Break Your Heart

"Here, hold this." 8 year old Punk said, standing out in their back garden as he handed his little brother, 6 and a half year old Dean the water hose as they concentrated on building their rocket ship.

"Why do you get to do everything?" Dean whined, holding the hose and sighing to himself as he watched his big brother do all the fun stuff. Any time he tried to take part, he was told to stay back.

"Because I told you." Punk said, "You'll ruin it." He told them bluntly.

"We should paint the top of it red… like the films." Dean said, crouching down beside Punk. It was a Summer's day and they both had shorts and t-shirts on, and had been playing in the back garden since the minute they woke up.

"Do we have paint?" Punk asked him curiously as Dean shrugged, "Mom?!" Punk yelled at the top of his lungs, just to really make sure she heard him. Anyone would have thought he was screaming for his life, "Mom?!" He yelled again, not getting a quick enough answer.

"Phillip." Their mother, Vanessa said, peeping her head out the back door as she looked on at her sons crouched down playing with some sort of homemade rocket ship they had made, "What is it?" She shook her head, stepping out into the garden and folding her arms.

"Mom, do we have any red paint?" Punk asked her, "Because we wanna paint the top."

"Red like the films." Dean added. He took all his looks from his mother. The dirty blonde hair, the blue eyes, whilst Punk took almost everything from the father he'd never met. One would only assume they weren't brothers, but they definitely had the bond of brothers, and the DNA, although she wished she could have picked a better father for them… not that they knew him anyway.

"And why would we have red paint?" Vanessa laughed a little, crouching down beside them as she looked at the space ship. She was a young mom, which at times made it easy and difficult to do her job. Easy because she felt like she bonded easier with the boys. Hard because she felt like sometimes she didn't really know what she was doing.

"I don't know." Punk said, "We might have." He said.

"I'll check." She nodded, brushing his dark hair from his face, "This is really good." She nodded to the space ship which was made from what looked like pieces of cardboard, aluminium foil and string.

"Don't touch it." Punk warned, "It's not steady enough yet." He told her as Vanessa smiled and nodded.

"He won't let me touch it either." Dean grumbled, "Why am I holding this?" He wondered, holding up the hose.

"Yeah, why are you holding that?" Vanessa shook her head.

"Well because the hose is gonna go inside the ship and it's gonna launch it into the air." Punk told them, "Because it's so fast."

"That's a smart idea, baby." Vanessa smiled, "You'll need to make the ship extra sturdy then, huh?" She said as Punk nodded.

"So do we have red paint?" Dean asked with attitude, wanting his mother to go check as Vanessa just smiled over at him. They were both very opinionated. They had been from day one. But they were also gentle and kind and sweet, and her life really wouldn't have had a meaning with them in it.

"I'll go check." Vanessa smiled to them, standing back up straight as she walked off back into the house to search for paint, listening as they both bickered outside in the garden and smiled to herself.

Dean quickly stood up from his seat at the desk in his room and walked as quick as he could out of his room, holding the laptop and making his way over to AJ's room, knocking on it repeatedly, listening as footsteps came to the door.

Hadn't he been so flustered and shocked, he would have asked her if she was ok due to her bloodshot eyes which made it clear she had been upset, but he was too distracted.

"What? You better not have clicked on anything illegal." AJ said, trying to make sure she was presenting herself as ok after her and Punk's discussion, watching as Dean rushed into the room and sat down the laptop on the desk.

"Uh…" Dean turned to her, not sure how he was planning to even say it, "I don't know how to say this." He shook his head, "So… just take a look at it yourself." He told her, pointing over to the laptop as AJ shook her head with confusion, walking over to the desk and sitting down in front of it, tilting the laptop screen up a little and looking on at what appeared to be an email.

It took her a while to look around and gather what it was he was trying to show her, and when she realised it was Ben's emails and who he had been emailing, and what he had been saying, she felt a sudden rush of coldness overtake her body. Like a temperature drop on a thermometer. She almost didn't believe it.

"How did you…"

"I had my suspicions and… I managed to get his email address and password." Dean said, "Not because I wanted to catch him out but because… well you're my friend and I was worried that he wasn't who he said he was… story checks out." He said, looking down at her as she just stared at the laptop in a trance.

She couldn't believe it. It was too much to process. Too much to even consider. She felt like a complete fool, and like she didn't even know the man she was married to. How she thought she had trusted him completely, for so many years, how she had married him and loved him… to find out that he had played a part in trying to take an innocent man's life, a man that he knew fine well she cared about.

"He was the caller." AJ whispered to herself, sitting back on the chair as she stared holes through the email. It was an email addressed to Alberto with the same address they had found from the technician, and it was an agreement for Ben to call the cops when Dennis text him to let him know the bodies were dumped, to make it perfect timing for Punk to be caught at the murder scene.

