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"Jesus Christ." Dean shook his head, walking into Punk's new place after he had called to let him know he was back in Chicago. They'd only saw each other a few times, and had talked on the phone, but Punk made it incredibly clear that he didn't want his mom or AJ to know that they were in touch. He thought it would make matters worse. So they kept their meet-ups private.

"Nice, right?" Punk asked him as Dean nodded.

"Hell yeah." Dean walked around. He didn't know the real reason why Punk had left all those years ago to work for their dad's company. Punk had told him that it was something he wanted to pursue to remember their dad, and he had bought it. However Dean found it hard to understand why Punk had left AJ the way he did, when they were very clearly in love with each other, "Feel good to be back?" Dean asked him.

"A little." Punk said, "I got this anxiety about it all, though." He shook his head, "Last time I was here I probably… left a sour taste in everyone's mouth." He said as Dean nodded.

"Well at least you know that." Dean said, "Working with the big fish now, huh?" Dean asked as Punk nodded. He found it hard to wrap his head around his brother's career move. He knew his brother so well and it just didn't seem like a job he ever wanted to have. Seeing him in a business suit, living in such lavish conditions, it wasn't the brother he grew up with.

"Yeah, you could say that." Punk nodded.

"Been a while since I've seen you in sweats." Dean nodded as Punk stood in sweats and a t-shirt. It was the Punk he remembered.

"I had a day off." Punk said, "To get this place sorted." He nodded, "Can't remember the last time I was in sweats either actually." He admitted to himself.

"So you gotta see mom now, right?" Dean asked.

"I doubt she'll want to see me." Punk said, "It's probably best that… we don't see each other."

"Phil, what the fuck man? I get why you can't see AJ again, but this is our mom… what'd she ever do to you but love you and protect you? When dad didn't." Dean said, "Wake the fuck up and go see her. She doesn't hate you. She misses you."

"I don't expect her to welcome me back with open arms." Punk said, "After the way I took off." He said, "She'll be mad with me and I… I don't wanna see her mad." He sighed.

"So when are you gonna see her then? At her funeral?" Dean asked him as Punk got slight shivers up his spine, "When it's too late? Like dad?" He asked, "Your excuse was always you living in New York… now you got no excuse. Now you're here. I'm fed up of having to lie to everyone when I come to see you." Dean said as Punk sighed.

"Yeah and I'm sorry I put you in that position." Punk said.

"You should be." Dean shook his head.

"How are things with you and Renee?" Punk asked him as Dean walked over to the couch and sat down.

"We were a little rocky there. I was staying with AJ for a while." He said as Punk nodded. Every time he heard her name his stomach tightened into knots, still to this very day, "But we figured things out and I'm back at our place again." He nodded.

"Well good." Punk said as Dean nodded, feeling like he was sitting on something, tilting to the side and reaching underneath him as he pulled out a pair of panties at the back of the couch.

"Nice." Dean nodded, throwing them at Punk, "Still sleeping around then?" He asked him as Punk tossed the underwear over to the other couch.

"I don't sleep around." Punk defended, "I've gotten better."

"I know you just do it because you're still obsessed with AJ." Dean shrugged.

"I'm not obsessed." Punk shook his head, "Haven't seen the girl in eight years." He sighed.

"There's no one in the world she hates more than you." Dean said, "Just… to let you know that." He smiled as Punk nodded.

"She has every right to hate me." Punk said. He was always tempted to ask Dean about AJ, what she was up to, but he felt like it was just torturing himself, so he kept the conversation about her to a minimal, "You really think I should see mom?" Punk asked.

"Yeah. I do." Dean said, "She doesn't hate you. Sure she's disappointed that you left like that. So young and so sudden. We all were." Dean said, "But I mean, you've done well for yourself, she'll be proud of you." He nodded, "And she knows it was you who paid off the mortgage."

