Picking It Back Up

One year later…

AJ walked up the stairs of the apartment block, turning the corners and following the spirals, reaching her designated door and knocking on it. Her feet ached from standing in court all day and all she had been dreaming about was collapsing down on the couch at home.

She waited for the door to open, smiling as she saw JC standing.

"Hey." JC smiled as AJ nodded.

"No one is biting anyone, are they?" AJ smiled, walking on into the apartment which she was very familiar with, of course just for the reason that her children went to their grandfather when no one else was around. The biting was in reference to Frankie who had bit JC's arm the other day. He was mischievous for sure.

"No not today." JC smiled, "How was work?" He asked her as AJ just nodded and then rubbed her forehead.

"Really tiring. Sick of hearing my own voice." She said truthfully as JC smiled, watching AJ walk into the living room where Keala, 7, was watching TV and Fankie, 1, was sitting on the floor playing with his toys and crawling around. He'd gotten so big of course and was his own little person. He was adorable, cheeky and already kinda manipulating which AJ found hilarious. He was starting to look a lot like Punk more than he did as a baby, and that was also scaring her.

"Hi, mommy." Keala smiled.

"Hey, baby." AJ nodded, walking over to them, lifting up Frankie from the ground as he grabbed a hold of her face, very happy to see his mother clearly, "Hi." AJ laughed a little, kissing his little hands which he was tapping off her mouth, hearing him laugh as she smiled and sat down with him on her lap, "Have you had fun with JC?" AJ asked them both. They didn't refer to him as grandpa. It just never stuck. JC just came naturally.

"He took me for ice-cream on my way home from school, and we gave Frankie a little bit and he liked it." Keala said as AJ smiled.

"Just a bit of vanilla." JC assured AJ who just smiled and nodded. Sometimes she sensed that he thought she was going to give him into trouble, but he'd very much proven that he was responsible enough to look after the kids. He'd been officially clean now for 7 months. Once he had started his rehab, there were a few stumbles where he relapsed, which hurt Punk and Dean a great deal, but this had been his longest run being clean and he was doing great.

"You had ice-cream, baby?" AJ smiled, looking down at Frankie who was trying to get back down onto the ground to play with his toys, "We gotta go home now." AJ told him as Frankie crooked his neck back and looked at her, "Uh huh." She nodded. He was a little bundle of energy and no longer that little new born. He was crawling, babbling, laughing, standing with help from other objects, eating some normal food here and there. AJ couldn't believe how the time had gone by.

"Keala, why don't you go pack up your things into your school bag whilst your mom gets Frankie ready to go." JC said as Keala nodded.

"Ok." Keala said, jumping down from the couch and wandering off to the kitchen where her school bag was.

"So they've been ok?" AJ smiled, putting Frankie's jacket on him as he sat on her lap.

"They're great. They're never any trouble." JC assured her, "You know I can watch them any time. It doesn't even have to be just whilst you work. If you ever want a night off, I don't mind." He said.

"Don't tempt me." AJ laughed a little.

"I'm serious." JC nodded, "Can't be easy with a full-time job like yours, and Phil's, and then having to come home and still do more. Maybe that's why I didn't quite get that parenting thing." He laughed a little.

"Yeah, maybe." AJ smiled a little.

"It's usually ok past 8pm. Both of them are in bed and me and Phil… are normally also in bed." She laughed to herself as JC smiled.

"You don't need to explain what happens next." JC assured her.

"Oh, no. I mean we're in bed sleeping." AJ laughed a little as he nodded, "But we do really appreciate you taking care of them. It helps us a lot." She said.

"Hey, I love it." JC told her truthfully as AJ just smiled, pulling Frankie's hat over him on top of his little brown mop of hair, adjusting it around his eyes and smiling. Of course it was a red Blackhawks beanie which Punk had bought him.

"Ok, I'm ready." Keala smiled, coming out from the kitchen with her jacket on and her back on her back. Although only a year had gone by, Keala had also grown, not necessarily in height but she was growing as her own little person. She still had the greatest wit and humour about her, and Punk and AJ still saw her as their little baby, but she figured that would never go away.

"Ok." AJ smiled, standing up with Frankie perched at her hip, slinging his bag over her shoulder as they got ready to leave the apartment.

