A/N: So here I am...again. Starting something new, something a little different. I was really hesitant to start anything new because I am super busy and won't be able to update 4 times a day like I usually do but I needed to write in some of my down time. Hope you enjoy it!
Summary: AJ is thrown a major curve ball the minute she thinks she has it all figured out. Punk is in hiding after his losses and has no will to move on from it. Will they be each other's saving graces?
Disclaimer: I own nothing but Cal (you'll meet Cal soon, you'll hate him, that's how you know I created him) and whatever weirdo I create to cause drama.
Life Altering
It was an early morning with birds chirping and sun rays shinning through the closed beige blinds of the diner bathroom window. Inside stall number two was jumpy feet. You can see the converse tapping on the floor and if you listened close enough you could hear the heartbeat of the woman jumping around. Sweat poured down her slender face as her shaky fingers held the stick in her hand.
"Is it done yet?" A voice asked knocking on the stall.
"I'm not sure! Nothing has come up yet!" AJ yelled back.
"It's been almost fifteen minutes!" Another voice pointed out. "You're making me nervous!"
"I'm making YOU nervous?" AJ groaned as her voice dripped in sarcasm to hide the absolute fear.
AJ screwed her eyes at the pregnancy test she had just peed on and studied it as faint lines began to appear. She could feel her heart beat against her ribs as her hands clenched the test tightly.
"Oh, fuck." AJ whispered shaking her head.
"What?" One of the voices asked opening the stall door. "One line or two?"
"Two." AJ groaned as her friend snatched the test.
"Look, Aimee!" Celeste cheered showing her the test.
"Pregnant." Aimee forced out eyeing her friend who looked ready to cry on the bathroom floor. "I thought you and Cal stopped having sex." She said passing AJ back the pregnancy test.
"We did. But it was one night a month ago because he was nagging and it was the only way to shut him up." AJ groaned standing up and flushing the toilet.
"Some marriage." Celeste snorted. "Maybe this baby will bring you two closer together."
"I don't want to be to closer together with him." AJ snapped throwing the pregnancy test out in the nearest trashcan. "I want to be in another state far, far, far away. I hate it here. I hate the busy streets-"
"Yes, we know you hate Chicago." Aimee mocked. "You complain about it everyday."
"You've lived here for five years now." Celeste pointed out as AJ washed her hands in the sink.
"That's because Cal had to work out here. He lost his job since then." AJ remarked shaking her head in disgust.
"And three other jobs in-between." Aimee added quietly.
"I think it's four." Celeste whispered to her.
"Why don't you just leave him?" Aimee asked.
"He won't let me leave him." AJ groaned leaning against the sink. "I'm all he has."
"He's controlling." Aimee pointed out.
"And mean." Celeste added.
"You don't think I don't know that?" AJ asked them. "You think I want to be here living with him far from home?"
"What's left for you in New Jersey anyway?" Celeste asked curiously. "Your family is gone."
"My parents are but my grandparents are still in Puerto Rico and I know they'd take me in." AJ told them proudly.
"So, go!" Aimee suggested.
"I can't just show up." AJ said to them. "I can't just show up pregnant. I also can't afford to just go."
"I thought you were saving up?" Celeste asked.
"I am. My little runaway stash is growing but Cal keeps an eye on every cent I bring into the house." AJ explained to her friends.
"That's because you hand him over your tips and pay check every day." Aimee said to her.
"He asks for them." AJ shrugged. "He pays the bills and rent. My weak check barely can cover groceries."
"How much do you have saved up?" Celeste asked.
"About five hundred dollars." She told them. "I can only skim the top of my tips without alerting Cal." She shrugged.
"Hey, we're not judging." Aimee assured her. "But you're pregnant now." She reminded her friend and AJ groaned. "That's travel for two. Unless you plan on leaving the baby behind with Cal."
"God no." AJ said shaking her head. "I don't want this baby but I'm not going to leave it behind at the mercy of Cal who can't even make a cup of coffee. No, the baby is better off with me than him."
"Well that's nice." Celeste forced out.
"I don't pay you three to stand around and gossip in the bathroom!" a man yelled banging on the door.
"Coming!" Celeste yelled.
The diner they worked in wasn't always the busiest but they had their regular customers. It was in the 'bad' part of town but they never really had any issues. It was only a quick bus ride to the train station for AJ to get home from this diner and this neighborhood seemed like paradise in comparison to where she was living with Cal anyway. Work was her escape. It was the one place she could be without her overbearing husband breathing down her neck. She could laugh with friends and talk to strangers for hours. She loved to work. She picked up any and all shifts she could get. The less time at home the better for her.
"What can I get you?" AJ asked pulling out her notepad.
"The usual." The tattooed man said handing her the menu.
