Vulnerable

Punk woke up in bed, opening his eyes, screwing them up a little at the contact with lights. He looked around the hospital room, looking down as he noticed an IV drip taped to his hand, wires stuck to his chest with monitors beeping left and right of hm.

He then turned his head and noticed AJ sitting on the arm chair fast asleep, her glasses almost hanging off her face as her neck was squished into itself, uncomfortably squashed on the arm chair with her legs dangling off the edge.

He closed his eyes back over tiredly, feeling like his body weighed ten tonnes and was stuck to the bed. The pain was so bad that he wished he was back in an unconscious sleep again just to not feel it. He'd been beaten up plenty of times, even shot at it in his field of work, but nothing had ever hurt him as much as this.

His throat was dry and sore from being out of it for so long so he slowly reached for the button at the side of his bed. It even hurt him to move his arm a little, but he managed to press the button to get a nurse. He didn't want to wake AJ.

"Mister Brooks, you're awake." Punk's doctor, Patrick walked into the room, "How are you feeling?" He asked, putting his hands in his white doctor's coat pocket.

"I feel like shit." Punk said as Patrick smiled and nodded, "When was I brought in?" He asked, his mind a little hazy from everything going on, from waking up after assuming he had passed out. The last thing he could really remember was crawling towards his phone in agony along the floor.

"You were brought in at around three in the afternoon. It's just gone 4am now." Patrick nodded to him as Punk raised his eyebrows, "We had to perform surgery to stop the internal bleeding. You lost a lot of blood in the process so transfusions were necessary too." He said as Punk nodded, "You'll be incredibly sore for quite some time but… I don't doubt you'll make a full recovery." He said as Punk nodded, "You're very lucky."

"Who did I call?" Punk asked curiously, "I can't remember."

"Oh, I'm not sure of those details." Patrick said, "In the meantime, can I get you anything?"

"Uh… yeah, could I get some water, please?" Punk nodded.

"Of course." Patrick nodded, "Lesley and Jane will take care of you. They're the nurses for this floor. Anything you need just ask them, I'm sure they'll come in and introduce themselves soon." He smiled as Punk just nodded.

He felt slightly agitated and confused. It was a lot to take in that he'd woken up in the hospital and was barely able to move a muscle without his entire torso aching in agony.

"Am I on a lot of drugs?" Punk wondered. He felt like he couldn't think straight. His mind felt hazy and diluted.

"Very strong morphine, yes." Patrick said as Punk nodded. Made sense.

"Great." Punk said unenthusiastically.

"Your girlfriend told us you'd be thrilled about all the drugs." Patrick smiled as Punk nodded, "Don't worry, we'll only ever give you something if it's necessary. You're in too much pain not to maintain it." He made clear as Punk nodded. He figured his pain and injury had to have been worse than he thought considering he was still in agony, even with all the morphine.

"Is it normal that I feel like I weigh seven thousand stone?" Punk asked as Patrick nodded.

"That's normal. That's just the pain wearing on your body. You'll be exhausted and monitored closely over the next forty-eight hours, which will be the worst." Patrick said, "But… you'll make a full recovery." He nodded.

"Yeah just keep telling me that to get me through." Punk encouraged as Patrick smiled.

Punk then noticed AJ beginning to stir on the chair, waking up slowly.

"I'll go get the water for you." Patrick said, excusing himself from the room whilst Punk watched AJ wakening up.

"Hey, you." Punk smiled tiredly, resting his head on the pillow as he looked at her.

Oh my God." AJ sat up as she saw he was awake, "Oh, thank God you're awake." AJ gasped, tears coming to the surface as she stood up and leaned over to cup his face, "Thank God." She sighed, kissing him on the lips sweetly and longingly.

She had been sitting in the hospital all day and night just watching him as he slept. She realised she must have fallen asleep on the chair not too long ago. The relief to see him awake, to hear his voice and see those eyes opened up.

"I'm all good." Punk said modestly, not wanting her to worry as she leaned her forehead against his.

"I was so scared." She whispered, her voice breaking. He wanted to lift his hand to her face desperately but couldn't from the pain.

"Don't be." Punk said, "I'm ok." He nodded to her tiredly as she kissed him again before pulling the chair closer to his bedside and sitting back down.

"Are you in pain?" She sighed.

"I'm just gonna lie and tell you no." He said as she frowned, "How'd I get here?" He asked her curiously.

"You called Dean. He said he could just hear heavy breathing for a while and then he heard you mumbling that you'd been stabbed. He sent an ambulance and some cops round, they brought you straight here." AJ nodded, "He came by my work and told me so I left right away." She said, "I was so scared. I didn't know what I was gonna walk into." She admitted, taking his hand in hers and gripping it tightly.

"I'm gonna be ok." He nodded. He didn't want her to worry. He hated seeing that look of dread on her face. He desperately wished he could have comforted her more.

