Old Friends


Cliff was staying in the same motel AJ had once lived in when she first arrived in Chicago. He had been staying in the motel for a couple of days now since being thrown out of Punk's house. He walked in the door after a long night at the club at around four in the morning. It was still dark and when he switched on his light he was startled to see Punk sitting in a chair facing the door with a gun in his hand that was resting on the arm of the chair.

"Punk." Cliff said startled.

"Shut the door." Punk told him and Cliff did as he was told.

"I know what you're thinking." Cliff began.

"You don't." Punk said motioning for him to sit down using his gun to point. "This gun look familiar to you?" he asked Cliff as he twisted it in his hand.

"Yea." Cliff sighed sitting down.

"You left it in my house." Punk told him. "You left it under the couch cushion of my den."

"Yea I figured. I forgot it the other night." Cliff admitted.

"I don't know where to begin." Punk said calmly. "You left a gun just in the open in my house where I have a kid-"

"She can barely keep her head held up." Cliff laughed but Punk didn't find it funny.

"You flirted with my wife-" Punk added.

"That's who I am!" Cliff laughed. "I meant no harm."

"You grabbed her and yelled at her." Punk also reminded him.

"I feel bad about that. I should have stayed calm." Cliff said to him. "But she did follow me."

"And you've been hanging out at a strip club with the man who is responsible for killing my father." Punk finally added. "I haven't seen you in years. You didn't come to my father's funeral but yet you showed up out of nowhere and I should have known better. I should have known you were up to something."

"I'm not." Cliff said to him and Punk just sat there stone faced. "I'm not up to anything!"

"Try again." Punk said to him.

"You think I'm afraid you're going to shoot me?" Cliff chuckled but again Punk's facial expression never changed.

"You have no idea the lengths I will go to protect my family." Punk informed him.

"Your family isn't in danger from me." Cliff assured him.

"This tells me otherwise." Punk said holding up the gun.

"You think I was going to use that on you or your family?" Cliff asked surprised.

"Why do you have a gun?" Punk asked slowly. "You're not a cop last time I checked."

"I'm not." Cliff agreed.

"So?" Punk asked.

"Protection." Cliff shrugged.

"Really? Because I ran a check on this and it's unregistered." Punk told him innocently. "Most people who get a gun to protect themselves register the weapon, it's also the law."

"I don't know what you want from me." Cliff said to him. "It's a dangerous world we live in."

"And my house was so dangerous that you felt that need to sleep with a gun under your pillow? I'm also assuming you bought one to the club so you're traveling with two guns." Punk pointed out.

"Nobody got hurt here." Cliff said to her. "Can we forget this ever happened?"

"My dad got hurt." Punk said to him and Cliff frowned. "Didn't even get the chance to meet his granddaughter."

"You know I had nothing to do with that." Cliff spat offended. "How fucking dare you!"

"How fucking dare you!" Punk yelled back standing up. "Explain yourself to me Compton!"

"My friend Chuck works there. I hang out there because I get free drinks and dances from the girls." he shrugged.

"You know they're watching me right? They've threatened my wife and kid." Punk told him.

"I didn't know that." Cliff said to him.

"And you let Chuck pick you up at my house." Punk said shaking his head. "Did he see April following you guys?"

"What does it matter?" Cliff laughed.

"It matters because if he thinks April was following him-" Punk began.

"He doesn't know a thing." Cliff lied. "He probably doesn't even know April."

"He knows April." Punk scoffed. "I worked undercover there, trust me I know them better than you think."

"He didn't mention either of you." Cliff shrugged.

"Why do you insist on lying to me?" Punk asked almost sadly. "You're going to make me dig into you?"

"I'm sorry for bringing the gun into your house and I'm sorry about the mix-up with the club but I'd never, ever hurt you or your kid." Cliff said to him.

"My wife?" Punk questioned.

"She's a bit of a pain in the ass." Cliff teased but Punk didn't find it funny at all. "It's a joke, of course your wife is included in that- trust me."

"Trust you?" Punk asked. "I don't even fucking know you anymore."

"I feel awful for what happened with Joe. I wouldn't work with the guys who you think killed him." Cliff promised him.

"What have you been doing all these years in LA?" Punk asked him.

"This and that." Cliff shrugged and Punk smirked.

"That's what I thought." Punk said walking to the door.

"Can I have my gun?" Cliff asked holding his hand out.

"No." Punk said to him. "I'm going to hold onto this. Might come in handy." He winked then walked out the door.


Punk was at work later that day trying to look into Cliff but he couldn't find anything. And when he says anything he means ANYTHING. He couldn't find any former work references in LA from Cliff or even an address. It was becoming frustrating.

"Hi." AJ greeted poking her head into his office.

"Hey." He said looking up from his computer.

"Joey wanted to see her daddy." AJ smiled pushing the stroller into the room.

"Hey baby girl." Punk grinned looking down at his daughter in the stroller.

