Bath Talk


"This is nice." AJ let out a relaxed sigh, sitting against her husband in the bath tub, his arms locked around her, feeling him kiss her cheek and neck every so often. After an intimate meal together, they headed back to their room and decided to make use of the gigantic bathtub in their bathroom.

"Too many bubbles." Punk scoffed teasingly as AJ smiled.

"You love it." AJ said, placing her hands on his arms locked around her, "I feel like we really missed out on things like this." She admitted.

"Baths?" Punk questioned.

"No." AJ laughed, "No… spending time just the two of us." She said, "Especially when the girls were younger." She said, "I mean, even now I feel like we don't get to do this enough." She admitted.

"Then we should." He told her as she smiled, "It's not like we got responsibilities with the kids anymore." He said.

"Yeah, I know. You still just feel like you need to be there for them, though. Right?" AJ said.

"Well of course but… they're all good. Got their own lives. Own families." He said as AJ nodded.

"I would have loved to have gone on more vacations with you." She said, "And the girls." She nodded.

"Yeah, me too." Punk nodded, "Where'd you take them? Whilst I was in prison?" He asked.

"Took them to Atlantic City one year. I vowed never to take them back." She said as Punk chuckled, "Cass was three, Jude was nine, Thea was sixteen." She recalled, "All they did was fight with each other or fight with me." She nodded, "Felt like crying on the way home." She rolled her eyes.

"It must have been hard." Punk shook his head, "Doing that stuff on your own. The stuff you don't really think about."

"Yeah, it was." AJ nodded, "Thea used to be proper evil when it came to milking my single parenthood for things. Seriously." She shook her head.

"What are you talking about?" Punk laughed a little.

"Cassie you're dragging your sweater on the ground." AJ noticed, arriving in the hotel they were staying at for a week on vacation. Travelling with three children wasn't thrilling by any means, but her daughter's deserved to have fun always, to create good memories with one another. She worked hard, sometimes overtime, to be able to take them on trips like this.

"Oh." Three year old Cassie noticed, bunching her sweater up and holding it in her arms.

"You should try get a suite." Sixteen year old Thea nodded to her mother, walking with her and helping carry the bags. The fact she'd managed to convince Thea to come on this vacation was a miracle. Her rebellious nature didn't seem one for vacation getaways with her family, but she was glad she was here.

"I didn't book a suite." AJ told her, looking on at nine year old Jude walking ahead, minding her business with her headphones on, playing a game on her mother's phone.

"Ask for one. They always reserve it." Thea said.

"What would you know?" AJ chuckled.

"They keep it for the rich people." Thea said.

"Exactly. Not us." AJ nodded, "The room we've booked is just fine." She told her as Thea made a face at her, waiting in the queue at reception.

It was incredibly hard doing things like this on her own. She never ever thought the day would come where it was just her and the girls doing things like this, as though her husband didn't even exist. It was hard to get past that, but she did what she had to do.

"Just ask if they have a suite." Thea nudged her mother again.

"Thea, it's peak Summer, this place is gonna be fully booked. The room we have booked is just fine." AJ said as Thea rolled her eyes in typical teenage fashion.

The receptionist called for them next as AJ walked over to the desk.

"Hi, I have a reservation for Mendez." AJ nodded to the lady behind the desk who smiled pleasantly and nodded, looking on at the computer system.

"Do you have a suite available?" Thea asked, leaning her arms on the desk as the lady looked at her.

"I'm afraid our suites aren't available." The lady shook her head as AJ nudged Thea and looked at her angrily.

"It's just…" Thea budged AJ out the way a little, "This is the first vacation we've had since our dad passed away." She nodded sadly as AJ looked at her unhappily, "And we always came here with him." She said, breaking her voice deliberately as AJ watched her in shock.

"I'm sorry." The lady frowned, turning to Cassie and Jude, and then looking at AJ with a sympathetic smile, "Let me see what's available." She shook her head, heart strings being pulled as she looked back at the system.

"I'm gonna kill you." AJ whispered to Thea who grinned.

"We have one of our suites available on the twelfth floor. And I can give you it for the same rate." She assured AJ who raised her eyebrows.

"Oh, that's…" She turned to Thea who was nodded, "That's very kind of you." AJ forced a smile as the lady nodded.

"Just sign here." She extended over some paper work as AJ signed it quickly, "And here are your keys." She passed over two keys for the room, "I hope you have a wonderful stay." She nodded.

"Thank you." Thea smiled especially, picking the bags up and heading for the elevator as Cassie and Jude followed behind.

"Don't you ever say that to anyone ever again." AJ made clear, legitimately mad with her daughter for what she had just said, getting into the elevator.

"Oh, whatever. These people don't know us." Thea shook her head, unbothered, "I'm using the bath first and I'm ordering room service." She declared as AJ shook her head.

"Well that's nice." Punk scoffed after hearing the story, "I'm glad my absence came in use of something." He shook his head, "She's crazy."

