We'll Be Ok


"You can all go." Thea said, approaching her sisters and their husbands in the hospital coffee shop.

"What?" Cassie looked up at her.

"You can all go. We don't need you sitting around here." Thea shook her head, "You got your own kids and jobs and stuff so just go. I can text or whatever." She nodded as Jude looked at Thea worriedly.

"The girls are with Sean's mom." Jude said, "We can stay."

"Yeah, Chase is with Theo's mom. It's fine." Cassie assured her.

"I'd rather you go." Thea said bluntly.

"Have you heard from the doctor yet? About the scans?" Jude asked.

"Yeah, we did earlier. Everything is doing good. No swelling. No clots. No more bleeding." Thea nodded, "But her optic nerve is badly damaged. She probably won't ever see again." Thea nodded as Cassie sighed, looking over at Jude.

"Thea I-" Jude began.

"Don't. It's ok." Thea shook her head, not wanting to hear the sympathy.

"Maybe you should go home and get some sleep." Cassie suggested, "We can stay here."

"No, I'm asking you all to leave." Thea said angrily, "Do I gotta raise my voice?" She shook her head as Theo sighed, nudging Cassie on the leg, shaking his head to her in that she shouldn't fight her sister on anything right now.

"Thea." Jude said, "Please let us be here for you right now."

"You can be here for me by going home." Thea nodded, "I'll call or text." She said before walking away out of the coffee shop, leaving the four of them looking at one another, not knowing what to say.

"If she wants us to go, we should go." Sean said.

"She needs to go home and get some sleep." Cassie shook her head.

"She'll go eventually." Theo said, "Right now I think we should just… do what she wants."

"Oh, you still have so much to learn." Jude frowned at Theo who shook his head with confusion, "Doing what Thea wants? When she's going through a rough time? Not a smart idea." She shook her head.

"Dominic is here. So are your parents." Theo said, "She's not alone." He said.

"He's right." Cassie agreed, "I'd probably want people to leave me alone too if I was in her shoes." She figured, "And Sofia doesn't need lots of people going in and out of her room."

"I'm worried about her." Jude sighed, "Thea."

"She's a tough woman." Theo said.

"She's also mentally ill." Sean added as Cassie and Jude looked at him, "What? She is. It's not breaking news."

"Dude, you don't help yourself much." Theo shook his head.

"I'm just saying… this could be a trigger. We gotta look out for her." Sean said seriously with concern as Jude and Cassie relaxed their shoulders a little.

"He's right." Cassie nodded, "So what do we do? Do what she says?"

"We can always stop by tomorrow. And your parents will keep us in the loop." Theo said.

It was hard between the four of them, trying to figure out what the right thing to do was. They desperately wanted to be there for Sofia and also for Thea and Dominic, but respecting their wishes was also important.


"Hey." Thea said quietly, walking into Sofia's room where Dominic was sitting on the chair beside the bed, "I told my sisters to go." She let him know, taking a seat beside him.

"Well… they're just taking up space in the coffee shop I suppose." Dominic nodded truthfully, "We'd complain if they didn't show up, though." He added.

"Yeah I know." Thea said, "I just want to be on our own with her. For the time being." Thea said, watching Sofia as she slept, hugging into her teddy bear, "They all think I'm going to lose my mind." She nodded calmly as Dominic turned to her, "Lose my mind. Drink. Do cocaine." She nodded, "I know it comes from a place of concern. I've been in therapy long enough to know that. But boy is it annoying." She nodded.

"Our daughter is blind." Dominic said, "We're both going to lose our minds for a little while." He figured, "But we're gonna figure this out." He turned to Thea.

"How?" Thea asked quietly, "How the hell do we figure this out, Dominic?" Thea questioned.

"We'll speak with the liaison nurse. We'll figure out what we need to do for Sofia's recovery. Then we'll figure out what we need to do to help her live her life without her sight. And we will figure it out." Dominic nodded.

"Our lives are gonna change. A lot." Thea said.

