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"It wasn't that bad." Cassie shrugged as Theo looked across at her, sitting outside on their balcony, "I actually had some nice conversations with Kelise. She's really nice." She admitted, taking a sip of her beer as he nodded.

"She is." Theo agreed.

"And your dad was… well, he was your dad." Cassie said truthfully, "But… he wanted you there. There's no denying it."

"What am I supposed to do?" He asked her, "Do I check in on him every day? Do I… Do I stay here until… until it gets worse?" He asked, "I have no fucking clue what I'm gonna do."

"What do you want to do?" Cassie asked.

"It seems fake to see him every single day. But… time is precious, right?" He sighed, running his hand through his hair.

"So maybe we set something up once a week? Take it in baby steps." Cassie nodded, "And when we get to the end of the four weeks then we'll figure out what we're gonna do." She said, "If you wanna stay for longer or if you wanna go back to Chicago." She said.

"He doesn't seem sick." Theo said, "But Kelise said it's spreading pretty fast. He might go downhill pretty quickly." He said.

"Are you gonna Matthew?" Cassie asked.

"In the morning." Theo nodded, "I don't know what he'll do. He's not seen my dad since he was sixteen. I mean… there's no relationship there what so ever. I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't show up."

"Would you be mad at him? If he didn't?" Cassie wondered.

"I don't know. Maybe." Theo said, "He's still our dad. But I guess our relationships with him are pretty different."

"Well he wants you there. You could see it in his face. He kept looking over at you during dinner. He was happy you were there." Cassie assured him.

"He seemed pretty stoked about Lena, huh?" Theo smiled a little.

"Well, she is a little charmer." Cassie nodded.

"She is." Theo agreed, "Thank you for being so great during this." He looked over at her.

"You don't have to thank me." She shook her head, "I'm here for you in whatever way you need me to be." She assured him as he smiled.

"Come over here." He nodded as she smiled, getting up from her chair and walking round the table, feeling him tug on her hand and pull her onto his lap as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"I know it's hurting you." She said, leaning her forehead against his as he closed his eyes, "Broken relationship or not. He's your dad. So I'm here for you. Whatever you need." She whispered.

"Take me some place else, yeah?" Theo said quietly.

"Ok." Cassie nodded, pressing her lips against his softly, running her hand through his hair before straddling his hips, kneeling up and pulling her dress off her body.


"So you failed to keep your audience entertained?" Dominic asked, walking into the living room where he saw Sofia and Sam fast asleep in their sleeping bags whilst Thea sat on the floor, a bowl of popcorn in the basket of her legs, watching Enchanted.

"Yeah, they were a tough crowd." Thea nodded, "How was the game?" She asked him.

"It was good. We won." Dominic said with relief, "Only just."

"Go Hawks." Thea fist pumped the air as Dominic chuckled, "Do you like my nails?" She held her hand out as he walked closer and looked at her nails which had nail polish smeared all over them messily.

"Beautiful." Dominic nodded as she smiled, "And your hair too. You look like a princess." He said as she chuckled. She had a clip in her hair at the back as well as some glitter on the top.

"Do I, really?" Thea fluttered her eyelashes at him.

"You do." He nodded, "You have a fun night?" He smiled.

"Yeah, we did." She smiled, "Just reminded me of… hanging out with Jude and Cassie when they were younger. Doing stuff like this. I'm glad I can do it with them now." She looked on at Sofia and Sam.

"They're lucky girls." Dominic said as she smiled to him.

"There's leftover pizza in the kitchen, by the way. Go get some." She encouraged.

"Yeah, James sniffed it out as soon as we walked in." Dominic chuckled, leaving the living room and heading into the kitchen whilst James passed him, exchanging places and heading through to the living room.

"Hey." James said quietly, noticing his sisters were sleeping.

"Hi, baby." Thea smiled, "You have fun at the game?"

"Yeah, it was good." James nodded.

"Popcorn?" She asked, raising the bowl up to him as he dug his hand in and took some.

"Nice nails." James shook his head.

"You want me to paint yours?" Thea smirked.

"No, thanks." James shook his head, sitting down on the floor beside her, leaning their backs against the couch, "Do you think she's making friends?" He asked, looking over at Sofia, hugging his knees to his chest as Thea turned to him.

"She is. She tells us all about them." Thea nodded.

"I know but… like real friends?" James asked.

"Real friends?" Thea asked with confusion.

"She can't see so… how does she know they're being nice to her or not?" James asked worriedly, "They could be like… making faces at her and being mean without her realising."

