Get Loud


"I think these four hour sleep sessions are making me more tired." Dominic admitted, getting into the car in the morning with Thea as they headed to the hospital.

"Yeah I've felt better." Thea agreed, getting into the passenger's side.

Sofia had been in hospital for almost two weeks, and they had fell into some kind of schedule where they spent most of their time at the hospital with her, going home for naps and showers every now and then in between.

"We bringing her anything?" Dominic asked.

"No, my mom and dad brought her donuts yesterday. She's still got some of those." Thea said as Dominic nodded, driving off, "Is their main aim as grandparents to give our children diabetes?" She questioned.

"Oh, listen to the health queen." Dominic smiled a little, keeping his eyes on the road as Thea chuckled a little.

"I know, the audacity." Thea shook her head, "I heard they charged the guy. Cassie called me last night. How come you never said?" She asked him.

"I didn't want to upset you." Dominic said.

"I'm not upset about him being charged. I would have been upset if he wasn't." Thea said.

"Well I spoke to Sean and… I don't think the guy will do that much time in prison." Dominic shook his head, "Your dad probably did more damn time in a cell for selling LSDs or some shit to people, and this fuck blinded our daughter and will get a couple years, if that." He shook his head.

"Dominic, my dad wasn't selling LSDs." Thea assured him, "You think they give out sixteen years to people who sell LSDs?"

"I don't know what the fuck they do. Whole system is stupid." Dominic concluded as Thea nodded in agreement, both of them going a little quiet, "So what was he selling?" Dominic broke the silence as Thea chuckled a little, placing her hand over her face.

"Probably something a little bit harder." Thea nodded, "Hey, what's going on over there?" She questioned, sitting up a little as they approached the hospital, passing by an abortion clinic on the way there which appeared to have a crowd gathering around it, "Stop the car." Thea said.

"Uh… I'm in the middle of the road here." Dominic looked in his rear view mirror.

"I don't care. Stop the car." Thea demanded, beginning to realise why all the people were gathered outside, what they were doing, what they were shouting.

"Why? What is it?" Dominic questioned, stopping the car and taking a better look. He only realised what was going on when Thea was making her way out of the car, "No, wait… Thea!" Dominic called, watching her leave the car, storming her way toward the small crowd gathered.

"Hey!" Thea yelled, creeping up on a woman from behind, taking the sign she was holding up, snapping it in half with her leg, tossing the two pieces onto the ground angrily.

"Excuse me?" The woman placed her hand on her chest with shock.

"Excuse me? Excuse you!" Thea pointed at her, "I would burn every last one of you if I had the damn chance." She spat, yanking another sign from a man which read "protect all life" written on it.

"Don't you think every life is worth something?" Someone called out.

"I'll decide if any life inside my body is worth something. Not any of you standing here. Not the government. And not any man who puts it there." Thea spat, snapping the sign in half.

"Thea!" Dominic called, rushing over, leaving their car in the middle of the road as he tried to locate is wife.

"Spend the day with us and you'll understand." One of the woman told Thea, "We have to protect these unborn children. It's not fair."

"Not fair? What's not fair is you standing here, berating rape victims, domestic abuse victims, teenagers or… or just women who don't want to have a baby!" Thea yelled, "Abortion is health care. It is necessary. If you win your little fight your precious unborn babies still aren't going to be protected. The only change that happens is their mothers are just going to die with them." Thea spat.

"Uh… Thea!" Dominic budged his way by some people, "T!" Dominic took a hold of Thea's arm, feeling her shake him away for a moment.

"That isn't true." The woman shook her head.

"It is." Thea spat, "Having an abortion was the best thing I ever did." She nodded, watching the woman stare at her with disgust, "Look at me like that all you want, but I do not lose one ounce of sleep over it. Because it was my right. It had nothing to do with you and your little cult." She said, "You can all go to hell." She nodded, using one half of he ripped up cardboard sign she was holding, smacking it against the woman's face.

"Alright alright." Dominic nodded, grabbing Thea back around the waist, pulling her away from the crowd, "Ok, keep walking. Please keep walking." Dominic nodded nervously, guiding Thea back to the car by the shoulders.

"Ok. Alright, I'm fine." Thea put her hands up, getting back into the car, running her hand through her hair as Dominic got behind the wheel.

"Are you ok?" Dominic shook his head.

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

"You just smacked a woman with a-"

"Yeah well she deserved it." Thea said.

"I don't disagree but… Jesus." Dominic scoffed, driving off, "Those people give me the creeps." He shivered a little as Thea stared out the window.

"Those people are going to take human rights away from my daughters and nieces." Thea shook her head as Dominic pulled into the hospital into one of the parking spaces, "I fucking hate them." She whispered.

