Hello friends. Here is today's chapter. Thanks so much for the feedback! I love that you are telling me which interactions you like as it gives me a great idea as to where to focus. Also glad that you seem to like how much Kasey there is - I'm never sure how much of an OC people want to see but obviously she's the only character I can really play with - and I always think I have too much irrelevant dialogue but I'm glad to see people seem to like it.
Thanks to mcgirl6541 and RL13436 for the end of this chapter as the whole Mike sequence was inspired by your reviews. I'm glad you're all liking the Jude parts as he's another character that there is a lot of room to expand on, so expect him to pop up quite a lot. Hope you all enjoy this chapter and I would love to know your thoughts as per! Thanks to Mea23 and TheTBone for their help and patience as always.
The school day ended eventually and Kasey made her usual trek to Lena's office.
"Don't bother sitting down, we're heading back now - I want to take Jude home too as it's his first day."
"Why don't you tell me these things in advance? I literally just walked past his corridor." Kasey moaned.
"Because you shouldn't have your phone on for me to tell you with - and, by the way, you're lucky you have it at all the way you and Cooper were behaving earlier." she admonished as Kasey rolled her eyes.
"So we were talking a tiny bit - along with every other kid. Did you find anything?"
Lena shook her head. "No - but we will. I'll be watching you all like hawks. Anything on the grapevine?" she asked her.
Kasey bit her lip.
"Not really..."
Lena turned to her.
"Not 'really'? Does that mean a little 'kind of'?"
"No - just...gossip and presumption. Nothing worth your attention."
Lena raised her eyebrow interrogating her further.
"You'd be mad for me even suggesting it." she replied but Lena's face still urged her onward.
Kasey took a deep breath.
"People were whispering about the coincidence that Callie has just arrived, that's all." she shrugged. Lena tilted her head to the side, disappointed.
"You're right, I am mad at you for suggesting that. Give her a break, Kasey."
"I am! I told you, it's gossip and presumption. I'm not spreading it."
"Well I hope you're sticking up for her." Lena responded as Kasey's head dipped slightly. She was right, maybe she was just falling for baseless whispers.
"Hey Lena!" Jude beamed as they emerged.
"Hey buddy, how was your day?" she asked patting him on the back.
"It was OK. I met some nice kids in my class. My math teacher, I mean Sarah, she gave me some stuff I have to do that she said you'd explain?"
"Right - it's nothing major. We just need to see what you have covered and what you haven't. You just have to fill in a couple pages of your book. We'll have a look in the car." Lena guided the two of them out and they made their journey home. Kasey found the pages for Jude under her Mom's instruction and made a few unhelpful but humourous comments about her opinion of math, received to mixed reactions.
The three of them returned and Lena immediately retreated to the kitchen to begin with dinner.
"So I take it you don't like math then?" Jude asked Kasey innocently, continuing their conversation from the car.
"About as much as I like having these damn crutches." she replied lazily as Stef and Mike came through the door bickering.
"Mom...Dad? What are you...?"
"I've come to discuss your brother's punishment for his disappearing act last night."
"I thought he wasn't..."
"Your Dad is insisting on a review." Stef added, frustrated, as Mike shook his head.
"Oh what a surprise, here to lecture?" Kasey added with a snark.
"Not helpful." Stef squeezed her arm as she passed hurriedly into the kitchen to warn Lena.
"Believe it or not kid, I actually care about you two." he defended himself calmly, used to the taunting. "And if that means wanting to make sure messages get across then I'm not gonna apologise for it." he patted her arm as he followed Stef through.
"That's the guy from last night..." Jude commented.
"Yeah, he's mine and Brandon's Dad. He's been enjoying throwing his weight around recently."
Kasey edged as close as she could to the kitchen, still out of sight.
"At least it sounds like he cares about you." Jude offered. Kasey opened her mouth to protest but found it hard against the sincerity with which Jude delivered it. She suddenly felt quite guilty thinking back to what Lena had said the day before about being lucky to have three parents when some kids had none. Seeing as one with none stood before her, she decided to change her next comment before it was delivered.
"You're right, he does." she smiled before trying to listen closer.
"Hey should you be doing that?" he whispered.
"No - but they're focussed on Brandon so it's fine...woah, Dad! Easy." she advised to thin air as she heard her Dad deliver a verbal kick to Lena's gut.
"What did he say?" Jude asked concerned.
"He just stepmom-zoned Lena. I can't believe he said that...!" she listened harder.
"Side with Lena, Mom...side with..."
