Acting Alone
A/N: Hoping you guys can start seeing the chapters again!
"Morning." Jude smiled, standing at the door to Cassie's house after Cassie opened up.
"H-Hey." Cassie smiled.
"I brought breakfast." Jude nodded, walking into the house as Cassie closed the door behind her.
"Thanks, that was nice of you." Cassie said, following her through to the kitchen where Chase was sitting eating cereal whilst watching his children's programs on the iPad in front of him.
"Hey, Chase." Jude smiled upon seeing her nephew.
"Hi." Chase smiled, too invested in his cartoons as Cassie smiled.
"Where's the husband?" Jude asked Cassie, handing her the coffee she'd got her, which Cassie was very appreciative of after another night of barely no sleep.
"Oh, he's still sleeping. He didn't get home until 5am." Cassie told her, "Halloween is a long one for us cops." She nodded.
"I bet." Jude nodded.
"I wish you would have text before coming. I gotta leave soon for my shift." Cassie told her.
"I know, I thought you said you were working today but I thought I'd drop by instead of texting. I was wondering if you wanted to grab dinner tonight? Just the two of us?" Jude nodded, taking the lid off her coffee cup to stir in some sugar.
"Have we decided we don't like Thea today?" Cassie smiled a little.
"Well I actually asked her and she's working." Jude said, "It'd be nice to just do it the two of us." She said as Cassie nodded along.
"Uh… yeah, sure." Cassie nodded, "Theo will be here so I don't gotta worry about him." She looked over at Chase.
"Perfect." Jude smiled as Cassie nodded, "Did he go to sleep ok last night?" She asked discretely.
"Yeah, why?" Cassie questioned.
"Mirren took a while to get to sleep. I think she overdone it with the candy." Jude nodded.
"Yeah, I think she overdone it when she tried swinging at Sofia." Cassie chuckled, "Which is the finest form of entertainment."
"They're both crazy. One minute they're best friends for life and then the next they're screaming at each other." Jude shook her head.
"They're you and Thea." Cassie corrected.
"I guess." Jude nodded.
"Makes me wanna add a girl into the mix." Cassie admitted.
"Oh, yeah? Don't let Theo hear you say that. Get his hopes up." Cassie said.
"Not for another little while, though." Cassie nodded, "He knows that." She said as Jude nodded.
"So where do you wanna go tonight? What do you fancy? Italian? Indian? Steakhouse?" Jude asked.
"I really don't mind." Cassie said, "You decide and let me know the time and the place." She said as Jude nodded with a smile. It appeared that tonight was becoming the moment of truth for her to talk with Jude one on one. She could only suspect Jude was onto her at this point.
"I'm stopping by to see Chrissy, you fancy joining me?" Dean asked, clocking out at the docks with Punk after their shift.
"You don't wanna go talk to her on your own?" Punk asked him.
"Well… it's always good to go in pairs." Dean nodded, "And if you're there she might be less tempted to shut the door on my face."
"She's not gonna do that." Punk said, "Dude, why didn't you tell me that you were worried about her? April filled me in last night but… you can always talk to me. I sure as hell talk to you about every single stress in my life." He said.
"No, you don't." Dean scoffed.
"Sure I do." Punk said, "I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation to what's going on with Chrissy. Probably something you'll be mad at for not realising sooner." Punk said, walking towards their cars.
"Are you coming with me or not?" Dean questioned.
"If you want me to." Punk said.
"Yes I want you to." Dean mumbled, getting into the car as Punk followed.
They arrived at Chrissy's shortly after, getting out of the car and walking to the front door. Dean knocked on it and waited nervously as Punk watched him. He could see he was legitimately nervous, and that made him nervous too. He knew how much Dean had been there for his own children, and he'd always return the favour, he always had.
"She probably won't even answer." Dean shook his head, "And I know she's obviously in. The car is there." He pointed as Punk nodded.
Punk walked over and knocked on the door again, louder with a more heavy fist, stepping back and waiting as eventually Chrissy came to the door, unlocking it and opening it up, hiding behind it slightly.
"Would you like some girl scout cookies?" Punk smiled as Chrissy rolled her eyes, turning to her father.
"Hey, Chris." Dean nodded as she looked across at him.
"Why does this already feel like an interrogation?" Chrissy questioned.
"Well it's not." Dean said, "Can we come in or do we have to stand out here?" He asked her as Chrissy looked at him.
"Come in." Chrissy nodded, opening up the door wide and stepping back as Punk and Dean walked into the house.
"We missed you at the Halloween party." Punk told her, "Shame you had to work." He said as Chrissy nodded.
"Yeah I was real sad about missing it." Chrissy nodded truthfully, walking into the kitchen, "Events manager kinda means you get busy around the holiday seasons." She said.
"I bet." Punk nodded, sitting down on the stool at the island in the kitchen whilst Dean stood looking around.
"How did the party go?" Chrissy asked.
