The Result


A week had gone by. A week where AJ had spent at home resting, spending time with her family, having dinner with a different daughter every night, truly being supported and helped by her favourite people.

Joey was locked away under twenty-four hour supervision until his sentencing, which had been promised to be harsh but justified in all the crimes he had committed. It made her sleep easier that he was being closely monitored, and that his time was up in hurting her.

Punk had spent the week being there for AJ, doing whatever he could to support her and help her through the traumatic week she'd had. At the back of his head, he couldn't not think about Lucia. Some days he was just staring at his phone, waiting for her to call, to let him know the test results were back.

He'd had conversations with AJ about it, some short conversations and some longer, more in depth conversations. It was unclear yet how it was going to play out if the results showed he was Lucia's father. He figured this whole thing was definitely a, take it as it comes, type situation.

"Your face looks a lot better." AJ nodded, brushing her hand through her daughter's hair as Cassie sat at the kitchen table.

"It feels a lot better." Cassie nodded, "It's just a lot of bruising now." She said as AJ nodded, sitting down at the table with her.

"How's Theo holding up?" AJ asked her.

"Not great." Cassie shook her head, "He's got surgery next Friday. He's in a ton of pain right now. And he's just miserable about having to take time off work to rehab it." She said.

"Well, he loves his job so that's not hard to believe." AJ nodded.

"He does. I'm trying to make it seem like it's a good thing, you know? I'm telling him that he could spend so much more time with Chase, or he could help me with my work when I get home, he could see more hockey games without falling asleep during them." Cassie nodded, "But he just… he barely listens." She waved her hand.

"It'll go by quickly." AJ said, "Is it definitely six months?"

"Six months at least." Cassie nodded, "He'll try go back in like three or two." She rolled her eyes.

"Well he can't do that. He'll just hurt himself again and prolong the healing time." AJ said.

"I know but he's stupid like that." Cassie said as AJ smiled a little, "How you been doing?" She asked as AJ shrugged.

"Ok, I guess." AJ nodded, "We're planning a vacation at the end of the month."

"Another one?" Cassie teased.

"Yeah, cause this one was so damn good." AJ said sarcastically as Cassie smiled, "We're… we're gonna go away for three weeks."

"Three?" Cassie raised her eyebrows.

"Yeah." AJ nodded, "Your father's idea. And I don't think it's such a bad idea."

"I don't either." Cassie agreed, "You deserve to go get some peace for a while." She encouraged, "Take some time for yourself."

"That's what he said." AJ said, "I think he's nervous about Lucia calling with the test results." She nodded.

"I bet." Cassie understood, "She still hasn't called yet?"

"No, well she did say it would take a week." AJ nodded, "But he's barely sleeping. I know he's just lying awake thinking about what if, what if she is his legit daughter. What then?"

"You think they'll work at a relationship?" Cassie asked.

"Your dad couldn't live his life knowing he didn't try." AJ said, "And I think she might be interested in getting to know him too." She nodded.

"How do you feel about that?" Cassie asked.

"I mean… it's still sort of unbelievable." AJ nodded, "But I love your father and ultimately this girl is gonna end up meaning a lot to him. And therefore, she's gonna mean a lot to me." AJ said, "I'm sure of it."

"I probably wouldn't handle a situation like this as maturely as that." Cassie admitted, "But that's just me."

"There are worse things in the world." AJ nodded, "And she's a sweetheart."

"Well Thea and Jude told me they liked her so that certainly means something. Especially coming from Thea who likes very few people in the world." Cassie said.

"Yeah, that explains it all." AJ said.

"Have you thought about what if she's not his?" Cassie asked, "What happens then?" She questioned as AJ shook her head.

"I don't really know. Nothing, I guess." AJ said, "Seems kinda cold, right?"

"A little." Cassie thought to herself, "Hopefully the results come soon so dad and Lucia can get some answers. It's gotta be like a cloud hanging over their heads."

"Yeah, it shouldn't be long now." AJ nodded.


"It's gonna be alright." AJ nodded to Punk, approaching Lucia's house with him. Later that night he'd gotten a call from Lucia to let him know the results had come through and that she wanted to open them with him present, so he and AJ headed on over.

"I feel sick." Punk admitted as AJ nodded.

"You're gonna be fine." AJ nodded, waiting at the door until Lucia opened up the door.

"Hey." Lucia smiled, looking equally nervous and pale as Punk did.

"Hey." Punk nodded to her, walking into the house with AJ.

"I got home from work around 5pm and noticed the letter sitting. I didn't want to open it without you being here." Lucia explained, walking into the living room with them.

"Thank you." Punk nodded, "At least we can both be nervous together." He said as she nodded with a smile.

"Can I get you guys anything?" Lucia asked.

"No, I'm ok." AJ assured her.

