Punk left the hospital later on to pick the kids up from school like Eve had instructed. He really knew nothing about their routine after school. What would they eat for dinner? Did they have baths or showers? Did they do homework after or before their dinner? He was clueless to it all and he was completely terrified of screwing up. The last thing he wanted was to let AJ down.

"Dad, why you picked us up, where is mom?" Nick asked as Punk opened the house door, watching as all three of them kicking their shoes off at the door and dumped their back packs down after a long hard day at school. Harli was still completely ignoring him. He had no idea what to do or say.

"Ok, why don't you guys sit up at the table." He asked them as they done what they were told, sitting up at the kitchen table. His eyes landed on Rebecca, watching as she climbed on the chair and began swinging her legs happily. How could such a bright and wonderful little girl have such a chronic illness. It broke his heart to look at her now. His baby girl. It was unfair.

"Where's mom?" Harli questioned bluntly, tracing her fingertip around the table, avoiding eye contact with Punk, wondering where her mother was.

"Ok. Well, mom is in hospital." Punk told them as they stared at him blankly, "When she was going to work last night, she crashed her car, and she's being looked after in the hospital now." Punk explained, "But she's safe, and she's doing good, so I don't want you guys to worry." He said.

"So does she have a cut knee?" Rebecca asked as Punk smiled.

"Something like that." Punk nodded, "I know you guys aren't stupid, ok. I've not been around, and I know nothing about how you live your lives, but I'm going to be taking care of you guys whilst mom is in hospital." He told them, watching as Harli jumped off the chair and ran past him.

"Mom normally gives us dinner right now." Nick said, figuring he'd help his dad out, sensing he was clueless.

"Ok. Yeah- right." Punk nodded, "What does mom normally make you?" He asked.

"Pizza." Rebecca smiled.

"No she doesn't." Nick shook his head as Rebecca stuck her tongue out at him, "She normally makes spaghetti or chicken. Oh, she made us burgers one time that was good." Nick said as Punk nodded, turning to Rebecca and questioning himself on what it was that she could eat.

"Ok. I'll start it in five minutes, I'm just gonna go check on Harli, ok?" Punk said, leaving the kitchen and heading for the stairs, climbing them slowly as he made his way past Nick's room, then Rebecca's, finally reaching Harli's which was shut tight.

"Harli." Punk knocked at the door, "I just want to talk, sweetheart." Punk told her, "I'm gonna come in ok?" He said, slowly opening the door as he walked in, spotting her lying on her bed under her covers, her face hidden beneath it as he walked over to her, "Hey, you ok?" He asked her, but like expected, he got no reply.

"I know it's hard, and I know you'd rather mom was here, taking care of you, but this is the way it's gonna be for a while, until mom gets better." Punk said, "Do you remember anything about me, Harli?" Punk asked. He'd figured Nick out and Rebecca. He knew Nick remembered him. He knew Rebecca knew nothing about him but was accepting him into her life, and yet Harli was still an unexplainable question mark.

"Yes." Harli squeaked as Punk smiled, "But I don't want a daddy anymore." She said as Punk's smile faded.

"And that's ok." Punk nodded, "But you're gonna have to deal with me being around and taking care of you, even if you don't want me to be." Punk said, "I'm not going to do anything you don't want me to. And if you don't feel comfortable, you gotta talk to me." Punk said, "Does that sound ok?" He asked as she crept up from the covers, watching as she nodded.

"When will mommy be back?" She asked.

"I can't say when, but she will get better. It's just going to take a bit of time." He explained, "But go easy on me, yeah? I've not done this… in a long, long time." He said, "You know mom would want you to be strong." He said as she nodded.

"When can we see her?" Harli asked.

"As soon as the hospital says it's ok." Punk said, "I'm gonna go down and put on your dinner. Did you get any homework today?" He asked her as she nodded, "Ok, you wanna come down and do it with Nick?" He asked as she nodded, sitting up and unwrapping herself from her duvet, breezing by him as he smiled.

Maybe this was just a matter of conquering things. He just had to go with it and explain that he was here now to take care of them. It wasn't what he planned of course, but he didn't have much of a choice at this point.

Later on, Punk had served up some spaghetti for the kids, having text Eve to ask about Rebecca's diet. To his dismay, in a shelf in the kitchen was a pack of all Rebecca's things, alongside her medication. There was a chart of what she could and couldn't eat, and what he made was perfectly fine for her, thankfully.

Not feeling hungry himself, he took the pack with a cup of coffee and sat at the cleared kitchen table whilst the dishes steeped and the kids sat in the living room watching TV. He read all about Cystic Fibrosis and was actually surprised at how little he knew. He hated to know that she had this illness, but it was comforting to know that she wasn't in pain, and everything seemed to be under control.

He had no idea how AJ had managed to keep this all bottled up. Why hadn't she just told him? Was he that scary? He would have been here. He wanted to be here for everything. To help, to take her to the hospital, to give her her medication, to learn what she could and couldn't eat. Did AJ think he would be scared and run off?

He read into detail a little further about the illness, reading about the symptoms whilst his eyes nipped from tiredness. He was yet to sleep.

"Why are you looking at my special books?" Rebecca trailed into the kitchen with her blanket under her arm, climbing up on the chair and sitting beside him as he smiled.

"Special books?" Punk asked. He didn't expect Rebecca to know she had the illness, but perhaps AJ had told her.

