Into the Woods


Punk was back in Jersey the day after Christmas with his new shadow Agent Cena. He literally went everywhere Punk went including the bathroom and it was driving him crazy.

"How was April?" Shawn asked as Punk sat at his desk and John sat behind him at the empty desk.

"They had a great time." John answered and Punk rolled his eyes. "At least I heard AJ did."

"Shut up." Punk muttered as he looked at his computer. "She's happy to have Charger with her." he told Shawn.

"When everything settles and AJ comes home, and it will happen soon Cheryl wants you both over for dinner." Shawn said to him.

"A double date." John grinned.

"Shut the fuck up." Punk snapped at John who was purposely trying to annoy him. "That sounds nice." he said in a much friendly voice.

"So after the vet stabbing Jake was spotted getting on a bus, he could be long gone." Shawn told Punk.

"He'll be back." John said before Punk could respond. "And if he took a bus out of town then he's given up on AJ."

"He didn't give up on her maybe he figured out where she is and is on his way there." Punk said to John.

"I get an update every half hour." John said to him. "She's fine."

"If he's not in town then you really don't have to be up my ass anymore." Punk snapped at him. "Maybe you should go to AJ's safe house."

"I think he'll back track."John said to him. "He got spooked but he'll be back."

"You're the Jake Miller expert." Shawn snorted.

"Do your agents know that Jake Miller is on the run?" Punk asked him.

"The agents with AJ are fully capable and prepared to protect her." John said to him.

"I didn't like them." Punk grumbled as he reached for his cell phone.

"Why the hell not?" John snapped.

"Maybe because you're last agent with her was more interested in screwing the witness rather than protecting her." Punk shot at him.

"You met with the agents, you grilled them, you threatened them what more could you possibly want?" John asked him.

"Maybe if Miller is out of town it's best we bring April back here with us." Shawn suggested to John.

"AJ is safe exactly where is." John promised him as Punk dialed a number. "Who are you calling?"

Punk just gave John an annoyed look and listened to the phone ring.

"Hey AJ." Punk greeted and John rolled his eyes. "Yea...really?" he asked with a goofy grin then remembered John was listening. "Look do me a favor and stay in...no everything is ok just until you hear back from...yea I'm fine...no not even for that." he said quietly to make sure John didn't pick up on anything. "...yea I'll call you and let you know. Alright, you too." he then hung up.

"How did that just happen?" John asked him annoyed.

"I gave her my phone while I was there." Punk shrugged.

"You're not-" John started.

"Shut up." Punk said cutting him off.

"And why did you ask her to stay in?" John questioned.

"I meant with walking Charger." Punk said to him but he was clearly talking about her sneaking off habits that she confided to him about. "You know what? I think we should go back there." he said standing up.

"I'll come with." Shawn offered also standing up. "Him being out of town, her being out of town-"

"There's no connection." John argued not moving from his seat.

"I'd feel better being there." Punk said to him and John shook his head in annoyance.

"Of course you'd feel better being there." he remarked sarcastically. "Most men would."

"Hold on now." Shawn said holding his hand up before Punk could talk. "Sure Detective Brooks and April have some sort of a relationship but his goal is to keep her safe. When you told him to come back here and bait Jake Miller he did it. And in the few months I've worked with him his instincts have been spot on. Jake Miller got on a bus and out of town because he's going to her. He knows."

"There is absolutely no way he knows." John said to him.

"New agents every five minutes, maybe someone tipped him off." Punk said to him.

"We only have new agents because you threatened me to get rid of the last one!" John shouted.

"Because he wasn't doing his job!" Punk yelled back.

"You just saw her, you got a phone to her and can talk to her anytime you want be happy with that." John said to him.

"I am happy with that. But I'm not thinking like her boyfriend right now I'm thinking like a police officer trying to protect someone." Punk hissed.

"I'm going to make some calls and figure out which bus exactly Jake got on and if I could prove he went in the opposite of direction of AJ you have to let this go." John said then walked off.

"Un-fucking believable." Punk said shaking his head. "We don't need him anyway we can go down and stay with her, I know where she's at. We just have to shake him." he said to Shawn who nodded.

"Sounds like a plan." Shawn said to him. "So uh- boyfriend now, huh?" he teased.

"Surprised?" Punk asked him.

"Happy." Shawn said to him. "April is a great girl she deserves a good guy in her life. Hopefully this Miller stuff dies down and you can treat her the way she deserves to be. Dates, flowers, dinners-"

"I plan on it." Punk said to him.


