One Week

Punk jumped in bed as he heard his alarm buzzing at 5am, screwing his eyes up as he leaned his hand over and shut the alarm off on his phone.

He groaned tiredly, not wishing to leave anywhere just yet, slowly turning around and noticing AJ was gone.

He sat up, wider awake now as he looked around the room. He quickly got off the bed, putting his boxers on as he noticed her clothes were gone from the bedroom floor. He left the bedroom, growing increasingly more nervous.

"April?" Punk called, checking in the empty spare bedroom, walking down to the bathroom which was empty too.

"April?" Punk called again, running down the stairs, checking the living room and kitchen, pausing as he saw papers all over the kitchen table, "Fuck." Punk shook his head, not believing it.

He walked over to the table, noticing all of the paper work from Teresa's case scattered over the table whilst also noticing the half-drunk bottle of water on the kitchen counter.

He couldn't believe this was happening. He couldn't believe she had left the house, with no money or phone. It made him sick with worry, and even more sick with guilt as he realised she'd found out what he had been doing.

"Fucking hell." Punk shook his head, rushing back upstairs and grabbing his phone, calling Dean to come to the house.

He quickly got cleaned up and into his uniform just in time for Dean arriving at the house.

"Phil?" Dean called as Punk rushed downstairs, "What the hell is going on?"

"April knows we're looking into her mother's case." Punk told him, "And now she's taken off and I'm supposed to have her back in the hospital before 6am." He said, "Which is in half an hour." He panicked.

"Why the hell was she even here?" Dean followed him through to the kitchen.

"It-It was her birthday yesterday and I took her out once everyone was asleep." Punk explained as Dean looked at him.

"You slept with her?" Dean asked as Punk nodded.

"Yeah, but just… spare me the lecture just now." Punk shook his head, running his hands through his hair stressfully as he collated all the paper work scattered on the kitchen table.

"So you took a mental patient out of the hospital, back to your house, and had sex with her?" Dean looked across at Punk.

"Look, not now!" Punk yelled, "We need to find her."

"In half an hour? There's no way." Dean said, "You need to go to the hospital and act like you weren't part of this. Act like she just escaped on her own last night."

"No way, I need to go look for her." Punk said, "Dean she's got no money, no phone, no jacket-"

"I get it, she's got nothing." Dean said, "But if you don't show up for your shift, they're gonna put one an done together and you're gonna be responsible for helping a mental patient escape her damn ward."

"Quit calling her that." Punk spat.

"Well that's what she is!" Dean yelled, "I don't know what fantasy you're living in right now, but you gotta snap out of it. She is a mental patient." He said as Punk looked across at him, "And now she's missing."

"I gotta look for her." Punk shook his head, "And I gotta tell her that this isn't what it looks like." He said, walking down the hall to the door.

"Phil, please trust me. Go to the hospital. When they realise April is missing, excuse yourself and tell them you're gonna help find her." Dean said, "In the meantime, I'll try look for her." He said, "Ok? You'll get fucking fired." Dean shoved him as Punk ran his hands through his hair.

"How can I walk in there with a straight face?" Punk shook his head.

"You gotta." Dean said, "How long has she been gone for?"

"I don't know. I didn't hear her leave." Punk said, leaving the house and locking up.

"Just go to the hospital." Dean ordered, "I go look for her, alright? Just go." He pushed Punk towards his car as Punk got in and drove off to the hospital.

Part of him wondered if she'd made her way back to the hospital on her own. It was wishful thinking but that was all he had right now.

He arrived at the hospital on time for his shift, getting out of the car and locking it over. All he wanted to do was go out and look for April. He couldn't imagine how hurt she felt. Wandering around the streets feeling betrayed after the night they'd shared. He just wanted to explain to her that it wasn't what she thought.

He walked into the hospital, trying to act as calm as he possibly could, walking into the ward where he saw the nurses gathered whilst Lily was on a phone call.

"Oh, good. You're here." Lily sighed when she saw him.

"What's wrong?" Punk asked calmly.

"It's April. She's missing." Lily said, hanging up on the call she was on.

"Missing?" Punk questioned.

"She's not in her room. We've checked the entire grounds. The basement. Every cupboard ad room in the place. She's not here." Lily sighed stressfully as Punk looked at her.

"She's been gone all night?" Punk questioned.

"We can only assume." Lily nodded.

"This isn't the first time she's done it." Wendy, another nurse scoffed.

"Oh, Wendy now is not the time." Lily scolded, "Phil, where would she go? She talks to you, doesn't she? Was there any signs of her wanting to escape?" She asked.