"What's going on? Are you spying again?" Brandon asked emerging from the front door, Kasey swinging round at his arrival.
"You're about to be blindsided, Mom's on thin ice and - " she listened again as voices raised. "Oh, she's dead." she commented as Brandon furrowed his eyebrows and rushed through.
"What's gonna happen?" Jude asked nervously. "Are they gonna fight?"
Kasey was about to make a flippant comment before seeing the fear in his eyes.
"A little but don't worry - it happens. Lena'll pout, Mom'll grovel and Dad will be read the riot act tomorrow. It's how we work. Everything works out in the end. Ouch!" she commented, turning her attention back to the fight. "Too far B - you're as bad as Dad..." she lectured her brother's off the cuff remark fired at their dad.
"Uh oh - he's stormed off, we have about..."
"You wonder why we're always lecturing you?" Mike admonished her, appearing too fast for them to clear. He passed and strode out of the house leaving Kasey stuttering and Jude cowering.
"OK we need to get out before..."
"I hope you enjoyed yourselves..." Stef folded her arms sternly as Jude ducked behind Kasey.
"My fault, not his - " she immediately owned up.
"Oh, I know it wasn't." Stef looked across at Jude while answering. "Jude." She blinked trying to lose her anger so as not to scare him. "How was your day? OK?" she asked through a frustrated sigh.
"Yes - " he replied sheepishly.
"Did you get homework?"
"I'll go do it..." he offered before running off, almost enjoying the playful dicing with danger when it was clear that the consequences wouldn't be aggressive.
Stef turned her eye to Kasey who gave her a guilty smile.
"You think I have time or that I'm in a mood to have to deal with you right now?" she asked her, chilling anger biting through.
"With how much trouble you're in? Probably not...siding with Dad? Really?!" Stef shook her head and grabbed Kasey's shirt.
"Start hopping." she ordered as she limped trying to keep up with Stef's stride.
"I'll go...I'll go..." she reasoned in a panic as Stef led her to the dining room table.
"Remember what I said this morning?" she asked before she forced her down on a seat and took the crutches away to lay them at the other side of the room.
"Come on!" Kasey protested.
"You definitely can't hear us from here." Stef replied dead pan before striding off back. Kasey sighed and leaned back in the chair, throwing her head back.
She sat there for a little while before Callie came wandering through.
"Kitchen's apparently off limits." Kasey informed her, momentarily glad of the company.
"You drop something?" she asked, intrigued and looking to the crutches.
"Yes. Eaves." she replied, disheartened. "I tend to be in the right place at the wrong time...I deserve it."
Callie raised an eyebrow at her.
"You seen Jude?" she asked deciding not to comment.
"He is doing his math review questions. Nothing to worry about, just standard." she mimicked Lena without even realising. Callie nodded and began to move off before Kasey remembered the earlier thoughts.
"Crazy locker search, huh? Glad we got away with it, right?" she half-joked, trying to sound conversational. Callie squinted, unsure of how to take the comment.
"Yeah, lucky for me I'd already sold my stash." she replied with a glint in her eye. She turned and rolled her eyes but along with the earlier questions Kasey sat up with slight concern. It was clearly a joke. Right? Or was it a double bluff? She cursed herself for setting the jokey tone as her mind did cartwheels once again.
Kasey was sat there for another little while, finally succumbing to pulling out some of her own homework when Stef returned down the stairs, changed out of uniform and after a chat with Brandon.
She closed the book she had opened, relieved to see her approach.
"Discriminating against your mobility impaired daughter is not appropriate behaviour for a police officer." she complained, sensing Stef's more relaxed demeanour.
"And listening in to a private conversation is not appropriate behaviour for a 16 year old." she retorted, arms crossed.
Kasey looked down at her feet briefly.
"I was just talking to Jude outside the kitchen...we were talking more than listening." her head drooped again and she looked up at her with half a smile. "You seem in a better mood anyway..."
"Well what did you expect me to be like before? If you pull a bull out mid-fight you're gonna get the horns, genius!" Stef wandered over to retrieve her daughter's crutches. "Better waiting till the end to be a pain in the ass."
"What...when the bull's dead?" Kasey trying not to giggle but unable to hide the humour in the analogy. "I can't believe you sided with - "
"You are terrible at not talking yourself into trouble, you know that?" Stef moved the crutches away again as Kasey sprang forward in her seat.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. But you know I did warn you about Dad..."
Stef guffawed sticking a crutch down in the ground like a crook as Kasey closed her eyes.
"Alright so I told you so-s aren't gonna work in my favour either - but do you see what I mean?" She pleaded, opening them again and desperate to prove her point.
