"Phil..." AJ closed Heidi's room door after finally getting her back to sleep, "What the hell were you doing?" She wondered, looking at Punk push off the wall he was leaning against.

"I done nothing." Punk made himself clear, "What? I can't go in and kiss her goodnight? She was asleep... I didn't think she'd wake up." Punk admitted.

"I told you to give her some time." AJ folded her arms.

"I never done anything, April!" Punk yelled as AJ folded her arms.

"You've never yelled at me ever, and so far you've yelled twice. Is that what prison made you? Angry? Bad tempered? Because it sure looks like it." She said with pity.

"Maybe." Punk said, "I give you three years in there, and if you think you could walk out the same way you walked in, you're insane." He said.

"What'd they do that was so bad? I can't... I can't understand unless you tell me, Phil." AJ threw her hands up in the air cluelessly.

She couldn't get around the yelling, and the temper, and how short patience he was having, unless he explained what really went on in prison. Why was he so afraid to tell her? Was that what prison made of him too? Someone who just couldn't talk about things anymore.

"You really wana know?" Punk asked, "Fine." He took a hold of her hand, walking her into their bedroom and shutting the door behind, "Take a seat." He pointed to the bed as she walked around to her side, sitting on the edge of the bed, one leg firmly on the ground, one leg half on the bed as she turned to face him.

"I am not going to judge you, Phil." AJ made herself clear, "Maybe once I know, all of this will make a little more sense and I can help you, with whatever it is you're dealing with." She told him as he sat down beside her, feeling her place a hand on his arm.

His heart was beating rapidly. He didn't want to talk about it, but April had to realise and know what had went on. Something about him was thinking she thought prison was all sunshine and rainbows. Maybe once she knew, she'd be scared just like Heidi...

"I don't really know where to start." Punk admitted.

"Just take your time." She soothed.

"When I first got in... the first week... I got a cell mate obviously. His name was Dylan." Punk smiled as AJ did too. Seemed like a coincidence, "He was only eighteen... I thought, God help me with this one. He's going to be so annoying." Punk laughed to himself, "But he was innocent, and he was a good guy. I didn't think we'd get on with the age gap, but we did." Punk smiled, "I actually had some hope for us, I thought it seemed rather coincidental that the two decent guys in the whole place got put together in a cell block." Punk said.

"So you... you had a friend?" AJ asked, "That's good. Isn't it?" She raised her eyebrows.

"Well yeah... I did consider him as a friend. He always asked me about boxing, and the kids... always told me the twins were lucky to have a dad like me." Punk rolled his eyes, "But he couldn't take it. He had to be the youngest kid in the place, he was just a target. I told him and I told him, it's ok, you know... they'll get fed up, show them no fear... but he was young, he... he was losing it inside and I couldn't help him as much as I thought." Punk said, turning around to AJ who was staring blankly at him.

"He hung himself... during the night whilst I was sleeping." Punk said as AJ raised her hands to her mouth in shock.

"I woke up, found him just hanging there. And I can never get that image out of my head." He said. He could see it right now. It was terrifying, "He was the only hope I had for a friend, and I actually thought I'd be ok with him as my cell mate. He kept me laughing, kept me feeling normal." Punk said, "But he left me. I found him dead. And now I have to live with that for the rest of my life. That image, it's never going away."

"Phil... I... I don't know what to say." AJ gasped, a tear rolling down her cheek. As if being in prison wasn't enough for him, but waking up to such a sight in the middle of the night, especially when it was such a young boy who she could tell, Punk felt responsible for. Her heart broke into pieces for him.

"I got moved cells." Punk said, "And I got a new cell mate. Rapist." Punk said as AJ shuddered, "He was disgusting, made me feel sick. He'd talk about you, and he'd talk about... he'd talk about Heidi." Punk said, "And I couldn't do anything, because I knew he had friends, and I knew what would come my way." Punk said.

"What did he say?" AJ asked curiously.

"He told me that... she'd grow up, fucked up because of me, and she'd be one of..." Punk shook his head, "One of the girls that he was in prison because of." Punk ran his hands through his hair, "That's the sort of talk I had to live with. For three years." Punk sighed as AJ bit her quivering lip. The more and more he spoke, the more and more she was terrified of what was next.

"And then I guess I got replaced with Dylan. It's how I got the scars. They'd get me anywhere they could. Out in the yard, kitchen, anywhere the guards weren't around. And there wasn't even a point in fighting back... there were too many of them." Punk shook his head, "And on top of all that, I had to deal with cold showers, barely eadable food, reading books to pass time, having two jumpsuits to wear for the three years I was there, and missing you guys." Punk said, "So I don't know what you expect of me anymore. I'm not... I'm not that laid back, protecting boxer you met six years ago." He shook his head, "They make sure, that whatever decent guy you came in as, they wash out of you." Punk turned around to her, lifting his hand and wiping her tears. No matter where they were, when she done it, she hated to see tears flow from her eyes.

"I didn't know it was so bad." AJ frowned.

"I didn't think it was going to be so bad." Punk nodded, "If you're scared, if you don't think you're in love with me anymore, it's ok... I understand. I lost myself a long time ago." He nodded.

"Don't be so stupid." AJ shook her head, "I will always love you, and I know deep down... you're still you. You're under the illusion that you've lost yourself from all the pain you've suffered but... I know you can find yourself again, Phil." She encouraged, shuffling towards him whilst giving a reassuring hand to his back.

"I don't know." Punk shook his head, "Why is she so petrified of me, April?" Punk shook his head, turning to his wife.

"Because she's different from Dylan, Phil. Yeah, they're twins. But you have no idea how different they are. Dylan is outgoing, and he'll talk to you for hours, and he'll trust you, because he's a boy... and all he wants is his father." AJ said, "Heidi is meant to grow up, depending on one man her entire life, and that's you... and you haven't been here, so she's depended on other things." AJ explained, "She's just not used to you. She isn't frightened because you legitimately scare her. She's just frightened of a new face, and a new person in her home." AJ said, "She will come around. I promise, baby." AJ pressed a kiss on her cheek, "And I'm so proud of you for telling me all of that stuff. I know it couldn't be easy, but... don't you ever think I don't love you anymore. That's just crazy."

"I just thought..."

"Well you thought wrong." She turned his head around to face her, "I will never stop loving you. No matter what you've went through, or what you think of yourself." She said, leaning forward to press a soft kiss on his lips, her hands cupping his stubbly cheeks. The only place he could ever lose himself, was in her. The rest, he was stronger than he thought, because this was still her husband. Behind all the awful tragedy and horror he'd seen and dealt with these past three years. He was still the same man.

AJ pulled him back with her, lying on her side of the bed while he hovered atop of her, feeling his hands run up and down her body with comfort. He may have forgotten some things, but he certainly hadn't forgot how to make her weak at the knees, and give her everything he sought.

Patience was a virtue in this case. There could be no rushing or pushing on, not with the kids anyway. They were just children, their little brains couldn't handle it all. For their sake, things should be taken as slow as possible. And that didn't mean he and April had to take things slow, as far as he was concerned, they were still one again, but with the twins, things just had to be taken one step at a time.

10 REVIEWS = New Chapter.