Together
"Where is he?" Punk approached Renee who was waiting in the hospital corridor.
"I… he-he's in surgery. They… They couldn't get bleeding to stop and I… they haven't told me anything." Renee shook her head, her hands shaking as Kerry gave her a hug whilst Punk looked down the corridor.
"Phil." Kerry gritted her teeth as she watched her son wander away down to the desk.
"Excuse me." Punk stood at the desk as the nurse stood on the phone, putting her finger up to him, asking him to hold just a minute, "No, get off the phone." Punk spat as the woman looked at him, cutting her phone call short and hanging up, "My little brother, his name is Dean Ambrose, he's in surgery." Punk said, "Can you… can you tell me what's going on with him?"
"I won't know anything until he's out of surgery. Please calm down." The nurse encouraged, "Please, take a seat and the doctor will speak to you." She nodded as Punk ran his hand through his hair, taking a deep breath and walking away down the corridor to where Renee and Kerry were standing.
"They don't know shit." Punk said anxiously, looking at Renee, "What did they say to you?"
"That he was in a car accident and he was in hospital." Renee nodded, still in Kerry's arms, "He must have been on his way home from work." She shook her head.
"They didn't tell you his injuries?" Punk shook his head.
"I just got here." Renee shook her head as Punk placed his hand on his forehead, looking down the corridor as he watched two police officers walk down, one which seemed familiar, realising as he got closer as it was Drake, the police officer who investigated his father's murder.
"And so we meet again." Drake nodded as Punk looked across at him.
"What happened?" Punk asked him as Drake looked across at him.
"Hit and run." Drake said, "The car that drove into Dean made sure it was on a side road. Dean's car rotated and it looks like he wasn't wearing a seat belt either." Drake said as Kerry placed her hand over her mouth, "The other car was abandoned. No one was there when we got to the scene." He said as Punk shook his head.
"So this was deliberate? That's what you're saying?" Punk asked.
"It's looking that way, yeah." Drake nodded as Punk shook his head, running his hands over his face.
"Uh… is this Dean Ambrose family?" A doctor crept up behind as they turned around.
"We'll take later." Drake nodded, leaving down the corridor whilst they turned the attention to the doctor.
"Who here is family?" The doctor asked.
"We all are." Kerry said, "I'm his mom. Tell me, is he alright? Is he going to be ok?" She asked.
"I'm Doctor Kent. Dean is out of surgery. We managed to get the blood to stop which is a good thing." The doctor nodded, "We're worried about Dean's head, we believe it took most of the impact and we won't know anything until he… responds and wakes up." The doctor nodded, "He's in ICU just now, we only allow two visitors at a time." He nodded to them.
"Can you tell us anything else?" Punk asked with frustration, "Other than you basically don't know if he's gonna be ok."
"The reason we believe his head took most of the impact is because he doesn't have any other injuries that we've been able to identify. No broken bones." The doctor nodded, "I know this must be a stressful time. We're doing everything we can to help him. He's in the best place right now." He said.
"Thank you, doctor." Kerry nodded as the doctor smiled and walked away to attend to other duties.
"I want to see him." Renee said eagerly.
"You two go in." Punk nodded to them, rubbing the back of his head, "I can go in after." He assured them, placing his hand on his mom's shoulder as Kerry took a deep breath. It was terrifying to know he was in a bad way, for all of them.
"I'll give you my phone. If April calls then answer and tell her what's going on." Kerry said as Punk nodded, taking the phone from his mother as her and Renee headed down the corridor.
Punk walked back down to where Drake was standing with the other police officer.
"How's he doing?" Drake asked Punk.
"They think he's gonna have damage to his head." Punk nodded, "It's not looking good." Punk said as Drake sighed, "So… if you're here to question him, I think it's gonna be a little while for that." He said.
"No, but we can ask you some questions." Drake said as Punk nodded, "Coffee? You look like you need it." He said as Punk nodded.
AJ woke up, intentionally for work when she noticed Kerry was gone. She called her immediately where Punk answered and explained to her what was going on. She felt numb and she had no idea what to say. She just knew she wanted to be with her family.
She called into work and got herself and Alba ready, jumping on the next bus to the hospital and heading into the café where Punk told her he was.
"Thank you." AJ nodded to a kind lady who held the door opened for her as she pushed the stroller into the café, spotting Punk sitting with what looked to be a cop. She walked down the row of tables and chairs, getting to the table as Punk immediately stood up and embraced her.
She immediately let go, having kept herself together the entire morning until getting into his arms, where she knew it was safe to feel upset and let herself go.
"It's alright." Punk nodded, rubbing her back softly and hugging her tightly, sighing to himself, "It's ok." He soothed as she tried to get herself together, drying her eyes and pulling back from the hug.
"How is he? What-what even happened?" AJ shook her head, it was happening all so quick for her.
