"Morning." Punk said with a hoarse throat, on his side facing AJ as she awoke the next morning. He watched as she turned around to face him, holding the sheets to her naked body and smiling.
"Morning." She whispered, face on with him as he smiled sweetly to her.
"I have to go to work." He moaned but with a smile. He was upset to leave his girlfriend for the day, but something about him was excited to start his new job.
"I wish you didn't." She frowned, "I wish we could just stay in bed forever." She shut her eyes and leaned into him as he kissed her head with a smile.
It was times like these. Times like waking up to her from a previous night of lovemaking, that he really took pride in and never once took for granted. As long as he was waking up to AJ for the rest of his life, he was completely fine.
"So do I. But duty calls." Punk said, sitting up and standing out of bed. He tugged his days clothes out of the wardrobe and lay them on the bed.
"I'll get Tate and make you breakfast." She smiled, sitting up in bed with her bare back facing Punk, feeling him leer across at her as she placed his t-shirt from last night on herself, it was the only thing in reach on the floor and it covered her all the way down below her thighs.
Punk smiled as he watched her place her glasses on and walk out of the room to attend to their son. She was great. She was a great mother, girlfriend, student, wife, everything. She was just a great person and he wondered every day how he had ended up so lucky. How a man like him deserved a woman like her.
AJ attended to Tate while Punk began to shower. She lifted him from his cot, swinging him from her hip and picking out Tate's outfit for the day. It was so hard considering Tate had such a variety of clothing, probably more than her. She went with the adorable tiny jeans that her mom had bought him and a t-shirt that had 'rawr' written in bold letters with dinosaur on the front. It was a typical 7 month old little boys outfit.
She put him on the changing table at the bottom of the cot and changed his diaper along with getting him ready for the day. He was such a good little boy. Of course he got gurny sometimes and let out cries here and there when he was tired or hungry, but he was such a content little soul with the brightest little smile. She wouldn't know what to do without that little smile.
She couldn't wait until he could start talking and walking. Right now he was just cracking smiles, making baby noises and faces and crawling a little when he felt like it. She couldn't believe that in five months he would be one. It felt like only yesterday that she had given birth to him.
Once changing him, not putting any shoes or coat on him considering she was planning to have a working day at home, she took him through into the kitchen where she stuck the kettle on for Punk and herself and also started to make a bottle of formula. She couldn't wait until Tate was able to start eating soft foods, she was fed up of bottles. The pediatrician that she went to had informed her that she should start taking Tate off the bottle when he was round twelve months, which meant only five more months of bottles.
She sat down at the kitchen table with him cradled into her, holding the bottle down to his mouth which he, through no fault of his own had began holding himself, or in others words wrapping his hands around the bottle to make it look like he was holding it up by himself.
She remembered how slow she was at being a mother, but she was so surprised at how fast she had got the hang of it. It just came second nature to her now. The changing, feeding, burping, everything. And she could tell Punk had got the hang of it too. He was such a good father. They had really proven themselves. Not that they had to prove themselves to anyone.
Tate's little face lit up like the fourth of July when he seen his father come into eyesight. He bounced on his mothers lap, his little legs bending up and down as AJ held him under the arms, smiles upon smiles on his face. He was the greatest little gift anyone could have offered them both and AJ, as well as Punk were grateful for him everyday.
"There's my boy." Punk smiled, taking Tate from AJ and up into his arms for a morning hug, "Is this the t-shirt I picked for you? Huh?" He smiled as he tickled Tate's round little tummy where his scar was still very visible, but slowly fading.
"I made you coffee." AJ smiled, sitting at the table with her coffee, another mug sitting across from her as she watched Punk take a seat across from her with Tate in his arms.
"Thank you." Punk smiled, "What's your plans for today?" He asked curiously.
"I'm going to be glued to my laptop. I have a few spreadsheets to do, shouldn't take me long. But then I have an essay to at least start, if not finish. I'm hoping Tate goes for a long nap. His cuteness just distracts me." She frowned, looking over at Tate pulling Punks t-shirt and smiling, leaning his head against Punks chest.
