Extraordinary

Punk eyes fluttered open, well as open as they could go since he was still so swollen. He could heard the hospital machines beeping around him and he was sure if he could smell he would smell the stale hospital odor.

"Hi." He could barely hear it and couldn't respond but he knew who the owner of that sweet timid voice was. "I've been waiting for you."

Punk tried to open his eyes more and made out a blurred image of the woman, his wife. He felt a sense of relief stream through his bloodstream upon hearing her voice.

"Don't move or talk, you're in really bad shape." She told him and his mind began to race. What the hell happened? "You've been unconscious for over a week." She told him. "I've been so worried, we all have been." She told him.

He could feel her hand holding his tightly and he used his strength to squeeze back as hard as he could so she knew he could hear her. He appreciated her. He was happy she was here.

"That's it." AJ encouraged. "So I guess you know me." She teased and he turned his lips a bit to smile as much as he could. "You look much better than you did last week." She assured him. "I was so worried about you. Don't do this to me again." She warned.

"Is he up finally?" A nurse asked walking in.

"Yea but he can't really say or do anything." AJ said to her.

"Well, don't worry about that because his tests all came back good." The nurse assured her. "I suggest you enjoy the silence while you can." She teased.

"I will." AJ said to her still holding his hand. "I really want to clean his face cuts again, do you have more alcohol and swabs?"

"You are not nurse, Mrs. Brooks." The nurse reminded her. "I will take care of his cuts."

"But it gives me something to do." AJ insisted.

"You can talk to him and keep him awake for a little bit longer. I know he's tired and weak but being awake will get his mind moving." The nurse told her. "I'm going to page his doctor and get stuff to clean him up. You keep him awake, alright?"

"I can do that." AJ told her and she looked down at Punk who finally managed to make eye contact with her. "Will flashing you keep you awake?" She asked him seriously and again he attempted to smile. "Because I will." and he squeezed her hand. "I have a lot to tell you." She said to him and his eyes followed her as she sat back down.

"It's nothing bad." She promised with a smile. "It's really good actually. I just need you to be more awake."

"Hey." Dean greeted walking into the room.

"He's awake." AJ smiled looking over to Dean.

"I see." Dean said standing over him and Punk looked towards him. "You look like shit." He told Punk and Punk could hear AJ slap him.

"Is that the first thing you say to him?" AJ asked.

"I'm obviously glad he's ok." Dean defended. "I'm just calling it like I see it."

"Dean found you." AJ told Punk. "I think he even cried."

"I didn't cry." Dean snapped.

"He's been very emotional." AJ added to Punk. "And the Mayor and other really important people have come by to see you. So many people are sending you cards and flowers. Larry misses you like crazy but he's been with me at Renee and Dean's and Jack and Peyton spend time with him during the day so he's not alone but every time the door opens I know he's looking for you."

"He smells. I keep giving him baths and yet he still smells." Dean explained.

"He needs happy news." AJ said to Dean.

"He needs to know his dog smells." Dean argued.

"Welcome back, Detective Brooks." A doctor greeted walking into the room.

While Punk was being examined Dean took AJ to the cafeteria for a short break.

"Did you tell him?" Dean asked.

"Not yet. I want him to be able to talk back when I tell him." AJ said to him.

"Well they're taking his tube out so he should be feeling chatty." Dean said to her.

"It's such an important thing to tell someone I want him to fully remember it." AJ said to him.

"I got a call today from Elliot." Dean told her and she looked up. "Since you were a no show at the trial he was concerned."

"What did you tell him?" AJ asked.

"The truth. You were needed here with your husband." Dean told her. "He sends his best wishes."

"I bet." AJ scoffed sipping on her tea. "Any luck getting these guys?"

"We have most of them except for the boyfriend." Dean explained and she shook her head. "This guy isn't Dickie McCall, we'll get him."

"I hope so." AJ sighed. "I hate thinking he's out there and getting away with what he did."

