Live and Let Die
April was in her bedroom the next morning talking to Karen on the phone. She was having anxiety spending her first night away from the babies but they were happy and Karen was going to bring them to the daycare. She also knew Punk was going to go and check on them in a bit.
"They ok?" Punk asked stepping out of the shower with just a towel wrapped around his waist.
"Yea. You are going to see them, right?" She asked hopefully.
"Yea. I need him to see me leave for work." Punk told her. "They ID'd the guy in the picture."
"Who is he?" She asked.
"A contract killer out of New Mexico." Punk told her and her face fell. "It's alright. We know how he operates."
"What does that mean?" She asked.
"It means he has a system. He strikes at night, when he's in over his head he calls in two guys." Punk told her. "James probably hired him to take me and Dean out and grab Mya."
"Has he been here?" April asked.
"Corey spotted the car late last night and it's outside now. Probably waiting for me to go to work." Punk told her. "There's two guys with him now."
"Oh god." She groaned.
"If you want to go to the Marshal's office and stay there with the babies, I endorse that." He told her seriously and she shook her head.
"No. The whole point are the kids, they'll know I wouldn't be away from them and they'll know they're not here." She told him. "What do we do?"
"Well, we're all going to the office for a bit, you're going to hang out with the twins." he told her. "You, me, Dean and fake doll babies so he thinks I'm at work and you and Dean went out with the kids. We'll come back together. John and Corey are already here and I've got under covers heading into the house across the street and next door."
"Ok." She said nodding. "I can do this. I mean I just have to act normal, right?"
"Yea." He smirked. "I'm not going to let you get hurt."
"What about you? Can you promise you won't get hurt? We're about to let contract killers into our home." She pointed out nervously.
"We're ready." he promised her. "But again, you do everything I say. You're going to hide."
"Hide?" She groaned.
"Yes, Ape." He told her. "When we get back here you're going into the basement. It locks from the inside." He told her. "You keep it locked it and you don't open the door for anyone but me."
"Why not Corey or John or Dean?" She asked.
"Only me." He repeated.
Punk trusted Dean very much as he did Corey, John not so much. But when it came to April's life he trusted only himself. He didn't want one of them to get nervous if they got overpowered and had a gun to their head and lead these killers to his wife.
"Tell me you understand that." He requested.
"I'll only open the door for you." She promised and he kissed her.
"Good. I really wish you'd just stay at the office though." He said to her. "I can throw a wig on a Marshal."
"No." She said shaking her head. "They're professionals they'll know. I can lock myself in a basement."
"And do you remember how to use a gun?" He asked her.
"Yea." She whispered and he nodded.
"Good." he said. "Let's get dressed."
"You're giving me a gun?" She asked.
"Just to hold onto." He told her. "It will be fine."
Inside his office, April was kissing and hugging their children. She was feeding J.R while his mother fed Mya. He had never seen April happier than when she was around the babies. Even on the hardest days she was still so grateful for her children. He was grateful for her.
"Marshal that's in your neighbors house said Diaz and two guys scoped out the house." Dean told him.
"Armed?" Punk asked and Dean nodded.
"Just standard glocks." He told Punk who nodded then peered back into the office.
"You think we can do this without her?" Punk asked Dean as he kept his eyes on his wife.
"Yea." Dean told him. "I mean we don't even need an undercover. We'll pull right into the garage and they'll assume she's in my car. She doesn't want to do it?"
"No, she does but I don't. I've changed my mind." Punk told him and Dean eyed him.
"If she wants-" Dean began.
"I don't need her in the middle of a battle." Punk told him. "She's my wife. She's not a Marshal. She belongs here with our children."
"Alright." Dean told him. "I don't think she'll like it."
"That's why I'm not telling her." Punk said to him. "We're just going to go."
"Is that the right thing to do?" Dean asked warily.
"I think she'll be secretly relieved. This is where she wants to be and it's where she should be." Punk stated firmly. "We'll take car of this."
"Sounds like a plan." Dean agreed. "We still have a few hours."
"Yea, let's go over things then I'll spend some time with them." Punk said to him.
A few hours later Punk wandered into his office and saw April holding Mya who couldn't sleep and J.R was in her other arm sleeping.
"It's like she knows." April frowned.
"Knows what?" Punk grinned taking his precious daughter from April and kissing her cheek. His beard scratched her face and she smiled. "Hi Pea."
"Knows that there's a madman trying to take her away from us." April said cuddling J.R.
"He's not going to." Punk said surely as he smiled at his daughter and made a funny face at her so she would laugh again..
"It's just so bizarre how one man is going to such great lengths to take our daughter from us. OUR daughter." She emphasized.
