Answers

"Come sit down." Bob nodded.

"No, I don't wanna sit down." Rey shook her head, "Is that my parents? Yes or no?" She asked him.

"Yes." Bob nodded.

"And you knew all this time." Rey said, "You knew and you didn't think to tell me?" Rey questioned.

"It's not that simple. Just sit down and I'll… I'll tell you everything." Bob nodded. He figured if it was out now, she might as well know the whole story.

"I can't believe this." Rey shook her head. She couldn't believe she'd really just stood in a room with her mother and father. After all this time. After leaving so much of it to her imagination, she couldn't believe she actually had faces to match the names she had.

"I didn't tell you because they don't know who you are. Clearly." Bob nodded.

"Yeah, because they gave me away. Why would they know who I am?" Rey questioned.

"Please sit down and I'll explain everything." Bob nodded, watching as she took the picture out from her sleeve, looking on at it.

"This is me, isn't it?" Rey asked him, "I'm the baby in this." She nodded as Bob looked across at her.

"That's you." Bob nodded.

"And why… why were all the pictures in that album taken in your apartment, with some of you in it. What have you got to do with all of this?" Rey questioned. All the questions she had, all the questions she'd ignored and built up, stored to the back of her mind, they were now just tumbling out. She had so many.

"I was just helping them." Bob said, "Rey, please sit down and I will explain everything to you. I promise. I just need you to listen." He said as Rey looked across at him.

She looked back down at the picture and somehow, she could actually see how carefully her mother was holding her, how they were huddled together with her father… like she actually meant something to them.

"Please." Bob sighed.

"Ok." Rey gave in, "Ok." She nodded, walking over to the chair and sitting down with her arms folded, "Explain this mess to me."

"You didn't have to walk me out." AJ shook her head after walking out of the hospital, surprisingly with Punk by her side. They weren't saying much of anything to each other of course.

"I'm not. I walk this way anyway." Punk replied as AJ just nodded, "I can't believe he just threw me out." He shook his head.

"Looks like he has a new favourite. And it's not us." AJ shrugged.

"Yeah, it looks that way." Punk shook his head, "I'm sorry for being a dick last night." He nodded as she looked up at him, "I couldn't believe you were actually here." He admitted, "It's been a long time."

"Yeah, well I only came back to see how Bob was. He seems to be doing fine so… I should get home soon." AJ nodded, walking slowly outside to reach her car, because secretly, she wanted to keep talking to him.

"You mind me asking where home is?" Punk asked her. Once she'd left for college, he really hadn't heard anything from her ever again. It was like she just disappeared and that was hard.

"About an hour from here." AJ nodded, "Nothing like this place." She shook her head as he nodded, turning to her as he looked at her. He noticed the rings on her finger the second he first saw her again, he couldn't help himself from asking.

"Married?" Punk questioned, watching as she quickly clasped her hands to hide her rings for some strange reason.

"Yeah." AJ nodded briefly.

"About what you said back there… about you still loving me-"

"Yeah, Bob wanted me to say that." AJ nodded, turning into him once reaching her car, "I mean I… I do but… not like that." She said, "Me and you, we were a long time ago and with that came a lot of… sad stuff and stress that I don't want to look back on anymore." AJ shook her head as Punk nodded, "I'm sorry I didn't want to see you because I knew it would just… bring back all those memories."

"They weren't all bad memories though, were they?" Punk asked.

"Of course not." AJ shook her head, "But a lot wasn't good." She said, "We're not kids anymore." She said as he nodded, "We can be… grown-ups about this, can't we?" She nodded.

"Sure we can." Punk faked a smile, "I'm just saying… when you disappeared off the face of the earth… Bob really missed you. He thought you were gonna come back."

"I didn't disappear. I went to college and got a job. Made a life for myself. I called Bob and told him this." AJ said.

"But you never invited him to your wedding?" Punk asked with confusion, "Seems a little strange to me that the guy who gave up everything for us, to support us, you wouldn't want to include him in… your new, fancy, rich life-"

"I'm glad you assume I'm rich, I'm making a good impression then." AJ smirked.

"A stuck up impression?" Punk asked as AJ's smirk faded.

"I never invited Bob because I didn't want you to know. I didn't want to hurt your feelings." AJ shook her head, "So don't paint me a bad guy here."

"Oh, so no we're thinking about feelings?" Punk asked.

"Yeah something you didn't do when you broke up with me out of nowhere." AJ shook her head.