"He won't." Dean assured her. "He going to prison for life for this."

"What about the girlfriend or wife or whoever she was?" AJ asked.

"She's not budging." Dean told her.

"After Phil went out of his way for her that's how she helps?" AJ asked angrily. "Maybe if you let me talk to her-"

"No." Dean said shaking his head. "We're tailing her. She'll lead us right to him."

"Give me five minutes with her and I'll get your information." AJ insisted.

"You killing someone isn't going to help us." Dean smirked.

"It will help me." AJ said to him.

"Yea giving birth behind bars is a laugh." Dean remarked deadpanned.

"I saw my mom." AJ told him and Dean looked up. "Well I had a dream about her but it was like she was there to talk to me."

"Yea?" Dean asked. "What did she say?"

"That I was doing the right thing." She told him. "That Phil is really going to need me and my daughter is going to beautiful."

"Daughter?" Dean asked.

"Its too soon to tell but it's what mom told me." AJ informed him.

"That's terrifying." Dean said to her seriously.

"That my mom is speaking to me from the beyond?" AJ asked.

"No that's comforting. I mean the thought of another you running around." Dean said fearfully. "I'm never going to sleep again."

"Please, my kid will be an angel." AJ told him with a smile.

"An angelic pain in my ass." Dean corrected. "Ugh."

"You're not excited?" She asked. "You get to be an Uncle and godfather."

"I'm going to love your kid to death. Doesn't mean she's not going to annoy me." He said to her and she laughed.

"That's the first time I laughed in over a week." AJ noted.

"So, do you want an update on the Daniels trial?" Dean asked.

"No." AJ told him shaking her head. "That's the last thing I want to think about. My focus is Phil and Phil only."

"Alright." Dean said to her. "I respect that."

The next day when Punk opened his eyes he felt stronger. He still heard the beeping and when he looked to his side there was his wife sleeping in a chair. At least he could move his head. He opened his mouth and let out a breath and AJ's eyes shot opened.

"Hey." AJ greeted.

"Hi." Punk rasped out and she nearly cried.

"Do you know who I am?" She asked and he gave her half a weak smile.

"Vaguely. You wouldn't happen to be my wife, would you?" He asked and she kissed his hand.

"I am." She confirmed.

"How long have I been out of it?" He asked in slight pain.

"Over a week." She told him. "They didn't think you'd make it but I knew better."

"You always do." He said to her. "What the hell happened?"

"You went to meet that troubled girl and her husband or boyfriend whoever he was to her got jealous and a six of his buddies beat the shit out of you and they thought they killed you and tried to bury you." She explained.

"I can't remember anything." He told her honestly.

"The doctors didn't think you would. You had a lot of swelling to your head." She told him. "Your mom was here earlier."

"How is she?" Punk asked.

"She's worried." AJ told him. "But better than you are."

"I feel like shit." Punk groaned.

"Yea its going to hurt for a long time." She told him.

"When do I get out of here?" He asked her.

"Not for a little bit." She warned him. "They still have tests to run."

"I can move my arms and legs and can talk, I'm good. I'll handle the pain." Punk told her.

"You don't have to handle the pain." AJ said to him. "They'll give you stuff."

"I don't want pain meds when I'm out of here." He told her seriously.

"Why?" She asked. "You'll be in so much pain."

"Ape, my dad was addicted to pills. Pain meds in specific." He told her. "I don't know if that in the DNA or some shit."

"Alright. I'll just make you really comfortable." AJ said to him then began to think, what else ran in Punk's genes?

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"Me? I'm the happiest I've been in a week." She told him.

"You look so tired and pale." He noted.

"I look a hell of a lot better than you look." AJ shot at him and he smiled.

"I have no doubt." He said to her.

"I'm sorry I didn't realize you were gone longer. I fell asleep after you left-" AJ began.

"Don't apologize." Punk warned her. "Criminals break the law, it's what they do. You have nothing to do with it."

