Scare
"Hey, baby. Does this belong to you?" AJ asked the next morning as she walked into the kitchen and picked up the black chip which she had found through the night. Punk was over at the table eating breakfast.
"What is it?" Punk asked her as she walked over to him, taking a seat across from him as she sat it down on the table. It really was just like a tiny black bead, "What's it supposed to be?" He laughed a little.
"I don't know. Maybe it's fallen off of something." AJ said, "Or maybe you've brought it home by accident from the garage. It was tucked away behind the fridge. I found it last night." She told him as he just shook his head and continued to eat his porridge.
"No, I don't recognise it. It's more likely it's off one of your dresses." He said.
"Maybe." AJ nodded, "Not down here, though." She shook her head.
"We have an awful lot of sex here." He reminded her as he walked off to put his bowl in the sink as she nodded.
"I guess you're right." AJ nodded, "You won't be working late again tonight, will you?" She frowned, dismissing the black chip, not knowing where it could have come from, and not thinking anything else of it, in fact, she was putting it straight in the trash.
"Maybe." Punk nodded, pouring himself a glass of orange juice as she walked over to him, "You know it depends on how the schedule runs." He said as she nodded, "I won't be really late. 9 at the latest.' He shrugged.
"That is really late." AJ frowned.
"There's nothing I can do about it. You know that." He said as she just nodded and sighed.
"I just miss you, that's all." She said.
"I miss you too." Punk said, "It's my day off tomorrow. I can pick you up from work and we can eat out, if you want." He suggested.
"Yeah, that sounds nice." AJ smiled and nodded, "Is the crib coming tomorrow?" She asked.
"Yeah, that's why I took the day off." He reminded her, "Between 9 and 12." He said as she nodded.
"We really need to start getting the nursery together." AJ nodded as he just smiled. He found her cute when she got all stressed about being prepared for when the baby was coming. Of course he didn't like seeing her stressed, but sometimes he just found her adorable when she wrote down all her little plans and schedules.
"We've already got it painted." Punk said, "Dean said he'd buy the changing table for us."
"Yeah, and I can't exactly say to him, hey Dean, thanks for the changing table gift, but when can you order it cause we need it soon." AJ said.
"He said we've to pick one and he'll just pay for it." Punk shrugged, "Stop stressing, c'mon." He told her, "We've still got three months to go. That's more than enough time." He said as AJ just nodded.
"I know. I just want everything to be perfect." She said as he nodded.
"And it will be." He smiled, pressing a kiss on her lips as she kissed back. He'd been so good and calm with her during her pregnancy. Which made her all the more calm, "I'll see you later, ok?" He smiled as she nodded, watching as he crouched down, placing his hands on her stomach as he gave it a kiss, "Be good, baby." He said as she smiled, "You be good too." He said, standing back up straight, kissing her cheek as she smiled.
"I'm always good." She replied.
"Mhm." He hummed as he left the kitchen and headed out of the house to go to work as she smiled to herself.
She then picked the little black bead up from the table, about to put it in the trash when she ran her fingers over it, feeling the almost speaker like material on it and raising her eyebrows with confusion. It baffled her on what it could be, tucked in behind the fridge so randomly, and it seemed more like a technology piece than anything else.
She figured she'd drop by a tech shop on the way to work and maybe ask them if they knew what it was for. She didn't want to throw anything out that may have came from something…
"This is definitely a chip of some kind." The man behind the desk in the tech shop said as AJ shook her head with confusion.
"A chip?" AJ laughed, "Like a wire?"
"Yeah, like it picks up sound." He said, speaking to her like she was five.
"I know what a chip does." AJ made a face at him as he just nodded, "But you're sure that's what it is?" She asked.
"Yeah, these little gristle parts here." He showed her as she looked on, "That's like your speaker if you will. It's picking up sound."
"So is it from some sort of… machine or computer or something? My boyfriend works with cars and different machinery there, maybe it's from there?" She shrugged.
