Dream Weaver
"You shouldn't be here." Punk said to her.
"Why? Are you going to attack me again?" Maria asked him. "And before you say or do anything just know I have friends right outside the door and the minute I scream they're coming in."
"What the fuck are you talking about?" Punk asked her dramatically. "I never touched you!"
"We were both there that night." Maria reminded him.
"You may have been there but I wasn't." Punk argued. "I'm sorry if someone hurt you but it wasn't me!"
"It was you!" Maria yelled back. "And the police told me they have to drop the charges because of AJ gave you an alibi!"
"She didn't lie for me she told the truth." Punk said to her. "I would never hurt you like that and why would I even want to?"
"That's why I'm here." Maria said holding back tears. "I need to know why you came into my home while I was sleeping and assaulted me and stop lying because I saw your tattoos!"
"Are you fucking crazy?" Punk laughed. "I was with my wife! Not only would I not do what you're accusing of me but why would I want to? I broke it off with you for a reason." He reminded her and she slapped his face. "You're wasting time if you think this was me." he told her as if she never slapped him. "If you're not making this up then whoever tried to hurt you is still out there."
"I'm looking at him." Maria said coldly. "And one way or another you're going to pay for what you did to me."
"I didn't do anything." Punk repeated in a defeated tone. "Don't you know me at all?"
"I thought I did." Maria said crying. "I didn't think you'd ever hurt me just like I thought you'd never go back to her."
"Her? AJ? My wife?" He questioned. "You had to have thought deep down I'd go back to her."
"You told me you wouldn't." Maria reminded him.
"Is that what this is about?" Punk asked her. "I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings by breaking up with you but what you're doing isn't right this is my reputation you're fucking with, I could have gone to jail!"
"You should!" Maria yelled back at him. "Do you know that I can't sleep without the lights on? And forget my bedroom, I sleep on the couch with a knife under my pillow."
"I'm sorry you're so scared but you're only wasting your time focusing on me." Punk said to her. "I was home in bed with my wife."
"She'd do anything for you." Maria reminded him. "She'd lie for you."
"Not for this." Punk said to her.
"Right." Maria remarked with a cold laugh. "You make me sick I can't believe I thought I loved you."
"I didn't do it." Punk said again. "And that's the last time I'm going to say that to you. I do hope that the police find the guy who did this to you."
"They did find him and your father-in-law let him go." Maria snarled.
"Believe me if there was any proof I did it my father-in-law would lock me up and throw away the key." Punk told her.
"Right." Maria said to him and turned to walk the door. "You know just because the police didn't charge you doesn't mean you won't pay for this later down the line in life. Karma is real and it will bite you in the ass." she then walked out the door.
Punk went back behind his desk when the manager walked into his office.
"Look man, I think your wife is great and all but she just tossed a drink on a guy." Keith told him. "Also she keeps dropping shit."
"Give her a few more days if it doesn't work out we'll move her behind the bar or something." Punk said absently.
"You told me you wouldn't tell him." AJ said entering the office and narrowing her eyes at Ken.
"I'm sorry AJ." Ken said to her. "But you have a terrible attitude towards the customers."
"That guy kept dropping his napkin so I'd bend over and pick it up." AJ argued.
"So just bend over and pick it up for him." Ken said slowly. "What's the big deal?"
"I'm a waitress not female entertainment." AJ scoffed.
"You're both." Ken corrected. "Punk?" he asked looking for him to back him up.
"Just don't throw drinks on them." Punk said to her. "Get one of the guys to take over."
"Fine." AJ said folding her arms and Ken walked out of the office. "Are you alright?"
"Maria was here." Punk told her. "The police are dropping the charges I just got off the phone with the lawyer to confirm."
"That's great." She smiled.
"She swears it was me." Punk said to her.
"That's insane." AJ said to him. "You were with me."
"I know but she still thinks it. She really thinks I'd be capable of doing something like that?" Punk asked her. "Is there some guy out there who is in impersonating me or something?"
"I doubt that. She probably just made a mistake." AJ said shaking her head.
"She's positive it was me." Punk insisted.
"Well she's positively wrong." AJ shrugged. "Stop worrying about it it's all over now."
"Why do I have a feeling it's not?" He asked her as she walked around his desk and sat on his lap.
"It is. I feel bad about what happened with Maria but it's not your fault." She assured him.
"Just promise me you'll be careful." He said to her. "There's some maniac breaking into places and trying to assault women."
"I'll kick their ass." She smirked. "Besides I don't live alone." She reminded him and kissed him.
"You're not afraid of me, right?" he asked her.
"Physically?" she asked him. "Emotionally you hold everything."
"I don't take that lightly." He assured her.
"I know." She said kissing him again.
