Temper

Punk and AJ had fallen asleep after a steamy night. Punk lay on his back in the comfortable bed whilst AJ lay into his torso. Punk woke up when he heard the sound of his phone vibrating on the night stand.

He opened his eyes, screwing them up once coming into contact with the brightness of his phone, opening it up and reading the message from Dean as he sighed to himself.

He put the phone back down and slid out of bed, making sure not to disturb AJ, taking her hand which sat on his chest and resting it down on the bed, placing a kiss on her head and pulling the sheets over her. He really wanted to stay in bed with her. It was peaceful, quiet and comfortable, but his brother needed him.

He threw on some clothes and left the hotel room, getting down to the first floor and heading outside where he saw the blue flashing lights already there, walking through the automatic doors and shaking his head as he saw his little brother standing in handcuffs.

"The fuck is wrong with you?" Punk shoved him brotherly as Dean just grumbled, "What happened?"

"Just a fight." Dean told him.

"With who?" Punk asked.

"Freddie." Dean said as Punk shook his head and turned to an officer.

"Alright, is this necessary? It was just a drunken bar fight." Punk said, "Happens all the time I'm sure." He said with ease as the officer shook his head.

"The other man is in hospital." The officer said, "He's coming to the station with us." He pointed to Dean as Punk rolled his eyes and turned back to Dean.

"You're an idiot." Punk shook his head, looking at Dean who didn't seem bothered.

"He was talking shit about us… you." Dean said, "I wasn't just gonna stand there." He defended, sobering up a little now as Punk just shook his head.

"Yeah, well now you're gonna spend the night in jail until I get bail you out." Punk said, "I'm unemployed by the way." He reminded him, "You're a grown man. I thought you were beyond this stage now." Punk said.

"He was talking shit about you. Alright?" Dean said angrily, "I couldn't just ignore it."

"Well you should have." Punk said, "The guy is in hospital, what'd you do to him?" He asked, shaking his head.

"I just punched him a few times." Dean shrugged modestly as Punk narrowed his eyes at him, "Maybe a kick." He said slowly.

"Alright. I get it." Punk said, "Hey, officer." He called over to one of the cops, "Is there any way we can just forget about this? I mean, some words were exchanged, too much alcohol had been drank… is there any need to take him in?"

"Yeah, there is." The officer said, "Once we know the severity of the injuries sustained, we'll charge him on the basis of that. Just because he was drunk doesn't give him a free ticket." He said, taking Dean by the arm and leading him to the car.

"Yeah, well I never said that." Punk said bitterly.

"Just come get me in the morning." Dean said as Punk nodded and sighed, watching the police car door shut as he watched it drive off.

He made his way back into the hotel and up to the room. He knew he wouldn't be sleeping tonight thinking and worrying about Dean.

"Hey, where did you go?" AJ asked, sitting up in bed holding the sheets to her body. She noticed he was gone very quickly. She didn't like waking up and not knowing where he was, and was glad to see him back in the room.

"Dean was arrested." Punk shook his head.

"What? Why?" AJ shook her head, leaning over and switching the lamp on from the bedside table to give the room a tiny bit of light. They'd had the best night, it was hot, passionate, sexy and AJ hadn't felt that in a long time. It was an even better feeling to fall asleep with one another afterwards, but that had been cut a little short.

"He got into a fight with Freddie. Dean said he was talking shit about me. He's at hospital." Punk shook his head.

"Oh my God." AJ raised her eyebrows.

"I know he loses his cool if someone says something to him that he doesn't like… but I don't know how much he's fucked up Freddie." Punk said, worrying in case the injuries were severe.

"Hey, I'm sure it was just a sloppy bar fight. If Dean was drunk and so was Freddie, they probably weren't on target, and I'm sure someone stopped it quickly." AJ nodded, "The most he has is probably just a broken nose or a cut lip." AJ said as Punk sighed.

"Well hopefully." Punk said, "They've taken him to the station. He'll probably be out tomorrow morning." He nodded.

"If the injuries are just some cuts and bruises then he'll be released sooner, probably." AJ nodded, "Did Dean say what Freddie had said?"

"No, I didn't get the chance to ask him." Punk said, "He just he was talking shit about me." He said.

"Dean can't just walk away, can he?" She sighed.

"You know he's got a bad temper." Punk said as AJ nodded, "We've all been on the other side of it. He's scary when he's angry."

"Yeah, trust me. I know. I've saw it." AJ said.