Stef leaned against the table and took a deep breath. She couldn't deny that Mike's involvement had increased recently and now that clearly the sudden change had affected both of their kids she couldn't pin it down to Kasey making excuses. It was something he had every right to do and something that Stef had always wanted for them, they just had to be careful to integrate it more tactfully.
"Listen to me." She began. "We are gonna work this out - it's just going to take some getting used to. Your dad hasn't been involved as much as he would have liked and now he wants to be - he has every right to do so and just because you've lost your good cop does not mean you can use it as an excuse to belittle his role."
"Hey it was Brandon that said that he didn't care - not me!" She protested.
Stef smiled knowingly. "I thought you weren't listening in?"
Kasey began to speak but rolled her head instead.
Stef threw her a crutch to catch. "We're having a family meeting after dinner. Go get yourself sorted."
Kasey heaved herself up and collected the other crutch from Stef's grasp.
"Seriously though, what possessed you to -"
"You worry about your mouth, I'll worry about mine." Stef silenced her with a harsh pat on the back as Kasey limped off.
Stef returned to the kitchen where Jude and Lena chatted, finishing off preparing dinner.
Lena looked over to her nervously and then smiled back down at Jude. She tried to maintain a front but her suddenly fidgeting fingers betrayed her cool exterior.
"So, did you meet anyone nice at school?" Stef asked filling in the silence that now crept across.
"A guy called Connor was pretty nice, and the teachers all were."
"Connor is a good kid." Lena added.
Silence filled the room again as Jude sensed the obvious tension.
"Maybe I should go finish off that math?" he suggested looking between them.
"Right - that's not a bad plan. Things should be ready in about 30 minutes. Maybe you can round people up then?" Lena advised him as he bounced off the seat.
Lena continued to busy herself around the kitchen as Stef tapped the table anxiously.
"OK - this isn't right. He's been here a day and we just froze him out of the kitchen. Clearly we are not good with this yet."
Lena dropped the spoon she was stirring the food with but failed to respond to Stef's observation.
"Lena, I'm sorry." Stef said sincerely as Lena paused again and turned her head to her.
"This isn't easy and I'm bound to make mistakes." she went over to her and put one hand around her back and on her arm, the other settling on the other. Instinctively Lena cuddled into her slightly.
"You have no idea what it feels like to feel alienated in your own house, Stef."
Stef was about to protest but as she was there for reconciliation so decided not to drift into more anguish.
"And I never meant for that - I'm truly sorry. I was just trying to play peacekeeper and obviously failed."
Lena nodded softly.
"But look, we're about to bring two more kids into this house. Let's do it with this behind us...otherwise they'll wanna go back to the gun-toting maniac." Stef giggled but the look Lena gave her assured her the joke wasn't as funny as she intended.
"Wow I'm doing well tonight." she said to herself in response to the condemning silence.
Lena took a deep breath.
"I'm sorry if I over-reacted - it's just not something I'm used to. We've spent so long as a unit and tonight it was like you were cutting me out. Whether you intended to or not."
"Looks like Mike isn't just bothering the kids." Stef sighed. "He's well meaning, he's just going about it all wrong."
"Like someone else I know..." Lena snarked as Stef rolled her eyes.
"Are we safe to protect our children from any more awkward silences now?"
"Poor Jude, did he even know what we were fighting about?"
"Oh he did, he was with big ears. He knows it's not about them."
"He's a sweet kid..."
"Well let's show him that when we fight we make up, God knows what fights led to in other homes he's been in."
"Gun toting maniacs?" Lena offered as Stef threw her a look. Lena flickered her an eyebrow and the tiniest hint of a smile. All was well for now.
Mike leaned back against the back of his sofa. He replayed the fight in his head - he had promised himself going in that he would try to be rational but knew he had always been too heavy footed. He just didn't know how to handle himself recently - it seemed everything he was doing was wrong. The knot in his stomach reignited a compulsion that he hadn't felt for a while. A calling. He got up from his sofa to his liquor cabinet and pulled out a bottle and a glass. He poured himself a measure and inhaled the strong scent.
"I didn't tell you because it is not a big deal!" Stef whispered harshly as Mike came in behind her and slammed the door of the interview room. "I can't believe you made a scene like that here at work!"
"I hear from our six-year old son that you're facing an assault charge and you expect me not to be angry about it?"
"I didn't tell you because it's not your concern! We're divorced, Mike! I've got Lena giving me hell about controlling myself, I don't need it from you too."