"They think it was a hit and run." Punk nodded, "He was hit off the road. And you know Dean never wears a seat belt." He shook his head, "He was found outside the car." He said as AJ placed her hands over her mouth, "The other car was abandoned there with no one in it."
"Who would do such a thing?" AJ shook her head.
"We've been talking about that." Drake said as AJ turned around to him, barely taking notice, "Hi, April. I'm Drake, I was-"
"You lead their dad's case. I remember." AJ sniffled, fixing her puffy eyes as Drake nodded, "You have any idea who would do this?"
"No. Seems very personal and deliberate so… chances are Dean and quite possibly you both would know who it was. It's a tricky road with no cameras around, no houses or built-up area." Drake said, "They definitely picked their right spot intentionally." Drake said as AJ shook her head.
Meanwhile Punk had crouched down in front of the stroller where Alba was sitting, holding onto her giraffe, looking around nosily at everything. He needed a distraction and she was perfect.
"Hi." Punk smiled, taking a hold of her small hand as she grabbed his three fingers and shook his hand about, "Hey." Punk nodded whilst AJ looked down and smiled, "You're so good." He shook his head. She was as quiet as a mouse, content and happy just sitting and looking around at everything.
"I didn't know you guys had a baby." Drake smiled, turning his head around a little to look on at Alba.
"We don't." AJ said, sitting down at the table, "She's… just mine." AJ nodded to him.
"Oh, you-you two aren't together?" Drake wondered, "I thought you were dating."
"No." AJ shook her head, "Well…" She turned back to Punk, not really sure what they were doing in all honesty, "It's complicated." She said as Drake nodded.
"Ahh, one of those ones." Drake said, "Well she's adorable." He said, "What's her name?"
"Alba." AJ smiled, looking on at Alba who was giggling at Punk as he made funny faces at her. She knew from experience that even just a small smile from Alba really made the difference to her mood, and she could see it was doing the same for Punk.
"Sweet." Drake nodded to her.
"How are you gonna go about looking into this?" AJ asked him whilst Punk sat back up at the table to join the conversation, sitting beside AJ who he felt put her hand on his thigh underneath to comfort him.
"Well we'll see where Dean's whereabouts were last night. Ask around. See who he came into contact with at the time. We also might need to ask you both a couple of questions and Dean's mom but… just so we can build a case." He assured them, "Do you guys know of anyone who… he's crossed paths with that would wanna do something like this? I know it's so absurd and drastic but… you never know with people these days." Drake shook his head.
"He's not a seedy guy." Punk said, "He's to and from work every day. He doesn't get into trouble." Punk shook his head as AJ nodded in agreement.
"Seems about right." Drake nodded.
"Where is your mom and Renee?" AJ turned to Punk.
"They're in visiting him just now in ICU. It's only two visitors at a time so I let them go on in." Punk nodded, "They said they wouldn't know anything about his condition until he woke up." He said as AJ sighed.
"Keep your heads up." Drake nodded, feeling his phone vibrate in his pocket as he answered, "Sure, I'll be right there." Drake said, standing up as he hung up on the call.
"What is it?" Punk asked.
"They've found something at the scene." Drake said.
"What'd they find?" Punk asked, "I'll come with you." He stood up.
"No, you're not a damn cop." Drake said, "You stay here and be with your family. I will call you as soon as I have information. You know I will." He told him as Punk sighed, sitting back down, "Stay strong." He nodded, leaving the café as Punk ran his hands over his face.
"I can't believe this." AJ sighed, leaning her head on his shoulder as he nodded, "Who would want to do something like this? Deliberately?" She shook her head, "It's evil." She said, looking over at Alba who was stretching out of her stroller, "Oh, you dropped your giraffe?" AJ noticed as Alba pointed down to the ground.
"Oh, no." AJ sighed, picking the giraffe up and dusting it off a little before giving her it back, "There you go." AJ smiled, stroking her cheek softly.
"I need to go to work." Punk shook his head as he noticed the time.
"What?" AJ turned to him with shock, "No way are you going to work like this. Right now." AJ said.
"I have work to do. I need to… I need to go." Punk nodded to her as she took his hand, not letting him leave the table.
"Your brother needs you." AJ said as Punk looked at her, "I need you." She nodded, "The company can run without you for a day." She nodded. She knew it was his way of dealing with things, to avoid them as much as possible, but his family needed him. He was the glue that held them all together.
"What if he's really bad?" Punk shook his head.
"We're here for him." AJ said, "It's all we can do right now." She nodded, "We let the police do their job and we do ours. He's strong. So strong. Just like you." She nodded, holding his hand tightly as he looked at her. He felt lucky to have her there to comfort him, or else he would have been a mess, "It's gonna be ok." She nodded, leaning up and kissing his cheek softly as he wrapped his arm around her, bringing her close beside him as she hugged her arms around him tightly.