"James, I wish you didn't worry about her so much." Thea sighed, "I know it's hard but… she's at a school now where the likelihood of people… mistreating her is much less than before. There will be people there with similar disabilities and… she'll make friends who appreciate her for who she is… regardless of her sight loss." Thea nodded.

"It'd be nice if she had a friend who was blind too." James nodded, "Then they wouldn't feel so different or alone."

"That would be nice." Thea smiled, "But please, don't worry about her so much." She sighed, wrapping her arm around him and kissing the side of his head, "Can you tell me about Jess?" She asked.

"Oh, mom. Stop it." James rolled his eyes, shoving her arm away as she chuckled.

"What?" She chuckled, "She seems sweet, that's all I'm saying."

"It's not her I like." James shook his head.

"James Castillo." Thea gasped, "There's another?"

"You know what…" James stood up, about to leave as Thea pulled him back down.

"No, sit." She demanded, "C'mon. Give me the gossip."

"I like her friend. Elle." James said.

"Oh, this really is a dilemma." Thea raised her eyebrows, "Does Elle know you like her?"

"Don't think so." James said.

"Does Jess know you like Elle?" Thea asked.

"Don't think so." James shook his head.

"Is there anything you do know? For sure?" Thea wondered.

"I know they're best friends." James said, "Like they're always at each other's house. So it's weird." He said, taking one of the leftover face mask packets.

"You could just be honest." Thea shrugged.

"I don't want to be mean to Jess." James shook his head, taking the face mask out the packet and putting it on his face, trying to distract himself.

"It's not being mean. It's just being honest." Thea said, watching him press the face mask against his face.

"I'm just not gonna say anything. To either of them." James nodded, folding his arms.

"Well that solves nothing." Thea said, handing him the bowl of popcorn which he kept digging his hand into anyway.

"It's easier." James shook his head, "What would you do?"

"I'd tell the truth. I'd be honest with both of them." Thea nodded, "Then again, you guys' brains are so undeveloped right now." She thought to herself, "This could mess with Jess' self-esteem. And possibly Elle's ego." Thea thought about it, folding her arms.

"See." James nodded.

"I knew you weren't a blonde guy. It didn't make sense." Thea said as James turned to her with his face mask still on, "Is Elle brunette?"

"Yeah." James said, "Well… it's like golden."

"Golden." Thea nodded with a smile.

"More brown than blonde though." James agreed.

"Ok, so tell me more about her." Thea grinned, nudging him playfully, realising it was these moments as a mother that she truly loved the most.


"Sean!" Jude squealed, running through the police station and into her husband's office, "Sean." She gasped excitedly.

"What?" He shook his head, at first worried, then relaxing when he saw how big she was smiling, "What's going on?" He stood up from behind his desk.

"Guess what?" She asked him.

"You've just tried acid for the first time?" He raised a brow.

"No, guess again." She said.

"Jude, where are the girls?" He asked worriedly.

"There's at the reception with Marilyn." Jude said, "Guess!" She exclaimed.

"Art related?" He assumed as she nodded, "You've got a piece showing in the institute?"

"No. Guess again." She said.

"Alright, we could be here for a while." He scoffed, "What is it? Tell me?" He smiled, not being able to help enjoy how completely thrilled she was.

"I have been asked to illustrate a children's book." She said, placing her hands on her flushed cheeks as he raised his eyebrows, "The author, Laura O'Neill, she had her PR team email me about seeing my portfolio, so I sent it, and then I got another email saying Laura would love to have me illustrate her newest children's book. It's called Bongo saves the World. It's about a turtle." She nodded, "She wants me to illustrate it, Sean." She shook her head.

"Jude, that's incredible." He smiled, walking out from behind his desk, wrapping her arms around her tightly and kissing her head, "I'm so proud of you."

"Thank you." Jude smiled, squeezing him tightly before pulling back, "I never thought something like this would even be a possibility. It felt so far-fetched but… I'm really gonna do it." She smiled.

"You're gonna do it." Sean nodded, "A published woman."

"I know!" Jude exclaimed excitedly as he chuckled, "I think our children are terrified of me now. When I got the email I started screaming and almost crashed the car."

"Jude." Sean said, "The girls will get to have a book their mom designed-"

"Don't. I will start crying." She warned seriously as he chuckled.

"I'm so proud of you." Sean smiled, "You deserve every bit of this."