"N-No… no. She didn't mention anything." Punk said. He absolutely hated this. He needed out, "Ok… I'll go out and I'll have a look around the nearby area. I'll ask around if anyone has seen her."

"Ok. Yeah, do that." Lily nodded, "I'll have to call Mister Lynch." She said as Punk sighed to himself. This was not good. On any level what so ever, "Wendy, the girls will be waking soon. Make sure they stay settled. News like this always disturbs them." She said.

"I'll call if I find her, alright?" Punk said as Lily nodded, "And I'll notify some more officers to go out and search for her."

"Ok. Ok, thank you." Lily said, frantically rushing away to do anything he can whilst he quickly left the suffocating ward and headed out of the hospital.

He would never forgive himself if anything happened to her. He already felt like he was losing his mind.

He got back into his car, taking his phone out and calling Dean.

"Anything?" Punk asked Dean hopefully.

"Nothing, man." Dean said through the phone.

Punk spent the entire day and night searching for April, falling short at every dead end. He checked all the places he'd imagine she'd go to. Hotels, diners and parks. But he couldn't find her. He felt responsible, and he felt sick to his stomach about the whole thing.

"Dude, she'll show up." Dean shook his head, standing in the kitchen later that night with Punk who was taking a break before heading back out, "I mean, you said she's done this before, right?"

"Yeah, but that doesn't make me feel better." Punk made clear, "What the hell must she be thinking? Huh? That I'm trying to get close to her for information? She probably thinks the only reason I'm in the hospital is because I want information from her. She's never gonna trust me again." Punk shook his head, "I don't know what this is gonna do to her, Dean."

"Look, once she shows up you can talk to her and explain that us looking into this case and how you feel about her are two completely different things." Dean nodded, "She'll… she'll understand eventually."

"Will she?" Punk questioned, "I don't know so much."

"Phil, you could have lost your job over this. What the hell were you thinking? Sleeping with her here?" Dean shook his head.

"It wasn't my intention. I took her out for a little bit. It was her birthday and then she asked to see my place so I showed her." Punk shook his head, "We set an alarm so we could go back before anyone saw us. That was the plan. She obviously came down here for a drink and then… found all of this." He sighed to himself, running his hand through his hair.

"Maybe she'll go back to the hospital. Maybe she's making her way there." Dean nodded as Punk shook his head.

"No, no everytime she's escaped she's always been found and brought back. Last time she got hit by a car I think." Punk groaned, "She's not gonna have her meds. I don't know what kind of state she's gonna get into and it's my fucking fault."

"It's not your fault." Dean shook his head.

"It is. You said it yourself. I shouldn't have taken her out of the hospital. I should never have brought her here." Punk said as Dean looked across at him.

"Clearly you have feelings for her, and maybe things just got a little out of hand. That's alright. As long as she gets to the hospital safe, it'll be ok." Dean said, trying to assure him the best he could.

"It's not ok until I find her." Punk shook his head, leaving the kitchen and walking out of the house as Dean sighed to himself.

A week went by where Punk searched every day and night for AJ, when he wasn't completing a shift in the hospital. The girls and nurses were all anxious and apprehensive without AJ at the hospital. Tracy hadn't spoken to anyone the entire week whilst AJ was gone. Some of the other girls were quiet or extremely unsettled. Everywhere just felt wrong and Punk couldn't sleep even if he tried.

He felt like it was all his fault. He couldn't imagine what she was doing or how she was surviving after a week being gone with no money and no source of contact with anyone she knew. He wished he could have told her before that they were looking at her mother's case, but that it had nothing to do with his feelings for her. Because it didn't.

Punk was sitting at the table with Jessie, playing cards unenthusiastically, desperate for his shift to end so he could go back out and search for AJ, when suddenly he heard the nurses making louder noise than usual at the front of the ward.

Punk stood up from the table, walking out of the sitting room as he saw AJ being took by the arm on either side by two nurses. He barely recognised her. Her hair was going matted, face pale as a ghost, eyes black with exhaustion. She had no shoes on her feet, and some cuts along her cheek bone and down one side of her arm.

"April." Punk whispered, stepping forward to approach her as Lily put her hand up, warning him not to come near her as Punk stayed where he was.

Punk watched as AJ slowly turned to look at him, watching as she seemed to stare at him like she didn't know him. She was distant, shivering and jumpy.

"Come on, April." Lily said softly, guiding AJ down the ward slowly as the girls all stood up in the sitting room to watch.

"Good to be home." AJ whispered to herself in a trance.