Bad Start

"I can't… I can't believe this." AJ shook her head, her body shaking as she sat beside Punk who kept his arm around her. After all these years of wondering, of leaving it to her imagination, thinking her daughter would have a mom and dad who gave her all she needed… to now be told that wasn't the case was heartbreaking, yet having a face to match her name was almost a relief.

"Me neither." Punk shook his head, "I mean what-what do we do?" Punk questioned as AJ shook her head.

"I-I don't know." AJ admitted, "Do we go see her? Do we go explain ourselves?" AJ questioned, "She's almost twenty. She's not gonna wanna hear it." AJ shook her head, "Why is Bob just telling us now? Why now of all times?"

"I don't know. I don't think he's been thinking right either." Punk shook his head.

"This is our daughter, Phil." AJ turned to him in disbelief, "That little… that little baby girl we held. That's her." She shook her head. It was extremely difficult after all this time, to have these wounds that never really healed anyway, opened all back up and exposed.

"I-I know." Punk sighed, "I know, that's her." Punk smiled, "Now that I know it's like… holy shit she looks like you." Punk nodded as AJ just stared at him and nodded. She was still just in shock.

"She's beautiful." AJ shook her head, "But she hates us and… and I won't blame her for that."

"This wasn't supposed to be this way. She was to grow up in a different way. They promised us she would be adopted. That was our plan. For her to go somewhere that had more to offer her, more stability." Punk shook his head.

"And instead she was tossed around care homes." AJ shook her head, "I would never have let her go if I knew this." AJ made clear.

The decision they made was truly based on the idea that they weren't quite enough for their baby girl at the time they had her. They were young and still learning how to live life themselves. They figured what was best for Rey was for her to have parents who had more to offer, who had financial stability, who were mentally ready for a child. If they knew Rey wouldn't have been adopted, they truly wouldn't have even considered leaving her in foster care.

"I know, we would have made it work." Punk agreed, "But look we can't torture ourselves with it. We can't think about what we could have done." He said.

"Bob could have told us earlier. He could have called me. You only lived across the road. Why wouldn't he tell us?"

"I don't know, I think… I do think he was trying to do the right thing. He saw how hard it was for us to give her away and maybe he thought bringing it all back would have… would have hurt us." Punk nodded.

He'd learned to always try and read a situation, and understand that everyone done things for different reasons. He'd definitely matured in that sense.

"Maybe if we… if we knew back then we could have taken care of her and she wouldn't have to have gone through all of that." AJ shook her head.

"Look, we can't blame ourselves. We never knew this was going on." Punk reminded her. He knew she'd be blaming herself for this. He knew the type of person she was and he didn't want her to feel guilty about this.

"But she's our baby. I held her in… in my arms and I promised her everything would be ok. That'd she'd be ok." AJ shook her head tearfully as Punk nodded, "And she wasn't."

"I know." Punk sighed, "She's safe, though. I mean, we've saw her, she looks… safe and healthy-"

"But she was alone." AJ shook her head, "And I won't… I'm not forgiving myself for that."

"That wasn't your fault." He shook his head, looking down at her as she wiped her tears, "Hey." He stood up and crouched down in front of her, "Look at me." He nodded as she looked down at him, "We never knew this was gonna happen. We were told that she was going to be adopted right away-"

"We should have made sure she did. We just carried on with our lives and tried to forget her." AJ cried.

Truthfully she never got to talk about what she'd gone through as a teenager. Tom never really liked talking to her about it, she only saw Eve once every few weeks for coffee, she had no other friends who knew about it, but he was the one she always wanted to talk to. To be in his reassurance again was everything.

"We shouldn't have to. They gave us their word. We signed those papers. It was all there. She was gonna get adopted by a mom and dad who… who were ready." Punk said, "We just can't torture ourselves." He sighed. He knew it was norma for them to both feel guilty, truthfully the guilt hadn't really felt, but especially now knowing what they did, it was hard not to feel it.

"What do we do?" AJ asked him tearfully, "Maybe if we… if we speak to her, if we give her our side of the story she might… I don't know, she might listen." AJ nodded.

"If you want to speak to her then we'll do that." Punk gulped a little, "I got a feeling we're in for a pretty pissed off teenager but-"

"She has every right to be pissed off." AJ shook her head. Her heart truly broke for the daughter she gave away. If she knew what was really going to happen, they would have somehow found a way to make it better. Neither of them wanted this, "I can't believe it's her." AJ shook her head. To know she was so close by, especially to Punk, literally living a few blocks away, it blew her mind.

