Hanging On

"W-What… what are you doing here?" AJ shook her head, her heart racing so fast she thought she might just pass out, reaching out suddenly as she grabbed a knife from the rack in the corner of the kitchen counter, pointing it at him, "Don't… don't you come near me." She said. She hadn't faced him before until now. The last time she seen him in the flesh was when she was a naive little girl. She could defend herself now.

"Oh, c'mon now. Violence isn't the answer. Put that away." He said, "We used to be great friends, April. Don't you remember?" He asked.

"You are psycho." AJ spat, "You took advantage of me when I had no clue what you were doing. You… you hurt me, you mentally scarred me." She spat.

"C'mon, you and me both know you knew exactly what was going on and you liked every single bit of it." He said.

"No!" AJ yelled, "You took advantage of the fact I had no one. No one to tell, no one to talk to about what you done to me. You turned my whole world upside down." She trembled with fear, still holding the knife out in front of her, "You won't lay a finger on me again." She said.

"Is that some sort of a threat?" He shook his head, "Just because you're holding a knife doesn't mean I have to tuck my tail between my legs and leave, April." He chuckled, "You don't even have to call me Mr Smith anymore… just call me Ken." He said.

"I won't call you anything." She spat, "Get out of my house!" She yelled as Harry suddenly came through the door.

"Mommy I picked a DVD." Harry exlaimed excitedly, walking into the kitchen and looking on at his mother holding out a knife in front of her with a man standing not far across from her.

"You must be Harry." Ken grinned to the little boy as Harry looked up at his mother who stepped in front of him.

"Harry, take this bag out to the car for mommy, and stay beside the car, ok?" She crouched down, holding the knife up still in case Ken tried to do anything, "Stay right by the car, ok? Do not move." She told him strictly as he nodded, "Ok." She whispered, leaning in and pretending to kiss his cheek, whispering softly in his ear as she transferred her phone from her jean pocket into the bag she was handing him, "Call daddy." She whispered as quiet as ever into his ear as he just looked up at her, "Ok, stay by the car." She smiled as he just looked up at her and walked away trailing the bag with him as she just hoped he heard what she asked.

"Cute kid." Ken nodded as AJ stood back up straight, holding the knife out still, "So… how much did you miss me?"

"Not one day went by where I didn't think about what you done to me, you sick bastard." She spat.

"You were my favourite." He admitted, taking an apple from the fruit basket, tossing it up and catching it, "What I loved about you was… you'd do absolutely anything I asked, as long as I told you I was your friend." He smirked, "Hell, I think if I told you to jump off a bridge you'd do it no problem." He said.

"I'm not that little girl anymore." She spat, "I can defend myself now. Now I know that what you done to me was wrong." She spat, "And I will get justice for myself, and every other girl you've tortured in the past." She spat.

"Playing the tough girl act now, are we?" He smiled, "I always do like a challenge. It'll be strange. The first time you were so… easy to handle." He said, "You done anything for me. Shall I bring up some favourites of mine? Memories like that kept me going in prison." He admitted.

"You are disgusting." AJ spat, "I had no idea what I was doing but you did, you knew fine well you were taking advantage of a girl who had no idea about anything."

"No… what I seen was a sweet, holy, lonely, beautiful little girl who just needed to smile every now and then." He said, "And I wanted to help you out, and you accepted it. Every bit of it."

"I had no choice." AJ spat.

"Oh, you had a choice."

"You began to force me." AJ said, "That's when I realised." She said.

"So you didn't like my rough side? Maybe I can work on that." He smiled, inching closer to her.

"You won't come near me. You won't touch me ever again. Do you understand me?!" She yelled.

"Or what? You gonna stab me?" He chuckled as AJ's hand shook out in front of her clutching the knife.

"Just… Just stay away." She spat.

Meanwhile, Punk had arrived back home at his parent's house after seeing AJ's lawyer. He walked through the door and straight into the living room where his mom sat feeding Louisa.

"Where is April?" He asked curiously.

"She took her Harry home to get some things. Clothes, some toys for him, I think she wanted to give him a bath." Patrice said as Punk just nodded, "I volunteered to go but she wouldn't let me." She said.

"I wish she'd just stayed put." He admitted, scratching the back of his neck.

"She'll be fine. She'll be home any time. It was just a few things she was quickly grabbing." Patrice said as Punk nodded, taking a seat on the couch, only just a minute passing before his phone began to ring with an unknown number showing up.

"Hello." He answered.

"Phil? Phil it's Dan. April's father." AJ's dad said as Punk raised his eyebrows with confusion.

"Hey, man. Everything alright?" He asked curiously.

"No… well, I don't think so. I just got a call from AJ's phone, it was Harry. He said that AJ told him to phone me, but… I think it was you he was looking for. He was talking to me like I was you. Obviously April has me saved as dad on her phone so-"

"Harry called… what did he say?" He stood up as Patrice watched.

"That AJ told him to phone you. That was it." Dan said, "Is everything alright, Phil?" Dan asked worriedly.

"Yeah, yeah. It will be. I'll-I'll call you back. I got to go." He hung up.

