Back Together

Punk woke up the next morning, having slept right through the night which he didn't expect, feeling a blanket on top of him and smiling to himself as he knew his brother wasn't as caring as to put it over him.

He slowly sat up, holding his side as he done so, and stood up from the bed. He wasn't bed bound by any means, but his side was extremely sore, especially in the mornings and at nights.

He left the bedroom, walking out into the living room and kitchen area where he saw AJ asleep on the couch with her same clothes on from the previous night, using her coat as a blanket. He really wished she had just came into his bed beside him.

He made his way over to the kitchen and switched on the kettle, grabbing out two mugs, smiling to himself at the feeling of making coffee for someone else again. Waking up to her was always his favourite part of the day when they dated. AJ being the first thing he would see in the morning gave him the best start to his days, and then they'd enjoy breakfast together.

As soon as the smell of coffee began to circulate the apartment, AJ started to wake, stretching on the couch and slowly sitting up just as Punk walked around the couch.

"Morning." He smiled, giving her a little fright as she jumped, watching him slowly walk around the couch, sitting down the coffee on the coffee table and taking a seat beside her, wincing a little as she watched.

"Phil, you should have stayed in bed. I would have brought you some coffee." She said.

"No, I'm ok." Punk said, "I'm not having you run around after me. I have to keep moving or I'll just get stiff." He said.

"You were shot." She reminded him, "You're not made of steel." She said, taking the cup of coffee and taking a sip. He made it exactly the way she loved. It really was like nothing had changed.

"I thought I was." Punk hummed as she smiled, "You know you didn't have to sleep out here on the couch." She said.

"I wanted to give you your space." AJ said, "I could have rolled over and bumped you."

"I would have been ok with that I think." He smirked as she just shook her head and looked down, "I'm not putting pressure on you or anything… I know that what's gone on these past few months have been crazy, we're still trying to get our head around that… but… you know I would like you to come back here and… well, for us to give it another go." He nodded as she looked across at him, "I get it. You're still married and you're still trying to wrap your head around everything that idiot did… but this still feels like your home." He nodded as she smiled.

"It does." She agreed, looking around. It did feel like home to her. She felt safe there with the both of them, and loved of course, "I have a lot of things I need to sort out." AJ said, "First being I need to… I need to file for a divorce." She nodded, sighing to herself. She never thought she'd have to say that in her life-time. She didn't aim to. She hoped when she got married it would be for life. But she assumed she just didn't marry the right guy.

"It's a good step." Punk nodded as she turned to him with a smile. His humour hadn't gone anywhere. That humour she loved that made her stomach hurt from laughing.

"It is." AJ smiled, "And then… I need to go to work and figure out if I can take some time off. Surely they'll give sympathy to a woman going through a divorce." She said.

"It's likely." Punk nodded, "If you explain the cut on your lip, you might get a raise." He said as she laughed and nodded.

"I'll make sure to pitch that in." She nodded to him as he smiled.

"We just gotta try and get on with our lives now. Right?" He said as she nodded, "I know it's bizarre. I was sitting on death row a few weeks ago. You suddenly find out your husband isn't who you think he is. And we're supposed to just move on from all of that?" He said, "But… we got each other. That's always been enough." He said as she turned to him and nodded. He was right. It was enough.

"Yeah." AJ smiled, "I uh… why don't I come around tonight and I'll make dinner? I think Dean said he was going out." She said as Punk smiled and nodded.

"Is this a date?" Punk teased.

"No. This is me cooking dinner for us-"

"Like a date." Punk smiled as she laughed, "What's the dress code?" He teased as she smiled. He just wanted to see her smile and laugh. She deserved to feel happy, and he knew he could bring the best out in her.

"How about sweats?" AJ smiled to him.

"This is already sounding like the best date I'm ever gonna have." He nodded as she smiled.

"Don't get too cocky." She said as he smiled.

"Me? Cocky?" He said sarcastically as she smiled, "I can't wait." He nodded seriously as she smiled.

He was right. They had each other to get through everything, and she knew better than to push something good away.

Later that night after AJ had gone home and also called into the firm where she worked to explain to them what was going on, she headed back over to Punk and Dean's apartment. Her work was kind enough to give her some paid leave. She hadn't taken a day off work in her life, and was a good worker, and given the circumstances of everything, they were more than happy to give her some time off which she appreciated.

