Midnight Stitches

"Just sit still." Shauna scolded, grabbing Punk's head and keeping it in place as he rolled his eyes.

"Aren't you supposed to be gentle with patients?" Punk asked.

"I am, with the ones who sit nice for me." Shauna assured, cleaning the wound on his forehead.

"Well if you ask questions, I'm gonna answer and my head is gonna move." Punk said.

"Then just stop talking." Shauna suggested as Punk let out a sigh, the one a child would make when getting told off by a parent, "Good, I can hear my own thoughts again." Shauna nodded with a smile as Punk just rolled his eyes again.

He sat in silence like he was told whilst she cleaned out the wound on his head, watching her stand back for a second and access the wound.

"What? Can you see my brain?" Punk questioned.

"I'm trying to figure out if it even needs stitches, or maybe just a good packing." Shauna said, looking closely at the wound, "It's not too deep but still…" She thought to herself.

"I'd rather get stitches than a big patch on my head." Punk admitted, "What would my wife do? She'd do stitches. She's diplomatic like that." He nodded.

"Oh, you don't get to come in here and play the wife card." Shauna chuckled, pulling over a tray with different equipment on it for stitching.

"Yeah I do." Punk grinned, "You know she's really eager to get back." He told her.

"That's not hard to believe." Shauna nodded, "She's dedicated. But she's not obsessed. It's hard to get that balance."

"How do you mean?" Punk asked.

"Well some people in here… all they do is eat, breathe and sleep this place. It's all they have. All they do." Shauna said, "And yeah, they're good but sometimes the obsession is the downfall." She explained, "But April knows how to separate it. It's not an obsession for her. It's just something she's damn good at and when she's here, she gives one hundred and ten percent every time. And when she leaves… she can go be whoever she wants to be." Shauna nodded.

"Sounds like you miss her." Punk teased.

"She knows I do." Shauna raised a brow at his attempt to tease, "How is baby boy doing?" She asked, getting her things ready to give him stitches whilst he sat up on the edge of the bed.

"He's great. Super smiley lately." Punk nodded, "I've kinda been missing them both cause I've been doing nights. Pain in the ass."

"You gotta take your turn." Shauna shrugged.

"I only got two more to do." Punk said, "Until next month's round anyway." He nodded.

"How is April?" Shauna asked, making sure her tone wasn't too concerning or misleading.

"She's fine." Punk nodded, "Stoked about the day care opening in the hospital. Cause she's been stressing about getting a sitter, not getting a sitter… you know, for when she comes back to work."

"The day care will be great for Matteo." Shauna encouraged as Punk nodded, "She been in contact with her mom again? I know when I last visited her she mentioned her briefly."

"Uh… no, not for weeks now." Punk said, knowing nothing about the visit her mother had made a few nights ago whilst he was working.

"Good." Shauna nodded to herself, "That's good." She said quietly to herself.

"When I get off these night shifts she's gonna go out with Renee for the night whilst I stay home with Matteo." He told her.

"Way to go husband." Shauna nodded to him, beginning to stitch his wound.

"Not that she says she's exhausted or that she needs a break… I just think it'd be good for her. She's so attached with Matteo… I kinda worry that when she does decide to come back here to work… she might struggle to leave him."

"Well that's common." Shauna assured him, "But it's easy to overcome." She nodded.

"I hope so." He nodded, "Feel like I'm barely seeing her these days." He raised his eyebrows.

"Don't move your eyebrows." She warned as he scoffed.

"And she has been a little quiet. More quiet than usual." He said, thinking more about it.

"People go quiet when they're tired." Shauna nodded.

"She doesn't seem tired. It's more… she's really awake and… looks like so much is going through her head." He said. He wasn't sure why he was spilling this to Shauna. Maybe because she was easy to talk to. Or because secretly he knew she had a fondness for his wife, and understood her as a person.

"Then ask her. You have a mouth." Shauna said.

"I do. She knows I'm here for her to talk about whatever she needs." Punk said, "I don't know, ever since her mom visited, she's just been off." He said.

"Well they don't have the easiest relationship so it wouldn't surprise me that she's left April with a bad taste in her mouth." Shauna shook her head.

"It's just… it's a weird one. I can't really get into it. You know… her and her mom. The relationship they have." Punk shook his head.

"Alright." Shauna nodded.

"But it's like she hates herself for being mad at her mom." Punk said, carrying on talking to Shauna anyway, who he could sense was willing to listen anyway, "I mean her mom is… every bit of evil. She's not a mom. It's that simple. Yet April still acts like she owes her something. I try so hard to understand it but I can't… I can't understand why she can't just hate her mom and that's it." Punk shook his head as Shauna looked at him.

