The Incident


"There's no way I could tell you every little detail." Tom shook his head, looking across at AJ who was taken back by what she'd already heard, which was only the start of it, "And I don't think I want to stand here and tell you about all these things that happened to your husband."

"Well he's not gonna tell me." AJ shook her head, "If I know then he doesn't have to go through the process of sitting down and telling me. I can just be there for him. Tell him that I know and it's gonna be ok." She shrugged.

"But it was eight years. I can't sit here and tell you eight years worth of stuff that happened. That needs to come from him. I can reiterate things and explain it to you from my point of view but… even I don't know what was going through his head." Tom said as AJ sighed, running her hands through her hair.

"What did they do to him?" AJ asked, "This group of guys?" She questioned, "Did Phil know them? Did he know who they were?"

"No." Tom shook his head, "They were just bad guys who ran the prison. They had the guards turning a blind eye to things. Phil tried to stand up to them and just became a target." He said.

"So they… they would beat him up?" AJ asked as Tom nodded.

"It was a lot of mind games too." Tom said, "But yeah, it got physical sometimes too." He nodded, "Once you and your oldest stopped visiting, he started to… fight back a little harder. He lost his mind for a little while." He nodded.

"What does that mean?" AJ asked.

"He was put in isolation for a few weeks." Tom said, "When he came out he didn't speak to me until a few weeks after. He was just so shut off." He said, "But that's normal. Especially for someone serving a long sentence. I was in isolation too." He made clear as AJ sighed to herself.

"Were these guys on his case the entire time he was there?" AJ asked him.

"Pretty much. There was an incident that happened between Phil and Joey in the visiting room one time." Tom explained, "I figured you'd know about that at least."

"No… no, what happened? The visiting room?" AJ questioned as Tom looked across at her.


"Hey, how's your mom?" Punk asked, looking across at eleven year old Jude who was visiting him, watching her as she done her homework.

"She's fine." Jude answered. She was dropped off by Dean and picked up by him. After AJ and Thea stopped showing up, she was vocal about how she felt, even at such a young age. She wanted to see her father and that was final. AJ organised for Dean to take her to the prison for her to spend time with Punk after school every day. She always promised that whatever she and her husband went through, her daughter's made their decisions in regards to him. She was never going to keep them from him.

"And your sisters?" Punk smiled. It was the hardest thing he'd ever done. Having to put on a smile, to pretend he was ok. He'd been in prison for five years and he'd felt every second of those five years. It was torture. All of it.

"My sisters are fine." Jude nodded to him, "Cassie has a cold and she had an ear infection too." She informed her father.

"That's too bad." Punk nodded. It broke his heart to hear Cassie's name and not even know anything about her. To not have even met her, yet listen to Jude talk about her as such a close part of the family… it was challenging on so many levels.

"Yeah, she woke me up last night." Jude said unhappily, "Crying. And I told her to just shut up." She rolled her eyes as Punk laughed a little.

"That's not very sisterly." Punk smiled.

"I need my sleep." Jude made clear as he laughed and nodded.

"I know you do." Punk smiled, "How has school been?" He asked her.

"Um, fine I guess." Jude nodded, "I stayed with Uncle Dean and Auntie Renee last night." She told him, "Because um…" She paused, realising her mother told her not to talk about Thea and the fact she was in hospital, "Because I wanted to." She smiled. It was so much for her little undeveloped brain to take in, but she did her best.

"Did you have fun?" Punk smiled, "What'd you have dinner?"

"Spaghetti meatballs." Jude told him as Punk smiled. The only bright spots in his days was getting to see his Jude. He could do his best to forget about everything going on around him and just watch her. It meant so much to him that she still longed to come visit him and see him. It gave him some last remaining hope that he still had somewhat family.

"You been drawing any new pictures lately?" Punk asked her.

"Oh, yeah." Jude nodded, reaching down into her bookbag and pulling out her sketch book excitedly, "I finished this one last night." She showed him, turning the pad around as Punk looked at her latest drawing. She was super talented, and he wanted to make sure she knew that.

"This is amazing." Punk said with amazement as Jude looked on, "Babe, you just keep getting better and better. I love it." He shook his head as Jude smiled, "Isn't there a club or something you can join?" He wondered.

