Thinking Positively

"Hey, April. I thought you were taking some time off." A work colleague of AJ's walked by her in the firm just outside her office.

"Hi, Liz." AJ smiled politely, "I am but… I came in to tidy up my office. It's been giving me sleepless nights." She said as Liz smiled.

"Not to trigger you or anything but… how are you doing?" Liz asked her.

"I'm ok." AJ nodded, "I just need to get through it." She said as Liz nodded.

"Ben was such a lovely guy. I… well, I couldn't believe it when I heard." Liz shook her head, "Are you gonna go see him?" She asked.

"I don't plan to." AJ shook her head, "I don't really want to see his face ever again." She admitted truthfully as Liz nodded, "I'm in the process for filing for a divorce. I just want to move on from it."

"He was your husband, though. It must feel like the ultimate betrayal." She said as AJ nodded.

"Yeah, it doesn't feel good." AJ agreed, "But I can't sit crying about it all day." She said, "My life isn't gonna stop just because he turned out to be someone completely different to what I thought." She said, "He's the one that messed up and he'll deal with the consequences." She nodded as Liz smiled.

"You go girl." Liz grinned, "I always knew you were a tough character." She said as AJ smiled, "When will you back here?" She asked.

"In a few weeks. I just wanna find my feet. Take some personal time." She nodded.

"Well hey, you just got a man off of death row. If anyone deserves a break, it's you." She smiled to her as AJ nodded, "I'm gonna miss seeing you freaking out in your office." She smiled to her as AJ laughed a little and nodded. She wasn't very close to anyone at her work, but Liz had always been a friendly face. She was older, almost like a mom figure, and AJ always appreciated the kind words she would give her.

"I'll be back freaking out in my office in no time." AJ assured her as Liz smiled, "Uh.. Liz.' AJ said, before she walked away.

"Yeah?" Liz said.

"Your husband is a doctor, isn't he?" AJ asked her.

"Yeah, he is. He works at Northwestern memorial." Liz said.

"Uh… I know maybe you won't have the answer for me but… do you know much about night terrors?" AJ asked her as Liz nodded.

"Yeah, it's a scary thing." Liz nodded, "It's like a form of PTSD that only happens when you're asleep. I remember my husband talking to me about it before." She said, "Why? Do you think you're having them?" She asked worriedly.

"No, not me." AJ shook her head, "My…" She looked at Liz and paused. She really couldn't face saying the word boyfriend when this woman knew that she'd only just split from her husband a few weeks ago, "Just a friend." AJ nodded, "He's… going into these really deep sleeps and… it's like a really bad nightmare he's having. He can't breathe, he screams-"

"This friend…" Liz smiled a little, "You seem to have had first hand sight when he's having these night terrors." She smirked to AJ, "Don't be modest, April. I read the papers. That man on death row was your ex… and I'm assuming he's the one suffering from the night terrors?"

"Yeah." AJ nodded, "I'm just worried, you know? He doesn't remember them in the morning, and I read that I'm not supposed to wake him when he has them. It's better just to leave him… but sometimes I'm afraid he'll stop breathing… and I don't like seeing him so… scared."

"It is best you leave him. Waking him up in the middle of a night terror… he'll confused and he might not know where he is… it's best to let it carry out." Liz nodded, "He was almost killed, legally, as dumb as that sounds. He had to wait for his death for months, for a crime he didn't commit… you're lucky it's just night terrors he's having and that he's not gone completely insane." She nodded, "They'll pass. I'd say it's pretty expected given the trauma of everything."

"Yeah." AJ sighed, "I just don't want him suffering anymore, you know?" AJ said.

"If he's surrounded by good people to help him through it, they'll bypass." Liz nodded, "Don't you be worrying about it.' She said as AJ nodded and smiled, "Off you go. Get out of this place and enjoy your time off." She told her.

"Thank you." AJ smiled, watching as Liz walked off down the offices as AJ left the opposite way.

"What are you two doing?" AJ asked, walking into the apartment where she saw Punk and Dean over on the couch crowded around Dean's phone like little boys. She'd been in the process of moving her stuff into the apartment again, whilst sorting out her divorce and selling her house. It was a lot of stress, but she had Punk and Dean helping her.

Punk's terrible nightmares were still occurring every so often and she hated it because she felt helpless and desperately wanted to comfort him, but when he was in them, she was told to leave him alone. It was hard, and she knew he was struggling a lot more than he was letting onto.

"There's a high school reunion for us." Dean said.

"Ugh." AJ groaned a little, dumping some more things down from her house.

"It's all three years." Punk told her, "Who knew people actually remembered us to invite us." Punk said as AJ walked over to them.

"Why are you saying that like you're gonna go?" She laughed a little.

"It could be fun." Dean said.

"You both hated high school." AJ shook her head.

"I didn't." Dean said.

"I did." Punk agreed with her, "But still…" He said, scrolling through the invite list on Dean's phone, "It might be fun to see everyone again. All the people we used to secretly give nicknames to." He said.

