Stir Crazy
Punk knocked on April's hotel room door and was let inside by Adam Copeland, the first member of team that he picked personally, also his best friend since he put on the badge.
"What's the problem?" Punk asked him.
"I want to go back home." April told him.
"We discussed going back to New Jersey-" he began.
"-not Jersey." April said to him. "My apartment." she clarified. "I want my clothes and I have to get back to work or I'm going to lose my internship."
"I thought you wanted to go back to New Jersey in general, what do you care about your internship?" Punk asked her and she glared at him.
"You told me to sleep on it, well it's been three full days since you've last seen me and I've had plenty of time to digest what has happened and you were right. I have to persist and I can't persist from this hotel room." She told him. "I need to take a shower in my own shower and sleep on my own bed and have access to my own clothes so I can at least get back to work. They've been understanding but I don't want to push it. You're not even close to finding this guy yet and I can't sit in here for a year or I'll go stir crazy." She warned.
"She's been like this for two hours." Adam whispered to Punk.
"Why can't I just get fresh air?" April asked the two.
"I'll tell you what." Punk began. "I'll take you back to your apartment and you can pack up your clothes but you can't stay there and I'll even get you a new hotel room something bigger than just two twin beds and a table."
"What about work?" She asked.
"You can go back to work tomorrow." Punk told her and she let out a breath of relief. "But there will be a Marshall with you at all times. I know it's a tad claustrophobic but it's necessary."
"Fine." April said to him. "I don't need a better room either this is fine." She said looking around. "I just need a little space to breathe."
"You're right and that's why I'll get you something a tad bigger. We're going to be switching hotels with you often." Punk warned.
"How come I'm the witness to the crime but treated like a criminal?" April asked him in a calm voice.
"You're not." Punk said to her. "I know it feels that way now but you're not. We're keeping you safe."
"What's the point if I can't live?" She asked.
"It's been three days." Punk groaned. "Give yourself a little bit of time to adjust."
"I have. I feel adjusted." She said to him.
"You're not. You don't think clearly, obviously." Punk said and she narrowed her eyes at him. "You're indecisive and make snap decisions based on emotion."
"You've met me twice." April retorted defensively. "You don't know me. You don't know what I feel and I appreciate you not judging me."
"I'm not judging you Ms. Mendez, I'm just telling you how I see it." Punk said to her. "You think you're adjusted and you're over the trauma but you're not."
"Again, you don't know me." April remarked.
"I know you. This may shock you kid, but I've been doing witness protection since I became a Marshall fifteen years ago. You all say the same shit and that's right before you run off and get yourself killed." he said to her and her face dropped. She was back to being scared and stormed past him and locked herself in the bathroom.
"Dude." Adam said to him.
"I know." Punk said already mentally kicking himself.
"She's a witness and one who is actually being pretty cooperative. She needs a little space and wants to work." Adam whispered.
"I fucking know." Punk said annoyed with himself. "I'm tired and I'm fucking snapping. Three raids based off tips and Sawyer wasn't at one."
"Why don't you go home and sleep some of this stuff." Adam suggested.
"You've been here twenty hours already I'll take over." Punk told him.
"No it's fine. Cena offered to relieve me and then by the time he's done Beth will be rested enough to take a shift. April seems to get along best with those two anyway."
"Cena just likes flirting with her. He'd flirt with Beth if you weren't always around too." Punk said to him.
"He gets the job done." Adam shrugged.
"I'm going to at least go with you two to her place just in case." Punk told him. "Bring the car around and I'll talk to her."
"Alright." Adam said grabbing the keys and walking out.
"Ms. Mendez?" Punk asked knocking on the door and she opened it. "I apologize-"
"You don't have to." She said coldly. "No matter how big of a dick you are it doesn't mean I'm going to run away and let Ms. Paulson's killer get away with it." she said putting on her shoes. "But you can be a little more patient with me."
"You're right." Punk agreed.
"Not only am in a strange City with no friends and a job that doesn't even pay me but now I feel like I'm living with strangers. Nothing is familiar." April reminded him.
"I know and I'm sorry." Punk said to her quietly. "I'm a bit rundown, I shouldn't have snapped."
"You're right, you shouldn't have." She agreed the walked to the door and gestured for him to walk out first. "I'm not a punching bag. I'm scared and I'm trying to make the best of this situation. I'm sure I come across as annoying but you have to be a little nicer."
"I will be." Punk said before stepping out of the room.
That night April was in a new hotel room and she had to admit it was spoiling her a bit. US Marshall services covered the lavish room and room service she was living off of. Since she had been to Chicago all she had eaten was oatmeal and canned soup.
"Are you sure you're not hungry?" April asked Marshal Cena as she sat at the table and he sat across from her. She was stuffing her face with a huge burger and fries.
"No." Cena laughed a bit. "Enjoy it though."
"I have to admit Marshal Brooks is spoiling me a bit, I almost don't want to go back home." April said to her.
"You'll switch around every three days some days it will be big rooms like this other days it will be a tiny motel room." Cena warned.