"There are sick people in this world. He picked a fight with the wrong people." He told her. "He's tried for years to get you and look how well that worked out. I don't know why he thought he'd get Mya." he said kissing Mya's cheek.
"Are you alright?" April asked sensing he was off.
"Yea. I feel good. I feel confident and I feel like this is the beginning of the end." He told her and she gave him a hopeful smile. "No more Marshal guards, no more WITSEC talk, no more being afraid." he told her.
"Who would have thought that over two years ago when we first met we'd be here." She smiled.
"I didn't." Punk smirked. "I thought you'd drive me crazy. And you did."
"You liked it." April smirked.
"I did. You kept me very busy and on my toes. I had never met a woman like you and I don't think I ever will." he said to her. "You're extraordinary."
"You used to think I was a pain in the ass." She teased.
"Oh, I still think that." He said seriously and she laughed. "But that doesn't take away from how great you've been. And not just as a wife and mother but as person. You've had your life turned upside for no reason other than being in the wrong place at the wrong time and you managed to stick through the craziness."
"Maybe it was fate I was there." She suggested. "I never would have met you if I hadn't and then we wouldn't have had them."
"Yea, maybe." He forced a smile. "I just wish we could have met under better circumstances."
"You wouldn't have given me the time of day if you weren't forced to." She smirked.
"Not true." He said shaking his head. "You're beautiful. You would have caught my eye. You catch everyone's eyes."
"But I don't want you to think that I think these last few years have been bad, because they haven't. Although some of the scariest moments of my life happened, the best ones happened to. I'm very happy." she told him.
"Me too." He agreed. "I can't wait to be normal with you."
"Me too." She grinned.
April stood up and placed J.R in the bassinet then saw Mya fell asleep in Punk's arms.
"You've got the magic touch." She smiled.
"Yea." He said looking at his sleeping daughter. He'd give his life for either of his children so he had no fear tonight. He kissed the top of her head and placed her next to her brother.
"I just have to run to the bathroom and we can go. Your mom just got back too." She told him.
"I love you." He said cupping her face then kissed her deeply.
"I love you too." She said oddly as he pulled away. "Let me just go to the bathroom and say bye to your mom." She said.
"Yea." He nodded and then stopped her again. "Look, before we do this tonight I had something for you."
"Really?" She asked and he walked over to his desk.
"It's for our anniversary that's next week but I want you to have it now." He said passing her the velvet box.
"Phil." She gaped at the beautiful diamond heart locket. "I'll love you forever, P." She said reading the inscription on the back. "It's so beautiful. But why are you giving me this now?"
"Because things are going to be crazy." He told her. "I don't want to forget it."
"And now I know where you hide your presents." She teased. "It's so beautiful. Thank you." She said giving him a kiss and he deepened it again.
April walked out of the office and after briefly talking to Karen she walked into the bathroom. She washed her hands and threw some water over her face and looked at her complexion as she had a memory of Punk before they began dating. A conversation they shared after she visited her brothers grave.
"He gave you a present that day?" Punk asked.
"Yea, so what?" April asked.
"So what?" Punk mocked. "That and spontaneous outbursts of love are signs of suicide. He gave you a chain?"
"It was his. And before that it was my fathers then my grandfathers." April said to him. "He just said he didn't want it anymore and wanted me to have it because he knew I wouldn't lose it."
"He had it planned, April." Punk said to her looking at her face.
April's face fell and she raced out of the bathroom and didn't see Punk or Dean in the main office.
"Where is he?" April asked Karen who was talking to a Marshal outside of Punk's office.
"They left, I thought you were with him-" Karen began and April ran to the elevator.
"April!" the Chief shouted racing to her. "Listen to me-"
"He left without me on purpose!" April yelled.
"He wants you to stay here." The Chief told her. "Its the safest thing for you and for him. He can't be distracted."
"They need me there! I have to play the part!" April argued.
"No you don't." The Chief told her. "Phil asked me to keep you here. Go back inside and sit with your children and I'll tell you when I hear from them." He told her.
"But-" April began.
"He loves you very much. He wants you with the children. That's where you belong." The Chief told her.
"Ok." April said suddenly.
"Good girl." The Chief smiled.
"I didn't really want to go anyway." April said walking away from the elevator with the Chief. "The kids needs me here."
"You're right." The Chief told her. "There's coffee in the kitchen, help yourself. It's going to be a long night."
"Thank you, sir." April smiled and when the Chief walked away she glared behind his back and turned around to the staircase and ran down the stairs...
Punk and Dean arrived home after eight. It was real eerie uneasy feeling. They knew someone was going to come in, they knew multiple people were going to come in they just weren't sure if they'd wait for later on when they thought they'd all be sleeping. That would have been the smart move.
"Where's April?" John asked when they walked in.
"She's at the office." Punk told him. "We don't need her."
