Father's Day


"Why am I the only one ready?!" AJ yelled standing at the bottom of the stairs as she heard her two eldest daughters rushing around and fighting with each other upstairs.

"Well, I'm ready." Seven year old Cassie folded her arms, standing beside her mother.

"Oh of course you are, babe." AJ nodded, "That's why you're my favourite." She teased as Cassie smiled, truly believing her.

"Thea just sprayed hairspray in my eye!" Fourteen year old Jude yelled.

"Shut up it was nowhere near your eye." Thea bickered back from the bathroom where she was applying make-up.

"It was, you aimed for my eyes. You always do. You did it with deodorant yesterday." Jude said.

"You guys we're already half an hour late." AJ sighed, not sure why she believed things would be different from this every time they headed out.

"It's Thea's fault." Jude walked down the stairs.

"It's always my fault." Thea scoffed, following behind her, trying to give Jude a dead leg.

"Stop it." Jude turned around on the stairs.

"Go!" Thea yelled whilst Cassie looked at them both, letting out a dramatic sigh of exhaustion, "What are you sighing about?" Thea looked at Cassie who made a face at her which Thea replicated back.

"You guys finished?" AJ asked.

"For now." Thea nodded as Jude rolled her eyes, "This is stupid anyway." She shook her head.

"Go on out to the car, baby." AJ smiled to Cassie, handing her the car keys.

"I'll drive!" Cassie yelled eccentrically, running out of the house as AJ smiled, turning back to Jude and Thea who stood looking at her, unimpressed.

"Look, we've done it every year, I'm not going to stop now." AJ scoffed, "You guys have such nice smiles, it's a shame I never see them."

"Well maybe if you didn't make us go out on father's day, three children who do not have a father, we'd smile more." Thea shook her head.

"We have a dad." Jude shook her head, "I literally saw him yesterday-"

"Good for you." Thea said, uninterested, "I mean, you literally take us out for brunch and we have to sit around all these other families celebrating their dads. It's actually kind of sadistic, mom." She nodded.

"Oh, well that's just me. A big twisted, sadistic bitch." AJ nodded as they rolled their eyes, "This can also be a day where you can celebrate and thank your uncle Dean, you know. We're meeting them for brunch-"

"Uncle Dean? Brunch?" Thea questioned, "It's not adding up. You and Renee bully him into things and it's kinda sad." She nodded as AJ chuckled a little.

"I've been bullying him since I was sixteen. He's used to it." AJ nodded, "I'm actually being serious here. I know you guys hate this day. I hate it." She understood as they both looked at her, "Whilst I've tried to play both mom and dad… I know it's not the same, and Uncle Dean has always filled in for your dad wherever he could."

She'd always taken the girls out on father's day to distract them. Normally they'd go on a walk or go shopping. Anything she could do to distract them from the day revolving around spending it with the one man which they couldn't. As they were getting older, it was becoming more of an effort.

"I'm only coming for the food." Thea made clear, walking past them and heading out to the car whilst Jude stood with AJ for a moment.

"If you wanted to go see him today-"

"No, I saw him yesterday." Jude shook her head, "I knew you'd wanna take us out."

"Did you… get him something?" AJ asked. She never had much conversations with Jude about her relationship with Punk, but she certainly never allowed for her to daughter to think she couldn't talk to her about him. Not by design, Jude had just somehow kept that part of her life to herself, the part where she still had a father.

"Yeah." Jude said briefly, "What did we do on the last fathers day he was here? I can't really remember."

"Oh well you guys would have made your obligatory everything but the kitchen sink cake for him." AJ nodded, "Last one got a full jar of jelly poured into it." She said as Jude smiled a little, leaving the house with AJ whilst she locked up, "And then I think we went to the park and got donuts."

"Well they are his favourite." Jude nodded, wandering off over to the car whilst AJ locked the door to their house.

"Yeah." She mumbled to herself.


"Thea." Punk said quietly, sitting in the waiting room in the hospital outside Sofia's room, looking on at Thea sleeping against his shoulder, leaving some drool on him.

"What?" Thea grumbled.

"This is your cue to go home and get some sleep." Punk said quietly.

"What time is it?" Thea questioned sleepily.

"Seven pm." Punk said, "Dominic is back so… it's your turn." He told her. He had been floating around the hospital most days in order to make sure Thea and Dominic were going home and sleeping when they were supposed to. They had been taking turns so one of them was always with Sofia, and Punk had been filling in whenever he could too.

"I should stay for her going to bed." Thea nodded.

"Dominic is here." Punk said, "It's alright." He nodded as Thea kept her head on his shoulder.

"Dad, you don't have to be here all the time." Thea said, lifting her head and placing her hand at the back of her neck, feeling it cramping from the awkward way she had been sleeping against him.

"Don't you concern yourself with what I'm doing." He told her, "How has she been today?"

"She's had a good day." Thea nodded, "Better than yesterday anyway."

"Yeah James told us about the water last night." Punk said.

"Thank you for having him and Sam." Thea turned to him, "It does really make it easier on us knowing they're both alright."

"It's no problem. I left earlier and Sam was painting your mom's nails." Punk nodded as Thea smiled, "Your mom picked black-"

"Well obviously." Thea said.

