Christmas Memories

"I can't reach." AJ laughed a little.

"Do you want to get on my shoulders?" Punk grinned as she scoffed, "I doubt you'd weigh me down." He assured her.

"Your back is messed up, it doesn't need to be carrying all my weight. I've got holiday weight this year, you know." She nodded.

"I'm sure you do." Punk nodded along, "Do you want me to put it on?" He asked her.

"Ok." AJ gave in, handing him over the Christmas bauble with Chase's name on it, the last bauble they had to put on the giant tree at the Christmas markets in town, one of their yearly Christmas traditions.

"Last but not least, buddy." Punk smiled, finding a branch higher above, tying it around as AJ smiled.

"I'll sleep peacefully tonight." AJ smiled, stepping back from the tree to let other people in to hang their baubles.

"I swear it gets bigger every year." Punk nodded, smiling as he watched people come and go to the tree, kids being lifted up by their parents to hang their baubles. It felt like just yesterday he had Thea on his shoulders, putting on the baubles.

"I think this might be my favourite smell ever." AJ nodded to him, taking hold of his hand as they walked through the markets.

"Smells just like Christmas." Punk nodded, "It was torture coming down here with no money." He shook his head.

"Oh, yeah." AJ shook her head, "And it was impossible to steal anything with so many people around." She laughed a little as Punk smiled.

"At least it was free to put a bauble on the tree." Punk said as AJ nodded with a smile.

"What happened to those kids, huh?" AJ smiled, "Closing in on forty years. That's a lot of time to spend with someone." She nodded.

"I don't know how you've put up with me for this long." He smiled to her.

"Stop." She nudged him playfully, "You're the best thing about every day. That's never changed." She looked up at him as he smiled.

"Wow." Seventeen year old AJ smiled, looking up at the huge tree which was surrounded by Christmas markets selling food, hot drinks and gifts for Christmas. They'd stumbled upon it on their journey to nowhere, wondering where their head would hit a pillow tonight.

"I hate Christmas." Dean stood on one side of her, folding his arms.

"It's nice." Punk looked at the tree, "I don't get it, though." He shook his head, wondering why the baubles were so misplaced and looked different from each other.

"You write your name on a bauble." AJ looked over at the baskets of baubles by the tree, "Or you write a loved ones name on it." She smiled as Dean looked on.

"You probably have to pay." Dean shook his head.

"No, it's free." AJ smiled, walking away from them, heading over to the baskets and picking up three baubles as Dean watched her.

"She's so weird." Dean shook his head.

"It's a nice thing." Punk shrugged, walking over to AJ where she was writing their names on three baubles.

"It's not like anyone else will be thinking about us at Christmas." AJ shrugged.

"Give me yours." Punk smiled as she passed him her bauble, watching as he hung it on a branch first.

"Here." AJ passed Punk's bauble to Dean whilst she had Dean's.

"This is stupid." Dean shook his head.

"Shut up and put your brother's bauble on the tree." AJ told him as Dean nodded, taking his orders and hanging the bauble up whilst AJ put Dean's on, smiling to herself.

"I appreciate the bauble, April but I kinda need new boxer shorts." Dean nodded to her teasingly as AJ smiled, shoving him over as he chuckled.

"Fucking hell, the smell down here is ridiculous." Punk sighed, rubbing his hungry stomach as Dean looked at the stalls.

"We ain't taking shit from here, it's swarming, and the cops are over there." Dean noticed as Punk nodded.

"I have a few dollars left over from last night." AJ nodded, taking the money from her pocket.

"I do too." Punk nodded.

"I don't think a few dollars is going to get us shit down here." Dean shook his head truthfully, walking through the stalls together as AJ looked at all the gifts, smiling to herself upon all the charms and key rings, things she would have adored to buy one day.

"I promise you both, when we get proper money, I'm gonna buy you both the best gifts." AJ said.

"You're my best gift." Punk smiled as Dean fake gagged.

"I'll be waiting on that gift." Dean nodded to her as AJ smiled, feeling Punk wrap his arm around her.

At a time in the year when family really meant everything, and being together was so important, sometimes it put emphasis on the lack of family they all had, but having each other was all that mattered to them, it got them through and it kept them going. This was family. The three of them.

"They're pretty." AJ smiled, standing at a stall, looking at the charms as Punk stood beside. He didn't really bother about looking at the gifts at each stall, he was more interested in watching AJ look at everything, because she still got just as excited as she did when she was a teenager, and that made him extremely happy to watch.

"They are." Punk nodded casually.

"I like that one." AJ whispered, pointing to one of the charms as Punk smiled.

"Go on then." Punk nodded to her.

"Oh, that's way too expensive." AJ shook her head, watching as he took out his wallet, nodding over to the worker behind the small and asking for the charm AJ had been looking at, "Phil." She smiled, watching as the worker wrapped the charm up carefully in a box.

"What?" Punk smiled to her.

"You don't have to buy me something every time we come here." She assured him.

"I know I don't." Punk nodded, "I want to." He said, handing over the money in exchange for the charm, handing it to her as she smiled.

"You're the sweetest man." AJ smiled, leaning up and kissing his cheek, "I'm gonna put it on my bracelet that you got me for my birthday." She told him as he smiled.

"Sounds good." He smiled, wrapping his arm around her waist as she leaned into him, carrying on through the stalls, "Now we're talking." Punk said as they got to the food stalls eventually.

They found a table near a patio heater in one of the outside bars, ordering some donuts and hot drinks. He watched as AJ looked back at her charm, opening the box and smiling at it. No matter how financially stable they were, or how much nice things they could now afford together, the smallest things could still mean so much. That had never left them, and they were glad of that.

