"Do you think they'll be alright working on?" AJ asked Punk, doing her seat belt as they had taken their seats on the plane. Punk had told the builders to continue with the extension through the weekend and that they'd be back Monday morning, AJ was just slightly worried, like always.
"Yeah. They'll be fine." Punk assured her, "You nervous?" He asked her.
"A little." AJ nodded as she took a deep breath, "Ok, a lot." She said as he smiled sweetly, resting his hand on her thigh.
"Everything will be fine. We'll always have each other, just remember that." He told her as she nodded, resting her head down on his shoulder as she planned to take a nap during the full flight time, if not, all she would do was think about how bad this weekend could go, so with the help of Punk massaging her head and playing with her hair, she eventually did conk out to sleep.
Later on…
"That was such a good flight, don't you think?" She asked him as they sat in the back seat of a cab, on their way to her mothers house, giving Punk flashbacks to when he came to Jersey and wandered around like a lost puppy in search for AJ.
"Are you kidding me? You seriously didn't hear the kid screaming behind us? Were you that tired?" He said.
"You tend to get tired when you're carrying another human inside you." She made a face at him as he made one back, turning to look out the window as she spoke up again, "Plus, you'll need to get used to the sound of a screaming kid." She told him as he just smiled to her, knowing she was right, he did have to get used to the sound of losing his own thoughts due to a child screaming, it was about to go down in just a few months now.
"So… whatever happens, I love you. Ok?" He smiled to her, knowing that this weekend could possibly end terribly and of course he would feel guilty for it, but he just wanted her to know that he loved her and that they would be ok.
"I know. I love you too." AJ said as the cab pulled up at their desired destination, waiting outside AJ's mothers house.
Punk reached into his back pocket to reach for some dollars, handing them to the driver and getting out, getting the luggage from the trunk, carrying AJ's of course since he wouldn't allow her to carry hers anyway.
AJ led the way and walked up the steps to the house, Punk trailing behind nervously as she knocked the door with her knuckles, standing still and looking down at the ground, just hoping, praying that maybe her mother would see sense, and maybe she would accept Punk.
"I don't want what you're selling me, alright?" Fiona began as she began to get a glimpse of who it really was standing in front of her.
"Hi mom." AJ smiled as Fiona shook her head.
"April, what are you doing here?" She shook her head, spotting Punk behind her, spotting her daughters stomach large and round.
"We came to see you." She smiled, "Can we come in?" AJ asked, not wanting to stand outside in the cold all day, turning behind to Punk who stood calmly without saying a word, he didn't have to, not yet, his bit would come.
"Uh… yeah, come in." Fiona widened the door and let her daughter in, watching the uneasy gut wrenching feeling walk behind her and into her home, "It would have been nice to get some notice, April." Fiona shut the door over and turned to her daughter who, miraculously looked beautiful, healthy and glowing like a little star.
"I thought it would be a nice surprise. If it's too much trouble we can go to a hotel." She looked at Punk who just nodded, still not speaking, now wasn't the time.
"Oh no. It's fine. More the merrier." Fiona smiled, "You'll have to sleep on the couch though." She looked at Punk who picked his head up.
"Why?" AJ asked immediately.
"Well, your room only has a single bed… and it looks like you're sleeping for two anyway. I'm sure Phil won't mind." Fiona looked into the green eyes that her daughter had so stupidly fell for, but not her, she seen right through him.
"Whatever." Punk nodded, having much preferred to sleep with his wife, "I'll go put these upstairs then." Punk raised the luggage in his hands a little for them to see, turning around and walking upstairs, having remembered where April's room was from when he took her away from her.
AJ smiled as she watched him walk upstairs, turning around and staring at her mother who glared at her.
"Decided to keep this one, have we?" Fiona raised her eyebrows at her daughter, staring at her grown belly, walking by her and into the kitchen.
Of course, she bad mouthed her when Punk wasn't around, typical cowardly act of her mother. She was over being hurt by her mother, she was so far over it, she was here for her son, for Phil, not for her mother.
She walked into the kitchen after her, taking a seat across from her mother at the kitchen table, watching her puff the smoke out in the air of the cigarette she was smoking.
"Aren't you going to ask how I am, what I've been doing?" AJ said.
"Well judging by that baby inside you, I know exactly what you've been getting up to, April." Fiona said, watching her daughter's nostrils flair.
"I don't even know why I bother. We'll just go stay in a hotel." AJ stood up and began to walk away.
"Wait." Fiona said, "Come back and sit down." She told her daughter.
AJ slowly and hesitantly walked back over to the table, sitting down as her mother continued to puff on her cigarette.
