Together And Apart
"This is a joke, right?" Punk said, standing with AJ, looking over at Anna whilst Dean sat with his arms folded, looking down. Anna had just confessed to planting the chips in their house and helping her mother, even though she had tried so hard not to, with publishing the news story about Punk, putting him back in the public eye again.
"I am… so sorry." Anna shook her head, "I tried so hard to stop her but she… she doesn't listen to me. She threatened to take my job away from me and… I love my job." She said, "She also got physical with me too."
"So… you got with Dean, in order to get with me?" Punk asked. It was a straight forward story, he just couldn't believe it. Anna seemed so sweet and innocent. He never thought this was what she was capable of. No matter who was pulling her strings, he didn't care, he was mad that she had done this to them when they welcomed her with open arms. More so mad that she had hurt his little brother.
"At first." Anna nodded truthfully, "But… I love Dean." Anna said, "At first I had to be here, around you." She turned to Dean, "But then I wanted… to be here." She said as Dean just shook his head. He didn't even want to look at her anymore.
"You're gonna lose your job anyway after pulling this stunt." AJ said, "We're trying to move on with our lives. What more was there to say?" She asked, "So what Phil was in a detention centre a few times. Quite a lot of kids go there." She nodded as Anna sighed, seeing how mad AJ was, "And bringing my mental illness into it, as if that was a contributing factor to anything? And their mother?" AJ shook her head, stopping herself from going on as she put her hand on her forehead, "How dare you." She shook her head.
"I can't tell you how sorry I am." Anna stood up, looking at them both and then to Dean, "Really." She said as Dean looked up at her. But he wasn't interested.
"Why didn't you just tell us?" Punk asked, "Tell us that your mom works for the newspaper and was writing a story on me and how fucked I am." He spat, "When did you even put those chips in our kitchen?" Punk asked, "You're never at our place."
"I… I came around to ask about Dean's birthday present." Anna said, "Then." She said as Punk just shook his head.
"And what did you do when you… or whoever it was listening in, realised that there was something useful to hear?" AJ asked, "Because there's nothing going on."
"I-I don't have anything to do with that. I just-"
"Do all the dirty work?" AJ spat, "Like a snake in the grass." She said, walking further towards her as Anna gulped, "If I wasn't pregnant right now, I'd jump on you." She hissed as Anna looked across at her, "You lied to us. All of us. We just wanted to carry on with our lives. Don't you think Phil suffered enough when he was sitting, waiting on death row for a crime he didn't commit, a crime he had nothing to do with?" AJ said, "How can you even stand there?" She spat with disgust, walking away back to Punk who was more concerned about Dean who was sitting in silence.
"I can get over this." Punk said, "Yeah, the article has pissed me off, it's crossed a lot of lines and… well you or anyone else working for that newspaper, had no right to do this. I'm trying to live a normal life here." Punk said, "But I guess I can get over it, maybe… what I'm not over… is you bullshitting my brother, just to get to me and make some money off of me." He said.
"And I am so sorry." Anna shook her head, turning to Dean, "I love Dean. And this has killed me, not being able to say anything."
"You could have said something." AJ said, "You could have told us, easily." AJ said.
"My mom… she just… her job is everything and she lives for news and… being the most talked about newspaper in Chicago, and when she wants something she just… she gets it, trust me." Anna shook her head, "It's been like that since I was a kid. Once I got into the business and I actually enjoyed writing, for legit, real stories… she just started using me to do her dirty work." She said.
"Are we supposed to feel sorry for you?" AJ asked, "We're trying to move on. Have a normal life without this shit following us." She said, "You should have said something and you had no damn right to put those chips in our kitchen. You can go to prison for things like that." She warned as Anna nodded.
"I'll accept any sort of punishment that you want me to have." She said, "I just want you to know how sorry I am. All of you." She turned to Dean, "Dean, I know this won't mean anything to you anymore but… I do love you." She said, sitting down next to him as he turned to her, "And it's killing me to know that you don't believe that." She said, looking into his eyes as he just shook his head.
"You blew it." He said quietly, standing up from the couch as she watched.
"Where you going?" Punk asked him, noticing him grab his jacket.
"Out." Dean said bluntly, heading towards the apartment door and leaving quickly as Punk sighed and looked back to Anna.
"Give me your mom's name and where I can find her." Punk said, "After that, I think you would do good to stay out of my road." He warned as Anna nodded and sighed. She felt like the worst human being alive, because she'd gotten to know these people, how good and truly innocent they were, and she really had fallen for Dean, so much that it really hurt her to know she'd lost him. But she knew she didn't deserve forgiveness. But she was just so caught up.
"Here you go." Anna nodded, scribbling down her mother's details and handing it over to Punk who snatched it from her, "I'll never be able to… tell you how sorry I am. Truly." She said, "And my feelings for Dean, they're real. I promise that." She said as AJ and Punk looked across at her.
"I don't see how that matters much now." Punk said, "What gets settled between you two isn't my business, but any sort of friendship we developed over these past few months… that's gone." Punk assured her calmly, "Let's go." Punk nodded to AJ who headed on for the door, leaving the apartment together as Anna ran her hand through her hair and collapsed back on the couch.
"Hey, you wanna talk?" AJ asked, walking into the living room later on where she saw Punk sat on the floor building the crib which had been delivered for them. He had been pretty distant all day. She decided to work from home for the day as it was easy enough for her, and given what was going on and the shocking revelations of who planted those bugs in their kitchen, she wanted to be there for her boyfriend as much as she could be.