"Me neither." Punk shook his head, "What do you want to do? You wanna go see her?" Punk asked her as AJ nodded, wiping her nose and tears.

"Yes. I have to." AJ nodded, standing up from the bed, "I need to call Tom and tell him I might be a few days late."

"Tom?" Punk questioned, "As in…" He looked across at her, standing back up straight, "That's who you married?" He asked as AJ looked across at him.

"Y-Yeah." AJ nodded, "We hit things off in college." She said as Punk nodded slowly. He was already jealous that she was married to another man, but to know it was Tom, it made his blood sizzle. He knew he'd never treat her the way he promised he would. But he supposed his chance was over a long time ago. He just desperately wished he still had that chance.

"I thought you weren't interested in him." Punk shook his head.

"I wasn't, then I got to know him." AJ nodded, "He's a good man." She said as Punk just nodded in agreement, of course being completely insincere.

"Are we… are we going to see her now?" Punk gulped.

"Yes. I… I can't think of doing anything else." AJ shook her head, "Find out her address from Bob." She said.

"I really like him." Rey smiled, lying on her bed as she spoke to Joanne on the phone, "He's actually a gentleman. He didn't even want to sleep with me. He was walking me home just because he wanted to, I mean… where the hell did he come from?" Rey asked herself as Joanne chuckled through the phone.

"He did seem nice." Joanne agreed, "This is good. This is good for you." She said, "Are you gonna go out with him again?"

"Yeah. He's gonna text me." Rey smiled, "I even told him about my parents. I mean it sort of just came out but… he didn't even look fussed. Well, he did but… not in a bad way." She said.

"So there are still good men out there, huh?" Joanne nodded, "You think he has any nice, gentleman like friends?" She asked as Rey laughed a little.

"I could ask." Rey smiled, "You were right, Jo." She nodded, "I shouldn't be so quick to say I want nothing to do with my parents. I… I don't know them. I mean Bob told me all about them and he seems to love them. I just… it's just hard for me to know they didn't want to raise me or be there for me." She sighed.

"Yeah, I know. It's difficult." Joanne said, "You just need a little time to digest all the information, cause it's a lot to take in." She said as Rey nodded, listening as there was suddenly a knock on her door.

"Ok, my pizza is here. Love you gotta go." She said, hanging up on the call as she ran from her bedroom, sporting some shorts and t-shirt, unlocking her door and swinging it upon, expecting the cute delivery guy with her favourite pizza when she was met with something much, much different.

She looked across at them staring at her, shaking her head with confusion. The last thing she ever expected in her life was for her parents to be on her doorsteps. She dreamed of it as a child, as an early teen, but as she got older into her late teens, she realised she didn't need saved by anyone. She'd raised herself and done fine by herself. But that didn't mean her stomach didn't tightened when she saw them.

"Hi." AJ managed to get out as Rey looked at her. It was clear they both knew who she was now, by the looks on their faces.

"Not every day you open your door for pizza and the parents who abandoned you show up." She looked at them both. She couldn't help herself.

"We uh… we just wanna talk to you." Punk nodded as Rey looked at them.

"Sure." Rey nodded, stepping to the side of the door and letting them come in. Secretly inside she was shaking and nervous and completely beside herself that her actual parents were right here, and they knew who she was. But she'd never let them see that.

Punk and AJ walked into the apartment, both of them not being able to take their eyes from Rey as she closed the door over and turned to them. Punk nor AJ knew what to really say. They were just so in awe that this young girl was their daughter. That she was that gorgeous little baby they fell in love with, even though they didn't have much time together.

"Are you both just gonna stand there?" Rey asked, folding her arms as she looked across at them. She could see similarities to herself in her mother. She was a beautiful woman, she wouldn't deny that. She was sure when she smiled it was even better, but she looked sad, they both did.

"We just want to talk to you." Punk nodded.

"Well then talk." Rey nodded, "Because I've been waiting to hear this for almost twenty years. So forgive me if I'm a little… unreceptive." She smiled smugly as Punk nodded slowly.

"It wasn't meant to be this way." Punk shook his head.

"Oh, it wasn't?" Rey questioned, "What way was it supposed to be then?" She asked.

