Vacation


A few weeks later and Punk and AJ were putting his mother's birthday present to good use, and were on a week long vacation to Puerto Rico, the exact place they went on their honeymoon. When Wendy asked AJ for advice as to some place Punk would like, she could only hint here. She knew how much Punk loved it, and it would be the first time taking both kids with them. It felt great to get away for a week.

Bradley was napping under the shade, lying on a sun bed in just a diaper. It had only took a day for AJ to realise she was one of those mothers. One of those mothers that slapped sun cream on their children every five minutes, and made sure they were drinking enough and eating plenty. But she wasn't ashamed. She just cared.

She lay beside her son, only lying more in the sun in a black bikini, her eyes closed as she listened to Punk and Joni in the pool near by. The villa was perfect for them. It was private and secluded.

"You need to do it at the same time." Punk said, standing in the shallow end of the pool near where AJ was sunbathing. He was trying his best to teach Joni how to swim, but she was having some difficulty.

"But I can't." Joni struggled as Punk held her up. She was either just using her arms, or just using her legs, she hadn't mastered how to do both yet, and kept floating underneath the water.

"Yes, you can." Punk said, "If you can do jumping jacks you can swim." He said, holding her afloat, "Go, kick your legs and move your arms." He said as she continued to just kick her legs with no arm movement, "Remember you arms." He said as Joni began moving her arms too.

She hadn't even noticed that Punk had let her go and she was staying afloat on her own and swimming by herself. She turned to her side and realised her father was a few centimetres away and smiled, "I'm doing it!" She cheered as AJ opened her eyes and smiled, sitting up and watching.

"Way to go, Jo!" AJ smiled as she watched Joni swim by herself.

"I'm really doing it." Joni said with excitement as Punk smiled.

"See, told you." Punk said proudly, "Ok, Bradley is next pass me him down." He turned to AJ with a smirk as AJ shook her head.

"I don't think so." AJ laughed, lying back down on the sun bed, her skin glowing in the sun, tanning even more whilst Punk on the other hand was just burning.

"C'mon, he has a little ring to float in. You think I'm gonna let him drown?" He shook his head and pulled himself out of the pool whilst Joni swam around, finally getting the hang of the swimming technique.

AJ smiled as she looked at her husband, watching him run his hand through his wet hair, his body dripping wet, his swim shorts hanging loose around his waist, showing off his perfectly chiselled hip dents and V-line.

"He's sleeping." AJ said, "Don't wake him." She said, turning to Bradley who lay on his back on the sun chair fast asleep under an umbrella.

"Well then he can wake up. I don't want him to miss the water." He said.

"We have all week." AJ replied.

"And I want to make the most of it." Punk said, lifting up Bradley from the chair, "I'm putting him in his swim suit." He said, walking away into the villa as AJ just rolled her eyes.

Five minutes later he emerged with an awoken Bradley in his little swimsuit, swinging from his hip, "Ok, little guy. Let's do this." He said, placing the flat-able ring in the water and placing Bradley in the little seat in the middle of it.

"Be careful!" AJ snapped worriedly, sitting up and watching her son carefully as Punk turned around to her slowly.

"Calm down, crazy." He said, sliding back into the pool and pushing Bradley around the water in his ring as the biggest smile appeared on his face, a few squeals leaving his mouth as he realised this was something different and interesting. The feeling of the water and the feeling of floating around was causing him to giggle, which made Punk smile, "Yeah, is that fun? You like this?"

"Oh, he likes it." AJ smiled cheerfully, clasping her hands together, listening to Bradley laugh like never before, "Oh my god." She said, getting to her feet and grabbing the camera.

"Oh, AJ no pictures." Punk rolled his eyes.

"Shut up." AJ said, "I'm not taking any of you." She said, snapping a few pictures of Joni and Bradley. They were both so happy and she loved seeing her family like this. It was so good to be away and disconnected from the world.

"Are you gonna come in?" Punk smirked as he looked up at his wife. It was hard to stay cool around her incredible body when the kids were here. Her bikini was as simple as simple could get, but man did she wear it well.

"Oh, no I don't swim." She shook her head, walking away and putting her camera back in the bag.

"Please mom!" Joni begged, "Please come in." Joni said.

"No. I'm not much of a swimmer." She shook her head, sitting back down on the sun bed as Punk rolled his eyes.

"I wish you weren't a drama queen." He sighed, getting out of the pool and walking towards her.

