Change Is Scary

Three months later…

"Yeah, he's pretty much guilty as sin." AJ said, walking back from the interview room where she found Punk outside his office with Rocky, "How many armed robberies have we actually had this year? I've lost count." She shook her head, passing the folder to Punk who looked through it.

"Yeah, well that guy made it pretty obvious." Rocky said.

"When I got up to leave he asked to feel my belly." AJ rolled her eyes as Punk turned to her, "I didn't let him obviously." She shook her head.

"Dick." Punk muttered under his breath, "Ok, put it through." Punk nodded to AJ, passing back the folder to her, "Rocky got a lead on that attack that happened last weekend." He said, "We're gonna go check it out, you wanna come?" He asked her as she thought about it, placing her hand on her five-month bump.

"Can we grab some lunch on the way back?" She asked them as Rocky chuckled.

"Yeah, my treat." Rocky nodded to her.

"Let me get my things then." AJ smiled, walking back to her office to get her gun and her phone.

She was taking it easy back at the station. After spending a month off at home trying to get her health back in order, she returned back to work and focused on more of the lighter cases, not just because of her health, but because of her pregnancy too. She was starting to find a balance, and didn't feel a massive urge to solve everything that got put in front of her. She knew that's what caused her to relapse so badly. She was taking her time and taking care of herself, and the baby.

"Remind me of this case again." AJ said, meeting back up with Punk and Rocky as they headed out of the station.

"Two drunk guys got into a fight." Punk said, "Got out of hand, one ended up with a broken arm and a broken leg and we know there was a knife involved." He said as AJ nodded.

"And what's the lead?" AJ asked.

"We got an address." Rocky said, "One of them was spotted coming home from work so we followed him and found the address. Could be a runner so…" He looked down at AJ's bump and then to Punk, "You're on catching duty for this one." Rocky nodded to Punk.

"Why not you?" Punk looked at Rocky.

"You're faster." Rocky shrugged as Punk just shook his head, the three of them leaving the station and getting into the car.

"Ok, head back." Punk said as he knelt down by the bath which Nova was in, pouring a jug of water over her hair to rinse out the shampoo. Sometimes it still felt surreal to him that he was home with his family again. A part of him was always going to be scarred from missing those four essential years of his daughter's life, and his girlfriend's too, but he counted himself lucky every day to be home with his daughter and his pregnant girlfriend. His family.

"Daddy, why do I have to wash my hair all the time?" Nova huffed as Punk smiled.

"Because you gotta be clean, don't you?" Punk said, "Or else you'll stink and no one will come near you." He said.

"My friends would." Nova said with certainty, "What happened to your arm, daddy?" Nova noticed her father's arm had a bandage on it, "Did a bad guy hurt you?" She asked angrily. She knew that's what her parents done for a living. Stopped the bad guys.

"Yeah, I was chasing him down the street and I got hurt." Punk nodded, not going into too much detail, "But we got him." He smiled as Nova clapped happily.

"Well done." Nova approved, "Did mommy help you?" She wondered.

"No, she stayed in the car, but I had her in my ear the entire time." Punk said.

"How?" Nova shook her head.

"Well she spoke through a mic and I had an ear piece in. She was telling me where to go." Punk said.

"Woah, how did she know?" Nova asked with fascination.

"Because she's a smart mommy." Punk nodded.

"She is." Nova agreed, "How long until the baby gets here?" She asked him whilst Punk soaked the conditioner through her dark hair.

"You've still got a little while to wait, kid." Punk said, "A few months." He nodded.

"I really, really want a sister. Not a brother. Can't you talk to someone so they can make it a sister?" She asked him as he laughed.

"It doesn't really work like that. You just sort of… take what you get." Punk said.

"Do you want it to be a sister?" Nova asked him curiously.

"I don't mind, really." Punk said, "I guess it'd be nice to have a boy-"

"No." Nova shook her head, "Boys are yucky." She said as Punk smiled.

"That's my girl." Punk nodded, "I want that to be your motto for the rest of your life." He said, beginning to rinse out Nova's hair again as she smiled.

"Hey, you two. You've been in here for ages." AJ stuck her head into the bathroom as Nova smiled up at her.

"Mommy, daddy was telling me you helped him get the bad guy today." Nova said, "He got him down! Boom boom!" She exclaimed whilst pretending to punch the water as Punk and AJ laughed.

"Yeah, but he got hurt in the process. Silly daddy." AJ smiled, ruffling Punk's slicked hair with her hand that was already coming out of its slicked ways.

"I'll be ok." Punk smiled, "I have two of my favourite girls to look after me." He said as AJ smiled.

"Three if you count my sister." Nova pointed to AJ's stomach.

"Hey, baby you don't know that yet." AJ said, "Don't get your hopes up." She said as Nova sighed, "Finish up in here, it's getting late." She said, leaving the bathroom. She knew sometimes Punk got carried away when bathing Nova or putting her to bed. It was things he had missed out on for four years, and she knew a part of him was always scarred from that, but things were good, and they were headed into the right direction for sure.

"Can you even remember what it was like just the two of us?" AJ asked later that night, laying on the sofa with Punk as they watched some late-night talk show. Nova was long gone to bed, and Ace lay over on the opposite couch sleeping.

"No, I really can't." Punk said.

"And soon there will be four of us." She shook her head, "It's crazy." She said as he nodded, "How is your arm?" She asked, sitting up and looking at his bandaged arm. He'd got into a little bit of a fight with their wanted man earlier when they went to make an arrest and look around, but he came out on top of course.