Later that night AJ was at the safe house hiding in her room reading one of her books with Charger at the foot of her bed. The two new guards John had brought in where much more professional, stiff and did constant walks around the property and inside the house. If she didn't have the option of calling Punk whenever she wanted she'd be going crazy. She also wasn't sure what was going on but the Agents were on high alert and even if she did want to sneak out to her coffee shop she didn't think she'd get passed these Agents.

AJ walked out of her bedroom at around seven to let Charger out but of course she wasn't allowed to take Charger out one of the Agents usually did.

"Agent Cross?" AJ asked walking into the seemingly empty living room. "Agent Backer?" no one said a thing. "Maybe they're already outside." She said to Charger and walked to the front door and let Charger run out.

While Charger was outside AJ walked into the kitchen and both agents were not there either. She checked the bathroom, the back door, everywhere she couldn't see them. She was now getting a bad feeling in her stomach and walked into her room for her phone to call Punk to inform him the Agents were missing but for some reason her phone came up 'no service'.

"Charger!" AJ yelled out for her dog but now Charger was gone. "Charger!" She yelled out running outside and looking around the front lawn. "Charge!" She screamed out and whistled.

AJ knew what was happening, she knew what was coming and even though she wanted to look for Charger she backed into the house quickly and locked the door quickly. She ran into the kitchen and looked for a large knife to defend herself.

"You shouldn't let your dog off leash." a voice said from behind her and she froze. "April it's me."

"Mr. Miller." She said nervously turning around and saw the man covered in blood. "Charger." She cried seeing the blood on him.

"April it's time." Jake said to her. "This wasn't easy and I don't know why you had to make it so difficult."

"Stay back." She warned holding her knife out with her shaking hand.
"Oh April." He frowned shaking his head in disappointment. He slapped the knife right out of her quaking hands and she began to cry. "Why are you crying?"

"Because you're going to kill me." she sniffled.

"Come here April." He said holding his hand out to her.

"Please just go." She cried.

"It doesn't have to be this way." he said to her. "You've left me no choice. Do you want it to hurt bad April?"

"No." She cried.

"We'll be together forever this way." He noted with a faint smile.

"You're going to kill yourself?" She asked him.

"I just want to be with you. In life they keep trying to keep us apart, in death it's for eternity." Jake said to her. "It's just like that poem from class."

"I remember it." she whispered trying to sound strong.

"No one is coming here for you April." Jake said to her. "There's no where to run, no where to hide. It's up to you on how you want to go out."

"I always liked you." AJ forced out with a smile as her tears fell. "All the girls had such a crush on you when you first started at school."

"I didn't notice them, only you." Jake said to her.

"You were just very forward and it scared everyone." AJ whispered. "That's why my mom and dad got so upset."

"They didn't even give me a chance." he said sadly.

"I know." she said stepping towards him nervously and placed her quaking hand on his cheek. "This is your chance, we're all alone."

"I've been waiting for you for eight years April." Jake said to her.

"If you put the knife down and come inside we can connect better." She said to him.

"In your bedroom?" he asked her and she nodded.

"You don't have to kill me to be with me." AJ said trying not to sound nervous but more confident. "You can have me right now."

Jake took her hand and she almost gasped as the feeling of him touching her and he lead her into her bedroom and closed the door. AJ sat on the bed and watched as he took his bloodied jacket off and tossed it onto the floor and kicked off his shoes.

"I have to freshen up." AJ said moving to get off the bed but he pushed her back down.

"You're perfect just the way you are April." Jake said to her.

"Ok." She said with a nervous smile and moved to the buttons of her own blouse and inched up the bed. "Can you be gentle?"

"Yes." he said watching her as his eyes began to water with excitement. "You've gotten more beautiful everyday."

"Thank you." she said and he crawled over.

AJ rested against her pillow as Jake placed a kissed over her chattering lips then kissed down her neck. AJ cried as she felt his chapped and cut lips run over her soft skin. She could feel him growing hard against her leg as he sucked over her pulse point. AJ had a plan though, she had thought of a 100 ways to get away from Jake Miller over the years. She slowly reached her arm over to her lamp and as Jake lifted his head she crashed it against him.

"Oh my god." She cried pushing him off of him and without looking back ran into the bathroom and opened the window she snuck out of when she'd go to the coffee shop and jumped right outside.

