Naive
"You did good today." Punk smiled, watching as AJ came into the living room, after coming down from putting Jessica to sleep. It was the first day of Lily's trial and things had gone pretty well. AJ didn't want to get too hopeful about things but she was positive for sure.
"Thank you." AJ smiled, sitting down beside him, "And thank you for coming along." She said, kissing his cheek, "I appreciate the support." She said as he smiled and nodded. She appreciated him showing up to see the trial today. She never had support in her line of work from Jamie, and she always respected his views on her job, but to her it showed how dedicated Punk had always been, and it made her fall in love with him all the more.
"You did good." Punk nodded, "You should be proud of yourself." He said, placing his hand on her thigh as she smiled and leaned in against him. She'd got so worked up over this case but when she arrived in court, it was a natural feeling to take over and start her defence strong, "Jessica is still off with me. She's wanted you to put her to bed the past few nights." Punk said as AJ looked up at him.
"She's fine." AJ shook her head.
"No, I know when she's off. She's quiet. Is something bothering her?" Punk wondered as AJ shook her head.
"No… I mean… she's five, what could possibly be bothering her?" AJ shook her head.
"She just seems different, around me especially." Punk said, "I'm trying to think if I said anything or did anything that would make her weird with me, and it's not like she's at school to get upset by anyone." Punk shrugged.
"Yeah." AJ said, "I haven't… Gosh, I haven't even noticed. Does that make me a terrible mom?" She sighed.
"Hey, no. You've been busy and… you're not the one she's being weird with. Like earlier, she knows I always take the plates in at dinner, but she got up and put it away herself." Punk said.
"I think you're overthinking things a little." AJ said.
"No, I'm serious. I know my kid. I have the luxury of saying that." Punk said, "And she's… there's something not right." Punk sighed.
"Then talk to her." AJ said, running her fingertips up and down his arm, "Ask her what's wrong. She's honest and she's a terrible liar." AJ nodded, "It might be something simple."
"Maybe." Punk said as AJ looked up at him. She'd yet to ask him about his nightmares, about the consistent name calling, and with the trial beginning, she'd almost forgotten about it, but it was still at the back of her mind and she still wanted to talk to him about it.
"Phil." AJ said softly.
"What?" Punk asked, looking on at the TV where some crime documentary played.
"Who is… Who is Jason?" AJ asked as Punk stiffened. He stiffened so much that AJ could feel his body turn solid, and she knew that wasn't a good sign, and suddenly stiffened herself.
"W-What?" Punk shook his head.
"In your nightmares, you… you talk about a guy called Jason, and your nightmares, they've been getting quite bad, sometimes I don't wake you because I don't want to put you in the position where you have to talk about it. I know you how you get but… well I'm worried." AJ shrugged, "You know you can tell me anything."
"It was just a prisoner I got into a bit of beef with. That's it." Punk shrugged casually.
"Phil, please don't downplay this again. If you're having nightmares, pretty aggressive ones, maybe talking about it will help." AJ said as Punk just looked forward, "So you said this guy was a prisoner? So you two didn't get along?"
"We didn't get along." Punk nodded, "I arrested him. I put him in prison a few years back. As soon as he saw me he went for me." He said.
"What did you arrest him for?" AJ asked him.
"Murder." Punk nodded, "Of his brother. He didn't deny it so it wasn't like I was out to get him." Punk said, "As soon as he recognised me he was on me. It's how I got most of the scars on my back." He said.
"You told me that was just fights." AJ said.
"I lied." Punk turned to her as she looked up at him, "He had friends, I didn't. He'd already been in for a few years. He got me any chance he could. Round corridors, in the yard, cafeteria." He said, "Then he started making threats, saying that when he got out, he was gonna… go after you, and Jessica."
"Why?" AJ shook her head.
"Because he's a terrible person. And there were a ton of him in there." Punk said.
"Couldn't you report it? Get moved to a different part of the prison?" She shook her head.
"No. The guards treat you like a piece of shit. They wouldn't do anything to help anyone." Punk said, "I just took it on the chin. It blew over and I started making friends like with Mario, and I got to see Matthew more." Punk nodded, "But it was intense for a long time. I thought it was never going to end."
"I'm… I'm so sorry." AJ sighed, hugging him tightly as Punk looked down, "You shouldn't have had to go through that." She shook her head, holding onto him tightly. Knowing he'd gone through not only emotional but physical pain hurt her a great deal, especially when it was still living so real with him.
