Hope

"How you been feeling?" Liz asked, watching as AJ sat feeding Breea in the kitchen.

"Fine." AJ nodded, "I don't see why I have to go for another brain scan." AJ rolled her eyes.

"It's just to make sure everything is ok." Liz said, "You should be grateful you have such a good doctor." She said, sitting down across from her as AJ nodded.

"I am I just… I hate being constantly reminded by it." AJ shook her head, "I think I might go for a walk. Put Breea in her stroller and head out. I think I need some fresh air." She nodded.

"That's a good idea, I'll come with-"

"I kinda wanna go on my own." AJ nodded, "I just wanna clear my head. I'll probably pop into the store on the way home too." She said.

"Ok." Liz nodded, "Well I think it's good for you both to get some fresh air." Liz said, "I can… give this place a tidy up, cook up some dinner-"

"You don't need to look after me, mom." AJ shook her head, "I'm capable of doing all that stuff."

"Honey, I know you are. But I just want to help." Liz said as AJ nodded slowly.

"I know." AJ said.

"I'll go get Breea's hat and jacket, set the stroller up for you." Liz stood up.

"Ok, thank you." AJ smiled and nodded, looking down at Breea who she was feeding, brushing her little fuzzy hair back and smiling, "You wanna go a walk with mommy?" She smiled.

"Ok, here is her hat and jacket." Liz walked back into the kitchen, sitting the things down on the table as AJ nodded, "Are you sure you don't want me to come?" She questioned.

"I really just want to have some alone time." AJ nodded, "To clear my head." She said as Liz nodded.

"You know I'm here if you need to talk to me." Liz said, "I understand that not having Phil around to talk with must be difficult but… you can talk to me." She nodded.

"I know I can." AJ smiled, "But I just want to go out and get some fresh air on my own." She nodded.

"Ok." Liz said, "Well here, let me get Breea fixed into her stroller whilst you get your jacket on." She said once AJ had finished feeding and burping Breea.

"Ok." AJ said, passing Breea over to her grandmother as she put her little bobble hat on her and her jacket whilst AJ got hers.

"You got your phone?" Liz asked, walking down the hall and putting Breea into the stroller as AJ nodded, feeling her phone in her pocket.

"Yes, I do. I won't be long." AJ promised.

"Ok, baby." Liz smiled, rubbing her daughter's back softly, helping her out of the door with the stroller and watching her as she took off the down the street.

"Phil, you can't blame yourself." Liz shook her head, sitting in the hospital room with her son-in-law and her daughter, who was still in her coma.

"It's been almost a month, Liz." Punk shook his head. He was emotionally drained. He'd never gone so long without talking to his wife before. It was killing him and he felt so lost without her, "I gave her the gun."

"To protect herself with. It was a… tragic accident gone wrong-"

"it wasn't a damn accident. Someone shot her." Punk shook his head, "With the gun I gave her, if there was no gun involved then-"

"Stop it. Stop torturing yourself." Liz warned, "You didn't do this. You just want to blame someone. If you want to blame someone, it's the bastard who shot her." She nodded.

"We tried to get fingerprints on the gun but… there was nothing. Must have been wearing gloves." Punk shook his head.

"No surprise there." Liz sighed, looking on at her daughter and sighing. The room had cards and flowers around it with all the visitors AJ had gotten over the past few weeks. People had been very kind and helpful, especially the hospital staff.

"I just want to talk to her." Punk shook his head.

"I can't believe she… she survived that." Liz shook her head, "Shot in the head." She whispered to herself as Punk looked at AJ.

"She likes to beat the odds." Punk nodded.

"Have they been looking to find who did it? Who would have been in that building?" Liz asked.

"Yeah, they've been trying to at the precinct but… they're coming up short. And Doctor Jones told me that when AJ wakes up, she's gonna struggle with remembering, she might never remember what happened, or what happened that week, month… I don't know." Punk shook his head, "They can't really give me any answers because it's the brain and it's pretty much got a life of its own." He said as Liz nodded.

"You realise that if… if she doesn't wake up-"

"I'm not talking about that." Punk shut her down immediately.

"Phil, someone has to talk to you about it. I'm her mother. I know exactly how you're feeling. I love her too." Liz nodded, drying her tears, "But if she doesn't wake up after months… you know they can't… you can't hold onto her-"

"She's gonna wake up." Punk made clear, "Don't give me the… the turning off the machines conversation. I get it from Dean all the time. It's not gonna happen." He said as Liz just nodded slowly.

"You mean the world to her, you know." Liz nodded to him, "I've never her so happy like she is when she's with you. She was… always a little bit of a problem child. She'll tell you that herself. I worried about her growing up. She didn't make friends. She made enemies before she made friends." She laughed to herself, "But I knew she always wanted something more. She wanted goals and aspirations and I… I never encouraged it with her. I just thought she'd be safer working in my bar and getting by life easily but… you showed her everything she was looking for." Liz said, "And you make her really happy." She nodded, "So thank you for that."