"It was good." Punk said, "Yeah, we had fun." He nodded.
"What the hell are you trying to do?" Dean interrupted, looking over at Chrissy, "Why is it a chore for you to let me or your mother into your house? Into your life?" He asked as Punk sat awkwardly, pulling over the fruit basket to distract himself.
"What?" Chrissy shook her head.
"You heard me. We don't hear from you anymore." Dean said, "Why? And don't tell me it's work, don't tell me work is busy. We all work and we all get busy. All you have are excuses for us and I wanna know why because you… that's not you." He said.
"What the hell, dad?" Chrissy folded her arms.
"You know it's true. Your mom thinks she's done something wrong. She's beside herself." Dean said, "And what about you going to the hospital last week? You didn't think to mention that to us?"
"Oh, I just fell." Chrissy rolled her eyes, "It wasn't a big deal."
"You're trying to distance yourself from us and I don't know why. So at least just give me a reason." Dean said.
"There is no reason." Chrissy shook her head, "I just have my own shit to deal with. Sorry I don't check in with you every single day."
"You go weeks without talking to us. A few weeks ago me and your mother came here to see you and you didn't even let us into the house. What the hell is that about?" Dean shook his head as Punk sat awkwardly.
He knew his brother wasn't the best with confrontations. He didn't have a very good way with words for the most part. He just tended to blurt things out.
"Maybe I should go." Punk nodded.
"No, stay. It's my dad who is being rude. He can go." Chrissy looked at Dean unhappily.
"Kicking me out? Again?" Dean laughed a little.
"I've never kicked you out of my house. You're being ridiculous." Chrissy shook her head.
"Where's Brandon?" Dean asked, walking around the kitchen island as Chrissy watched them.
"He's at work." Chrissy told him briefly.
"Does he work seven days a week? How come we never see him either?" Dean questioned, "It was your Uncle Phil's birthday last week and you didn't even drop by-"
"Hey, don't bring me into this." Punk groaned awkwardly.
"I gave Thea a card to give to him. I was working." Chrissy said, "Gosh, you are so annoying."
"You're always working." Dean looked at her.
"Yeah well that's kinda what people do. You work, you pay bills for the house." Chrissy shook her head.
"I think what your dad is trying to say is…" Punk interrupted, "He's worried about you." He nodded.
"Well there's nothing to worry about. I'm fine." Chrissy said, "You don't bug Sarah this much."
"Because she doesn't avoid us." Dean said, "I don't need you to text me every day or come see me every day but… maybe a text here and there every few days could go a long way." He nodded as Chrissy just looked at him, "It's like you're a damn teenager again." He shook his head angrily, storming out of the kitchen and leaving the house as Punk sat awkwardly, looking over at Chrissy who sighed sadly.
"I know it might not look it but he's coming from a good place. He's just really worried about you." Punk nodded, "And he's not the most delicate when it comes to confronting people."
"Believe me, I know." Chrissy assured him, "But I'm fine. I've just been super busy at work. What do they think? That I'm deliberately staying away from them?"
"Well… yeah." Punk nodded.
"Well I'm not." Chrissy said, "It's just been a stressful few months at work, that's it. They don't need to worry." She shook her head as Punk nodded slowly, looking over at her.
"Usually when parents are worried about their kid, and they say it's fine, it ends up turning out that it's not fine and there was a reason to be worried." Punk said, "Is there something bothering you? Someone?"
"No." Chrissy said immediately, "It's just some good old fashioned work stress. That's it." She said as Punk nodded.
"Ok." Punk nodded. He wouldn't challenge her on it anymore, but he could see what Dean meant when he said she was acting out of character.
"This is super nice." Cassie nodded, later that night sitting in an Indian restaurant with her sister.
"Yeah, me and Kirsty used to come here all the time when we were at college." Jude nodded.
"Do you still see her?" Cassie asked her.
"Of course. I speak and text with her every week and when I'm here I always grab coffee with her." Jude nodded.
"She was always a good friend to you." Cassie nodded, remembering her sister's best friend, "I haven't seen her since the second wedding." She figured.
"The second wedding." Jude scoffed, "Sounds absolutely ridiculous."
"I think it was a good idea, actually. To cancel out what happened at the first wedding." Cassie rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, it was. Me and Sean class our wedding day as the second one now. It was good to rewrite over the first disaster." Jude nodded.
"Yeah, I bet." Cassie nodded, "How are you guys? Still got the happily in happily married?" She asked as Jude nodded.
"Yeah, for sure." Jude nodded, dipping some naan bread into sauce, "We have our little arguments but… who doesn't?" She shrugged, "To be honest, I don't think there's a guy out there that could put up with me like he does." She shook her head.
"Why do you say it like that?" Cassie questioned.
"I don't know, I guess… I come with a lot of baggage." Jude nodded.
"We all got baggage, Jude." Cassie nodded.