"I'm just angry, April. Those things you said to me when you left. They hurt me. And now, finding out you're pregnant with my first grandchild when you're almost ready to have the baby." She shook her head.
"I only said what I felt, mom. You had me suffocating here, dating a man I didn't have interest in, going to college and studying things I couldn't care less about, dressing me in fancy dresses and buying me purses. You were trying to change me into something I wasn't." AJ said.
"No, I was trying to show you that there is more to life than that man upstairs." Fiona said.
"That man upstairs is my husband and the father of my baby. If you don't like that, I know where the door is." She said.
"Husband… April, you didn't marry him, did you?" Fiona sighed frustratedly.
"Yeah. I did. Why is that such a problem for you? Why can't you understand that I love him." She told her mother, almost wanting to pull out her hair with her mother's uncaring and childish behaviour, she could at least pretend to like Punk.
"He's going to make you ill again. Do you think I want to see that?" She looked at her daughter, "I know a bad man when I see one, April." Fiona said.
"What are you talking about?" AJ shook her head, screwing her face up as Punk walked in through the kitchen door, turning to him, she pretended like everything was ok and smiled up at him.
"Everything is upstairs and unpacked so you don't have to do it yourself. I put your pyjamas, book, glasses and candles in the bathroom." He leaned down and kissed his wife's head as Fiona turned away in stubborness.
"Thanks." AJ smiled, not being able to be that overjoyed with her husbands effort when her mother continued to disapprove of everything he was doing, even if it was something nice, "In fact, I'm going to go for a bath right now. That flight really took it out of me. You know where I am if you both need me." AJ said as Punk shook his head towards her in a no signal, clearly not wanting to be left with Fiona by himself.
She just nodded to him, squeezing his hand as she walked by, praying that her mother could be mature about this and at least have some sort of conversation with her husband.
Punk watched as AJ went out of sight and turned round to look at Fiona who was still smoking her cigarette, looking everywhere bar him.
"If April's father was here right now." Fiona muttered under her breath.
Punk took a seat down across from his mother in law, raising his eyebrow in confusion and choosing his words carefully, "What do you mean by that?" He asked her as she looked up at him for the first time, looking in his eyes.
"You have such pretty eyes." She smiled to him as Punk gave her a small crooked smile, appreciating the very weird compliment, smiling nonetheless at the only nice thing she had said about him, "April's father wouldn't have let you near her." She puffed on her cigarette.
"He would if he seen how happy I make her." Punk said, "W-What happened to him… April never talks about him." Punk said.
"He was hit by a car a few years ago. A hit and run. I told them both that he just left us, it seemed less painful." Fiona said, not understanding why she was saying all this, to him of all people.
"What age was April?" Punk asked.
"She was twenty two. She loved him. I couldn't have told her he died." She shook her head, "If he was still here, he wouldn't let you go near her." She stood up and threw her cigarette out the back door as Punk just ran his hands through his hair.
"I know you hate me." He said, standing up across from her and folding his arms, "But I know you love April, and you should respect who she falls in love with, not who you want her to fall in love with. I'm sorry that I love your daughter. I'm sorry that your daughter loves me… but I wouldn't change it for the world. I'm happy with her, she's happy with me, we're married, we're having a baby, please… for April's sake, just be happy for her. Any normal mother would." He said.
"I am happy she is happy." Fiona nodded, "I'm just not happy that it's someone like you that's making her happy." She said.
"Someone like me?" Punk put his hand on his chest as if pointing to himself, just so confused with the way Fiona's brain worked sometimes.
"Do not breathe a word to April about her father. That will just be another thing to add onto my list about you." She spat, walking by him and out of the kitchen, leaving Punk standing with his arms folded and his mind wandering.
Later that night…
After Punk convinced April that he and Fiona had a reasonable talk, which was far from it, he headed downstairs to sleep for the night, kissing his wife, and her stomach, every night before they went to bed, slipping under the blanket on the surprisingly comfy couch, falling suddenly into a peaceful slumber, not even aware of the shadow that followed him downstairs.
She pressed her palm in against his cheek and brushed her hand through his hair, admiring how perfect he was, knowing that in her day, he would have been the talk of the neighbourhood, the popular guy at high school, the guy with all the girls, yet he had fell for her shy, quiet, mentally ill, nerd like but beautiful daughter.
"I know you love my daughter." She whispered, "But I can't forgive you for what you done." She looked at his sleeping self, such an angel like face with such a demonised head.
She took her hand from his soft cheek when he began to stir around, turning on his side and falling back into his slumber, not even realising that his mother in law was standing over him.
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