Hazards


"What are you baking in here? Smells incredible." Punk said, walking into their kitchen which had the most glorious sent of home baking and sweetness in it.

"White chocolate chip cookies." AJ smiled, taking the tray out of the oven, "And I also made a walnut loaf cake. That needs some more time." She estimated.

"Liking the baking, huh?" He asked with a smile.

"Well it keeps me busy." AJ nodded, "And I've gotten this unhealthy obsession with enjoying people eating my food. It's all very needy and desperate for attention." She waved her hand as Punk chuckled.

"Well I am enjoying it." He nodded, walking over to the cookies.

"None just now." AJ warned, "They're too hot." She told him.

"That's when they taste the best." Punk whined as she just smiled, taking some of her baking dishes to the sink to wash.

"I'm going to take some to Thea for the kids later on." AJ said.

"You heard how they've been doing?" Punk asked.

"No." AJ shook her head, "They were getting a visit from the ophthalmologist yesterday, though. I'm sure they can give them some kind of time frame for the rest of Sofia's recovery. Give them an idea of when she can start maybe trying out different things. Thea did say Sofia had been warming to the idea of a service dog."

"Don't you have to be older to get a service dog?" Punk asked.

"I don't think so." AJ shook her head.

"Well whatever helps her the most." Punk said, "And if she's going to have to learn braille for reading and writing then I do think it's something we should all learn. I told Jude and Cassie that. Not to be a dictator but… I think it'll help."

"Yeah, of course." AJ said, "They'd want to do anything they can to help anyway. But I think right now Sofia still needs to take it easy and rest."

"Of course." Punk agreed, "I'm still worried about Thea."

"Me too." AJ nodded, drying her hands on a kitchen towel, looking over at him, "But we just gotta be there for them. It's like it always is. We'll get each other through." She said as Punk nodded.

"She can only see the negatives in this." Punk said, "I mean… not that there's any positives, I know." He said, "But… it's like she hyper fixates on the negatives. Catastrophises them until she's convincing herself she needs a drink to help… soothe herself." He said.

"I think with years of therapy… she knows that's what she does." AJ said.

"I'm just worried about her doing something stupid." Punk nodded.

"Yeah, I know." AJ said, "But she's came such a long way in the past few years. She knows how to handle herself. She knows what helps her and what doesn't. She's got that on her side now." She nodded confidently, "And she's got us. I said we'd come round later around dinner time, and we can maybe order in and stay for a few hours." She said as Punk nodded.

"Yeah, sounds good." Punk said as she wrapped her arms around him, leaning her cheek on his chest.


"So… how legal do you reckon this is?" Sean asked, "You have paint on your face, by the way."

"Oh, really?" Jude ran across their bedroom into the on-suite bathroom, looking in the mirror and laughing a little as she noticed the white paint smeared on her cheek, "Gosh, I picked up the girls and did grocery shopping looking like this." She said, walking back out of the bathroom, "How legal is it? I don't know. You tell me. You're the cop."

"You got permission?" Sean asked.

"Yeah. From the relevant people." Jude nodded.

"Seems pretty legal to me then." Sean nodded.

"It may invite some unwanted hate, but I could care less." She shrugged, "You said I'm an artist so I should show off my art. That's what I'm doing. And when I'm finished, I'll stick a business poster beside it and around town for anyone who wants me to work for them. Murals. Portraits. Pictures. Anything." She said.

"Well you'll definitely make a statement." Sean said, "Chicago is a reasonable place. I don't think we'll get too much eggs thrown at our window."

"Nobody will even know it was me." Jude shrugged, thinking about it, "Well, maybe they will. But who cares? If they got a problem with it, then odds are I hate them anyway." She nodded.

"Yeah, you got that right." Sean nodded.

"How was your day?" She asked, watching him sit down on the edge of the bed, "You look a little stressed."

"No, I'm fine." Sean said, "There's just not enough hours in the day, that's all."

"Anything I can help with?" She asked.

"No, I don't think so. Not at work anyway." He smiled, loosening his tie.

"Oh, so there's something here I can help with?" She smiled, walking over to him as he shrugged, watching her lean down, feeling her lips against his as he placed his hands on her waist.

"Mommy!" Mirren called, running into her parents bedroom as Jude pulled back from Sean.

"What?" Jude said, "What did Leela do?" She assumed.

"I taught her how to burp the alphabet. She can do it now." Mirren nodded excitedly as Jude turned to Sean who smiled.

"I am proud of all my girls today." Sean nodded as Jude chuckled.

"That's really great, babe." Jude nodded, "But remember, not in public." She said as Mirren nodded.

"Well duh." Mirren agreed.

"I think it's time for you guys to get your bath." Jude said.

"I'll get them." Sean nodded, "C'mon. Let's go!" Sean picked Mirren up, putting her over his shoulder as Mirren giggled, causing Jude to smile.