"Lena, of course. I'm sorry - I forgot that you have your fairy tale now but sometimes, Stef, I like to know what's going on with my family. This involved my kids - I had a right to know."
"And what would you have done? If I'd have told you about this you'd probably have killed the guy and we'd be dealing with more than assault." Stef waved her arms furiously at him as he shot a finger up to her face.
"Don't try and pin this round on me! You're the one who got out of the car and tried to confront a thug."
"A homophobe who attacked said car with my partner and kids in it. I'm not proud of losing control but I'm not going to apologise for defending my family! Besides, he dropped the charges - he didn't have a leg to stand on. It's over."
"I don't care that you knocked the guy out Stef, I care that you didn't tell me!" He flapped his arms down to his sides.
"And when would you have been sober enough to take the call?" She fired back as he recoiled.
"You're not my protector Mike, you're barely even being a father to our children right now. Brandon told you about this? It happened a month ago. Maybe I didn't tell you because you've barely been around!"
He sipped at the stinging liquid again to counteract the memory. He could feel it warming through his sinus and up to his mind, numbing each part as it did and branching out down through his shoulders, easing the tension in them. He looked over as the phone began to ring. He stretched over and picked it up, seeing Brandon's phone number show up on the caller ID. He took one more gulp and answered nervously.
"Hi B."
"Dad...I...I'm sorry."
"It's OK, son. I know you were angry." he put his glass down and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"That's not an excuse to say those things, I didn't mean them. I really don't know where..."
"You weren't completely wrong. I'm not involved enough and I shouldn't have just come storming in like that. It's just sometimes, it's...well I just feel so out of the loop...and I know it's my fault that it's that way. I just want to feel like I have some place in your life."
"You do, Dad. I've got all three of you and I know how lucky I am for that."
Mike stuttered to find a response. He wasn't sure if it was the whiskey or the sentiment but something was tingling through him. "Well that means a lot, kid."
"Well, I'll maybe speak to you soon then."
"Goodnight, son"
They ended their phone call and Mike flipped the phone down onto the vacant seat next to him getting lost in the continuing memory.
"I've been trying to sort myself out. You didn't want me around the kids until I got my drinking under control. It's you who hasn't let me see them so don't go accusing me of being a bad father!"
Stef bit her lip and tried to calm herself. She took a deep breath.
"You're not a bad father, Mike. I didn't mean that. You just...you're going through a bad time and its affecting your abilities. You need to figure this out. You need to get the balance and come to terms with the part you play and the part that you don't. I want you to be involved with the kids but not when you're like this. If you're not careful you're going to miss them growing up - you can't waste away with self-pity and then just jump in when something pisses you off."
Mike turned and leaned on the table in the centre of the room.
"When did this happen, Stef?" he bowed his head down. "When did you slip away from me? When did I stop being able to protect you?"
She closed her eyes and shook her head softly doing everything she could to not let her emotions take over.
"Mike...you know it's not like that. I wasn't yours to protect - I was barely even my own back then. I'm only just finding myself now. I'm making mistakes along the way but you can't protect me from the world, you need to step back from that role."
He took another gulp of whiskey. So much had happened since that day, the first day he really felt powerless - his faults laid bare before him. Since then he had found his place but more often than not had taken a back seat to play it safe. Recently however he feared it had swung too far the other way. His days of protecting Stef had long been over, even if he had tried recently to change that at least at work, but he had hoped he still had some influence on his kids. They had always been good kids but as time sped away he could see them growing at such a pace he felt he wasn't able to slow them down. His relationship with Kasey was temperamental and fiery - not helped by him seeing Stef in her whenever tensions flew. Stubborn and independent. Brandon had been his easy child recently but now even he too was taking on the world. Mike was realising fast that now was the last chance he had to maintain the right to protect his children. Finishing his glass he resigned to the situation. He knew he had to respect Lena and Stef, and he would make that right, but he'd be damned if he was going to lose his grasp on the two most important things in his life...and he would earn back his right to hold them.
Next Chapter Preview: Mike makes amends with Lena, Jesus loses his cool and a misunderstanding gets more than one teen into trouble.
"I went off them briefly, I lost a bunch a couple nights ago and wanted to make sure they'd last." he tried out the excuse Mariana had given him, although failed to relay it perfectly as it mixed with the truth.
Kasey's mind immediately flashed to Callie looking over the bottle that day in the kitchen. Then the drug search, the comment about the stash...
"It was her - wasn't it!"
Jesus nodded, his head immediately flipping to Mariana. Nothing ever got by Kasey.