"I had such a special night planned for our first night in our first home and I just fell asleep." She sighed.

"It's fine, I'm fine." He told her. "I feel fine."

"No you don't." She began to cry.

"Why are you crying?" He frowned and reached for her hand and she sat on the edge of his bed.

"All I do is cry lately." She admitted trying to smile.

"I hate to see that." He told her.

"Phil." She sighed. "I have to tell you something."

"You can tell me anything." He encouraged.

"I was going to tell you that night." She said to him and he frowned.

"Ape." He said to her. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong. Something is right for a change." She laughed a bit as she cried. "I'm pregnant."

"You're…pregnant?" He asked her.

"And I'm 50% sure you're the father." She said to him and he glared at her. "Kidding." She added quickly.

"You're for real?" He asked her and she reached for the picture next to his bed.

"Here she is." AJ said showing him in the sonogram.

"She?" He asked looking at the photo in amazement.

"That's a long story but I'm pretty sure it's a girl." She told him.

"A baby?" He asked again and she frowned.

"I know this is a lot to take in and you literally are just waking up and it's probably the last thing you wanted to hear-" She began.

"It's everything I've ever wanted to hear." He corrected looking up at her. "Seriously?"

"Seriously." She confirmed.

"I'd kiss you if you I could feel my lips." He said looking back at the photo. "We made that?"

"We did." She confirmed with a smile. "I can't find the baby in the picture or anything."

"Right there, babe." He pointed with ease and she screwed her eyes.

"I just don't see it." AJ shrugged. "I really wanted to tell you that night."

"This just gave me a resurgence so telling me now was worth the wait." He assured her. "And you've been sleeping in a chair every night?" He frowned.

"No. Dean and Renee have been watching me like a hawk." She assured him. "They make sure I'm sleeping in a bed at night and feeding me."

"I'll have to thank them." He said to her.

"I got checked out after you were admitted into the hospital. I didn't want to do a sonogram without you but Dean insisted." She told him.

"He was right." Punk told her. "This is wild." He smiled at the sonogram again. "When are you due?"

"February." She told him.

"A winter baby." He smiled.

"Good thing we got that bigger house." AJ teased.

"I'd say." He said to her. "Can I keep this?" He asked holding the photo.

"Of course." AJ said to him. "It's been at your side this whole time."

"Wow." He smiled as wide as he physically could. "I almost missed this."

"You did." AJ confirmed.

"You must have been so scared." He frowned looking at her. "I'm sorry I did that."

"You didn't do anything." AJ said to him. "Sitting here at your bedside has been the least amount of work I've done which is good because your baby makes me throw up all of the time."

"Yea?" He asked curiously and she nodded. "You're eating well?"

"I told you Dean and Renee have been kept me fed and sheltered." AJ assured him.

"I can't believe I'm going to be a dad." He said looking back at the picture.

"The best dad." AJ corrected. "We're going to do better by our child than our parents ever did for us."

"Hell yea we are." He agreed.

The next day Punk more alert and chatty as his energy began to come back and AJ was fussing around his room. Reading all the cards on the flowers sent, reading him the sports news and cleaning his cuts even though the nurses wanted to do it themselves.

"I do look like shit." Punk said finally looking at himself in the mirror in the bathroom.

"Yea, like Frankenstein." AJ agreed as he stepped out of the bathroom slowly and made his way over to the bed. "You better heal up before the baby gets here and she's scared."

"You keep saying she." Punk said as she helped back into the bed. "What's the story with that?"

"I had a dream with my mom and she told me it was a girl." AJ said to him. "I don't know, could have just been a dream or maybe it was her visiting me."

"Checking in on you." Punk agreed. "How's Eliza's trial going?"

"It's already to jury from what I heard." AJ shrugged and Punk frowned.

"I'm sorry I couldn't be there for you when you testified." He said to her and she froze. "Ape?"