"It wasn't out of nowhere. We weren't good for each other. I think I'm proving that right now." He said. Truthfully, they hadn't actually spoken since that day where they broke up, so both of them still had a lot of things they wanted to say.

"You gave me no say in it. You decided we were bad for one another and you broke it off. There wasn't even any fighting left in you. You just wanted it to be over." AJ shook her head, "That hurt me the most. It was like you never even cared."

"Well I do. I cared too much actually." Punk assured her, "You deserved better than me and I think I proved my point." He said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" AJ shook her head.

"Well you look like you got everything you ever wanted." Punk nodded as AJ looked up at him. He had no idea. No idea how much the thing she wanted was still and always would be him.

"Well I'm glad it looks that way to you." AJ nodded, "Where's your car?" She asked him.

"I don't have one. I took the bus." Punk said, "Still poor." He smirked as AJ looked across at him.

"I can… give you a ride… drop you off." She quickly rephrased as Punk just nodded. He didn't want to part ways with her. Getting to look at her again and speak with her was like a blessing. He knew they weren't exactly getting along, but he didn't really expect them to anyway.

They got into the car and when Punk sat down in the passenger's side, he felt himself sit on something hard, tilting over and lifting the obvious children's book from his seat.

"This yours?" He teased as AJ turned to him.

"Uh… no." She shook her head, taking it from him and tossing it into the backseat as Punk turned around, looking on at some things. He saw some other toys, some drawings lying on the car floor.

"How many kids you got?" Punk asked her as she turned to him.

"What?" AJ shook her head.

"Well I hope you're not the one who enjoys all those toys in the back, and the drawings." He said as AJ looked back and sighed.

"Just one." AJ nodded, "Look I'm not talking about my personal life with you." AJ made clear.

"April you were allowed to have kids, you know." Punk nodded to her, "Just because what happened with us didn't mean we couldn't go on and have lives." He said. Even though they were bickering, he hated that she felt guilty, which clearly she was, about having another baby, "Boy or girl?" Punk asked her as AJ turned the engine on.

"Girl." AJ nodded, "Amelia." She said as Punk smiled, "She's six. I actually was sure I didn't want kids but… she came and she's the best." AJ smiled, "I miss her a lot right now." She admitted honestly as Punk smiled, "What about you?" She asked, even though Bob had told her.

"No kids." Punk said, "And a failed marriage so… there's that." Punk nodded.

"Sorry about that." AJ nodded.

"No, it's fine." Punk shrugged, "It was far from the right thing but I tried to convince myself it was." He shook his head, "I was an idiot."

"Are your family still here?" AJ asked him, keeping her eyes on the road. She couldn't believe she was really talking to him all this time, having him sat beside her.

"My mom died a couple years ago. I haven't spoken to my dad in… a lot of years. And I live with my brother." Punk nodded, "What about you?"

"I haven't spoken to my parents since before I moved to Bob's place when I was pregnant." AJ shook her head as Punk nodded. He suspected that.

"I had a hunch." Punk nodded, "How did college go?" He asked her. He found the shock settling in and actually wanted to talk with her. Talk like how they used to. He missed their talks. When they'd lie in bed through the night. She'd wrap herself around him, talking to one another about everything and anything.

"Well I got what I needed and I'm director of a fashion line company." AJ nodded.

"Didn't doubt that for a second." Punk said, "Hard work pays off."

"Yeah, it did." AJ nodded, "What about you?"

"Car garage." Punk said, "Pays my bills so… it's enough." Punk nodded, "And it keeps me close to home, for Bob."

"He looks a lot older." AJ nodded.

"He is a lot older." Punk laughed a little as she nodded and smiled.

"He really gave us so much." She nodded. It was difficult to think back on that time, because it meant thinking about the daughter they didn't get to know. She figured that's why they were both finding their reunion challenging, of course it was on their minds, it was never out of it, "She'd be nineteen." AJ whispered as Punk nodded to himself.

"Yeah." Punk nodded, "That's crazy." He shook his head as AJ nodded, "I think about her every day." He nodded.

"I do too." AJ nodded, keeping her eyes on the road.

She eventually got to his place, pulling up at the side walk after they continued to small talk the rest of the way. She'd missed him terribly. She never really healed from him. More like buried herself in other things to forget about him, and now that she saw him again, all those memories came flooding back. All the love she had for him.

"Well thanks for this." Punk nodded as AJ just smiled.

"It's no problem." AJ nodded, "Maybe for Bob's heart we should… try and just move on and not fight with one another. I think it hurts him."

