The Wrong Girl

"Why are you back here?" AJ asked, the next day sitting across from Dominic in a coffee shop before she headed to work, "And no, I'm not saying that because I'm upset you're here… you've just never been here as much as you have these past few weeks."

"I'm always honest with you." Dominic said, "Matthew asked me to come over and keep an eye on things." He said, lifting his coffee to his mouth and taking a sip as AJ looked at him with confusion.

"Things? What things?" AJ asked him.

"Well everyone is aware that there's two cops poking around trying to find out how Greg died. Matthew wants to be alerted right away if he should be worried." Dominic said.

"Those cops are also trying to figure out how Sofia died, more than anyone else." AJ said, "You can't be mad at them for that-"

"I didn't say I was mad." Dominic told her.

"Matthew should never have killed Greg." AJ shook her head quietly.

"He was angry. I would be too. I mean that guy was holding back information from the cops, information that could have helped find Sofia's killers, maybe even before they killed her." Dominic said, "Matthew is hurt and he's angry."

"I can understand that, but instead of killing him, they could have asked him what he knew, what he saw, which could have lead us to the killers, which is what those cops are trying to do right now." AJ said, "What are you gonna do if they start putting it together or they find something?" AJ asked.

"I'll need to tell Matthew." Dominic said, "I know you work close to the station, you could keep your eyes and ears opened for me." He suggested.

"No, I don't want involved." AJ made clear. She hadn't told her brother that she was lowkey seeing one of the cops who was looking into the case, and she didn't want to because she knew his reaction would be of worry and anger, but she wasn't ashamed of how she felt for finally finding someone who she felt safe and comfortable with. It was just stressing her a little because of the secrets she had to keep from him already.

"I'm not asking you to be involved, just… be aware." Dominic nodded, "Have those cops told you anything about the case?" He wondered.

"Why would they tell me?" AJ played dumb.

"Well because Sofia was your best friend and you're always around the station." Dominic shrugged.

"No, I don't know anything." She said. She figured it'd be best to pretend she was in the dark than start saying things she couldn't take back.

"Well I'm just saying be on alert." Dominic said, "Just means you'll get to see more of me for a few weeks." He smiled to her as she just pushed out a smile and nodded. It couldn't have been worse timing, "Anyway, how did your date go? Was it a date?"

"Uh… yeah it was fine. It was just dinner." She said, not wanting to say much else.

"Are you seeing him again?" Dominic asked her.

"I think so." AJ nodded, "It's just casual right now. Nothing drastic." She emphasised as Dominic nodded.

"Well you deserve a good guy who treats you well." Dominic nodded as AJ just smiled softly. She loved her brother with all her heart, but she couldn't help but feel torn between everyone now upon his arrival. She felt like she was keeping things form everyone and it was getting a little too much for her. She didn't want to hurt anybody.

Later that day Punk was at work sitting at his desk going through Greg's whereabouts on the run up to his murder to see if he could find anything jumping out at him. He found it strange working on his own and missed Dean's company, but he was glad he was getting a break with his family. God knew they both needed it.

"Getting anywhere?" Ian asked, walking over to Punk's desk.

"No, of course not." Punk replied calmly as Ian smiled, "The guy was just… up and down from work on the lead up to his death." He said, putting his pen down and running his hands through his hair.

"What about the lead up to Sofia's death? Ian asked. I'm not sure if the cops back then had much tabs on him. I think they just interviewed him and that was it." He said.

"It'll be a different car." Punk told him as Ian nodded.

"Of course." Ian said, not realising, "Ok, let me see if I can find out what car he had back then and I'll get back to you." He said as Punk nodded.

"Yeah, ok. Thanks." Punk nodded to him as he leaned back on his chair, stretching tiredly and looking back at the computer.

He'd had a great night with AJ. Being with her made him forget about all of works stresses, and clearly he had a lot of them. He liked where they were at. It was new for both of them and they were treating it with care because clearly they were scared of ruining something that felt so good and special, something they'd never had before.

Just as he was thinking about her, she came through the back door, the perks of working around the same area, smiling as she walked down the aisle between all the rows of desks.

They knew they didn't have to hide their relationship by any means, but it was like they were protective of it. They'd been very vocal on the fact they wanted to start dating, even though neither knew what they were doing, but yet kissing hello in such open space still felt like a strange thing to do.

"Hey." AJ smiled to him as she approached him.

"Hey, how are you?" Punk smiled up at her.

"I'm ok. Just finished with a client. What's with this time of the year and robberies?" She shook her head, sitting her bag down on his desk.

"Big case?" Punk asked her. Because she was a defence attorney, he didn't like to get too involved with her work as he felt the need to say things she probably wouldn't like. He knew that most of the people she represented were innocent half the time, but he also knew some of them weren't.

"Not really. Big enough I suppose." AJ nodded, "So my brother is in town for a little while." She told him, sitting down on the chair next to him as he turned back to her, "Just to see how I am." She told him, of course not being able to tell him the real reason.

