Post-Traumatic Stress

It had been a few weeks since AJ settled into her job… even though she hadn't settled as such. She hadn't made any friends, and her co-workers constantly spoke behind her back. She knew how to stick up for herself, but she was scared in case she'd snap, and the last thing she wanted was for them to turn it around on her, and end up fired from the job, which is exactly what they would have wanted. She also couldn't face telling Punk, because she knew he'd want to get involved, and she knew he'd be furious. She wanted to face it on her own.

Laura and Jen, the only full-time staff were the worst. Sometimes they'd deliberately smash a glass just so she could clean it up. Not to mention they were also extremely racist towards her Hispanic culture. She hated to just sit in silence, but she also knew what she was worth, and she'd earned the job at the restaurant, probably way more than they did. That's what kept her going.

She had started university back up, and whilst most of the people in her lectures were younger than her, they were fairly nicer to her than the staff at work. They were kind and enthusiastic and just as passionate about writing as much as she was. She was glad she'd made the decision to go back.

Punk had also been busy throughout the past few weeks, as he was working with a new client on a case. The client was actually still in custody as he hadn't been bailed out since it was such a serious offence, and he of course was doing all he could to help his client, even though it was very clear he was guilty, which sometimes waved a notion of sickness through her stomach.

"Hey." AJ walked into his office one night. It was 1am and whilst she had gone to bed earlier, he had told her he'd be right behind her, yet it was a few hours later and he was in his office, tired, pale and stressed, "You should come to bed." She said sadly. She missed his arms around her. Protecting her.

"I need to look through these papers." Punk told her, massaging his temple, "You go back to bed." He smiled softly to her. The temptation she gave him was unbelievable, but he was assigned to a big case. A stressful case. And he had a lot of work to do.

"I don't like seeing how stressed you are." She shook her head, "Is it because you know he's guilty?"

"I don't even think I could talk my way out of this one." He shook his head truthfully, "Doesn't help that he's giving me absolutely nothing to work with." He sighed, tossing his pen down and rubbing his hands over his face as AJ frowned, walking further into the office in her shorts and t-shirt with her arms folded.

"Working on no sleep isn't going to help." She added, "You'll be able to think better in the morning if you have a decent sleep." She told him, spotting Milo's tail under his desk as she smiled a little, "Is Milo under your desk?" She laughed a little as Punk moved back in his chair where AJ saw Milo curled in his bed under the table fast asleep.

"He likes sleeping there." Punk said, "So I've just got into the habit of putting his bed in if I'm working in here." He shrugged as AJ smiled, "I do talk to him sometimes about the work."

"But you don't talk to me?" AJ folded her arms.

"I figured you wouldn't be interested." He said, "It's party hard stuff."

"I'm not a little girl, Phil." AJ rolled her eyes.

"I know but-"

"You're just scared I'm gonna think you're defending a murderer." AJ said, knowing what he was thinking.

"Well do you?" Punk asked.

"You're doing your job." AJ shrugged, "You work really hard." She nodded. She'd learned that he was a very hard-working individual, and he never gave up on anything. He was determined for sure and she liked that. She tried not to think too much about what his work actually involved, and focused more on his dedication, "Do you think he's guilty?" She asked.

"He claims he's being set-up." Punk said, "But the evidence says different, so… I have no idea what to think." He shook his head whilst she glanced over at his papers, "Are you at university tomorrow?" He asked.

"Yeah." AJ nodded, "My lecture is at 9 and then I start work at 12." She said as Punk nodded, "Are you at your office tomorrow?" She asked him.

"Yeah I start at 8." He nodded.

"Then come to bed." She whined a little, taking it into her own hands to close over all his folders, carefully of course so she didn't misplace anything as he allowed her to close everything over, "C'mon." She said as he gave in and stood up, walking out of the office with her as Milo woke and followed them so he could lay at the bottom of the bed.

The next day, Punk had gone to meet his client who was being held on remand in jail. He got him in a private room and started taking his things out whilst his client, Joseph or Jo as he apparently liked to be called, sat across from him.

"So you had no alibi…" Punk mumbled to himself whilst looking through a few things, "Where were you when the murder took place?" Punk asked him.

"I was at my garage locking up." Jo said, "I didn't kill nobody. I'm being set up, I'm telling you, man." Jo said with frustration.

"Yeah, alright take it easy." Punk warned, "So you're at the garage, you come home, there's a gun on your front step, you pick it up just in time for the cops to pull up?" He said as Jo nodded.

"It's my friend Gabe. He's setting me up. We played poker every Thursday night. Me, Gabe, Calvin and of course Monty." He said, referring to the man whom was murdered. Who he was being accused of murdering.

"Yeah, well you can't just go accusing people? It looks desperate." Punk told him, "Why would one of your friends set you up?"

"I had a thing with his girl. We sorted it all out but… he's never been the same since. He's been shady. Him and Monty never got on. It could have been accidental and then he thought he'd pin it on me."

"Accidental? With a gun?"

"Gabe carried about guns." Jo nodded, "I'm telling you, man. It's a set-up."

"You know you have to tell me everything that you know. I'm not a cop, ok. I don't… I don't hold it against you. But I need to know everything you know to help you out, cause right now I got you with the murder weapon, connected to the killer and with no alibi on the night he was killed and no fucking evidence to prove your innocence or anyone else's guilt." Punk said.

"Alright, alright. You're my lawyer I trust you." Jo nodded, "Gabe and Monty had a drug business going on. They had a whole fuck up and Monty stopped trusting Gabe with the money. There was a lot of tension there. I say they probably had an argument about it. Monty told me earlier on in the day that he was meeting Gabe to discuss some things about the business."

"Where?" Punk asked.

