Desperation

"What is all of this?" AJ smiled, walking out of the bedroom as she saw balloons and banners all over the place, looking over into the kitchen where Punk and Bob were standing.

"It's your birthday!" Punk exclaimed as AJ smiled, walking around into the kitchen as she saw a pretty impressive birthday breakfast made up of all her favourite things as well as a birthday cake with a balloon sitting beside it dangling up to the ceiling.

"Who spelled my name out with blueberries?" AJ smiled to herself, looking down at the pancakes and blueberries on her plate where the blueberries spelt out her name.

"Well it wasn't me." Bob scoffed, standing over against the fridge drinking his coffee.

"You're so sweet." AJ smiled, wrapping her arms around Punk and kissing him sweetly.

"Happy birthday." Punk smiled, "There's a present there and… another present for later on." He smirked.

"Still in the room." Bob coughed as AJ smiled, turning away and walking over to the table, "Happy birthday, April." He smiled, handing her a present as AJ raised her eyebrows.

"Bob, you didn't have to get me anything." AJ shook her head.

"No, but I wanted to." Bob smiled.

The truth was, she'd never woken up to such a loving birthday before. Her birthday usually consisted of waking up and going to school without so much as a hug from her parents. She never thought her first birthday with a boyfriend, she would be pregnant, and at eighteen, but for some reason her mind was in a much better place.

She opened her presents which were extremely thoughtful, and then ate her breakfast.

"I wish you didn't have to work today." AJ whispered to Punk as Bob overheard by the sink, "We could have gone out and done something nice." She shrugged.

"I know but, I'll make it up to you on my next day off." Punk nodded as she smiled.

"Phil, why don't you take the day off?" Bob turned around as Punk looked up, "Go out and do something together." He suggested.

He'd recruited one hell of a worker. Punk spent pretty much every day working in the store, whatever hours Bob needed, weekends and weekdays. He was keen to make money and do good and Bob knew that reflected what kind of person he was.

"Are you sure?" Punk asked him as AJ smiled.

"Yeah, go on." Bob nodded, "I'll be fine at the store." He said.

"Thank you." Punk smiled gratefully.

"Ok, let's get a picture." Bob nodded, opening up a drawer and taking his camera out.

"Oh, please no. I look terrible." AJ laughed.

"No you don't." Punk shook his head.

"I finally worked out how to use the timer on this thing." Bob nodded, sitting the camera over the kitchen, putting it on a timer and dashing back to the table for the picture with AJ ad Punk.

"Always good to look back on things." He told them, walking back over to the camera once taking the picture, "I best be off. Lock up this place if you're going out and enjoy your birthday, sweetheart." He nodded, leaning over and kissing her cheek as AJ smiled, watching as he eventually left the apartment.

"That was nice of him." AJ smiled as Punk nodded.

"Yeah, he didn't have to do that." Punk agreed, "So what do you wanna do?" He asked her as she continued to eat her breakfast.

She was seven months pregnant and every day seemed to get scarier. They had to start discussing cribs, strollers and everything in between, and that was a scary thought for any new mom, but for an eighteen year old. She was still very worried and nervous, but with Punk's support, and Bob's, she was in a healthy place for sure.

"I don't know. Maybe we could just go out for a walk or something." AJ shrugged, "People always stare at me outside because they know I'm a child, and they can see I'm very much pregnant." She shook her head.

She'd faced a lot of negativity around her situation which was the hardest part for her. Whilst Punk could go about his day, preparing to have a baby, no one really knew, but for her, it was clear as day with the bump on her, and a lot of people weren't particularly nice to her.

"No one stares." Punk eased her mind.

"They do." AJ nodded, "I got on the bus to school the other day and I had to sit down beside an older woman because there was no seats and she just spent the full time staring at me." AJ shook her head.

She was still attending school, but knew that sometime soon, she would have to drop out and start taking the online classes like she had planned to with the help from her school tutor.

"People can be judgemental." Punk nodded, "Don't think about them. They don't matter." He said, "It's your birthday and we should go out and do something." He nodded as she smiled, leaning over and kissing him sweetly. She grew more in love with him every day. His dedication to her, his thoughtfulness, his determination to make things work. She'd be lost without him.

They decided to go out and had spent the day in town. It just so happened there was a carnival going on, so they had a trip around the stalls and shops before heading home and stopping in at Frank's diner for some food.