"Are you sure you're ok?" He asked. He'd just watched her leave their car in the middle of the road in such a frenzy like never before. He had to check in with her. Especially right now with so much going on.

"I'm fine." Thea turned to him, "I've not gone crazy just yet." She assured him.

"We sure about that?" He asked, looking on at Thea staring out the window, "Thea, this is me checking in on you. Are we good with meds and therapy?" He asked.

"Because I'm outraged about those fuckers telling women they have no control over their body… you think I'm losing it?" She questioned.

"No, of course not." Dominic said, "I get it. I just wanna make sure you're alright. It's been stressful these past couple weeks."

"I still take my meds and I still go to therapy. You literally dropped me off last night." Thea shook her head.

"I know." Dominic said.

"Sofia is probably gonna be coming home soon. And I have no idea how to look after her now. Our house doesn't have the things she needs. We haven't even thought about school-"

"She's still going to be recovering when she gets home. School will be a few weeks… maybe months away." Dominic said, "And we'll have the house ready with whatever we need."

"What about our jobs?" Thea asked.

"I can leave Scott to the business." Dominic nodded, "And you can talk to your boss. I'm sure they'll be more than understanding." He said, "Money isn't an issue with us. You know that-"

"I don't think your parents had this in mind when they gave you all their money." Thea sighed.

"I don't think my parents had getting into a car crash and dying in mind, to be honest." Dominic nodded as Thea turned to him.

"Sorry, that was stupid." Thea realised.

"It's fine. I know what you mean." Dominic nodded, "Sofia needs us right now. So if we can be there for her, and still be ok financially, then we're gonna do it." He said as she nodded.


"Thea smacked a pro-life heckler this morning with a sign." Cassie nodded, walking into the kitchen where Theo was having a sandwich for dinner at 10pm.

"This does not surprise me." Theo admitted, not particularly shocked, carrying on with his sandwich.

"Me neither." Cassie nodded, "Only wish I was there to see it, honestly."

"Where was this?" Theo asked.

"Outside the clinic next to the hospital. There was a bunch of them outside yelling abuse at women going into the clinic." Cassie said, "Can we do something about them?" She wondered, placing her hand on her hip.

"Freedom of speech, babe." Theo shook his head.

"Yeah and I want freedom of my damn body." Cassie said, "It's a human right. Those people are not pro-life they're anti-choice. Period." She nodded.

"Hey I agree." Theo assured her.

"I know we're in Illinois and we're lucky that way but if we lived in a different state, I could get pregnant and have another miscarriage, and there could be complications, I might need to have an abortion… then what? They just let me die?" Cassie questioned as Theo looked up at her, "God, it's infuriating." She shook her head.

"I'm not going to pretend I know what it feels like. Nobody is telling me what I can and can't do with my body parts." Theo nodded.

"Yeah, exactly." Cassie shook her head, "Those people look down on women like my sister and think they're the devil incarnate." She said.

"What do you mean?" Theo said, "Like Thea?"

"Yeah, she had an abortion when she was seventeen." Cassie nodded.

"I didn't know that." Theo admitted.

"She didn't tell anyone." Cassie said, "My parents know now but she only told Sam at the time."

"Jackson's?" Theo asked.

"Probably." Cassie said, "It was the right decision for her at the time. By far."

"The quicker people realise that women aren't put on this earth solely to reproduce, the better." Theo shook his head, taking his empty plate and sitting it over by the sink as Cassie sighed, folding her arms.

"I mean… what kind of world is this gonna be when our daughter is my age?" Cassie questioned as Theo turned to her, looking across at her, not knowing what to say.

"Hopefully a better one." Theo nodded.

"Hopefully." Cassie shook her head, "I'm anything but hopeful right now." She said, "You're religious." She pointed out as Theo looked at her with confusion.

"Am I?" Theo questioned.

"Well you were brought up with religion." Cassie nodded.

"Yeah…" Theo nodded, looking at her, "Are you… trying to make a point?" He waited.

"Well doesn't that mean you think abortion is wrong? Is that what your family thinks? Your mom?" Cassie asked.

"Cass, I ain't been to pray since I was kid. I'd hardly call myself religious." Theo shook his head, "I was brought up with it and I… sure I'd like to believe we all go somewhere better after this life." He nodded, "But I don't think being religious and believing in a God should have anything to do with women and what they choose to do with their bodies." He assured her, "And I know my mom feels the same."

"I know… I know, sorry." Cassie shook her head, realising she wasn't taking the right tone with him about it, "I agree, they should be separate things. It's just so infuriating." She said as Theo nodded.

"Next time there's a pro-choice march, we'll make it a date." Theo nodded to her as she smiled over at him, "And we'll get loud about it. For you. For your sisters and nieces. For our daughter." He said, walking over to her as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Sounds like my kind of date." Cassie nodded.