Bad Feeling

"Why don't you bend over for a change?" AJ nudged Punk, washing her hair in the shower which he was joining her in.

"That's not how this works." Punk chuckled, watching her rinsing the shampoo from her hair, "Plus, you know I got a bad back." He insisted.

"Is the excuse to all the things I ask you to do." AJ tutted.

"Well you'd be surprised how much you need a fully functioning back for some things." Punk scoffed.

"It seems to work just fine when you want it to." She gave him a grin.

"Well with a little bit of convincing." Punk smiled as she nodded, wrapping her arms around his shoulders, leaning up and kissing him passionately.

They did get a lot more time alone than they did a few years ago when all three girls still lived in the house. It was nice to get the consistent and constant playfulness back again, not that it ever really left them.

AJ pulled back from the kiss, smirking before turning around, placing her hands on the shower doors and leaning over a little as he smiled, lifting her leg up and sliding inside of her.

"Fuck." Punk moaned, thrusting into her as she moaned with pleasure and satisfaction, her hands running down the wet shower doors.

"Yes, baby." AJ moaned, pushing her wet hair back out of her face as he thrusted into her from behind.

Meanwhile Thea had walked in the door to the house with baby James in his carrier over her arm. Dominic had dropped her off on his way to work. She thought since she was feeling a little better, she would come visit her parents.

"Hey." Thea said, not too loudly as she walked into the living room slowly, "Maybe they're in the kitchen." She nodded, looking down at James in his carrier.

She made her way through to the kitchen, noticing it was empty and sitting James' carrier on the table, "They must be upstairs." She said to herself, taking her coat off slowly and carefully.

Although still in a great deal of pain, using strong medication to combat that, she was actually feeling improvement in her movement every day. She'd spoken to a physiotherapist a few days ago who was now giving her exercises to do to strengthen herself back up again. For the first time, small steps were starting to feel like big ones, and it meant she could focus more on Dominic too, and helping him through his relapse.

She left the kitchen, knowing James would be safe there, walking towards the stairs and looking up, "Mom!" Thea called, not hearing any response.

She then began climbing the stairs slowly, taking one step at a time, eventually reaching the top and making her way towards her parents' bedroom, beginning to hear the shower on.

"Mom." Thea called, opening up their bedroom door, "Dad."

"Oh my God." AJ immediately pulled away from Punk in the shower, almost slipping whilst Punk turned the shower off.

"Who the hell is that?" Punk shook his head as AJ got out of the shower.

"You'll have to finish yourself off." AJ told him.

"Are you kidding?" Punk shook his head, watching her jump out the shower, grabbing a towel, "April-" Punk said quietly as she left the bathroom.

"Hey." AJ walked out of the bathroom with a towel around her, "I was just taking a shower. I didn't know you were coming." She laughed a little as Thea looked at her.

"Well… I thought I would come by for some breakfast. James too." Thea explained, "Where is dad?" She questioned. She knew he had to be in the house, because the car was outside.

"Uh he… he's just out." AJ nodded, suddenly listening to some things falling in the shower.

"Ew." Thea realised what was going on, "God, get a do not disturb on your door or something." She groaned as AJ went red, "Sorry I interrupted." She shook her head, wandering back out of the room and closing the door over as AJ groaned.

AJ went back into the bathroom where she saw Punk waiting in the shower.

"What are you waiting on?" AJ shook her head.

"What do you think?" Punk asked.

"Hell no. Thea and James are downstairs-"

"We used to do it all the time when Thea and Jude were asleep in the next rooms. Don't pull that one on me." Punk said, "Finishing myself makes me sad." He pouted as AJ rolled her eyes, turning to a smile and chuckle.

"Fine, but quickly." AJ stepped back into the shower as he smiled.

"Good morning." Punk nodded, walking into the kitchen some time later after getting out of the shower and ready, noticing Thea had already helped herself to breakfast, holding James on her knee.

"Morning." Thea raised a brow, "Sorry I got too hungry waiting." She said.

"We'll forgive you." Punk said, "We didn't know you were coming over."

"Well clearly." Thea scoffed.

"Your mom is just finishing off drying her hair." Punk said, pouring himself some coffee which Thea had already made, "How you feeling? You shouldn't have come all the way over here." He said, sitting down at the table.

"I'm actually feeling not too bad. It's been getting a little easier these past few days." Thea said, "I got some exercises to do from the physio, I think they've been helping. Stairs aren't so challenging anymore and I can… I can lift this little guy a lot better." She nodded.

"You… You even look a lot better." Punk noticed. He could tell her energy was different. She looked happier, if that made sense.

"I'm sleeping better too." Thea nodded.

"Well good, all these things will make a difference." Punk said as she nodded, "How's Dominic's meetings been going?" He asked her.

"Ok." Thea said, "I mean he hates going but… he knows it's gonna help him. He's not had a drink in over a week, since the night I caught him, so… it's going as well as it can." She said, "I've been trying to take his mind off it. We've already binged so much TV shows."

"Welcome to my world." Punk chuckled as Thea smiled, "Hey, that's all you can really do, just be there for him if he needs to talk or even if he doesn't, just being there helps." He said as Thea nodded, "And how is this little guy?" He asked, smiling at James in Thea's arms, appearing to be munching on his fist.