"You were supposed to be adopted, to a family, with a mom and dad who could give you more than we could. That's what we were told." Punk nodded, "We never intended for you to go into foster care. We were told you'd be adopted and you'd have a family-"

"None of that changes the fact you both didn't want me." Rey shrugged.

"That's not true." AJ shook her head, "We did-"

"Then why the hell are we having our first conversation twenty years later?" Rey spat, "Mom?" She spat angrily as AJ looked across at her, "What? You thought I was gonna run to you both and hug you? Oh, mom and dad, I love you so much, thank you for coming to see me, for taking the time out of your lives that you live without me because you didn't want me? No." She shook her head.

"We were doing what we thought was best." AJ said, "For all of us-"

"No, it was best for you two. You were kids and you made this happen. That was your problem and your responsibility and what did you do? You just shipped me off somewhere else because… because you wanted college." She pointed to AJ, "And you couldn't keep your fists to yourself." She turned to Punk.

"You weren't there, you didn't know how scary and difficult it was." Punk said, "We had no one."

"Oh, join the fucking club." Rey laughed, "You had each other. You had Bob. That could have been enough."

"We had no money, no support, I was seventeen when I found out I was having you." AJ shook her head, "I was terrified. We both were." She said, "We weren't ready, emotionally, financially, it was a difficult time." She nodded. All she wanted was for her daughter to understand.

"I grew up wishing you two would come for me… or maybe just one of you." Rey nodded, "I'd watch kids at all the schools I'd gone to, I'd see their parents picking them up. I was so jealous." She shook her head, "Because why could their parents love them and mine couldn't love me?"

"We do love you." Punk shook his head, "You have no idea. We never wanted this. We were trying to do the best thing for you. We didn't have much to give you and we much rathered you get everything you needed from people who were ready to have you. We weren't." Punk said as Rey looked at them both. She saw how desperate they were for her to understand, and a part of her did. She knew the feeling of not being supported, and she really couldn't imagine being pregnant at seventeen, but as the child they gave away, she couldn't hide how she felt.

"I want you both to leave." Rey nodded.

"Reylissa, please." AJ shook her head.

"Don't call me that." Rey warned, "My name is Rey." She told them as they looked across at her, "I'm not mad at you guys. I'm just sad that we never got to be close. We never will. We've all lived our own lives so… why bother changing anything now?"

"Don't say that." Punk said, "There's plenty of time-"

"No, there's not. Because I don't need either of you. I needed you when I was little. But I'm not little anymore."

"Please can't we just talk some more." AJ shook her head. She was in awe of her daughter's strength and how well grounded she was. But she couldn't help be hurt with her words. She knew she had a right to feel that way.

"Talk about what? Bob told me the story. I mean it's cute, until I came along and ruined it I guess." She nodded, "But I've heard it all."

"Can't you see we just wanted was best for you?" AJ shook her head.

"No, I can't see." Rey shook her head, "I want you to leave. Both of you." She nodded. She wasn't sure she was actually prepared to have this conversation with them, to let herself know how vulnerable she was to them, to people who were no more than strangers to her, regardless of them being her parents.

"Ok." Punk nodded, noticing her temper starting to break through, similar to his, "Ok, we'll go."

"Please, we never wanted this. We never wanted you to be alone. This wasn't how it was supposed to be." AJ shook her head as Rey just looked at her.

"Yeah, whatever." Rey shrugged as AJ sighed, heading over to the door with Punk as Rey followed, "Just to clarify, I'm not actually pregnant." She looked up at Punk who nodded, "I'd never be that dumb." She looked at them both.

"You know what-" Punk turned to her and stepped a little closer, "You don't have to understand anything we did but don't think just because you're painting yourself a victim here means we gotta grovel and beg for forgiveness." He said.

"Phil." AJ shook her head.

"No… no, she needs to hear this." Punk refused as Rey looked at him, "We did what we had to, for all of us, for the best. We didn't know you'd never be adopted, but we put you first whether you wanna believe it or not." He spat as Rey glared up at him.

"Someone's got a bad temper." Rey raised a brow as Punk looked down at her, "Bob told me all about your mistakes. The shoe is starting to really fit." She nodded as Punk just shook his head.

"Phil, let's just go." AJ sighed, before things got any worse than they already were.

"You don't know a damn thing." Punk shook his head as Rey stared at him.

"Get out of my apartment." Rey spat as AJ grabbed Punks wrist and tugged him back, pulling him out of the apartment as Rey slammed the door shut on them.