Growing and Changing
"What are you doing?" Punk asked, walking into the bedroom where he saw his wife sitting on their bed.
"Scrap booking." AJ told him, glasses on with a coffee on the bedside table, one of her photo albums sitting out in front of her as she skimmed through pictures.
"Isn't this what cell phones are for these days?" Punk asked her.
"Not for me." AJ said, "You know I hate all things technology." She scoffed as he smiled.
"I do." He said, "Who are you updating?"
"Cassie." AJ nodded, "I haven't updated it since before the wedding, so I have those to go in." She told him. She had three scrap book photo albums for her daughters, dedicated to each of them with pictures of them growing up.
"Who are you giving all this crap to when we die?" Punk scoffed as AJ rolled her eyes, looking over at him.
"You don't have to be insensitive." AJ shook her head, "I've not thought about it."
"I'm just saying… that's a lot of junk to give someone." He teased as AJ shook her head with a smile.
"I want my great, great grandchildren to look at these one day, see where they came from." AJ said, "Photographs are ways to keep memories alive forever." She nodded to him as he smiled, watching as she glued a picture onto the scrap book.
"You're adorable." Punk nodded as AJ scoffed.
"I love this picture so much." AJ smiled, looking at the picture from Cassie's wedding of Cassie and Punk in the hotel room before the ceremony. It was a natural picture without either of them noticing it had been taken.
"Let me see." Punk said, sitting down beside her on the bed as she showed him, "I'm stunning." He smiled as AJ rolled her eyes, taking the picture from him and shoving him as he smiled.
"And this one." AJ smiled, taking the picture of the three girls and showing Punk who smiled.
"It was a good day." Punk recalled as AJ nodded, sticking the picture of Cassie and Punk onto the scrap book, filling the two pages with pictures from Cassie's wedding.
"I think I'd give all the pictures to Cassie." AJ thought to herself, "She loves all that stuff. She said she would have worn my wedding dress if I still had it."
"She did?" Punk questioned as AJ nodded, "Where is your wedding dress?"
"I gave it to charity years ago." AJ said as Punk tutted unhappily, "Oh, what?" AJ looked at him, "Was I gonna wear it again?"
"I thought it's something you'd wanna keep." Punk shrugged.
"It would just sit in a box the entire time." AJ shook her head, "I did give her my necklace to wear." She remembered.
"Where is Thea's?" Punk asked as AJ pointed to the other scrap book sitting, watching as he opened it up, smiling at some of the first pages when Thea was just a baby.
"Look at that hair." Punk shook his head.
"She had a lot of it." AJ nodded.
"Not hers." Punk scoffed, "Mine. Look at that blonde." He nodded to himself as AJ shook her head.
"Get over yourself." AJ suggested as he chuckled to himself.
"We did have cute babies." Punk nodded, smiling at the pictures of Thea when she was little, some on her own, some with he and AJ in the pictures.
"We did." AJ agreed, watching as Punk flicked the pages on Thea's book, getting all the way to when James was born.
"Time flies, huh?" Punk nodded to himself, "I don't like these books, they make me feel old." He scoffed.
"You are old, baby." AJ said calmly as Punk nodded, "Old and sexy."
"Thanks." Punk nodded as she smiled.
"There." She said, updating Cassie's book with wedding pictures.
"Where is our book?" Punk teased as AJ turned to him.
"Book? We have a box, actually." AJ nodded, getting off the bed, crouching down and pulling the box from under the bed.
"Is this the box that has our nudes in them?" Punk wondered.
"Yes." AJ nodded, sitting back down beside him.
"Maybe not give that to Cassie then." Punk suggested as she laughed a little.
"Yeah, maybe not." AJ nodded, lifting the lid from the box, "Receipt from the first date we went on." She handed him as he looked at it.
"I definitely did not pay for this." Punk told her as she nodded.
"I know." She scoffed, "Speaking of wedding pictures." She smiled, finding some of their own wedding pictures.
"We looked much better than those losers." Punk teased as AJ chuckled, "Hey, there's my penis." Punk ditched the wedding picture as AJ let out a loud groan, "And who's that smoking hot chick?" He grinned, finding the pictures of AJ as AJ looked over.
"Exactly. Who is that?" AJ agreed.
"It's you. Looking as beautiful as you still do." He nodded as she smiled.
"Not quite." AJ mumbled quietly.
"Yes quite." Punk said loudly as she smiled, kissing his cheek, "What about me? Have I changed?" He wondered.
"Not a bit." She smiled as Punk nodded happily.
"I think this is hoarding, April." Punk nodded, sitting the pictures over.
"No it is not." AJ scoffed, "This is just my sentimental things I like keeping under the bed. It really doesn't take up much room."
"I'm teasing." Punk smiled, "It's sweet. And I'm glad you do it cause it's… it's nice to look back. As much as it makes me feel old."
"It's just weird sometimes." AJ nodded, looking back to the start of Cassie's scrapbook, pictures of her just minutes old, "To think at the time what this little baby was gonna grow up to be. And now it's… it's all here." She said as Punk nodded.
"This is a pain in the neck. I wanna take it off." Cassie complained, coming out of the bathroom stall, holding her wedding dress up as she walked over to the sinks where Jude was standing.
