Careful

"No… wait, Phil you can't." AJ shook her head, watching as Punk headed towards the door. They had embraced for a while whilst AJ really took in that comforting feeling of him, but she knew when he was angry, and the last thing she wanted was for him to murder her father.

"He did this." Punk said, "He made you leave us." Punk turned to her, "Tell me why I shouldn't go beat his ass?"

"Because he has that video and he will go straight to the police, trust me." AJ nodded, "I… One time I tried to go back and find you. Freddie could only have been like… two or three, he found out and sent the video to me. He still has it and if anyone gets their hands on it, you and Julio are done for." AJ shook her head.

"AJ he's kept you a prisoner here for eighteen years. You can't keep living like this." Punk said, he couldn't imagine how she felt. He thought about if he was in her shoes, and he knew he would have done the same to protect her, he just wished she had told him right at the very beginning, not eighteen years later.

"I have to or else you'll go to prison." AJ shook her head.

"I'll get the video off of him." Punk nodded, "You can't live your life like this April. You've… you've been threatened, blackmailed by your own father, he deserves more than a fucking beating." He said, trying to get towards the door as she pulled him back by the arm.

"Please just… don't." AJ shook her head, "He could go straight to the police and I… I can't let that happen. Freddie needs you." She said, "My parents can't know you've been here, or Freddie." She said as Punk looked down at her. She was scared and probably because her father had constantly inflicted this type of fear onto her. He was mad, but also incredibly upset that this was how things had actually played out. He felt stupid for even thinking she just left on her own terms, and he wished he had gone after her now but he knew there was no point in telling himself what he should have done.

"This is all his fault." Punk said, "He took you away from your own kid. You should have just told me and… and we could have dealt with it before he got the chance to go to the cops." Punk said, placing his hands on her shoulders as AJ sighed.

"I was too afraid. I thought he'd find out someway and it'd be too late. I couldn't watch you or Julio go to prison, especially when I had the power to make sure you didn't. I had to go." AJ shook her head as Punk sighed. She was fiercely loyal, he knew that, the fact she had sacrificed her only life, having a relationship with her own daughter, just to protect him and make sure he and Julio didn't go to prison, it was selfless and he wasn't surprised she had done it.

"We can fix this." Punk nodded as AJ shook her head.

"No. We… It has to be this way." AJ said.

"No, April. This isn't happening. You can't live here like a prisoner, like your father's puppet, just because he's insecure about the fact you found a new family who loved you and supported you the way yours couldn't." Punk said, "Freddie knew there was something up."

"I know but I just couldn't tell her." AJ shook her head, "I don't want her involved in any of this mess. She's got enough going on as it is." She sighed, "I'm so sorry I couldn't do anything else-"

"No, you don't have to apologise." Punk nodded with assurance. She had been manipulated, threatened and mentally abused, now that he knew that, he didn't expect any apology from her, "But I'm not… we can't just ignore this now, I won't let you suffer any longer." He said as AJ looked up at him.

"But you can't… you don't know what he's going to do-"

"He's not gonna have the chance to do anything." Punk shook his head, "He's got away with this shit for way too long now." He told her. He could see she was a bag of nerves and that's what her father had made her. He wanted to cause real pain and damage on him but he knew that wasn't the best way around it.

"But what are you going to do?" AJ asked him.

"I don't know." Punk said softly, "But we have to do something, April. You can't… live like this, it's not fair." He said. The fact that her father was the reason that his daughter didn't get to have a mother growing up was now something that was raging in his stomach. He'd never been this angry before.

"But he has so much against you, against Julio." AJ said.

"We'll find away to get it from him, and give him what he deserves in the process." Punk nodded, "Right now… you just gotta pretend everything is normal, don't act any different." He said, "I'm gonna have to tell Julio and Toni. And… Freddie." He nodded.

"But more people knowing gives him a chance to find out." AJ shook her head with paranoia.

"Hey, look at me." Punk said, placing his hands on her arms as she looked at him, "No one is gonna know. We're family. You… are family." He said, "Julio and Toni are gonna look at this like a kidnap, which is kinda what it is." He nodded, "And they will know how to go around this, and I'm gonna get you out of here." Punk nodded as AJ sighed, "It's gonna be ok, I promise you." He nodded.