"And I wanted to give you a present." She said passing him a small gift bag.

"For me?" he teased.

"Hurry." She said eagerly and watched as he pulled the gift out of the bag.

"It's a book." Punk remarked forcing a smile.

"It doesn't have a cover yet but check out the author." She said pointing at the bottom.

"April Mendez-Brooks." Punk said then smiled. "You finished?"

"I did." She said to him.

"Wow." he said with a smile. "I had no idea you finished."

"It's still going to be a few months before it gets published but I wanted you to read it first."she told him proudly.

"I can't wait." He grinned. "I'm proud of you."

"Thanks." She smiled.

"No I mean it. You're supermom, work full time and wrote a book." he said to her. "You're incredible."

"I feel like you're buttering me up." She remarked.

"Nope, no buttering." He said to her honestly. "But I would like to take you out one night soon. Just the two of us."

"Yea I know, you've been dropping hints." She said to him. "I'm just not ready to leave Joey with a complete stranger."

"I can watch her." Kofi offered.

"Kofi has children." Punk pointed out.

"It's not that I don't trust Kofi." AJ said looking back at Kofi. "It's just Joey has been with either me or Phil and she's only a few weeks old."

"Will she be ok with us going out by the time she graduates high school?" Punk asked seriously and AJ glared at him.

"Why do you hate Joey?" AJ asked and Punk laughed.

"I don't hate Joey, I love Joey, I adore her- I also love and adore you and I need a night with my wife that doesn't end in spit up." Punk smirked.

"It's healthy for the marriage." Kofi added and AJ glared at him.

"Why are you desperate to get your hands on my kid?" she demanded and both Punk and Kofi laughed.

"My wife was the same way." Kofi laughed looking at Punk. "But after baby number 2 she begs for nights out."

"We can have a romantic dinner at home with Joey once she falls asleep." AJ said simply and Punk eyed her as if she was crazy.

"Every time I put a hand on you she screams." Punk pointed out and AJ rolled her eyes. "She's already so spoiled she's purposely making sure we don't make her a sibling."

"Stop." AJ laughed.

"It's true!" Punk said seriously.

"She is not spoiled." AJ defended.

"Very spoiled." Punk corrected. "And it's not just us guilty of doing it, everyone spoils her- even Patches!"

"She should be spoiled." AJ grinned. "Oh! Speaking of that I ordered this." She said pulling something up on her phone and showing him.

"What the fu-" he began.

"It's a swing set for Joey!" AJ cheered. "And you get to put it together."

"This isn't a swing set." He said looking at it. "It's like- a fucking jungle gym! She won't even be walking by the summer."

"It will still be nice and we can take her on the slide and swing her." AJ smiled taking her phone back. "You can help him this weekend." she said looking at Kofi who's face dropped.

"I'd love to but I'm busy." Kofi laughed nervously.

"Funny, I spoke to your wife and invited you and the family over for a barbecue this weekend and she said you were free and would be there." She said to him innocently.

"Sucker." Punk smirked under his breath.

"We'll discuss date night too." She told him. "So, how's it going with Cliff?"

"I told you not to talk about him." Punk groaned.

"Yea but I don't listen." She shrugged.

"It's fine. Don't worry about him or Cortez or anything else." He said to her.

"Fine." She said to him. "I'm going to get Joey home but I just have to use the bathroom."

"Book looks thick." Kofi noted.

"Yea." Punk said looking at it.

"Why aren't you more excited?" Kofi asked.

"I'm not all that excited to read how my wife was stalked for almost a year." Punk admitted. "It makes me feel like shit actually."

"It wasn't your fault." Kofi pointed out.

"No, but it doesn't change the fact that I don't want to read in great detail about how scared she was." He said to Kofi.

"It had a happy ending." Kofi reminded him.

"Not for Claire Reid." Punk pointed out.

"Come on man." Kofi sighed shaking his head as Punk stood up and lifted Joey out of her stroller. "She was depressed and on the edge."

"I pushed right over it." Punk added.

"April went through a lot and wrote that book even though I'm sure it difficult for her." Kofi reminded him. "You need to stop sulking about yourself and support her. She's going to get backlash for this."

"How?" Punk scoffed.

"You know how it is. She'll be told she lead him on, people already say that." Kofi said to him and Punk scowled.

"Who the fuck said that?" he demanded.

"You don't read the stuff online?" Kofi asked.

"No." He said annoyed. "It wasn't her fault. She didn't even talk to the guy!"

"You're upsetting Joey." Kofi warned.

"Sorry princess." He said kissing Joey's cheek. "People are jerks, daddy is going to make sure no jerks ever mess with you. Daddy will beat them all up."

"Is that the kind of shit you want to teach her?" Kofi mocked.

"Yea. She should learn that now that I'm going to protect her and not fail her like I did April." Punk said to him.

"You didn't fail April." Kofi argued.

"Tell that to Hale Green." Punk said to him.