"You can't take it off." Jude scoffed, applying some more lipstick as she looked in the mirror, "You look too nice."
"Well I appreciate that. But I'm scared it's tucked up my ass every time I leave the bathroom." Cassie shook her head, turning around as Jude checked.
"You're fine." Jude laughed.
"It's a big wedding. I didn't know it was gonna be so big." Jude admitted as Cassie nodded.
"Theo's got a big family." Cassie nodded, "They're all really sweet, though. Apart from his father."
"What's wrong with him?" Jude asked.
"He's just… really mean." Cassie shook her head, "We kinda just invited him cause we had to. He's not even came over to see us yet." She said, "I just hope it's not bothering Theo."
"Just ignore him. It's his loss." Jude shook her head.
"Ok, I need another drink now that my child has vacated the area." Cassie smiled happily.
"Who is he with?" Jude chuckled.
"One of Theo's aunts agreed to take him home." Cassie nodded, "So it's time to get drunk." She clapped, taking Jude's hand and pulling her out of the bathroom.
It had been amazing day from start to finish. She was glad to be spending her wedding days surrounded by the people who meant the most to her.
Meanwhile Thea was sitting at a table, smiling as she watched Dominic get dragged around the dancefloor by Sofia who insisted they must dance to every song.
"Hey, you." Punk appeared, tapping her on the shoulder as she looked up. His suit jacket had been thrown off somewhere, his shirt now half untucked from his pants, walking around with a jack and coke.
"Converted, have we?" Thea smiled.
"Renee handed it to me and then disappeared." Punk scoffed, sitting the drink down as he took a seat, "You ok?" He asked her as Thea nodded.
"Yeah, I'm ok." Thea nodded to him, "It's just… it can be difficult for me." She admitted to him.
"Yeah, I know." Punk understood. He didn't expect her to find it easy, sitting around people drinking alcohol all night.
"But… I'm just glad Cassie is having a good day." Thea smiled, that was the most important thing to her today, watching as Cassie was standing over with Jude at the bar.
"Me too." Punk nodded, "There's a lot more people here than I thought." He admitted.
"Yeah, I know. I said that to Dominic when we got into the ceremony, there was a shit ton of people." Thea said, "Clearly he's got a big family."
"Clearly." Punk nodded.
"So… how does it feel to be officially done being the father of the bride?" Thea smiled as he laughed a little.
"I think I got enough practise out of it, let's just say that." Punk said. It had been another magical day watching his youngest daughter getting married. It was also emotional to know it was his last time watching one of his children have this special day.
"Where is mom?" Thea wondered.
"She was with Renee but I lost her." Punk waved his hand.
Meanwhile at the bar, Cassie had necked a few shots with Jude and gotten herself a drink. Knowing Chase was now at home, safe and sound for the night, she felt like she could let her hair down a little more, it was only natural.
"Hey, there's my wife." Theo wrapped his arms around her from behind as she smiled.
"Well hey." Cassie smiled, turning to him.
"I keep losing you." Theo shook his head.
"I was making sure your aunt had everything for Chase." Cassie nodded.
"I'm going to find my husband." Jude told Cassie who nodded.
"Do you think anyone would notice if we just… disappeared?" Theo asked her with a smile as she chuckled.
"Probably. I mean this… this is our party." Cassie nodded, "Don't you worry, you're gonna get some freaky stuff tonight." She said as he smiled.
"Yeah?" He smirked, inching into her face, kissing her passionately as she wrapped her arms around his neck. She felt herself never wanting to kiss him so much than what she had to day.
"There you are." Jude smiled, finding Sean sitting with Thea and Punk at the table.
"I was seeing my mom outside, that's the girls away with her." Sean nodded to her, having got their own babysitters for the night too.
"Am I the only one who is powerful enough to handle my children for the night?" Thea interrupted.
"Leela is one." Jude scoffed, "Your kids are older."
"My kids just know how to handle a party." Thea teased as Jude smiled.
"Oh, God what is he doing?" Punk groaned, noticing Dean standing over where the music was playing from, trying to get himself the mic.
"Yes, this is my favourite part of every party." Thea laughed to herself, clapping her hands and sitting up excitedly. She lived to see her drunk uncle singing karaoke.
"Please don't sing Hey Jude, please." Jude groaned as Sean chuckled.
"Alright, I'm going to sing a song." Dean announced, tapping the mic a few times as Punk rolled his eyes, "White Wedding." He nodded.
"Why is it always that song?" AJ turned to Renee, walking back from the bar with him.
"He used to sing us to sleep singing that song." Chrissy, Renee and Dean's eldest nodded, "Count yourself lucky you only hear it at parties." She nodded as AJ chuckled, getting to the table.
"I've never hated a song so much in my entire life." Punk admitted, taking AJ's hand as AJ sat down on his lap, listening as Dean began singing.
"He's… good." Theo shrugged, standing over by the bar with Cassie who looked on at her uncle singing.
"He's just… Uncle Dean." Cassie nodded with a smile, not surprised in the slightest, "I'm gonna go help him." She smiled, running off as Theo smiled to himself, watching as Cassie joined Dean up at the front, singing into the mic with him which definitely made all of them smile for sure.
