After a long, sunny day at the beach, because of the heat taking the energy out of the boys, they had taken a nap straight away when they got home. Punk had took the opportunity to go take a shower while AJ was downstairs talking with her sister and catching up. She'd just broke the news to her about their horrific few days of being abducted.
"That's terrible." Erica gasped, leaning over the kitchen counter as AJ sat on the stool, "I hope you took action against the guy." Erica said.
"We didn't." AJ said, regretting that they had never got the police involved. They had every right to, "Phil made a deal with him that if he left us to go back to our normal life, pretend it never happened, he wouldn't take action." AJ said.
"That's ridiculous, April. You should have went straight to the police, especially when Thomas and Tate were involved. Anything could have happened to them." Erica said as AJ nodded.
"I know that." AJ nodded, "Phil is pretty convinced that he is being serious about leaving us alone. I trust Phil on what he thinks. I don't think he'll bother us again." AJ wrongly smiled as Erica nodded.
"Well good. Or else I'll be having a word with him." Erica said as AJ chuckled.
"So what have you been up to over here? It's really beautiful." AJ said, wrapping her hand around the cold glass of orange juice and taking a drink.
"Oh, you know… little bit of this, little bit of that. I have a bar in the city, it's a great little place, keeps me on my feet. I just love the weather here." Erica smiled with pride, as if proud of her home and now home country.
"The weather is beautiful. I don't think the boys like it though… or Phil for that matter. They're like vampires." AJ laughed. Obviously having a Puerto Rican background, her skin was made for the sun, whilst her husband and sons weren't as tanned and fond of the warmth.
"It was hard to get used to. But I love it now. Moving out here was the best thing I'd ever done." Erica smiled, "I have an offer for you, decline me if you like…" Erica said, "I don't mind staying in with the boys tonight, to give you and Phil a night to yourselves. I rented some movies that I thought the kids might like and bought some ice cream at the store." Erica smiled. She never really got to be a proper auntie to her nephews, so she really was trying her best to make up for lost times.
"I would love that." AJ smiled with happiness, intrigued to a night out by herself, just with her husband, no kids clinging to her and asking for something or moaning to her about how tired they are. Just a nice, peaceful night with her husband. It sounded delightful.
"Well it's sorted then. I'll watch them for as long as you want. You go have a nice night." Erica told her little sister with a smile.
Later on…
Punk was so excited to hear that Erica was offering to watch the boys for a night, allowing him and AJ have their own time to themselves, enjoying the inner city together like a lonesome couple who had just started their journey of travels together.
The city played mellow music throughout the full strip, no matter what end of the streets and squares you stood, music was heard. The breeze that came from the beach front was just enough to blow AJ's hair behind her, revealing all her beauty to those who walked by, her hand however clutched to Punks as she walked alongside him after having dinner at a restaurant, craving so much of the good food that was being made in the restaurants.
"Tate and Thomas loved the beach today." AJ stated the obvious as she walked along the busy pavement with Punk, his hand tangled with hers as he kept her protectively beside him. His cargo army shorts hanging around his waist with an old Ramones t-shirt covering his sun burnt chest, and of course his lucky cubs hat that she would love to set on fire at some point in their life.
"I know. They were completely exhausted when we got back." Punk said, "I'm thinking tomorrow we just let them splash about the pool, leave the zoo until the next day." Punk said, having spoke about going to the zoo with the boys tomorrow at the beach today, thinking maybe it'd be a good idea to have a little rest day in between.
"Yeah, that's a good idea." AJ agreed, walking through into some sort of gardens with adorable little benches around for people to sit on, "My feet are swelling up, can we take a seat." She asked, her pregnancy inconveniences being one of which her feet swelled in size if she walked too long on them.
"Yeah." Punk nodded, taking a seat at the empty bench with AJ sitting down beside her, "You look beautiful." Punk leaned down to kiss her head, wrapping his arm around her shoulder as she leaned against him comfortably. Even in a pair of jeans, a tank top with a small grey cardigan wrapped around her, she was perfect. She had that pregnancy glow about her that he just loved.
"I'm glad you think so." AJ smiled, "I just feel fat." She groaned, feeling bloated and a tad uncomfortable, not knowing if it was because of the baby or because of the amount of food she had just consumed, maybe both.
"You aren't fat." Punk rolled his eyes, "You're pregnant." He reminded her.
"I suppose this will be the last time I'm pregnant. Huh?" She looked up at him.
"You suppose? It better be." Punk said, putting his foot down to any more than three kids, that was just insane, even for them.
"If it's a boy, we're going to keep trying and keep trying until I have my baby girl. I don't care if we have ten sons." AJ laughed, obviously completely joking.
"Ten sons and a missing husband." Punk said, feeling AJ slap his hand. He was just kidding, he would never leave her, even if they did have ten sons.
It was nice to just sit and have some peace and quiet to themselves, no Tate or Thomas yelling or fighting with one another, or asking them for something every two seconds. It was nice to just relax, for once.