"I know but… you know what I mean. It took me such a long time to stop asking him why he didn't just leave. We'd only been dating a couple of months and then I got attacked. I… never expected him to stay." Jude shook her head.
"Probably because he's uh… what's that thing called?" Cassie snapped her fingers, "What's it called? Oh, yeah… in love with you." Cassie nodded, shaking her head with a smile.
"Oh, of course I know that. I'm talking about when we first started dating." Jude said, "I don't know, I guess you just question everything in the beginning."
"Yeah, I know." Cassie laughed a little.
"So how's your job? Anything exciting you can tell me? I always love when Sean comes home with a dramatic story to tell me." Jude nodded as Cassie smiled.
"I've not had drama in a while, actually." Cassie admitted.
"I heard that Mark got out." Jude said as Cassie looked across at her, "I don't know if you think I'm mad or something, but… I understand."
"He should be in prison." Cassie shook her head.
"He should but… sometimes that's just how life goes." Jude nodded, "I don't want you to beat yourself up over it. I'd much rather him be out of prison than us to be out of having a mother." Jude said, "You did what all of us would have done." She said as Cassie nodded.
"Yeah, I know. I do my best to remind myself of that." Cassie nodded.
"Seriously, I don't want you to worry about it." Jude said as Cassie looked across at her, nodding along, "How's Theo now that he's back at work?" She asked.
"Less annoying." Cassie nodded as Jude smiled, "He's just naturally someone who needs to be doing something with his time so sitting at home rehabbing his shoulder for weeks wasn't enjoyable for him or for me." She said, "It's good to see him back now." She smiled.
"How do you guys do it? Work together? Don't you butt heads all the time?" Jude asked her.
"Yeah, sometimes. We try not to take work home with us, though. Actually, we don't always work together anyway so there's nothing for us to really fight about." Cassie nodded.
"Did all that stuff get cleared up with Joey and the drug gang at the dealership?" Jude asked her.
"Yeah we got all our guys." Cassie nodded, "Well… besides Mark and few others." She said as Jude nodded.
"I bet you're glad to see the back of all that now." Jude said as Cassie nodded.
"Yeah, definitely." Cassie said, looking across at her. She had no idea how to even talk about what she had to say. She didn't know how it would make her sister feel. She didn't know if it was even something she could bring up in public. If it would be better to sit in the car and talk to her or sit at home where things were a little more secluded. Or she figured she was just trying to delay it.
"I can't believe Thea is pregnant." Jude shook her head. In her head, she figured Cassie was just acting weird because she felt guilty about Mark's early release from prison, and so she wanted to assure her that it wasn't her fault. She didn't suspect anything else was going on. Why would she?
"I know." Cassie shook her head, "I'm super happy for her, though. She's looking really good. The best I've seen her look in a long time. And she seems happy about the baby news." Cassie nodded with a smile.
"Yeah, she does. It's good. Good to be ending the year seeing her smiling compared to where she was a few months ago. She's a tough bitch that's for sure." Jude nodded.
"Yeah, she is." Cassie agreed, "She was telling me at the Halloween party that she ran into Tyler, her old AA mentor, and he asked her if she ever wanted to come volunteer at the meetings. She told me she wasn't sure she could face it just yet but she might consider it later on down the line."
"That'd be good for her." Jude nodded, "It's never a bad thing to use your bad experiences to help other. I was always so negative about that. I didn't want to talk to other people who'd gone through what I had. I thought it was depressing and sad but… it's so helpful." Jude nodded.
"I bet." Cassie nodded, "I actually spoke with Detective Karen Williams last night." She said as Jude looked over at her.
"How is she?" Jude asked.
"She's good. She of course asked how you were." Cassie let her know as Jude nodded with a smile.
"Why… Why were you talking to her?" Jude asked curiously, putting her fork down and taking a drink of water.
"I was asking her about your case." Cassie gulped a little as Jude looked over at her.
"Why?" Jude shook her head, "What were you asking her that you couldn't ask me?"
"Well… no one was ever charged for your… rape." Cassie nodded quietly, "There's no confession, no proof really-"
"Excuse me?" Jude raised her eyebrows, "What do you mean no proof?"
"No, I don't mean there's no proof. Of course there is." Cassie said, trying to choose her words carefully, "I mean… the man who did this to you, they never got to question him about it so the night is still sort of a mystery, right?"
"What are you implying here?" Jude shook her head as Cassie looked at her, "I know I was drugged and I… I don't really remember what happened that night but I do remember waking up. And I'll spare you the details." She nodded.
"A few weeks ago I spoke to Mark." Cassie said, scratching her hands nervously, looking down.
"Ok…" Jude waited, never taking her eyes from her sister, "Why?"
"He pulled me aside when I left the station one night." Cassie said, "And he told me something." She nodded.
"Told you what?" Jude shook her head.
"About the night you were attacked." Cassie said as Jude looked at her with confusion, "I don't think Jackson acted alone."