Ill
"Why is Jess still sleeping?" Jamie asked, walking into the kitchen the next morning. After assuring AJ he would speak to his father, AJ had taken into consideration that he was possibly in shock that his father had behaved that way, and was glad that he was going to talk to him about it. At first she was mad about his light hearted reaction but she supposed it was just shock.
"I was up all night with her. She's got a temperature. Headache. Sore ear. Just flu symptoms. So I'm gonna keep her off school today, stay home with her." AJ nodded, making herself coffee.
"Oh, man. That sucks." Jamie sighed, "Should you take her to the doctors?" He asked her.
"No, I'm gonna give her some medicine, try and get her to eat something or at least drink. We'll probably just watch movies in bed all day." AJ nodded, "Which she will then smother me and give me the flu too." AJ nodded as Jamie smiled.
"Sounds lovely." Jamie laughed, "Hey, I just wanna say I'm sorry for not taking you seriously at first yesterday. I had a long day and to be honest I didn't really wanna believe what you told me." He said as she turned around to him, "It's not right. In fact, it's disgusting." He nodded, "And I'm going straight to my parents place later after my shift to talk to him about it." He nodded.
"I wouldn't lie about something like that." AJ shrugged, "Why would I?"
"I know. I'm not saying you're a liar." Jamie said, "I just didn't really know what to say. It's nothing something you want to hear, is it?" He said as she shook her head, "So I'll be home late, you'll probably be in bed." He nodded.
"Ok." AJ said, "I'll have my phone so… call me on your break?" AJ smiled as he nodded.
"I will." Jamie nodded, leaning forward and kissing her softly.
"Have a good day." AJ nodded once he pulled back from the kiss, watching him walk off out of the kitchen to head for work. She woke up feeling a little better, despite the lack of sleep she'd gotten from being up all night with Jessica. She could sense Jamie was upset about the whole situation with his father and probably didn't want to believe it. Who would have?
AJ finished making her coffee as well as grabbing some medicine from the cabinet for Jessica, also making her a toasted bagel with some orange juice which she assumed she wouldn't eat.
She headed upstairs with it and into her and Jamie's room where Jessica had moved into, "Hey, baby." AJ smiled, walking on into the room and closing the door over behind her. It was still super early and she assumed Jessica would go back to sleep after having some medicine, "How you feeling?" AJ asked her.
"My head hurts, mommy." Jessica sighed, lying up in bed whilst the TV was on quietly in the corner with a cartoon playing.
"I know, baby. Come on get some medicine." AJ said, sitting down on the edge of the bed as Jessica shuffled over, "I brought you a bagel and some orange juice too."
"Oh, I'm not hungry." Jessica sighed and shook her head.
"That's ok." AJ nodded, "But you need to drink a little. Stay hydrated." She said as Jessica just nodded whilst AJ opened up the medicine and gave her a spoonful.
"That's yucky." Jessica shook her head.
"I know but it'll help you feel better. Have a drink." AJ said, passing her the orange juice as Jessica took it from her to have a drink, "What are you watching?" AJ asked her as she got into bed with her, pulling the covers over them and sinking down amongst the puffy pillows.
"Scooby Doo." Jessica said softly, curling into AJ.
"Have we saw this one?" AJ asked her.
"I think so." Jessica nodded. AJ hated when she got the flu. As a mom she just wanted to make everything better for her. She lost her little spark and her energy and it always upset her to see.
"Is this the one where they go to the island? With all the zombies?" AJ asked her.
"I think so." Jessica said tiredly as AJ nodded.
"I like this one." AJ said as Jessica nodded, closing her eyes back and forth as she curled into AJ. There was no one more she trusted than her mother, and when she felt not well, this was the one place she wanted to be.
Later on in the day after AJ and Jessica fell back asleep for a little while in the morning, they moved downstairs where AJ set Jessica up on the couch with some blankets and a pillow. She managed to eat a little bit of lunch and was more or less just sleeping on and off on the couch whilst watching some TV.