"I just can't believe it." Jude said, "I'm meeting Laura on Friday to discuss ideas and then it's… it's off to work, I guess." She nodded.

"It's gonna be amazing." He smiled.


"So… which one?" AJ asked, sitting in their empty living room against the wall with her husband beside her, both looking across at the opposite wall which had two strips of different wallpaper stuck on.

"The floral is a no from me." Punk said, sitting with their legs out in front of them, exchanging a bag of chips between them every few minutes whilst they stared at the wallpaper strips.

"Oh, I like the floral." AJ sighed, "This one is kinda boring. I want to do something different and unique." She said.

One strip of wallpaper was a vibrant floral design whilst the other was just a cream coloured plain wallpaper.

"It's too bright." Punk shook his head.

"I like that it's bright." She nodded, "It's happy and cheerful. Is that why you don't like it?" She turned to him.

"Funny." He nodded as she pouted at him.

"Floral it is?" She asked him.

"Fine." Punk shook his head, "Gonna have the damn house looking like a jungle." He said as she chuckled, nudging him as he smiled.

"Give me them." She took the bag of chips from him.

"Who is calling me?" Punk asked, feeling his phone vibrating in his pocket, "Detective Brooks." He nodded.

"Oh, good. She's not been in contact for a few days." AJ said.

"Hello, daughter." Punk answered, standing up and wandering off into the kitchen whilst AJ sat looking at the wallpapers.

"Definitely floral." She nodded confidently, putting a few chips in her mouth, hearing their front door open and close.

"Mom? Dad?" Jude called, making her way into the living room as AJ smiled.

"Hi, sweetie." AJ smiled.

"I forgot you guys were decorating." Jude scoffed, looking around the empty room.

"Quick. Which wallpaper should we go with?" She pointed to the wall with the two samples stuck on.

"Oh, floral one hundred percent." Jude nodded.

"That's my girl." AJ smirked.

"Mom! Guess what?" Jude turned back to her mother.

"What?" AJ shook her head as Jude crouched down in front of her.

"I am going to illustrate a children's book." Jude said.

"No you're not." AJ said with disbelief.

"I am." Jude nodded, "An actual children's book. It's gonna be published. I'm gonna design it. My drawings."

"Jude." AJ gasped.

"I know." Jude smiled excitedly.

"Jude, that's amazing. Oh my God." AJ said, leaning over and hugging her daughter tightly.

"Where's dad?" Jude asked.

"He's on the phone to your sister. Cassie." AJ said, "So… how did this come about?"

"This children's writer, Laura O'Niell, her PR team contacted me, asked to see my portfolio so I sent it. Then they contacted me again and said that Laura wanted me to design her new book and if we could meet for coffee to discuss." Jude said, "The girls will get to read a book and… and my designs will be in it. How cool is that?" Jude shook her head.

"Oh, that's amazing." AJ smiled happily, "Jude, this is great." She said as Punk came through to the living room, "Phil… Phil, listen to this." She said excitedly.

"I'm going to illustrate a children's book." Jude told him.

"For real?" Punk raised his eyebrows.

"Yes!" Jude said, "My own designs and art in an actual book. And little kids will get to read and enjoy the drawings."

"Hey, Jude. That's amazing." Punk shook his head, wrapping his arm around her and hugging her tightly, "Congratulations." He kissed her head.

"We have to go out and celebrate this week." AJ insisted.

"I'd love to." Jude nodded.

"Look at you go." Punk smiled, his heart bursting with pride.

"I know. Look at me." Jude chuckled, "How is Cassie? I haven't heard from her in a while." She said as Punk nodded.

"Yeah, she's alright." Punk nodded as AJ turned to him cautiously, "Well, actually…"

"What?" AJ said with dread.

"Well she's just told me that they might be out there for longer. Theo's dad has cancer." Punk said, "Looks like he's only got months left."

"Oh." Jude sighed, her shoulders deflating.

"Oh, poor Theo." AJ placed her hand on her chest.

"She said he's doing ok. They had dinner with his dad earlier and… it didn't go too bad. They've not decided what they're gonna do yet. If they're gonna stay for a while or come back." Punk said, "I told her we'd come out if they need us but… she insisted that we don't."

"I thought they were estranged." Jude said, "Theo and his dad?"

"Well, they are, sort of." Punk nodded, "It's still his dad, though. Cassie just said he's holding up pretty well but… he's kinda all over the place."

"Well of course he is." AJ sighed, "Poor thing."

"That sucks." Jude frowned, "I'll give her a call tomorrow."