"Yeah, mommy tells me they're my special books." Rebecca said, "Because I'm different from other kids I have to eat different things, and I have to do exercises." She said, "But I like being different." She smiled as he nodded.

"It's good to be different, isn't it?" Punk smiled. He was so amazed by her strength and confidence. She was a little fighter. He was so proud of her, and vowed from this day forward that he would be here to help out with her illness and everything that came along with it. Well… he vowed from this day forward that he'd be the best dad he could be, but specifically regarding Rebecca.

"Yeah." Rebecca nodded, "Mommy says just because I might not feel good sometimes, it's ok, because I'm special. And- And I have friends that are special like me too."

"You do?" Punk smiled.

"Yeah. Sometimes mommy takes me and there's nice ladies in blue. They give me jags sometimes that hurt, but I'm always the bravest." She said.

Punk could see that AJ had told Rebecca about her CF, but… in a much better way than he ever could. But in a true way. Just because she had this illness didn't mean she had to suffer and let it get her down. He was just blown away by her courage and her bright smile she had on her face. It broke his heart that she had this illness, of course it did, but boy was she tough as nails.

"When do you do your exercises?" Punk asked. Perhaps the best person to get the information on what he should do, was Rebecca herself. He thought she wouldn't know, but apparently she did. Which told him… she'd clearly been doing it since she was small.

"Before bed and then when I wakes up." She smiled, "Will you be here tonight? Because I can show you." She said as he nodded.

"Yeah- Yeah I'll be here to put you to bed, and to wake you up." Punk nodded.

"Well I can show you. But I'm going to go watch some more TV." She smiled, first of all, kneeling up on the seat as she looked in his mug he was drinking his coffee from, touching the mug and giggling, "Oh, that's burny. Be careful." She smiled, hopping off the seat and running back into the living room.

It was so hard to be down and upset about everything right now with such a ray of sunshine like her around. All of the kids were keeping his head up, even Harli who was giving him a chance.

"And then I jump back down. Up-" Rebecca jumped up on her bed, in her pyjamas whilst Punk sat at the edge of the bed, "And down." She jumped off the bed. She'd been showing him her exercises for the past ten minutes. He thought it was great that she was so into doing this exercises and had fun.

"And then what?" Punk smiled.

"And then we throw a ball to one another." She said, grabbing the ball from her toy box, "But before you catch it you have to blow out, like your blowing out candles. That's what mommy says." Rebecca said as Punk nodded.

"Ok." He nodded, catching the ball and blowing out as she clapped her hand, jumping up and down with excitement at him getting it right, "Like that?"

"Yeah- Yeah that's good. Now me. Throw it to me." She said as he threw it to her, watching her blow out and catch it.

He assumed all these exercises were good for her and obviously helped her, which was good, and he just loved that she enjoyed doing it so much. She was full of energy, which might have been a bad thing before bedtime.

She carried on for another ten minutes with the rest of her exercises that she remembered off by heart now, which was good, for Punk anyway as he had no clue about anything. He liked joining in with her. It made him feel closer to her, and it was keeping him smiling. All he was thinking about was April, and Rebecca's illness, and how he was going to manage looking after the kids on his own, but little Rebecca was keeping him going.

"And you do all that in the morning too?" Punk asked her, tucking her into bed now that she had finished, having collected her a glass of water to sit beside her bed as she snuggled down on her mattress.

"Yeah." Rebecca smiled, "You don't have to do them in the morning, sometimes mommy doesn't. She's lazy." Rebecca giggled as Punk smiled.

"I think I'll join in again. It was fun." He smiled as she nodded.

"When can I see mommy? I miss her." Rebecca sighed, hugging into her favourite blanket whilst Punk sat on the edge of her bed, brushing her hair from her face.

"Soon, sweetheart. I promise." Punk said, "When the hospital says you can visit, I'll take you straight there. I'm sure she'll be missing you all so much." He said as Rebecca's eyes began to shut over as he spoke, "I'll see you in the morning, ok? Goodnight, darling." He said, pressing a kiss on her head, turning her night light off as he headed out of her room, walking across the hall into Nick's bedroom, noticing him already fast asleep and in bed.

He walked over to him, tucking the covers up and pressing a kiss on his head. Above all, Nick had been keeping him right to. He was the one that suggested the dinner tonight, and also told Punk what their routine was when coming home.

"You keep me right, buddy. I owe you." He smiled, shutting his night light off and leaving the room, heading into Harli's, just do his round and make sure they were all in their bed. She was fast asleep also, with her light already off, tucked under the covers and hugging into a teddy bear.

He was glad she had agreed to being civil with him, but he longed for that little girl he knew three years ago back. The one who trusted him and gave him endless hugs, and called him daddy without even thinking.

"Sweet dreams, sweetheart." He whispered, pressing a kiss on her head and walking out of the room, finally heading downstairs and collapsing on the couch, his eyes no longer being able to keep opened.

It wasn't a bad start. It could have gone worse, but he wasn't sure if the kids were going to be able to deal with their mom being out of it for so long. He hoped they could all gain his trust in the process of this, especially Harli, and he hoped he was doing AJ proud by looking after them. He wanted nothing more than his ex wife to be ok.

He was completely halted in his thoughts however, as his body gave in and he drifted off to sleep on the couch.

A/N: Well, not a bad start. Rebecca is just the cutest! Next chapter we'll hear more from AJ and how the kids are getting on in life with their dad looking after them. Thank you so much for the awesome reviews! Keep them coming and let me know what you guys think. -punklau