"No. This is like… FBI tech." He said as AJ just raised a brow, "I'd be careful, Miss. I wouldn't like to find one of these in my house." He admitted.
"Oh, don't be ridiculous." AJ laughed, "There's no one else in my house besides me and my boyfriend, and I doubt he's gonna be planting this to check up on what I'm saying to myself." She shook her head.
"Hey, I'm only telling you what it is. Usually with these types of chips, it comes with a set." He said.
"What do you mean?" AJ asked.
"So, someone, somewhere will have another part to it which… detects the sound." He shrugged, "Are you… some kind of criminal or something?" he smirked, stretchers in his ears and a tattoo on his face and neck as AJ just shook her head.
"No, I'm not." AJ said, "Are you sure that's what it is?" AJ asked him as he nodded, "I only came here cause I thought it'd be from a radio or something." She said, "Figured you maybe had better use for it than me." She said.
"No, that's a chip." He said, "And if it's got FBI all over it then we don't want it." He warned as AJ just nodded.
She couldn't think for the life of her, why such a piece of equipment would be put in her kitchen. It wasn't like many people were in their house. The only visitors they really got were Dean and Anna, and Punk clearly didn't recognise it when she showed him it. It was beginning to scare her a little.
"Yeah, ok." AJ nodded, "Thank you." She said as he just nodded.
AJ had been at work all day, and she really hadn't been feeling great. Despite the fact she was thinking about this chip which had appeared in their house so randomly, she really wasn't feeling great physically, and what worried her the most, was that she hadn't felt the baby move around or kick since this morning, and that seemed pretty unusual since their baby girl was always on the move.
She felt weak, tired and for the first time, a little nauseous, and was starting to panic a little, to the point where she called for Liz and asked her to take her to the hospital.
She called Punk on the way there who dropped everything he was doing and left the garage to meet her at the hospital. She wasn't in pain necessarily, but she just didn't feel good, and it alarmed her that their baby hadn't moved since early this morning.
"Hey, what's going on?" Punk asked worriedly after being directed up to the department AJ was waiting in, walking over to her as she sat with Liz who excused herself to go get a coffee.
"Something isn't right." AJ shook her head.
"What does that mean?" Punk asked her, "Are you in pain?" He asked her.
"No, no pain. But… she's not moved since this morning." She said with worry, "And I don't feel right, I feel tired and sick. And she's not moving." AJ said, which was her main concern.
"Ok." Punk nodded, "Alright, well they'll give you a check over and make sure everything is going good." He said, placing his hand on her arm, watching her as she tried to avoid his eye contact, noticing how worried and upset she looked, "It's ok, April. Just take a deep breath, ok?" He said, kissing her head softly as she nodded and sighed.
She was eventually called for, speaking to her doctor who had been monitoring her pregnancy since the very first appointment, telling her her concerns before she gave her a thorough examination.
"Ok, April. You look healthy and fine. And you said you just felt sick, you've not actually been sick?" She asked.
"Yeah." AJ nodded, sitting on the edge of the bed whilst Punk sat beside. He was dirty and in his work clothes, but he got a fright when he heard AJ was going to the hospital.
"Ok." The doctor nodded, "And you said the baby hasn't moved since this morning?"
"Yeah." AJ said, a lump in her throat as Punk rubbed his forehead, starting to worry himself.
"Ok." The doctor smiled calmly, "I'm gonna get you to lie up on the bed for me and I'll take a look at the baby. Make sure she's alright in there." She said as AJ nodded, "Try not to worry." She said as AJ sighed and lay back on the bed as Punk took her hand.
AJ watched the screen above once the doctor placed the probe on her stomach, moving it around to get a clear image of the baby which they did, listening desperately for the heartbeat.
She could have cried when she heard that glorious swishing noise fill the air, racing ahead which Punk loved to hear, taking a deep breath to himself as the doctor smiled and turned to them.