"Oh." Punk nodded, "Should I be worried?" He teased a little.

"Well I haven't mentioned anything about you." AJ told him, "To be honest I don't really know how to bring it up. My family have always had this perception about police. Being Puerto Rican and moving here… we never had the greatest support."

"I'm not part of a cult or anything." Punk laughed a little, "We all have our own opinions. Things were different back then. I'd never be disrespectful to you and I certainly wouldn't treat you differently because you come from somewhere else."

"I know you wouldn't." AJ smiled. It's why she liked him so much. He was honest and humble, "I'm just not sure what to say to him. He knows I'm not a dater." She looked down at the ground.

"If you're not comfortable telling him then don't tell him." Punk shrugged, "We can continue to keep things on the down low." He nodded.

"I know but I do want to start taking things a little more seriously." AJ nodded. She just secretly wished she wasn't put in such an awkward position. She knew she could do the right thing and tell Punk about what she knew, but she'd only been with him for a short time, and she just couldn't betray her brother and Sofia's family, even if they had done wrong, they were clearly heartbroken and traumatised from their loss still.

"I know." Punk smiled, "We still can. It's not like he's gonna be watching your every move."

"I know but he knows you're working this case." AJ slipped up and groaned.

"Why would that matter?" Punk laughed as she looked up and stared across at him.

"Uh… well it wouldn't, but just… you working on Sofia's case, well he was there too when it happened, he might just think it's weird." She said, covering herself up as Punk just nodded.

"Hey, we can still take this slow, I liked our burger date last night, we can do that a few times until your brother goes back to Puerto Rico, if you're not ready to tell him." Punk nodded as AJ smiled.

"I just don't want you to be in a weird position either. He's rarely over here." She rolled her eyes.

"I'm not. You do what you want to do. I'll just go along with whatever." He said as she smiled and nodded.

"Well I had breakfast with him this morning so… you can come over for dinner again. I liked last night." She smiled to him. It wasn't just about having found someone she actually wanted to be in a relationship, it was also the fact she didn't feel as lonely as she did before.

"I'll be there." Punk nodded, "What's on the menu this time?"

"Maybe you could just bring some take out on your way home." She said. She desperately wanted to be affectionate, brush her hand through his air, give him a kiss, but she just didn't want to put themselves in that situation yet. The station was a loud and obnoxious environment, they both agreed they didn't know what the reaction would be like.

"Yeah, cool." Punk nodded, "Hey, what'd you say your brother's name was again?" He asked curiously, having forgotten if she even told him.

"Dominic." AJ smiled as Punk nodded, pausing for a second and looking up at her with an arched brow, "What? Don't like the name?" She teased, standing back up to get ready to go, watching as he scuffled through some notes.

"Does he get called Dom?" Punk asked her.

"By his friends." AJ nodded, "Why?" She asked, worried about what he had to say.

"Well when I spoke to Teresa she said that boys came to her door the night before Sofia was found. She remembered one of their names was Dom. It was your brother, right?" He asked.

"Most likely, yeah." AJ nodded, glad it wasn't anything too crazy, "I told you, him and Sofia's brother were good friends, they went to negotiate with Mark, the guy in prison, and that's what kicked it all off." She said.

"Teresa spoke to me like it was your brother who was the maddest." Punk arched a brow.

"My brother isn't friendly if you're on the wrong side of him." AJ nodded, "He's pretty territorial."

"Maybe I could talk to him… about that night… go into further detail than what the cops did back then?" He raced ahead.

"Phil, the cops asked us everything they needed to, it didn't get us anywhere." AJ reminded him, "Including my brother. And plus, it would put me in a really weird position." She sighed as Punk nodded slowly.

"Yeah, I suppose." Punk nodded, "Everything just seems really… messy." He shook his head.

"I'm worried about you, how much this is affecting you." She said, but mostly she was sad that she couldn't just give him the answers he was so desperately wanting when she had them.

"I'm ok." Punk waved his hand, "It's just annoying." He said.

"I bet." AJ raised her eyebrows, "I should go before people start worrying about us being nice to each other." She looked around at the busy offices as Punk smiled and nodded.

"Yeah, that is rare." He said, "I'll see you later." He winked as she smiled and nodded, walking off out of the station whilst Punk continued to sit and rack his brain, looking further and further into the case.

"That didn't exactly go to plan." AJ smiled, shuffling along the kitchen floor on her knees, reaching up for the take-out box with a fork, collapsing back down on the floor against the cupboard, facing Punk who was also sat on the floor. She wore her t-shirt with just her underwear whilst Punk sat in his boxers.

He barely got a chance to step foot in the kitchen with some Chinese food before things escalated quickly on the kitchen table.

