Calm In The Storm

"Phil, where are you going at this time in the morning?" AJ asked, shoving some clothes on as she watched her boyfriend leap out of bed and get into clothes himself. He looked like he was on a mission. She knew him well enough to know that whenever he got angry to an unbelievable extent, he didn't talk, he just had this terrifying look on his face, a look that said all hell was about to break loose, and she couldn't watch him go on and make any angry mistakes. She didn't know what he was capable of in this state, "Phil, look at me!" AJ shouted as he briefly looked over at her, "Ignore that for a second, just look at me." She nodded, walking over to him as he stayed still and looked at her, "We know the truth, no matter what that… what that article says, we know the real story." She said, "And I'm not gonna let you lose your cool over this and… get imprisoned for real this time." She said.

She saw in his eyes that same teenage look he had which lead him into detention centres. She knew him too well, and she didn't want him to go and do anything he regretted.

"I gotta go to the police." Punk said.

"We will." AJ nodded, "But right now, we're gonna go to Dean's, we'll sort out what we're gonna do. I work in this field, I know what you can and can't get away with." She nodded as he ran his hand over his face.

"They brought you into it." Punk said, "Like you were… like you were part of this downfall they're saying I had. Using your illness to define you." He said, "I can deal with whatever they wanna say about me, but they're crossing a line bringing you and Dean into it." He shook his head, "That's why I'm mad."

"These people don't know us, alright?" AJ said, taking his hands in hers, "They don't know anything about what we've been through… what you've been through. They wanted a story, they wanted some attention, they'll get it for a few days and… then it'll disappear, because people know that you're innocent, and they have the real killers locked away." AJ said, "Ok?" She cupped both his cheeks, trying her best to calm him down, noticing that he seemed a little more settled.

"Ok." Punk nodded calmly, trying his best to not let his temper and anger get the better of him.

"We'll go over to the apartment and we'll talk to Dean about it, and then we'll go to the police a little later on, I'll work with them in figuring out if we can take whoever it is down who planted those chips and who published that article." She nodded, "I'm assuming that they're linked."

"So it's some journalist who put those chips in the kitchen?" Punk asked, "How would anyone get in here? I figured if it was FBI then they'd have a trick or two up their sleeve, but what do journalists know?" He shook his head.

"We'll find out." AJ nodded, "The main thing is, you keep a cool head." She said as he sighed and nodded.

She was the only one who could ever calm him down. She had learned that from a young age.

"Gin." AJ smiled, showing her cards, sitting on the floor whilst Dean sat across from her, leaning against the wall whilst Punk sat on the edge of the bed, the bed in their new room with yet another foster family. They had to share a room, and their foster family were extremely straight laced. Attended church on Sundays, had no TV only a radio in the kitchen. Punk and Dean were dying of boredom.

It was after school and they had told AJ to come to the house since their foster parents were out for most of the night. They brought home a pizza and played some card games.

"I'm fed up losing." Dean groaned, rolling his head back against the wall as AJ collected the cards in, "Can we play something different?"

"You're just shit." AJ concluded as Punk nodded in agreement, handing her the cards.

"I'm not shit." Dean defended.

"Why don't we play strip poker?" Punk smirked.

"Oh, yeah. You wanna see me naked, big bro?" Dean nodded as Punk kicked him.

"I was thinking more for humiliation, not for sexual reasons. But nice to know where your head is at." Punk nodded to him.

"Let's play it then." AJ shrugged, shuffling the cards as Punk and Dean turned to her, "What? It sounds fun." She shrugged innocently.

"You know the concept of strip poker, right?" Dean asked her.

"Yeah, I'm not an idiot." AJ said, "I'm basically one of the guys anyway." She shrugged.

"I was… just sort of kidding." Punk assured her, laughing lightly.

"I'm not." AJ shrugged, "Unless you're both too scared to show me how little you guys work out." She smiled, "All those times you apparently go to the gym." She scoffed as they laughed.

"Fine then." Dean said, "Little miss cocky. Won't be that when you're sitting in your underwear."

"I really wasn't being that serious." Punk said, never thinking she would have agreed to it. They were all really close friends, and he really did mean for it to be more of an embarrassing thing than anything else, but he just assumed she wouldn't be up for it anyway.

"Well I am." AJ smiled to him, "Are we using real money?" She asked them.

"Yeah, cause we're all rich as fuck." Dean said, "What do you think?" He asked.

"Why don't we just toss shit in from around this room." Punk said, "We can always sell it and make a few bucks." He shrugged, looking around at the different statues and ornaments.

"Alright." AJ nodded, dealing the cards out in stacks, "You guys better hold onto your clothes."

The night progressed, and whilst Dean sat in just his boxers, Punk sat fully clothed, as did AJ.

"I'm fed up of this shit." Dean grumbled as AJ laughed to herself, "I'm not taking my boxers off." He warned.

"Yeah, no one is asking you to." Punk nodded, looking over at AJ, "You good?" He said as she smirked and looked at her cards. She couldn't possibly have a better hand than him, which made it all the more amusing for him, watching as she sat her cards down.