"It's ok. I… I don't need it to be made a big deal." He said.
"What happens in the nightmares?" AJ asked him, "Is he… hurting you again or… what's happening?" She asked.
"Yeah, some are like that, some are just me in prison again, which is enough to call it a nightmare." Punk said, "Look, a lot went on there. I saw a lot, I went through a lot, but I'm more focused on the now, the fact I have my family again, which I never thought I would, and to be here, in our house again, and see my daughter… I'm so focused on that, and yeah, the nightmares are annoying but… I'll get through them. You make sure of that." He smirked as she smiled.
"I just don't want you to be hurting." AJ said, pinching his chin softly as he smiled.
"I'm not. I'm pretty good." Punk assured her with a smile.
"This man… is he out of prison?" AJ asked.
"He was set to be released the same time I was. He didn't approach me again after things faded out the first year." Punk said, "I don't know if he's out or not."
"Why was he so set on you? I mean, yeah I get it, you arrested him, he probably hates cops but… why did he have such a problem?" She asked.
"I don't know, it's just the type of person he was. We got into some brawls. It was after he started getting his boys to jump me was when I got the scars and… didn't exactly have the one up on them." Punk said, "He'd say shit like he'd find you when he got out and hurt you, hurt Jessica, because he knew it made me fight him back." Punk said, "He was just a hard piece of work but… that's prison for you." He shrugged.
"It's where he belongs." AJ shook her head, "You're right, you can focus on the now and you have me and Jessica, and anything you need, if it's to talk about prison or it's a hug… or… something else." She smirked as he laughed a little, "I'm here for you. I always am." She nodded as he smiled.
"I love you." Punk said, "So much."
"I love you, baby." AJ smiled, leaning up and pressing her lips against his. She never wanted him to feel alone or scared. She was so glad they could support each other in this way.
A few days earlier…
"Stay where I can see you, yeah?" Dean said to both Eva and Jessica, whom he'd taken to the park. AJ and Punk were both working and since it was his day off he volunteered to watch Jessica for them. He decided to take the girls to the park to get them out the house and so sat down on a bench and watched them as they ran off to play together. They were good friends and he knew they liked coming to the park together.
Jessica was happily playing on the different park attractions, going down the chute repeatedly, swinging on the swings, climbing the monkey bars, jumping up and down on the see-saw, and it wasn't until she walked around the climbing frame around the back where she saw a man standing over by the fence waving at her.
She waved back and carried on with climbing the frame, getting to the top and going back down the chute, running back around as this time, she watched the man waved her over in a 'come here' signal. She knew fine well to never talk to strangers, never mind approach them willingly, but the small child in her saw a nice man waving at her, and so she wandered away.
Dean was sat at the bench but due to the large climbing frame, he couldn't see that Jessica was talking to someone.
"Hello." Jessica said as she walked over to the man who crouched down and looked on at her through the fence.
"Hi, sweetheart." He smiled as Jessica looked at him, "You having fun?" He asked her.
"Yeah, I am." Jessica nodded, "Who are you?" She wondered.
"Oh, you don't need to know my name." He shook his head, "I just wanted to talk to you. I know your daddy." He nodded.
"Oh." Jessica nodded, "Well I'm not with daddy right now I'm with uncle Dean." She explained.
"Right." The man said, "Can you keep secrets, Jessica?" He asked her.
"Hey, you know my name." Jessica said, "Uh… maybe I can." She said as he nodded.
"Ok, well… I want you to know that… your daddy, you think he's the best, don't you?" He said.
"I love my daddy." Jessica nodded and smiled.
"Ok but… you know that the people we love can still do bad things." He said, "And I'm… I'm saying this to you because I just want you to know." He said, "Your daddy is a bad man. He's a bad, bad man." He shook his head as Jessica looked at him and shook her head.
"No, he's good." Jessica shook her head.
"No." The man shook his head, "No, he's a bad man, and you should be scared of him." He said as Jessica looked down, "You don't really know him. You know those superhero films you watch? And there's always the bad guy in them?" He asked her as she looked up, "That's like your daddy." He nodded as Jessica looked at him worriedly.
"I wanna go play." Jessica shook her head.
"You go do that." He nodded, "But hey, this is our secret though, yeah? We'll keep it between us." He said as Jessica just wandered away sadly. She was a child. Easily led, naïve and manipulated, and was now a little worried, even if this was coming from a stranger. Her little mind couldn't ignore that.