"Well, I think I'm busy." AJ said.

"We've not told you the date." Dean raised a brow.

"Ok, then I'll address the elephant in the room… Phil has just got off of death row… do you think anyone's gonna be interested in anything other than that? We're trying to move on from that." She said as Punk looked up at her.

"It might be fun." Punk shrugged, "I doubt that's all people will have to talk to me about." He said as AJ folded her arms, "Don't give me that face." He shook his head as she made an even more apparent face to him as he smiled.

"Well you guys can go. I hated all those jerks anyway." AJ waved her hand. She wasn't trying to kick the wind out of their sales but she just didn't want it to be a constant reminder for Punk that he almost died, twice. Maybe it would have been fun to see people from high school, but she was just worried it'd be too much. She loved how strong he was being, but she just wanted him to take care of his self a little better. She knew the importance of self-care better than anyone.

"Oh, c'mon. It's in a few weeks. Just come." Punk said, "It'll be funny to laugh at everyone that we used to laugh at back then." He said as she looked over to them. It did sound appealing to pretend she was eighteen years old again, "Plus, you wanna know who turned out to be successful and who failed at life… I know you." Punk said.

"Let me see the list." She said, sitting down between them and taking Dean's phone as she scrolled through the names, laughing to herself as she remembered all the idiots.

"Yeah, you're way too much of a busy body to miss this one out." Dean nodded as AJ gasped.

"I am not." AJ defended as Punk and Dean smiled.

"I'm putting my dinner on before I go to work." He said, standing up from the couch and walking off into the kitchen as AJ sat with Punk.

"Are you sure you'd be up to this?" AJ turned to Punk.

"You're saying that like I'm a cripple." Punk laughed a little, "We're not gonna be able to move on if we keep avoiding things. Trust me when I say to you, I'm ok." He nodded, tucking her hair behind her ear as she smiled.

"Are you ok or are you just strong?" She asked him seriously as he looked down at her.

"I'm ok." He repeated, "The nightmares are freaking you out, I get it… the whole thing is still fresh in my mind, of course I'm still thinking about it, but I'll move on from it, we all will." He said, "You worrying about is making me worry." He told her honestly, "So please, believe me… I'm ok. You know I'd tell you if I wasn't."

"Would you?" AJ asked him.

"Have I ever lied or kept anything from you before?" He asked her as she shook her head, "Well then." He said as she nodded, resting her head against him, "How's the divorce stuff coming along?" He asked her as she sat Dean's phone down and curled into him more.

"I think I've filled everything in that I need to." She nodded, "I just want it over with." She sighed as he kissed her head.

"It will be soon." Punk nodded, "Are you gonna go see him?"

"I've been thinking about it." AJ said, "In my mind I didn't think I would want to but… maybe for some sort of final closure." She nodded, "I don't know." She sighed truthfully.

"Whatever works best for you." He reminded her as she nodded. He'd been great with supporting her throughout all of this. Their help and comfort was very mutual at this time. He'd sat with her all night one night, helping her fill in different forms to do with her house and her divorce. She knew what she was doing anyway but she liked him there to keep a check on things. It was just nice not to feel alone. Both of them could agree on that.

Later that night, AJ walked into the bedroom where Punk was lying up. Although he was very much healing and feeling his strength getting back to normal, he was still taking it slow. She felt a little bad for being so obsessive over him trying to get over everything that had happened. She figured if anything, she was making it all more apparent, but she just wanted to help him.

"I have a surprise for you." AJ smiled, climbing onto the bed and sitting beside him with her legs crossed in a basket as he looked at her, "So that high school reunion thing, it's at a really nice hotel… I checked it out." She said as he smiled, "So I booked us a room to stay that night." She nodded as he raised his eyebrows.

"So that's the only way you'll go? If we sex it up in a hotel room after it?" He smirked as she nodded.

"You know me." She teased, "It can be a little night away for us." She shrugged, "Hopefully by then I'll have this divorce sorted." She nodded. She felt excited again. Due to both her and Ben always working extremely hard, they never got much chances to go on little nights away. She always remembered how much fun her and Punk had before they split up. She liked the romantic side to it, feeling like it was always just the two of them, and that was something she never had with Ben.

"It's a good idea." Punk smiled, "But I know that look on your face… you're feeling guilty about something and I hope it's not what I think it is." He warned.

"I just feel like I'm so caught up in trying to get through this with you that… I'm the one making it worse and bringing it up all the time." She said, "And I'm sorry."

"April." Punk shook his head and sat up a little, "Don't ever be sorry for that." He said, "You're being here for me. You checking up on me means a lot, and you're right, it is hard, of course it is… but don't ever think you're making it worse. In fact, you're the one keeping me going." He nodded. He didn't want her to feel guilty for caring and making sure he was ok. He loved that about her. She was so selfless, "Don't be sorry about that." He said as she nodded and smiled, leaning forward and kissing him softly.

"I love you." She whispered, leaning into him.

"I love you too." He replied.

A/N: Let me know what you think!