Way Back

"Does anyone know where Mr Ambrose is today?" A biology teacher asked as AJ looked up from her notebook and looked over at where Dean normally sat. It wasn't like Dean to ever be off from school. Not because he enjoyed it, but because he didn't like being at home.

"I could call him." AJ raised her hand as the older teacher raised a brow. She was in most of Dean's classes whilst Punk was in others, when he decided to show up that was.

"No phones in class." She said sternly as AJ just made a face and looked back down at her notebook.

She got through the rest of the school day, finding it incredibly strange sitting on her own at lunch. When she arrived in Chicago, her number one fear was going to a new school and having no one to talk to, but very quickly she befriended a boy with bleach blonde hair and a boy who rolled up cigarettes for his lunch, who just happened to be brothers. They watched out for her, and despite arguing at times with Punk, she felt fortunate to have them as her friends.

As soon as she got out of school, she called Dean, and after getting no reply, she called Punk who gave her no reply either. She assumed that they were probably just not showing up for the day, but out of curiosity and suspicion, she headed to their house where they lived with their mother. She knew their father wasn't in the picture, but she didn't know the reason why. Their mother was sweet and kind and if she was ever at their house, she was always well looked after by her.

She walked down the sidewalk, getting to their house and walking up the steps, knocking on the door and waiting a little while until finally someone came to the door, smiling as she saw Punk standing.

"Hey." AJ said, her smile fading once she saw he had bloodshot eyes, something she'd never saw before, "What? What's wrong?" AJ asked immediately, knowing something was up just by the look on his face.

"Uh… it's mom." Punk said as AJ looked at him, "She was…" He took a deep breath and rubbed his eyes, "She was coming home from work this morning." He said, "She… she got into an accident."

"Oh my God." AJ shook her head, walking into the house and taking a hold of his wrist, "Is she ok? Is she at the hospital?" AJ asked him as he shut the door over.

"Yeah." Punk nodded, "Uh…" He tried to clear his throat, "It's not good." He shook his head, "Doctor said she's…"

"Ok, Phil. Sit down." AJ nodded, taking his hand and leading him over to the bottom of the stairs, fearing that he was going to pass out, "Where is Dean?"

"He's in the kitchen." Punk said, holding his forehead as AJ looked round and saw Dean sitting at the kitchen table with his hands in his head, "Doctor says she's brain stone dead." Punk looked up at her as AJ placed her hand over her mouth.

"I am… I'm so sorry." AJ shook her head as Punk just shook his head.

"There's nothing they can do for her." Punk said, "We-We need to turn off her machines and… he doesn't want to." Punk nodded back, referring to Dean as AJ sighed.

"Phil, you need to call someone. Do you have an aunt or an uncle? Your dad?" AJ wondered.

"We don't have anyone else." Punk said as AJ sighed, looking down at him, watching as he placed his hands over his face.

"Is there… is there anything I can do for you?" AJ asked him, wiping her tears whilst he wasn't looking. She wasn't exactly best friends with their mom, but she knew how much she mean to Punk and Dean, and from what she did know of her, was that she was a good woman who loved and done anything for her sons. It was tragic, and she was worried about her friends.

"Can you come with us?" Punk looked up at her.

"M-Me?" AJ said as Punk nodded.

"She liked you." Punk nodded, wiping his nose as she gulped, "And I don't know how Dean is gonna hold up." Punk said as AJ nodded.

"Ok." AJ whispered, "Ok, I'll-I'll come with you." She nodded.

"Why'd you call her?" Punk asked, sitting behind the cage across from Dean in the closed visitation room as Dean shrugged.

"Because we need her. You need her." Dean said, "She's talking to Pearce and Kane today, see what they have to say."

"The cops already spoke to them." Punk sighed with exhaustion as Dean looked across at him, "You should have left her alone. She's got a life. The last thing I wanna do is make her feel guilty for not helping me." He said, "You should tell her to go home."

