House of Dreams

April was thrilled to get out of the loft for the night. Punk said a short dinner but she had new hair and a dress she had bought her first week in Chicago and never had a chance to wear. Sure she was over dressing but she didn't really care. As far as she knew she could be dead at any moment and she wanted to wear her turtleneck/sleeveless dress that fitted her like a glove. She put a light gloss over her lips and a pair of flats on and she was ready.

Punk tried not to stare at her as she came down the stairs but it as distracting. He had only ever seen her in pajamas and jeans and glasses. Even at work she dressed down and he thought she was gorgeous but seeing her all dolled up put her on her own level completely. He turned his head and looked at his phone and played it off.

"I think you're over dressed." Punk noted not daring to look up from his phone.

"I do too but I don't care." April said happily. "I wanted to wear a dress and if some pub is the only place I can wear it, so be it." She shrugged. "Do I look awful and saying I'm over dressed really mean to put a bag over my head?"

"No." He said putting his phone in his pocket. "Saying your over dressed meant you're over dressed and going to draw a lot of attention to yourself when we're trying to lay low." He said and she frowned sadly and looked down at herself.

"You're right." April agreed. "I mean not that I think anyone is going to look at me but I suppose an evening dress in some dumpy bar is going to give people a reason to look. Give me ten more minutes to change."

"No." Punk said gently grabbing her wrist. "Wear what you want to wear. Though over dressed, you look beautiful and you should wear what makes you
happy and comfortable."

"Are you sure?" She asked quietly tucking her hair behind her ear.

"Yes I am." he said to her. "I want you to have fun."

"Are you going to have fun?" She asked teasingly passing him and walking over to her purse.

Punk couldn't pry his eyes off of her ass as she bent over slightly and he knew he was in trouble. He needed to get away from her for a bit even though it was impossible. He was sure it was genuine attraction to her but more of she was the only female he had been around for weeks now. He just needed a night or so away, he just wasn't sure how he was going to work that out but if he didn't he was afraid he was going to cross a line with her and not only fuck up this case but the friendship they had been slowly building.

"Ok." April announced turning to look at him. "All ready."

"Let's go." Punk said opening the door for her.

At the bar April was sitting at the bar chatting Beth while Punk sat with Adam.

"She seems happier now that she's out." Adam said to Punk who nodded and kept his eyes on her. "She get her hair done?"

"You can tell?" Punk asked briefly looking at him.

"Of course." Adam laughed sipping a beer. "You haven't taken your eyes off of her all night."

"That's my job." Punk reminded him.

"I've seen you guard people before." Adam laughed. "You don't stare at their asses. What's going on with you two? Off the record."

"Off the record?" Punk asked with a laugh. "Nothing is going on."

"Seriously?" Adam asked.

"Yea. I take my job seriously." Punk said to him. "But staying off the record I need to get away from her for a few days I just don't know how I'm going to do it."

"Beth and I will stay with her at your place." Adam told him. "Just tell me why." He grinned sipping his beer.

"She smells." Punk said to him and Adam eyed him.

"What do you mean?" Adam asked laughing. "Like crap or?"

"No she smells amazing." Punk said to him. "She's the only woman I've been around for weeks and I need to get my head back in the game."

"You're attracted to her." Adam shrugged. "It's normal. Most people would be attracted to her."

"Yea?" Punk asked and Adam nodded.

"You're a Marshal and you want to do your job but you're also a man." Adam reminded him quietly. "Beth thinks she's hot too and she's my girlfriend."

"It's just not like me and I think it's because I've been around her for so long." Punk confided.

"Remember two years ago? You guarded that Janice LaRue for months. Were you attracted to her?" Adam asked.

"No." Punk scoffed sipping his soda. "She was a pain in the ass." he said then looked at April. "She's a pain in the ass too." he said nodding at her. "But she has a cute ass."

"Maybe you're attracted to April because you're genuinely attracted to her." Adam suggested with a laugh.

"I don't think that. I mean she's..." He trailed off looking at her.

"She's hot, funny, smart and tough. Who would be attracted to that?" Adam mocked.

"I'm not Cena." Punk said to him.

"Because you're attracted to one woman? Cena would fuck a couch if it had a pulse." Adam laughed. "Speaking of that...did you bump him from the team because of his behavior or that he was hitting on April?"

"You really have to ask me that?" Punk asked annoyed. "He got bumped because I don't trust him. April isn't my property she's allowed to date or sleep with anyone she wants."