"Don't ruin the moment." April said to him with a smile.
"Anyone ever tell you that you have a pretty smile?" Cena asked her grinning back.
"Don't make me blush while I'm pigging out in front of you." She said to him.
"I like making you blush." Cena remarked. "So, you're heading back to work tomorrow?"
"Yea." April said to him. "I have to get back to some normalcy."
"That is true." Cena agreed. "It's for the best. You can't let a criminal control your life."
"I mean he kind of already is." April noted. "Do you think you'll get him soon?"
"Brooks is busting his ass when he's not here watching you." Cena assured her. "We all are."
"That didn't answer my question." April pointed out.
"It did." Cena said with a light smile.
"What's his story?" April asked curiously.
"Brooks?" Cena asked and she nodded. "He's exactly how he seems. Broody, tough and passionate about his job. He's a Punk."
"A Punk?" April asked.
"That's actually his nickname." Cena told her with a laugh. "He's not very personable but don't take it personally. He's like this with everyone. He doesn't mix friendship and work."
"I'm not looking for a friend." April insisted. "I was just curious about him."
"What you see is what you get." Cena told her. "He's not winning any popularity contests or anything but he's one of the best damn Marshall's I have ever met in my entire life let alone career."
"It's good to know I have a good team watching my back." She said to him.
"The best team." he corrected.
The next day April was in and our of work after being sent home. Apparently having a Marshal escort didn't look too good but she was able to keep her internship but she'd have to work from home. She was now back to being locked in a stuffy hotel room.
"This is wrong." April said to herself as she worked at her laptop, sitting across from Punk who was on her own computer.
"I'm in the middle of-" Punk began.
"I can't even go to work." April said annoyed.
"You complain a lot for a person who is living in a lavish hotel room for free." Punk said to her.
"I was fine in my apartment." April said back to him. "I mean, what if this takes years?"
"It won't take years." Punk said to her. "We're onto him. We're following every lead and tip."
"Great." AJ remarked annoyed and looked back at her laptop. "It's just hard for me to work from home."
"I know this is a big inconvenience for you but imagine how big of an inconvenience it is for Ms. Paulson who is dead and you're the key to her getting justice."
"Don't make me feel bad." April warned him. "I'm doing everything I can do to assist. But I was really just in the wrong place at the wrong time."
"I think we need to discuss the whole 'comfortable silence' thing again." Punk said to her and she rolled her eyes and grabbed her laptop and walked over to her bed.
"Happy?" April asked.
"It's not where you are physically." Punk said to her. "I can still hear you from all the way over there."
"You really aren't personable." April mumbled looking at the computer.
"Who said I wasn't personable?" Punk asked.
"Every member of your team." April said to him honestly.
"I don't do this job to make friends. I do this job to put the bad guys away." Punk told her bluntly.
"How very cliché of you." April noted.
"Why else would I be a US Marshal?" Punk asked her.
"Maybe you flunked the cop test." April shrugged.
"Marshal outranks police officer." Punk informed her almost smugly.
"Whatever." She mumbled.
Punk went back to working on his laptop, finally earning a moment of silence but it didn't take April long to start talking up a storm again.
"It's just-" She began and Punk groaned. "I hate to sound like a broken record, but I feel like I'm the criminal here."
"If you were the criminal you'd be in lockup not being spoiled." Punk said keeping his eyes on his work.
"I really wish you'd stop saying I'm spoiled." She said annoyed. "I'm anything but."
"I'm not saying you are spoiled, I'm saying this office is spoiling you. You should be in a run down motel room eating your meals from the vending machine but we've taken pity on you."
"I don't need your pity." April said to him.
"You're right." Punk agreed letting out a sigh. "It's just you're very argumentative and I don't have the time for this."
"You're the only one who seems to think that." April said to him. "I'm obviously going to have questions and complaints and I'm sorry if my chatting is annoying but I have no one else to talk to." she noted. "You get to go home and be with your family I'm stuck here."
"You could call home." Punk suggested and she glared at him. "I can't help you with a social life you clearly lack." he said to her and now her eyes were narrowed at her. "I get you're a chatty person." he noted. "Trust me that's something I've learned about you very quickly but I am not a chatty person. You have to work and I have to work and I believe we could both get our work done here in this room if we just stopped talking."
"Fine." AJ said grabbing her cellphone. "I'll call home but I'll do it on the terrace so I won't bother you." She remarked sarcastically.
Punk was still at the desk but the glass to the terrace wasn't glass proof so he managed to STILL hear AJ talking and man, did she love to talk. He was growing more and more aggravated with her and he was already thinking of ways to switch his shifts to other team members.
"...I know you're sad." AJ said into the phone and Punk shook his head in annoyance. "I don't think I'll make it back this year for it. I have a lot going on...yea I know...no it's just work stuff I'm actually still at the office." She lied and that actually intrigued Punk. He had assumed she filled her mom in on what was happening since she was so dead set on going home.