"Well it's sort of life and death right now, Phil." Dean said, "She wants to help. She still cares about you. It's obvious." He said as Punk just nodded and shook his head at the same time. Being cooped up in segregation for so long, he was finding it hard to think straight.

"The blood was on my pants." Punk said, "Whatever she finds, whether it's useful or not, it's not gonna change anything. I already told her that." He said, "She's wasting her own time."

"We're gonna try figure out who put the blood on your pants, because… that's the only way the blood could have gotten there… by someone putting it there." Dean said, "Right?" He said as Punk just nodded, "So if we figure out who is trying to set you up, we can prove that you're innocent." Dean said.

"And how are you gonna figure out who is setting me up?" Punk asked, "What if I just got picked at random? Some psychopath out there saw me, saw an opportunity, saw where I was staying, and went for it." Punk said.

"Then we'll find something that proves you were set up." Dean said as Punk sighed, "Look, I know you're losing all hope in there, but…you just gotta have hope." He nodded.

"You should just leave me here." Punk shook his head.

"Shut up." Dean said.

"I'm serious." Punk nodded, "I just… I bring you down. Every opportunity I get." He said, "Ever since mom died, I've just brought you down with me, and I don't want the last thing on my mind to be how much I let you down. Just get out of here." Punk said.

"You're crazy if you think I'm gonna walk away from you like this. You're the only thing I've got." Dean said, "You're my big brother. I need you." He said as Punk looked across at him, "I don't care whatever bitterness you and AJ have with one another since you broke up but it's been a long fucking time… she wants to help, let her." Dean said, "She's pretty good at what she does."

"Yeah, she was always nosey." Punk nodded to himself as Dean smiled a little, "What if you guys snooping around gets you in trouble?" Punk asked.

"It won't. AJ knows what she's doing." Dean said, "She's got connections too which helps." Dean nodded.

"She hasn't changed." Punk said as Dean nodded, "Haven't had a proper conversation with her like that since we broke up." He said, "Long time ago." He nodded.

"Yeah, which is why you gotta let her help you. She's got more knowledge about it than I do. She knows the best way around it."

"What if there's no way around this? I mean… whoever has set me up, whether it was on purpose or not… they know what they're doing. They're not stupid." Punk said.

"I know." Dean said, "But soon enough, you get too smart for your own good. There will be a slip up somewhere, there will be something we can use, and me and AJ will find it." He nodded as Punk just sighed.

"I don't want this weight on your shoulders. If… If this happens, when it happens… you can't feel guilty, Dean."

"It's not gonna happen." Dean spat, "Listen to me." He said, "You're not gonna be punished… you're not gonna be killed for this, ok?"

"I have to prepare myself for if I do." Punk said, "Starting to think about… all the things I haven't got to do… all the things I ruined." He shook his head, "Could have had a good job. A wife. Kids." Punk said.

"That wasn't really your frame, was it?" Dean smiled a little.

"No, I guess not." Punk said, "I'm going out of my mind in this cell. They keep me separate from everyone else." He said, "No one looks me in the eye." He shook his head.

"They'll be sorry once we prove you're innocent." Dean said, "I'm going to meet with AJ later, maybe she'll have something from speaking to Pearce and Kane." He said, "Her brain works quicker than mine."

"Wouldn't be hard." Punk teased as Dean smiled. He was glad to see his brother hadn't lost his spirit completely, which was miraculous given what he was going through, "Is she still married?" He asked out of curiosity as Dean laughed a little.

"Still? She only got married last year." He laughed a little, "Yeah, she is. She told him that she was out here for family things. I think you might be a little bit of a trigger on him."

"I've never even met the guy." Punk scoffed, "She happy with him?" Punk wondered.

"I haven't really got the chance to speak with her properly. I tried to ask about him but… she shut me down." Dean shrugged as Punk just nodded, "You still care about her?" Dean asked.

"I never stopped. She knows that." Punk shrugged, confident that AJ knew he still cared about her. He never wanted things to end with them. Life got in the way for both of them, "She wanted her law degree. Moved away. A smart husband who she has more in common with-"

"There's no one she has more in common with than you." Dean said, "C'mon." He said as Punk just nodded.

