Back To The Beginning

"What the hell was all of that?" AJ shook her head, turning to Punk in their apartment after Marty and Cash had been taken away. There was so much to process yet things seemed so simple to understand. Punk was just under the illusion that his biological father had died, and that was it, but he just so happened to be the world's biggest scum bag… of course.

"I don't know." Punk placed his hands on his hips and shook his head, "I don't wanna believe it." He shook his head.

"Don't believe it just yet-"

"April, they know things about me. They know that my dad… isn't really my dad. It makes sense." Punk nodded.

"What are you gonna do?" AJ asked him as Punk shook his head and sighed.

"I don't know." Punk said, "Nothing I guess." He shrugged, "They're all going to prison. What can I do?" He asked. He seemed a lot calmer than what she expected him to be, but she supposed he was used to so much going on right now. They all were.

"I'm gonna go see if Nova is ok." AJ told him, "Garry said he'd come up to fix the door soon." She told him as Punk nodded, taking a seat on the sofa as AJ walked off into Nova's room, opening up the door where the five-year-old sat in her bed reading a book, or looking at the pictures in the book.

"Hi, baby." AJ smiled as Nova looked up at her, "You ok?" She asked, sitting on the edge of the bed as Nova nodded, "You can come out of your room now." She said, cupping the little girls cheek softly as Nova just shook her head.

"Is daddy there?" Nova asked as AJ nodded, "Then I wanna stay here." She said as AJ shook her head.

"What? Why?" AJ asked.

"He hurted the man. And he was angry. And he was scary." Nova shook her head. Just as she was letting her father in, and he was becoming this superhero figure to her, she watched him angrily beat on another man, and that scared her, of course it did. She was still just a little girl at the end of the day.

"Oh, baby. He didn't mean to scare you." AJ shook her head, "He was protecting us." She nodded.

"But he scared me." Nova sighed, "I don't wanna see him." She shook her head as AJ sighed.

"He loves you and he didn't mean to scare you." AJ said, "He came to protect us. Like a superhero." AJ nodded, trying to win her round, but she wasn't budging.

"No, he was like the bad guy hurting people." Nova shook her head, "He was angry and I was scared." Nova explained as AJ just nodded. She understood her daughter, but she couldn't help feel upset how her opinions had now changed. She'd clearly saw the violence, and Punk was angry, but she didn't want Nova to think he was angry at her, or he'd ever be angry like that with her. Because he wouldn't be.

"Ok, baby. You can stay here and come out when you're ready." AJ nodded.

"I wanna go to bed." Nova shook her head, "My tummy still aches." She said, her lip quivering as AJ sighed. She hated that poor little face she made.

"Ok, mommy is gonna get you more medicine, you get into bed, ok?" She said.

"I wanna sleep in with you." Nova said, "Like we did before daddy came." She whimpered softly as AJ sighed. She hated this. She hated how many steps back they had all taken because of this revelation.

"Ok." AJ nodded to her, "You go on into my bed." AJ said, "And I'll bring you some medicine and a drink." She stood up from the bed as Nova got up too, taking her favourite teddy bear and running out of her room and into her parent's room. She'd never ran so fast, all so she didn't have to see her father, running quickly into their bedroom and shutting the door over as AJ sighed.

"Is she ok?" Punk asked, knowing fine well that she wasn't.

"No. She's just a little shaken up." AJ said. She didn't want to tell Punk what Nova had said. She knew it would break his heart, "She just… gets like me. She wants to be alone. And her tummy is still sore." AJ explained, walking across into the kitchen as Punk nodded.

"Can I go talk to her?" Punk asked.

"I don't think that's a very good idea." AJ said from the kitchen as she grabbed Nova's medicine and got her a drink, "It's best she just sleeps it off."

"She scared of me?" Punk nodded, knowing fine well she was, "I saw her looking from her room. She looked terrified." He looked down with shame.

"She's just not used to seeing so much violence, Phil. And you're… you're still a stranger to her." AJ reminded him as he nodded, "She should be ok in the morning. I'm gonna take another day off with her." She said as Punk just nodded, watching her disappear into their bedroom as he collapsed back on the sofa and sighed. Even with so much going on in his head, the one thing that was hurting him the most was the fact his daughter was now scared of him. He shouldn't have lost control like that, but he couldn't help it. He felt like they'd just erased all of the progress they had made as a family, and taken huge, gigantic steps backwards.

The next day, Punk woke up early, before AJ or Nova woke up, to make sure he got out of the apartment before Nova woke up. He didn't want to see her look terrified of him.

He'd slept on the couch after insisting AJ slept in with Nova. She needed her mother right now. Garry had come late last night to fix the door and as soon as the sun came up, Punk was out of the door like a flash.

He headed to the station to get an update on everything that was going on. He found Agent Matson at the front desk as he walked into the station.

"You had quite the night last night." Matson nodded as Punk just internally groaned, "We heard this dick might be your dad." He said as Punk nodded.

"Well it all looks like it, doesn't it?" Punk said, "What do you want? A strand of my hair to do some DNA tests?" Punk asked.

"Actually, yes." Matson nodded, "Don't you want to know?"

"Doesn't matter to me. I have a dad and it's not that man." Punk said.

