Untold
"Have you got everything?" AJ asked, holding Raimy's hand as she walked her into school.
"I don't know." Raimy shrugged, "You packed my bag." She said as AJ nodded to herself. She was more so asking herself if she had everything.
"Right." AJ smiled, "Yeah, we got it all in there. As long as your lunch is there, that's the most important thing cause you gotta eat." AJ nodded to her. She had become that mother who was always concerned about her daughter's being warm, fed and happy. She figured that was natural, but she took it to the next level at times, but she was sure it had something to do with not having that type of support when she was a child.
"What'd you make me for lunch?" Raimy asked curiously.
"I made you a turkey sandwich, you got water or your apple juice, there's a granola bar, a banana, chocolate buttons-"
"Oh, I like them." Raimy smiled happily as AJ nodded.
"Me too." AJ smiled, crouching down in the yard as she made sure Raimy was wrapped up, tightening her scarf and little and zipping her coat up a little more.
"I'm about to go inside." Raimy laughed as AJ smiled. She loved that laugh. She really wished she was as cool as Raimy when she was little. She was so chilled out at all times. She didn't get whiney or jealous, or cause a tantrum or fuss. She felt like she was learning all kinds of things from her six year old.
"I know but I still want you to be warm." AJ nodded.
"Are you going to work?" Raimy asked as AJ nodded, "Is Vivian going with you?"
"No, she's staying at home with daddy today. She still doesn't feel good." AJ said.
"Oh." Raimy nodded, "Will I make her something?" Raimy asked as AJ smiled.
"I think that would be sweet of you." AJ nodded, "I'll pick you up later." She said as Raimy nodded, "Have the best day. I love you." AJ said, leaning forward and kissing her forehead.
"Love you." Raimy called out as she ran off down the yard and into her class as AJ smiled watching her, waving until she could no longer see her. It was the best way to start the morning, seeing that smile on her daughter's face.
"How you doing?" Punk asked, walking into the living room where Vivian was sat with her blanket, "It's medicine time." He said as Vivian huffed. She wasn't in as much pain with her ear, but when the medicine wore off it started to get a little sore.
"It's yucky." Vivian sighed as Punk sat down beside her.
"Well I got you some orange juice too." Punk nodded to the coffee table which had a lot of the flu essentials, "Mommy says you gotta stay hydrated." He said, unscrewing the medicine cap as Vivian sighed. She really hated her medicine.
"Do I have to take it?" Vivian sighed.
"Yeah, you do." Punk nodded, "There are worst things in the world, babe." Punk assured her, pouring the medicine onto the spoon as Vivian looked at it sadly, "Open up." He nodded as she opened her mouth and took the medicine. Punk passed her the orange juice to help it go down.
"I hate it." Vivian whined as Punk nodded.
"I know but it'll make you feel better. It's making your ear all better so you gotta take it." Punk nodded as Vivian sighed, "You want a movie on?" He asked her.
"I don't know." Vivian sighed. She was like any sick kid. She wasn't sure what to do with herself.
"You want to nap?" Punk asked her.
"I think so." Vivian nodded tiredly, lying down into the corner of the couch as Punk smiled, brushing her hair out of her face and fixing her blanket, "Can you get me Elmo please he's in the kitchen." Vivian said as Punk nodded.
He got up and headed through to the kitchen, getting Elmo from the table and walking back into the living room.
"Here he is." Punk nodded, crouching down at the couch and tucking Elmo in her blanket beside her as she hugged him, "I'll be in the kitchen if you need me." He nodded, kissing her cheek and leaving the living room.
Just as he was leaving, he heard a knock at the door. He made his way down the hall and opened it up to see Frankie standing.
"Hey, man." Punk nodded, "You ok?" He asked.
"Yeah, I wasn't sure if I'd catch you in." Frankie said.
"Yeah, I'm working at home. Viv has an ear infection and April wanted to get back to work." He said.
"Nothing stops that woman." Frankie raised his eyebrows. It was like AJ hadn't been phased by everything that had happened. Of course she had, she was just used to dealing with situations like it.
"Tell me about it." Punk nodded, "Everything ok?" He asked, letting Frankie in.
"Yeah, I was actually just coming to give you an update on things." Frankie said.
"Oh, great." Punk nodded, walking down the hall and into the kitchen as Frankie followed, "How are things coming along?"
"Good. It's sort of difficult because there's so many people involved." Frankie said, "But Teresa is set to go to trial. She didn't take a deal like we thought. Linda and other people we found out did so, that's been taken care of."
"When will the trial be?" Punk asked.
"Oh, in a few months. She's in jail until then so… it really makes no difference." Frankie said.
"Why fight something like this when it's very clear she's guilty." Punk scoffed.
"Yeah, I don't know. We see it all the time." Frankie said, "It might come to it that… April needs to testify, and maybe you." He said as Punk nodded slowly, "Nothing major just testifying to the conditions of the institute and what April saw there." He nodded.
"Right, yeah of course." Punk nodded, "What's happening with the institute?"