"They might sense something is off." John argued.
"They pulled into the garage. As far as Diaz knows April and the babies are here." Corey told John.
"Remember if you have to shoot Diaz, hit him where it won't kill him." Punk instructed his team. "He's the only way we'll find Sawyer."
"Got it." Dean nodded.
"The other two, do what you have to do." Punk told them. "They don't know shit anyway."
"Alright." John agreed.
"They're probably going to hit my room first because they know I'm the biggest threat to getting to the kids." Punk told them.
"I'll be in there with you." John told him.
"Comforting." Punk mocked.
"Really? We're about to go to war together and you still shit on me?" John asked annoyed.
"Yea." Punk said simply.
"I'll be in the security room." Dean told them.
"And I'll be in the living room, they'll go up the stairs and I can get them from behind." Corey offered.
"As soon as they're spotted coming in we have the undercover Marshal's flooding this place too." Punk reminded them. "Diaz is our priority."
Outside, April pulled up into the driveway and went to open the two car garage. The garage door went up and she knew Punk and the team wouldn't hear it since it was so quiet. She turned off Punk's car (since they took hers to play off like they had the kids with them) but froze when she saw a man at her car side window. She gasped at the strange man and saw him raise his gun and shot the window. She instinctively threw herself across the front seat, covering her head in the process- but she didn't even hear glass break. She realized she was in Punk's federal issues vehicle, which meant it was bulletproof.
She hoped Punk would have heard the gunshot, it had to have echoed in the garage. The window was cracked from the bullet though. She sat up and was eye to eye with the man who was now banging on the glass with the butt of his gun to break it.
"Ok, ok." April whispered to herself as she took her seat belt off and crawled across to the passenger side and opened the door to try to sneak out, since she would also be closer to the door of the main house.
By the time she got the passenger side door opened and the man grabbed April by her ankles and pulled her out of the car. She clawed and screamed, trying to hold onto the seat but he pulled her out and tossed her onto the floor. April looked up at the man and closed her eyes as he pointed his gun at her and she heard a shot go off.
April opened one slowly when she realized she hadn't been shot. She saw the man who was about to kill her laying with his eyes wide open as blood pooled around his head.
"Fucking Christ!" Punk yelled racing to her and pulling her to her feet. "I should have known fucking better." He hissed pulling her into the house and closing the door. "What is wrong with you!"
"You left without me!" April yelled back.
"For a reason!" He yelled and grabbed her by the arm and dragged her down the hall. "Get downstairs, keep the door locked and open it for no one." He told her as he reached by his ankle for his backup gun and placed it in her hands.
"Phil-" She began.
"Ape, there are two men breaking into our guest room window right now." Punk said pushing her into the basement.
"I love you." She said nervously and he gave her a quick kiss.
"It's alright." Punk reassured her.
April nodded and ran down the basement steps after locking it and hid in the corner. It was pitch black inside the basement. She reached above her head and tugged on the light and when she did she let out a scream.
"Wow. This is what I'd like to call, right place at the right time." James Sawyer grinned.
Punk was upstairs preparing for Diaz and his other associate to break in, they were close to turning the alarm wire off and sneaking in. His stomach twisted and knotted though. He wasn't sure why, he wasn't nervous or at least he wasn't until April entered the house.
"One already being out is a huge advantage." John whispered to Punk who nodded. "What?"
"I don't know." Punk said quietly. "Something is wrong."
"What do you mean?" John asked.
Punk readied his gun and peered at Dean who was also in position and nodded him but it was something else Punk saw that caught his eye. He saw a man he knew he recognized race past him and down the stairs towards the basement. Punk lowered his gun in shock and Dean eyed him from across the hall.
"What?" Dean whispered.
"You see him?" Punk asked.
"See who?" Dean asked. "No one was there."
Punk looked back towards his bedroom and saw the picture April had up of herself and her brother. That was the man he saw run by. Punk was now distracted. "Graves." Punk hissed and Corey appeared. "Take over for me."
"Where are you going?" John asked.
"Something is wrong." was all Punk said. "You three can take them, right?"
"Yea." John nodded. "Power went out for a bit, maybe they had a fourth guy we didn't see." He said.
Punk raced down the hallway and approached the basement that was locked from the inside.
"Ape!" he whispered as loudly as possible. He didn't want to blow the cover of the guys upstairs. He knocked on the door and there was nothing. "April!" He hissed louder, still there was nothing.
Punk used his hip to break the door down as quietly as possible and headed down the stairs. He had his gun trained as he slowly crept down the stairs, not that it took long to see what was happening. Right in the middle of the room James Sawyer was shielding his body with April's, holding a gun to her head.
"This isn't how imagined this going." James smirked. "Marhsal, it's been a long time."