"Even Cena?" Adam teased.

"I mean, she can try to if she wants but he's not allowed in my home and that's where she lives." Punk shrugged. "She's too smart for him though. She knows something is off with him anyway."

"Yea he's been out of it the last few months." Adam agreed.

"Once we settle this Sawyer thing we're going to dig into him." Punk told Adam. "I want to know what the fuck he's up to."

"We'll figure it out." Adam said to him.

"I have to get her back soon." Punk said looking at his watch.

"She's having fun and it's probably safer here than your place." Adam said to him. "Let her live."

"That's exactly why we have to call this an early night. I want her to continue living." Punk said to him. "What about after the case?" Adam asked him.

"What do you mean?" Punk asked biting taking a bite out of his fries now.

"I mean she won't be a 'witness' anymore so does that mean you're free to, oh I don't know, date her or at least sleep with her?" Adam asked.

"We have a professional relationship." Punk reminded him. "I don't see her that way."

"Yea you do, you just said it!" Adam laughed. "I think she would be good for you. You seem more like a person."

"I've always been a person." Punk scoffed.

"No you haven't. You used to be when we were in training and just starting out then once you got your own team and promoted it became about work constantly. You're allowed to live your life too." Adam reminded him.

"All I want is to get James Sawyer and get my bed back." Punk told him.

"...then he told me I smelled." April told Beth who let out a loud laugh.

"I've know Punk for almost twenty years. I've never heard him tell any woman they smell." Beth said amused.

"I think I'm driving him crazy." April sighed. "He said he's going stir crazy. I feel bad. I've taken over not only his loft but his job and his free time."

"I'm sure he's fine." Beth remarked with a roll of her eyes.

"Did you not hear the part where he told me I smelled?" She asked him.

"I don't know what his problem is." Beth said to her seriously. "He's a guy, they don't know how to behave around members of the opposite sex."

"I just don't know how to give him space since he doesn't let me out of his sight." April shrugged. "I don't want to annoy him so much that he never wants to talk to me again after this case."

"You're working at our office. You won't get fired after the case. But I do find it interesting you want to still spend time with him after. The only other person who can tolerate Punk is Adam and that's because they practically grew up together." Beth told her.

"He's a friend." April shrugged. "I don't have a lot of friends."

"Really? Even in high school?" Beth asked.

"My high school was like two hours away since I lived in such a small town there was no schooling district. By the time I got to school and then got home I was too tired to socialize." April shrugged.

"What about college?" Beth asked.

"I had a few boyfriends but no real friends." April admitted.

"You've got three new ones here, four if you count Cena." Beth told her.

"I don't." April said scrunching up her face. "He creeps me out."

"Punk is rough around the edges but he's a good guy. If I ever needed anything he'd be the one I'd call." Beth told her. "He'd die for any one of us."

"He's loyal." April had to agree. "He's been very good to me when he hasn't had to be. I wish I could repay him back somehow."

"He doesn't do his job for that. But I will admit he's gone above and beyond for you. Normally if a witness flees he tries to bring them back but he never puts them up in his place." Beth told her. "You must be special."

"I think I'm a special pain in the ass." April laughed. "He's looked like he wanted to leave since we got here so I guess I should tell him we can go. All I wanted was an excuse to wear my dress." She smirked climbing off the bar stool.

"I love that dress." Beth said to her.

"Thanks." She said and Beth noticed Punk looking at her.

"I'm not the only one." Beth mumbled as she sipped her beer now.

"Huh?" April asked.

"Nothing." Beth said as Punk walked over.

"You're ready?" Punk asked and April nodded happily.

"Night." April smiled and waved at Beth and Adam.

"I'll see you tomorrow." Punk said to them then followed April out.

Punk and April were driving down a dark road. Punk refused to drive straight home. He was so paranoid and had warned they would be driving around for a bit. She had no idea where they were.

"How far do we have to drive?" April asked him.

"I wanted to show you something." Punk said as he turned down a block. It was huge with big houses and seemed familiar to how she grew up. He stopped in front of a beautiful white house with a red door.

"What is this? Who lives here?" April asked him.

"I do." Punk told her. "Well, not technically." he smirked. "But I own it. It's my retirement plan."

"No way!" She grinned pressing her face to the window.

"Nobody knows about this place." He told her. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone."

"I would never." She assured him. "Can I see inside?"

"Maybe next time." Punk said to her. "I don't want anyone to know about this place."