"I'm fine." Punk nodded. He could see by her very nice house that she clearly made a comfortable living.

"Hey, where's the dog?" AJ asked.

"My husband's took him to the park, otherwise he'd be dancing around your feet." Lucia laughed a little as Punk smiled.

"I didn't know you were married." Punk said as Lucia nodded.

"Yeah, for… ten years now." Lucia said, "Met him in college." She said as Punk nodded.

"Is this the letter." Punk pointed to the letter on the coffee table as Lucia nodded.

"Yeah." Lucia said, "Do you want to do it?" She asked him.

It was a situation neither of them had been in before. Stressful and terrifying. One tiny letter held the answers of something so powerful. Something that could be so meaningful.

"Do you want to do it?" Punk asked her.

"I can do it." Lucia nodded, reaching for the letter and opening it up with shaky hands.

Punk stood beside AJ, feeling AJ squeeze his hand before stepping back a little out the way whilst Lucia opened the letter.

Lucia opened up the letter, reading the first few lines of instructions and information, eventually getting to the official results, looking at it and raising her eyebrows as Punk watched her.

"You… You're not my father." Lucia looked up at him as Punk looked across at her, "There's… no match." She whispered as Punk looked at her.

"Really?" Punk asked as she nodded, passing him over the letter as he read it. He'd spent so much of his time this past week thinking about how to deal with the fact he had another daughter in his life, thinking about what to do, what to say when it became official. He hadn't really given much thought about the results turning out this way.

"Well I guess… I guess that's that." Lucia smiled a little as AJ looked over at her. AJ didn't feel as overjoyed as she thought she would. In fact, looking at Lucia's face almost made her upset.

"So your dad is…"

"Yeah." Lucia nodded to herself, "Like you said… it's good he's not around." She said as Punk looked at her, "I'm sorry for… for putting you through this." She laughed a little, shaking her head and taking the letter from him frantically.

"Stop apologising." Punk shook his head, "You don't owe me an apology for anything." He reminded her, "Certainly not for this."

"Feels like I've wasted your time." Lucia shook her head.

"You haven't. I wanted to do this too. We… We needed to know." Punk said as she nodded.

"I don't even know why I'm upset." Lucia laughed a little, drying some tears discretely as Punk looked at her, "As if I even know what having a father is like. I shouldn't be upset about this." She shook her head as Punk turned back to AJ who frowned.

"You can feel however you wanna feel about this." Punk assured her as she nodded, "I mean you've… you've clearly lived a life where you've depended on yourself. That's not a bad thing. Having no present parents can fuck you up. Trust me, I know. And if… if it doesn't? And you get out and you get yourself a comfortable life like this… you gotta be a pretty strong and amazing person to do that." He nodded to her as she smiled lightly.

"I don't know about that." Lucia smiled modestly.

"I do." Punk nodded, "I get it might be upsetting that now you know who your dad is. And obviously you know what he did when he was alive." He said, "And your mother didn't live such a clean life either. So I think it's pretty cool to meet their daughter and see one good thing they both did, finally." He nodded to her as Lucia smiled a little.

"Thank you." Lucia nodded, "I guess it's just weird to finally know the truth after so long of just… guessing." She said, "And when I met you I… I don't know, you seemed nice and your daughters were really cool with me. It made me less nervous to think about you being my dad." She admitted, "But… doesn't really matter now, I guess."

"This doesn't mean I gotta walk out that door and never speak to you again." Punk nodded to her, "If you ever need anything. From me, from April… our door is open." He said as Lucia looked at him, turning to AJ who nodded with a smile.

"You guys are really good people." Lucia nodded, "Thank you." She said.

"So are you." AJ nodded to her, "I was talking to Phil not so long ago about… not encountering many good people in our lives. You really shut me up." She said as Lucia laughed a little.

"Are you ok?" Punk smiled, rubbing Lucia's arm as she nodded.

"Yeah." Lucia said, "Yeah, I'm ok."

"Am I allowed to hug you?" Punk asked her as she nodded.

"Yes." Lucia chuckled as he smiled, wrapping his arms around her as she hugged him tightly.

They'd both been through a crazy week of thinking, thinking the same things no doubt, joined together in this speculation and wonder of what if. To finally know the answer now, it gave them both clarity on where their relationship would stand. And she admired him for still opening up his arms to her, even if it wasn't a father hugging his daughter.

"That was pretty stressful, huh?" Punk chuckled, taking a deep breath of his own, pulling back from the hug as Lucia chuckled and nod.

"Yeah, no kidding." Lucia said, "I am glad I know now, though. I got really used to just pretending it didn't exist. It does feel better to know for sure." She nodded.

"I'm glad you did this, regardless of the results." Punk nodded.

"Me too." She smiled.