Sincere

"Hey, where did you go this morning?" Punk asked, sitting in the kitchen having some lunch, or in his case, breakfast since he'd not long woken up.

"Just a walk for some fresh air." AJ nodded briefly, pushing the stroller into the kitchen. She hadn't quite figured out how she was supposed to tell her husband everything that she'd been told in the past twenty four hours. As shocking as it was to her, this was his life, his biological mother.

Part of her, although feeling guilty about it, was grateful to have something else on her mind besides her own mother, even though she was the one uprooting all of this information, trying to use it against her, to turn her away from her husband like that could ever work.

"You feeling alright?" Punk nodded to her, watching her take her coat off.

"Yeah, just had a bit of a headache so I headed out as soon as I got up and showered." She nodded, "Your night shifts aren't so bad when you come home and do what you did this morning." She nodded as he chuckled.

"Noted." He smiled over to her, "Is he sleeping?" He asked, looking over at the stroller.

"Yeah, my little napping prince." AJ smiled, looking into the stroller where Matteo was asleep, "Do you want some coffee?" She asked, walking over to the pot in the kitchen.

"I already made some, it should still be hot." He nodded, watching her take out a mug and fill it up.

"I only had half my allowance of caffeine when I stopped for a coffee during our walk." She said, "So I'm having the other half now." She nodded as Punk smiled, watching her head over to the table and sit down across from him.

"I need to see my mom at some point this week." He said, glancing at the newspaper he'd been reading.

"What for?" AJ asked, not realising the concern in her voice as she said it, watching him look at her strangely.

"To… visit her?" Punk shook his head, "Haven't seen her in a week now. Dean says she's not talking but I still gotta see her." He said as AJ nodded along.

"Are you really not gonna do anything about that letter she got?" AJ asked, treading around the situation lightly now that she knew the significance of the letter, and who the person behind the letter was.

"No." Punk shrugged, "My mom can't even talk to us. Our sons. Of course she's not gonna respond to some old friend who is now… a prisoner." Punk rolled his eyes, "I'm not stressing about it. Maybe I'll write back and explain the situation, and kindly ask her not to write back." Punk shook his head.

"N-No… don't do that." AJ shook her head, "Just… just leave it." She nodded, "What does Dean think about it?"

"Same as me. I ain't ever heard my mom talk about a friend called Nickie." Punk shook his head.

"Maybe she didn't talk about it with you because she was in prison." AJ shrugged as Punk just nodded along. She knew without a doubt that her husband and his brother really knew nothing at all about any of it. Gerry and Paul had done an excellent job of raising them without them finding out what happened with their biological parents. But now it was unfortunate that she was so sick with dementia, she couldn't explain the truth to them.

"Hey I was thinking maybe once I get finished up with these night shifts, maybe me and Matteo have a guy's night in and you could go out with Renee. Have a little bit of a break." He nodded.

"I don't need a break." AJ insisted as he smiled.

"I know you say that but… it wouldn't hurt." He said, "It's been a while since you two hung out just… the two of you. And I really don't mind. As long as you leave me with your breast milk, I'll be fine." He smiled as she chuckled.

"Maybe I'll take you up on that offer." AJ nodded to him with a smile, tapping her foot against his under the table as he tapped her back, "That is if Renee can fit me into her schedule. I'm a new mom. I thought I was supposed to be the busy one but nope, not if you're a doctor." AJ shook her head.

"Looking forward to going back?" He smiled.

"You know what? I am." AJ nodded, "Now that I know there's a day care opened in the hospital, that makes it even better." She said as Punk nodded, "I really do miss working. I gotta get my hands on some CT scans or something." She said feverishly as he chuckled.

"You'll know when you're ready." He nodded as she smiled.

"How many more nights do you have to do?" AJ frowned unhappily.

"Three more and then I'm back to being your morning coffee man." He smiled.

"I miss our morning coffees." She nodded.

"We'll get them back soon." He smiled as she nodded, looking across at him as he looked back at the paper, sighing to herself quietly. She wouldn't lie to him for much longer. Not something like this. She could lie about her own family, her own mother and everything that was cooking up in her head about that, but she couldn't lie to him, the most important person in her life, about something she knew he took very personally.

Night approached fast like it always did when her husband was working late. He left her and their son with a kiss before heading to work, leaving AJ back to her own thoughts in silence, interrupted by Matteo's crying every now and then.