"I didn't do that to win her over. I wanted to do it because she deserves it. It's something dad should have done for her with all the money he had." Punk shook his head. He had done things in secret for his mother, and for AJ, to help provide from a distance in whatever way he could. He couldn't have not done it.

"Yeah, well… maybe you're not like him after all." Dean said.

"You think I'm like him?" Punk asked.

"Yeah." Dean laughed, as though it was obvious, "You left your family to go have this life." He said, "Pretty similar to dad." He nodded.

"He left his wife and kids. I left… my mom and brother, and… girlfriend. It's a little less serious, don't you think?"

"I'd say you and AJ were pretty serious." Dean said. In terms of AJ and Punk's relationship, he was team AJ at all times, and Punk knew that, "She loved you, man-"

"Yeah and I loved her." Punk snapped, "But… I had to go do this. And she… she went off to college anyway. It never would have worked." He said.

"She went to local college." Dean said.

"What? Why? She wanted to go outside the city." Punk remembered.

"She… changed her mind." Dean said briefly as Punk sighed.

"Seeing mom means that I might end up running into AJ." Punk said, "I don't think I can do that." He admitted. He had the fear of facing AJ. He knew himself what he'd done was wrong and so having to confront it terrified him, "I'm here for work. I'm focused on work." He said to himself.

"Look, do what you want. You will anyway." Dean said, "All I'm saying is… the woman who sacrificed everything for us really misses you." He said as Punk looked across at him, "And I'd like to not have to lie to her or AJ for that matter, about coming to see you. Feels like we're having a damn affair." He grumbled as Punk chuckled a little.


"Hey, guess who brought new bed sheets?" Renee sang as she walked into AJ's apartment where she was lying on the couch, "AJ." She said as AJ sat up and turned around, "Hey. Sorry, were you sleeping? You should really lock your door if you are-"

"I wasn't." AJ said, "You didn't have to buy new bed sheets I have other ones." She shook her head.

"I know but I just wanted to say sorry." Renee shrugged, sitting the newly bought sheets and covers over on the other couch, "Hey, are you ok? You not working today?" Renee asked.

"No, it's my day off." AJ said, "I'm fine." She nodded.

She was thankful to Dean and Renee for keeping her going, as well as Kerry. She was truly heartbroken after everything happened with Punk. The way he left with absolutely no sign was the most shocking thing to her.

"You look sad." Renee sighed as AJ shook her head.

"I'm not sad." AJ smiled to convince her, "I just feel like I'm not moving forward with… anything in my life." She rolled her eyes.

"April, you're so hard on yourself. You've achieved a lot. So much. More than me and Dean combined." Renee said, "You're working at an agency. You have your own place. You have the opportunity to grow and… get what you want out of your job. It'll just take a little bit of time." Renee nodded.

"I know that." AJ sighed.

"You know you're allowed to miss him." Renee nodded.

"Am I? After all of this time?" AJ laughed a little, "It seems pathetic." She shook her head.

"It's not. You loved him." Renee said.

"I hate him." AJ shook her head, a lump in her throat, mostly because she knew she didn't hate him. She wished she did.

"You're allowed to hate him too." Renee nodded, standing up and walking over to her, sitting down beside her.

"He's probably… rich and… successful. What if… what if he has a wife?" AJ shook her head, "And kids? And I'm sat here still thinking about him like a loser." She cried, wiping her tears.

"You're not a loser." Renee sighed, hugging her, "It's gonna get better. I know you don't think that but it will. Someone is gonna come along who… who loves you just as much as Phil did. Maybe even more." She smiled as AJ laughed. She knew no one would love her more than he did… but then she thought how perhaps he didn't love her as much as she believed, "C'mon. You're successful and you're sexy and strong." She nudged her as AJ smiled.

"You think I'm sexy?" AJ laughed a little.

"So sexy." Renee nodded as AJ smiled, "Sexier if you have any wine in here." She admitted as AJ smiled.

"Go check the fridge. Dean might have left some." AJ said as Renee nodded, getting up from the couch and heading into the kitchen, pouring herself the rest of the half empty wine.

