Forever

AJ was in her loft trying on her wedding dress. Punk was at work and this would be the only time she'd have the loft to herself to do it. She picked it up last week and turned in the mirror to look at the back. It was truly a dream dress and the fact that it was a gift from her mother made it all that more special. This would be a dress she'd pass down to her own daughter someday. It was absolutely timeless and maybe it was a tad over the top for a simple rooftop wedding but she deserved this dress. She deserved this moment and she wasn't going to feel bad about it. There was a knock at her door and she froze.

"Phil?" She asked loudly.

"No, it's dad." She heard her father say and she sighed and walked over to the door and opened it.

"I had a feeling you'd get married without me." Robert smirked. "You look beautiful."

"Thank you." AJ said with a faint smile. "And you didn't miss the wedding I'm just trying on the dress." She told him nodding for him to come in.

"It's a beautiful dress. You look just like your mother." He smiled proudly.

"We're having a small wedding but I couldn't resist." She said to him. "Mom had been saving for a dress for me."

"I know." Robert smirked. "She was saving tip money, we both were. I was hoping to buy you the dress."

"Well mom and Dead bought it for me." AJ said to him and he passed her an envelope. "What's this?"

"It's the money I saved for you." Robert said to her and AJ pulled the check out.

"That's way more than what my dress cost." AJ said putting it back in the envelope. "But thanks anyway."

"April, this is was money I saved towards a wedding and college." He told her not taking the money back. "It was money that your mother saved with me as well. It was always going to you."

"And you just remembered you had it?" She asked. "I could have used it when my mother died or first moved out here."

"You didn't need it." Robert said to her. "You're getting married I'm sure you want a home-"

"We have a home." AJ informed him. "We closed on a house yesterday."

"That's really great." Robert said with a sad smile. "In Chicago?"

"Right outside the City." She told him stiffly. "I really don't want your money though."

"It's not my money." Robert groaned. "This was money your mother knew I was saving for you. She also contributed to it." He took the check and placed it on the counter. "You really do look beautiful I wish you the best." He said walking to the door and AJ rolled her eyes.

"We're getting married Friday night." She blurted out and he turned to look at her. "If you're in town you can come. It's on the roof of this building."

"I didn't give you a check in exchange for an invite." Robert said to her.

"I know. I was going to email you about it." AJ said to him. "We just picked the date the other day it's not a big thing. Just a few people and a little music. Food too." AJ added. "I'm trying to get him to agree to let McDonald's cater it but he wants something a bit more upscale." She said in a serious voice and Robert had to laugh.

"I'll be there." He told her. "But you hold onto that money. Put aside for yourself. Your mother would have wanted that."

"Like an escape from Phil fund?" AJ asked.

"No, but towards your dreams and your needs." Robert shrugged. "Your mother had a fund, it's just a smart thing. I'll see you on Friday." He told her and left.

AJ eyed the check and looked back at the door he walked out of and thought to herself.

Punk walked into the loft a few hours later and was greeted by an excited Larry.

"Don't let him trick you, I already walked him." AJ said walking over to him and giving him a kiss.

"Work tonight?" Punk asked.

"Yea I have to meet with your friend Kevin Scott." AJ said to him.

"Ah he gets to hear about Elliot tonight." Punk grinned. "Couldn't have happened to two nicer guys." he said throwing his keys on the counter and saw the check. "What is that?"

"I was hoping you could take it to the bank and deposit it into our new joint account." AJ said to him as he picked it up.

"Yea but where did this come from?" He asked.

"It's from my dad." She told him. "Him and my mom put money away for me and he decided now was the time to give it to me."

"That's very generous." He said putting the check back down. "Did you invite him to the wedding?"

"I did." She said putting on her light jacket.

"I'm glad you did." He said grabbing a water.

"You shouldn't be. He wanted me to stash that money and use it to escape you." She replied casually and he nearly choked on his water.

"I'm sorry, what?" He asked amused.

"He said it should be emergency money that my mom had emergency money." She told him.

"Well the money is yours." He pointed out. "If you wanted-"

"Don't you dare." AJ warned. "You're the one who told me not to follow in their footsteps. I don't want emergency money. I want to build a life with you."

"I appreciate that." He said giving her a kiss.

"You'll bring it to the bank?" She asked and he nodded.

"You should put it in your business account though." He said to her.

"I have plenty of money in that account." She said to him. "And after tonight I'll have even more."

"Ah it's payday." He said to her. "Want me to go with you?"

"So you can grin and gloat in front of Mr. Scott? I think not." She said to him.

"Just be careful tonight." He warned her seriously and she rolled her eyes.

"You say that every night I go to work." She groaned.

"And I'll continue to say it." He told her.

"What are you going to do tonight?" She asked.

"Invite my side chick over." He replied casually and she glared at him. "I'm going to the roof to start setting things up."

