A Positive Dinner

"Mrs Brooks, do you need any help with dinner?" AJ asked politely, sitting down on the couch in Punk's parents house for the normal Sunday dinner.

"That would be good." Lorna nodded, "Since none of my actual children ever volunteer to help me." Lorna shook her head as Punk just rolled his eyes, watching AJ stand up off the couch and walk off out of the living room with his mom. He loved how connected his family was to AJ, and how much they loved her. It helped as oppose to them hating her.

His father was elsewhere in the house which left him with his two sisters in the living room. The panic of Asylum's opening last night was over, like suspected, nothing drastic happened and Exodus still ran smoothly.

"So what did you say to him last night?" Melissa asked Punk, "Aaron." She made sure.

"I just told him to get lost. To stop coming anywhere near Exodus, and that he was scaring April." Punk said, "He's a pain in the ass." Punk shook his head.

"We still have to be careful." Monica said, "Especially now that he's involving Nick."

"Another pain in the ass." Punk scoffed, "It'll be fine. Let's just go about our own business." He said, "I spoke with the board about the recording equipment. They've got our support and gave us the go ahead, dad's getting the builders in to start working on it next week." He said.

"Where are they putting it?" Melissa asked curiously.

"They're attaching it onto headquarters." Punk said, "Which is good because we won't have to travel much." He said as Monica nodded.

"You still worried about AJ?" Monica asked, "With Aaron, I mean."

"Not really… I mean, she's fine. She told me she's scared of him, but I think on a general level. Think about it, say our mom died and dad immediately remarried a woman who had another kid, another… pain in the ass kid. We aren't gonna be all open to it, are we?"

"Yeah, but… we wouldn't be scared." Melissa said, "You said AJ is scared. There's gotta be a reason."

"I don't know." Punk shrugged, "I think she's under the illusion that he's dangerous but… I just don't see it."

"Well maybe we should trust her since… she obviously knows him better than we do." Monica said.

"Let's just take one day at a time. I'm fed up of hearing this guys name." Punk shook his head.

Meanwhile in the kitchen, AJ was helping Lorna with the dinner, chopping up vegetables on a wooden board whilst Lorna took care of the gravy and meats.

"So… if this is what you guys have every Sunday, what the hell is Christmas like?" AJ laughed a little.

"Just about the same, only… with presents, I guess." Lorna smiled, "There shouldn't just be two days of the year where family gets together and has dinner." She shook her head, "Me and Jim agreed as soon as we had Monica that we would always have time, every week, to sit down together and have dinner." She said.

"I guess since you guys have such busy lives, it makes sense." AJ said as Lorna nodded.

"So… will you be spending Christmas with us this year?" Lorna smiled to herself.

"Well if you guys will have me." AJ nodded, "It's ok, right?" She turned to her as Lorna nodded.

"Of course it's ok." Lorna laughed with a smile, "Melissa has already booked Seth in this year with us, and Dean normally comes over anyway."

"Why?" AJ laughed a little.

"Well, Phil always used to tell me, when he was a little boy, that Dean didn't have Christmas dinner, didn't have Christmas as a matter of fact. He lived with just his mom in an apartment in the city and… she basically left him to fend for himself most of the time." Lorna said, "So I told Phil to invite him round. We used to buy him some presents to open and he'd have dinner with us."

"That's so nice." AJ smiled, "Every kid deserves Christmas."

"Exactly." Lorna nodded, "It was Jim who really wanted him to come round. He knew what it felt like not to have any family as a kid better than anyone." Lorna said, "So… since then, Dean has just sort of been apart of our Christmas." Lorna said.

"You're such nice people." AJ shook her head with amazement as Lorna laughed.

"Trust me, we weren't always this welcoming and nice." Lorna smiled, taking the board of chopped carrots from AJ as she then moved onto the potatoes.

"Well you're nice now, that's all that matters to me." AJ smiled, "Oh, what's that smell?" AJ asked, placing her arm over her nose, "Something smells off." She admitted as she looked around the kitchen.

"I can't smell anything." Lorna shook her head, watching AJ as she looked like she was going to throw up everywhere, "Here, go to the sink, I'll get you a bottle of water." She said as AJ walked over to the kitchen sink.

"Are you sure there is nothing off?" She asked as Lorna shook her head.

"I got everything fresh this morning, just like every week." Lorna shook her head, grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge and walking over to AJ, sitting the bottle of water beside her.

"You know I've been feeling like this for a week now. It just comes and goes. Some times it's in the morning, or some times when I smell different foods." She shook her head as Lorna folded her arms and raised her eyebrows, "What?" AJ shook her head, screwing the cap off of the water.

"I think you need to make a trip to the pharmacy, sweetheart." Lorna said.

AJ stayed silent throughout the full of dinner. She couldn't stop thinking about the possibility of being pregnant. She hadn't even thought about it when she had been coming down with all the symptoms. It never crossed her mind. They'd only been back together for three months. Sure it didn't feel like that, and they'd known each other for a while, even though they hadn't been together, but it was still extremely shocking.