"You know The Carlington restaurant?" He asked as Punk raised a brow.

"Uh… yeah, I know it." Punk nodded, knowing that was where AJ worked.

"They met there hours before Monty was killed. I'm sure of it. They said they'd go into public so they wouldn't end up fighting, but they must have gotten heated and I'm guessing when Gabe drove Monty home… things just escalated quickly." Jo said.

"Well this is fantastic." Punk shook his head tiredly, "Too many fucking ins and outs here." He spat as he sat back on his chair.

"Well you're the lawyer." Jo said.

"Yeah, I know that, pal." Punk shook his head, "How the fuck do I go about this without mentioning the drug business so I don't bust any of your friends?"

"I don't know." Jo said as Punk just grunted and ran his hands over his face. Sometimes he loved his job, but only when he knew the right things to say and how to turn a case around. There were times like these, where he felt completely stumped at a case.

AJ had just finished her lecture, and being the last person to always leave the hall as she wanted to grab every piece of information she could, her lecturer approached her as she packed up her bag with her notebook, course books and pens.

"April." Her lecturer said as AJ turned around to him with a small smile, "I just want to tell you that your essay from last week was incredible." He said as AJ smiled, "You have a talent, and you are definitely in the right course." He nodded, "Keep it up." He tapped her arm friendlily as AJ smiled to herself.

"Thank you." AJ nodded as she grabbed her things and left the hall. She always found it hard to take a compliment but it did make her feel good.

She walked out of the lecture hall and into the main area where students were walking around freely, heading to next lectures, or going for lunch or going to the library. She was so glad she could finally do something for herself, and her mental health was in a state where it was stable, and she was familiar with coping with it.

She began walking through the main area to head out when she saw the red hair…

She paused, frozen with fear, but she'd not yet saw the face of the woman who wasn't even Cass. Her distress from what happened automatically told her it was him just because the shade of hair colour was exactly the same. She found herself short breathed and walking briskly, borderline running out of the university. She flagged down a cab even though she had no money with her, and asked for it to take her to Punk's firm.

She had to assure the driver she was fine every time he asked, even though she most definitely wasn't.

Once the cab stopped outside the firm, AJ launched herself out of the cab, still breathing rapidly and running out as the man put his window down and started yelling.

"Hey, you didn't pay!" He yelled whilst AJ ran through the revolving doors and crashed at reception where a woman jumped out of her skin.

"Phil… Phil Brooks. Where is he?" AJ asked.

"Uh, ma'am… you can't just-"

"Where is he?" AJ demanded.

"His office is on the fourth floor." She shook her head as AJ raced by her, "Uh, Miss-" The woman tried to call back but AJ had ran to the elevator just in time for the cab driver to run in after her.

AJ stood in the elevator, trying to control her breathing. She hadn't even saw the woman's face but in her mind, in all the distress it had been in thinking of Cass and what had happened, she'd just gone into survival mode and knew she had to get as far away as possible. Her mind truly believed that it was her… just by the same colour of hair.

She tumbled out of the elevator and ran down the corridor, bumping into people as she looked at the office doors and the names on them, finally finding his office as she crashed inside and slammed it shut behind her as Punk looked up from his computer with confusion.

"April." Punk shook his head, standing up with worry.

"It was her." AJ shook her head breathlessly, "Cass… she was… she was at the university." AJ panicked, "She was there. I saw her."

"What? You saw her?" Punk asked, walking over to her and placing his hands on her arms, "You're shaking. Come sit down." He said as she just shook her head and stayed still.

"I saw… I saw the back of her. Her hair." AJ nodded to him.

"J-Just the back of her?" Punk asked.

"Yeah but… but it was her." AJ said, "It was her hair."

"You didn't see her face?" Punk asked.

"No but-"

"Who was she with? Was she alone?" Punk asked.

"No… no well she was with other girls and… laughing and going to the library but… but it was her I know it was." AJ said as Punk realised this was perhaps a little post-traumatic stress.

"April, I don't think it was her you saw." Punk shook his head honestly as a man then burst through the door.

"Hey, you never paid for your cab, lady." He pointed his finger at AJ as Punk slapped his finger away.

"Don't fucking point." Punk warned, "Here." He took his wallet out and threw money at him, "Get out." He said as the man grabbed the money and left the office as Punk scoffed.

"I didn't know where else to go." AJ shook her head.

"April, look at me…" He said as she looked up at him, "That… That can't have been her. She's not at that university and… she wouldn't have friends and you… you also didn't see her face." He said as AJ gulped, "What happened is still fresh on your mind and…"

"You think I'm crazy." AJ laughed a little and nodded.

"No, I don't." Punk said, "But post-traumatic stress is a thing. What Cass done to you was awful and… this is normal that you feel like this." He said, "But I promise you, she's not gonna come near you when the police are looking for her and especially since she doesn't know where you are in Chicago." He said, "You're just a little stressed, honey. That's all." He said, pulling her into him and rubbing her back softly as AJ rested against his chest sadly, her heart still beating rapidly.

She knew herself that it wasn't Cass in the university. It wasn't even her shape, but she saw the same hair colour and suddenly the flashbacks to what had happened came back to her and somehow, she wound up here in a mess in his arms.

"I'm sorry I came here." She said, pulling back from the hug, "That was inappropriate."

"Hey, if you ever need me for anything, no matter how minor, you come straight into this office and get me." He said as she smiled, "You ok?" He asked, running his hand down her cheek softly as she nodded and took a deep breath.

"I just… thought it was her." AJ said, feeling foolish.

"It's normal." Punk said, "But she won't get to you, ok?" Punk said, "You're safe here." He said, pressing a kiss on her head as she nodded with a smile.

A/N: Let me know what you think!