"She tried to kill you, Phil." AJ shook her head as Punk leaned his head back on the pillow, "She stabbed you. I mean… she's insane." AJ said.

"I thought she was being genuine." Punk shook his head. It was hard for him to admit that he'd yet again been manipulated by this woman and her lies, her falseness. All through the divorce process she had been understanding, reasonable. He'd even go as far as saying she had been kind and sweet. But it was very clear this had been her plan all along, and he felt stupid for having fallen into the trap, "I should never have trusted her. Not after her lying to me about the baby and then… the way she reacted, how quickly she managed to calm down-"

"No, you're not blaming yourself for this, Phil." AJ shook her head, "No way. The woman is insane. She has to be to have been so false and fake all this time and… turn it around so quickly." AJ said. A part of her was terrified of Janine and how she had played this out.

"Where is Dean?" Punk asked her.

"He's at the station. I told him I'd call when you woke up." She nodded, rubbing his arm softly, "How… How did it happen? What did she say? What did she do?" AJ questioned as Punk thought to himself.

"I was just… I was putting the boxes into my car and I was saying goodbye to her, I guess. She told me she was leaving in the morning so I figured… I'm not gonna see her again, may as well say a final goodbye." Punk said as AJ nodded, "She asked me for a hug and I… I said yeah." He said, "Next thing I know she's stabbing me." He shook his head.

"Dean has a search party out looking her for but… they've not found her yet." AJ said.

"She'll be gone." Punk shook his head, trying to move slightly in bed, wincing in pain.

"Careful." AJ nurtured him, standing up, "You ok?"

"I can barely move." Punk groaned to himself, resting his head back on the pillow as AJ placed her hand on his forehead, brushing his hair out of the way.

"You gotta be patient with your body." AJ said.

"They're not gonna find her." Punk shook his head as AJ sat back down.

"Of course they will. She'll not have gone far." AJ said.

"She obviously planned this." Punk said, "She's got a ton of money. She could… she could easily just disappear." He said.

"Well they're gonna keep looking for her. This was attempted murder, Phil." She shook her head.

"Yeah and I should have saw it coming." Punk said.

"Really?" AJ said, "Is it so bad that you wanted to believe there was some shred of goodness in her?" She asked as he turned to her, "You can't beat yourself up over this. She's clearly out of her mind." AJ shook her head. She was done with trying to sympathise with Janine and see things from her point of view. This was just too far. This was the difference between a sane person and an insane person.

"She'll probably never come back here." Punk shook his head as she looked across at him, "She got what she wanted. Sold the house. Got the divorce. Put me in a hospital bed." He said.

"Dean has people out there looking for her. They might catch her before she sets off somewhere." AJ said, "She can't… she can't get away with this, Phil." AJ made clear. This was way too serious to give anyone the benefit of the doubt. In some way, she could have understood that perhaps Janine had a slight mental breakdown once she found out her husband was in love with someone else. She was sure it wasn't uncommon for a girl to lose her mind a little at the thought of her husband with another woman. But this really singled out the type of woman, the type of person Janine really was.

"My entire body hurts." Punk sighed to himself, closing his eyes over. He hadn't felt pain like it. The pain from his stab wound just seemed to be circling through his entire body, unable to move or do anything, "And I've been shot before but this… this is ridiculous." He sighed to himself.

"You're on a lot of drugs." AJ nodded, holding onto his hand. Part of her own body ached to see him like this. It was the first time she'd actually felt how important he was to her. The thought of anything happening to him absolutely haunted her, "I thought I was gonna lose you today." She shook her head as Punk turned to her, "I… I don't know what I'd do without you. I… I couldn't-"

"I'm gonna be ok." Punk nodded to her, noticing tears rolling down her cheeks, "Please don't cry, I don't like that." He frowned as she smiled, drying her tears.

"I just love you so much and I… I could never lose you." AJ shook her head.

"You won't." Punk promised.

"I'm gonna take care of you." She nodded, drying her tears, "I'll be here for you every step of the way." She said, cupping his cheek as he smiled.

He knew he'd found his one. There was no one he'd rather comfort him and take care of him, see him so vulnerable like this other than her. She made him feel safe, like everything would be ok. He'd never felt that before.

"I'll leave you in charge of all the pills I'll have to take." He nodded as AJ smiled, "You're the expert."

"In training." AJ reminded him.

"Still the expert." He smiled sweetly.

"I wish I could hug you." AJ frowned sadly as Punk smiled.

"I'll accept another kiss if you're offering." Punk nodded as she smiled, standing up and leaving over, cupping his cheeks and kissing him softly. She was so eternally grateful that he had gotten medical help when he needed it. All she wanted to do was take care of him. She figured that was all love was. And they had it. But in the back of her head was the possibility of Janine fleeing somewhere far away and that just rubbed her the wrong way.

A/N: There's gonna be a time jump next chapter to shift the story into a different gear! More drama still to come. Thanks for the reviews!