Resume
"So what's the deal? We just go and scare him?" Dean asked, standing outside the garage with his dad and brother a week later after closing time, smoking a cigarette as Punk took it from him and threw it on the ground, "Hey, I'm only allowed to do it out here when Anna can't see me." He said.
"No, just don't do it at all." Punk said as JC just chuckled a little at them and their still childish behaviour.
"Just ask him what he had to do with it all." JC nodded, "Did you see the news this morning?" He asked them.
"I got a seven year old and a one year old. I barely get to breathe in the morning." Punk reminded him as JC nodded.
"Yeah, I don't watch no news." Dean shook his head.
"Well if you did, you'd see they've arrested Jean. She's going to prison for a long time." JC nodded, "Apparently they found illegal investments like AJ had said, as well as the murders." He nodded, "Stupid bitch gets what she deserves." He shook his head as Dean and Punk just smiled to each other, "Ok, let's go I have better thing to do with my night than this." He shook his head, pushing them both forward as they walked into the garage.
They walked through the empty garage and into the office through the back where Sam was sitting, watching as he spun around on his chair and instantly rolled his eyes.
"Oh, what's this?" Sam asked, "This-This isn't where you get to blackmail me for pay rises or anything like that." He warned.
"We don't want a pay rise." Punk shook his head, closing the office door over as Sam looked at the three of them, "We wanna know how you know Jean Ferris, and what you had to do with her taking my niece." He said as Sam gulped and looked at the three of them. They were all individually terrifying for their own reasons. He still remembered the harsh beating Punk had given him which still gave him nightmares. JC looked like a serial killer standing behind and Dean looked like a lunatic ready to pounce beside. They were quite the trio.
"I… I had nothing to do with it." Sam shook his head, trying to act dumb.
"You did." Dean said, "My son's mom overheard you talking to her on the phone so… don't play the fool." He shook his head as Sam gulped.
"We're not gonna hurt you Sam." JC laughed, "Chill out."
"I'm her cousin." Sam said, "She… she asked me just to keep an eye on you, tell me when… when Anna had the baby." He nodded as Dean grunted towards him.
"You're her cousin?" Punk made a face.
"Yeah, out of the woodwork. Anna doesn't know me." Sam said, "I don't want no trouble." He assured them. He knew where he stood with them.
"Good." JC nodded, "Because this is what's gonna happen now." He said, "You're gonna quit this job. Immediately." He said as Sam raised his eyebrows, "You're gonna quit this job so my sons don't have to look at your weasel face a day longer. And not just because you worked with that bitch… but for being a perverted racist too. We can't forget that." JC said.
"But… but this is my job." Sam said.
"Won't be for much longer." Punk said, "If you don't quit, I go to the police and I tell them about those racist remarks you made about my wife, about my kids, and I also tell them about the naked pictures that you threatened her with, I also could tell them about your conspiring with a woman who is now going to prison for a very long time." He said as Sam gulped, "It's… it's your decision of course." He nodded.
"You bastards." Sam spat, looking at the three of them.
"You're the bastard." Dean said, "You're lucky we're letting you walk out of here and not wheel on a wheelchair." He warned, "Consider this your last night working here. If you're here tomorrow morning, we go to the police." He smiled smugly as Sam just shook his head and grumbled.
"Fine." Sam said, knowing he couldn't have them going to the police, "Fine I'll… I'll leave." He nodded as Punk smiled.
"Good." Punk said, "Enjoy your last night then." He nodded, patting Sam on the back who flinched a little, leaving the office one by one as Sam shook his head, kicking the cabinet beside him.
"He got what he deserved." Punk said, sitting at the dinner with his family later on, feeding his son the spaghetti that AJ had made. He was getting to an age where he wanted to do it by himself, but sometimes it just resulted in the dinner on the kitchen floor which was never good.
"I hope you didn't act like a thug though." AJ said, sitting across beside Keala who was eating her spaghetti whilst doing her homework.
"No, never." Punk said, "I asked him to politely leave." Punk shrugged as AJ just hmm'd.
"Did you see all the shit they found on Jean?" AJ smiled as Keala turned her and looked up at her, "I'm not putting money in that swear jar, ok?" She said as Keala just shook her head, "That's only for daddy." She smiled, looking over at Punk who just shook his head.