"Hm? Are you hungry? I'm starving." AJ told him. "And I don't know about you but I can't eat cafeteria food one more day. Maybe I can talk Dean into picking us up burgers or something."

"April." He said to her. "How was your testimony?"

"It was easy." She smiled. "Like I wasn't even there."

"Yea?" He asked and she nodded then it hit him. "April." He scolded.

"I couldn't go and leave you." AJ insisted. "I'd never be able to testify clearly."

"You should have went." He said to her. "The cases depended on you."

"I had to make a choice." She informed him. "It was you or Eliza and I made the right one."

"I wish you didn't do that." He said to her.

"What would you have done?" She asked me.

"I would have stayed with you." He admitted. "But this was your mothers case. This was so important to you and her."

"You're so important to me." She corrected. "I've been so bitter and angry since my mom died. I don't want to be a bitter and angry wife and mother. I have to let the anger go. It's horrible to say or even speak of but my mom is gone and you aren't and it was no contest."

"I love you." He told her and she walked over to him. "But you shouldn't have had to pick."

"I shouldn't have." She agreed. "But that was out of our control."

"She's going to walk." Punk warned her and AJ nodded.

"Maybe her and my father can reconnect." She mocked. "She's the last thing on my mind. You are where I'm putting all my energy."

"What about work?" He asked her.

"Peyton has been holding down the office and working some super simple cases that are mostly computer work." She told him. "And your mother and sisters have been at the house unpacking and prepping it for your return."

"What can I do?" He asked.

"Just sit there and heal." She told him simply. "Bask in being a hero."

"I'm not a hero." Punk laughed. "I was setup. I'm an idiot who was almost killed before I knew I was going to be a father."

"But you didn't get killed." She pointed out.

"Not getting killed doesn't make me a hero." Punk pointed out.

"I think it does." She said to him with a shrug.

"Maybe I'm not as good at this job as I thought I was." He said to her and she froze and turned around.

"Don't say that." She warned him seriously. "You are the best cop I've ever met in my life and I've met a lot of them."

"Ape, I can't go out to work and not come home. I've got you and I've got a kid on the way and if it's a girl like you think I'm going to have to be on my toes 24/7." Punk reasoned.

"Don't lose your confidence it's what I fell in love with first." She warned him. "You are an amazing cop and you had a slip up, we all do." She told him.

"Most women would be talking their husbands out of going back to work." He said to her.

"Yea they would but I'm not most women and most women don't understand how much their husbands love their job. Being a cop isn't your job it's part of who you are. Your confidence was knocked but you've been awake two days give yourself some time." She reasoned.

"You're amazing." He informed her. "You get that, right?"

"Yup." She smiled smugly. "I think I have to clean your face again."

"No you don't. It's fine." He said swatting her hands away. "You're making me nuts."

"I know I am but I have to do this, I have to keep busy otherwise I'll get bored and we both know what happens when I get bored." She warned.

"Ok clean my face." He insisted. "Did you tell my mom about the baby?"

"No." AJ said to him. "I thought that would be something we'd do together. I didn't even tell Dean I told Renee because I was so upset when you were missing and kept throwing up-"

"You shouldn't have gotten that worked up." He said to her.

"Like you wouldn't have reacted the same?" She asked.

"I know what it's like." He reminded her.

"And you handled it much better than I did." She said cleaning around his cuts. "I freaked out and cried."

"I'm a cop it's different. I was terrified." He told her.

"And I'm a….P.I." She said slowly thinking and she was only pulled from her thoughts when Punk wrapped his hand around the hand she was using to clean his cuts.

"I know you so well." He smiled a bit. "And I'm going to say this once and only once and I'm going to say it very seriously so you know I mean it. Do NOT involve yourself in this case."

"I was just-" She began.

"April Jeanette Mendez-Brooks." He stated sternly. "One final time. Do NOT involve yourself in looking for the people involved with this. This is a police officer's job. I'm all for you working I am not for you putting yourself in harms way. If this guy did this to me just imagine what he'd do to you and now you're not just a PI you are a mother and that comes before anything."