"His cuteness could distract anyone." Punk agreed with AJ, "Don't cook tonight. I'll bring us home pizza." He told her as she nodded with a smile.
"I already miss you and you haven't even left." She frowned, this being the first time in a while that Punk would be gone from 9-5, since he'd been off work through moving and settling in. She'd just gotten used to him being here and now he was off to work again. Although now she knew she would be able to get some proper college work done, Punk as well as Tate were pretty cute distractions when doing so.
Later that night…
AJ was surprised at how much she had actually got done in the space of nine hours. She had finished all her college work and was now up to date for her class tomorrow. She had went to the bank to collect her college fees and transfer them into her savings account. She'd came home and tidied every room in their apartment, and as well as all of that, she'd even got an hour to herself to spend playing with Tate in the living room where Punk had just came home to see with a pizza box in his hand.
Punk wouldn't have been surprised if AJ had just sat playing with Tate all day, he knew she would if she could. He was a little charmer.
"Hey." Punk smiled, walking over into the living room and sitting the pizza box on the coffee table, watching AJ get to her feet and hug him tightly.
"How was your first day?" She asked with a warm welcome, pulling back from the hug and folding her arms to listen while Tate threw lego blocks around the living room.
"It was ok. The guys are cool, the work wasn't too hard today, was quite quiet. They can tell I've done it all before so they just left me to it." Punk smiled, "But how was your day? I see and smell you've cleaned in here." Punk twitched his nose, smelling cleaning products, air fresheners and candles that were lit in the kitchen as soon as he walked in the door.
"I had a very productive day, I'll have you know." She smiled, "I am officially up to date with all of my college work." She drew a line with her hands as he smiled.
"That's my girl." He pulled her into him and kissed her head.
"And, me and Tate took a trip to the bank, didn't we?" She looked down at Tate who looked up at her with such wondering eyes, the same eyes as his father.
"And what were you doing at the bank?" He asked her curiously.
"I was taking my college fees and putting them into my savings account." AJ said as he nodded.
It amazed him how organised and prepared AJ was, she was careful with the money she had, and was extremely careful with whatever money he would give her. Any money she did have would go to their home or Tate. She wasn't interested in spending any money on herself, which sometimes he wish she did, she deserved to buy herself nice things, she worked hard, made a living for their son, cooked and cleaned, raised a family right. But that was just April for you.
"And then I came home and cleaned." She smiled to Punk, "So I don't know about you but I'm starving. I'll go get us some plates, he should be tired enough to lay down, he's just been fed and changed." AJ said, watching Tate's heavy little eyes hang out of his head.
"I'll put him into our bed." Punk said.
It was just a habit they had got into. Whenever Tate was going for a nap or was tired during the day he would sleep in the middle of their bed. Punk couldn't remember why they decided to do that, but it just stuck.
While he put Tate into their room for a nap that he looked in need of, AJ collected plates for their dinner and re entered the living room just as he did.
"This smells so good." AJ smiled, standing up with Punk beside her, tucking her hair behind her ears and opening the pizza box up, looking strangely at the top of the box.
Punk sat his plate down and watched as she tilted her head in confusion.
"What is this?" She asked herself, reaching her hand out and taking the sellotaped piece of paper from the box, standing up straight and reading it into herself.
"That… is a booking confirmation for our wedding date. I know how much you want to be married again. We have three months to wait because of the registry office having no spare dates, but the longer the wait the better, right?" He smiled.
"Oh, Phil." AJ smiled with glee, wrapping her arms around Punks neck with such force that Punk nearly keeled over.
"Til death do us part. Right?" Punk smiled, hugging her back just as tight, watching her look up at him.
"Right." She nodded, "I love you so much." She said, leaning up and pressing her lips against his sweetly. She couldn't wait to be his wife again.
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