Personal

"Is he ok?" AJ asked tiredly, lying in the hospital bed as she watched Punk hold their son, sitting on the chair beside her bed as he nodded to her with a smile, watching baby James as he slept peacefully.

The EMT's arrived shortly after AJ had given birth and got her to the hospital with the baby. Both of them were doing good which was a huge relief. AJ was thankful that she had no complications and that the birth had actually gone smoothly, apart from not actually making it to the hospital.

"Yeah he's fine." Punk smiled, looking down at his son, beaming with pride. He was so perfect, and yet again had very distinct features taken from his mother, "How you feeling?" Punk looked up at AJ who was tiredly watching him with James, "You did amazing."

"I'm ok. I'm just tired." She nodded. It had been a long day anyway, but giving birth had topped it right off. She was only awake because the sight of her husband and son was too beautiful to fall asleep to.

"Get some sleep." Punk nodded softly.

"We should talk." AJ said.

"You should sleep." Punk corrected, "We got time to talk after. You need to rest." He said as AJ sighed to herself and nodded.

"Is he still sleeping?" AJ asked him as he nodded.

"Yeah, he's out." Punk smiled, looking down at the baby boy, his tiny little eyelids closed over, wrapped up in the blanket all snug. He was the sweetest little thing ever, "I got him, close your eyes." He nodded to her. He knew she wanted to, he could see how exhausted and tired she was. He wanted her to rest before they talked about anything. The most important thing to him was that his wife and his son were both healthy.

"Yeah, ok." AJ nodded to him, "Ok." She gave in, "Just… just wake me if he cries or… anything." She nodded, practically falling asleep as she was speaking as Punk nodded.

"Ok, I will." He said softly, watching as she quickly fell asleep.

Punk sat with James for a little while before Dean walked in through the room door with a bag. He noticed AJ was asleep and so he spoke quietly, "Hey, this is just some clothes for April." Dean nodded, sitting the bag over.

"Thank you." Punk nodded.

"How has she been?" Dean asked.

"She's exhausted." Punk said, "But she's doing good."

"And the little guy?" Dean smiled, walking over and looking down at James, "He's adorable." Dean said as Punk smiled and nodded, "The girls could barely sleep. They were so excited." He laughed a little as Punk smiled, "Coleen and Patrick are staying at the house with them."

"Ok, good." Punk nodded.

"Hey, where did Frankie go?" Dean asked, "He was there and then when everything kicked off he… he wasn't." Dean said, looking on at Punk, folding his arms, "Did something go down?" He asked as Punk nodded.

He stood up and walked over to the bassinet, putting James down in it carefully before turning back to Dean.

"Me and Frankie had a little fight in the kitchen. I think one too many beers made it all come out. Clearly he's still holding onto some anger." Punk nodded, "He then went and told April, which… then we started fighting and he left. That's when she went into labour." He shook his head, "It was probably all my fault." Punk shook his head and sighed. It'd all he'd been thinking about. How his wife's early labour was no doubt because of them arguing.

"Hey, no… I heard her say she didn't feel too good a few times at dinner." Dean recalled, "It was probably gonna happen anyway." Dean nodded.

"Now she thinks I'm gonna cheat on her if she ever hurts my feelings." Punk shook his head, "I know what I did back then was wrong. But I wasn't unfaithful to anyone. It wasn't like I wasn't cheating on anyone… yeah, I… I shouldn't have done that to my best friend but maybe he shouldn't have tried to ruin my career." He said, "His wife didn't love him anyway and they were practically about to divorce." He sighed, "I know that doesn't make it any better but… I'm not that guy anymore. And I would never do anything like that to April. I thought she would know that."

"I'm sure she does." Dean nodded, "She's probably just thinking the worst. Once you guys talk, she'll be fine." He said.

"I hope so." Punk said, "She wanted to talk there but she was way too tired. I just want her to get some sleep first." He nodded, "Then we can talk about it."

"But what did I tell you? Frankie. He… he just wants to cause chaos. You know he does. He always has. He can act the nice guy all he wants but I can see it." Dean said, "He always treated you like shit and then suddenly when you do one thing wrong to hurt him, he holds it against you forever."

"Well it was pretty bad." Punk sighed. Of course he felt bad for what he did all those years ago, but at the time he was hurt and angry, and he was young and stupid.

"Yeah and what he did to you was pretty bad. He was always weirdly jealous of you. Jealous of everything." Dean said, "We all saw it."

"We used to be so close. I never thought he was secretly hating me and envying me." Punk shook his head, "I just hate that it had to be this way. I thought we'd moved on."

"Don't let him come in between you and your wife. He was wrong for telling her like that." Dean shook his head.

"I just hope she isn't mad with me once she wakes up." Punk sighed, "She forgot all about it because of the baby but… I'm scared she wants round two when she wakes up."

"She's exhausted. I don't think she'll care." Dean said.

"You don't know April like I do." Punk said.

Later on, Dean had left the hospital and Punk had dozed on the chair beside the bed, staying close to AJ and James as they both slept too. It was through the night so the hospital was dead silent and AJ was getting some good, well deserved sleep and rest.