"We were here not that long ago and we couldn't even afford a milkshake and a burger." AJ shook her head, sitting across from him in the booth. They'd come such a long way, they'd taken this terrifying challenge and were running with it, because they loved one another, and they believed they could do this.

"Yeah, that was a… scary time." Punk nodded.

"Here." AJ slid over the photobooth strip of pictures they had taken earlier on, "You keep it in your wallet." She smiled. There were four pictures of them, sweet pictures.

"No, you keep them." Punk assured her, sliding it along to her as she smiled, putting the pictures in her wallet.

"I gotta use the bathroom. I'll be right back." She smiled to him, sliding out of the booth and walking off to the bathroom as Punk smiled. Being able to make her worry less, and seeing her smile again was the best thing.

He was minding his own business waiting until suddenly three men sat down in the booth with him, two sliding across and one sitting beside him as he groaned a little when he recognised them.

"Hey, Phil." Ricky smiled as Punk just nodded, "Your dad tells us you moved out, got a baby on the way." He said as Punk just sat silently.

"What do you want?" Punk asked them.

"Well it's… it's not what we want." Ricky said, "It's what you want." He smiled, "I'm assuming two kids like yourself, you're not gonna have a ton of money, huh? And let me tell you, kids aren't cheap." He said as Punk looked across at him, "All I'm saying is if you need quick money, we got some jobs for you-"

"No, thanks." Punk said immediately, "Last time I did anything for you I got arrested."

"That was complicated." Ricky scoffed, "No, we got legit jobs for you. It's good money. Think about the baby-"

"Leave me alone." Punk warned them. They were older men, friends of his fathers who knew him from the trouble he'd gotten into before moving schools. He assumed his father had obviously told them about him leaving the house and the baby, and he realised they were using that as reverse psychology, to try and get him in.

"I'm telling you, Phil." Ricky said, "You'll get a lot of money for the simplest of things." He assured him as Punk shook his head.

"Leave." Punk nodded just as he saw AJ walk out of the bathroom.

"Well you know where to find us." Ricky smiled, shuffling out of the booth with the others as AJ watched with confusion, walking back over to the booth.

"Who was that?" AJ shook her head with confusion, sliding back into the booth with him.

"Just… a few of my dad's friends." Punk shook his head.

"What were the saying?" She asked.

"They were just… asking me about my dad." Punk shrugged as AJ nodded.

"That was the best birthday present I've ever had." AJ smiled, lying naked with her boyfriend later that night in bed, her body still tingling and pulsing with all the wonderful attention he had given her.

"Yeah?" Punk smiled, turning to her as she nodded.

"Mhm." AJ smiled, turning into him, resting her head into his shoulder, "I can't believe it's gonna be here in two months." AJ shook her head, taking his hand and placing it on her bump. She liked feeling his hand on it, it made her feel like her baby was safe, "I'm… I'm actually excited to meet it." She admitted.

"Yeah, me too." Punk smiled, "I just don't want things to get difficult where we… drift apart and-"

"Hey, that's not gonna happen." AJ looked up at him, "Why would you think that?"

"Well it's probably not gonna be easy. It's a baby. It needs a lot of attention and we're kids. Most adults don't know how to be parents so…it's a big hill to climb for us." He nodded.

"I have faith in us." AJ nodded. She knew she loved this man regardless. She saw herself being with him forever. Raising a child was something she knew was a special thing to share with someone, and there was no one she loved as much as him, and no one she'd rather share this journey with.

"When we went on that first date… I never imagined things going this quick." He admitted with a smile as she nodded.

"Yeah, tell me about it." AJ agreed, "But I don't wanna have any regrets. We can love this baby. Especially when we know what it's like… to have the worst parents ever." She shook her head as Punk nodded, "I wanna do right by it." She said.

"Yeah, me too." Punk nodded, kissing her head as she smiled.

"I'm happy right now." She whispered as he looked down at her. She was happy with him, she was happy to be pretty much starting her life off with him and their baby. Of course she was absolutely terrified, but feeling supported by people was a big help.

"Me too." Punk smiled, kissing her softly as she rested into him comfortably.

He didn't want to worry her by telling her that they were miles off from having enough money to move. By the looks of things, they'd be spending at least a year or more with Bob by the time he had enough money to get their own place. He knew that would worry her.

He knew what he was considering was the wrong thing, but he wanted AJ to be looked after, and to not worry about anything. His mind was on quick money, and he knew where to get it. He just knew she couldn't find out.