Still Haunted

"You better not be cheating." Dean said, sitting on the sofa holding his cards up whilst Keala sat on the floor across from him beyond the coffee table, kneeling up and leaning her elbows on the glass as she held her cards in front of her.

"I'm not cheating. You're cheating." Keala said as Dean chuckled.

"Alright, settle down." Dean said, "You obviously got your patience level from your dad." Dean scoffed as Keala just made a face at him as they continued to play their game whilst AJ, Punk and Anna were in the kitchen clearing up after dinner.

Dean was particularly close to his niece. He felt like he could be a kid around her again, and it almost scared him having this little mini version of his brother and AJ around them all the time. He'd been a huge part of her life. He'd been at every birthday, every Christmas, she stayed over all the time. He felt like he was living up to his role as an uncle, and he loved the bones off of his niece.

"What are you two playing?" AJ smiled, walking into the living room, taking a seat on the couch.

"Uncle Dean taught me how to play gin." Keala said as AJ laughed a little.

"You better watch out. Uncle Dean is a sore loser." AJ nodded.

"Don't listen to her." Dean shook his head and shoved AJ who laughed a little, smiling on as she watched them both play the game. There was no doubt about it, Dean was a great Uncle. Keala always had so much fun with him.

Meanwhile in the kitchen, Punk and Anna were finishing clearing things up from dinner.

"Dean mentioned your mom had moved away." Punk said as Anna nodded.

"New York." Anna nodded, "She got a promotion for the New York Times." She said as Punk nodded, "She hasn't contacted me in the past five years but… she of course had to tell me that." She said.

"Maybe it's better that she's not here in Chicago anymore." Punk shrugged as Anna nodded.

"Yeah. I feel better about it." Anna said as Punk nodded, "I'm over crying about having a shit mom." She waved her hand as Punk smiled, "These years without her… controlling me and taking over my life have been the best." She said, "Finally feel like I'm my own person." She said as Punk smiled.

"Good." Punk nodded, "Sometimes we're better off without a parent in our lives." He said as Anna nodded.

"I uh… I heard about AJ's ex-husband getting released from prison." Anna said. She'd been with Dean for this long, that she was automatically a part of Punk and AJ's lives too. There was no bad blood held against her after the way they started off. It was clear her mother had her in a toxic grip and finally she had broken free of it. She'd been there for Dean at his lowest, and Punk knew she loved him, and they were happy together, that was all he was interested in.

"Yeah, apparently." Punk nodded, putting the washed and dried plates away, "It doesn't feel like an issue. I'd like to think he knows that he can't just saunter back into the life he used to have." Punk said.

"Definitely not." Anna agreed, "I just… to be honest, Dean doesn't tell me much about it, he doesn't like thinking back to it all and… thinking back to when you were in prison." She said, "But… what actually happened with him and AJ? I know he was obviously a part of this set up that got you in prison in the first place but… well why?" She asked. Although she spent so much time with them, and she felt like she knew them as well as a family knew each other, some things she still wasn't quite clued up on.

"Uh… well me and AJ broke up and AJ met him in her law school. They got married a few years after. I guess AJ was pretty blunt about how she still had feelings for me or whatever." Punk said modestly, "He wasn't happy with that, and it was convenient that the drug cartel that he covered up for from time to time, was arranging a set-up for me to go to prison. He jumped in on it, I guess to try and get rid of me and hope that AJ would… I don't know, stop loving me?" Punk shrugged, still not really knowing himself, "He then covered his tracks and pretended to help AJ get me released, but I think he was just trying to make himself look as innocent as possible. But we found out. Dean ended up hacking into his computer and found these emails." Punk said, "As soon as AJ found out she went to see him, things got physical." Punk said, "And that was kinda it. They got divorced and we moved on." Punk said.

"Oh, man." Anna raised her eyebrows, having tried to keep up, "Did she love him?" She asked.

"I think she had to have." Punk nodded, "And that doesn't bother me. We broke up. She was entitled to try and look for someone else. I mean, she says at the start he was good to her, and she did love him. But… he wasn't who he said he was." Punk said.

"That would terrify me. If I was AJ. Knowing he was getting out." Anna shook her head.

"She's ok about it." Punk nodded, "I can tell she's anxious, but he's gonna be on parole. I highly doubt he'll have the balls to come up to her or me for that matter, and start something. For his sake, I hope he just gets on with his life… what's left of it." Punk said as Anna nodded, "We don't need the drama." Punk shook his head tiredly as she nodded.

"That's right, you're boring parents now." Anna smiled.

"Hey, watch it." Punk smiled, "We're not boring yet." He said as Anna smiled, "You go on in. I've got the rest." He assured her as she nodded and made her way into the living room whilst Punk finished up clearing the kitchen.