"Alright." She agreed quietly.

"There is nothing more you can do that the police aren't already doing." Punk said to her. "Please stay out of this because I'm no position to chase after you but you know I will."

"I said alright." She sighed. "I just want to help."

"I know that so you can clean my cuts, you've been handling all of the visitors, you've taken care of everything." He told her.

"I feel like you and I are walking around with dark clouds. Dickie and now this guy." She said to him.

"Yea." He agreed and she eyed him.

"If I have to be super honest so do you, what are you thinking right now?" She asked him.

"It's crazy." He said shaking his head.

"Let me be the judge of that." She said to him.

"I don't remember much from what happened." Punk admitted. "But I get some flashes here and there and I remember hearing Dickie's name. I remember the main guy talking on the phone and saying that name. Or at least I thought I did."

"Why?" AJ asked him.

"Think about it Ape." He said to her.

"The only way to get to me is through you." She said knowing.

"I know our bell was cut, I know someone tampered with out alarm system." He told her.

"He hired someone to kill you." AJ said to him.

"He did more than that if I'm right." He said to her. "He must have been following me and knew she was my CI."

"Did you mention this to Dean?" She asked.

"I did earlier. He's contacting Agent Creed." Punk told her. "I think he was probably heading to the house when you left. You did the right thing leaving when you did."

"Our house isn't safe?" She frowned. "We can't live there?"

"It's our house." He informed her. "We will be living there."

"But-" She began.

"I could be off." He told her.

"You're really good at what you do." AJ said to him. "If this is what your instincts are telling you I believe you."

"Alarm system has been fixed, I fixed the day we moved in. We're going to have people watching the house. We aren't running from home. He might have been doing this to keep you from testifying in Eliza's trial." He told her.

"Ugh that's right he did or does work for her." AJ reasoned. "I guess his plan worked."

"I guess so." He said to her. "I don't think it's an immediate threat."

"He killed my mom and now almost killed my husband?" AJ asked him.

"I think almost killed is a little over dramatic." Punk reasoned.

"If I see him, I'm going to kill him." She told him. "And I can, I'm super hormonal and have that mom strength."

"I believe you. But if you believe you see him, you run, not walk." He instructed her. "You are carrying our child in there. Anytime you think about doing something 'April like' just ask yourself, 'would I let my child do this?' and if the answer is no you don't do it."

"April like?" AJ mocked.

"You know, reckless, well meaning but reckless." He clarified and she scowled. "I said well meaning. You always have the best of intentions and I love you so fucking much for it. But it's reckless."

"Fine." AJ sighed. "While you're in this hospital bed I'm willing to agree to anything so get it out all while I can."

"That's not fair." He said annoyed. "You know my head was damaged and I can't think clearly enough to come up with a list."

"I know." She said going back to cleaning his cuts.

"You know you're going to be an incredible mother." He told her and she froze. "I mean it. The most important thing you need to be a parent from what I've seen is a heart and you have the most special selfless heart of anyone I know."

"Why did you say that." She began to cry and he smiled. "You know literally everything makes me cry."

"I know and I'm sorry I just had to say it." Punk said to her.

"Do you really believe that?" She asked with a sniffle.

"I do. I don't know how I got so lucky to be with a woman I love and a woman who is going to love my children like you." He said to her.

"Child." AJ corrected. "Let's see if I can't through this first pregnancy without having an emotional breakdown."

"In all fairness you've been through a lot." Punk reasoned.

"I love you and I think you're going to be a great father." She told him. "That's why I'm not freaking out over this. You're the rock."

"You're the rock but ok." He smirked.

"Now stop moving so I can clean these. You'll thank me when you don't need a plastic surgeon." She said to him.

He just watched her in aw as she tended to him. She was an extraordinary woman.

A/N: Thanks for the reviews, guys! Always appreciate to hear feedback :)