"AJ." Ken peeked his head into the door and pointed to his watch.
"You'd think being married to the boss would get me some perks." She mumbled.
"You said you didn't want any." He reminded her laughing then slapped her ass as she stood up. "No more throwing drinks." He warned her and she rolled her eyes.
"Yes boss." She mocked and left his office.
AJ was pacing outside of the arcade where she worked as she waited for Punk. She was shaking her hands up and down and basically making a hole in the sidewalk. She could feel her heart beating out of her chest as Punk approached.
"Hey." He greeted then frowned. "AJ what's wrong?" he asked and she ran and wrapped her arms around him.
"Phil." She cried into his chest.
"Was it your parents again?" he asked her.
"No." She sniffled. "I have something to tell you."
"Alright." He said as she pulled away.
"Maybe you should sit down." She suggested shaking.
"Are you hurt?" he asked concerned now.
"No Phil." She assured him shaking her head and looking down at her hands and mumbled something.
"I can't hear you AJ." He said to her. "Can you look at me?"
"Phil I don't even know how to say this." She admitted. "I'm pregnant."
"You're what?" he asked.
"I'm pregnant. Remember when I had the flu? Well it turns out it wasn't the flu. My mom took me to the doctor and she told me I'm pregnant." she told him.
"Holy shit." he said running his hands through his hair. "Are you sure?"
"Yes I'm sure the doctor told me." She said to him.
"How could this happen?" He asked her.
"You didn't use a condom." she reminded him.
"So this is my fault?" he asked her.
"It's half your fault." She pointed out.
"I know you're right I'm sorry." he said pacing himself now. "What the fuck are we going to do?"
"The doctor gave me this stuff to read about our options." She said to him. "My parent's said I can't keep it."
"What?" he asked her.
"They want me to put the baby up for adoption." She told him. "They were so awful Phil."
"Is that what you want to do?" He asked her.
"I don't know." she admitted confused. "I haven't even thought about it yet I've barely had time!"
"I know, I know." He said grabbing her. "Just take a minute."
"My parents are furious." AJ warned him. "My dad won't even look at me! He said I've ruined my entire life! They said I can't be in college and be a mom and I can't raise my child under their roof. I can't afford to move out Phil." She cried.
"So you want to keep the baby?" he asked her.
"I guess I do." She said to him. "It's our baby it's not up to my parents to decide for us."
"You're right." he agreed.
"I don't want to give my baby away." she said shaking her head. "I also don't know what to do I'm freaking out!"
"I know you are." Punk said to her. "I can't believe this happened."
"My mom and dad thought I broke up with you imagine their surprise." She scoffed.
"I'll expect to be arrested within the next few days." he muttered sitting on the curb and she joined him.
"I'm 18." she reminded him. "He can't do that."
"He'll find something." he said looking straight ahead at the cars passing.
"I'm going to ask for extra shifts here." She told him. "It won't be a lot but plenty of girls can do this alone." she told him alone. "I could get government help, right?"
"You're not alone." he said to her. "I have money." he reminded her.
"Your parents don't let you touch the money." she pointed out.
"They'll have to." Punk shrugged. "I'll get a job and with both of our money combined we can swing it right?"
"Do you even know the prices of diapers?" she asked him. "And we need baby stuff like a crib and a stroller-"
"We'll figure it out." He said to her. "My parents will help."
"Your mom thought I was your new cleaning lady." AJ pointed out. "She hates me they won't help us."
"Fuck it than, we'll do it on our own." Punk said to her. "Plenty of people do."
"I'm scared." She admitted. "I don't know if we can."
"Do you want to not have this baby?" he asked her.
"It's my baby." She responded. "I don't have a choice. I'm not having an abortion or giving it up for adoption I'll just do it alone."
"For the hundredth time you're not alone." He reminded her. "I'm right here with you."
"You don't want a baby." AJ reminded him.
"It's not something I thought was going to happen right now but like you said what choice do we have?" he asked her. "I don't want someone else raising my kid. So we're going to do it and it might not be easy but we'll figure it out."
"What do we even know about parents?" she asked him.
"Nothing." he shrugged. "But we'll figure it out. I love you and you love me and we're going to love this baby whether we are surprised or not."
"You're right." She agreed and rested her head on his arm. "I'm still really scared. I told my mom I was going to church to seek forgiveness. She didn't even want me to tell you. She said if I decided to keep the baby that the next to I go home it's to pack up my stuff. Where am I going to go tonight?"
"With me." he said to her.
"I don't know if Colt is going to like it." AJ said to him referring to his roommate. "I throw up all night and morning."
"So does he because he drinks too much." Punk smirked. "It's going to be ok."
"Do you really love me?" She asked him. "My mom said that you'll run out on me and leave me a single mother."