"But we have so much time." She said to him.

"We have four days." He corrected. "We need to get it moving."

"Do you feel bad we won't have a big fancy honeymoon?" She asked.

"Not at all, we'll have one just not right away. We have a move and your mom's trial and after the dust settles we can have fun." He assured her. "I also have the food ordered."

"I hope it's McDonalds." She warned.

"As appealing as that sounds no. I got a real restaurant to cater." He smirked. "I'll get you McDonalds before we say I Do because I don't want you cranky."

"You're the best." She smiled. "Um, have you heard any updates on Dickie McCall? Anything come from that photo?"

"No." He told her. "I was hoping you would have heard from Agent Creed."

"No." She sighed. "It's fine."

"It's not. I know you don't want this looming over our wedding or move." He said to her. "I wish I could have bought you peace."

"You bring me peace every day." She assured him nipping his lips. "I can't have it all. I can't have the perfect man, perfect house, perfect job and have my mom's killer behind bars."

"You deserve it all and it will happen." He promised her.

"Alright well I'm off to work." She said to him.

"Are you sure I can't come and watch you crush Kevin Scott?" He asked hopefully.

AJ walked into her office and saw Peyton chatting with Kevin Scott.

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize I was late." She said quickly removing her jacket.

"You're not, I'm early." Kevin assured her.

"I'll meet you in the office." AJ said to him and he stood up and headed into her office.

"He's so nice." Peyton whispered to her.

"Yea?" AJ asked curiously. "Maybe he came by early to see you."

"Ugh as if." She laughed a bit.

AJ walked into the office and Kevin was already seated.

"I assume you have what I need?" Kevin questioned.

"Yes." AJ said and presented him with the photos she managed to take of his wife with her ex Elliot Daniels.

"Elliot Daniels." Kevin laughed a bit.

"You know him." AJ stated rather than question.

"Yes, I told you I was familiar with his father. Him and his father do a lot of business with me. I've also donated to Bret Daniels campaign." Kevin said looking at the photos.

"In the interest of full disclosure I should tell you that I was in a relationship with Elliot Daniels." She informed him and Kevin looked up.

"You're the hometown girl?" Kevin questioned.

"I guess." AJ shrugged.

"Elliot used to speak highly of you." Kevin nodded and looked back down at the photos.

"I'm sure Bret didn't." AJ remarked.

"Does his opinion really matter to you?" Kevin asked not looking up from the photos as he scanned all of them mentally.

"No." AJ said to him. "Are you alright?" She asked.

"Of course. It's like I told you, our marriage has been over I'm not shocked or angry." Kevin said to her looking up finally.

"The police won't be fishing Elliot of a river will they?" AJ asked.

"River?" Kevin laughed loudly. "I'm not a violent man and I'm not angry with Elliot. Or my wife for that matter. I just needed the proof to sign the divorce papers. And please don't worry I will not let my wife or Mr. Daniels know you were my hired PI."

"I mean that's fine but I don't care what Elliot thanks." AJ managed to laugh.

"Didn't end well?" Kevin asked.

"His mom killed my mom." She blurted out and Kevin's eyes widened.

"That was your mother in the news about Eliza." Kevin noted. "I can't believe I didn't piece that together. I'm very sorry for your loss."

"It's alright." AJ smiled sadly. "I've accepted it."

"I assume that's a big enough reason to stay apart." Kevin noted.

"We were over before that." AJ said quickly.

"Is he not a good man? Obviously my wife and are over but I don't want her associating with someone who isn't worthy of her." Kevin asked her.

"He's a nice guy." AJ told him honestly. "He means well. He's just immature at times."

"Then he's found his soulmate." Kevin remarked and reached into his jacket pocket. "I have your payment." He said passing her an envelope with a check. "I'd also like to take you on retainer."

"Retainer?" She questioned.

"I'm aware you have other cases but I'd also like you to work for me when I need a PI." Kevin informed her. "I find myself in my business needing a PI more than I'm comfortable to admit and it would be nice if my PI was the same one and smart."

"You can always call me and request my services." AJ assured him. "But I can't just exclusively work for you."

"It was worth a shot." Kevin said standing up. "Thank you for everything." He said shaking her hand. "And I wish you and Punk a very happy wedding day."

"Did I mention we were getting married?" She asked him confused.

"No, your receptionist did." Kevin said to her.

"Thank you and good luck with your divorce." She said to him and he chuckled and walked out of the office.

AJ saw he stopped to chat with Peyton and took a peek at the check and grinned.

"Hard work pays off." She stated proudly.

When AJ got home the apartment was empty so AJ walked up the stairs to the roof and was in awe of all the work Punk put into this. There were white and colored lights but they were subtly. He was setting up candles and chairs.

"Wow." AJ said in awe of it all and he stood up.