"What's going on?" Patrice stood up.

"She shouldn't having fucking gone out!" Punk yelled, "Stay here… stay here with Louisa." He ordered, rushing out of the house, grabbing his dad's car keys and taking his car since AJ had taken theirs, breaking every sort of speed limit there was to break just to get to his house, barely letting the car stop before rushing out of it, noticing Harry standing by their car in the driveway with a bag.

"Daddy, that didn't sound like you on the phone." Harry said as Punk panicked.

"Where… where is mommy? Where is she?" Punk asked.

"She's in the kitchen. She had a knife and there was a man." Harry said as Punk shook his head, "I called the special number to tell them mommy was scared."

"What special number?" Punk shook his head.

"The one you and mommy told me to call if something bad happened." He told him. From such a young age, Punk and AJ had taught Harry to call the 911 incase of emergencies or he seen his mother or father sad or frightened.

"You're such a good kid." Punk said with pride, kissing his head, "Stay here. Do not move. Still like a statue alright?" He said as Harry nodded, watching his father run away into their house.

Punk ran through the living room and into the kitchen, bursting in through the door as he seen AJ held captive by who he could only describe as a walking, breathing, tragic and pathetic excuse for a man. Punk noticed she had a swollen, bruised eye and the knife he assumed AJ was once holding was now in the man's hand, held by his wife's neck as she was gripped by the hair.

"I thought you only went for young, clueless girls." Punk said.

"So this is the husband." Ken laughed.

"Let her go." Punk spat, "I'm not fucking around here, pal." Punk shook his head, looking to AJ who was crying with fear.

"April was mine before she was yours. You've just been keeping her warm whilst I was in prison. Now I'm out… I'm ready to take back what's mine again." He smiled.

"She isn't yours. She's never been yours." Punk said.

"You know… I never wanted to hurt anyone in this process." Ken sighed dramatically and sarcastically, "But if I'm gonna have to stick this knife in you just to shut you up then I just might." He shrugged.

"Come do it then." Punk laughed, "You think I care what you do to me? Give me my wife. The cops- they're already on their way."

"Cops don't scare me. I've dealt with them my entire life." He shrugged.

"And what a way to live." Punk shook his head.

"C'mon, April… tell him it's me you want." He grunted, yanking her hair as AJ winced, causing Punk to snap, snatching AJ right from him and launching himself into Ken, tackling him to the ground whilst AJ got herself together, suddenly beginning to panic as she seen her husband and Ken roll around on the kitchen floor, a knife in the mix with them.

"You fucking scum!" Punk yelled, punch after punch, enjoying every single moment of this, having dreamed about this, doing this for AJ, getting justice for after everything he'd done to her.

He was receiving some punches on the other end from Ken but he was still managing to keep on top until he was rolled over suddenly onto his back where Ken began punching him, knife in reach for him as he quickly grabbed it.

Punk suddenly felt a sharp pain he couldn't describe just as AJ came up behind, having pulled the iron from the cupboard, hitting it as hard as she could across Ken's head as he fell over beside Punk, dropping the iron from her shaking hands and crying at what she had just done. Yeah she meant it but it still wasn't in her character to be violent, to anyone.

She was so busy looking at Ken, noticing his chest had stopped rising and falling, that she hadn't even noticed Punk struggling to sit up, turning her attention fully on him as she watched him lift his hand from his stomach, blood running down his fingers as she shook her head, watching him hold the bloody knife she had introduced in the beginning.

"No..." AJ whispered, sinking down to her knees beside him, "No..." She lifted his t-shirt up, "No, no, no." She cried, quickly stripping her cardigan off, scrunching it up and pressing it against his stomach, "No it's gonna be fine… it's gonna be ok, look at me." She told him as he collapsed against her.

"Fuck, this hurts." He moaned in pain.

"It's ok, baby. You're gonna be ok." She promised, kissing his head, watching his eyes roll around in his head, "Please keep your eyes opened." She whispered, pressing a kiss against the side of his head.

"I'm sorry I didn't… didn't get here quick enough." He groaned.

"You promised you'd protect me and… and you did." She said.

"Didn't do a very good… fuck… very good job of it." He smiled a little with weak eyes that threatened to close over.

"No… no please don't close your eyes… just focus on me." She nodded as he opened his eyes back up, looking up at her.

The rain began to batter down outside, so fast that the power had gone out as she sat in darkness with him, watching him chuckle to himself as she cried but laughed at the same time.

"What? What is it?" She said.

"You remember… you remember when we first met and… and there was a power cut… you stayed at my place all night and I…. I lit candles." He smiled in a daze as she nodded.

"Yeah, yeah… I remember." She nodded with a smile, "You wouldn't let me drive back home in the weather." She laughed through her tears as he smiled.

"That was a… that was a good night." He nodded, groaning loudly as his pain became unbearable.

"Shh… shh… police will be on their way." She told him, "Please just… just hang on. Please hang on." She kissed his head multiple times, pressing her cheek against his forehead.

A/N: Gahh. Let me know what you think.