"Yeah, my dad told us." Punk nodded, "It's what she deserves." He shook his head, giving Frankie his own little spoon after he got mad that he couldn't feed himself, "Fine, you do it." Punk said, giving him the spoon as AJ watched their soon dive into the spaghetti.
"He almost walked on his own today." AJ said, "He had a little hobble and then fell down but I really thought he was off." She admitted as Punk smiled.
"Won't be long." Punk nodded, "You back at work tomorrow?"
"Yeah I've got a case. Meeting my client in the morning." She nodded, "How did Dean say Skyler is?" She asked.
"Good." Punk nodded, "He's super attached already. It's nice to see." Punk nodded, feeling a bit of spaghetti hit his arm, looking on it hanging from him and then looking at his son who giggled a little, "Why is it always me?" Punk asked himself.
"You're funnier to annoy." AJ shrugged, sniggering a little.
"Can someone tell me what five times 9 is?" Keala looked at them both as Punk cleaned his arm.
"Well do you know what five times 8 is?" Punk asked her.
"Uh…" Keala looked at her work book, "Yeah, it says 40." Keala said.
"So add 5 onto 40." AJ told her.
"45?" Keala asked them.
"Genius." Punk nodded as Keala scribbled down the answer, causing Punk to smile.
"I know five times ten, that's easy." Keala nodded to herself as Punk smiled watching her.
Life had very quickly resumed back to normal. It was only healthy for it to resume to normal. As long as the family were all well and safe, then things could carry on just as they were before, only now there seemed to be a lot of wounds that could start healing now. Wounds that hadn't even been opened yet. It was nice just to have his family all safe and well, together for each other.
"Hey." JC smiled, letting Lydia into his apartment as she walked on in.
"Hey." Lydia smiled, "You don't normally demand to see me at such late times." She teased as he just smiled and nodded.
"Yeah I wanted to talk to you actually. That's why I text." He said as Lydia turned to him.
"What's wrong?" Lydia asked.
"Nothing." JC nodded, "Well… I just…" He looked across at her, "This… isn't working for me, Lydia." JC said as she looked up at him and then quickly looked down at the ground, "You're great. Too great. And you've really helped me with… with getting clean finally. And I love being around you." He told her honestly, "But I don't think I'm looking for a relationship right now." He admitted. He'd been doing a lot of thinking about it and he didn't think he had the time to dedicate to a relationship, and he also just didn't feel like his head was really in it, nor was his heart.
"If… if that's how you feel." Lydia nodded, "I thought we were doing good." She admitted truthfully.
"We were." Lydia said immediately, "This isn't anything you've done… or even anything I've done. I just… my head isn't in it. I got two sons who… I'm focused on being a good dad for them, and it's unfair of me to… to treat you as second best." He said, "I got four grandkids too who… I wanna be around all the time but then I feel guilty because I know you probably don't want them around-"
"Of course I do." Lydia said.
"You just say that to be nice." JC scoffed, "And then there's the age gap. I mean you… you said you wanted kids… I… I'm sorry to be blunt but… I'm not gonna have kids with you." He told her honestly as Lydia just nodded and smiled.
"I… I respect your honesty." Lydia said. She really did appreciate him being honest with her. It was rare to find with men.
"I do care about you." JC told her truthfully, "But… it's just not gonna work out." He told her honestly as she nodded.
"Ok." Lydia nodded, "I… I understand." She smiled, blinking her tears away, "I… I hope things go well with your family." She nodded, drying her eyes.
"We can still be friends." JC sighed as Lydia just smiled at him.
"That's just the polite thing to say, right?" Lydia said as JC nodded, "It's ok." She assured him, leaning up and kissing his cheek as he smiled lightly, watching her as she walked off and out of the apartment, sighing to himself.
He did care about her but he felt in his heart that it wasn't going to go anywhere and that his mind was barely even in the relationship. He wanted to focus on his family, now that he finally felt like he somewhat had one.
He walked back over to the couch, collapsing down and picking up Vanessa's diary to read some more of it like he did every night. When he read it, he felt like she was talking to him, and he liked that.
A/N: How long will things stay simple? Who knows… Thanks for the reviews!
