Cat and Mouse
The next morning Punk was woken up by AJ throwing herself over his bare chest and kissing over his heart.
"Morning." AJ smiled looking up at him.
"Good morning." he greeted wit a sleepy smile. "Is there a reason you've woken me up so early?"
"It's 10." She scoffed. "I'm usually long up but yes there is a reason." She informed him. "Your son is really hungry."
"Yea? He's always hungry." Punk snorted.
"He really wants a donut." AJ said to him. "A fresh one from Harry's around the corner."
"He's very assertive with what he wants huh?" Punk asked amused.
"He is." AJ agreed. "He wants a coconut donut." AJ told him.
"I'm sure that's not true because he must know his mom is allergic to coconut." Punk reminded her and she rolled her eyes.
"It's barely a reaction." AJ argued sticking her head up. "I'm craving coconut."
"That's a shame because you're not having it." He said kissing her lips quickly then getting out of the bed.
"Your daddy is the worst." AJ said looking down at her growing belly.
"Don't tell the baby that." He hissed. "You break out every time you have any coconut." He again reminded her. "I'll get you something else."
"I don't know what else I want." She shrugged almost childishly as she fell back into the bed.
"I'll get one of everything." He informed her getting dressed. "I have to go pick up a few things at the store anyway."
"You can pick up my vitamin prescription too?" She asked sweetly.
"I can do that." He said to her and leaned over and gave her another kiss. "You're going back to sleep?"
"I am still tired." AJ said to him with a yawn.
"You feeling ok?" He asked concerned.
"Yea it's just the bigger I get the more tired I get." She said to him.
"You just stay in bed and rest." He said to her.
"Can we go looking at cribs soon?" She asked in a sleepy voice.
"Really?" Punk asked surprised. She was so scared of jinxing things but she was now much further along. "Of course we can. Whatever you need to get we'll get."
"Just a few of the big things. Your mom has been planning this shower since the night we told her she was pregnant so you know we'll be getting a lot of stuff from that." She said to him.
"Oh, I'm actually glad you bought that up." Punk started as he zipped his hoodie on. "My mom wanted to know your moms address so she could send her an invitation."
"Did you inform your mother that my mother would rather be in hell than at anything to celebrate a child of mine?" AJ asked seriously.
"I tried." Punk shrugged. "You know how my mom is."
"Tell her she's wasting her breath if she thinks she'll get her there." AJ snorted curling into Punk's pillows.
"I'll pass along the message." he said then walked out of the bedroom.
AJ fell right back to sleep but woke up feeling the bed dip and someone's arms wrap around her.
"That was fast."AJ grinned pressing her back into him. AJ saw his hand roam over to her baby bump and saw the hand didn't have a tattoo on it and that's when she realized it wasn't Punk. "W-" AJ started to yell out but the hand clasped around her mouth.
"Don't yell it's not good for the baby." Billy said calmly. "Why haven't you told me yet?"
AJ's eyes were opened wide as tears trickled down her cheeks. She has had this nightmare numerous times but she knew it was real right now.
"A baby." he laughed. "I never imagined having a baby before but I'm glad that it's with you. This of how beautiful our child is going to be." he said in awe.
"Has he been kicking yet?" He asked running his hand over her stomach. "Huh?" AJ didn't even flinch as he kept his hand clasped over her mouth.
"If you scream I'll cover your face with a pillow." Billy warned her in a whisper and she nodded. He removed his hand and she gasped slightly.
"The baby isn't yours." AJ said quickly and nervously. "It's Phil's."
"Really? Because I was here last night when you two were talking and I know that's just not the case." Billy said simply.
"You heard wrong." AJ said strongly.
"No I did not." He laughed. "Why wouldn't you tell me?"
"Because its not yours!" AJ yelled. "This is mine and Phil's baby."
"You can't just replace PJ with our son." Billy reasoned. "Phil has always wanted to replace your son."
"No." AJ whispered.
"Yes. Why else would he agree to this?" Billy asked her. "I won't let another man raise my child." he warned her and now chilling voice. "I've put up with a lot April but I will not let him raise my son with you. A child is a gift, a gift that I intend on enjoying. Please don't make me hurt Phil." He pleaded. "You know I will."
"He'll be back any minute." AJ whispered. "You need to leave or he'll hurt you."
"I'll kill for my son." Billy hissed in her ear. "We're going to put him right across the hall here." He informed her as his voice went back to calm and almost cheery. "We'll paint the walls blue and hang beautiful photographs." he said resting his face on her shoulder. "I'm so excited. I couldn't sleep a wink last night. He needs a strong name-"
"His name is Anthony Jack Brooks." April told him strongly.
