Night Off


"This was a nice spontaneous surprise." AJ smiled, sitting across from her husband in a restaurant, sharing dessert with him after they had dinner together, which he'd surprised her with after picking her up from the office.

"Well you've been working hard." Punk teased with a smile.

"Is this my reward for making it through my first week back?" She smiled.

"Maybe." Punk nodded.

"It's a good reward." She said, enjoying the chocolate brownie in front of her very much, "I am glad I got through it. I'm on the other end of it now." She said, "And I guess like everything, it didn't turn out to be as bad as I thought it'd be."

"What did you think was gonna happen?" Punk asked her.

"I don't know, I was just making up scenarios in my head. Thinking about what I'd say if people asked me about what happened. Then I remembered I work with very private, polite and sweet people." She nodded, "They all just made sure I was ok."

"That's good." Punk nodded, "That's the most important thing."

"It did help having you and the girls come by at my lunch break. Sort of broke the day up for me. Made it easier." AJ said as Punk nodded. It had been a difficult week going back to her office and resuming her work there, especially since the last time she was in the office she was being kidnapped and fearing for her life. She was glad to have gotten through the week with her head held high.

"What are they doing with his office? I saw it was all cleared out." Punk said.

"Someone will probably move into it." AJ said as Punk nodded, "The sooner the better. It'll be good to get used to a new face there." She said.

"Well you heard Cassie. He's going away for life soon." Punk nodded.

"I think we've lived a life where… dead doesn't really mean dead. And… life prison sentences don't really mean life." AJ nodded.

"Well they do in this case." Punk made clear, "So don't worry." He nodded.

"Everything feels sort of… calm again." AJ said, "It's nice."

"It is." Punk smiled, "But… I'm still here if you need to talk. It's still pretty raw, and I get that. It shouldn't just be brushed off what he did to you."

"I know." AJ nodded, "You know I'll talk to you if I need to." She assured him, "Honestly it's just nice getting back to some normality."

"I was thinking the other night… did your Uncle Derek have a wife or kids?" He asked curiously.

"Uh… he had a wife years ago but they split. No kids. Thankfully." AJ nodded to him, "More bullets to dodge."

"Is that the only uncle you had?" Punk asked her.

"The only uncle I knew." AJ said, "My dad had a sister but she died young." She nodded, "What about Sam? Was she an only child?"

"Yeah." Punk nodded, "And my dad had good old Hamilton for a brother."

"Is he still alive?" AJ asked him quietly.

"I think so." Punk said, "Too old to roam around the police station now." He said.

"He was a psycho." AJ shook her head, "And to think all that time he was your uncle and he… he still treated you like a dog."

"It is what it is." Punk shook his head, "I get the feeling he knows he fucked up. When me and Dean confronted him about it he could barely look us in the eye." He said.

"See, this is why I think you should try a little more with your father." AJ nodded.

"Cause his brother hates him?" Punk raised a brow.

"No, because… life is too short quite frankly, and he's probably the best out of a bad bunch. He's sweet and kind. Minds his business." AJ said.

"He minds his business because he's all alone." Punk said.

"Exactly. He's alone. He didn't choose to be. You know the story now. He was joining Sam to get you and Dean away from this place-"

"He still took off at the start." Punk scoffed.

"He came back." AJ said, "I mean… what would have happened if they got away that night? How different do you think your life would be?" She shook her head.

"Not that different probably considering Sam was still a junkie and my dad probably would have taken off again." Punk shook his head, "No matter where we were."

"You don't know that." AJ said.

"Well there's no point in speculating." Punk said.

"You might not have met me." AJ pointed out.

"And the world would have been a duller place." Punk nodded as she smiled, "I already had you won over when you were three years old." He scoffed.

"I forget about that." AJ laughed a little, "Kinda bizarre."

"I wonder what we said to each other." Punk said.

"Nothing probably. I hated when my mom dragged me around to different people's houses. It terrified me." AJ shook her head, "She just began to leave me in the house myself when I was like seven or eight. I probably started kicking up a fuss."

"I'm not mad about them all being gone." Punk nodded to her.

"And you think I am?" She chuckled to herself.

"Well… I know you're not mad that they're gone but… I know you're mad that that's the family you were stuck with-"

"Not my family. My family is you." AJ reminded him.

"I know but… you know what I mean." Punk said as AJ nodded.