She didn't plan on making dinner just to get something else out of it. She didn't want Punk moving around too much, so she thought she'd make dinner for them, and since Dean was out of the apartment, she was hoping they could get some alone time to talk about things. Talk about what they wanted. They hadn't really got the proper chance with all the chaos going on.

"We really did miss your cooking when you left." Punk nodded, sitting at the kitchen table, watching AJ move around the kitchen as she smiled.

"Did you guys live on take-outs?" She asked him as he laughed and nodded.

"Take-outs and processed food." Punk nodded.

"I should have taught you some things." AJ said.

"I'm pretty sure you did but… I always had other things in mind." He said as she smiled over to him. There was still that flirtatious side to their relationship that she had missed dearly. The way he could still make her feel like a eighteen year old girl with a crush was still amazing.

"Mom made sure I knew how to cook." AJ nodded.

"Speaking of." Punk said discretely, "Have you… had contact with her at all?" He asked.

"No." AJ shook her head, "I actually think she moved away from Chicago." AJ nodded, "She's the one who needs to come to me and apologise. Otherwise, I'm not making any effort. Not after the way she treated me." She said, "And not telling me that she was bipolar… when she knew it ran in genes." She said, "I don't think I'll ever see her again." She said honestly as Punk nodded.

"No, I don't think you will either." He said honestly, "Did you get time off at work?" He asked her.

"Yeah." AJ nodded, "Yeah, they've gave me a few weeks off. I can get a chance to figure out the divorce. Being an attorney, I'm pretty clued up anyway." She said, "I'm not so sure what happens if Ben is in prison though." She shook her head, "But I'll figure it out." She nodded.

"Are you gonna talk to him?" Punk asked her.

"I don't see there being a reason for me to talk to him." AJ said, bringing dinner over and taking a seat at the table.

"Well, not that I'm sticking up for him in anyway. He's still on my list." He said, "But.. he did… kind of… maybe… save my life." He said, "I'm too bitter and petty to take that as a form of redemption. He still lied to you… still put his hands on you… but, maybe in his last minutes of being a free man he thought he'd try and do something good." He said as AJ nodded.

"Yeah, and I'm glad." AJ nodded, "I am." She said, "But… that doesn't change anything for me. I loved him. I married him. I trusted him with everything and in the end it just made me look like an idiot." She said.

"You don't look like an idiot." He said, "How could you have even predicted this was gonna happen?" He asked, "I couldn't." He said.

"I know." AJ nodded, "I just… I feel stupid for thinking that I could have moved on anyway. Maybe this is what I get for being with him and not… not loving him like I really should have."

"What do you mean?" Punk asked her.

"Well… I was always still hung up on you." She told him truthfully, "Sometimes I would accidentally call him by your name-"

"Oh, yeah?" Punk smirked.

"Not like that." AJ shook her head, "I made sure it wasn't like that." She shook her head at how embarrassing that really would have been, "Like if we were just cooking dinner or something or… watching TV, sometimes it just came out… and he was always good enough to just let it slide over him but… turns out he was so mad he wanted to help kill you." She shook her head.

"Why'd you marry him then?" Punk asked her, "If you knew that you didn't love him. Not properly anyway… why marry him?" He shrugged.

"I did love him." She nodded, "Maybe it was just easier." She sighed, "We both worked the same job. We understood one another." She said, "He was patient with me when he found out how serious I was about you." She said, "I guess, in the moment… I did want to marry him." She said.

"I guess that was before you found out he was a liar." Punk said as she nodded.

"Yeah." AJ mumbled, playing with her food whilst Punk had almost finished his, "If… if we were to give this a go again… well, remember why we broke up in the first place?" She said as he looked up at her, "I still work the same job. Long hours. I'm not usually out of town, I work in the area but… what if we just get back together for things to fall apart again?" She asked worriedly. It was her only concern.

"I think we can both agree that we weren't prepared for anything back then." He said, pushing his plate away, "We'd been so used to one another being around at all times that when you started working away and I was working all hours under the sun… it became too hard for us." He said, "I think we've grew up from then. Don't you think?" He said as she nodded.