"That's not going to work for me." Billy said keeping his arms wrapped tightly around her. "I was thinking something more obscure. But I find it adorable that you want him to have your initials. We could do Angelo if you'd like?"
"We're not doing anything." AJ said to him. "There is no 'we'. The cops are onto you."
"Onto me? I've done nothing wrong." he said giving it thought.
"You attacked Maria and hurt Hector- you painted your arms to look like Phil." She told him.
"That sounds a little sick." Billy chuckled. "I wouldn't do those things." he said kissing her shoulder. "I took some photos of you last night while you slept." he whispered. "If Phil wasn't in bed with you I would have crawled on you and made love to you all night long."
"I don't want that." AJ said quietly. "I want you out of here and out of my life."
"I'm always going to be part of your life April." He reminded her rubbing her stomach. "Do you know how arousing it is to feel you carrying my child?"
"He's not yours!" She yelled out and Billy sat up. He looked over to the time and got out of the bed. "I'm calling the police." she informed him reaching for her phone.
"You do that." Billy smiled. "And I'll tell the police how you're plotting on keeping my child from me." he said to her. "I'll see you real soon darling."
Billy was out of the bedroom in record time and AJ followed as quickly possible and noticed he didn't go out the front door but down the basement door. She grabbed a chair from the kitchen and placed it under the doorknob so he couldn't get back in.
"What are you doing?" Punk asked walking inside with a few bags.
"Billy was here." She hissed.
"What?" he asked dropping the items onto the table.
"He left this way and I didn't want him to come back in." AJ said to him and Punk went to move the chair. "No!" she yelled grabbing his wrist. "He knows about the baby he was here last night." she told him. "He thinks this baby is his Phil! This is what I tried to warn you about!"
"What did he say exactly?" Punk asked her trying to calm her.
"He crawled into bed with me Phil!" she yelled. "He wrapped his arms around him and rubbed my stomach and started talking about baby names! He's fucking insane Phil!" she cried.
"Call the cops." Punk said reaching for his phone.
"He'll tell the cops and lawyers that I'm carrying his baby! They'll make me do the amnio and if the results show he's the biological father they'll make us share him with him!" she cried. "Don't you see how bad this is?"
"He can't do that." Punk said shaking his head. "He has a mental problem no one is going to sign over on him getting even shared custody of a child."
"After he gets back on his med's he will." AJ insisted.
"So we have the test done and prove to him-" he began.
"What if the test doesn't prove he isn't the father?" AJ asked him seriously. "What the hell do we do then? Are you willing to share our son with him?"
"Of course not." Punk said to her quietly.
"That's whats going to happen." She cried. "He's going to get to see our baby and pick him up and take him out-"
"He won't. I will never let that happen." He promised cupping her face. "You need to calm down." he suggested soothingly.
"How am I supposed to?" AJ asked trying to hold back a cry. "We're going to lose another child." she wept.
"No." he said shaking his head.
"Yes Phil." She sniffled. "He'll have legal rights. Who knows what he would do with him alone-"
"Stop." He insisted.
"Phil-" She began.
"We'll go." he said to her and her she eyed him curiously. "We'll pack a bag and leave. He has no legal rights as of right now and it will be really hard for him to convince anybody of anything and if a judge can't find us they can't force us to take any tests." he said to her.
"So, we go." AJ said without giving it a second thought. "I still have cash."
"It's not that simple." He pointed out. "If we leave- we're gone." he informed her. "We take whatever fits in a bag and that's it. Also, if we leave we can't have this DNA test done because if it does come back as his it will be on record and there will be no way out."
"I know." She said to him.
"There is no coming back here." Punk said to her. "Now while he's still here and you know he'll look for us."
"You won't let him find us." She said already knowing. "But what about the club? Your family? Your friends?"
"What about yours?" Punk shot back at her.
"You're my only family." She shrugged. "Nothing but you and Anthony matter to me."
"I can have the manager run the club, we have more than enough cash and my my mom and sister won't be thrilled but I'll talk to them after we're gone and they'll just have to get used to it." Punk said to her. "We discussed this when you first told me you were pregnant." he reminded her.
"I remember." She said to him. "I'm too scared to stay here and I'm never scared."
"I know." he said to her.
"Where will we go?" she asked him.
"I don't know." He admitted. "Let's just pack, get in the car and see where we end up?"
"He might still be in the house." She whispered pointing to the door.
"He's probably been using the garage to get in and out down there but I'll check." He said moving the chair. "Pack and don't tell anyone. Not Eve, not my sister- no one."
"Alright." She said walking up the stairs.
Twenty minutes later Punk walked into the bedroom where AJ was packing and grabbed a bag for himself.
"I already started your bag." She said to him. "I put all of your shirts and boxers in here."
"You're moving fast." He noted.
"Do you not want to go?" she asked him.