"Isn't that cold?" Punk laughed to himself, watching her fold her legs in a basket, eating out of the take-out box. He felt unconditional feelings for her and it scared him how much he cared for her and how much he was falling for her.

"It's ok actually." AJ nodded, "I kinda prefer take-out cold sometimes." She told him.

"You're strange." Punk said, kneeling up and grabbing a box from himself to tuck into. Their nights were special and different. Of course the sex was incredible, but so was before and after, and neither had found themselves feeling this way.

"How is Cami doing?" AJ asked him, sitting directly across from him on the kitchen floor.

"She's doing ok. She calls me almost every night or morning, depending on what days. Said she's really finding herself. Thanks me all the time for being tough with her and putting her there." He nodded, "I still really appreciate what you did for her, I know it kinda made me a hypocrite after all those years of slating you for defending people but… that doesn't mean I don't know how good and dedicated you are to your job." He said as she smiled.

"To be honest, the whole reason I became a defence attorney was to help people like Cami. People who needed help more than punishment." AJ said, "And to help people wrongly accused. My dad, when we first came to the states, he got himself a job in a garage. He was a self-taught mechanic so he just kinda bullshitted his way to the job." She said, "When parts started to go missing in the garage, they blamed him without any reason." She shook her head, "He lost his job and we… started struggling again." She said, "I just hated people so much growing up. I was such a mad kid."

"Yeah, me too." Punk nodded. It was weird how similar they were, not necessarily their stories but their outlook on things.

"Why'd you wanna be a cop?" AJ asked him.

"It just seemed like a job with a lot of control, power to make decisions, the right ones of course." He said, "I had a lot of anger as a kid, especially as a teen, going to the academy, going through the training process, really helped me with it, more than sitting at a desk job would have." He said.

"You guys must see a lot of things." AJ raised her eyebrows.

"Yeah, it's never really the easiest job." Punk nodded, "Especially the bigger cases, the more challenging tasks like… going to a house to confirm to a family their relative has been found dead." He shook his head, "Or… listening to a girl describe how she was raped and how she didn't think telling the police would make a difference." He said as AJ frowned, "That shit gets to me, definitely." He nodded, "But there's a balance that comes with it. With having to deal with all of that and then getting rewards out of it. Like helping a family through a crisis, finding the culprits who did something, getting to a scene in time." He nodded.

"Don't forget helping old ladies across the road." AJ smiled.

"That is the most important." Punk smiled.

"You're a good person." AJ nodded, "It shows."

"We all have good and bad sides." He nodded.

"You believe that?" AJ asked him.

"Yeah I don't think any human is destined to be bad." He said.

"What about those guys who killed Sofia?" AJ wondered.

"I said any human." Punk said, "They aren't human." He told her as she nodded and looked down, "And they'll get caught eventually. They'll get what's coming to them."

"You don't know that." AJ said, "They could stay hidden forever."

"Not if I keep poking at things." Punk told her.

"You just need to be careful. I was around back then. People were scared of these guys. Really scared." AJ nodded.

"Yet no one knew their names or faces? That's odd to me." Punk said.

"They didn't show themselves. They kinda reminded me of hit men. Mark was clearly in charge of things. The rest were just ghosts doing his dirty work."

"Well at least he's in prison." Punk nodded, "I like not talking about work with you to be honest." He admitted truthfully. He felt like he could just unwind with her and let go.

"Yeah, me too." She smiled, sitting her box down and crawling over to him, straddling his hips as he smiled, "Want a bit?" She asked, still holding her box of food.

"You're only asking because you want some of mine." Punk said.

"Maybe so." AJ smiled as he nodded, opening his mouth and taking the noodles from her fork, finding it hard to suck them up as AJ laughed to herself.

"I don't think this was as romantic as you thought." Punk said with a mouthful of noodles tilting his head back to try and suck them up as AJ laughed loudly, resting her head against his shoulder as he smiled, both pretending the world didn't exist.

Whilst they were exchanging food, AJ heard a knock at the front door and frowned a little, scared in case it was her brother again.

"If it's Dominic I'm telling him to fuck off." AJ said, annoyed that someone had interrupted them, getting off of him and pulling her sweat pants on whilst Punk just smiled watching her rush off out of the kitchen.

AJ opened up the door and saw that no one was there, suddenly looking down as she saw the cardboard box sitting on her front step. She immediately took a step back and gulped.

"Phil." AJ called worriedly as Punk walked out of the kitchen and down the hall where he saw the front door open with the box sitting. What didn't worry him was that he had no received a warning, but it was the fact it had been delivered to AJ's house.

Punk walked over to the box and crouched down, opening up the lid slowly to find it empty, besides for a photograph sitting in the centre.

He lifted the photograph out and stared at it whilst AJ looked on and shook her head.

"Why… what-" She didn't have words as she looked on at the picture of her and Sofia, both very wrong and very happy.

Punk turned the picture around where a message was written on the back with, "Sorry. We got the wrong girl" on it.