They enjoyed the rest of their night until AJ and Punk eventually decided to split as they could see Keala was getting tired.

"Look at you, falling asleep and it's not even 8pm yet." Dean teased Keala whilst helping her zip her coat up, "That's when babies go to sleep." He said.

"I'm not a baby." Keala exclaimed angrily.

"Yes you are." Punk crept up behind her with her beanie, placing it over her head and over her eyes as the five year old giggled.

"Daddy, I can't see." Keala said as Dean laughed.

"Sorry about that." Punk laughed, fixing her hat for her, crouching down in front of her and making sure her ears were covered.

"I'm not a baby daddy, I'm a big girl." Keala told him.

"No way." Punk scoffed, "You're a little girl. You're so little." Punk said, knowing it annoyed her, both him and Dean done it.

"I'm not little." Keala folded her arms, "Mommy!" Keala called over to her mother who was talking to Anna.

"What?" AJ turned to her.

"Am I a little girl or a big girl?" Keala asked her whilst Punk tied her converse laces for her. She still couldn't really get the hang of tying them on her own, but Punk wasn't letting her give up. He figured he'd do them since she was tired.

"Oh, baby you're just a little girl." AJ smiled as Keala frowned.

"Mommy you're meant to say I'm big." Keala sighed to herself.

"No way." AJ teased, walking over to them, "You're my little girl. Practically a baby." AJ joined in on the teasing as Punk and Dean smiled.

"Is it because I got little legs?" Keala questioned curiously as she examined her little self. She was rather small for a five year old, taking that respectively from her mother more than anything else.

"Yes, that's why." Punk laughed, "Little legs, little person, little girl." Punk concluded.

"That's not fair." Keala said, wandering off to the apartment door, ready to leave now, her stuffed bunny rabbit tucked under her arm as she waited by the door.

"Uh, excuse me." Dean looked over to her, "I think not. Come give me a hug goodbye." He crouched down as Keala stayed where she was, "I'll just come get you." He said as Keala couldn't help smile, running over and giving her uncle a hug as he lifted her up and gave her a tight squeeze whilst AJ and Punk got their jackets on, "I'll see you soon, alright?" Dean said, giving her lots of kisses as Keala squirmed and laughed.

She then ran off to give Anna a hug goodbye whilst Dean said bye to AJ and Punk, eventually seeing them out the door as Keala jumped down the stairs two at a time whilst AJ and Punk followed behind.

"Not so fast, baby." AJ said as Keala slowed down and waited for her parents when she reached the bottom of the stairs in the block.

"Well hurry up then." Keala said impatiently, "I need my pjs on." She told them strictly as Punk laughed a little, opening up the door.

"We're going as fast as we can." He said, holding it open for his girls as AJ quickly latched onto Keala's hand the second they stepped out into the sidewalk as Punk followed behind.

They'd parked a little far up the sidewalk due to the busy street so they began walking up to the car.

Keala held onto her mother's hand as she skipped beside her, making sure to jump on each separate part of the sidewalk causing AJ and Punk to smile to one another whilst watching her.

Punk however looked up when he saw a group of guys approach them. Before, when he first got released from prison, he used to be terrified of walking down the street in fear of what people would say, how they would stare at him, what they would do, but over the years he'd definitely gotten rid of those feelings and quite frankly he no longer cared about what people had to say. He knew he was innocent and so did those around him. That was the only thing that mattered. However, shielding Keala from it all was one of his main priorities in life, and when he saw the men approaching them, he could tell they were discussing about him, staring at him, whispering.

But he wasn't one to give into fear. He wasn't going to rush off to the other side of the road. He was trying to live his life like everyone else, and a few guys opinions on him weren't going to bother him.

AJ was too busy talking to Keala to look up and notice anything that was going on, and when the guys passed them Punk heard them say something. He clenched his fists a little, but he wasn't that angry teenager anymore. He was reminded by that as he watched his daughter jump on every possible part of the sidewalk whilst telling AJ how good she was getting at jumping far. Before he probably would have turned around and started up a fight, but at this point, he didn't want to feed into it, even though he heard exactly what they had said as they walked by.

"Hey, you ok?" AJ smiled up at him, noticing he had gone quiet as he turned to her and nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Punk nodded, kissing her head softly as AJ smiled, rubbing his back softly as Punk looked over at Keala, "Alright, let's get you into the car." He smiled, lifting her up and tickling her as she giggled whilst AJ smiled, approaching their car.

They'd moved on, for sure, but that part of his life that gave him nightmares still haunted him from time to time.

A/N: Let me know what you think!