Goodbye

"I can't do anything." Rey spat with frustration, placing her two hands on the bed as she stood beside it, struggling to put her coat on as AJ watched.

"Hey, just stop being stubborn and let me help you." AJ shook her head, "You're not supposed to be leaving here so early."

"Well forgive me for wanting to go to the funeral for the man who raised me." Rey shook her head as AJ sighed.

"I know you're finding this difficult." AJ nodded, helping her put her coat on. She'd came early in the morning to help get Rey dressed. She was still in a lot of pain and wasn't supposed to be leaving the hospital so soon but she wasn't missing Bob's funeral. She would have crawled to it if they didn't let her out.

"Difficult is an understatement." Rey shook her head, slowly sitting down on the edge of the bed once her mother had put her black coat on her over the black dress she had put on, "I can't believe he's really gone." She sighed. She was having a hard time accepting that the man she'd known her entire life, was really gone. The fact she'd never be able to walk into Bob's store and see him behind the desk was breaking her heart.

"Me neither." AJ shook her head, sitting down on the chair. From dealing with her daughter being so badly injured, to learning about Bob's death, it had been extremely difficult.

"Where is dad?" Rey asked her.

"He's at his place with Dean." AJ nodded, "He's uh… he's not dealing with it very well." She said as Rey looked across at her, "I left. He stayed. He grew a lot closer to Bob than I ever did." She said, "It's hard on him." She said as Rey nodded.

"What if I was… what if I was really dying and Bob was really talking to me? Do you believe in stuff like that?" Rey asked. She was so sure that she had been talking to Bob whilst in the hospital, but it was impossible.

"I don't know but I know I believe you. And it… it sounds like something Bob would do. He always… liked helping people." AJ smiled as Rey sighed.

"I don't think I can do this." Rey shook her head as AJ nodded.

"You can." AJ said, "We can do it together." She nodded, extending her hand out as Rey looked at it, taking her mother's hand and taking a deep breath, "You know, we gave you your middle name because that was Bob's wife's name." She smiled.

"Really?" Rey asked as AJ nodded, "He… He never told me that." She shook her head.

"He lost her when they were younger. I wanted to name you after her but then me and your dad fell in love with Reylissa and… we opted for the middle name." AJ remembered it all vividly, "He was so touched by it." She remembered fondly.

"I really wanna talk to him." Rey shook her head, a tear running down her cheek as AJ nodded.

"Me too." AJ whispered, "It's not gonna be easy but… we can do it together." She nodded, "Bob would love nothing more." She nodded for sure.

"Yeah." Rey agreed, "We should probably start making tracks. It's gonna take me hours just to walk from here to the door." She shook her head, trying to get to her feet as AJ smiled.

"I got you." AJ smiled, giving her an arm to hold as Rey smiled.

Bob's funeral was everything they suspected it would be. Difficult, upsetting and emotional. Rey was already in a great deal of physical pain, using her mother and father for support just to stand up, but combined with the emotional pain was pretty hard.

Everyone slowly cleared off after the coffin was lowered and whilst Rey walked back to the car with the help from her mother, she noticed her father still standing at the open grave with his hands in his pockets.

"I'm gonna go see if he's ok." Rey nodded to AJ.

"Are you sure?" AJ asked her.

"Yeah, I'll take my time." Rey assured her as AJ nodded.

Rey walked back down the grass, respectively walking between the different graves, slowly taking her time and supporting her side as she eventually reached her father.

"Hey." Rey said quietly as Punk turned around and nodded.

"Hey." Punk cleared his throat, "Are you uh… are you going back to your mom's?" He asked her.

"Yeah." Rey nodded, "I'm gonna stay with her for a little while. Just until I can get back on my feet." She said as Punk nodded, "I expect you around every night for dinner."

"Yeah, sure." Punk smiled as Rey looked at him. She could see he was faking smiles and she didn't blame him.

"I know you really meant a lot to him." Rey nodded, "You were like a son to him." She said as Punk nodded, "And nothing will ever change that."

"You don't get it. He was there when no one else was." Punk shook his head.

"Dad… if anything, I'm the only one who does get it. He looked out for me when he didn't have to. When you were working across the road in the garage and I would…. I would stroll into the store after running away from my foster home." Rey said, "He'd make sure I was fed, cleaned me up, talked to me when no one else did." She said, "He was such an important part of my life and I know he was an important part of your life too." She nodded, "We should celebrate that." She said as he nodded.

"Yeah." Punk agreed, "You know he'd be mad that you left the hospital early." He smiled to her as Rey nodded.

"Yeah." Rey laughed a little, holding her side, "Yeah, he'd be mad but… I wasn't missing this." She shook her head, "He was so happy when he saw us together." She smiled to herself as Punk nodded.