"Of course I don't but we have to." He said to her. "I'm fine with it."
"I can just go." She assured him and his face dropped. "Really, you can take me somewhere and drop my off and only you would know-"
"No fucking way." he said to her opening his side of the closet and grabbing jeans.
"I hate asking you to give up your life." She said to him.
"First of all you didn't ask this was my idea second of all you were my life." he said to her. "You and the baby are everything. I won't lose another kid AJ, I can't."
"Then lets get moving." She said grabbing another bag. "It's not going to be easy."
"Nothing in life ever is." He is agreed packing quickly. "Did he touch you or hurt you?" he asked her wanting to ask earlier but he wanted to make sure Billy wasn't in the house still first.
"No." She said shaking her head. "He was cuddling with me I thought it was you at first then I saw his hands and he was trying to get the baby to kick and was talking baby names and being back real soon."
"He won't find us." Punk said to her.
"Here." She said reaching under the bed and pulling out the metal box she kept her cash hidden away in. "It's not much."
"It's just to get us on the road. No one is legally allowed to track us I can pull money out as we go. We'll be fine money wise." he assured her. "I'll shoot Cliff a text once we're on the road to tell him we're fine and you can do the same with Eve from your phone because we don't want anyone panicking."
"But Izzy." She sighed thinking of his sister.
"I'll call her tomorrow." Punk assured her. "We can't worry about everyone else we need to put all of our energy into our baby."
"Of course." she agreed. "Our baby." She repeated.
"I swear on PJ's grave that no one is taking this child from me or you." He promised her and walked over to her. "Just promise me you'll try to relax and trust me to take care of you."
"I do, you always have." She said to him. "The wedding can wait."
Punk had completely forgotten how they were planning on renewing their vows they had actually just booked a small venue last weekend for it.
"I'll make it all up to you." He promised. "You'll get your wedding."
"I don't need it." She told him. "Just you and the baby. Besides this is my mess we're running from."
"It's not." he said packing again. "I knew Billy was trouble and I didn't put my foot down when you started to date him like I knew I should have."
"You think I would have listened to you?" AJ asked with a laugh.
"Actually I do." Punk said smugly. "You'd never make me uncomfortable."
"We'll never know." She said zipping up her bag.
"Remember only the essentials." Punk warned her knowing she had a bad habit over over packing.
"I know I don't need much more because I won't fit into much of it anyway. I'm going to have to wear your shirts soon." She said to him. "I just want to grab PJ's teddy bear and his pictures." she ran over to her desk and pulled out her photo album and stuffed into a bag. "I don't want him left behind."
"Relax it's not like he's coming back this second." He said to her.
"He was here last night Phil probably all night." She said to him.
"The garage door was unlocked, he probably picked it." Punk said to her. "He won't show up with me here obviously he keeps waiting for me to not be about."
"He's afraid of you." AJ noted.
"He should be." Punk scoffed.
Later that night...
Punk and AJ stopped a motel a couple of hours outside of Chicago.
"We could go to New York." Punk suggested. "It would be pretty damn hard to find us there. Or in the other direction completely."
"Wherever you think is best." AJ said to him quietly as she laid in bed.
"I know this isn't how you envisioned this all going." Punk sighed knowing how upset she was.
"It's not but I know it's going to be ok." She said rolling over to face him. "This reminds me of the first night I stayed at your apartment when I got thrown out of the house." she laughed. "Just a suitcase and no clue on how we were going to do this."
"I remember." He smiled faintly brushing her hair out of her face.
"And you told me you knew this isn't want I had always envisioned but I wouldn't be alone." She reminded him.
"I remember that too." Punk admitted.
"How weird is that we had it better back then than we do now?" She asked him.
"You think so?" He asked.
"No one as coming for PJ." she reminded him.
"He's not getting this baby." Punk repeated.
"But he could. And us leaving isn't going to help our legal rights." She argued.
"As far as anyone is concerned there is no question of paternity." Punk said to her. "Without proof that you're carrying his child or possibly carrying his child he can't pursue us."
"What if he finds us?" AJ asked him.
"He's not a criminal mastermind." Punk scoffed. "He won't find us he'll probably get bored and forget all about you soon."
"He said he'd kill for his son." AJ told him.
"So would I." Punk said unafraid.
"Do you remember how you calmed me the first night away from home?" She asked batting her eyelashes.
"I do." he smiled.
"We had sex for the second time." she told him running her thumb over his bottom lip.
"Yea I mean what was the worst that could happen? Couldn't get you pregnant again." he teased. "It was a long eight weeks waiting to have you again."
"Even if I wasn't pregnant I would have run away with you." She told him. "And now more than ever do I regret these last five years apart."
"We weren't really apart." he pointed out.