"What if it is your dad?" Matson asked, "You got two brothers and a sister." He reminded him.

"The two brothers are just as bad as Billy. All three of them will die in prison. And… the little girl is Nova's age." Punk cringed as Matson nodded.

"Small world, isn't it?" Matson said as Punk nodded, "Well the good news is, we think we have all our guys. Some were armed and were shot in the process, but we got most of them in, and we've also figured out who our guys are in France. It's more or less coming to an end." Matson said.

"And Carter?" Punk asked.

"No leads on him yet but we'll stay on it. It might be a case where he just… fades away and we can never find him. Its what guys like him do. They'll move onto covering up the next big crime." Matson nodded, "He's not gonna try and hurt you or come back for you now, though. Trust me. He was never out to hurt you. He just wanted to do his job."

"He took my daughter." Punk shook his head, "The fucker better stay away if he knows what's good for him." Punk said, "Have you charged Billy yet?"

"We're about to." Matson nodded, "It's gonna be a long process, but hopefully we can speed it up as much as we can so we can have this station running back to normal again." Matson said as Punk nodded.

"I can't remember the last time anything felt normal." Punk shook his head.

"Well you've been dead for four years." Matson patted his back, "I can understand how disoriented you feel." He nodded, "Best to ignore Billy right now, and his two sons. Just focus on getting back to your life now. They're not going anywhere besides prison."

"I don't even think I want to speak to him. He's not… He's not my dad." Punk said, "He might be biologically. But he's not my dad." Punk shook his head as Matson nodded.

"My parents got divorced when I was really young." Matson began, "My mom remarried right away and my step-dad always done the school run, helped with the homework, taught me how to ride a bike, took me places, and… whenever I saw my dad he'd just… ignore me." Matson nodded, "I began just calling my step-dad, dad. It was nothing to do with blood. You know who your family are." He nodded, "And you don't have to be blood." He said as Punk nodded, "The good thing is, this is all wrapping up, so hopefully you can move on."

"Hopefully." Punk sighed, "We're gonna need a new commissioner for this place when things get back to normal." Punk said as Matson smiled and nodded.

"Mhm." Matson said, "Well I'm sure there's a few people worthy of the spot." He nodded as Punk didn't even catch on. His mind was too busy thinking about other things, "I better get back to these scumbags. You need anything else?" Matson asked as Punk shook his head, "Oh, and the snakes, that was Marty and Cash. You were right. Billy called Marty and told him to finish what he'd started. They all have a snake tattoo on their inner arm. And that seems to be their cigar club trademark." Matson shrugged.

"Makes sense." Punk nodded, "You really want a strand of my hair?" Punk asked.

"I don't need it right now, but soon. It's for you, to figure out if he's your dad." Matson said, "These fuckers might be just… making it all up." He shrugged as Punk nodded.

"Ok, I'll come in, in a few days to sort it out, once all of this has been wrapped up." Punk said, "Just keep me updated on things, yeah?" Punk asked.

"I will." Matson nodded, "You get out of here." He patted Punk on the shoulder as Punk nodded, leaving the station to head back home.

Punk got home late afternoon, walking into the apartment as he saw Nova sitting on the couch whilst AJ was in the kitchen. Nova quickly looked to see who it was and then once noticing it was him, she turned straight back around, not even acknowledging him.

"I uh… I brought some lunch." Punk said, walking into the kitchen as AJ smiled.

"What'd you get?" AJ smiled. She knew the best thing she could do right now, was show her daughter that her father was not a bad man at all.

"Just some sandwiches." Punk nodded, turning to look at Nova who was keeping her eyes on the TV.

"Nova, you wanna come get some lunch, baby?" AJ said as Nova ignored her.

AJ just shrugged to Punk who nodded. He didn't want to be pushy with Nova. If she had to go in a little bubble away from him for a few days then he'd let her, it would just kill him in the process that was all.

"I spoke to Matson." Punk said, "Turns out the guy is human." He nodded, feeling a tiny bit better after talking to Agent Matson, "He's gonna do a DNA test for me, to see if it's really true. But nothing changes." He assured her.

"I know." AJ smiled, "Nothing would have ever changed. You have your dad. These men are just strangers and that's it." AJ nodded to him.

"Yeah." Punk said, "He said they're getting close to wrapping things up now, so hopefully things will be returning to normal at the station soon." He said as AJ nodded, taking the sandwiches out of the bag, keeping her eyes on Nova.

"Nova, you have to come get your lunch." AJ said.

"No, I don't want to have lunch with him!" Nova turned to them, jumping off the couch and running to her room.

"Nova!" AJ shouted, dropping everything to go after her as Punk took a hold of her arm, stopping her in her tracks.

"Just leave her." Punk nodded, "Just leave her." Punk sighed as AJ looked up at him. She could see the pain in his face. Nova normally wasn't that vocal or rude, and AJ was upset that she said what she had said, but the little girl was still frightened, and they both had to understand that. Has hard as it was.

"She doesn't speak to people like that." AJ shook her head.

"She's scared." Punk said, "I just gotta… retrace my steps. Start back at the beginning." He nodded.

A/N: Let me know what you think!