"Beat that." AJ smiled cockily, "I think you owe me a t-shirt." She said as he laughed.

"I don't think so." Punk said, sitting his cards down, "Full house." He smirked to her as her smile faded, "So… I think it's you who owes me the t-shirt." He smiled.

AJ just laughed to herself and nodded as Dean watched.

"Alright." AJ nodded, taking her t-shirt by the hem and pulling it up over her head. Punk tried to make it less obvious that he was starting, he even tried to not look at all, but he didn't have that much self-control.

She threw her t-shirt at him, "Happy?" She smiled, sitting in just her bra and jeans.

"I am." Dean piped up from the corner as AJ turned to him.

"Stop staring at my chest." She shook her head.

"Right." Dean turned away as Punk looked over at AJ, pretending he wasn't staring, but he couldn't help it. He'd always thought she was beautiful, and he knew that he looked at her the way a friend wasn't supposed to look at their friend, which made this a little more awkward.

"Ok, next stack." AJ said, just as they heard the front door open and close.

"Phillip? Dean?"

"Oh fuck." Punk shook his head, kicking the pizza box under the bed, grabbing the different ornaments that were in the centre piece of their game, placing them back where he got them from as they heard the foster parents climb the stairs whilst Dean and AJ both tried to get back to being fully clothed, not succeeding in time as the bedroom door opened just as Dean was buttoning his jeans up and AJ was putting her t-shirt back on.

"What on earth?" Their foster mother, Barbara shook her head. The scenario looked seedy, of course it did.

"This… it's not what it looks like." AJ smiled sweetly to them as she fixed her t-shirt, "We were just…" She turned to Punk and Dean, "Looking at scars." She waved her hand as they both stared at all of them.

"Is that a pizza under the bed?" The foster father, John asked as Punk kicked the pizza box further under the bed.

"No." Punk scoffed.

"We were… doing some school work up here, it's all good." Dean nodded casually as AJ nodded along.

"Why were you not wearing any clothes?" Barbara asked him, "And you?" She turned to AJ, "And… why are my ornaments all out of place." She noticed, horrified.

"Are you from the street?" John asked AJ who gasped.

"Oh my God, no." AJ laughed a little, "No I go to the school with them." She nodded.

"What would you honestly do if we were up here having a big massive orgy?" Punk asked them, "Huh?" He asked as Dean cringed to himself as AJ stood back a little, watching Punk walk over to them, "What would you do? It's not like you can take anything from us? It's not like you can ban us from watching TV." Punk said.

"Watch your mouth." John warned.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Punk said, "Am I being disrespectful?" Punk asked.

"You are." Barbara said.

"What's disrespectful is that you don't actually talk to us, and you have no interest in approaching us or getting to know us." Punk said, "Your names are on the system as foster carers because what? I bet God told you to. God said that all those poor, fucked up kids need parents so… you gotta do what God tells you." Punk nodded, "We had a gangbang in here. Go get your holy water." He spat, getting in both of their faces. His number one problem had always been never knowing when to shut up.

"Boy, you better take a step back." John warned.

"Or what?" Punk hissed.

"Phil." AJ said as Punk gulped a little, slowly turning around to her as she shook her head, desperate for him to stop and calm down as he looked at her face and instantly felt calmer.

He turned back around to their foster parents and took a small step back.

"You two are going straight back to the foster home." Barbara shook her head, horrified by the use of language as she ran off downstairs.

"Pack your things." John told them, "You leave right now." He turned to AJ before leaving the room himself as Punk turned around to them.

"Nice one." Dean shook his head angrily as he put his t-shirt back on as Punk sighed to himself, "Can't just keep your mouth shut, can you?" He spat as Punk sat down on the bed whilst Dean began to get their things together.

"I should go." AJ said, "I'll see you guys at school." She said as Punk watched her closely. No one had ever been able to make him snap out of it. Not the way her voice did. With her there, there was a calm around.

That didn't change the fact that they were going to be moved onto another foster family, though.

AJ and Punk eventually got ready properly and headed over to Dean's apartment where they planned to sit down and figure something out. When they got there, Dean was sat on the couch with Anna, his arms folded, almost staring holes through her as Punk and AJ walked in.

"Hey." Punk said tiredly, not really noticing the atmosphere, too busy wrapped up in what was going on, but AJ noticed it right away. She could feel the tension in the room, and when she looked over at Dean and Anna, she saw Dean looked completely pissed, in fact, he looked ready to explode.

"What's going on?" AJ asked, walking further over to the living room as Punk looked over to Dean, starting to sense the atmosphere now that AJ had pointed it out.

"What now?" Punk shook his head with exhaustion as they both stood looking at Dean and Anna, noticing Anna was avoiding eye contact with them.

"Anna has something to say." Dean spat, looking over at Anna who looked back at him and sighed, turning to AJ and Punk.

"I… I need to talk to you both." Anna nodded.

A/N: Let me know what you think!