"That's not true." he said to her. "I could never abandon you as it is but now that you're having a baby? It would just never happen."
"It's us against the world." She sighed. "Your parents aren't going to be any happier than mine."
"But mine will have no choice but to help us they'd never let us tarnish their good name." Punk snorted. "Your parents will come around."
"You don't know them." AJ said shaking her head. "Once they have their minds made up that's it."
"You have your own family to worry about now." he reminded her. "When you went to the doctor did they say if the baby was ok..."
"I didn't see that kind of doctor. I have to find a new doctor and I don't know how I'm going to pay for that because once I don't go to school I'm off my dad's medical-" She told him starting to cry.
"I'll get you the best doctor." he promised her.
"You're sweet." She sighed feeling herself all cried out.
A couple of people walked by and AJ got a whiff of the food in their bags from the arcade. It was something greasy and turned her stomach.
"What's wrong?" Punk asked but AJ jumped up and ran over to the public garbage and began to throw up.
AJ shot up after dreaming of what happened in the past and looked to her side and saw Punk still sleeping. Just like in her dream her stomach was turning and she ran into the bathroom and spilled out anything she could have possibly eaten the last couple of days.
"Oh fuck." she groaned leaning against the wall and across from the toilet.
AJ remembered how she used to get sick every morning while pregnant with PJ and now she was trying to calculate her last period but she couldn't even remember. She let herself cry silently as she remembered the dream she had an what happened next.
Punk opened his apartment door and saw AJ standing there holding a bag.
"So your parents meant it huh?" he asked taking the bag from her and ushering her inside.
"Yea." She said to him. "Did you talk to your parents?"
"I did. Well I spoke to my mom." He said putting her bag on the couch. "She's not going to be much help. I might be able to work on my dad or maybe if I could sit them both down and talk to them."
"What the hell are we going to do?" AJ asked pushing her hair out of her face. "We can't raise a baby here." she said gesturing around the small apartment.
"It also smells in here." She noted scrunching up her nose.
"That's my gym clothes." Colt smirked walking into the room. "Hi AJ."
"Hi. Sorry to be invading your space." She said to him.
"Oh don't worry about it." Colt said to her. "I think the three of us- well I guess four of us are going to have fun."
"I hope so." she said with a weak smile.
"We can put the crib in your room." Colt told her. "And when the baby is old enough we put it out here and put like a curtain up and he can have his own privacy and stuff."
"That's thoughtful." AJ said then began to cry. "Your friend is more supportive than my own family." she sobbed as Punk held her.
"He's more supportive than mine too." Punk smirked.
"What am I going to do about a doctor?" she asked him.
"I don't care how much it costs you'll get the best." he assured her.
"Or you two could just get married and AJ will go right on your insurance." Colt suggested sitting down and turning on the TV.
"Don't be crazy." She laughed.
"No it's a good idea." Punk said to her. "Why not?"
"Why not?" she laughed.
"Give me one good reason." He encouraged. "We love each other, we're having a baby, you need the insurance, my parents will have to take us seriously and help us out- what could go wrong?"
"Married?" she asked seriously.
"It's not the most romantic way to ask you but our backs are to the wall here." he pointed out.
"I don't want to get married just because I'm pregnant call me a helpless romantic but I want to get married because of love." She said to him.
"We do love each other." Punk pointed out. "And now we're having a baby and we're going to be a family, just the three of us."
"Just the three of us." She repeated and actually cracked a smile.
"We'll go right down to the courthouse this weekend and do it." Punk said to her.
"That's how you're proposing?" Colt asked from the couch.
"I wasn't planning this." Punk said to Colt annoyed. "I'll get you a ring."
"I don't need a ring." She said shaking her head. "Let's do it."
"Yea?" he asked grinning.
"Yea let's get married." She smiled and he lifted her and spun her once.
"You ok?" Punk asked walking into the bathroom and finding her on the floor.
"Yea I must have eaten something bad." She said flushing the toilet.
"You don't look pale." He said helping her up and then felt her head. "Don't have a fever."
"Yea it's weird." she shrugged. "I'm going to go back to bed."
"No run?" he asked surprised.
"Nah." She said shaking her head.
"You sure you're alright?" he frowned.
"Yea I am." She promised. "Why are you up so early?"
"I just can't stay asleep." he admitted.
"The Maria thing again?" she questioned.
"Yea." He admitted. "I just can't shake it."
"She's upset and hopefully she'll be able to realize it wasn't you and try to figure out who it really was." She said to him.
"Yea." Punk agreed. "You should go get some more sleep though." he said brushing her hair out of her tired face. "If you can't work tomorrow night-"
"I can work." She assured him.
"I'm going to take a shower then probably head down to the gym." he told her. "You want me to bring you up some soup later?"