"I don't wanna fight with you anyway, April." Punk said, "I was just shocked to see you. Can you blame me? Haven't you saw since everything happened."

"Yeah, I know." AJ said as Punk nodded, "And I do mean what I said, I still love you. You were… really special to me and I'm not gonna lie and pretend you weren't just because we aren't together anymore." She said as he nodded.

"I'm glad you found some happiness." Punk nodded to her, placing his hand on her leg and tapping it, taking it straight back of course as she sighed. She wished he'd kept his hand there, she wished he'd slid it further up, she wished she could just feel him again and be allowed to love him again.

"Thank you." She nodded as he got out of the car, closing the door over as she watched him out the window walking into his apartment building.

She groaned to herself, placing her head on the steering wheel. One look into those eyes and she was already weak for him again. She was already feeling like that love stricken teen. Only in reality, she wasn't. She was married with a kid and lived out of town.

"So you let them stay with you? Why?" Rey asked, sitting with her legs in a basket on the chair beside Bob's bed, digging into the packet of scones on her lap.

"Because they had nothing." Bob nodded, "They had no support. No family. Not really family anyway." He said, "They came to me and asked to stay just for temporary solution, and of course I let them in." He said, "And we just became a family."

"So wait… did they… did they want to keep me?" Rey asked.

"They did." Bob nodded, "They were determined but… when you're seventeen, with no money, no jobs, no real place to stay… you can imagine how scared they both were." Bob said as Rey looked across at him, "So some things happened, your dad… made some mistakes to try and get money-"

"What'd he do?" Rey asked curiously.

"He just got involved with the wrong stuff. He thought it'd get him quick money but all it got him was an arrest." Bob explained, "That's when things started to go south." He said, "They both realised they really weren't prepared for this or ready for to take care of a baby. Your mom wanted to go to college and she wasn't sure if she could with you-"

"Nice to know where her prirorities were at." Rey scoffed.

"No, it wasn't like that. They were under a lot of pressure and they thought the best thing for everyone, and that meant you included, was for you to be adpopted by parents who were ready to take care of you." Bob nodded.

"Well… I was put in the foster system." Rey said.

"Yeah well, I think they got tricked. A worker came around and said that the adoptions happen through the system but… once I saw you as a little girl, running around the streets, different homes, different schools, I realised no one had actually adopted you-"

"So my parents think I'm adopted to some other family?" Rey raised her eyebrows.

"Yeah, they do. Believe me, Rey if they knew what you went through, if they knew you were just… dumped in foster homes all your life, they would never have went through with this-"

"They still wanted rid of me. I don't care in what scenario or where I went… they didn't want me-"

"They did." Bob nodded, "It was so hard for them to give you away. So hard." Bob sighed.

"Well are they still together then?" Rey asked.

"No, they're not. They fell apart not long after they had you. Your mom went off to college and your dad stayed with me." Bob said as Rey sighed.

She didn't know what to make of it all. She now knew that her parents were in a difficult position but that didn't mean they couldn't come back for her.

"Why didn't they come back for me?" Rey asked, "In a couple of years, when they were ready-"

"It's not easy like that. They thought you were going to a new family who you'd grow up with." Bob said.

"Well why didn't you tell them I wasn't?" Rey shook her head, "You're the one who knows everything. You could have done something before."

"I didn't want to get involved, and I didn't want to pick at old wounds-"

"So I'm just an old wound to those people?" Rey asked him, "I don't get how this is happening." She sighed stressfully, placing her hand on her forehead. It was a lot to take in, and to actually have been in the same room with her parents was mind boggling.

"I know it's a lot. Believe me I wanted to tell you before but… it never felt like the right time." Bob sighed, "They loved you-"

"Don't." Rey laughed, "They clearly did not love me one ounce because they didn't want me-"

"It's not like that. They thought they were doing the best thing for you at the time." Bob said, "And trust me, sweetie, they did love you. So much. They still think about you-"

"Think about me? So they treat me like I'm dead or something?" Rey questioned as Bob sighed. She had the same impossible attitude as her father.

"You think about how scared they had to have been. They only done what they thought was best." Bob nodded as Rey shook her head, putting her shoes on as Bob watched her, "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to get answers from them." Rey said.

"Rey, no… I think you should wait until you calm down." Bob said worriedly.

"No." Rey shook her head, "No, you've told me everything, their story, your point of view, now I want theirs." Rey nodded, "And I apologise to you in advance if I slap one of them." She said, rushing out of the hospital room as Bob sighed to himself.