"It'll heal." Punk nodded, not wanting a fuss made out of it, "I'm just glad we got the guy." He said as AJ nodded.

"We're gonna have a lot of interviewing to do tomorrow." AJ sighed tiredly as Punk nodded, "Baby is making me really tired this time round." She admitted truthfully.

"Hey, you can take your time off. You don't have to work until you pop." He reminded her.

"I know, but it keeps me on a schedule, and you know I've been cutting back on my workload and… accepting help from others, as hard as it is for me." She said as he smiled.

"You have been doing good." Punk smiled, "And I don't want that to sound like I'm praising you like you're a kid or anything but… well, you know you were in a bad place better than anyone, and you've really turned it around now." He nodded as she smiled.

"I guess I just realised that I can't help everybody, you know." AJ said, "But I can do my best."

"That's all you can do." Punk nodded, "You know, I still think about those three girls." He admitted whilst she lay into him, his arm around her, playing with a strand of her hair whilst she rested her cheek on his chest.

"I know you do." AJ sighed, "Look, just because I'm cutting back on my work, doesn't mean I enjoy letting a case slip through my fingers. But… we had nothing to go on with that. It was just a bunch of dead ends. Either someone out there got what they wanted, or it was just some twisted psychopath killing pregnant women for fun." AJ said, "But we can't waste our entire time on one case when there is other stuff going on." She said.

"I know." Punk nodded, "Did I mention I was out of town this weekend at a board meeting?" He said as she looked up at him sadly, "Hey, don't look at me like that. It's just two nights. The last one I had was two months ago." He said as AJ nodded. She knew that his meetings that were out of town weren't frequent, in fact, he'd had the job for over five months and only had two meetings so far.

"I'll miss you." She sighed, "Baby will miss you." She placed her hand on her bump as Punk placed his hand over hers.

"I'll miss the baby." Punk smiled as AJ suddenly jumped, "What?" Punk shook his head.

"Did you feel that? It kicked." AJ smiled, taking his hand and placing it where the baby was kicking, "Do you feel it?" She smiled as Punk nodded.

"Woah, it's having a party in there." Punk smiled as he felt the baby kick. After getting by the shock and surprise, they were both very excited about the baby, and happy to be adding another member to their family. It was bringing AJ joy, whereas when she was pregnant with Nova, she still felt very young and clueless, and was constantly worried about work.

"Oh, man." AJ smiled at the feeling, "This is going to be a crazy apartment when this baby comes." She smiled to herself, curling back down against Punk as he nodded.

"Crazy apartment, huh?" Punk said as AJ looked up at him.

"You still wanna buy a house?" AJ asked him, sitting up.

"I think it would be more ideal now we're gonna have two kids. I mean, do you really wanna haul a stroller up all those stairs as well as having Nova by your side?" He said.

"Garry will help me like he did with Nova, if you're not there." AJ shrugged, "I just… I don't think we need to move. Our apartment is fine. We have the room."

"It's a nice apartment, I know. I love it. But… don't you want to have your own house?" He asked her.

"No, I like it here." AJ shrugged, "Why-Why do we need a house? What does a house do that our apartment can't?" She asked him.

"We'll have our own garden. Get a swing for Nova so she can go out and play on it." Punk said, "Just having a better home for our family, April. That's what it is."

"I just think it's wasting money." AJ shrugged, "We have nice things here." She nodded.

"So you don't want to get a house, you don't want to get married, it's a surprise you're ok with the fact we have kids." He shook his head as she glared at him.

"You don't want to get married either. You told me that." AJ said as Punk nodded.

"I don't." Punk said, "But that isn't the point-"

"Well then don't throw that in my face like I won't marry you." AJ said, "We're fine with how we are, why would you wanna change anything?" She asked him.

"Change is good sometimes, April." Punk nodded.

"Change can be scary." AJ said, "A house will be more expensive."

"Yeah, and I'd say we're doing ok for money right now, don't you think?" He said.

"That isn't the point." AJ said.

"You just said it would be more expensive." Punk shook his head.

"I just don't want a house, ok?" AJ snapped, "Am I not allowed to not want to move or get married?" She said as he looked across at her.

"Whatever." He just shook his head, too tired to argue with her.

"I don't want to fight about it. It's stupid." AJ shook her head, "I just… I think we're fine here. Why change it?"

"It's a house, April. We're not moving country." He said, "I thought it'd be something you'd want. Something you'd want for the kids. You want their childhood to be running up and down apartment stairs?" He asked her.

"There's the park across the road." AJ shrugged, "Nova doesn't even bother. She likes this place."

"You're right, we shouldn't argue about it." Punk put his hand up, "But I think it'd be a good idea." He shrugged.

"Why did you bring up marriage?" She asked him as he turned to her.

"Well you don't want that either, do you?" He asked her as she looked in his eyes. Of course she wanted it, but she was scared of it more, but she refused to tell him that.

"No." AJ said, "I don't think it's something we need." She said, "We're fine where we are, literally in the apartment and with our relationship." She said.

"Ok then." Punk shrugged, turning back to the TV as she sighed.

"Phil." She moaned a little, taking hold of his hand as he gently took it away and stood up, "Phil, please don't fight with me." She said, "Do you want to get married?" She asked him.

"No, I don't. But I want a house for our kids, April." Punk said.

"What does it matter where we live?" AJ shook her head, "This is our home. To me, this will always be our home." She shook her head.

"Ok." Punk shrugged, "I'm going to bed." He told her, handing her the TV remote.

"Phil." AJ sighed, watching as he walked off into the bedroom and shut the door behind him.

A/N: Let me know what you think!