"Hey, are you splashing mommy?" AJ smiled, "Huh?" She said, leaning over the bath tub in the bathroom where she was bathing Frankie who was splashing his hands around the shallow water. He loved bath time, and loved even more to splash his mother or father.

Although working long hours and coming home where she felt tired and exhausted from the day she'd had, she still loved coming home to her babies and spending time with them. It was the best part of her day.

"Ok, you. You've been in here for long enough." AJ smiled, lifting Frankie up under his arms as the one year old pouted his lip and looked at her sadly, "Don't give me that face, mister." AJ said, wrapping him up in the towel and taking him into her bedroom.

Meanwhile Punk had just got in the door where Keala had ran out of the living room to greet him right away.

"Hi, daddy." Keala smiled, standing in her Batman pyjamas with freshly done pletes that her mother had executed after bathing her. Night time was a very busy time for them, clearly.

"Hey, baby." Punk smiled, the best thing to see when he had been working a long shift was his wife and children, "Where's mommy?" Punk asked her, taking his jacket off and hanging it at the end of the staircase.

"She's giving Frankie a bath." Keala explained, "You need to wash your hands and face." She said, noticing Punk's hands black with some dusty black prints over his face. Working around oils and smoke in a garage meant that sometimes he came home a little bit dirty, and Keala had never been a fan of that.

"I know. I need to shower." Punk told her, "You had your dinner?" He asked her.

"Yeah, we had spaghetti meatballs. There is some left for you." She told him. Punk was very proud of the cool little lady she was becoming. She still had the greatest sense of humour but he could also see traits of her mother's strength taking over her too. She was always his baby girl, no matter what.

"Ok. Well I'm gonna go shower, are you ok down here? You doing homework or something?" He asked her.

"No, I finished that at JC's. I'm watching Spongebob." She told him.

"I see." Punk nodded, "So it's basically the most important part of your night?" He asked her.

"Yes." Keala nodded.

"Ok, well on you go. I'll be down soon." He told her as she ran off back into the living room as he smiled to himself and headed on upstairs.

Like he expected, married life wasn't any different from what life felt like before. Of course there seemed to be more of a unity and a bigger sense of family, but he and AJ had always joked from the minute they began dating that they were like an old married couple.

That didn't mean to say their wedding day wasn't one of the best days of his life. It was small and private with very few people there, and it took place back at their home. The honeymoon was great afterwards too. He didn't have to go on about the reasons why.

He got the top of the stairs and headed across into he and AJ's bedroom where he saw his son wrapped up in one of his little hooded towels, crawling around their bed whilst AJ was fixing his diaper and pyjamas.

"Frankie, look." AJ said, noticing their one-year-old was facing the opposite way, watching him turn his head and notice Punk, making an O shape with his mouth and getting excited as AJ smiled.

"Hey, dude." Punk smirked, collapsing down on the bed as Frankie crawled to him immediately, "How's my guy doing?" He asked him as Frankie sat beside him. He had a Yoda towel which had a hood with little ears sticking up. Punk of course bought it.

"He is annoyingly awake for this time of night." AJ admitted, not even out of her work dress yet, "I think your dad must have been playing his head banging songs." She said as Punk laughed a little.

"How were they for him?" Punk asked her, leaning on his elbow on his side as he tickled Frankie, making him squeal and laugh.

"Yeah, they were fine." AJ nodded, "How was work?" She asked him.

"Busy." Punk said, "Didn't even get a break." He told her.

"I'm pretty sure that's illegal." AJ made a face.

"Well, it was either no break or stay another hour later." Punk shrugged as AJ just nodded, "Keala was of course disgusted by how dirty I am." He admitted, sitting up once AJ shuffled Frankie over to her to put his diaper on and his pyjamas.

"My girl has clean standards." AJ smiled, "Is she ok down there?" She asked.

"Yeah, watching SpongeBob." Punk nodded, standing up and stripping his t-shirt off as AJ watched, trying to concentrate on dressing her son for bed, "Eyes on the child." Punk smirked to her as she just smiled and turned back to Frankie who was pulling her hair whilst she put him in his pyjamas for the night.

"There's dinner I left for you. You just need to heat it up." AJ told him.

"Yeah, Keala informed me the minute I got in." Punk said as AJ smiled, "I'm gonna take a shower first."

