Sister

"He's not in his right mind." Dean shook his head, "I wouldn't believe a word that comes out of his mouth." He said, sitting having dinner with AJ later on at her house.

"He… he spoke like he really hates me." AJ said, playing with her food, "Like he really… doesn't love me anymore." AJ admitted as Dean shook his head.

"Something is going on here, trust me." Dean nodded, "And I'm gonna find out."

"What's going on, Dean? What do you think is happening here? His brain has been taken over by aliens? Phil… he would never push me away like this for no reason-"

"Yeah, exactly. No reason. So there's something going on here. He's faking it or he's got an agenda. And I'll find it out." Dean said.

"Or he just doesn't love me anymore." AJ shrugged, "Which is… heartbreaking enough but then he… he said he didn't want Breea. That he never did." AJ shook her head, "But I was there when he first held her. He was so in love with her. I'd never saw him so amazed and consumed by something." AJ said, "I just don't understand."

"He still loves, Breea." Dean assured her, "And he still loves you. There's something else going on here. To be honest, I'm not sure I want to find out. I mean what would push him to divorce you, to leave Breea and leave his job? It's scary to think what's behind that." Dean said as AJ sighed and nodded.

"Even when he was spitting all those things at me… I still love him." AJ shook her head, "Does make me a fool?"

"No." Dean said, "Because he still loves you." Dean nodded.

"I can't tell myself that. What if he really has fell out of love with me?" AJ shrugged.

"Ok, granted, you and Phil went through some stuff, things got rocky and you decided to split… he would never hurt you through it. And it would be something that happened over time. There would be build up, there would be fights, there would be off and on separation. That's how a divorce goes. You don't just decide one day that you don't wanna be with someone anymore and quit on your entire life." Dean said, "Tell me you know this isn't right."

"Well of course I don't think it's right but… maybe he's just changed." AJ nodded.

"No, something is going on." Dean said, "And I'm gonna find out. I want you to stay away from him. Regardless of how much I still trust him, we don't know what's really going on here. Just stay away from him." He pointed his fork at her.

"I'm not scared of him." AJ made clear.

"I know you're not, I'm scared of what's going on, not him." Dean said as AJ sighed and nodded.

"I just feel like I've lost him." AJ nodded, "He's never been so mean to me. Even if we've had fights he's never hurtful. He normally goes in a strop and then he comes back and apologises."

"Because that's the Phil we know. He cares and he loves selflessly." Dean said, "That can't just change overnight. Something else is going on." He nodded.

"How are you going to figure it out? He's not gonna talk to you about it, obviously." AJ said.

"Then I'll use the fact that I'm a cop and he's not anymore." Dean nodded, "I'll do some investigating." He said as AJ nodded.

"Well, be careful." AJ warned as Dean nodded, "I have… flowers for his sisters grave but I don't really want to chance putting them down in case I run into him." AJ rolled her eyes, looking over to the flowers on the kitchen counter.

"I'm sure you can go the following day." Dean shrugged as AJ nodded.

"Hey, what you doing?" AJ smiled, walking into their apartment, looking over at Punk sitting at the table in their small kitchen, sitting down her gun and badge, kissing the side of his head as he smiled.

"Filling in the papers for the house." Punk nodded, "I cut my shift short so I could get home and call Stacy before it was too late." He said as AJ nodded.

They'd been dating for a few years and had finally bought a house together to move into. It was an exciting time and they were both overjoyed to be taking more steps to provide for their future.

"You smell nice." AJ smiled.

"I just showered." He laughed a little, "There's dinner on the stove if you wanna heat it up. I just had a sandwich."

"You had a sandwich but… made me dinner?" AJ shook her head as Punk nodded, causing her to smile. He was so thoughtful and caring. She was so excited to have a home with him.

"I wasn't all that hungry but I know you get hungry after a late shift." He nodded, looking through the paper work.

"Thanks, baby." AJ smiled over to him as he winked to her, "You need me to sign anything over there?" She asked, plating up some dinner for herself.

"Yeah, actually. A few things." Punk nodded as she eventually walked over to the table and sat down across from him, "You're later than usually." Punk noticed the time was later than he thought.

"I headed back to the precinct and done some paper work." AJ nodded.

"A miracle." Punk laughed a little.

"Hey, I do my paper work." AJ shrugged.

"At the latest minute possible." Punk smiled to her as she shrugged.

"Hey, I always get it done." She said as he nodded.

"I know you do." He smiled, "This is… a lot of adult stuff." Punk admitted truthfully, sitting looking over the paper work as AJ smiled.

"You ready for it?" AJ smirked to him.

"As long as I got you, I'm sure I can figure it all out." He smiled and nodded.

"You're cute." AJ tapped his foot under the table as he smiled, "I uh… I picked up flowers for your sister. I thought we could go tomorrow morning since we've both got the day off. Go visit her grave before we go hand in the papers and maybe go for breakfast or something?" She suggested as he nodded and smiled.