"Mommy, I wanna see daddy." Jessica said as AJ came in to check on her and give her more medicine.
"I think he's working, baby." AJ said, not knowing for sure, sitting down on the edge of the couch beside her, placing her hand on her forehead, "You're still super warm." AJ sighed.
"Can you call daddy? I just wanna tell him I'm sick." Jessica nodded as AJ gave her some more medicine.
"Ok, I will call him and see if he can come see you for just a little while." AJ said as Jessica nodded.
"Mommy, my competition is tomorrow." Jessica frowned, "I-I need to go." She said as AJ remembered. She'd forgot about it with everything that had been going on.
"Oh, baby. Not like this." AJ shook her head, "I don't think you'll be able to compete if you like this this." She said as Jessica sighed sadly.
"But I wanted to." Jessica sighed, tears welling in her eyes, "I was trying really hard to be better. And-And I won't be able to do a competition again until… until a long time." Jessica sighed.
"Baby, I'm sorry." AJ cupped her cheek, "But you can't go if you're not well like this." AJ shook her head, "You wouldn't be able to be the best you can be. You might have to sit this one out." She nodded.
"Oh, no." Jessica sighed sadly.
"I'm sorry, baby." AJ sighed, leaning forward and kissing her forehead as Jessica just sighed, "I'm gonna call daddy and see if he can come see you, ok?"
"Ok." Jessica sniffled as AJ nodded. She didn't think it'd ever be possible to hear Jessica pine and plead to see her father. It just wasn't a scenario she ever thought of having, but hearing it, hearing how much she already loved and sought comfort in her father was a blessing to her in many ways, because she knew that there was another person out there who loved Jessica to the unconditional extent that she did, and that was a relief.
"Hey." Punk nodded, standing at the door to the house he happily lived in at one point, standing with a box from the bakery down the street and also a bag. As soon as AJ called him to tell him Jessica wanted to see him and that she was unwell, he dropped everything and headed over.
"Hi." AJ nodded back, never thinking she would invite Punk over to the house, but Jessica was desperate to see him.
"She alright?" Punk asked, stepping into the house and closing the door behind him.
"She's still got a temperature and a headache. It's just flu symptoms, they should clear up in a few days. She's more upset that she won't be able to compete tomorrow in her track competition." AJ nodded to him.
"That sucks." Punk shook his head as AJ nodded.
"She's in there." AJ nodded to the living room as Punk nodded, walking on through. It was the first time he'd been back in the house since he was imprisoned five years ago. Nothing much had really changed, but knowing AJ lived here now with another man made him feel a tad uncomfortable.
"Daddy." Jessica smiled, still lying down on the couch, spotting her father and immediately smiling.
"Hey." Punk smiled. It was odd to see her look so pale and lethargic. She was normally skipping and bouncing everywhere, "You not well, huh?" Punk asked her.
"No, I'm not. I'm sick and I'm not at school." Jessica told him, "And I can't go to my competition tomorrow, daddy." She sighed, "Because I'm sick."
"I know, mommy told me." Punk nodded, walking over to her and sitting down on the edge of the couch beside her, "But hey, there will be other ones, and you can get practising for them once you get better." Punk said as AJ stood at the door, looking on. She was amazed at how well he picked up on being a father. She always knew he was a great one, but she thought five years of prison may have come in the way of it, but apparently not. She was a little jealous of how natural it came to him.
"I wanted to go to this one." Jessica frowned.
"I know you did." Punk nodded, "But you'll get to do a ton more." He said, "I brought you a cupcake." He told her, "Wanna see it?" He asked her.
"Oh, yeah." Jessica nodded, slowly sitting up as Punk opened up the box to show her, "But I'm not very hungry, daddy." She admitted, "Did you get one for mommy too?" She noticed three cupcakes.
AJ raised her eyebrows and looked over as Punk turned to her.
"Special offer." Punk shrugged as AJ just smiled and nodded, "Yeah, well you can save it for later." Punk nodded, "If you feel a bit better."
"And what's in your bag?" Jessica noticed the supermarket bag.