"I wanted to surprise you with how much I've done." Punk groaned.

"It's breathtaking." She said with a huge smile. "It's everything I imagined."

"I'm glad you like it." He said as she walked over to him. "You're home earlier than I was expecting."

"I know, I'm sorry but Kevin didn't seem to care about Elliot." She told him and he frowned.

"What man doesn't care about that?" Punk scoffed.

"I don't know. I'm sure he'll go home and cry into his pile of money tonight." AJ teased. "He overpaid me."

"I'm not surprised." Punk said to her. "You want me to cash into your business account when I go to the bank?"

"Yea if you don't mind, I left it with the other one." She said and he just nodded.

"Of course." He said to her.

"He thought I was so good he wanted to take me on retainer." She informed him smugly.

"I'm sure he always wanted to take you to be." Punk shot back and she rolled her eyes.

"He seems to like Peyton." AJ said to him.

"She's his type. Female, someone from my life and has dark hair." Punk said to her.

"You sound bitter." AJ noted.

"Not bitter just calling it like I see it." He shrugged. "I'm sure if we weren't engaged he'd be all over you."

"Please." She scoffed. "I can't get over this." She said amazed by the work he put into the decorating.

"We picked a really good week weather wise to do this." He said to her.

"We did." She agreed. "We have a perfect view."

"Wait until you see the view from the new house." He said to her and she narrowed her eyes at him.

"There's no view." She said putting her hands on her hips.

"Babe, you're going to get a view of the sun setting every day from your porch." He said to her.

"That is true." AJ agreed a bit.

"It's going to be great." He corrected. "You're going to have it all."

"Speaking of, I got a call while I was out from an alarm company." She told him.

"Ah yes, I had them install the new alarm system." He told her.

"It sounds complicated." AJ said to him. "Is it necessary?"

"My whole purpose in this move was safety so I will make sure our house is safe." He said to her simply.

"I thought the purpose of the house was to have a home." She noted and he looked over to her.

"Of course that's a purpose." He said to her. "But safety is important to me you know that."

"You still think that was Dickie McCall in that photo don't you?" She asked.

"I didn't say that." He said to her.

"You don't have to." She said to him. "I've gotten very used to reading your face."

"Ape, I don't know if that's him. That's what bugs me. I don't know what he looks like for sure. So I don't know what I'm looking for. So for my sanity I put in a really tough alarm system." He told her honestly.

"Just tell me when things like this are getting to you. If I have to tell you my feelings you have to tell me too." She said wrapping her arms around his waist and kissed his chin.

"I don't want to scare you." He told her.

"Scare me? Please I was the one abducted but I've grown comfortable with my fear." She assured him and he frowned.

"I don't want fear to be apart of your normal routine." He told her. "I want you to be carefree."

"I've seen too much to ever be carefree." She said to him with half a smile. "But when I'm here with you I am."

"Good." He said pulling her against his chest and kissing the top of her head. "So are you ready for this?"

"To commit my life to you? Yes." She said to him. "And you better not get cold feet because I'm a PI and I will track you down."

"Nah, I won't be going anywhere." He smirked.

"Are you sure you're not super upset about the lack of honeymoon?" She asked.

"It sounds like you are." He laughed a bit. "Do you want to push this back?"

"No." She said shaking her head.

"We get married, we leave the next day to drive to Jersey with a truck get what we need, come back, move in to our home, by that point Eliza's trial should be starting we go back then we can do a honeymoon." He grinned.

"I'm exhausted already." She sighed. "And we have to pack our own apartment."

"I didn't rally unpack so I'm good." He said to her and she smiled and clapped her hands together once.

"Yay that means you can pack my stuff." She said happily.

AJ was sleeping soundly in Dean's guestroom the night before the wedding. She had wanted to keep some tradition alive and sleeping at Dean's made the most sense since Renee was going to help with her hair and makeup. But it wasn't an easy night sleep. Every time she closed her eyes she thought of her mom and how she wouldn't be there for her on this day. She didn't think it would hurt this bad. She stepped out of her bedroom and headed into the kitchen where she caught Dean drinking a beer.

"Cold feet?" Dean asked amused.

"No." She said holding back tears.

"What is it?" He frowned putting his beer down.

"It's my mom." She told him and he was unsure of how to react. "I miss her so much today. Today is a bad day to miss her."

"Today is the day you would miss her." He laughed a bit giving her a hug.

"How can I do this without her?" She asked him.

"You're thinking of your mom so much today because she's with you today. She's going to have a front row seat to your wedding. And I gotta say, she'd love Phil so much." Dean admitted causing her to smile through her tears.

"She really would. I think she'd hit on him." AJ teased rubbing her eyes.

"Oh for sure." Dean laughed. "Your mom wouldn't want you to tossing and turning and all night over this. I lost both my parents." He reminded her.