"Coffee, black." She wrote down. "A small stack of pancakes and a glass of orange juice with no ice."
"Who puts ice in orange juice anyway?" The man asked seriously and she smiled.
"You'd be surprised." She said shaking her head. "No Larry today?"
"Nah." the man smirked looking at his phone. "It's hard to sneak him in here when he's loud as shit."
"Bring him by on a walk he brightens my day." AJ suggested.
"This place really isn't in walking distance from where I live." he laughed a bit now looking up at her. "You have a dog?"
"My husband hates dogs." AJ told him and he nodded.
"That's right, I remember you telling me that." He nodded along. "I don't trust people that don't like dogs."
"So why do you come all the way down here if you live so far away?" She asked.
"I don't want to be recognized." He explained and she eyed him and he let out a laugh. "You're not really into sports are you?"
"No." She admitted shyly. "You play baseball or something?"
"I'm a fighter...was a fighter." He corrected quietly.
"Oh." AJ said to him. "My husband watches the UFC I think it is."
"Then he'd probably know me." Punk said to her.
"Let me get your order in." AJ said to him and walked off.
AJ placed the order on the ring and swallowed the lump in her throat and placed her hand over her stomach and shook her head.
"You're really two young to understand anything but you've screwed everything up." She hissed at her stomach.
"Talking to yourself?" Celeste asked.
"Scolding my unborn child for being conceived." AJ shrugged simply and Celeste frowned.
"The baby is innocent." Celeste pointed out.
"Of course I know that." AJ said shaking her head. "But I didn't want a baby. I never wanted a baby. I had dreams."
"To move to Puerto Rico, and do what?" Celeste asked and AJ pulled something out of her apron pocket. "Writing contest?"
"There's an entry fee of three thousand dollars but you're likely to get picked up by an agent." AJ told her.
"It's a gamble and you don't have three thousand dollars." Celeste reminded her.
"It is a gamble and I don't have three thousand dollars but this isn't for another three months." She pointed out. "I have time to save up. I've been working on my book for three years and it's done I just need someone to take it seriously."
"I know that." Celeste said passing her back the flier. "You're very talented and you should be an author. But you know that Cal will never let you go."
"I know. That's why I need to save up for this on my own." AJ told her.
"Then what?" Celeste asked. "He'll find you."
"He won't. I'll have money and be back in Puerto Rico he'd never go there." AJ told her.
"What about this baby?" Celeste asked.
"That's obviously throws a wrench into my plans but I'm going to figure it all out." AJ said surely and Celeste just forced a smile.
"Sure." Celeste said to her. "How do you think Cal is going to take the news about the baby?"
"I don't know." She shrugged. "I don't even plan to tell him. I'll hopefully be long gone before he even notices."
"I think he's going to notice." Celeste smirked. "Babies grow."
"Yea I know." AJ snapped. "I have to get back to work."
The next day AJ went way out of her way to head over to the free clinic. She went to the 'nice' part of town to avoid Cal seeing her. She had to lie about being called into work early just to sneak out. It took her three trains and two buses to get to this clinic. After waiting two hours she was seen for ten minutes and told she was in fact pregnant and was given some prenatal vitamins and sent on her way. She walked out of the clinic and headed over to the bus stop to begin her long way back to the diner so she could earn the money she needed to get the hell out of Chicago.
"No! I want to go to the toy store!" A little boy yelled tugging on his clearly exhausted mother's hand. AJ's face dropped as she watched the mother struggle to plead with the child.
"I promise right after the dentist." The mother said putting on a smile for the sea of strangers watching.
"No! I want to go now!" He said kicking her then running off and the mother chased after him.
This was AJ's worst nightmare. She was frozen in shock and fear. She was going to be a single mother trying to raise a kid with no money and no father. The child would be better off without Cal but still the fear lived inside of her. She didn't know how to be a parent. Her parent's were barely parents to her as it was and Cal was a man she knew her whole life and latched on to because he did take care of her. He provided a roof over her head and clothes on her back and she wanted that feeling more than anything. Her family never provided that kind of insurance of her and Cal did. She hated leaving New Jersey and never wanted to but Cal insisted when he got a job offer to do construction. He was fired six months in for 'being late' but AJ knew there was more to the story, she just didn't care to hear it.
AJ truly didn't care about Cal. She loved him when she was younger but the older she became the more she grew to hate him. He was short tempered sure, he never hit her though, but the temper she could deal with because she liked when he was angry at her. She liked it so much she would try to pick fights because at least if he was angry he would leave her alone. The man was unbelievably needy. He wanted constant attention and nurturing from her. She had to have dinner for him prepared every night at six on the dot and had to pretend to care about his day. She was starting to lose her will to lie about caring. The man wouldn't let her breathe without him. She had no life outside of her marriage and she was starting to go crazy.