"She makes me really happy." Punk nodded, "More happy than I ever thought was imaginable." He shook his head, "We were… talking about starting a family soon." He nodded as Liz smiled.

"That'd be nice." Liz nodded, "I'd love lots of grandchildren." She smiled as Punk nodded.

"Now I can't think of anything else other than… just hearing my wife's voice again." He shook his head. He was trying to remain strong, think positive and get by but it was so difficult. He spent his life with this woman, they shared a home, a career, a life… to not have her around the same way, to not hear her voice, see her around their home… it was really breaking him.

"We just gotta be positive." Liz took a deep breath as Punk nodded, "As positive as we can be."

"Yeah." Punk nodded, reaching out and taking AJ's hand in his. He spent all his days at the hospital. He was barely working but was given time off by John given the circumstances. He just wanted to be by her side all the time.

"Did the doctor say what… what could happen when she does wake up?" Liz asked.

"Uh… yeah, a lot of things could happen." Punk nodded tiredly, "There's a lot of minor stuff she's definitely gonna suffer from. Headaches, fatigue, seizures… but she might have problems with speaking and moving… zero to one hundred, I know." He nodded, "It's a guessing game which is… the hardest part." He shook his head as Liz nodded.

"We just have to hope for the best." Liz said as Punk sighed and nodded.

"Yeah." Punk nodded, holding AJ's hand lightly in his when suddenly, he felt her move her hand slightly, "She just moved her hand." Punk sat up like lightening as Liz looked over, "I swear… she moved her hand." Punk said as Liz looked on at AJ, placing her hand over her mouth and smiling tearfully as Punk shook his head. He never thought something so small and simple would mean so much, but it was the first sign in a month that his wife was still there. She was still fighting back.

"April." John smiled, "Hey, how you doing, sweetheart?" John asked, giving AJ a hug as she walked into his office in the precinct with Breea in her stroller.

"I'm doing ok, John." AJ nodded.

"Heard you took another seizure the other day. You been resting?" John asked her.

"Word get around that fast, huh?" AJ nodded, "Yeah, I've been fine." She assured him.

"Good, I'm glad to hear it." John said, "And look at this little one." He looked into the stroller where Breea was lying tucked in her blanket, holding onto her rabbit's ear, "She's your image, April. Beautiful." He nodded as AJ smiled.

"Thanks." AJ said, "We… we were just enjoying a nice walk and I thought… let's just come in here for a little visit." She shrugged as John looked at her.

"You don't fool me, Mendez. What are you after?" John asked, walking over to his desk and sitting down behind as AJ sat down in front.

"I just want you to let me know what Phil is getting up to, how much longer he is gonna be? I know he can't tell me, he can't really see me but… he's my husband, John. He's been gone a month now-"

"April, it's a sting. They don't work if everyone else knows what's going on." John said.

"He's my husband." AJ shook her head, "He's doing this for you."

"No, actually. He's doing it for you." John said as AJ shook her head with confusion.

"What are you talking about?" AJ questioned as John looked down.

"I just mean… he's getting good money for this so… that's a good thing, right?"

"No, you weren't meaning that." AJ noticed, "What do you know? What do you know that you're not telling me?"

"April, come on. I can't talk to you about the case. You don't work here anymore. You… You shouldn't be here."

"I'm not leaving this office until you tell me what the hell you meant by that." AJ said as John shook his head, leaning back on his chair and throwing his pen down.

"The group Phil is with, leader is a guy named Stan Walker. He's a notorious drug dealer, got a huge business-"

"I know about the case, Phil told me." AJ nodded, "I know what it's about but-"

"Stan shout you in the head." John said as AJ paused and tilted her head, "He was the one who shot you. Phil told me that if he wasn't the one to stop him then he'd just go out and find him on his own… so to prevent him from doing anything stupid, I gave him the sting operation… he's been doing good." John nodded.

"Wait… this guy was the one who shot me?" AJ shook her head, "Why wouldn't Phil tell me?"

"He didn't want you involved or worrying. When we found out, you were pregnant so he didn't want to worry you. He knew if I gave him the sting, he'd get his chance to take him down, put him in prison." John said as AJ shook her head.

"I can't believe he never told me." AJ said with disbelief.

"Back then, it was Stan who was involved with money laundering. He was using that building you both went to as a place to work I guess." John said, "Phil worked on it, put it all together and realised that it was him who shot you."

"And he didn't think I'd want to know?" AJ spat.

"Look, April… I think you need to just wait for Phil to come home to talk about this. He's gonna be home soon, this whole thing is wrapping up-"

"I can't believe he'd keep that from me." AJ said, standing up. It was never like her husband to keep anything from her, "Thank you." She shook her head, quickly leaving the office with Breea as John sighed to himself.