"I know." She whispered quietly. "How do you handle it?"

"My parents weren't good parents. Your parents were my parents." He reminded her with a smile. "I used to call Daria every time I had arrest my first year on the force. I used to call her when Chrissy would fight with me. I used to call Daria to talk baseball."

"I remember." She said sadly.

"And I feel that loss and it's so painful so I can't imagine what you're feeling." He told her.

"If you weren't here I wouldn't be able to walk down the aisle." She told him.

"Don't be ridiculous." Dean snorted. "You got a good guy. Someone who loves you and supports your career and believes in you. You should be racing down that aisle. Unless you feel this is too much too fast-"

"I don't." She said shaking her head. "You know whenever Elliot would bring up marriage I would feel my chest pound and I'd sweat. I was panicking at the thought of being with him forever. Like I was destined to be his trophy wife. I accepted that I'd be a diner waitress until Elliot bullied me into marriage and then that would be my life. A life of public events and boring sex. But then I met Phil and he encourages me and makes me want to be better and I went from being afraid Elliot would marry me to being terrified Phil wouldn't want to. I just feel like I'm betraying my mom by doing this without her."

"You don't have a choice." Dean told her softly. "It's never going to feel right because you're going to have a lot of life moments without her. You're going to get married in a few hours, then you're going to have children who are never going to know her and that's going to kill you. But it's up to you to keep her memory alive."

"Yea." AJ agreed sadly.

"Every life event is going to hurt and I can't fix that." He said to her. "But I can remind you how proud and happy she would be."

"It's just going to be weird having my dad there and not her, you know?" She asked sitting at this table.

"I'm sure." He said sitting across from her. "Do you not want him there?"

"No….I don't know." She sighed. "It's just it was me and my mom against the world for so long and he was the reason for that."

"I'll talk to him AJ." Dean told her seriously. "I want your day to be everything and if him being there takes it away from you he won't be."

"No." She said to him giving it some thought. "Thank you but no. Life is short. Maybe he wants to be a better father. I just don't know if I'll ever forgive him for what he did."

"No one is saying you have to." Dean reminded her. "This is your life. This was your loss. You're never going to feel the same away about him and a lot of people again. Some days will be better than others."

"Yea." AJ agreed quietly.

"You should get some sleep though." Dean said standing up and finishing his beer.

"I will. Maybe I'll call Phil." She said to him.

"At this time?" Dean laughed.

"He said he wants to hear my emotions." AJ shrugged reaching for her phone. "This will teach him. But thank you for listening."

"It's what I'm here for." Dean assured her.

"I really wouldn't have made this far without you keeping me sane." She said to him.

"I was going to say the same thing to you." He winked then headed towards his room.

AJ searched her recent calls and hit send on Punk's name and he answered at his third ring.

"What's wrong?" He asked clearly half awake.

"I was feeling things so I had to call." She sighed and he was silent. "Phil?"

"Feeling like you don't want to get married?" He asked her.

"No not that." She said with a sniffle as she felt herself getting emotional again.

"Ape? What's wrong?" He asked fully awake now.

"I miss my mom." She choked out.

"I know." He said to her sadly.

"I want her to be there with me tomorrow so bad that it hurts." She cried into the phone.

"Babe." He sighed. "I don't know what I can say to make it hurt less."

"Nothing." She told him. "I just needed to tell you how I'm feeling."

"I get it." He said to her. "I would do anything to bring her back for you even just for today."

"Every time something good happens I'm going to feel this way." She told him. "And it's not fair."

"I know." He agreed. "But you need to keep this anger and passion with you because when you speak to a jury about how your mom couldn't be there for your wedding they'll feel it too. Your loss will become their loss and that's whats going to get her justice."

"You're right." She sniffled. "I love you and I can't wait to be your wife and I promise I'm going to be the best wife."

"Save the promises for the alter." He teased lightly. "I love you. I'll drive over there right now and lay with you if you'd like."

"No that's bad luck." She said shaking her head. "I just needed to hear your voice and it made me feel better."

"I'm glad." He said to her. "But you should sleep you have a bid day."

"So do you." She said back.

"Babe, I'm going to shower get dressed and wait for you. That's my dad. Waiting for you doesn't tire me it excites me." He assured her.

"You are so smooth." She laughed a bit.

"Smooth enough to talk you into marriage." He said to her.

"I guess I can try to sleep. I'm sorry to wake you." She said to him.

"Don't apologize that's why I'm here." He said to her. "I love you, I'll see you at the end of the aisle at sunset."

"I love you too." She told him then hung up.

A/N: Thank you for the reviews and messages, means so much. Also, I'm glad people are using this story for a brief mental escape from what is going on in the world and that's the only reason I did this so thank you for the kind words :)

Drama will be picking up...stay tuned