"Punk, I mean it." AJ warned seriously whilst Bradley stayed floating around in his little rubber ring chair happily, Joni floating beside and pushing him around cheerfully as he giggled.

"C'mon, don't be a bore." He said, picking her up around the waist.

"No, Punk. I'm serious. Don't!" She shouted trying to get out of his grip.

"C'mon. Lighten up." Punk laughed, coming near the edge of the pool.

"No… No, Punk I can't swim!" She exclaimed as Punk dropped her in the pool, placing his hands in his head as he realised what she had just said.

"Shit." He panicked, realising he'd thrown her into the deep end, jumping in and getting a hold of her, bringing her up to surface as she gripped onto him for dear life and shivered.

"Why did you do that?" She spat, nevertheless holding onto him tightly as he smiled a little.

"I didn't know you couldn't swim." He said, trying not to laugh.

"Well now you know, let me out." She said.

"I got you." He smiled, kissing her wet cheek as she just smiled, laughing a little at the ridiculousness of it all.

"I know you do." She whispered with a smile, feeling him pull her over to the shallow end.

"Here, you can stand here." He told her as she stood safely with a smile, her attention captured by Joni and Bradley who was happily floating together, "Remember when we came here on our honeymoon, and I said it'd be great to come back here with Joni, and another baby?" He smiled as she nodded.

"Visions can come true, I guess." She smiled, "They're both so happy." She smiled, "I'm really glad your mom done this for us." She smiled as he nodded.

"Yeah, things are going really good with us." He nodded. Throughout the past few weeks he had been visiting his mother and vice versa. Things were still getting taken slowly, but the progress was good and Punk felt himself getting attached to the woman very quickly.

"They are. Everything is going ok." She said, "Did I tell you that Chris might be moving state to work in another office?" She asked as he smiled.

"As if I already wasn't happy enough." Punk smiled, "Good riddance." He said.

"And Kirin hasn't showed face, maybe she's gone back to wherever it was she came from too." She said.

"Maybe." Punk nodded, "Or maybe she's lurking. Seems like she was keen to stick around."

"Well even if she does, she has nothing on us." AJ said as Joni swam over to them with Bradley too.

"I'm hungry." Joni said whilst Bradley continued to giggle and splash his hands off the water. He was so fascinated and excited about all these new feelings and surroundings.

"You wanna get some lunch?" AJ asked as Joni nodded, "What about you, cheeky?" She pinched Bradley's cheek softly, "You hungry?" She smiled as he just splashed his hands off the water, "I'm gonna take that as a yes." She said as they got out of the pool and headed into the villa for some lunch.


Later that night after a fun day relaxing and in the kids case, splashing around the pool, they headed out for dinner. Going on vacation with family was never something AJ or Punk even imagined happening in the future, but now that it was happening it all felt right.

They had dinner and walked along the strip by the beach, on the pavement just up from the sand, the little lights leading the way down the path. Bradley was in his stroller, being pushed by AJ whilst Joni was on Punk's shoulders.

"Hey, what's on your mind?" Punk asked AJ who looked like she had a lot going through her head.

"Oh, nothing." AJ shook her head, "Just… I know my parents were from here. That's about the only thing I know about them." AJ said, "They could have lived around here, or… one of these restaurants could have been their local… I just… my mind wanders." She shook her head.

"You're allowed to think about them." He said.

"I know, I just… I never knew them, I have nothing to think of." She said, "I wish I could remember them, just so I could have names and faces to think about. But I have nothing." She said as Punk slowly let Joni down from his shoulders, watching her run on ahead but not too far.

"Are you ok?" He asked more seriously.

"Don't make a fuss." AJ said, "I just think about them from time to time." She told him simply.

"Maybe you could find relatives of theirs." He suggested.

"I don't think they had any? And if they did, why didn't they take me in instead of putting me in care?" She asked, "What happened to us?" She laughed a little, "We were so anti parents." She said as he smiled.

"Things change." He said, "You don't have to think about them sadly. They died loving each other. What your dad done for your mom, I would have done the same for you."

"And left Joni and Bradley with no one?" She asked seriously.

"I think it'd just be instinct to save you if you were in a burning house, April." He said, "We got good people around us who would make sure Joni and Bradley were ok." He said confidently.

"But clearly I never." She said, "I just wanna see a picture… anything, just to put my mind at ease." She said, "What was it like… seeing what your mother looked like for the first time?" She asked curiously.

