Seeds Of A Break-Up

"So you're telling me the guy is dead?" Punk asked, looking across at AJ who sat behind the caged wire in the visitation room the next day.

"Yeah." AJ nodded as Punk shook his head and looked down at the ground, "But we got something with the email address he gave me. Links back to that guy who set up this job in the first place, for Kane and Pearce."

"The drug cartel?" Punk looked up at her as AJ nodded, "And you're gonna go demand answers from him?" Punk asked her, "April, you're one of the most intimidating people I've ever met, but you don't mess with these people, alright? They're bad news. And now the only way we were getting somewhere is dead… it means someone is watching you, and the thought of that, whilst being locked up in a tiny cell with nothing but my thoughts to drive me insane… that's killing me."

"Would you prefer I stopped and let you die?" AJ asked him.

"If it means you're safe." Punk gritted his teeth as AJ paused and looked across at him, "You and my brother." Punk said quickly as AJ just nodded.

"I know you're worried." AJ said, "But… I'm not letting this slip through my fingers. We're gonna find out where this guy is… Alberto, we're gonna go talk to him, we'll be prepared." AJ nodded, "And we'll get some more answers." AJ nodded.

"Where is he?" Punk asked.

"Dean and Ben are trying to find his location right now. Ben knows how to… find peope. It's one of the… off the books skills they teach you in law school."

"Yeah, I remember you telling me and Dean." Punk said bitterly, "When you came home and slept in my bed every night." He said as AJ looked across at him.

"Yeah. Well, that was back then." AJ reminded him as Punk nodded. She could sense he was getting angry, frustrated, tense… she could only imagine what it felt like to have her life on the line. But he was the toughest person she knew.

"They asked me yesterday." Punk said, "They asked me who I want there with me… when they… when they put me to death." He said as AJ just shook her head and looked down at the ground.

"Phil-"

"Your name is down." Punk nodded, "If you don't wanna come, fine." He said, "But… well you and Dean are the only people I've ever cared about… next to mom." Punk said, "I'd like your face to be the last thing I see." He nodded.

"Phil." AJ shook her head, looking up at him as he noticed her eyes teary, "We're not doing this. I'm not… no one is saying goodbye. We have time." AJ said.

"in the case things don't work out. I had to fill it in anyway. They uh… they asked me what I wanted for my last meal." He laughed a little, "I went for waffles." He nodded.

"Usual." AJ smiled lightly.

"Yeah. Saturday morning." Punk nodded, remembering, remembering the good times, where life was beautiful and he had all he ever wanted.

"Phil, we're gonna find this guy and he's gonna give us something. That email came from him, threatening Derek to go erase the footage from the CCTV in your hotel." AJ said, "That's something, alright? Just don't give up." She shook her head.

"For what it's worth…" He said, "I'm happy you moved on." He nodded, "I'm happy you moved on and found someone that loves you." He said, even though his body was physically rejecting the words, "You got yourself a good life."

"You did too." AJ said, "I never forget about you. You or Dean." AJ said, "We broke up because it was healthier for us. I was never home. You didn't talk to me anymore-"

"That's not fair." Punk warned.

"You didn't." AJ said, "And it's because I wasn't there. Whenever I was home you'd be working or… I'd be still working, it got too much and… my health got in the way and… the best thing for us was to not be around each other." AJ said.

"Guess you say we just couldn't handle life, right?" He asked, "Wasn't meant to be." He shrugged, not meaning a single word that he said. Of course he was bitter and jealous that some other man was with her. Was married to her. Given what they had together, it wasn't easy to know someone else lay beside her every night, and kissed her, and told her he loved her. In fact, it was torture.

"It wasn't easy for me to move on, you know." AJ said, "Ben was there for me, took what I had left to give and… I love him." AJ nodded as he stared into her eyes, and she hated it, because he knew when she was lying, "I care about him. He's my husband." She said as Punk just nodded.

"I get it." Punk nodded, "We all gotta move on." He said, "Just be careful with this guy… Del Rio. You could be walking into anything." He said as AJ nodded.

"We'll all be ok." AJ promised him, "For now just… don't give up." AJ shook her head, "We're getting somewhere. When we find this guy's location, we'll go out and see him and come back, fill you in." AJ said as Punk nodded, watching as she put her coat on.

"I never stopped loving you, you know." Punk shook his head truthfully. It was true. It had been a few years since they broke up and although he hadn't really saw much of AJ besides bumping into her awkwardly in some places in Chicago… there wasn't a day went by where he stopped loving her or loved her less. He knew he'd never stop loving her. There was too much history. And the most annoying thing was, he knew she felt the exact same.

AJ just sighed, continuing to button her coat up as she stood up from the chair, "I have to go." She said quietly, leaving the room as Punk watched her, sighing to himself as the wardens came in to take him back to his cell.

"That's not the point! You said you'd be there and you weren't!" AJ yelled, standing in their kitchen across from Punk whilst Hooch lay up on the couch on one of the cushions. Dean was still at work.

"I already told you. Something came up at work, alright? I can't just ditch my work and be like uh… my girlfriend has this meeting with her law school, mind if I just fix this car tomorrow… doesn't work like that." He said.

"Then drop a phone call, a text message, anything. It's not hard, Phil." AJ shook her head, grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge.

"I was working!" Punk yelled, "How am I supposed to drop you a phone call when I'm under a car? I don't have books and shit to read but I do actual work, April. Proper work." He said as AJ raised her eyebrows.

"Excuse me?" AJ spat, "I work too, and reading books isn't as easy as you think." She said.

"Look, I'm sorry I wasn't there." Punk said, trying to calm himself down, "But you can't be mad at me about it."