"Sam was quite offended by the choice, though." Punk said as Thea smiled, "You want black nails, nana A?" Punk impersonated Sam, "She was horrified actually."

"Yeah she's a pastel kind of three year old." Thea said as Punk chuckled.

"Well, she obliged anyway." Punk said.

"I'll go home and get a few hours sleep and shower." Thea nodded, "I'll be back in the early morning." She looked at the time.

"Ok, sweetheart." Punk nodded as Thea got up from the chair.

She headed into Sofia's room to say goodbye to her and Dominic before grabbing her purse and leaving the hospital.

When she was leaving, she bumped into her sister's. Cassie was holding a white box and Jude had a gift bag. Thea just wasn't in the right headspace to know why. She was confused as to why they were here at all considering she'd asked them not to visit for the time being.

"Hey." Thea said, putting her purse over her body, holding onto her car keys, "What are you guys doing here?" She asked.

"Well… to see dad." Cassie said as Thea looked at them both with confusion.

"It's father's day." Jude said as Thea looked at them both.

"Is it really?" Thea asked as they nodded, "Ok so I'm not only the worst daughter in the world but also the worst wife because I ever even got Dominic anything from the kids." She realised, feeling awful.

"Thea, I don't think anyone is going to be mad." Cassie scoffed, "We stopped by at mom and dad's and mom told us dad was still here so… we're just gonna drop this off to him and maybe get some coffee with him for an hour. We won't come visit Sofia." Jude nodded as Thea looked at them both.

"I'm not trying to stop people from seeing her." Thea sighed, hating the way it sounded when it came from them, "I just… there's a lot that's overwhelming her and it's-"

"We know." Cassie said, "You don't have to explain to us." She nodded.

"Yeah, I think she just needs her mom and dad with her right now. We get it." Jude agreed.

"What'd you get him?" Thea asked curiously.

"Well, we made the everything but the kitchen sink father's day cake obviously." Cassie held the white box with the cake in it, "This year's special ingredient is apricot jelly."

"Ew." Thea said.

"And we got him a tattoo voucher and some hats. Bobble hats specifically. For the winter." Jude nodded.

"Oh, the man does need any more tattoos. Mom will kill you." Thea shook her head.

"Cassie suggested it, not me." Jude said.

"He might want more." Cassie shrugged.

"He only gets tattoos these days when one of us has a kid." Thea scoffed, the concept flying over her and Jude's head whilst Cassie smiled a little.

"Well, it never goes wrong." Cassie said.

"We put your name on it." Jude said as Thea nodded, looking back at the hospital.

"Can I come for coffee?" Thea asked as Jude and Cassie smiled.


"I love the three of you but respectfully, this is the worst thing I've ever put in my mouth." Punk nodded, forcing down a bite of the cake his daughter's had made him, sitting in the hospital coffee shop at a table for four.

"That's the kind of the whole aim of making the cake. Every year we try make it as disgusting as we can." Jude nodded as Punk chuckled.

"I'm sorry I spent all day with you and I completely forgot." Thea turned to him.

"I mean… I'll let you off the hook." Punk scoffed, "The best father's day gift I can get from you right now is if you go home and sleep." He nodded.

"I promise I will." Thea nodded.

"You guys didn't need to come here. Shouldn't you be spending time with the second most important man in your life?" He teased, taking a sip of coffee whilst pushing his slice of cake away.

"We had the whole day." Cassie shrugged, "Theo and Chase were making burgers when I left."

"Yeah, me and the girls took Sean out for breakfast this morning." Jude nodded as Punk smiled.

"Yeah and I did nothing for Dominic." Thea said, feeling awful, "I'm gonna go up and see him actually." She stood up.

"I don't think he'll hold this one against you." Cassie said, watching as Thea walked off out of the coffee shop.

"So what's my next tattoo?" Punk asked, looking across at Jude and Cassie, "I am seriously running out of space."

"Something might pop up. It's good to have." Cassie shrugged as Punk looked at her suspiciously.

Meanwhile Thea had made her way back up to Sofia's room, walking in slowly and pausing at the door where she saw Dominic lying in bed beside Sofia, both of them sleeping. She smiled to herself, slowly creeping back out of the room when she heard Dominic speak.

"Why are you still here?" He mumbled as she turned back around.

"I forgot it was father's day." Thea said.

"So did I." Dominic assured her.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't… I didn't even get a card-"

"I'm not your dad." Dominic smiled a little.

"Yeah well I didn't even get one for him either." Thea rolled her eyes, "You know what I mean." She said as he nodded. She'd normally get him a card and gifts for their kids to give to him, the same way he did for her on mother's day. But nothing about their current situation was normal right now.

"I'll forgive you just this once." He teased with a small smile, "She ate most of her dinner tonight." He said quietly, looking down at Sofia who was curled into him, fast asleep.

"That's good." Thea nodded, "She'll get her appetite back slowly. She scoffed the leftover tacos James brought her for lunch earlier when you were at home." She said.

"Well no one refuses your mom's tacos, to be fair." Dominic nodded as Thea smiled, "Go home and sleep, please." He said.

"Can I give you a hug first?" She asked as he nodded, opening out his arm as she leaned over and hugged him tightly.

"We can make up for it some other time." He assured her.

"Yeah we can." Thea said, kissing him softly.