AJ ran as fast as she could into the dark woods and briefly looked back to see Jake wasn't far behind her, thankfully the blow to his head slowed him some but AJ pushed herself and ran even faster even though she had no jacket on or shoes and it was freezing but adrenalin was pumping through her veins and she ran faster.

"April!" he screamed trying to catch up to her.


Punk and Shawn pulled up to the house at around eight.

"You tried calling her again?" Shawn asked.

"Nothing." Punk said turning off the car.

A second later another car pulled up behind them and Punk was surprised it took John this long.

"You think you're smart?" John asked slamming his car door.

"Ditched you without a problem." Shawn snorted.

"This is a mistake." John warned him.

"AJ hasn't answered her phone." Punk said to him. "Have you heard from your agents?"

"A tower went down here and cell service is down. I could have told you that and saved you a trip." John said to him. "And that tip from the bus station hasn't been verified."

"I'm going in." Punk said to him.

"Me too." Shawn said to him as they walked to the door.

"Wait a second." John said stopping them but looking towards the dark SUV.

"What?" Shawn asked.

"The trunk is open." John said to them and slowly walked towards the car. John peeked over to see inside of the trunk and turned away quickly.

"What is it?" Shawn asked.

"One of my agents." John said to them.

"AJ." Punk said as he quickly ran into the house.

Everything was quiet as Shawn and John followed him with their weapons drawn. They checked the few rooms in the house and saw a knife on the floor in the kitchen then inspected her bedroom. Punk saw a bloodied jacket on the floor and knew Jake was here and with her. Did he already kill her? Was off burying her body somewhere?

"Call for backup." Shawn said to John who was already on the phone. "The lamp." he said noticing the glass on the bed. "She hit him."

"Or he hit her with it." Punk said to him then pushed open the bathroom door and felt the cold draft and saw the window wide open and smiled.

"What?" Shawn asked.

"She went out the window." Punk said to him. "She ran right outside and probably into the woods."

"It's too dark out to search now." John said to them. "I have a team-"

"We'll go out together because I have no idea how deep these woods go." Shawn said ignoring Punk as he walked into the kitchen and pulled out two flashlights.

"She couldn't have gotten too far but she knows the woods pretty good here." Punk told Shawn.

"Did you not just hear me?" John asked them.

"He can't be far behind." Shawn said to Punk again ignoring John.

"Hello!" John shouted. "I have a team in route!"

"Do you want a flashlight? " Punk asked passing him a third flashlight. "You can wait here if you want but we'll be looking for AJ who is running out of time."

"Fine." John said buttoning up jacket.

"She probably doesn't have a jacket or anything on." Shawn noted. "She'll freeze to death soon."

"Or he'll catch up to her." Punk shivered. "Let's go."

The three went out the backdoor and ventured towards the woods.

"What's that?" John asked.

"What?" Shawn asked.

"You hear that?" he asked hearing a sound coming from the shed out back.

The three circled the shed with guns drawn and as John slowly opened the door it shot open.

"Don't shoot!" Punk yelled seeing Charger race out and headed right for him.

Charger spent a moment with Punk before he raced towards the woods.

"This search might be easier than I thought." John mumbled and the three followed Charger.


AJ was hiding behind a big tree as she froze to death and tried to catch her breath. She looked down at her bare feet that were covered in dirt and probably blood. She rested for a few moments and heard noise and quickly placed her hand over her mouth so Jake wouldn't even hear her breathing. She looked up as Jake passed her without any clue she was so close. She felt relief when he passed and slowly came to her feet and decided to head back. She didn't go too far into the woods and she knew the way back. As soon as she stood up and walked around the tree she hit a hard body and looked up to see Jake. AJ began to scream as she struggled against him.

"Why did you do that to me April?" he demanded throwing her onto the rough ground. "I was ready!"

He crawled over her body and she screamed like a mad woman as he began kissing over her neck again. "No one can hear us April, you can be loud as you want."

"Help me!" She screamed out louder and Jake chuckled as his hand rested on her stomach and trailed further south. "Somebody!"

A second later the weight was off of her and she could hear growling. She sat up ready to run then saw it was Charger and couldn't leave him behind.

"Charger come on!" AJ yelled but Charger was ripping into his arm as he was now screaming.

Jake grabbed Charger by his face and shoved him away from him and jumped up to his feet and kicked the dog causing him to whimper.