"Sure, would have been lovely to have a great mom and a caring dad. A sibling who I could actually talk to and bond with." She said, "But… I can't pine for something I've never had. It doesn't hurt as much as you might think." She nodded to him, "I got the most amazing family there is. I'm not mad at anything." She shook her head as he smiled.

"So are we gonna agree that you ate the majority of that brownie?" He nodded to her.

"I did not." AJ scoffed as he chuckled.

"You did. I think I had two bites." Punk said as she just made a face at him which she replicated back.


"That's Chase dropped off at your mom's." Cassie announced, walking into the living room where Theo was laid up on the couch playing video games. Being out of action from work for so long had him turning to other things to pass the time.

"Did he put up a fight?" Theo asked as Cassie shook her head.

"No, he loves staying with your mom." Cassie nodded, "I was actually thinking about maybe even asking Dan if… if one night he wants to have Chase-"

"Are we just shipping our son off to anyone now?" Theo laughed a little.

"Dan's not anyone." Cassie scolded, "He's my grandfather, and you know he adores Chase." She warned as Theo nodded.

"I know that." He nodded, "But he's… he's older. I doubt he'd wanna babysit for a full night."

"I think he'd like it. And I trust him." Cassie nodded, "He loves spending time with Chase. I think he'd take me up on the offer."

"Maybe." Theo nodded, looking on at the video game he was playing.

"Have you ate?" Cassie asked, "I was gonna phone for a pizza."

"Yeah, do that." Theo nodded along, "I could eat some pizza."

"You're practically a frat boy." Cassie nodded.

"Don't insult me like that." Theo gasped.

"Well… look at you." Cassie laughed a little.

"I'm injured." Theo said, "You'd be yelling at me if I was doing too much."

"Well, it wouldn't kill you to find a balance." Cassie scoffed, taking her phone out to order a pizza, deliberately walking back and forth in front of the tv as Theo waved his hand at her.

"This is my full day's work on this game." Theo reminded her as she got off the phone.

"That's very sad." Cassie nodded to him, "Turn it off, I wanna watch TV." She told him.

"Just five more minutes." Theo nodded to her in a childlike tone.

"Are you five?" Cassie laughed a little, "Come on, I've had a long day, I wanna take a bath, have a beer and watch TV." She said.

"Ok well you go have a bath and I'll finish this game." He nodded to her as she folded her arms.

"You're a loser." Cassie rolled her eyes, leaving the living room and heading upstairs to go take her bath. She'd had a long week of working, glad to have reached the weekend, and she felt no shame in admitting she could relax a little more with Chase staying with his grandmother for the night.

She took her bath, listening to Theo yelling at the video game downstairs, rolling her eyes as she got out and got dressed, pausing for a second as she looked at the pyjamas she'd left out, smiling to herself as she thought of something evil.

"Pizza came whilst you were in the bath." Theo said, playing the video game as he heard Cassie come into the living room, "I'll be done in like… five minutes. Time me." He assured her, fiercely looking at the TV as Cassie cleared her throat, getting his attention as he turned to her for a second, not realising she was standing there in her birthday suit.

"Where's the pizza?" Cassie asked him casually as Theo stared at her.

"Uh… it's… it's in the kitchen." He nodded as she smiled, walking off to the kitchen as he looked back at the video game on tv. Suddenly it had become the most boring thing in the entire world to him.

"This looks good." Cassie smiled, wandering back into the living room, sitting the pizza on the coffee table, holding two beers for herself as she sat down on the couch beside him as he watched.

"W-What… uh…" Theo looked at her, not being able to get words out when his eyes were doing the most focusing.

"What's on TV?" She asked, leaning over him to grab the TV remote as he raised his eyebrows, "Something good I hope." She smiled, switching from the video game to the TV as Theo watched her.

She enjoyed knowing she had his full attention. His full attention.

"You… want to watch TV?" Theo asked.

"Yeah." Cassie said, leaning forward and grabbing a slice of pizza, opening up her beer and relaxing back against the couch as he looked at her, "That's nice." She smiled to herself after taking a drink of the beer, looking at Theo who just smiled, laughing to himself and running his hand through his hair, "What?" Cassie smiled, looking over at the TV.

"You're ridiculous." Theo smiled, placing his hand on her thigh as she swatted it away lightly.

"Watching TV." She whispered with a smile, looking over at the TV as Theo looked at her, realising what she was doing.

"You're evil." Theo nodded, watching as she chuckled to herself, knowing exactly what she was doing.