She didn't really participate in the dinner conversation and when it was over, she asked Punk right away if they could go home.

"You don't wanna stay a bit longer?" Punk asked. Normally she always liked to sit around and chat with his sisters and mom.

"No… I'm uh… I'm feeling tired tonight." She said as he just nodded.

"Ok, I'll go get our jackets." He nodded, kissing her head as she smiled, watching him walk off into the kitchen as she ran her hand through her hair.

"Hey, mom. We're gonna take off." Punk told his mom who was in the kitchen clearing up, "April is really tired." He said, grabbing their jackets as Lorna nodded.

"Ok, well… watch the roads. They're icy." She told him.

"I will." Punk nodded.

"And Phil-" She said before he got the chance to the leave the kitchen.

"Yeah?" Punk shook his head.

"Promise me that… whatever you face in life, you'll always be there for April." She nodded as Punk just raised his eyebrows with confusion.

"Uh… yeah, I will." Punk nodded, "I'll see you later, alright." Punk smiled as Lorna nodded, watching him walk off out of the kitchen, smiling to herself as Jim walked into the kitchen in sync of Punk leaving it.

"What are you smiling about?" Jim asked his wife curiously.

"Oh, nothing." Lorna smiled to herself cheerfully.

AJ and Punk got home later on. Punk had stopped by the pharmacy and bought into AJ's cover up that ironically she needed to pick up sanitary items. He thought nothing more of it and drove back to the apartment, throwing his car keys down on the coffee table in the living room whilst AJ rushed away down the hall and into their bedroom without even saying a word. She couldn't have been that tired to just go straight to bed and not say anything.

"April?" Punk said, "AJ?" He called out as he walked into their bedroom, not seeing her there but looking on at the bathroom door shut, "AJ, you ok in there?" Punk asked her, stripping his t-shirt off in the process.

"Uh… yeah! I'll be just a second." She said as he nodded, collapsing down on the bed, lying in just his jeans as he shut his eyes over. He was tired too come to think of it. It had been a long, long week and finally he had the day off tomorrow to spend with his girlfriend.

Ten minutes later, he heard the bathroom door open, opening his eyes and lifting his head as he watched her walk out.

"Hey, you ok?" Punk asked, sitting up.

"I'm pregnant." AJ whispered so quietly he could barely hear.

"What?" Punk shook his head.

"I'm pregnant." AJ said, "I just… took a test. It's positive." She said, "I'm pregnant."

"How the fuck can you be… no… no way." He laughed to himself, "You're joking, right?" Punk stood up, "This is a joke?" He said, watching her walk back into the bathroom, grabbing the pregnancy test and showing him it.

"Do I look like I'm joking?" She asked as Punk placed his hands in his hair.

"Oh my God." Punk said quietly to himself, "We're fucking idiots." He shook his head.

"What?" AJ squeaked.

"You can't be… you can't be pregnant… we've not even been back together for that long."

"Well I am." AJ said. She was in shock and didn't actually know what to say.

"How are we supposed to do this?" Punk asked as AJ shook her head.

"I don't know." AJ whispered with a lump in her throat. It wasn't like it was life threatening, but both were just a little worried and shocked that this had happened so fast, but it wasn't like they were very careful. They only had themselves to blame. She didn't keep good track of her pill and he had only used protection the first time they reunited again.

Punk looked across at her, tears welling in her eyes as she looked down at the ground. He didn't know what to say or do. Normally he prided himself on knowing what to say to her to help her feel better, but right now he was all out.

"It's alright." Was all he could think of that would attempt to make it ok. He was in shock, "It'll be alright." He nodded as she looked up at him, a tear rolling down her cheek. He hated seeing her upset. It absolutely killed him, "Please don't do that." He shook his head, walking over to her and wrapping his arms around her tightly as she curled against his body.

She needed him, otherwise she felt like she'd fall apart in denial, shock and paranoia. This was a big thing to take in at the best of times, but when they never expected it or thought twice about it, it was terrifying.

"I don't know what to do." AJ sobbed.

"We'll figure something out." Punk sighed, rubbing her back comfortingly, he might have been in shock, but he knew it wouldn't change anything between them. He still loved her, he knew he always would, this was just a large piece of news to take in, and it was going to take some time to get used to.

"Will we?" AJ looked up at him. When she seen the look on his face just there, she lost all hope. She thought he'd be the one to pick her up and give her strength, but it seemed like he was in all of the shock too, which of course he had a right to.

"We will." Punk nodded, "We'll figure it out." He cupped her cheeks, kissing her softly and then pulling away, pulling her back into him tightly as he rested his chin on her head. He was not prepared for this at all.

A/N: I know my stories get sort of repetitive when AJ gets pregnant, but it always adds a more personal and protective sense to the stories I think, and obviously the main focus is still on what Aaron is scheming to take down the Brooks family and go after AJ. REVIEW and let me know what you think!