Finding Time

"Hey, Tony. Can I speak to you?" Punk knocked on his boss' door whilst walking on in.

"Brooks, you knock first and then I say who is it and then you say it's Brooks and then I decide if I want to let you in or not." Tony looked across at him as Punk stared at him.

"Should I… leave?" Punk turned back to the door.

"Yeah, go out and try it again." Tony nodded as Punk slowly backed up on his steps, closing the door behind him and shaking his head.

Punk stood for a second with his hands on his hips, not knowing what he did to deserve such torment from his boss. He eventually knocked on the door and waited.

"Who is it?" Tony called as Punk rolled his eyes.

"Brooks." Punk answered.

"Uh… come back later." Tony replied as Punk shook his head, bursting into the door.

"Ok, you aren't funny." Punk said as Tony chuckled and nodded, "Can I talk to you?"

"What do you want, Brooks?" Tony laughed to himself as he was sealing an envelope.

"Is it ok if I take tomorrow night and Saturday off?" Punk asked him.

"You want a raise while you're at it?" Tony scoffed.

"Well if you wanna talk about it." Punk shrugged innocently as Tony looked at him, "No, it's just… April is having a hard time at the moment with her pregnancy."

"Oh, well I'm sorry to hear that." Tony nodded, "I like April. Better than you actually." He realised as Punk nodded slowly.

"Right, well… I was gonna take her out of town for the night. She's off Saturday and she always finishes early on a Friday. I uh…. I don't normally ask for days off." Punk reminded him as Tony nodded.

"Oh, I know you don't. Of course you can have it off." Tony nodded seriously, "Go spend some time with your wife." He agreed.

"Thank you." Punk nodded, "How are things looking on this new investigation for that girl's body?" Punk asked.

"Not great. She was last seen with her friend in a club. The friend came in and spoke to us and said she left with some guy but it was totally out of her character to do that because she had a boyfriend." Tony shrugged.

"How does that explain the blood in her car?" Punk shook his head.

"Well she obviously made it back to her place alive, from there it could get blurry." Tony nodded, "Seems suspicious that she left with some guy when she had a boyfriend." He shrugged, "We're looking into it. But you go and enjoy a day off." He nodded.

"Yeah, I will." Punk nodded, "I'm gonna go take some lunch over to April at the hospital." He said as Tony nodded and watched him leave the office.

"Your doctor will be right with you. Just take a seat over there." AJ pointed to a patient who nodded whilst she checked her in on the system. She was doing a lot of over the desk work the past few weeks as she was growing bigger.

"Hey, how you feeling?" Eve asked, walking into the reception area around the desk as AJ sat down on the chair.

"I'm tired." AJ nodded.

"This is you at seven months? I dread to see you at nine." Eve said worriedly as AJ nodded.

"I think it's because my blood pressure is low. I've got no energy." AJ shook her head, "My doctor says it's normal to go through little phases of different symptoms. Last month it was a lot of eating, a lot of sex, a lot of crying." She nodded, "This month is… a lot of sleeping, a lot of worrying, a lot of… depression." AJ sighed.

"Isn't there something your doctor could give you to help that?" Eve asked.

"No, I'd rather just let it pass me." AJ nodded, "I don't want to risk anything harming the baby. Pills or anything." She said as Eve nodded.

"Yeah, I understand." Eve said, "But like you said, it will pass." She nodded, "Maybe you should take a couple days off to recharge."

"Well I'm finishing early tomorrow and I have Saturday off." AJ nodded, "Phil is working, though so it's not like we can do anything." She shrugged sadly, "He's always on the Friday night shift."

"I'm sure he could get it off and you guys could spend the day together." Eve nodded.

"It's probably too short notice." AJ shrugged.

"I hope he's making time for you, April." Eve raised a brow.

"Oh, he is." AJ nodded, "We have busy careers and we're both compatible in that field. We understand long hours working." She said, "I do kinda miss him, though. The past couple days I've fell asleep before he even gets home." She frowned.

"April, you're pregnant, that's normal. This little guy is taking up all your energy. That's how it works." Eve smiled as AJ nodded.

"Little guy? You sound like Phil." AJ shook her head.

"He's still adamant it's a boy?" Eve laughed.

"Oh he's one hundred percent sure apparently." AJ nodded, "I know him and Seth just want a little buddy to take to the hockey games." She rolled her eyes.

"Can't they take a little girl to the hockey too?" Eve laughed.

"Yeah, he's just scared to think about having a little girl." AJ nodded.

"Of course." Eve smiled, "Well hey, take it easy on yourself. Your body is doing an incredible thing right now, it's gonna get down and tired at times."

"I know." AJ smiled. She was grateful to have friends she could talk to openly.

"Hey you two." Punk appeared, walking into the hospital department with some lunch for AJ as she smiled and stood up.

"I was just here for this." Eve smiled, reaching over for the file she'd forgotten to take with her, "Enjoy your lunch. Smells good." She nodded to AJ, leaving the desk as AJ smiled.

"Hey." AJ smiled to Punk.

"How you doing?" Punk asked her.

"I'm ok." AJ nodded, "What's this?" She smiled, taking the bag and the drink from him.

"Your favourite sandwich." Punk smiled.