"Yeah, it was like he was… he was holding off until he saw us happy together to… to finally let go." Punk shook his head as Rey nodded.

"Why'd you think he waited so long to tell us?" Rey asked him, "I mean he knew all along."

"I don't know. He never really gave us an answer for that." Punk said, "I think he just let things be how they were supposed to be. I think deep down he knew that we'd find each other, even without his help." He said as Rey nodded.

"Yeah." Rey agreed with a smile, "I'm glad I knew him. He was a really good person." She nodded, wiping her tears as Punk looked over and nodded, walking over to her and placing an arm around her as she hugged into him.

"I think he'd be pretty happy at this sight right now." Punk said quietly, kissing her head as Rey nodded and smiled, wiping her tears. He knew Bob would have loved nothing more than to see he and AJ with Rey. It was something he'd longed for and finally got to relish in it for the past few months. It really was like he was waiting it out until he saw the three of them together.

"He'd probably be laughing at me for crying." Rey scoffed, drying her tears as Punk smiled.

"Just blame it on the stab wound." Punk nodded as Rey smiled, "We could stand here and talk about how great he was."

"We could." Rey agreed.

"But you should be resting." Punk looked down at her as Rey sighed and nodded.

"Yeah." Rey nodded, "So I keep hearing." She rolled her eyes as Punk smiled.

"Come on, let's go." He kissed her head.

"Wait a minute." Rey nodded, slowly walking over to the bouquet of flowers sitting over beside the grave, picking out a rose and walking over to the headstone, slowly crouching down and placing the rose in front of the headstone, rubbing it softly before walking back to her dad who smiled, giving her his arm.

"Come on, invalid." Punk smiled to her.

"Hey." Rey shoved him a little, "How can mom still look good wearing all black?"

"Tell me about it." Punk shook his head, looking over at AJ waiting by the car, smiling to himself. He was heartbroken, but he knew Bob would have just loved the sight of Rey in he and AJ's care. It was all he really wanted to see in his life. Punk would never forget what he did for them. What he did for his daughter.

"I'm exhausted." AJ sighed, walking into the kitchen where Punk was sat. His suit jacket was discarded somewhere as well as his tie, sitting comfortable in his shirt whilst AJ still wore her black dress.

"Yeah, me too." Punk agreed, "How is Rey?" He asked, "Today was hard on her."

"She's ok." AJ nodded, "Resting. I think she's gonna stay with me for a little while. She's still in too much pain to be getting around herself."

"Yeah, she said. She actually looked glad to be staying with you." Punk smiled as AJ nodded.

"I guess I've never really got the chance to take care of her. Makes me feel like I'm actually her mom." AJ shook her head, sitting down at the table with him.

"You are her mom." Punk smiled.

"I'm not giving you the option tonight. You're staying here." AJ nodded.

"Oh, I am?" Punk asked.

"Yeah. I need someone to cuddle." AJ nodded as Punk smiled.

"Well… I'll gladly offer myself up." Punk said as she smiled, "Today was… difficult." He nodded, rubbing his hand over his face as AJ nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, I just… it makes me think of everything he did for us." AJ shook her head, "He did so much."

"Yeah." Punk swallowed the lump in his throat, "He was the best." He shook his head as AJ smiled.

"He really was." AJ nodded, "I'm so glad we have those memories with him. And he… he really loved Rey, and he kept her safe all this time… I wish we could have gave him a proper thank you."

"Yeah, I know." Punk sighed, "He was our biggest fan." He shook his head as AJ smiled and nodded.

"He really was." AJ smiled, "I just… I really hope he knew how much he meant to us." She nodded.

"He knew." Punk nodded to himself with teary eyes as AJ shuffled her chair closer to him, wrapping her arms around him and resting in against him.

"Do you think Rey really spoke to him?" AJ whispered as Punk nuzzled his chin against her head.

"I think he always would have done anything he could to help her." Punk nodded, "And maybe he did when she was in surgery." He said.

"Sounds like Bob to me." AJ nodded.

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

"He knew what was best for us." AJ nodded, looking up at him, "Maybe we should have listened." She cupped his cheek softly.

"We got there eventually." Punk whispered, leaning down and kissing her softly as she kissed back, "Bed is sounding really good right now." He pulled back with a tired smile as she nodded, "You go, I'll lock up."

She nodded and got up from the table, heading on upstairs as Punk stood up, heading on out of the kitchen, pausing before switching the light off as he looked on at the fridge with the picture of Rey and Bob, just minutes after Rey was born. AJ had stuck it up amongst other pictures of Amelia and Rey.

He smiled to himself, giving the picture a tap before switching the light off in the kitchen.