"Do you really think he'll leave us alone?" AJ asked in almost a whisper, as if scared incase Tim was listening.
"I do. I wouldn't lie to you if I didn't think so. I really believed him." Punk said, "Otherwise I would have called the cops." Punk said, "He's just a confused crack head, he's probably forgotten what he even done. I don't want you getting worried over it." He said.
"I'm not… I just… I can't stop thinking about what Jenny was saying to me, about the baby, about how she wanted it and how it was easy for me to just give her it when it's born. I swear, Phil. The girl was serious." AJ said with fear.
"Oh, she was just trying to get in your head. She's just as high as he is. She won't touch our baby even if she tried." Punk assured his wife, "Things will get better." He promised her, knowing that the past few days had been tough. This little get away was definitely helping them reconnect and find each other again.
With Erica…
"Ok, what flavour do you guys want?" Erica asked her nephews who were just about an hour out of their daytime nap, both in their pyjamas and ready for ice cream and a movie of their choice. They were saddened that their mother or father weren't around to which one or the other always was, but they did love their auntie Erica, and they did love ice cream.
"Chocolate." Tate piped with enthusiasm, extremely excited for the ice cream that Erica was pulling from the freezer.
"Ok, one chocolate… what about you, Thomas?" Erica smiled down to her youngest nephew who was very much the shy one out of them both, loud in his own right of course, but shy around those he wasn't too familiar with, hiding behind his brother for protection. He was the cutest little thing. They both were. And extremely charming.
"Vanilla." Thomas smiled quietly, always taking life the way he took his ice cream, simple.
"Do you both want sprinkles and sauce?" Erica asked as she dished out the scoops of ice cream into bowls for them while they stood and watched, their little heads nodding up and down as she reached in the cupboard for the sprinkles and sauce.
She couldn't believe she was nearly capable of taking these little boys father from them. She seen how much they adored him and needed him very much, she was glad she had made the right decision a few years back. She loved to see her sister happy with the small family she had.
"Ok, don't tell your mom or dad…" Erica crouched down, "But I'm going to let you put your own sprinkles and sauce on. I want you to go crazy with it. Sprinkle your little hearts out, ok?" Erica smiled as they got excited, no doubt setting themselves up to be hyper with the full tub of sprinkles.
Erica helped them kneel up on a stool to reach the counter, both of them busying themselves with decorating their ice cream, smiling as she cleaned the kitchen counter with a cloth, enjoying their lit up faces. They deserved this week of fun after everything that had went on in the past few days which to Erica would describe as completely horrifying. They were only small, as much as AJ didn't see it, they were still just little kids, three and four, who got frightened and didn't like change. A little too much ice cream and cuddles never hurt nobody.
Later on…
Punk and AJ arrived back at the house not that late, but late enough for the kids to expected to be asleep, which they were, only in the living room with ice cream still all over their faces.
"Erica… how much ice cream did you give them?" AJ said in a hushed voice, picking Thomas up into her arms, Punk picking Tate up as if he was a feather.
"Enough. They went a little crazy on the sprinkles and sauce though." Erica shrugged, standing up and clearing the bowls, "They were really well behaved. I'd look after them every night." Erica smiled as she walked away into the kitchen to do the small amount of dishes.
"Can we hire her?" Punk asked with a serious feature, watching AJ chuckle and slap his arm playfully.
"I've missed them." AJ said, cupping the back of Thomas's head, holding him tightly as she began to head upstairs to put them into bed, Punk trailing behind with Tate completely out cold.
Before putting them to bed and leaving them, AJ gave their sticky and ice cream faces a wipe with some baby wipes she had brought with her, useful for times like these when it wasn't necessary to take a full bath. None of them even budged while she cleaned around their mouths and sticky little hands, throwing the used wipes in the trash and eventually getting to tuck her sons into the huge double bed they were sharing. They both looked so tiny in it.
"I love them so much." AJ said, cupping Thomas's cheek as she sat at the edge of the bed looking up at Punk who was switching the dim lamp on at the nightstand beside Tate. The boys didn't sleep with a nightlight on in their own house, but because they were away in an unknown house, they decided to keep it on incase they woke up in a fright or needed the toilet during the night.
"I know you do." Punk smiled, really… he did know how much AJ loved the boys, he loved them the same way she did. They were all he could have ever dreamed of when thinking of having his own kids. They were cute, funny, dramatic, charming, cheeky, mischievous and totally, one hundred percent, his sons, and that was what made him proud. He would always love them, always.
"I'm so glad we're having another one." AJ smiled, brushing her hand through Thomas's soft hair, the shade as Punks and Tates for that matter.
"Me too." Punk folded his arms with a genuine smiled filled with happiness. He wasn't just agreeing with AJ because he had to, he really was now completely won over by the idea of having another child. It scared him at first, he envisioned things being too crazy for them to handle, so much responsibility over three precious gifts of life, but the smile on AJ's face whenever she talked about the baby, or the thought of just holding another precious little life in his arms again, it really was exciting him.
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