"So our lives change." Dominic said.

"How are you doing this?" Thea questioned.

"Doing what?" Dominic turned to her.

"Not… freaking out." Thea said.

"I am." Dominic nodded, "And then I look at her." He said, looking on at Sofia sleeping, "And I know that she's the same Sofia we knew, before she lost her sight. She hasn't changed."

"Her life has. She just doesn't really know yet." Thea shook her head.

"So she'll adapt. We'll adapt." Dominic said.

"I'm terrified." Thea shook her head, "I'm terrified we can't give her all the things she needs."

"We can and we will." Dominic nodded, "Don't be a bitch to your family." He whispered.

"I wasn't." Thea scoffed as Dominic looked at her, unconvinced, "I told them to go. That's it."

"You bit the head off your dad-"

"He was saying stupid things." Thea said.

"He was being honest. I'll be damned if we let this hinder her life." Dominic said, "Someone is gonna tell her one day how beautiful they think she is. And she's gonna hear it." He nodded, "Until then… it's our job to make sure when that happens, she believes it."

Thea smiled as she watched Sofia stir in her sleep, "We just gotta take it day by day right now, huh?" Thea nodded.

"Yeah." Dominic agreed.

"Sam isn't going to understand this." Thea said.

"She will eventually." Dominic said.

"I'm pretty sure my mom and dad are still around here." Thea nodded, "I doubt they'll leave. They all wanna keep an eye on me." She shook her head.

"Is that a bad thing?" Dominic turned to her, "You got people who care about you. About us. We need that right now. Sofia needs that right now. I know you deal with things differently but for once, let your parents be your parents." He nodded as Thea looked at him.

"You know it's been you all these years, right?" Thea said as he looked at her tiredly, "Not therapy or the meds. Not the reading and the taking up new hobbies." She rolled her eyes as Dominic chuckled.

"Like baking?" Dominic smiled.

"Like baking." Thea shook her head, smiling a little, "You're the one that keeps me grounded. You just make sense to me more than anyone else in the world." She nodded as he smiled, reaching over and taking her hand.

"Maybe I was put here to keep you grounded. Maybe that's my whole life's purpose." He teased as she chuckled quietly, shaking her head.

"Well then I apologise for that." She said as he chuckled, "Nobody deserves that kind of stress." She said as he smiled.

"Yeah, well it comes with getting to love you. All evens out." He nodded as she smiled, "We're gonna be ok." He said, promising her. Promising Sofia.

"Ok." Thea nodded.

"Go let your parents hug you." Dominic nodded as Thea made a face at him, "Go." He nodded his head to the door as Thea stood up, leaning over and kissing him before leaving the hospital room.

She was prepared to go on a hunt for her parents but found them in the waiting room, chatting to each other. She began wringing her fingers out anxiously, walking over to them. Allowing people to be there for her allowed for the loudening of the fear of them leaving her. So she lashed out, so they could leave first when she was prepared for it.

"Hey." Thea approached them both as they looked up at her.

"Everything alright?" Punk asked worriedly as Thea nodded.

"Yeah." Thea said, "Well… you know what I mean." She shook her head as they nodded, "I'm sorry." She swallowed the lump in her throat, "It's been an ongoing thing since I was little… I don't like people being there for me." She nodded as Punk and AJ looked at her, and then to each other.

"Hey, Thea." AJ said formally, extending her hand out as Thea looked, "Nice to meet you. I'm your mom. And I know everything about you." She nodded with a warm smile.

"Yeah… that's not really news to us, babe." Punk said quietly as Thea looked at them both.

"Well I'm sorry for being mean-"

"Oh, Thea stop." AJ shook her head, standing up and wrapping her arms around her daughter, "You have nothing to apologise for. You react however you wanna react. We'll still be here." She nodded, stroking her hair motherly as Thea nodded.

"Thank you." Thea said as Punk stood up, holding his arm out as Thea moved into his arms, hugging him tightly as he kissed her head.