"That would be nice." She smiled then walked out of the bathroom.
AJ got back into Punk's bed and pulled the covers up and placed her hand over her stomach. She was absolutely terrified. It wasn't just the fact that she was pregnant but depending on how far long ago she was if she was, was Punk or Billy the father? She could only imagine what that psycho would do if he found out she was carrying his child. She still wasn't sure how Punk would react all she knew is that she had never wanted another child and yet here she was again, terrified.
The next morning after throwing up more AJ wandered downstairs still in her pajamas.
"Hey." Punk nodded as he drank his coffee. "I thought you'd still be sleeping."
"I can't sleep." she groaned sitting at the kitchen table. "My stomach won't settle."
"You want coffee?" he asked her and she shook her head.
"Tea?" she asked and he nodded and walked over to fill the pot with water.
"You want me to make you a doctors appointment?" he offered.
"No I think it'll pass." She said to him. "How are you feeling?"
"I wasn't the one with my head in the toilet half of the night and morning." He smirked. "Whenever you're feeling better you should go down to the school and sign up for your classes."
"Oh right." AJ said remembering she was about to restart school. "I think I missed the deadline."
"Alright well still go down there and find out when you can sign up for the next term." he said to her. "Why don't you go up to bed?"
"I can't sleep even if I tried." She said to him. "I kept having the weirdest dreams all night."
"Yea? What about?" he asked.
"Well they were memories actually." She said to him. "Just things." she shrugged. "Nothing I want to talk about."
"I have a few meeting today for the club do you want me to cancel?" he offered.
"No!" she said quickly.
"I don't feel right leaving you here sick by yourself." He frowned.
"Really I'll be fine." she told him.
"Ok." he said eyeing her carefully.
AJ snuck out when Punk left to go to her doctors. She called in with an emergency and he agreed to take her. She hadn't even taken a pregnancy test but she knew.
"Yup." The doctor said looking at her folder. "Your urine test came back positive."
"Oh shit." she groaned.
"So this wasn't planned I take it?" The doctor asked her and she shook her head. "Would you like me to go over your options?"
"Options?" she asked clearly in shock.
"I think these options were presented to you a few years back." He reminded her.
"I won't have an abortion." She told him.
"So you're going to continue with the pregnancy?" he questioned.
"Of course." AJ said to him. "How far along am I?"
"You have to see your gynecologist for that information and get a sonogram." the doctor told her.
"I have to know." AJ said almost desperately.
"I can't tell you for sure." He told her again. "But judging by when you got your last period I'd say six weeks."
"Please don't say that." She whispered.
"Is everything alright?" he frowned.
"No." She began to cry shaking her head.
"Is paternity an issue for you Mrs. Brooks?" the doctor asked.
"Don't tell Phil." She pleaded and the doctor gave her a sympathetic smile.
"I would never. There's such a thing as client patient confidentially." The doctor reminded her. "There are tests that can be performed when you're father along but you have to speak to your doctor about that."
"I didn't even want another baby." she cried and he handed her a tissue. "I literally just had this conversation yesterday with Phil."
"I see." he nodded listening intently.
"And he was fine with it! I can't lose another baby." She cried.
"Who said you're going to lose it?" The doctor questioned.
"I can't." She cried.
"But clearly you're going to." The doctor pointed out. "My wife miscarried at six months when she was pregnant with our first." He told her.
"I'm sorry." She frowned.
"She never wanted to get pregnant again." He remembered. "Then she did by some stroke of luck and our daughter is going to be 15 next week." he smiled.
"We just moved on from all of this." AJ told him. "We took PJ's nursery down finally we agreed to never have another child, I was going to go back to school-"
"You can still go back to school." The doctor told her. "Plenty of women do."
"I was another man six weeks ago." AJ confided. "Right before my husband and I agreed to get back together." she told him. "This man isn't very stable." she told him.
"I can't tell you what to do April I'm just your doctor but from friend to friend I suggest you tell Phil as soon as possible." the doctor told her.
"What if this baby isn't his and he leaves me?" AJ sniffled.
"I've known Phillip since he was 14 years old and I know how much he care for you, he's not going anywhere." the doctor smirked.
"He's a great man." AJ agreed. "But this other guy I'm afraid of him." she admitted out loud for the first time. "He has a mental disorder."
"Again I can't tell you what to do." The doctor repeated then whispered. "But I wouldn't tell this guy."
"What if he finds out?" AJ questioned.
"Then I suggest you tell Phil because you know he'll take good care of you." The doctor told her.
"I can't believe this happening again." she said to herself.
"This is a happy time April." The doctor smiled. "I know it doesn't seem it right now but you have a life growing inside of you and that will change your minds on things."
"I doubt it." She mumbled.