"Oh, it's closed down. We still got the team looking through things." Frankie nodded, "But… they'll probably knock it down or it'll be refurbished into something completely different." He said, "How has April been doing?" He asked.
"She's doing ok." Punk nodded, "She's strong. She powers through." He said.
"Yeah, no kidding." Frankie said.
"How are the girls doing at the homes? Are they holding up ok? I know that's stupid to ask after what they've gone through." Punk said.
"Some are doing great, others are struggling a bit but they're getting the correct help, that's the important part." Frankie said as Punk nodded, "If April is weird about testifying I can try and work my way around it."
"I'll talk to her for sure." Punk said.
"Thanks. It won't be for months. I just want to keep you guys in the know." Frankie said.
"I appreciate that, man. Thanks." Punk nodded.
"I didn't think it'd go to jury." AJ admitted, later that night, sitting at the kitchen table with Raimy, helping her with homework whilst Vivian sat across, eating dinner sleepily, nodding on and off to sleep.
"Well neither did I." Punk said honestly, standing against the kitchen counter, "If it does it's not gonna go in her favour. It's impossible." Punk said, "But he did say you might need to testify." He nodded.
"Me? I can't." AJ shook her head.
"Why not?" Punk asked.
"You know why." AJ said, "I can't go into a court and testify under my ninth fake identity." She rolled her eyes, "And she-she'll have lawyers that will pick me apart on the stand and then I will get questioned." She said, "No, no I'm not testifying."
"Frankie said he could maybe figure a way out of it for you." Punk nodded, "But… you were a key witness. The key witness." He said, "You would make such a difference."
"I'm not risking anything when it comes to her." AJ shook her head, "I can't go anywhere near a court." She said honestly as Punk nodded.
"I'll talk to Frankie and let him know." Punk said.
"What's the deal with you two?" AJ asked, "What ever happened?" She questioned.
"With me and Frankie? Nothing." Punk shrugged.
"Well… didn't you guys have a fight? Dean always mutters stuff about it whenever Frankie shows up." AJ said, "I never asked cause I… I didn't know if you'd wanna talk about it-"
"We just drifted." Punk shrugged briefly.
"I do know when you're lying." She nodded to him.
"I'm not." Punk laughed, "We were all at the academy, Frankie wanted to go to the bureau, we got promotions with intelligence. We just drifted apart." He said.
"I don't believe you." AJ smiled, "You guys had a fight." She nodded.
"We didn't." Punk said as AJ nodded.
"You did." AJ said, "I can read minds." She said as Punk rolled his eyes, "What'd you guys fight about?" She asked.
"It was nothing." Punk said, "It was stepping on each other's toes, that's all. We drifted and moved on with our careers. I moved out here and he went elsewhere." He shrugged.
"I never knew he was in the orphanage with you." AJ said, "Why didn't you tell me?"
"I thought you knew. I thought I said." He said casually.
"No." AJ shook her head, "Must have been sad drifting away."
"Yeah, it was." Punk nodded, "We're cool now so… there's no point in living in the past." He said as AJ nodded.
"Yeah, and there's also no point in keeping things from your wife because you know she'll find out eventually." She smirked.
"There's nothing to find out." Punk chuckled to himself, "You never fell out with a friend before?"
"I've never had a friend, the ones I had were on drugs and the ones now I'm pretty sure they still hate me. Apart from Eve. She's like a mom." She said, "I love when she holds me." She sighed dreamily as Punk smiled.
"They don't hate you. It's… it's love hate." Punk shrugged.
"Oh, that makes me feel better." AJ laughed a little, "Must have been nice having them all this time." AJ nodded.
"Yeah, they're good friends." Punk nodded, "And they're your friends too." He said as AJ just smiled softly and nodded, "You heard from Coleen?"
"She was at work today, yeah." AJ nodded.
"How is she doing?" Punk asked.
"Well… this guy, Patrick, he called her actually." AJ said, "He asked if he could see her again. I said to her maybe he just needed some time. Some people don't really know what to say to that sort of thing and… fair play to the guy for calling her back."
"Is she gonna see him?" Punk asked as AJ nodded.
"I convinced her too." AJ said, "I mean if he really didn't care then he wouldn't have called at all." She said as Punk nodded, "I just hope he says the right things. Coleen is like a timebomb. If he doesn't she'll just go off-"
"I wonder who else shares that trait." Punk smiled.
"Not me." AJ waved her hand as Punk laughed to himself.
Both of them suddenly looked over when they noticed Vivian had fallen asleep in her dinner, hitting her head off her spaghetti as some pasta sauce went over her face and in her hair.
"Oh, baby." AJ couldn't help laugh lightly as Vivian lifted her head back up tiredly. She was tired and weak from her flu symptoms and could barely keep her head up.
"You're all sauce." Raimy looked on with shock as her sister lifted her head from her dinner and sighed sadly.
"I didn't mean that." Vivian mumbled.
"I think we should just get you in the bath and into bed." Punk nodded, "Huh?" He asked Vivian who nodded, "Ok then." He smiled, trying not to laugh as he lifted her up and headed out of the kitchen as AJ smiled and carried on helping Raimy with her homework.