Understanding

Jude took a flight home the next morning after spending another night at her parent's house. It was comforting to talk to them both, sleep in her old home, enjoy her mother's cooking and seek comfort in them both with her current ongoing situation.

She figured Sean would be at work when she got home, and the girls would be at school and daycare, but when she drew up she saw the car was there.

She headed into the house, dumping her bag down at the bottom of the stairs and sitting her keys over on the table.

She wandered through the living room and into the kitchen where Sean was sitting.

"Hey." Jude said quietly, standing at the door as he looked over.

"Hi." He nodded to her, "You good?" He asked her.

"I've been better." Jude nodded to him.

"Yeah, me too." Sean said, "I assume now majority of your family don't like." Sean nodded to her.

"Surprisingly they actually vouched more for you than for me." Jude nodded, "I guess from an outsiders perspective we've both got some stuff we gotta work on." She looked over at him as he nodded, "How have the girls been?"

"Missing you." Sean said, "But they're doing fine. In fact, Mirren drew that picture on the fridge last night for you." He pointed as Jude turned around and looked at the newest picture on the fridge, drawn by her five year old.

"I love how creative she is." Jude smiled to herself, looking at the picture closely.

"Yeah she spent a lot of time on it." Sean nodded as Jude turned to him, "Before we… get into this, I just want to apologise. I uh… I got up in your face and crossed the line with you. I don't know what came over me. I just… I think seeing you deal with this crap for so long, sometimes I don't even understand how you do it." Sean nodded, "I'm sorry." He looked over at her sincerely as she nodded.

"I'm sorry too." Jude nodded, walking over to the table.

"You got nothing to be sorry for." Sean shook his head.

"No, I do." She nodded, sitting down at the table, "I sometimes forget that the things I do and say will affect you. I know I do things differently but I always hope that you're in my corner. I think I've kind of lost sight of that. And I need to remember that this whole thing, everything I've been through, I don't need to do it all by myself." Jude nodded.

"You don't." Sean nodded.

"I did speak with Mark." She nodded to him, "And I did thank him for the flowers and for what he did. I've not forgiven him for sending those photographs and he knows that, but it was important to me to thank him for doing the right thing." She said as Sean nodded.

"Yeah, I know." Sean said, "I was just in a shitty headspace and I couldn't see it like that. I was still mad about what he did that I couldn't see past it. You're just a… stronger person than most people."

"I just want to keep moving forward." Jude nodded.

"I do too." Sean said, "I guess we can both agree we said some things in the heat of the moment."

"Yeah." Jude nodded, "Well, I think that's all that fights are." She said as he nodded.

"Does your dad want to kill me?" Sean asked as Jude smiled.

"No, Thea on the other hand…"

"Oh, God. That's worse." Sean groaned as Jude chuckled, "When did you speak with Mark?"

"Yesterday." Jude nodded, "It was brief. I just said what I had to say and that was it. But I felt good after it."

"Yeah, I… I guess I didn't understand until now that you're doing this stuff for you, not them." Sean said as she nodded, "I really do wish I could just take it all away for you."

"I know. I do too." Jude nodded to him, "But… I'm ok. The whole day in court was kinda hard and I think maybe it's taken its toll on both of us but I got through it and I got answers. That's… the best thing that could have happened for me." She nodded to him.

"How'd I end up marrying the strongest woman on the planet?" He asked as she smiled.

"Just lucky, I guess." Jude teased.

"I love you." He nodded, "And I'm sorry."

"I love you too." She smiled, leaning over the table and kissing him sweetly as he cupped the side of her head, "I feel like ordering take-out and pounding a bottle of wine tonight." She told him as he chuckled.

"I support that." He nodded as she smiled.

"Why aren't you ready yet?" AJ snapped, rushing into the living room, walking through Punk's legs which were leaning on the coffee table, pushing them down on her way by as he groaned.

"For what? I'm watching hockey." He pointed.

"Theo and Cassie are coming for dinner." AJ told him.

"Since when?" Punk shook his head.

"I told you last night. Did I not?" She wondered.

"No, you didn't." Punk looked at her with confusion.

"Oh." AJ realised, "Well they're coming for dinner so you need to go shower. They're coming in half an hour." She told him.

"Why do I need to get ready to have dinner in my own house?" Punk shook his head.

"Because you look like a mess and you have dirt on your face." AJ raised a brow, "And you stink out of the outside." She nodded.