"We should have done the therapy right after PJ died." AJ told him. "We wasted so much time."
"We'll make up for it." He shrugged. "What matters is where we are right now."
"Yes in a rundown motel on the run from some psycho who may or may not be the father of my baby." she had to laugh at the insanity of it. "But being right here with you makes it all ok."
"I don't want to talk about Billy anymore." Punk said to her. "Let's talk about how the baby is going to play hockey."
"Can't he do something a little safer? Like golf?" AJ asked and he laughed and kissed her neck. "Or even little league."
"He can do whatever he wants." Punk smirked kissing over her collarbone now.
"Do you think he'll look like PJ?" she asked him and he stopped kissing her.
"I'm sure a little bit. PJ looked just like you." Punk admitted. "I mean it was uncanny."
"He had your chin." She smirked.
"He had your eyes, cheeks, cry face." Punk pointed out.
"I don't have a cry face." She scoffed.
"Oh yes you do." He laughed. "I can always tell when you're keeping it in too. The same we both could always tell when PJ was about to explode." he laughed.
"Everyday since he died all we've remembered about him is the way he died and how he was gone and we forgot all the fun and cute stuff." AJ said thinking about it.
"Like when he peed on you his first day home." Punk laughed.
"Or when he threw up on your Hawks jersey." AJ said laughing as well.
"My favorite was when he spit up on my mom." Punk laughed. "I had never heard my dad laugh so hard in my life."
"Remember the first time he rolled over her onto his belly?" AJ asked him.
"Of course." Punk sighed thinking about it. "We did have a lot of great times with him. We weren't bad parents."
"We were just unlucky." She agreed. "I just wonder if PJ is mad us?"
"You keep asking me that." Punk said sadly. "If he was still here he would be thrilled to have a little brother and I think he'd want us to be happy, no?"
"Yea." AJ agreed. "You are happy right? Even though we're running."
"I'm very happy about the baby." Punk smiled. "I didn't think I would be but every day that your stomach grows and I feel him kicking I get more excited."
"Me too." AJ grinned and grabbed his hand put it over her stomach. "Speaking of kicking."
"Does it bother you?" Punk asked with a goofy smile feeling the kicking.
"No it's weird but PJ was just like this at the same time." AJ remembered. "Anthony here is a little rougher though."
"So no hockey or baseball, soccer it is." Punk teased.
AJ grabbed his face and pulled him into a kiss. There was no better way to clear her mind then being with her husband. His instinct was to crawl over her body but her stomach had gotten too big for that. He loved to dominate her the old fashioned way but it wasn't going to happen tonight.
AJ rolled over again so her back was to him and she felt him pull down the pair of sleeping boxers she was wearing to bed. Punk stroked himself a few times and moved a hand to her lips and played with her just enough to feel her grow wet. AJ gasped as he pierced her from behind and then she smiled ecstasy.
"Is this ok?" he asked as he moved in and out of her.
"Yes." she gasped as she grabbed a pillow and held onto it as he made love to her.
Punk kissed behind her ear as he continued his movements then moved his hands over her shirt and squeezed her breasts while he buried his head in her neck and breathed in the scent of her hair.
"They're getting bigger again." He noted.
"I know, enjoy them while you can." She teased.
"I plan on it." he rasped as he moved a little quicker now.
"Phil." She complained after a few more minutes and he knew what she wanted.
Punk's right hand moved away from her breasts and slipped lower and began to massage her nub for her.
"Oh." She kept moaning repeatedly. "That's it! I'm so close Phil!" she gasped as she felt the amazing sensation growing closer.
"I know honey." he said and moved his thumb rougher and rougher until he felt her body squeeze his.
Punk kept moving for a few more minutes until he climaxed. He hated how he could never last long inside of her. The minute he was done he kissed behind her ear until she rolled over again to face him. She gave him a thankful kiss and buried her face in his chest ready to sleep this day off.
Meanwhile in Chicago...
At 3am the basement door slowly opened and Billy stepped into the home he grew very familiar with. When he didn't see Punk's car in the driveway he knew he was off at work for the night and only had a couple of hours before he'd get home. He had a single flower in his hand as he jogged up the stairs and walked right into Punk and AJ's bedroom as if he owned the joint.
Billy frowned when he saw the bed was freshly made, the drawers were opened and clothes were missing. He saw the pictures she had around were also gone. He moved around and pulled out AJ's box where he knew she hid money and saw it was left open and empty. He looked over to AJ's pillow and there was a small post-it stuck to it and he pulled it off. The writing wasn't AJ's so he knew it belonged it to Punk.
"Fuck you." it read and Billy had to laugh.
"You can run but you can't hide." Billy said still laughing, clearly amused by the now cat and mouse game.