"What's on TV?" Renee asked, sitting back down beside AJ, "Saturday night TV is usually good."


Later that night, Kerry was sitting on her own couch watching the mind numbing TV shows that Saturday night had for her. It was bizarre for the house to be so quiet. Living a life where her children weren't around as much was something she wasn't adapting well to.

She worried and wondered about her eldest son every day. She was upset with him the way he had left and how he hadn't contacted them in eight years, but she also knew he had done certain things for her to make life easier for her. One day she left the house and saw someone painting the fence. She remembered she always nagged the boys to paint it when they got the chance and it never got done. All the painter had to say was it was a gift.

But no gifts, no gestures could replace her son. She missed him every day.

She was almost falling asleep on the couch watching the TV when she heard a knock at the door. She got up and walked out of the living room, switching the outside light on and opening up the front door after unlocking it.

She stood for a few seconds, not knowing what to say or do, feeling like she was about to fall over as she saw her eldest son standing.

"Hi, mom." Punk sighed as he saw her face, barely aged at all, still the same kind woman he always knew and loved.

"Oh my God." Kerry placed her hand on her chest, feeling like she couldn't breathe, "Phil." She cried, wrapping her arms around him as he hugged her back tightly. He underestimated how good it would feel to have a hug from her again. Her hugs always made everything feel ok.

"Hey." Punk sighed, looking on at the house around her, looking down at the kitchen, up the stairs, haunted by the times he spent here, times with AJ, times he wished he could go back to desperately.

"Phil, I…" Kerry looked up at him. Her eldest son was no longer a teenager who still needed her. He was a grown man.

"Can I come in?" Punk smiled as she nodded, drying her tears. Any mother would have slammed the door on his face for the way he had left, the way he hadn't stayed in contact, but he knew his mother would never turn him away. It felt so good to see her again.

"Come in." Kerry nodded desperately as Punk walked on through to the living room, looking around and sighing to himself. Somehow it still felt like home, "Phil, I… I can't believe you're here again… what-what are you doing here?" She said, placing her hand on her beating chest as she looked across at him.

"I'm… I'm working in Chicago now." Punk nodded, "At the main office." He said as Kerry raised her eyebrows.

"So you're… you're home?" Kerry shook her head.

"Yeah." Punk smiled, "Yeah, I'm living in the city." He said as Kerry smiled, "I thought you would hate me." He sighed to himself, "Mom, you should hate me."

"I would never, ever hate you. Especially not for… going out and doing something you wanted to do." Kerry said, "I hate the way you left, I hate what you did to April and your brother…but… I don't hate you."

"You should." Punk said as Kerry shook her head.

"No." Kerry said, "I… I just can't believe you're here. Are you ok? Have you been ok?" She cupped his cheeks as he smiled and nodded.

"Ma, I've been fine." He smiled.

"Sit down, I'll… I'll make coffee." Kerry nodded as Punk nodded and smiled, sitting down on the couch as Kerry disappeared into the kitchen. He didn't think she would be as happy to see him. He thought she would flip out on him for being so distant but… he knew what type of person his mom was. As long as he was happy, she would have been happy.

He sat looking around the living room, playing with his tattooed hands when he heard the most…unexpected noise. A baby crying.

He stood up, listening as his mom rushed upstairs. It was then he looked around the living room and noticed a few framed pictures of a baby. His palms began to get sweaty and itchy, listening as his mother seemed to be bringing the crying baby downstairs.

He watched as she walked into the living room, holding the one year old baby girl in her arms as he tilted his head.

"Who-Who the hell is this?" Punk asked over the cries as Kerry looked at him.

"This is Alba." Kerry said with a nervous smile, realising she couldn't talk herself out of this one.

"I didn't really mean it like that… why is there a baby in your house?" Punk asked, deliberately not looking at the baby because at the corner of his eye, he could see that soft tanned skin, big brown eyes, dark wispy hair, and he knew.

"She's… April's daughter."