"I can, actually." AJ said, "It's been organised for weeks. And every week I reminded you about it to make sure that nothing would get in the way. You told your boss you needed to finish early. And you still couldn't make it?" AJ said.

"Yeah, I couldn't. Because we got a drop in last minute, It happens, and I was the only one on the shift so I had to stay." Punk said, "It's not my fault."

"Well it meant a lot to me." AJ said, "And I looked like an idiot who had been stood up by her boyfriend of five years." She shook her head.

"It wasn't a date, April. You were meeting with your lecturer about your placements. Why did I need to be there in the first place anyway?" He asked, saying things now that he didn't mean through his anger and frustration. It wasn't the first fight they'd had and he knew it wouldn't be the last, it happened from time to time, it was only natural, but he just hated when it happened.

"Because you're the only family I have." AJ spat, screwing the cap back on her water and throwing it at him angrily, "I got no one else, that's why." She hissed, pushing by him as Punk ran his hand through his hair and sighed to himself.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't be there. But don't act like I chose not to be there." He said, "I had to work. There's a difference between that and me choosing not to go." He said.

"You still didn't think twice about calling me or texting me. Would have taken two seconds." AJ shrugged tiredly. She was exhausted. So much of her work was catching up to her. She'd just gotten out of a depressive cycle so bad that she couldn't even make her class one day. Punk helped her through it of course, like he always did, but after having this meeting set for weeks with her lecturer, to decide what sort of placements she was going, she really wanted Punk to be there with her to help her decide, to be a part of the journey with her, but he hadn't showed and didn't bother to let her know why either.

"I was busy." Punk said.

"I get busy. I still talk to you. I still let you know things." AJ said as Punk looked across at her, "Forget it. I'm tired. I wanna go to bed." She shook her head just as Dean walked in the door from work, "And don't… don't think you can come in and start kissing me and it'll go away. Stay on your own side." She warned as Dean raised his eyebrows, watching AJ walk into the bedroom, letting Hooch join her before shutting the door over.

"Uh… what's going on?" Dean feared to ask as Punk just shook his head.

"She's just being moody." Punk said.

"Can I ask what about?" Dean asked, dumping his things down.

"Something came up at work tonight and I couldn't make the meeting she wanted me to go to." Punk said, "And I didn't get the chance to text her and let her know and now she's all mad and annoyed." He sighed. He didn't like fighting with AJ. It gave him a hollow feeling in his chest, knowing he'd hurt her and upset her was a killer, but he really didn't intend for that.

"Damn, she kept reminding you about it too." Dean cringed.

"Yeah, I get it." Punk said.

"It'll sort itself out. It always does with you two." Dean shrugged, "She's just came around from a depressive episode. Just give her some space." He nodded as Punk sighed and nodded.

"Yeah." Punk said.

"Did you find where he's at?" AJ asked, arriving back at the hotel where Dean and Ben were.

"Yeah. He's in Chicago. Got an address for his warehouse." Ben said, "I've booked us plane tickets for tonight. We'll crack on with it tomorrow." He nodded.

"Ok, good." AJ nodded, "Gives us time to think about how we're gonna play this." She said, "We could play it either way… pretend we're not who we really are, although he'll probably know because of the press, or we just go in there, ask him what he knows, if he's defensive and shady, could be our guy, if he's got information for us, good… if we have to do our own digging… so be it." AJ shrugged.

"We're gonna end up dead, aren't we?" Dean grumbled, standing over in the corner.

"Not when you have cop friends." Ben said.

"Then tell your cop friends my brother is innocent!" Dean yelled

"Cop friends in Chicago." Ben said.

"April, I thought you knew better than to be friends with cops." Dean tutted, "Disappointed." He said as AJ just smiled over to him.

"Well you shouldn't be, because they can get us places that regular AJ Mendez couldn't." AJ smiled over to him as Dean nodded and raised his eyebrows.

"Why didn't you take his name?" Dean asked forwardly, making it extremely awkward for both AJ and Ben, enjoying every second of it.

"Haven't got around to it." AJ said, brushing it off.

"You've been married for a year." Dean said, "You'd change your name to Brooks if you married Phil-"

"What did you just say?" Ben stood up as AJ placed her hand on her forehead, watching them square up as she broke them apart.

"Stop it! Both of you." She warned, "This isn't about any of us." She warned them, "You can act like children if you want but an innocent man's life is on the line right now." She said, "And we need to work together." She said, turning to Dean, "This is my husband. Please respect that." AJ looked at Dean who sighed, looking down at her, "My marriage has nothing to do with this so… don't pretend that it does." She told him straight. She knew Dean was getting cranky and bitter because he was frustrated and angry, and he was also just as devastated about her and Punk's break up as much as Punk and AJ were. But she had moved on, he had to accept that just like Punk.

"Yeah, sorry." Dean mumbled, putting his hands up and wandering back to the corner as AJ nodded.

"Ok, let's just… pack our things up… catch this flight back to Chicago tonight." She nodded tiredly.

"What are we doing about the recording of Derek talking to us?" Dean asked as Ben discretely looked across at him.

"I don't know." AJ said, placing her hands on her hips, "I mean, we could always take it to the cops, maybe tell them that's the reason he was killed."

"I doubt that would mean anything to them." Ben said.

"You never know." AJ said, reaching over for her phone as she attempted to get the recording up, "Uh…" She tilted her head whilst scrolling through the empty cache, "It's gone." She shook her head, looking up at Dean who unfolded his arms and looked across at her suspiciously, "It's not there anymore." She shook her head as Ben looked across at her.

A/N: Let me know what you think!