"Well that's where I work." Punk told her, turning the TV up as AJ put her hands on her hips.

"Phillip Jack Brooks if you don't get your ass in the shower right now I swear-"

"Alright alright." Punk scoffed, standing up from the couch.

"And do it with a smile on your face." AJ nodded as Punk forced a very dramatic smile her way, "Much better." She smiled, watching as he left the living room and headed upstairs whilst she headed through to the kitchen to check on dinner and set the table.

"Hey!" Cassie called, walking into the house with Theo and Chase who had ran ahead, desperate to see his grandparents after being away for the weekend.

"Hey, you." AJ smiled happily, crouching down and catching Chase in a hug, "Oh, we missed you whilst you were gone." She told him, "Your hair is getting long." She noticed, planting a kiss on his head.

"Where's papa?" Chase asked, looking around as AJ chuckled.

"He's just in the shower. He'll be down soon." AJ told him.

"Hey, mom." Cassie smiled.

"Hi, sweetie. How are you guys?" AJ asked, standing back up and hugging her daughter whilst Theo made his way to the fridge for a drink.

"Oh, we're fine." Cassie smiled, "Glad to be home."

"Yeah." Theo chimed in with a nod.

"An eventful weekend?" AJ asked. Cassie had filled her in on the phone, but she didn't want to say too much in front of Theo.

"To say the least." Cassie nodded, "We did have a lot of good food, though. Tacos to die for." She said.

"Better than mine?" AJ wondered.

"Well… they were different." Cassie shrugged, not wanting to say as AJ chuckled.

"Your dad is just in the shower he'll be down soon and dinner shouldn't be long." AJ nodded, "When are you both back at work?" She wondered, stirring the pot on the stove.

"I'm back tomorrow." Theo nodded.

"And I'm the day after." Cassie nodded, "I can use tomorrow to unpack our bags and get washings done. Lots of fun." She groaned as AJ smiled, "How has things been here?"

"Busy. Jude stayed over the weekend." AJ said.

"Why?" Cassie shook her head.

"She had a bit of a fight with Sean and she came out here." AJ said, "She flew back this morning."

"Must have been a big fight for her to come out here." Cassie raised her eyebrows, "I'll call her later and get the gossip." She nodded as Theo rolled his eyes, "What about fatty?"

"She's fine." AJ scoffed, "Stop calling your sister fat." She shook her head as Cassie laughed to herself.

Punk eventually came downstairs after getting showered and dressed, thrilled to see his daughter and her family after a weekend of them gone.

"Papa!" Chase smiled, running to Punk immediately who picked him up.

"Hey, have you grew?" Punk teased, "And look how long your hair is. I like it." He nodded as Chase smiled.

"He doesn't want it cut." Cassie shrugged as Punk smiled.

"Hey were you on a big plane?" Punk asked him.

"Yeah! Like my toy." Chase told him.

"Did you see all the clouds?" Punk asked as Chase nodded, "That's cool." He nodded as Chase smiled, sliding down from in Punk's arms, running back over to his toys on the table.

"You gonna ask me if I saw the clouds too?" Cassie smiled, standing up and giving him a hug.

"Did you?" He asked as she chuckled.

"I did." Cassie nodded.

"Ok, this isn't quite ready yet so let's go into the living room." AJ nodded, heading into the living room whilst Cassie followed with Chase.

"I thought you'd be watching the game." Theo said, sticking around in the kitchen whilst Punk got a drink from the kitchen.

"I was but April made me turn it off and go shower." Punk scoffed as Theo chuckled.

"Sounds about right." Theo nodded.

"How did the weekend go?" Punk asked. His wife had filled him in, but Theo didn't need to know that.

"Honestly? Pretty shit." Theo nodded, "Stoked to be back home." He said as Punk nodded.

"That bad, huh?" Punk said as Theo nodded.

"Yeah pretty much." Theo said.

"Well… it's not my business what happened, I just want you to know that I'm here if you ever need anything." Punk nodded to him as Theo looked across at him, "Whatever it is. I'm here."

"Yeah… I know." Theo nodded with a smile. The truth was, Punk had been more of a father to him in the past few years than his own father had been his entire life, and he was grateful for that, "Thank you." He nodded as Punk smiled.

"Alright, let's see what she's burning over here." Punk shook his head, walking over to the stove as Theo chuckled.