you have to be quiet." Thea nodded, taking Cassie's hand and leading her out of the bedroom whilst Jude followed behind.
They creeped down the stairs quietly so not to wake their mother, making their way to the kitchen, opening the door and walking outside into the yard, turning the outside lights on.
"Is it really her?" Cassie whispered, each of her hand holding onto one of her sister's.
"Yeah." Jude nodded, leading her towards the tree as Cassie got eyes on it immediately, dropping her sister's hands and running ahead once she saw.
"It's her." Cassie gasped, running towards the tree and hugging it tightly as Thea smiled. She wished she still had the imagination of a child's. Watching her littlest sister dream and be free to believe in everything and anything was the best part of their big age gap.
Jude turned to Thea, smiling to each other, proud of their idea and work.
Jude had spent hours painting the face of Grandmother Willow in detail, shading it so it would fit with the colours of the tree, sticking it to the tree and making sure it blended into the bark without looking just like a piece of paper.
AJ had woken up, very used to having broken up sleep since her husband had gone to prison. She left the bedroom to go fetch a glass of water from the kitchen, pausing for a second when she saw the girls bedroom doors all opened.
She walked past the bedrooms, noticing their beds were empty, her stomach tightening with worry and confusion.
She rushed down the stairs, checking the living room until she heard their voices from outside. She wondered what on earth they were possibly doing, making her way to the kitchen, standing at the door, noticing they were sitting down on the grass in front of the tree at the back of their yard.
She stepped outside, walking a few steps closer without them noticing. Cassie was sat in the basket of Thea's legs whilst Jude sat beside, giggling and laughing. It was then she noticed the tree and the face, and recalled all the times Cassie had told her about their tree in the yard and how she wanted to speak to her just like Pocahontas.
She placed her hand over her mouth, laughing a little and smiling as she realised her two oldest daughters were taking good care of their little sister's imagination and spirit. She backed up quietly without them noticing her and headed back into the house.