"I would but he's in prison." Kofi grinned. "Relax."

"Can you take her?" Punk asked passing Joey off to Kofi.

"What's wrong?" Kofi asked taking the baby.

"She's not in the bathroom." He said glaring out the window seeing her talking to Detective Jenkins.

"She's always up to something." Kofi laughed.


Punk walked out of his office and across the station to where Jenkins and AJ were talking.

"Don't talk to my wife about the Cortez crew." Punk warned Jenkins who tried not to laugh.

"Phil-" AJ began.

"No Ape." Punk warned her. "You should know better." he scolded Jenkins.

"We weren't talking about Luis." Jenkins said to him. "We were discussing-"
"Ok thanks for all the help." AJ smiled at Jenkins and grabbed Punk by the wrist and pulled him away.

"What were you talking about?" Punk asked.

"It's private." She shrugged before they entered his office.

"Private?" He asked annoyed. "You can't just come into my station and talk 'privately' with other Detectives."

"It could be work related." She defended.

"But clearly it's not." He bit back.

"I really plan on telling you." She insisted. "As soon as I got the OK."

"The ok to do what?" He asked.

"I want to see Hale Green." She told him and Punk's face dropped.

"Why in gods name would you want to do that?" Punk asked in disbelief. "And why did you ask Jenkins about it and not me?"

"I was afraid you'd try to talk to me out of it. It's not a done deal but Jenkins is trying to get me in to see him." she said to him.

"A TV interview?" Punk asked. "I'm surprised you'd sell your story on cheap TV like that."

"No, I wouldn't do that." She said to him. "I just want to tell him about the book."

"You're kidding." He remarked. "You don't owe him a thing."

"I know that." She said to him. "But I never spoke to him honestly. I didn't speak at the trial, and the one time we did speak was in the studio and I couldn't get all the hate off of my chest. It still weighs on me. I want him to know I wrote this book and I want him to know why. Can you understand that?"

"Yea." He admitted softly. "And I'm sure you'll understand as to why I'm going to go with you."

"You don't have to do that." She said to him.

"We face things together." He reminded her. "We have to stop facing things alone or trying to protect the other. It's not healthy and it feels sneaky."

"I agree." She had to admit. "We'll go together."

"That's all I ask. We can't bring the baby though." He reminded her teasingly.

"I suppose not." She agreed.


Cliff was woken up by somebody kicking his bed and saw Chuck and Cortez in his room standing over his bed.

"What the fuck?" Cliff groaned rolling onto his back.

"It's three in the afternoon." Luis remarked. "Why are you such a bum?"

"I was out late." Cliff reminded him sitting up. "What are you doing here?"

"What was Punk doing here?" Chuck questioned.

"He wanted me to come back and stay with him." Cliff lied easily. "Misses having me around I guess."

"So he showed up here at two in the morning, waited inside two hours for you to get here just to ask you to hang out?" Luis questioned. "I'm not buying that."

"It's the truth." Cliff shrugged.

"I think he knows something is going on with you and the club." Luis said to him.

"He does think I'm partying a little too hard." Cliff said to him. "He won't say why but he worries about me every since April saw me at the club."

"Nosy fucking bitch." Chuck muttered. "Hot as fuck, but a pain in the ass. Told you we should have taken her out instead of the old man."

"She's cute." Luis smirked as Cliff shifted uncomfortably.

"You can't just keep her around because she's cute." Chuck said to his boss.

"I'm the boss." Luis reminded him. "We don't touch women and kids either."

"She doesn't know a thing." Cliff said to them. "She was curious as to what I was up to and Punk bought my story that it was just a fluke I ended up with you guys."

"He's smarter than that." Luis said to him. "He's trying to get information out of you."

"We warned him about looking into us." Chuck reminded Luis.

"He hasn't mentioned either of you." Cliff laughed. "Whatever you said to him obviously scared him. I lived in that house for almost a week and got nothing out of him. He swears his dad was killed by a mugger. When you bought me on board to work with you you knew Punk and I were buddies, you knew he'd be around me from time to time."

"We bought you on board because of your history and to keep a closer eye Punk." Luis said to him. "You got tossed from the house-"

"April wanted privacy." Cliff shrugged. "I don't think she liked having me around."

"Warned you about her." Chuck spat and Luis eyed him.

"Why are you such an angry guy?" Luis asked him annoyed. "Did she piss in your cereal or something?"

"If Punk came over to talk to me about you guys I'd tell you." Cliff assured them. "There's nothing to discuss."

"Right." Luis said eyeing him. "I don't trust you fully Compton."

"I don't trust you that much either." Cliff remarked. "But lucky for you I'm not looking for a trusting friendship, just money."

"And you'll keep getting it as long as you keep working." Luis assured him. "I'll see you tonight."

"Right." Cliff nodded and waited for them to leave before grabbing his cellphone. "It's me." Cliff said into the phone. "Yea Cortez was just here, I have to see you tonight."