"Is it a safe house?" She asked.

"No. Like I said this is my plan." Punk told her. "Right outside the City."

"I like the big red door." April said to him. "Why didn't you tell me you had a house? You always talk about living outside of the City and having a family."

"I don't." He said honestly. "I don't even know why I'm showing you now but we had to kill some time."

"It's beautiful." April said to him. "Your family is going be very lucky."

"I don't have a family at the moment." Punk reminded her as he began to pull away from the house.

"You will." April said to him. "I can see you being a hockey dad and driving a minivan."

"Never." Punk laughed.

"I think you will." April laughed. "You'll have a perfect dog too. A perfect dog, wife and three children." she teased. "Two boys and one girl."

"Wow. You know my whole life." Punk mocked. "What's in your future?"

"I don't know." She said thinking about it.

"You know my whole future but not yours?" Punk teased.

"I always thought I'd meet a guy in my town and get married and run my parents diner." April said to him. "But I ended up moving here and my parents sold the diner." She said thinking harder about it.

"You have to have some hope for the future." Punk noted.

"I want to write, ideally have my own paper or online site. Something that people trust." She told him. "And the I want to adopt at least 10 dogs." She told him. "And if some poor man can tolerate me for long enough time, then he can help me take care of the dogs and kids." she said and he laughed.

"I have a feeling you won't have a problem accomplishing any of those goals." Punk said to her.

"Thank you for showing me the house." April said to him. "It makes me feel m ore like we're friends." She said and he began to talk. "And I'm not saying we are, but it's nice to not feel like a witness in hiding all of the time."

"That was the point of this entire night." Punk said to her. "Look, I know this isn't easy for you and I keep telling you I understand but only you know how you feel and I hope I never have to go through what you are because I don't know if I'd handle it as well as you are. You're remarkable."

"I hope you never have to either." April agreed. "But if god forbid it does ever happen I hope you have someone like yourself to coddle and protect you like you have for me."

"It's not a job to me." Punk admitted out loud for the first time. "It's been-"

Punk never finished his sentence. A car that they didn't see and clearly had no lights on rammed into Punk's SVU on the dark and empty road. The SUV rolled into the woods. It was more than a ditch, it had to be at least a ten to fifteen foot drop into nowhere. April didn't think they would stop flipping and she was sure they were both going to die. The SUV skidded a bit once they hit the bottom and April was too scared to scream and held onto anything she could grab.

Finally when it stopped moving she was relieved she was alive and awake. She touched the top of her head and felt some blood and her shoulder hurt from where the seat belt was but other than that she could feel her arms and legs and knew she could move and realized she had to move fast before who ever hit them ventured down and found them.

"Phil." April said trying to get her seat belt off and that's when she realized they were upside down. "Come on." She cried quietly to open the belt. "Phil!" She hissed quietly so she wouldn't draw attention to them.

April looked over and she was horrified. Punk wasn't moving, he wasn't awake and he was bleeding from his head bad.

"Phil." She choked out as she pried her seat belt off finally.

She reached over and checked his neck and felt a pulse. She was going to take his seat belt off but she first shut the car off so no one would see the lights or hear the SUV.

"Phil, wake up." April sobbed quietly trying to get his seat belt off. "We have to go! They're going to kill us!" She said shaking the belt. "Fuck!" She yelled when she still couldn't get it. "Think, think, think." She whispered to herself then remembered Punk kept a knife in the divider and got it

April carefully cut Punk free of his restraints and caught his head before he hit as he fell out of the seat. April saw he was bleeding on his side too and realized he was hurt real bad. So bad that she wasn't sure he'd be able to save her this time.

"I'm sorry I made you take me out." April cried trying to pull him out of the SUV. "But you have to wake up or they're going to kill us for real. And I know if you were awake right now you'd tell me to run but I can't just leave you so if you die then I guess I'm going to die too." She said as she struggled.

April grew more frustrated with every tug of his body because Punk was much heavier than her. Not only was he so heavy but they were in such a small space that it was going to be impossible to do this without his help.

"Please wake up." She begged kissing his forehead. She was talking quietly but still crying. "Please Phi, please don't die tonight." she begged.

April thought she heard something and her heart began to race. It was truly do or die. She was either going to get Phil out of this car or she was going to get him killed. She readjusted her position and pulled his arms back and began to pull him out of the car with her bad soldier and all.