"This little guy is now teething." Thea frowned, "He's been having a few rough nights with it. He was just biting on Dominic's hand this morning too." She sighed, "Poor little guy."

"Oh, that's rough." Punk frowned, "You can get this gel stuff at the store, put it on his gums. Oh and if you've got any small toys that he bites, put it in the fridge and then give him it. It'll help."

"Oh, I never… I never thought of that." Thea said, "Where'd you learn that trick?" She questioned.

"Where do you think?" Punk asked as Thea nodded.

"Thought that sounded like a mom trick. Too smart to be you." Thea nodded.

"Hey." Punk said, offended as Thea chuckled, "Jude teethed really bad. I remember she used to just full on bite me. And when she started crawling she literally would bite your ankles." He nodded as Thea nodded.

"I'm not surprised." Thea said.

"One day I came home and I went to start making dinner, went into the fridge and saw all of her toys in there." Punk said, "Thought I was tripping."

"Hey." AJ walked into the kitchen, "Who was tripping?" She questioned, giving her daughter a kiss on the cheek, as well as her grandson, before going over to pour herself some coffee.

"Me when I came home one day and saw Jude's toys in our fridge." Punk explained.

"Oh." AJ chuckled.

"I was just telling dad that James is starting to teethe." Thea said.

"Oh, poor thing." AJ frowned, looking over at James who was now playing with Thea's hand, putting his little mouth around it, "Yeah, Jude as definitely the worst teether out of all three." AJ confirmed.

"Jude was always the worst at everything." Thea scoffed, "Didn't she always get ear infections?"

"Oh, yeah. She did." AJ nodded, "Poor little thing, we used to take her to the hospital all the time with it."

"How long have we been waiting here?" AJ shook her head, sitting in the hospital waiting room with her husband who had their three year old daughter curled into him, sitting on his lap in discomfort.

"It's been five hours." Punk sighed tiredly. They had the basic of healthcare there was, which meant they couldn't get seen to right away, which meant more time spent sitting with their unwell daughter, who was very prone to ear infections.

"This is the fourth time this year." AJ said, "Surely there's something they can do." She shook her head, stroking Jude's head softly to try and soothe her whilst she lay curled in Punk's arms.

They'd woken up through the night with her screaming and crying in pain. They dropped Thea off at Dean's on the way to the hospital in hopes they could get some quick anti-biotics for Jude.

"How's the pain, baby?" Punk whispered quietly, looking at Jude curled into him as she refused to speak. The other tough thing was, Jude hated hospitals and she hated doctors. They believed it was because it reminded her of the pain of her infections all the time.

"Sweetie, how is it feeling?" AJ asked, "Is it feeling a little better?" She wondered.

"No." Jude sobbed, holding her sore ear.

"Ok, baby." AJ sighed, caressing her head sweetly.

"We'll get some medicine for it soon." Punk assured her, "And it'll get all better." He nodded.

"Some kids are just prone to ear infections." AJ nodded, "I read about it." She said as Punk nodded.

"Seems so unfair." He frowned. Seeing either of his children unwell was sad enough, but seeing Jude having constant bother with her ears, watching how much it drained her physically and emotionally. He couldn't bare it.

"It is." AJ agreed, playing with Jude's hair softly. It looked like they were in for another long night.

Later that night, Jude was leaving her apartment, heading out to meet Sean at the police station where she was meeting him to then go for dinner.

She knew her town well enough to know certain places to avoid walking through at night time. Or more so, certain places her mother and father warned her not to walk through at night on her own. But she was familiar with her hometown and the people in it, and refused to be frightened off walking on her own to meet her boyfriend.

She was making her way through the busy streets as it was Saturday night after a pay weekend, which meant everyone was out.

Getting halfway towards her destination, she couldn't help feel like there was a presence behind her, following her. She didn't know if it was just her paranoia, as every time she turned around, no one was there, but she still felt it and didn't enjoy it one bit.

She even stopped and took her phone out for a second, just to look around the streets for precaution. She couldn't describe the feeling, and she certainly couldn't see anyone following her, but she just felt it around her.

She continued walking down the street, finally reaching the police station, pausing and turning around when she saw a guy walking in the opposite direction with his hood up. She shook her head, shaking the idea out of her mind and walking into the police station.

"Hey." Sean noticed her with a smile.

"Hi." Jude smiled, leaning up and kissing him hello as he looked at her.

"You ok?" Sean asked, noticing she looked a little on edge, "What's up?"

"Nothing." Jude assured him, "Nothing, I'm just… glad to see you." She smiled sweetly.

"Yeah I'm glad to see you after the horror of today." Sean shook his head, "I dealt with my first reported rape."

"Oh, I'm sorry." Jude frowned with distress, "Are you ok? We… We don't have to go out.."

"I'm ok. Honestly, I just need something to take my mind off it." Sean nodded, "Let me just grab my jacket and I'll be good to go." He said as Jude nodded.

"Ok." She smiled, watching him walk off as she turned back to the police station door, looking out the windows into the dark night.