"Maybe you don't have the full story." Shauna suggested.

"I know I probably don't. But from the story she has told me. Stories." Punk sighed, "All she should feel for that woman is hatred."

"Not everyone handles abuse the same way." Shauna shook her head as Punk nodded, pausing for a second as he looked at Shauna, realising she knew more than he thought she did.

"So she… she really talks to you? You guys are that close?" Punk questioned as Shauna panicked for a second.

"Yeah." Shauna just nodded along, "I worked here when her dad was still a surgeon. I was only an intern. He was very odd." She said, "And so was her mom."

"Yeah, that's a good word to use. Odd." Punk said.

"I just think it would benefit April if her mother just stayed away from her. It sounds like the only times it really gets to her is when her mom shows up." Shauna said.

"Yeah, you're right. Cause for the past two years I don't think I heard her talk about her mom once. And now her mom pops back up and… I can see what it's doing to her. The way she talks about her like she has to respect her… I hate it." He shook his head.

"Well… maybe it's just not for you to understand. You have good parents, right?" Shauna assumed, just by how he spoke.

"Yeah… well had. My dad is dead and my mom has dementia. She doesn't know who I am." He explained, "But they were good parents. The best."

"So it's probably difficult for you to put yourself in her shoes." Shauna said, "You can only be there for her, make sure she knows you're there and everything will be fine."

"I do my best." He said, "I'm glad she's got someone like you looking out for her."

"I just… I think her mom is dangerous." Shauna told him truthfully. She couldn't help it.

"I do too." Punk agreed as Shauna looked at him. She knew he wasn't saying it to the same level she was. She'd saw the medical files. He hadn't. She had her assumptions, about the type of woman AJ's mother really was.

"Just get her talking." Shauna encouraged, "Make sure she knows there's nothing she can't tell you."

"She already knows that." Punk nodded with confidence as Shauna looked at him.

"Nothing wrong with… nudging her to speak more." Shauna nodded to him.

"April doesn't like being nudged." Punk assured her.

"All the more reason to do it." Shauna said, finishing her stitches as Punk looked at her. She was saying everything he was thinking about, everything he was worried about. He knew his wife was struggling. One would assume that it was the new baby, the new lifestyle. But he knew it wasn't. It was her mother. It was all to do with her mother, and he felt like he didn't even know half of what was going on.

He got home after getting his stitches at the hospital, quietly coming in the door and locking it up behind him. It had just been a clumsy accident which gave him the trip to the hospital. He wasn't foreign to stitches at this point.

He made his way upstairs, walking into their bedroom where he saw his wife lying awake in bed on her back.

"Hey." Punk said softly as she turned her head to look at him, "What are you doing awake?"

"What happened to your head?" AJ sat up in bed immediately once spotting his stitches, which was impressive since the room was still dark as the sun hadn't risen yet.

"It was just an accident. Backdraft. Your lovely boss stitched me up." He smiled, "She wanted to pack it first-"

"No, stitches are much better." AJ shook her head as Punk smiled.

"I told her you'd say that." He smiled, taking his jacket off, "Why aren't you sleeping?" He reverted back.

"I was, I just… woke up." She said, "I don't sleep great when you're not here I guess."

"Sorry about that." He frowned, stripping down his clothes, "Only two more to go."

"I'm counting down." AJ smiled, watching him slide into bed beside her, feeling his cold hands gather her into his arms, "Your hands are freezing." She winced a little but with a smile, kissing him softly.

"It's cold out there." He said, kissing her cheek as she smiled.

"Was Shauna gentle with you?" She teased, brushing her hand through his hair.

"Yanking my head a little but… nothing out of the ordinary." He said as she smiled, "She told me to say hi." He nodded as AJ smiled, "She's a good friend to you. As much as she's… a very scary human being."

"Yeah she's soft deep down." AJ nodded.

"Look I don't know if it's because I'm doing nights or if you're just tired with Matteo… or if it's your mom." He nodded, "I know you're not yourself and I'm not great at mind reading." He said, "If something is bothering you, keeping you awake… you can tell me. You can tell me anything." He assured her.

She felt the walls closing in on her. She knew the time to sit with him and talk to him about what was going on, the things he didn't know that were in her head, was close on the horizon. He was her number one person, and she wanted to confide in him with all the horrors in her head. But not tonight.

"I know." AJ said, curling into him as close as she could get, "I love you so much." She whispered.

"I love you too." He kissed her head, feeling how tight she was holding onto him. He knew she was seeking comfort in him about things he didn't know, and that worried him.