"Jessica, don't be nosey." AJ shook her head.
"No, these are more things for you too." Punk nodded to Jessica, standing up as AJ looked on as he took things out of the bag. There was a teddy bear, chocolates, a colouring in book, a Gatorade and more.
"Phil." AJ shook her head, "You didn't have to… buy all of that."
"Thanks, daddy. I just finished my last colouring in book." Jessica told him as Punk smiled.
"It's fine." Punk nodded to AJ.
"Well I'm gonna go start dinner. Will you try and eat a little bit for me, baby?" AJ asked Jessica.
"I'll try, mommy." Jessica nodded.
"Ok." AJ smiled, walking off to the kitchen whilst Punk helped unpack the new colouring book for Jessica. He figured she'd be bored sitting on the couch with the sniffles all day, so he picked up some things for her to occupy herself with, as well as some other treats. He hated that his baby was unwell and wanted to make her feel better. He also took the time to be thankful that Jamie wasn't anywhere to be seen.
"You good here? I'm gonna go talk to mommy for a second." Punk said as Jessica nodded, sitting up and using her new colouring in book.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Thank you for coming to see me." Jessica smiled, her spirits lifted just by seeing her father. He made her feel important, and she'd never had that from someone else other than her mother.
"That's ok, sweetheart." Punk smiled, kissing her head, standing up and heading into the kitchen, "Hey, store these somewhere." Punk told AJ, handing her the box with the cupcakes in them.
"Oh." AJ turned around, taking the box from him, "Day off?" AJ asked him.
"No, no… I had just a morning seminar. I was actually just leaving when you called." Punk told her as AJ nodded.
"Well thank you for coming." AJ said, "Jess really wanted to see you so it means a lot to her." She said as Punk nodded, "I know I said we couldn't be friends, and I know we haven't spoken since… you know." She nodded slowly as Punk nodded, "But I just hit a bump I think, it's still really weird having you around again and I'm just getting used to it, that's all."
"It's fine." Punk nodded, "And look I'm sorry if I have made this difficult for you. With your health. You know I'd never wanna hurt you or make you uncomfortable." Punk nodded, "Jamie… kinda told me off and ever since I've been blaming myself for putting you in this situation but… April, I gotta see Jessica. Me and you, we're gonna have to operate somehow." He nodded.
"I know, and look Jamie wasn't in the right to say anything to you, and we've talked about it. He's just… well he's protective." AJ nodded.
"Right." Punk nodded, "How was his parents? You have a nice time?" He asked her, watching her turn back around to the stove, tucking her hair behind her ear. She was still absolutely the most gorgeous woman in the world to him. Even in some sweats and a t-shirt running on little sleep.
"Yeah, it was good." AJ nodded briefly. She wanted to tell him, but she knew it would only further compare him to Jamie, and she didn't want that going on in her head.
"Daddy." Jessica walked into the kitchen with her blanket wrapped around her head and body, trailing behind as Punk smiled.
"Mhm?" Punk turned to her, "You look like a floating head." Punk said as AJ turned around and laughed.
"Jess, you're gonna overheat now." AJ laughed.
"No, I'm fine." Jessica said, "Daddy can you stay for dinner please?" She asked him, keeping her blanket wrapped around her entire body and head as Punk stiffened and looked over to AJ.
"I uh… I don't wanna disturb anything." Punk told her as AJ took a deep breath.
"Jamie isn't gonna be home until later." AJ turned around, "Stay for dinner." She smiled softly as Punk looked across at her, "There's plenty here."
"Yes, stay." Jessica nodded, taking his hand and resting her cheek against it, "Please stay for dinner." She begged as Punk laughed and nodded as AJ smiled.
"Alright, ok. I'll stay then." Punk nodded, looking over at AJ who just nodded and smiled.
AJ turned around back to the stove. She knew this was all making things difficult for herself, and she didn't know whether she was coming or going, but all she knew was her daughter's laughter was at her loudest when Phil was around, and that was a good enough reason to invite him to stay. Not to mention… part of her wanted him to stay.