"Hey!" AJ grinned feeling something at her feet and saw the familiar dog. "Larry!" She cheered kneeling down to pet the dog.
"Sorry." Punk said and AJ looked up. "Oh, hey." he said recognizing the woman as his regular waitress.
"Hey." She smiled but towards the dog.
"He likes you." Punk smirked as Larry jumped in her lap.
"The feeling is mutual." AJ grinned petting the dog like crazy.
"No work today?" He asked.
"Of course I work today. I'm on my way there now." She said standing up.
"You're a long way away." He noted. "Do you need a ride or something?"
"No, thank you though." She said to him. "You live over here?"
"Right in there." He said pointing across the street at the tattoo parlor.
"A tattoo shop?" She asked stunned and he laughed.
"The big building on top of it." He smirked and she shook her head.
"Of course, sorry." She said to him.
"Nothing to be sorry for." Punk told her. "What brings you to this part of town?"
"I had a doctors appointment this morning." She shrugged.
"Well I'm on my way to the diner now I was just going to bring Larry home it's silly for you not to take the ride. I promise I'm not a serial killer." He assured her.
The cold air hit AJ like a ton of bricks as the wind kicked up (another reason she hated Chicago) and she eyed the always friendly customer.
"Ok." AJ forced out.
"Come on." He nodded for AJ to follow him across the street.
AJ waited right by the front door but inside the huge house as Punk settled Larry and grabbed his car keys.
"Why do you travel all the way across town for the diner when you live here?" She asked following Punk outside and towards his garage.
"I like the food and service." He shrugged. "Again, I don't like being recognized, not many people notice me there."
"Right." She said and gulped when she saw four cars in his garage. "These are all your cars?"
"They are." He smirked unlocking the red car and he opened the passenger side door for her.
"Do you live with four people?" She asked as he got into the car next.
"No." He laughed. "I live with Larry."
"No wife?" She asked stunned.
"Nope." He said simply as he pulled out of the garage.
"Sorry for the questions but I'm a naturally curious person." She said to him.
"I've noticed." He laughed a bit. "So you don't drive?"
"No." She said shaking her head. "I mean I have a license but no car. My husband has the car."
"He should get you a car." Punk said to her simply. "Winter is a cold time of year here to be waiting for buses and trains."
"He likes to drive." She shrugged and Punk nodded.
"If you're married why don't you wear a ring?" He asked and AJ looked at her bare ring finger.
"I lost it." She shrugged almost happily and he eyed her with amusement.
"You're not from Chicago are you?" He asked.
"No. New Jersey." She told him honestly. "I don't like it here."
"Really? Chicago is amazing." He told her proudly.
"Says the native." AJ muttered.
"It really isn't that bad. I think it's because you don't sight see." He told her. "There's a lot of beautiful things here."
"I like to not freeze to death." She told him seriously and he let out a laugh.
"I can respect that." He said to her nodding. "You don't seem happy here in Chicago that's for sure."
"That's true." AJ said to him.
"So why don't you tell your husband? Go back to New Jersey." He said to her and she laughed this time.
"He works out here and he likes it here so here I am." She said with bitterness.
"How long have you been married?" he asked curiously.
"Six years." She told him.
"You're young." Punk noted.
"We got married when I turned 18. The day I turned 18 actually." She told him.
"You don't seem happy in your marriage." he noted and she didn't say a thing but looked straight ahead.
"So, you're a fighter?" She asked.
"I was." He said to her.
"What happened? You get hurt?" She asked.
"My ego did." He forced out. "Had a couple of bad losses."
"That's nothing." AJ said brushing it off.
"It is when it's in front of thousands of people live and millions watching around the globe." He said to her.
"Yea I guess that could hurt an ego." She agreed and he smirked.
"So if you live all the way across Chicago why is your doctor over here?" He asked her.
"It's the only doctor I could get." She shrugged.
"You ok? Sick?" He asked.
"Something like that." She mumbled. "Parasite." She hissed but meant to say it in her head.
"What was that?" Punk asked.
"Stomach bug." She shrugged.
"Oh." He nodded. "Should you be working?" He asked.
"Working is my only free time out of the apartment. You'd have to cut off my limbs to keep me home." She said seriously and he frowned.
"You know if you're not happy-" He began.
"I'm perfectly content with my life." She told him simply cutting him off.
Small chitchat was made on the twenty minute drive to the diner but all AJ could think about was the tiny baby growing inside of her stomach. How detached she felt from it and how it was going to slow her down and throw a wrench in her own escape plans. But she knew no matter what she was going to have this baby and figure out how to be a halfway decent mother.
A/N #2- Don't hate AJ she's in shock. Also, you'll meet Cal soon.