"Maybe." Punk said, "All that never changed how I cared about her." He said as Dean nodded, "I just didn't want to involve her in this."

"Odds are she would have come anyway." Dean said, "This isn't even about the fact that you're my brother but… you're an innocent man being put on death row for a crime you never committed."

"You're the only one who believed I'm innocent. The evidence is there-"

"I don't care about evidence." Dean said, "I know you didn't do it and I'm gonna work with AJ to prove it."

"I get… I get told how long I have tomorrow morning." Punk said, "Could be weeks. You might not have time." He said as Dean shook his head.

"I'll make time." Dean said.

"Time to go." A warden burst through the door on Punk's end as Dean sighed.

"I'll see you soon." Dean said as Punk nodded, standing up as the warden lead him out of the room, so quick and suddenly.

"I can… wait out here." AJ said, standing outside the hospital room where Punk and Dean's mother was in. Due to her severe head injuries and being confirmed brain stone dead, the decision was to switch the machines off as in the simplest of terms, there was nothing he doctors could do for her.

Dean was a mess and Punk was trying his hardest to keep it together. They really had no one else, and he asked AJ to come along just so it wouldn't be so apparent that they were on their own now. Completely. They didn't even know what would happen to them since they were still just young boys.

"Can you come in?" Dean asked, rubbing his bloodshot, teary eyes as AJ sighed. It broke her heart to see them in such a way. They were always so upbeat and happy. Making jokes left right and centre.

"Yeah." AJ nodded, placing her hand on Dean's arm. She really was like a sister to Dean. The only thing between her and Punk which prevented her from feeling like a sister to him, was the fact that sometimes, although she'd never admit it, he gave her butterflies in her stomach, and he made her blush, certainly not at that moment in time, but in the past. She thought he was good looking, charismatic, funny with the same type of humour as her, snarky but perhaps a little too aggressive and smug at times.

But she cared about him. She cared about both of them.

"C'mon." Punk sighed, patting Dean on the back as they walked on into the room as AJ followed. She did feel like she was here to hold their hands. She'd never saw them this vulnerable before and she knew that was another implicating factor that proved how much they trusted her, and how much she really meant to them.

"How are you guys doing?" The doctor asked, coming into the room slowly as Punk just nodded, taking a seat by his mother's bedside whilst Dean sat across, AJ sitting beside him.

The staff at the hospital had been incredibly great with them given how young they were and how they had no other family to help them at the time.

"H-How… how do you do it?" Dean asked him.

"We'll… just take the support from her and… she'll slowly pass." The doctor nodded.

"Will it hurt?" Dean asked him.

"No. She… She won't be aware of what's going on." The doctor assured him.

"How long?" Punk asked him, "Until she…"

"Just a few minutes." The doctor told him as Punk nodded, running his hand through his hair, reaching out and taking his mother's hand as AJ watched and sighed to herself. She was almost scared of how broken they were, and worried about what would happen to them. Their mother was the only thing they had. She worked endless shifts at the hospital as nurse and had done since they were just babies when their dad left them. She knew that much. She loved them both indescribably. Having been to their house for dinner a handful of times, or visiting if her and Dean had a project to do for school, she would always voice how much she appreciated that Dean and Punk had another female figure in their life to keep them in line, which always made her smile.

"Just tell me when you're ready." The doctor nodded softly as Dean sniffled, looking down at the ground as Punk just nodded to the doctor who slowly unhooked the support from their mother, listening as the heart rate monitor beeped until it faded out to nothing, the room turning to silence as Dean let out a loud sob whilst Punk looked down at the ground.

AJ shuffled her chair further towards Dean, wrapping her arms around him, pressing her cheek against his shoulder as she looked over to Punk who looked over to them, wiping his tears and realising that he only had Dean and AJ left.

A/N: There will be a lot of flashbacks to really get into their life prior to Punk being imprisoned, but obviously still continuing with the story at present day. Let me know what you think!