"We got the boyfriend coming in tomorrow?" Cassie asked, sitting in her office behind her desk whilst Theo sat in front of her.

"Yeah." Theo nodded.

"How long they been dating?" Cassie asked.

"Two years." Theo told her.

"Death by strangulation always ends up being the boyfriend or the lover. Don't you think?" She asked as Theo chuckled a little, reaching for his coffee.

"You got some statistics to back that one up?" Theo asked, "Anyone can strangle anyone."

"Yeah but the ability to strangle someone is just… I mean there's a good six or seven minutes where you have time to realise what you're doing. You have time to stop yourself." Cassie nodded, "So to kill someone like that… you really gotta want them dead."

"As oppose to someone sticking a knife in you? Would they want you dead less?" Theo raised a brow.

"Don't get smart with me." She pointed her pen at him, "You know what I'm saying. If you're stabbing someone it could be a heat of the moment, a burst of anger, happens in a flash… strangling someone… it takes a while before the victim ends up dead." She said.

"And only her boyfriend would be capable of wanting her dead?" Theo asked.

"No. Well maybe. I don't know enough about her yet." Cassie said.

They had been assigned a new case to the local murder of a woman and were preparing themselves to tackle it head on.

"He probably would have the most access to her. She had no other injuries so doesn't seem like there was much of a fight. Plus she was found in her bedroom with no signs of a break in." He recalled.

"So it's definitely someone who knew her." Cassie nodded, "Maybe he did it in her sleep. Or during sex." She said, "That feels nice, you know." She said as he looked at her.

"Cassie, respectfully, I think she'd disagree." Theo nodded.

"No… well not like that." Cassie rolled her eyes, "But getting choked. Losing a little bit of oxygen." She shrugged.

"You'd know?" Theo questioned as Cassie shrugged, smiling over at him before looking back at the case file.

"Anyway..." Cassie hummed.

"So maybe it was an accident?" Theo said, "Maybe they were messing around and he accidentally choked her to death. I'm sure it's not uncommon. Would explain why she's got no other injuries."

"We'll get a better idea when we talk to him." Cassie nodded, taking a sip of her coffee as he looked over at her, "If that was the case… why didn't he call for an ambulance?"

"Scared?" Theo shrugged, "She just seemed like such a normal person."

"Normal people can get killed." Cassie nodded.

"Oh, listen to you. Miss Homicide." Theo scoffed, "It's starting to suit you."

"Maybe I'm not so terrible at it." Cassie shrugged.

"You're alright." Theo nodded as she smiled over at him.


"This is the program here?" Thea asked, sitting on the sofa later that night with Dominic who had the laptop on his lap, showing her the braille program for Sofia.

"Yeah, this one here." Dominic nodded, "I know the ophthalmologist said to give it at least a month for her to rest up and heal. Get used to her home surroundings first. But I still wanted to show you it."

"Yeah, I mean it looks good." Thea nodded, "I just worry it's gonna be a lot for her. If she finds it difficult, she might get frustrated." She looked at him as he nodded.

"I know but the program runs at whatever pace she needs it to. Watch this, she'll pick it up quicker than we do." He said as she nodded.

"Yeah, I wouldn't doubt that actually." Thea nodded, "I think tomorrow I might take Sam out for a little while. If you're ok to stay with Sofia?"

"Sure." Dominic nodded.

"I just don't want her to feel like I'm constantly nagging at her. Which I basically am." Thea sighed, rubbing her forehead stressfully, "But she's just a baby and she doesn't understand."

"I know." Dominic rubbed her arm, "You take her out. That's a good idea."

"Yeah?" Thea asked as he nodded.

"Yeah." Dominic nodded, "Maybe we can get a pizza for them tomorrow night. Sofia's favourite."

"Yeah, sounds good." Thea nodded, leaning her head on his shoulder as James crutched his way into the living room, "Hey, sweetie." Thea lifted her head, noticing he was holding a few of her scarfs.

"Hey so you know how Sofia tripped over the ledge on the door at the kitchen this morning?" James asked them.

"Yeah?" Dominic waited. They had been dealing with a lot of near accidents with Sofia so far, with different obstacles in the house which they wouldn't have thought twice about before, but were now a hazard for Sofia.

"Ok well I figured if we blindfold ourselves and go around the house, we'll come across all the things that might cause her to trip or hurt herself. And then we can move them for her." James nodded, throwing two scarves at them as Thea looked over at him, turning to Dominic.

"That's a good idea." Dominic nodded.

"That's really sweet, baby." Thea smiled, looking over at him, watching him tie the scarf around his eyes.

"We can get things to stick at sharp edges like the table and stuff, I saw them online." Dominic told Thea as they both stood up, also blindfolding themselves with the scarves as they began to make their way around the house, making note of all the things which got in their way.