"Yeah, I guess we have." She smiled, gazing across at him as he looked back. Of course she wanted to give it a go. These past few months had reminded her of how much she really did love him. How much she had missed him and how much having him in her life made things so much better.

"I uh… I promise that I'll be better this time." He nodded, looking down, "Things got ugly towards the end. I stopped trying. I gave up." He said, "And it's still the biggest regret of my life." He looked up at her, "And knowing that you were out there and you were married and living your life… killed me." He nodded truthfully as she looked across at him, "I promise this time I'll do better."

"You didn't do anything." AJ shook her head immediately, "It wasn't your fault. Like you said, it just got too much for us and we didn't know how to handle things." She said, "There was never a time where I needed you to be better." She shook her head, "I loved you for you. I still do." She nodded as he smiled. Hearing those words again made everything bad go away. Like it always did, "Maybe… maybe all of this happened for a reason." She nodded.

"You and your reasons." He laughed to himself as she smiled.

"I'm serious." She nodded, "Maybe it all happened to… to bring us back together." She nodded, looking across at him as he smiled.

"Then thank God some psychopath wanted me on death row." Punk nodded truthfully as she smiled.

She didn't want to hold back. She wanted him again. She wanted to feel loved and protected, the way only he could make her feel, the way he made her feel since she was seventeen years old. She didn't want to wait anymore, and she didn't want to hold back just for the sake of sorting her life out. He was her life. And she wasn't being that girl who analysed her decisions all of the time anymore. With him, there didn't even need to be a decision.

She stood up and walked over to him as he watched, smiling as she slowly sat down on his lap, staying clear of his side as he wrapped his arm around her waist.

"Hi." Punk smiled.

"Hi." AJ replied, cupping his face and staring into his eyes, "I don't want to wait anymore." She whispered as he shook his head in agreement, pressing his lips against hers as she kissed back softly, caressing his neck as he deepened the kiss further.

"I want you inside me." She whispered, pulling back from him as he kissed her neck, giving her goosebumps already as she felt his mouth around her pulse point. She didn't just want him now, she needed him.

A few hours later, although proving to be a little more difficult with Punk's wounded side, AJ and Punk were in bed, and fitting exactly back into old ways. There was no words to describe what it felt like to be back with each other again, especially so intimately.

AJ clung onto him desperately, the feeling of her naked body touching against his being one she had missed dearly. She never wanted to let him go. Feeling him inside her, laying on her back, having him so close to her again, it brought back all those wonderful feelings he made her feel, and she knew they could never part again.

"Fuck." Punk moaned to himself, thrusting in and out of her, nothing ever feeling as good as being with her. It was almost like relief. Like a drug addict scoring their fix after being clean for so long. It was a high he couldn't get anywhere else and having him back in his arms, under him naked, nothing compared.

"I'm gonna cum." AJ gasped again, having lost count of how many times she'd let herself go. They hadn't lost any of their spark, in fact, it seemed more intense now.

"Cum for me." Punk nodded, leaning down and kissing her as she kissed back, gasping against his mouth, rolling her head back as he kissed her throat and around her neck, hitting off her g-spot continuously until he felt her tighten around him and let go, watching her as she came and smiling to himself, "Fuck, you're so beautiful." He whispered, kissing her neck whilst her body shook under him, feeling him continue to move in and out of her until he reached his own release, "Shit, April." Punk grunted, spilling himself inside her as she looked up at him and watched him lustfully.

It all made sense being back with him, not to mention the whole thing felt even more right than it did before they split up. She felt back at home. She felt like in a strange way, she had her life back.

She watched as he lay down beside her after spending some time, steady inside her, kissing her neck, smiling to him as he wiped his forehead with his arm and turned to her with a smile. There was no denying that they weren't going to give this another go. This time she was sure they wouldn't lose each other. They knew what it felt like to live without one another, and yeah, maybe they had moved on in ways, but maybe they were just good at pretending.

"I love you." She whispered happily, turning on her side to rest against him, kissing his shoulder and looking up at him as he smiled, kissing her forehead softly and nodding.

"I love you." He said, both still trying to catch their breaths, but laying in the comfort of each other's bodies. They were at peace together. They could forget everything that was going on around them and only focus on each other. That was all that mattered.

A/N: Let me know what you think!