She took him for his bath, instantly smiling upon watching his little face. She then fed him in his nursery at the rocking chair, looking up at the stars on the ceiling as she done so. She loved the routine she had with him. She loved rocking back and forth on the rocking chair in his nursery, holding him close and knowing he was safe in her arms. She loved being a mom. And so she couldn't understand why her own mother was the way she was.

She eventually rocked Matteo to sleep, putting him in his crib and leaving the nursery just as there was a knock at the door. She rolled her eyes, getting sick of the empty, hollow feeling in her stomach whenever she suspected her mother's presence near.

She walked over to the door, opening it up, surprised when she didn't see her mother.

"Hey." Jason nodded to her.

"Hi." AJ shook her head, keeping the door half closed as she stood herself half behind it.

"Do you have a minute to talk?" Jason asked her as AJ looked at him hesitantly, "You don't have to invite me or whatever… we can talk here, although it is pretty cold." He admitted.

"No, come in." AJ nodded, letting him into the house as he stepped in.

"This is a beautiful house." Jason nodded, "You can understand now why I wanted to sell it back then?" He said.

"Well it's mine now." AJ said, "So there's obviously a reason you're here, you wouldn't show up for a chat… so what is it?" AJ said. She wasn't tiptoeing around him. She wasn't in the mood, especially because she knew he had been in contact with her mother.

"Well… it was actually about your mom." Jason said as AJ looked at him.

"What about her?" AJ asked.

"Ever since I got back in town she's been pretty hands on with me." Jason said as AJ looked at him funnily, "No, not like that." He rolled his eyes, "She's just been showing up at my place a lot. Calling me almost every day."

"Why is this my problem? Clearly you're both friends." AJ shook her head. She wouldn't be made a fool of to her face. She wouldn't be sweetened up by this man.

"No… we're not, actually. I hadn't seen your mom since our wedding day. I got back in town and… it's like she's on my case twenty four seven." Jason said, "And she treats me like…" He paused, looking down at AJ and sighing a little, "She still treats me like we're still together." He nodded.

"Yeah I've noticed." AJ nodded awkwardly. She didn't know whether to believe the genuine tone in his voice. She was in a place where she was starting to doubt everything around her.

"I just want you to know that… I have moved on. It took me a while but I have. The only person who seems to not have moved on is your mom." He said, "And some crazy part of her still thinks that she can get us to work things out… she's very oblivious to you being married to another man-"

"She doesn't like the other man very much." AJ nodded, "In fact, she's doing about everything she can to prove he's the devil. She's wasting her time and she's only hurting me more than she already has. She never seems to realise that." She shook her head.

"She told me about everything she was planning to do. Exposing your husband's family… I just want you to know that I… I really don't want any part of it. I'm not out here looking to hurt you." He shook his head, "I finally get why you were always stressed out by her. I never saw it until now." He admitted as AJ nodded.

"What does she think she's gonna do? Tell me my husband was born to someone who is clearly mentally ill, and think that I'll leave him? Quite frankly it's nothing to do with him." AJ shook her head, "And it's the audacity for her to shame an unstable mother." She said, "She's just the same." She whispered.

"I just wanted to let you know where I stood with all of this. I know she's probably here telling you that I'm begging for you to leave your husband and come back to me. I'm not. You're happy and that's good." He nodded to her, "I'm leaving Chicago again at the end of the month so-"

"Because she's annoying you so much?" AJ smiled a little.

"Well… a combination of that and work stuff." He nodded, "She's just…. She's been really obsessed with you lately. Angry that you won't let her see your kid and… it's like she's nervous about something too." He shook his head as AJ nodded.

"I always told you she was a difficult woman, didn't I? You just didn't believe me." AJ said.

"I'd never seen this side of her before." Jason said, "It's a little frightening."

"Yeah." AJ agreed, looking up at him, "I appreciate this. Makes me feel a little better when people recognise how insane she is." She nodded, "And I hope you're doing well." She nodded sincerely.

"I am." He said as she nodded, "I saw her last night, she said she'd just come from talking to you, and she kept saying that you knew what happened. She kept repeating it. Like she was in shock." He said as AJ nodded, knowing exactly what her mother was realising.

"Yeah, I know what it's about." AJ said, "It's private." She nodded.

"Well if you ever need anything. I mean I'm in a different state and I'm probably the last person you'd call for help or even just a chat… but I am here." Jason shrugged.

"Thanks." AJ nodded briefly, watching him leave the house as she closed the door behind him, leaning back against it and rolling her head back. Her mother was onto her. She knew her secret was no longer a secret. No amount of burning as a child had made her forget what her mother had done.