"Oh, yum." AJ smiled, "Well come through the back so I can eat it." She smiled as he nodded, following her into the back office room, sitting down at one of the tables.

"How you been feeling? Any more of those fake contraction things?" Punk asked her as she opened up the sandwich.

"No, I've been good." AJ nodded, "I think they'll just come and go occasionally." She shrugged as Punk nodded, "Have you got anywhere with this girls body you're trying to find?" She asked him.

"No, not really. We know she was last seen coming out of a club with a guy." Punk nodded, "So she probably made it back to her place alive but… there's blood in her car so-"

"It's definitely her blood?" AJ asked.

"Yeah." Punk nodded, "Hey, are you looking forward to having some time off?" He asked.

"Oh, yeah. I need it." AJ nodded, "I'm just so sad that you have to work." She frowned as Punk nodded.

"Yeah, me too." Punk sighed. He figured he would surprise her tomorrow when he got home early. He really wanted to do something to brighten her day up a little. They needed some time to themselves, "I wouldn't be able to take it off so short notice." Punk shrugged.

"Oh, I know." AJ frowned, "I can just online shop for the baby whilst you're at work." She said as he nodded.

"Even though we have pretty much everything?" He laughed.

"We do not." AJ said, "Have you seen my list? We still have a lot to get." AJ scoffed.

"Yeah? Like what?" Punk shook his head.

"We need blankets, diapers, I wanna get one of those mobile censors for over the crib too, I think that will really help it sleep." AJ nodded to herself, "Oh, we need bottles also-"

"I thought you were breast feeding?" Punk shook his head.

"Well yeah, I hope to but… I'm gonna need to make bottles up." She laughed a little, "Oh, you sweet thing. You thought you were getting out of the night feeds, didn't you?"

"No." Punk lied, shaking his head.

"You so did." AJ laughed, "No, I'll make up bottles. That is if I can even breast feed." She shrugged.

"Well they are certainly growing." Punk wiggled his eyebrows as she kicked his foot, "What?" He laughed, "I love it."

"Of course you do." AJ shook her head, "I kinda love it too." She admitted as he laughed, "I'm not used to having big boobs." She nodded, looking into her shirt as Punk laughed.

"That makes the both of us." Punk nodded.

"What do you prefer?" AJ asked.

"Hey, you know I'm an ass man." Punk shrugged.

"Yeah, I know." AJ nodded, "Luckily that isn't changing." She said as he nodded. Even just the simplest of ridiculous conversations with him were enough to make her smile and cheer her up.

"You been busy in here today?" Punk asked as AJ nodded.

"Well it's been up and down I guess." AJ nodded, "So you're working late tomorrow?" She frowned.

"Yeah." Punk nodded, "Friday night shift is always my shift." He said as AJ nodded.

"I know, it would just be nice for us to have some us time." AJ shrugged.

"Hey, we'll find it." Punk nodded, "We always do."

"Screw us for having such needy jobs." AJ nodded as Punk laughed.

"Yeah, we're so annoying." Punk agreed.

"We really are." AJ realised as he smiled, "The good thing is this sandwich is really good." She said.

"Oh, good. The guy knows my order now." Punk nodded.

"I think he went overload on ranch which is… fine by me." AJ nodded as he smiled.

The next afternoon, AJ got home from work early and was so glad to know she had the night and the following day off. She was in desperate need of some time off just to recharge like Eve had said. She was just sad that she couldn't spend that time with her husband.

However, not long after she got home, she was making tea in the kitchen when she heard someone come in the door, "Phil?" AJ called.

"Yeah, it's me. I forgot something." Punk said.

"Ok, come give me a kiss though." AJ said, pouring herself tea into her mug as she heard him come through to the kitchen, "What'd you forget?" She turned around, pausing when she saw him standing with a bunch of flowers, "Oh." She placed her hand on her chest.

"What do you say… me and you get out of town for the night?" He smiled.

"What?" AJ shook her head, taking the flowers from him, "These are beautiful." She smiled, "What are you talking about?" She looked across at him.

"I got the rest of the day and tomorrow off." Punk smiled, "I thought I'd surprise you."

"Really?" AJ smiled.

"Yeah." Punk nodded, "You up for it?" He smiled.

"Of course, yes." AJ smiled, "I thought I was gonna have to spend the day alone." She frowned.

"No, we can get out of here for the night and enjoy a day together." Punk smiled as she nodded.

"Oh, you are so sweet." AJ sighed, placing her hand over her mouth as she began to cry.

"Why are you crying?" Punk shook his head.

"These flowers are just really nice." AJ nodded to him as he raised his eyebrows, "Like you. You're like a flower." She nodded tearfully as he smiled.

"I've been called worse." Punk laughed as AJ sat the flowers down.

"Come here." AJ shook her head, reaching her arms out as she cupped his face as he leaned down to capture her lips, kissing her softly as she kissed back, "I love you. You're the best husband." AJ nodded as he smiled.

"I love you." He nodded as she smiled, "So we better pack a bag." He said as she nodded.

"Oh, yeah." AJ nodded, drying her tears as he smiled, "Ok, you put these in some water and I'll go pack a bag." She nodded, "Hopefully by then I'll stop crying." She nodded to herself as he smiled, watching as she left the kitchen and headed upstairs to go pack a bag.