"Hey, why don't we clear all this away." AJ said softly, walking into the kitchen of Punk and Dean's house which they lived with their mom. It was the night of their mother's funeral. It had been a terrible day for both Punk and Dean. They knew their life was going to be uprooted now that they had lost their mother. Not only had they lost her, but they were going to lose a home together.

AJ had done everything she could to make it an easier day for them. She was there from morning until right now, where everyone had left and it was just the three of them. She was still only good friends with Punk, their feelings hadn't been confronted yet, and she was even more sure of her feelings because it killed her to see him upset like this, the same with Dean too.

"Just leave it." Dean shook his head, nodding to the empty coffee cups lying around. After the funeral, they had just the very people who had come back to the house. It was mostly just friends and work colleagues since they had no other blood family.

"It's one last thing you guys need to do in the morning." AJ said, "I can do it." She told him as Dean looked up at her.

"What part of leave it don't you get?" Dean asked her bluntly as AJ looked down at him.

"Dean." AJ said sadly whilst Punk stood over against the kitchen counter.

"In fact, why are you even still here?" Dean asked her, standing up as his hair chair screeched back, "There's no reason for you to be here."

"I just want to make sure you're both ok." AJ defended lightly.

"Well we're not. You know we're not and there's nothing you or anyone else is gonna do to fix it. Ok? So why don't you just go home." He told her angrily as AJ looked across at him.

"Someone should be here with you. I just wanna help." AJ said innocently.

"We don't need your help!" Dean yelled angrily, grabbing a cup and throwing it on the ground as it smashed, "Unless you can magically whip up a house for us to stay in, or you can time travel and bring our mom back… then you're fucking useless, April. Just go away." He sighed angrily as AJ swallowed the lump in her throat.

"Yeah, alright, Dean. That's enough." Punk warned his brother, "She's just trying to be here for us."

"I don't need anyone to be here for me!" Dean yelled, "Alright?" He turned back to AJ, "You tiptoeing around us, isn't helping us. At all. We don't need you here."

"I know you're upset but don't take it out on me." AJ shook her head, "If you look around, I'm the only one here." She said as Dean looked across at her. She understood he was upset of course, but she'd never saw him angry like this, especially when it was directed at her.

"Yeah because you have nowhere else better to be and you don't wanna be at home with your strange mom." Dean hissed as AJ raised her eyebrows, "You're not the only thing we have, April. Alright. We got each other. We're the only thing that you have!" Dean reminded her as AJ looked across at him, extremely hurt.

"Dean, shut the fuck up." Punk told his brother bluntly, "She's our best friend, obviously she's here. Check yourself out." He said as Dean just shook his head.

"I… I need to go." AJ looked down at the ground to hide the tears in her eyes, turning around and walking out of the kitchen as Punk followed her.

"Hey, he doesn't mean that. You know that." Punk followed her down to the front door.

"I should go." AJ said, managing to avoid looking him in the eye as she quickly left the house, closing the door behind her as Punk sighed, turning back and looking at Dean sat at the kitchen table with his head in his hands.

"Yeah, he's no fun if you're on the receiving end." Punk nodded, pacing up and down in the room.

"There's nothing we can do." AJ said, "Why don't you come back to bed." She said, "He's spending the night in jail either way, we'll go first thing in the morning and if he's not out already, we'll get him out on bail." AJ nodded as Punk sighed, "Come on." She encouraged as he nodded, stripping back down from his clothes and getting into bed as she lay back down into him.

"You know you don't need to protect him anymore." AJ said, tracing her fingers around the tattoos on his chest.

"Clearly I do." Punk shook his head.

"He just lost his temper." AJ said, "We all lose our temper." She said.

"What if that's his way of letting it all out? He's always been a fighter, not a talker." Punk said, "What if all this shit is affecting him more than he's letting onto." He sighed, "Why won't he talk to me?"

"He's probably trying to deal with it as best he can, just like the rest of us. We all deal with things in our own ways." She said softly as he nodded.

"I just don't want him to not talk to me about it." Punk said, "He doesn't need to pretend he's not phased by it all. It's gonna take longer than I thought for it to all really sink in." He nodded.

"We'll get there." AJ nodded, kissing his arm and looking up at him , "We'll get him out first thing in the morning. I doubt there will be any charges. Freddie was an idiot but I doubt he'd wanna take it further." She said.

"Hopefully." Punk sighed.

"It'll be ok." She nodded, reaching up and pressing her lips against his softly, climbing over his body as he smiled, "Don't worry." She whispered in his ear, kissing his neck and kissing down his body as she disappeared under the covers.

A/N: Let me know what you think! Thanks for the reviews.