"Sounds good." He smiled to her.

"You been ok?" She asked him as he nodded. She knew he struggled a little around this time every year. Unfortunately she didn't know the pain of losing a sibling, but she imagined it was horrific, especially in the case of his sister.

"Yeah, I'm ok." Punk nodded, "It was… a lot harder when I was on my own." He said, "It's gotten easier with you around." He smiled.

"She would be really proud of you." AJ smiled.

"I hope so." Punk nodded.

The next morning, AJ and Punk set out on their day, heading to the cemetery first to lay down the flowers on Punk's sisters grave. AJ knew it was a particularly challenging day for him and always tried to take his mind off it as much as she could, she hated seeing him upset.

"I thought you said your mom kept the grave tidy." AJ sighed, crouching down beside the headstone as she pulled the weeds and tidied it up around it.

"I thought she did." Punk shook his head, laying the flowers down beside the headstone as AJ stood back up and joined him, linking her arm through his and leaned her head on his arm.

"I know that… you don't have any peace with this." AJ whispered, "And I can't imagine how it feels. It shouldn't be something anyone has to live with." She shook her head as he nodded.

"Sometimes it feels stupid coming here. There's not even a body that was buried." He shook his head, "There's nothing here."

"I know but… you said your mom wanted something to… to give her peace, and I get that." AJ nodded, "When someone goes missing and they don't return… especially at the age she was… I mean, as a parent I couldn't imagine the pain."

"She's not a parent." Punk shook his head, "She wanted this grave so she could move on and not feel guilty." Punk nodded, "She was the one who gave up."

"We deal with things differently. Her 13 year old daughter went missing and never returned home. She was last seen on CCTV footage with… an older man." AJ said, "Your mom is just gonna think the worst."

"We all thought the worst." Punk nodded, "But… how can I not hold onto the hope that she's still out there somewhere?" Punk questioned.

"You can hold onto it." AJ nodded, "But you also have to find peace with it, because… then it takes over your life, it takes over you, it pushes things away." She looked up at him as he nodded.

"You think I'd push you away?" Punk looked down at her.

"No." AJ shook her head, "I wouldn't let you." She cupped his cheek, "But it's how the brain works. We let things consume was. Ideas and perceptions. Personal feelings." AJ nodded, "We're only human."

"Part of me feels guilty." Punk nodded, "Jenny was… she was my responsibility that day. She told me she was going out to the park with her friends and I let her-"

"Yeah, as you should have. How were you to know that would happen?" AJ questioned.

"But if I just said no, if I took her out somewhere… it'd all be different." Punk shook his head.

"Yeah, maybe but… you can't think like that. You can't start blaming yourself." AJ shook her head, "I know the worst part is not having answers, and I know you partly became a cop to try and get those answers-"

"And I got nothing." Punk shook his head, "I just feel like I owe it to her. Maybe if… maybe if I had answers, it'd be easier to move forward. But we got nothing apart from the CCTV." He said.

"As cops we know better than anyone how cruel people can be. How evil." AJ nodded, "But you just have to remember her as your little sister who you loved." AJ said as Punk nodded.

"It's gotten easier since I met you." He nodded, looking down at her, "I mean I… I could never talk to my mom about it and bringing it up with Dean and Seth… I just didn't feel comfortable-"

"You can talk to me about anything, you know that." She cupped the back of his head as he nodded.

"Yeah, I know." Punk nodded, "Thank you." He said as she smiled, kissing his arm and leaning her head back against him, taking his hand in hers.

"She knew how much you loved her, I'm sure." AJ smiled as Punk nodded.

"Yeah." Punk nodded, kissing her head and taking a deep breath as they stayed for a little while at the grave, "How about that breakfast?" He asked her as she smiled and nodded.

"I could really go some waffles." AJ nodded as they headed down the cemetery.

"It could be 2 in the morning and you would crave waffles." Punk laughed a little, wrapping his arm around her.

"You know I love breakfast food, it's my favourite." She shrugged.

"I know." He smiled, "We're gonna need it with all this adult stuff. Buying a house." He said, "Who would have thought?" He smiled to her.

"I love the house." AJ smiled. As soon as they viewed it she just fell in love with it. She saw herself growing with her boyfriend there, she saw them turning the spare bedrooms into nurseries eventually, she saw them making memories together and growing old together in that house. She was so excited to be taking this next step with him.

"Yeah me too." Punk nodded, "You think John will give us a couple days off so we can move in?" Punk wondered as they headed back to the car.

"Yeah, it's not like we're busy with anything." AJ said, "He should be fine with it." She said as Punk nodded, "Gosh, I am so hungry. This breakfast can't come quick enough." She said as he smiled, kissing her cheek as she walked around the car and got into the passenger's side.

He looked back into the graveyard, playing with his car keys in his hands and sighing. He would have done anything to get some answers as to what happened to his little sister. Anything.