"I think maybe all that kicking she's been doing is making her tired." She smiled to them, "She's perfectly fine." She assured them as AJ placed her hand on her forehead and closed her eyes. She really was beginning to worry, "You know, she'll have good days and bad days, just like us." The doctor said, turning the machinery off, "Some days she might feel like kicking all day, other days she might just wanna chill out." She said as AJ smiled and nodded, "You've got nothing to worry about." She assured her as AJ nodded.
"What about her feeling sick and tired?" Punk asked.
"Well I think that you maybe need some more iron, April." Her doctor nodded, "Some mother's just need it more than others." She said, "So we'll take some blood and sort you with some iron meds if that's the case, alright?" She said as AJ just nodded, "Ok, I'll let you get yourself together and come see me at the front desk." She said as AJ nodded, watching her leave the room as she took a deep breath and sighed.
"Hear her? Everything is fine. She's just having a lazy day in there." Punk smiled, helping her sit up as AJ nodded.
"I'm sorry. I just… I just freaked out." She sighed.
"Hey, don't be sorry. You didn't feel good and I was ahead of schedule at work anyway. Doug covered for me." He said as she nodded, "You know you always call me if anything is up." He said as she nodded, fixing her clothes back to normal.
Once AJ had gotten herself together and they had left the hospital, thanking Liz for taking her in the first place, they headed home and AJ finally got to tell Punk about the chip. She figured that maybe part of the reason she felt so nauseous was because of the what she had found out about the chip. Obviously there may have been problems with her iron levels, but she figured that might have contributed also.
"You wanna have a bath?" He asked her as they got into the house, "I'll go run it for you." He said as she shook her head.
"No, maybe later." She nodded, "I need to talk to you." She said tiredly, walking on ahead to the kitchen as Punk followed her.
"What is it?" Punk asked her.
"I… I went to a tech shop on my way to work this morning." She said, "I noticed the little holes in this." She showed him the black chip again as he looked at it, "So I thought maybe it had come off of an appliance or something. The guy told me it was a chip, that picks up noise." She said, "And he said it had FBI written all over it." She shook her head with disbelief as Punk shook his head.
"And it's just magically appeared behind our fridge?" Punk said, "It's probably just fallen off of something." He shook his head.
"No, this guy said it was definitely a chip. And they normally come as a set with other parts, which means someone out there is listening to us through this." AJ nodded as Punk looked at the chip in her hand, taking it from her and walking over to the counter, "What are you doing?" She asked him, watching him sit the chip down on the kitchen counter, taking out the rolling pin from the drawer, watching as he slammed it down on the chip, breaking it into tiny pieces and throwing the rolling pin down.
"No one is listening to shit." Punk said angrily as she watched him.
It wasn't hard to believe that people were still trying to keep a scope on his life after being on death row for such a notorious murder. In fact, he was surprised that things had been so calm up until now. He had expected more harassment upon his release, but over the past few months, there had been nothing, but it was like he was waiting on this.
"What should we do?" AJ asked him, watching as he began looking around the kitchen frantically, "Phil, what are you doing?" She shook her head, watching as he started pulling out their microwave, their kettle, looking behind ornaments as he tried to find anything else suspicious, finally finding another chip as AJ raised her eyebrows.
She watched as he grabbed the rolling pin, smashing the second chip into tiny little pieces as AJ jumped, "Phil, we need to go to someone about this." AJ said.
"Just leave it to me." Punk said, "Don't you worry.' He told her, "I'm gonna run you a bath." He said, walking by her and out of the kitchen as she looked over at the smashed up chips, sighing to herself. It did seem too good to be true that Punk sitting on death row had just been so easily dismissed, and Punk wasn't surprised that there were people out there wanting to keep tabs on his life, but no one was getting access to his personal life, and no one was going to pin anything else on him when he had nothing to do with any murder. He'd make sure of it.
Let me know what you think!