"About what?" Punk asked her, twisting a screw tight whilst looking over at the instructions which hardly made sense.
"You know what." AJ said, walking further into the living room and taking a seat on the couch, "Never in a million years did I think she would… have anything to do with this." She shook her head.
"She didn't write it at the end of the day, though. Did she?" Punk shook his head.
"She still put those things in our kitchen." AJ said, "And she lied to Dean. I'm more mad about that than anything else." She shook her head, "He looked so hurt."
"Yeah. He won't answer my calls." Punk shook his head, "Like you said earlier, it's just some idiot who wants some attention, some publicity. The story will die down and… we'll move on again." He nodded.
"Yeah, ok. It's easy for us to say that but… I think what's more sad is that, we both trusted Anna. I feel like we won't be able to trust anyone." She shook her head.
"Yeah." Punk agreed, "But we can't think like that I guess." He looked at her, "What did we expect? Not many people can say they've sat on death row and got released to tell the tale." Punk said, "We're gonna hit bumps in the road. I'm still gonna be that guy who was on death row." He nodded to her.
"But that doesn't mean these journalists can use that as a way to… dig at your life and pick out your flaws, as if we all don't have them." She shook her head, "You're innocent so… that doesn't mean they can start looking for other things to accuse you of. Like bringing up you being juvie a few times-"
"A few." Punk laughed at her chosen words.
"Ok, a lot of times." She smiled to him, "That has zero to do with you being on death row." She said.
"I know." Punk nodded, rubbing his hand over his face tiredly, trying to figure out which part needed to be put on next for the crib he was attempting to build, "I'm gonna go visit Anna's mom tomorrow after I finish work." He said.
"Is that really a good idea?" She asked him.
"I can stay calm when I need to." Punk assured her as she just raised a brow with uncertainty, "I can." He nodded, "I just wanna know why. Why she spent so much time digging up my past." He shook his head.
"Because people will be talking about it and she'll be getting money out of it." AJ shrugged, "She'll probably tell you it's not personal."
"Well it is to me." Punk said firmly, "Do you reckon we can sue her?" He asked her.
"If she… made statements that weren't true, which could harm you then yeah, we could try something but… I've been reading it all day and she's… well she's smart. She's worded it in a way that still… tears you apart without actually making up lies or harming you. If you know what I mean?" She said as he nodded, "The chip situation we could definitely go to the police. That's an invasion of privacy." She nodded.
"You know what the hard thing is?" He asked her whilst playing around with the different screws, "The fact that… most of what she's said, makes sense." He nodded.
"No." AJ shook her head, "No, you're not doing this." She warned, "None of it makes sense. Her pointing out your struggles, your upbringing, your personal life, in order to depict you as some poor thing just waiting to be killed off for being lead down a bad path… she had no right and it doesn't make sense." She said, "You going to juvie and losing your mom, all of that… that had nothing to do with how you ended up in that warehouse staring at two bodies which you didn't touch." She said, "That's what she's implying."
"Yeah, I know." Punk said tiredly.
"And if you're trying to say that this was your fate, to be on death row… then look at you now. You got out. Which not a lot of people can say. You got out, we… we figured things out, we're having a baby." She smiled to him as he smiled back, "And she's gonna know how amazing you are. We're so imperfect that she's gonna know that it's ok to have flaws, and it's ok to make mistakes." She said, "I couldn't think of a better example to set for her." She smiled, placing her hand on her bump as Punk smiled.
"Look at you." Punk smiled, standing up and walking over to her, taking a seat beside her on the couch, "Being all sweet to me." He smiled.
"Hey, I'm always sweet." AJ smiled.
"Mhm." Punk hummed, "I'm not worried about this." He said, placing his hand on her thigh, "Yeah, it sucks. Doesn't feel good. But you're right. I'm here now. And we're doing good. So let them say what they wanna say." He nodded, "But… I'm a little worried about Dean." He admitted truthfully, "I mean… his feelings are involved here. This was his first proper girlfriend. And I know he really cared about her." He said as AJ nodded.
"He's strong." AJ said, "And he will bounce back and figure something out with Anna. He's probably just in shock and feeling hurt right now. Maybe he's best to be on his own."
"Yeah." Punk nodded to himself, "I just hope he's ok." He sighed.
"Drop him another call tonight, if he doesn't get back to you then we'll go see him tomorrow night, once you're back from scolding that woman alive." She said.
"Yeah, ok." Punk nodded, turning to her and smiling, "I love you." He smiled to her.
"I love you too." AJ smiled, leaning up and pressing a soft kiss on her lips as she felt the baby move inside her as she pulled back and smiled, taking his hand and placing it on the right place to feel her.
"Damn girl." Punk laughed as he felt the kicks as Punk smiled, "She really goes for it, doesn't she?"
"Yeah, she does." AJ smiled to herself, "Probably telling us to hurry up and build her crib." She said as Punk nodded.
"Yeah, probably. If she's as demanding as her mother." Punk said as AJ gasped dramatically, watching him get up from the couch and head back over to the crib, following him as she helped him build the rest of it.
Meanwhile across town, Dean was sat on a bar stool, having spent his entire day there, taking round after round to forget all about the mess he was in.
A/N: Let me know what you think!