She had no idea how this could have even happened. How Ben wasn't the man she thought he was. She was always good with being able to tell if she was being lied to, and she felt like she'd failed her own self.

"We gotta take it to Michael." Dean said as AJ sat in silence, staring at the laptop screen as Dean watched her. He did feel for her, because he knew that she did care about Ben. They were married after all. He knew that there was some form of love there, and this seemed like the ultimate betrayal. It was wicked.

AJ had been so focused on making sure she was being the best wife she could possibly be these past few weeks, remembering that it was Ben she shared a home with, who she had created a life and a future with… yet all this time he had been going behind her back, working with the worst types of people in order to set up an innocent man to die. For what? She couldn't figure out why or how it had even worked itself out. She was confused for sure.

"I need to see him first." AJ shook her head, standing up and walking over to her suitcase, picking it up as she began to pack, "I need to know why." She shook her head.

"AJ… we should take this to Michael. You shouldn't go anywhere near him… who knows what he's capable of."

"I deserve to know why." AJ said, pausing packing her suitcase as Dean looked over at her. He saw she was trying to keep it together, and given how shocked he was, he couldn't imagine how she felt when she was married to the guy, and trusted him. He did seem all sweet and kind, that's why Dean had to satisfy his suspicions. Anyone hurting AJ immediately made him mad, but anyone who participated in the helping of getting his brother imprisoned and on death row was a complete no go.

"Are you ok?" Dean asked hesitantly as AJ looked down, running her hand through her hair. She loved her husband and she felt like an idiot for ever trusting him.

"All this time. When he was helping us… he knew everything." AJ shook her head, finding it unbelievable, "I need to sit down." She sighed, taking a seat on the end of the bed as Dean folded his arms.

"Do you have any idea how he could have gotten to know Del Rio? Or Dennis?" Dean asked her as AJ shook her head.

"No… no, he's so… he's always so honest with me." She said, "And genuine." She sighed, not believing any of it. It hurt to be betrayed by someone who she thought loved her. Although her and Punk wound up fighting light cats and dogs, he never ever hurt her like this, or lied t her. Which to her, spoke volumes now.

"Would he have any reason to be a part of it?" Dean asked her as AJ just shook her head, placing her hand over her forehead to cover her eyes as she felt tears rising as Dean sighed, "Hey." He said softly, walking over and sitting down beside her on the bed.

"He's my husband." AJ cried, wiping her tears as Dean watched sadly.

"I uh… I don't know what to say to you." Dean said truthfully, "But I'm here. Me and… Phil." He nodded as she sighed, feeling her head pulsing, "Maybe that wasn't my place to do that but… I'm glad I did because you don't deserve to be lied to, especially not from someone who is supposed to love you." He said, "It's your call but… I think it might be safer if we take this to Michael." He nodded as AJ shook her head.

"No, I want to speak to him. I want to look him in the eye and have him explain to me what the hell he was thinking." She shook her head, "And then… then we'll take it to Michael."

She felt cold and hollow. There'd never been a moment where she thought Ben would do something like this. He had always been wonderful. Kind, gentle, sweet and loving. They were able to talk honestly about their past relationships, and he knew how hung up she was on Phil, how much he would always mean to her, so for him to do something like this really hit her hard.

"I'm coming with you then." Dean said, "I don't trust him. I'm sure you don't either anymore but… I'm not letting you go see him on your own." He said.

"I can handle it myself." AJ sighed, standing up and walking back over to the laptop, wanting to read the email again to herself, trying her best to let it sink in.

She didn't even hear the door knocking, so Dean walked across and opened it up to see Punk standing.

"What are you doing in here?" Punk shook his head, walking on in as AJ turned around and saw it was him. He had initially came back to AJ's room to lay it all on the line with her. To tell her that had she not been married, he would have asked for a second chance, for them to give it another go, be each other's world again, but it seemed he'd walked in on a bit of a situation, "What's going on?" Punk asked, noticing AJ upset, looking on at her laptop as Dean closed the hotel room door over.

"Uh… it's… it's Ben." Dean said as Punk turned to him.

"What about Ben?" Punk shook his head, looking over to AJ who had her head in her hands, "What? What the fuck has he done?" Punk asked, his blood starting to sizzle at the thought of AJ being hurt in any sort of way.

"He was in on it." Dean explained as Punk turned to him, "He was the one who made the phone call." He said, "When he was here helping us I got his password for his email. You know I'm good at stuff like that… and I wanted to just check, I know it was none of my business but I knew something wasn't right… I found an email from Del Rio to him, telling him about the plans and that Dennis would let him know when to make the phone call." He said as Punk's nostrils flared as he looked over at AJ.

He didn't know what he was more angry about, the fact that yet another person was involved in trying to set his death up, or the fact that this person was supposed to be honest and good to AJ. Anyone betraying her or hurting her made him seethe.

"I'm gonna kill him."

A/N: Let me know what you think!