"Charger!" She yelled out running to him but Jake grabbed her from her around her waist.

"Stop!" another voice yelled and AJ saw three separate lights hitting them. She was covered in dirt and turning blue from the cold.

"No." Jake said shaking his head.

"Let her go." Shawn said aiming his gun at him.

"Never." Jake whispered. "Never, ever, ever."

"You're outnumbered here." Punk pointed out. "Three guns against nothing."

"Are you going to risk shooting her?" Jake asked him. "If you kill me I'm taking her with me."

"That's not-" Punk started but a shot rang out and Punk turned his head to see John recklessly pull the trigger.

Charger ran over to the bodies on the ground before the three men could and began to lick AJ's face as Punk was next over her and tossed Jake's limp's body off of hers.

"AJ?" he asked desperately and she slowly sat up. "Did you get hit?" he asked checking her over.

"No I'm fine." She said to him and watched as he quickly removed his own jacket and wrapped it around her. "Phil get me out of here."

"I'm staying with him." John said to them.

"You could have hit her." Punk hissed lifting AJ into his arms.

"I didn't." John spat.

"Let's go." Shawn said nodding for Punk to follow him.


As soon as they were back at the house Punk placed AJ onto the couch and she was still freezing.

"How long before someone gets here?" Punk asked him.

"Twenty minutes out." Shawn said checking his radio.

"I'm freezing." she chattered.

"Hot bath." Shawn suggested jogging into the bathroom and turning on the water.

"That sound good?" he asked checking her over now in the light.

"Anything hot." She shivered as he ran his hands up and down her arms to try to keep her warm. "Is he dead?"

"I didn't even check." Punk admitted. "He looked it."

"You should go check." She said to him as Charger was at her side as well. "I thought he killed you." She said petting Charger with her frozen hand.

"Charger saved your life." Punk snorted. "Mine and yours in the last week, he should get a medal."

"I can go home now right?" She asked him.

"Yes." He said as Shawn walked out.

"It's still filling up but it's hot." Shawn said pointing and Punk lifted AJ again and carried into her bedroom and towards the bathroom attached.

Punk pulled her clothes off quickly and helped her into the tub she hissed a bit as she fell back into the tub and let the hot water warm her body.

"Good?" he asked.

"It's a little hot but it feels good." She said relieved relaxing into the tub. "Really good." She said closing her eyes. "What happened to the Agents?"

"Not sure." He lied quickly scooping up some water into a cup and pouring it over the top of her head.
"He killed them. He was covered in blood." she said to him. "The water feels good."

"I bet." he said to her. "How long were out there?"

"Not long enough to freeze to death." She said to him. "Maybe half an hour or so. How did you know?"

"I don't even know." He admitted grabbing a loofa and cleaning her now.

"Can I go home tonight?" she asked him.

"Of course you can." he said to her as he continued to clean her and warm her up.

"He was going to kill me." She said to him.

"And he didn't." Punk pointed out. "You' outsmarted him."

"I took him to bed." she said and he froze thinking she let him touch her. "I hit him in the head of the lamp and jumped out the window."

"Smart." he forced out not wanting to press her.

"He didn't get far." she said to him. "We didn't have sex."

"Good." he said relieved.

"How did he find me?" she asked him.

"That's something I'd love to know for myself." he said to her. "We'll worry about that later. Right now we'll warm you up, get you checked out, pack you up and take you and Charger home."

"Home." She said relieved with a soft smile. "You'll stay with me tonight?"

"Of course." he said to her without a thought.

"I want to get out and get going." She said starting to get up.

"Wait a minute let me get you some warm clothes." he said passing into the bedroom and reaching for a bag.

"FBI and medics are here." Shawn informed him. "They want to see her."

"They have to wait for her to get dressed first." Punk said to him. "I don't want her hounded she's been through a shock."

"I already warned them." Shawn said to him.

"Give us five minutes." Punk said and Shawn closed the door.

AJ was already out of the tub drying off and Punk quickly slipped one of his sweatshirts over her and helped her into a pair of his sweats. He threw socks on her feet and she was now warm and ready to go.

"FBI wants to talk to you for a few minutes and let the medics check your pressure and stuff." He said to her.

"Phil I feel fine." She said to him.

"Just give it a few minutes? After that it's home sweet home." he promised.

"Home." She grinned falling against him and hugging him. "Thank you." She said looking up at him and he gave her a sweet kiss.