"Ok, well I'm gonna put this monster to bed." AJ said, lifting up Frankie from the bed once she had him in his little pyjamas, "You want a kiss from daddy before bed?" AJ asked him as Frankie just looked around. He was so fascinating to watch at the age he was at. He was crawling so fast, picking up things and babbling what he thought was words, and so much more amusing things. Punk and AJ loved it.

"Sorry we couldn't play today, buddy." Punk frowned, feeling shitty that he'd basically just got in the door and Frankie was already going to bed, "You go down easy for mommy, ok?" He said, walking over and giving him a kiss as Frankie slapped his hands off Punk's cheeks, "He's getting good at the slapping."

"Stop teaching him how to slap people, Phil." AJ warned as Punk sniggered to himself and wandered into the bathroom to have a shower.

"Oh, there's water everywhere!" He yelled from the bathroom as AJ laughed to herself and looked at Frankie who was of course the culprit to the splashed water. She just smiled, kissing his head and walking off to go put their youngest child to bed.

"How did it go in court today?" Punk asked, later that night as he walked into the living room with a bowl of chips, sitting them down on the coffee table, grabbing a handful and collapsing down beside AJ, sinking into the couch after a long day.

"It was ok." AJ said.

"You always think it's just ok and then you smash it out the park." Punk looked at her.

"Well I know how fast it can all change. Takes one slip up, one second just to turn the whole thing around." AJ said, "So you gotta be careful." She nodded.

"Do you ever get nervous?" Punk asked her.

"Not like I used to. Depends how big the case is." AJ shrugged, "Honestly, the thing I'm finding the hardest right now is not seeing Keala and Frankie enough." She admitted truthfully, "Time just runs away at court."

"I know but we got days off, and your schedule dies down a little once you've wrapped up a case." He said, "It just feels like that when you're in it." He assured her, "And honestly, Frankie and Keala don't seem all that bothered." He laughed a little.

"Yeah, that's true." AJ smiled to herself, "Things still quiet and… drama free at work?" She asked, cupping his cheek and playing with his ear.

"If that's your way of asking what Sam is doing, then your answer is nothing. He doesn't come near me, Ape."

"Well, I still wonder, ok." AJ said as Punk just nodded.

"Well you don't have to wonder. He stays away from me and Dean. We'll occasionally pass him every now and then, I'll ask him about the rota… it's just work and that's it. It's in the past." Punk said as AJ just nodded.

"Yeah, well you know I just worry." AJ mumbled as Punk turned to her and nodded.

"I know you do." He said, nudging her neck and kissing her cheek as she smiled, "But you don't have to. I bet you thousands of workers have ridiculous fights with their bosses over similar things." He nodded, "It's over with now. We've moved on." He said. He knew it was in her nature to worry, especially about something like Sam, but there was no issues anymore. Sam barely came near him or Dean.

"I know. I just like to know you're ok." AJ nodded.

"I'm fine." Punk smiled, kissing her head as she rested in against him, "What are you doing with your day off tomorrow?" He asked her.

"I'm going shopping with Anna. She wants help with picking furniture for the nursery. Dean is working and apparently he said he wasn't fussed about what the furniture is like." AJ shrugged.

"Well that's Dean for you." Punk laughed to himself.

"I think CJ is coming too." AJ nodded.

"So it's a fun day out with the pregnant lady and the kiddies?" Punk smiled to her, "Sounds like something I'd avoid at all costs." He said as AJ smiled.

"Anna wants a second opinion. I think she has a right to be excited after what they've been through." AJ said as Punk nodded.

"Yeah, of course." Punk said seriously, "Well I shouldn't be as late tomorrow as I was tonight." He said as AJ nodded.

"Good, I don't like when you come home late." She frowned as he smiled.

"Whys that?" He laughed a little.

"Because I get less Phil time." She frowned as he smiled and looked down at her.

"I can make it up to you." He smirked, pressing his lips down against hers, kissing her softly as she kissed back, running her hand through his slicked hair which was coming undone, forcing her body against his as they collapsed down on the couch. There was always time for each other.

A/N: Let me know what you think! Just a little opener for this next part of the story. Lots going on soon so stay tuned and drop a review. Thanks.