"Mom has looked for me but she hasn't found anything." Jude explained, "I like doing it on my own." She said as Punk smiled and nodded.

"Well it's amazing. You're so talented." He nodded as she smiled, "Seriously." He nodded to her, sliding the pad back over to her, noticing at the corner of his eye someone sitting down at one of the visiting tables beside him, turning around slightly and noticing it was Joey.

"I've started a new one. Look." Jude showed him, turning her sketch pad back around as Punk looked on at it, keeping Joey in the corner of his eye, feeling him staring over.

"It's great, babe." Punk nodded as Jude noticed Joey staring over.

"That man is staring." Jude told him as Punk nodded.

"Just ignore him." Punk nodded calmly, "Did Uncle Dean drop you off tonight?" He asked, trying to focus on Jude the best he could.

"Yeah and he's coming to pick me up." Jude nodded, noticing Joey standing up from his empty table.

Punk looked around, noticing there was conveniently no prison guards in the room like there usually was.

"Brooks, is this your kid?" Joey smirked, walking over to the table as Jude watched.

"Go away." Punk made clear calmly as Joey smiled, crouching down at the side of the table as Punk looked at him.

"What's this?" Joey asked, taking the sketch book as Jude watched unhappily.

"Put that back down." Punk stood up as Joey stood up straight.

"I just wanna look, calm down." Joey said as Jude looked up. Punk felt cornered, torn between keeping his cool in front of his daughter and yet wanting to tear Joey's throat out with his own teeth.

"Can I have it back?" Jude asked.

"It's ok." Punk assured her calmly.

"Quite the little artist, huh?" Joey smiled, flicking through the sketches, "The talented ones always come from no good parents." He said, staring at Punk who glared back, "Yeah, these are all good." He nodded to himself, flicking through the pages, suddenly beginning to rip the pages out in half as Jude gasped.

"Hey!" Punk grabbed the book from him immediately, "What the hell is your problem?!" Punk yelled as Jude sat quietly watching, upset at seeing some of her drawings ripped out of her book so aggressively.

"Didn't like those ones." Joey smiled at him, "What you gonna do?" He asked Punk, "You gonna hit me in front of your daughter?" He smiled as Punk looked across at him. He was doing everything not to break, looking around the room in hopes a guard would come through, not that he supposed they'd do much in his favour.

"Just leave us alone. You wanna talk about something then I'll come see you later. Right now you need to leave me alone." Punk warned as Joey smiled and nodded.

"What if I do this?" Joey asked, pushing Punk a little on the shoulder as Punk barely budged and looked at him, "Huh?" He smiled, suddenly slapping Punk across the face hard as Jude jumped, horrified.

Punk turned around, his breath getting choppy with anger as he looked at Joey, nostrils flaring as Joey smiled.

"Don't." Punk shook his head as Joey smiled.

"What about if I do… this?" Joey asked, stepping back and pushing Jude on the shoulder. He didn't get much time to taunt any more as Punk speared him immediately to the ground whilst Jude stood up worriedly and confused.

Punk had never felt rage like it, making sure every punch connected with Joey's face, getting off of him and grabbing him by the back of the head, throwing him into one of the tables, grabbing one of the chairs and breaking the legs from it, smashing it against Joey's back as he yelled in pain.

Jude stood with fright, not moving as she watched her father become… not the father she knew and loved.

Punk knew this was exactly what Joey wanted, and that angered him, but what angered him more was anyone putting their hands on his daughter.

Punk continued to beat on Joey, throwing him against the wall and choking him as Joey tried to get out of his grips.

Meanwhile guards began to spill into the room, one who grabbed a hold of Jude immediately, who wasn't thrilled about leaving her dad.

"Dad." Jude called with worry as Punk turned around, watching as one of the guards was pulling Jude out of the room.

"Jude." Punk began to walk over as other guards grabbed him, one which smacked him with a bat in the gut as Punk doubled over in pain.

"Dad." Jude cried, upset and frightened as Punk looked up, watching as she was pulled out of the room crying.

"Hey! Let me see her, man." Punk begged the guards desperately, "Come on, man!" Punk yelled angrily, trying to pull away but the guards, desperate to assure his daughter, feeling his head spinning, blood all over his fists as he looked at the messed up room, getting dragged out kicking and screaming.