"She is." AJ shook her head, "I think that was the last time I really saw her be herself, be healthy and happy before things started to get tough." She said, "The next vacation we went on was when she was just out of hospital. She was rail thin, barely moved from the couch." She sighed.

"Would have killed me to say her like that." Punk shook his head, "It was bad enough seeing her when I got out, during the couple of relapses she's had." He said, "But… as a kid." He sighed to himself, "They were so lucky to have you." He said. Thinking about his children in particular, he felt relief that they had such an amazing mother in his wife, especially during his absence. It was always something to look back on and be grateful for. She was incredible.

"Did you go out on any day trips in prison?" She asked him, stroking his chest behind her softly as she moved her legs up and down comfortably in the warm bath. She felt more inclined to ask him about prison now that she knew more about what he was really dealing with inside.

"No." Punk scoffed, "Barely got enough yard time." He said as AJ frowned.

"I still can't believe my brother was joining on making your life miserable." AJ shook her head.

"He was just joining in with his clique. Plus, I was just a stranger to him. You're practically a stranger to him." He said as AJ nodded.

"I wonder if he's in Puerto Rico with my mom." She thought to herself.

"Was he close to your parents?" Punk asked her.

"No. No he barely returned home after he turned sixteen. Kind of… like me I guess." She realised as Punk nodded, "But like you said, if he recognised you and knew you were my husband then he… he must have been keeping closer tabs on me than I thought." She shook her head.

"Yeah well like I said, your family have this fucked up thing where they declare they're protecting you, yet… have caused you nothing but pain and grief your entire life." Punk shook his head as AJ nodded.

"That's not my family." AJ shook her head, "We built our own family." She said as Punk nodded, "How you been feeling?" She asked, rubbing his arm softly.

"Right now? Feel pretty good." He nodded as she smiled. The set up for him was pretty ideal, enjoying some quiet intimate time with his wife in a bath.

"You know what I'm meaning." She tutted.

"I'm ok." Punk assured her, "I think… a lot of stress was actually coming from no one knowing about it, if that makes sense." He said.

"Makes a lot of sense." AJ understood.

"I had a good talk with Jude about it and… if anyone knows anything about overcoming stuff it's her. I trust her that it'll get better. I mean I've seen it get better for her. But I also know that it doesn't fully go away. I guess it's my job to work on dealing with it better."

"We can work on it together." AJ promised him, "I'm not saying you have to tell me everything, and you have to talk to me about it specifically every day but… when you feel like it, when you feel comfortable." She nodded.

"That's the thing, I've always know you've been there for me. That wasn't the issue with it all. It was just having to relive it and… I guess when other people know about it, it becomes more real." He said, "And I've tried avoiding it for a very long time."

"I know and you can't avoid something like that." AJ said.

"What did Jude say when you told her? She was… super calm about it all." Punk said.

"Well, you know Jude… she can always see a lot of sense in things." AJ said, "She's just worried about you. I called her because I know that you and her always have good conversations." She said.

"She's just really good at wording things." Punk nodded.

"Did you feel relieved? After… After killing him?" AJ wondered.

"A little." Punk nodded, "But then it was the guilt and the shame that started to eat at me." He said, "And I always figured that I was a disappointment to you and the girls anyway so I promised myself I wouldn't talk about it-"

"I hate that you felt like that, Phil." AJ sighed sadly, "You will always be the same guy to me. No matter what." She made clear, "You were in a bad place, mentally. I know I talk about how difficult it was raising the girls on my own, and it was, but no one was physically beating me or mentally abusing me." She said, "You shouldn't feel shame or guilt for what you did." She shook her head.

"I know I shouldn't but it's still there. It's still an unnatural thing to do, right? No matter the circumstance." He said.

"You can only take so much until you hit breaking point." AJ said.

"I could get my ass kicked all day long, you know that." He said, "I can take a beating and roll with it. It was just… the things he would say. Listening to it every day. I felt like my brain was melting with it." He shook his head as she nodded.

She was glad to hear him talking about things with her. She could see little by little he was at more ease talking to her about things and that was all she could hope for.

"I don't blame you." AJ shook her head, "Do you have any idea who he was? Where he came from or where he ran his business?"

"He was running it out of town. Not local." Punk said, "I think he was transferred to county from a different prison, actually. God knows why." He shook his head.

"And the guards just… let it all happen?" AJ shook her head, finding it hard to believe.

"So damn corrupt." Punk shook his head, "I still don't take any of this life for granted anymore. I know we've been through some shit but… just to have freedom, just to be with you and my kids. See them grow again. It's priceless." He said as AJ smiled and nodded.

"It is." AJ agreed with a smile, "I'm glad we decided to do this."

"Me too." Punk said, kissing her cheek as she turned around, sitting on his thighs and wrapping her arms around his neck as he smiled, leaning in and kissing her softly as she kissed back.