She'd waited so long to hear those words and feel him close. Too long. She was still scared but his protection, his assurance meant the world. She guessed she'd never really thought about how bad the whole thing was, how much of a prisoner she really had become to her parents.

"Thank you." AJ whispered, looking up at him as he stepped in a little closer to her, looking down at her as she looked up, not being able to help themselves if they tried, both meeting their lips halfway as he placed his hands on her waist.

She'd dreamed about kissing him again one day although she never suspected it would happen. She'd almost forgot about how he made her feel and what love they really had, and she just wanted to disappear into him.

Punk wanted her to know he still cared, he'd always cared but tried to convince himself he didn't to make it easier, but knowing she hadn't left out of her own choice, it made him feel like he needed to protect her that little bit more, and save her from this life she had been so unfairly forced into.

"You should… you should go." AJ whispered, placing her hand on his chest as she broke away from the soft kiss that she could have carried out all night.

Punk nodded in agreement. He knew if he stayed any longer, something inevitable would happen and he wasn't sure he was even ready for that after so long, not to mention he knew Freddie would wonder where he was.

"I'll be back." Punk nodded, "I'll talk to Julio and Toni… you don't have to worry." He shook his head as AJ just nodded.

When Punk left AJ's apartment he headed straight to Julio's and Toni's. He dropped Freddie a text telling her he got caught up at the parlour, he knew she had her friends over anyway and probably wouldn't have noticed he was late.

Once he explained to Julio and Toni what had really happened, why AJ had really left, Julio looked just as mad as he was, and Toni looked terrified.

"I'll kill him." Julio said, "I'll kill him with my bare hands." He slammed his hand down on the kitchen counter as Toni jumped.

"I know I feel the same but we have to go about this in the right way." Punk said, "He could have dozens of copies somewhere." He said as Julio placed his hand over his face and shook his head angrily.

"Why didn't she tell us when he came to her?" Toni asked, "We could have fixed it back then rather than… rather than eighteen years later." She shook her head.

"She was scared. She didn't know what to do. She thought we'd go to prison so she made her decision based on that. I mean they bought her an apartment, put her in university to get a degree, she has no friends out there… I… I should have questioned it all sooner, as soon as she left." Punk shook his head.

"No, we're not doing that. We're not blaming ourselves." Julio said, "We know now, that's what matters." He said, followed by grumbling a little as he massaged his temples, "We're gonna need to go in full steam ahead. I mean, he is… he is messing with the wrong people, too many people. If he doesn't give up all of his copies of that video, then I will kill him." Julio said as Punk gulped and turned to Toni who just shook her head.

"Murdering people is what got us here in the first place." Toni spat, standing up, "No one is doing anything." She warned, looking at her husband, "We just play this cool. AJ carries on like nothing is going on and we… we get that footage, once we have it, then we can deal with him on a more personal and physical level, get AJ out of that rotten town and make sure they never come near us again." Toni said.

"So what are you saying exactly? We get the footage without Rick even noticing?" Punk asked.

"Not us." Toni shook her head, "AJ. She's close with them now. She could find it somehow, with a little help from us of course." Toni said.

"And what if she gets caught? Do you have any idea what her dad would do to her? He's a fucking monster." Punk said.

"Well we can't just break in and start fucking him up." Julio said, "Your mother is right. This is… this is serious stuff. He slips that video, whatever it shows, to the cops, that's me and you over." Julio reminded him as Punk sighed and nodded.

"I know." Punk said.

"So we have to be careful." Toni said, "Tread lightly. AJ has easy access to her father, to his house-"

"Do you think he's gonna have it lying around? It's probably on his phone or a laptop." Punk said.

"Then we take the time to figure it out. But we stay on our side and we don't show our faces. As soon as he smells something going on, that video is going straight to the station." Julio nodded, "We're playing a dangerous game here." He nodded, "One mistake, one slip up, and we're behind bars." He said as Punk ran his hand through his hair and gulped.

"We'll get it." Toni nodded, "We will. And he'll get what he deserves at the same time. Believe me."