"It was weird. Still trying to get used to it." He admitted, "But it felt better to know I knew what she looked like. She wasn't just this blank figure in my mind that I hated anymore." He said, "I'm sure we can try and find a picture for you."

"How?" AJ said.

"Maybe go back to your old care. They had pictures of me and Kirin in Joni's files… remember?" He said as she nodded, remembering.

"I'm not sure I wanna go back there." She admitted, "Will I even still be on their records?"

"Yeah. I think so." Punk said, "I'll come with you. It won't be that scary." He said.

"Not if you're there." She smiled as Joni ran up to them both.

"Can I have ice-cream now? Look! There's a van just there." She pointed in front of her to the ice cream truck sitting bumped up on the pavement.

"Yeah, alright." Punk smiled, lifting her up.

"We'll just stay here, get Bradley a cone." AJ said, sitting down on bench close to the truck, turning the stroller into her so she could see her son, smiling as he sat in his little shorts and t-shirt, tiny baby cap over his head.

"Ok." Punk nodded, heading over to the van and standing in line with Joni still in his arms, "What do you want?" He asked her.

"I don't know. I know I want a con but I don't know what ice-cream." She admitted, "Chocolate." She said.

"That was quick." He laughed.

"It looks good." Joni admitted as she seen the different flavours of ice-cream presented at the front of the truck.

Just as they were waiting, Punk's attention kept getting drawn to a crowd of men brawling outside a pub. He thought nothing of it. He figured it was just some drunks messing around, you got them anywhere. He talked away to Joni to make sure she didn't catch her eye on it.

He was just about to order the ice-cream when a loud bang echo'd through the street, causing Joni to jump, holding her shoulder immediately and burying her head into his neck. He watched as the people around him gasped and looked around, and he immediately ditched the truck and headed over to his worried wife.

"What was that?" AJ shook her head as Punk turned around, looking over to the group of men that were brawling, one collapsed on the ground and another being tackled down by other men.

"C'mon, let's just go back to the villa." He said as AJ nodded, looking at Joni who started to cry into Punk, "It's ok, baby. It was just a bang." He said, kissed her head, "You're ok." He promised her, but she continued to hold her lightly scarred shoulder.


"Is she ok?" AJ asked, waiting outside Joni's room which Punk just came out of.

"Yeah. She's asleep." Punk nodded, "And here I was thinking here would be a good place to live." He shook his head as they entered their bedroom, "She must have just thought of that night with Joey." He shook his head.

"Poor baby." AJ sighed, "It's so scary." She said as Punk nodded.

"We're safe up here." He told her with confidence. Their villa was a bit up from the sea-front where everything usually took place. It was shielded and had security. There was nothing for them to worry about but of course AJ still did.

Joni cried all the way until Punk put her into bed. He told her with all honesty that she was completely fine. It was just a loud noise, and it was nothing to be scared of, with that and his soft touch against her cheek, she managed to fall asleep.

"I can never even think of Joey for what he done to her." Punk said, sitting down on the edge of their bed as AJ closed the door over and folded her arms.

"Well he'll be rotting away in prison. You don't have to think about him." She said, sitting down next to him and leaning into him, "You'll always protect us." She said.

"Yeah? Well situations like tonight, the wrong types of people get hurt, people who don't even know what is going on. Just like Joni was hurt." He shook his head.

"You can't keep blaming yourself for that."

"I should have took the bullet." Punk said, "He shouldn't have missed me."

"No one should have taken any bullets. What happened was tragic. Whether it was you or Joni, it was still going to tear me apart. But she's fine. She held on and she's ok. You can't keep thinking back to that night and playing out different scenarios. It's over." She said.

"It can't be over." He said, "Not until Joey is gone. For good." He turned to her.

"Him in prison isn't enough for you?" AJ said as Punk just shook his head.

"No. Joni jumps everytime she hears a bang. She has a huge scar on her shoulder which constantly reminds her of how hurt she was. I can't let that go." He said.

"I didn't become your probation officer to have you commit more crimes, Punk. This is over. Joey is in prison and will be for the next upcoming years." She said.

"What if I told you I knew people in the same prison as him? Friends who owe me one." He said as AJ took her hand from his arm and stood up.

"Cut it out." She spat, "I don't like when you do this." She said.

"Do what?" He asked.

"Go full on street kid mode. Like you were raised by wolves. Leave it be." She spat, "It's done." She told him, walking away as he collapsed back on the bed.


A/N: Let me know what you think!