The only thing that disturbed them both was James who woke up and began crying. AJ sat up a little with tired eyes, looking over to the baby boy crying and sighing whilst Punk woke up too and sat up.

"I can get him." Punk nodded but she was already leaning over and picking James up into her arms, cradling him close to her as she whispered softly to him, stroking his cheek softly and kissing his nose, "Are you still gonna try breastfeeding?" Punk asked her.

"Yeah." AJ nodded briefly, only looking at her son, staring into his eyes and getting lost in them. He was so beautiful and perfect, she felt so blessed to have another healthy and happy baby, but she couldn't ignore what had been going on before she went into labour.

"If you want to talk now-"

"Yeah, we'll talk." AJ assured him, looking up at him, "We're not gonna shout. We're gonna talk." She made clear as Punk just nodded, "I don't doubt you would hurt me. You are just about the only person in my life that I actually trust, properly trust. I could tell you the most darkest, deepest secret I have and I know it'd be ok because you wouldn't judge, you wouldn't tell anyone, you wouldn't let it change how you feel about me." She nodded, "And that feeling is mutual. Anything wrong you've done, I would never judge" She said as he nodded.

"I would never do anything to hurt you." Punk made clear, "April, I was so young and stupid back then. I had no one in my life. My best friend hurt me and I didn't… yeah, I didn't deal with it the correct way." He admitted, "But I'm not that same guy anymore. You're my wife, and we have kids, and I love you, I don't think you know how much I actually love you." He said as she looked across at him, holding James in her arms, "Something like this shouldn't come between us now. Something that was in the past."

"I just don't want to be treated like a fool." AJ said, "And I want you to be honest with me right now." She said as he shook his head with confusion, "Did you sleep with my sister?" She asked as Punk screwed his face up.

"What?" Punk shook his head, "No. No, I didn't." Punk made clear, "Why would you even ask?"

"Well you got halfway there. It's my right to know." She said, "I forgave you both because of the circumstances but if that happened… if you did that, if she did that whilst knowing I was actually alive, you'd never see me again." AJ made clear as Punk looked across at her and gulped a little, "I hope you know that's the consequences of your actions. If you ever go behind my back with someone else… I will leave you, Phil. And I'll take all three kids with me." She made clear, "You wouldn't see us again. Am I… Am I being clear here?" She asked him as he looked across at her.

"I would never go behind your back." Punk made clear, "With your sister… it was… it was so many things that built up to that. I thought you were dead. I thought I had lost you. I had Raimy to raise and I thought I had to do it on my own and I was terrified. Your sister was struggling with her mental health, she- I don't know, she had a crush on me." He shrugged, "It was stupid and it was the worst thing I could have done, I know… but I thought you were dead. Let's not forget that you, who actually knew I was alive, got with another woman, a woman who is now going to serve life in prison." Punk said, "I had my reasons. What was yours?"

"My reasons? How about being taken from my daughter at birth. Not being able to hold her or see her. Being taken back into my old life where I was trapped. Being someone else's puppet." AJ said, "That was my reasons."

"Yeah, and I understood them. I thought you understood mine too." Punk said, "Don't let Frankie get in between us. This is what he wants. He wants us to fight." He said, "We shouldn't be fighting."

"You know how hard it is for me to trust people?" She asked him, "Could you imagine what it would do to me if… if the one person I finally trusted with all my heart… broke that trust?" She questioned.

"I would never break your trust, April." Punk sighed, "Come on." He said, shuffling his chair closer to the bed, "Look at me." He said as she turned to him, "I would never hurt you. I was dumb and young back then. Me and Frankie had our own personal problems. And with Coleen it was… like you said, the circumstance was why it happened." He said, "If I knew you were alive I would be out looking for you and trying to find you. It wouldn't have happened. Why are you bringing that up?"

"Well because maybe I let it slip too easily." AJ shook her head, "Maybe I've been a fool-"

"Maybe you're just letting it get to your head." Punk said, "April you know me. You know I wouldn't hurt you." He said as AJ looked at him and sighed, looking down at James and stroking his little hand softly. She felt agitated and upset. Not the way she was supposed to feel after giving birth.

"Can you just go?" AJ asked him.

"What?" Punk shook his head.

"Can you go home?" AJ asked him, "I just… I want to be alone." She shook her head as Punk looked across at her, "Please, Phil." She said.

"Ok." Punk nodded, "Ok." He said, "But I'll… I'll come by in the morning." He said as AJ just nodded.

He walked over to her, leaning down and kissing James on the head softly, stroking his cheek lovingly as AJ looked on, he then turned to AJ who looked up at him, their faces close. He played it safe and kissed her on the cheek, "This isn't us." He reminded her as she looked at him.

It wasn't like them to fight like this, to fight so personally and angrily. Normally if they fought, they'd make up half an hour later and it'd be forgotten about, but this felt personal and long-term, and he hated that.

"Just go." AJ told him as he nodded, walking out of the room and closing the door over behind him as AJ sighed, looking down at the baby boy in her arms. She trusted her husband, she believed every word he said, she knew how much he loved her, but she was still that little girl trying to protect herself from getting hurt, no matter who it was.