"The only thing that's better than a donut is a hot donut." Punk nodded as AJ smiled.

"Yeah, you're right." AJ agreed, smiling as she watched the couple next to them with their two daughters, "I can't wait to have everyone together." She turned to Punk who nodded.

"Yeah, it's a big table and a lot of food to cook." Punk chuckled.

"Even bigger next year. Two more babies." AJ nodded, "Poor Sarah must be ready to pop any time."

"Maybe she'll have the baby on Christmas. Like the baby Jesus." Punk nodded as AJ chuckled.

"Yeah, maybe." She laughed, looking back over to the couple beside them, watching the two girls sitting with their father, giggling and having fun, exactly what Christmas sounded like.

"How's the hot chocolate going down?" Punk asked, sitting beside seven year old Thea at one of the outside tables at the market, holding five month old Jude in his arms who was sleeping.

"It's hot." Thea looked at him.

"Imagine that." Punk said, amazed as Thea narrowed her eyes at him whilst he narrowed his own back playfully, watching her laugh to herself and pick her hot chocolate back up.

"Careful it's not too hot." AJ said, sitting across from them, watching as Punk held Jude in his arms, looking down at the baby girl. It was a dream to watch him look at their girls like they were his everything. They were.

"Why is she sleeping?" Thea looked at Jude suspiciously. She pretended to her parents that she didn't like her sister, but they saw in secret moments just how much she adored Jude, especially when no one was looking.

"Cause she's tired." Punk smiled.

"She's always tired." Thea tutted, "Does Santa bring her presents?" She wondered.

"Of course he does." AJ nodded.

"Did you have to let Santa know that… that she's here. He might not know." Thea said curiously. It was her first Christmas with a little sister and she just wanted to know how it all worked.

"Oh, he knows." Punk nodded as AJ smiled.

"Yeah, he knows everything." Thea agreed.

With her being older, Christmas seemed so much more thrilling. Getting to widen her imagination and watch how she thought was the best part of the festive period.

"She ok?" AJ asked Punk, looking on at Jude who was fast asleep.

"Yeah." Punk smiled. It was their first Christmas as a family of four and they were very much looking forward to it, "You feel a little better now?" He asked his wife.

Of course the festive period could be stressful, especially with a baby and a young kid, and he knew AJ put mounts of pressure on herself to make everything perfect, to make it what she wished she had when growing up, they both did.

"Yeah, I do." AJ nodded to him, "I actually think I just needed to get out the house for some fresh air." AJ said, watching Thea drinking her hot chocolate, looking around at all the people, the lights and the stalls.

"Freezing cold air." Punk corrected as she laughed and nodded.

"Yeah, no kidding." AJ nodded, wrapped in a hat, scarf and warm coat, "She's waking up." AJ noticed Jude. She was a quiet baby, a different experience from raising Thea, but that was the beauty of it, they were two completely different little people that they loved just the exact same.

"Hey Jude." Punk whispered as AJ smiled.

"Hey Jude!" Thea yelled, leaning over her father and looking at her sister as AJ chuckled.

"Not so loud, baby." AJ chuckled, "Gotta be quiet and gentle with her, remember."

"Yeah." Thea nodded, patting Jude like a dog as Punk chuckled to himself quietly, watching as Thea lost interest quickly, going back to her hot chocolate.

AJ just smiled, looking over at Punk as he gave her a cheeky wink.

"So, are you organised? We can avoid panicking?" Punk asked.

"I'm organised." AJ assured with a smile, "I just hope everyone likes their gifts."

"I'm sure they will, like they do every year." Punk nodded.

"You bummed about your dad not being able to come?" She wondered.

"No, not really. I mean… he never comes so it is what it is. I would never want Dean to be uncomfortable. He's been there since forever with me, my dad not so much." Punk shrugged, "So it's always gonna be Dean."

"And he knows that." AJ nodded, "Do you think he'll ever want a relationship with him?"

"I don't know. Maybe not. It's not something I'm gonna push with him. If it was the other way around I know he wouldn't expect me to just feel the same way he did." Punk said.

"It's not like he's being unreasonable, I guess. I mean it took a lot for you to even speak to your dad." AJ said.

"Well there's so much history there but at the same time there's also nothing. I feel like I still know nothing about him. My big thing is I don't wanna get news one day that he's not here anymore and I start regretting that I never spoke to him about things." Punk said, "We're never gonna be best friends but… he's my dad, and he's… he's not a bad person."

"He's not." AJ nodded, "I find him really sweet, actually." She said.

"I'm beginning to think you like him a little too much." Punk teased as she chuckled.

"Oh I bet he was charming as hell when he was younger." AJ nodded, "Apple doesn't fall far from the tree." She looked over at him.

"Are you saying I didn't get my charm from my mother?" Punk gasped dramatically as AJ chuckled.

"Charming is not a word I'd use to describe Sam." AJ smiled, "I do miss that woman sometimes believe it or not."

"I do too." Punk nodded in agreement, "At least we got another Sam to look forward to meeting."

"Yeah." AJ smiled, "And that's all Thea when she asks who she was named after." AJ said as Punk chuckled.

"Yeah that's a big story to tell." Punk said.

"With a good ending, eventually." AJ nodded to him.

"All these grandkids and not a single one named after me." Punk scoffed as AJ chuckled.

"I think Phil is a dying name." AJ nodded, "You never know." She smiled.

"I'm just kidding." Punk smiled, "A little." He said as she smiled, "There's mistletoe all around this bar, you know." He pointed as AJ looked up and nodded.

"Oh you don't need mistletoe to kiss me." AJ assured him as he smiled, leaning over the table and kissing her sweetly as she cupped his cheek. Her favourite person, always and forever.