"I did it." April cheered quietly to herself then realized she wasn't sure what else to do. "I got you out of the car but I won't be able to get you too much further." She said to Phil as if he was awake.

April used the same method to pull Punk further into the woods but she couldn't go far. His weight and her bad shoulder couldn't do it for too long. She hid them behind a few trees and hoped someone from the team would come looking for them.

"Phil." April whispered as she rested his head on her lap. "Phil I'm freaking out here and I don't know what else to do." she cried. "Tell me what to do." she looked back to make sure she didn't see anyone then it hit her. She reached into Punk's front right pocket for his cell phone but she pulled it out it had no service. She wasn't sure where her phone ended up after the crash but if he didn't have service, than she didn't either.

April heard voices approaching and froze. She had nothing else to do but to pray because if they found her a few feet away they were both going to die. She accepted her death but she didn't want Punk to die for protecting her. He just showed her that beautiful house and had such amazing plans for his future and she didn't have any plans. He deserved to live because he was a hero, her hero.

"...maybe if we had fucking flash lights!" she heard one man yell.

"They're in the car." the other one said.

"There is no way they survived this crash." one of them said in disbelief.

"Clearly they did! Sawyer is going to be pissed. This bitch has more lives than a cat." one said.

April felt Punk begin to stir in her lap and she quickly clasped her hand over his mouth so he wouldn't make a noise and his eyes shot open when she did that she pressed her fingers to his lips and with pleading eyes asked him not to say anything.

"Let's get the fucking flash lights than." she heard one say then heard leaves rustling and knew they were leaving.

"Are you ok?" April asked in a whisper.

"My head is pound." He groaned trying to sit up a bit.

"I would suggest not moving but they're going to be back real soon." April warned him standing up first. "I dragged you from the car but my shoulder really hurts and I don't know how far I'll get you." She cried trying to help him up and once he stood up he felt right back down.

"I'm just dizzy." Punk assured her.

"Then crawl." April demanded kneeling down next to him. "They're going to find us."

"We have to split up." Punk told her and she rolled her eyes.

"No, Phil." She said pulling him back up to his feet.

"You're freakishly strong." Punk muttered and she grabbed his arm and placed it around her her shoulders to help keep him standing. "I have a concussion. It's nothing bad. I just need a few minutes."

"We don't have a few minutes." She whispered as she practically dragged him from the crash site.

"We're going further into the woods." Punk said realizing it.

"We have to! They're all parked up there. They'll see us. We have to go deeper." She said

"I have a gun strapped to my ankle." Punk told her. "Take it off my ankle and unlock it."

"I can't carry the gun and you." April said as she struggled to keep him up.

"Then leave me here. I'll be fine. It's not me they want to kill." Punk hissed.

"No!" she quietly but strongly stated. "I'm not leaving you here. If we both can't leave then we both stay."

"I'm telling you to do something." He hissed in her ear. "Being disobedient is cute and all when we're at the apartment or the office but not right now. I tell you to fucking run and you run and you don't look back." he said as he stopped moving. "Go. But take the gun first."

"No!" She yelled now and he hushed her.

"Are you trying to get us killed?" he asked annoyed.

"No! I'm the only one trying to save us both!" She remarked.

"I hear you." A voice teasingly sang and April froze.

Punk knew that voice too. That wasn't just a right hand man, that was Jeremy Sawyer himself.

April grabbing Punk by his arm and pulled him behind another tree.

"Princess? That's what I call you." He said loudly. "I've been dying to get my hands on you princess. You're a little young for me but I've been dreaming about you. I get hard every time I think of your scared face when you walked in on me and your neighbor! I'm going to play with your outsides before I play with your insides!" He yelled and she could hear his feet in the leaves.

April was absolutely shaking. Punk quickly stepped in front of her and she was sandwiched in-between him and the tree. He leaned over the best he could to reach for his gun that was strapped to his ankle but out of nowhere he was tackled the ground and April screamed.

"Hey!" April yelled and Jeremy looked up from his assault on Punk and smiled at her. "It's me you want, right? Catch me if you can." She challenged and took off running deeper into the woods.

"I like her." Jeremy said to Punk before getting off of him and chasing off after her.

Punk unstrapped his gun finally without standing up since he was in so much pain but both Jeremy and April were gone.

"Fuck." Punk nearly cried. "Fuck!" he yelled louder now slamming his fist into the ground in anger.

A/N: Thanks for the reviews! Enjoy the cliffhanger

P.S- how badass is AJ?