Punk listened to her carefully for almost forty minutes as she lied about her apartment size, her job in general and even her social life. When she was done talking to her mom she didn't come back inside but sat on the terrace and looked over the City.
"Why did you lie?" Punk asked stepping onto the terrace.
"You were eavesdropping?" April asked disgusted.
"It's hard not to hear you." Punk remarked.
"My mom doesn't need to worry about me." April said simply as she kept her eyes on the City. "She's worked really hard my whole life, my dad too, to make sure I could accomplish my goals. They paid for every text book for school and exam and I don't come from money. They worked extra shifts at work to make sure I had everything I ever needed. It would be a slap in their faces if they heard I wanted to come home."
"I'm sure they'd understand if they knew what was really happening." Punk said to her.
"No. What would happen if they knew is that they'd be sick with worry to the point they'd drag me back home. They don't want to lose another child." April told him.
"That's right." Punk said quietly. "You had a brother."
"He wasn't murdered or anything but they've never gotten over it." April told him.
"They probably never will." Punk said to her. "You don't get over that kind of loss."
"Do you have kids?" April asked.
"No." Punk laughed a bit.
"So how would you know?" April asked.
"You don't have to have children to understand that's a loss you'll never recover from. I assume your brother was young since you seem pretty well adjusted." Punk noted.
"It was a car accident." April confided. "He was 20 and I was 16."
"16, so that was what? Two years ago?" Punk asked seriously and April glared at him.
"We were leaving a concert together. He was texting on his phone and went through a red light." She told him. "Didn't even have his seat belt on."
"You were ok?" Punk asked.
"I lost my brother, I have never been ok." She said to him. "But physically yes. I had some cuts and bruises and spent the night in the hospital but I was fine. My parents told us we couldn't go to the concert because it was over an hour away but we snuck out."
"I lost my brother too." Punk told her. "I was a lot younger than you are I barely remember him."
"What happened?" April asked.
"Wrong place and wrong time. He was 13 and he got shot in a drive by." Punk told her. "I was four at the time. I was with him too."
"Someone just shot him for no reason?" April asked horrified.
"We didn't live in the best neighborhood." Punk reasoned. "There was a lot of gang activity back then."
"So that's why you became a Marshal." April said to him.
"I don't want innocent people getting hurt or worse, killed." Punk said to her. "Which is why I take protecting you very seriously."
"I get it." April said quietly.
"If you just give me a little bit of time and some of that patience you're always demanding of others I promise this will be all over with soon and you can go back to your job and apartment or back home to Jersey." He told her. "We both want the same thing here, so just give me the time I need to work."
"I talk when I'm nervous." She sighed. "I'm sorry."
"It's ok." Punk said to her. "We just work differently which is fine. We can make it work."
"I'm done working for tonight anyway. I think I'm going to sit out here for a bit anyway." She told him. "I just need the fresh air."
"Alright." Punk said to her then walked back inside.
AJ woke up the next morning She peered over and saw Punk still working on is laptop and looked over to him as she grabbed a small bottle of water.
"Don't you sleep?" She asked.
"No one working a security detail should be sleeping." Punk told her. "Does someone sleep while they're here?" he asked annoyed.
"No." She said quickly shaking her head.
"The point of a security detail is to watch you. Not fucking sleep." Punk reminded her.
"You're a grumpy guy." April remarked with a slight roll of her eyes. "People have to sleep."
"I'm not a grump, I'm professional." Punk said to her.
"Whatever." She said walking back over to her bed but stopped at the door when she heard a soft knock and quickly opened it.
"You're not supposed to open the door." Punk said to her as he groaned in annoyance.
"You switch shifts the same time every morning. It's not a secret." April said to him as John walked in.
"I bought you some donuts." John said passing April a bag and then coffee. "And coffee just the way you like it."
"Thanks." April grinned walking back over to her bed.
"Going home?" John asked taking his jacket off.
"The office." Punk said to him. "I have a lead."
"Keep me posted." Cena said to him.
"I will." Punk said and briefly looked over to AJ. "She's really starting to go stir crazy." He warned.
"I'll keep an eye on her." John assured him.
"Yea I know you will." Punk remarked sarcastically. "Just don't keep such a close eye on her, your wife might get pissed."
"You always think I'm making a move on everyone." John remarked.
"You are. She isn't your friend or a potential one night stand, she's work." Punk reminded him. "Keep your eyes on the door and not on her ass."
"Whatever, man." Cena said to him. "Maybe you should just get some sleep."
"I'll sleep when we get Sawyer" Punk told him then walked out of the hotel room.
"What are the chances you bust me out today for a walk?" April asked as soon as Punk left.
"Slim to none." Cena smirked.
"I need to get out on the street and stretch my legs." April insisted. "You'll be protecting me, right?"
"It's just not a good idea. If you get spotted on the street then that gives up your location." Cena told her.
"But you guys were going to let me go into work." April pointed out. "And you know they'd be looking for me there. The street is probably the safest."
"Fine." Cena said to her. "But you have to do everything I say." he ordered and she nodded anxiously.
"I will I swear." April promised eagerly.