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"Can you hear that?" AJ asked, the next morning waking up between the sheets. Her stockings were ripped with her suspenders hanging off, her leg tangled over his whilst she rested her head on his arm, playing with his chest.

"What?" Punk asked her.

"Nothing." AJ smiled to herself, "When was the last time we literally woke up to silence?" She asked him as he smiled and nodded.

"A long time ago." Punk said. Although Keala wasn't a needy baby, and very rarely cried, she of course woke her parents up in the morning by crying like every other baby.

"I miss her but I don't miss her crying me awake." AJ smiled as he nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, me neither." He said, "I wonder how Dean and Anna got on with her. She probably screamed the apartment down."

"God, don't say that." AJ shook her head, "They'll never babysit her again." She said.

"We can't have that." Punk gasped dramatically as she laughed.

"Yeah, we can't." AJ said, looking up at him, "Because that means we don't get nights like last night." She said as he smirked down at her.

"We really can't have that." He said as she smiled, leaning up and pressing a soft kiss on his lips. They loved their baby unconditionally, but it was nice and healthy to have had a night off together.

"I don't know what we're going to do when I go back to work." AJ admitted, resting her head back in the curve of his arm, "We'll have no one to watch her." She said worriedly.

"Well Dean and Anna are always there, and we can always find a sitter." He said.

"Could you imagine my anxiety? Leaving her with someone we don't know?" AJ asked him.

"Well if it's gotta be done." Punk said, "I'd take her to the garage with me but I don't think Doug would be down for that."

"I wouldn't be down for that either. All those fumes and ugly men walking around." AJ shook her head.

"Ugly?" He laughed.

"Besides you of course." She stroked his cheek lovingly as he laughed, "There's no way I could take her with me. Could you imagine me showing up to court and sitting her down in the gallery." She laughed to herself a little.

"Look, I'm sure there are plenty of babysitters in the area, one we'll learn to trust." He said, "What do you think everyone else does?"

"Everyone else probably has a lot more family members who can help out." She sighed a little.

"Yeah, well… there's nothing we can do about that." Punk told her, "Don't worry so much, we'll figure something out." He told her as she nodded and smiled, feeling him massage his hand through her hair.

"You know…" AJ said, "I'm loving this right now but… I wouldn't change a thing. I couldn't imagine life without Keala, and I don't regret a single thing about having her." She shook her head and looked up at him.

"I don't either." Punk said, "She's way too cute not to love." He teased as she smiled and nodded.

"She is." AJ smiled, "I'm so excited just to… watch her grow up, I'm not wishing her life away or anything but... to see her take her first steps, say her first word… my stomach is doing flips just thinking about it." She smiled.

"Yeah, it'll be good." Punk nodded, "But also I hope she stays a child forever and never leaves me." He said quickly as AJ laughed a little.

"Yeah, I bet you do." She smiled, looking up at him, "I'm really happy right now." She whispered as he looked down at her, "I… I never thought that this was how my life would be. For all I know… I could have still been with Ben right now." She shook her head, crazy to think about it, "But… I'm really happy and I… I'm glad that I'm with you right now, and you're my baby daddy." She smiled as he laughed a little.

"Yeah, me too." Punk nodded, "At least we have the old death row to thank for bringing us back together. Proved to us that… that we were never meant to be apart." He said as she nodded, "Do you still think about him?" He asked her.

"Who? Ben?" AJ asked him.

"Yeah." Punk nodded.

"Not in a way that I miss him." She said, "A lot of things change when you realise that someone you thought you loved and trusted lied to you, especially about something so… so horrifying." She said, "And he sealed it all with a punch in my face, literally." She said, "I just dread to think what could have happened if… if we stayed together. Would he have eventually got violent? Would I have been trapped?"

"That's not anything you need to think about." Punk told her, "He's in prison. Ok. You don't have to worry about him or think about him." He said as she nodded.

"It was always you I had a home with anyway." She said, "It never really felt authentic, trying to live this happy life with him." She shook her head, "It's weird I just… I get frustrated when I think about why we broke up." She said, "It was so stupid and yet it was so serious and we really just… left each other alone."

"I would have annoyed you and came and found you but… I really thought you were wanting to split up. It made sense at the time, now it just seems really stupid." He nodded.

"We'll never be back there again." AJ shook her head.

"No. Definitely not." He shook his head, "Why don't we go for a shower and then I'll go make us breakfast before we go pick up Keala." He said as she smiled and nodded.


They eventually got up and enjoyed their morning before heading over to Dean's, walking on in as AJ was now desperate to see Keala. Punk wouldn't admit it, but he was also pretty excited to see her.

"Hey." AJ smiled happily, walking on into the living room where Dean was sitting on the floor with Keala who was sitting up and trying to play with her toys which Dean was assisting her with whilst Anna sat supervising, "Hi, my baby." AJ smiled gleefully as she clapped her hands and crouched down to Keala, "Did you have fun staying with Uncle Dean and Aunt Anna?" She asked her as Keala looked at her, "We missed you so so much." AJ smiled, crossing her legs in a basket and lifting Keala to sit in the basket of her legs, giving her a little hug and kissing her head softly whilst Dean smiled.

"How was she?" Punk asked, taking a seat on the couch beside AJ who was on the floor, stroking his daughter's cheek as she was more interested in the toys she had been playing with.

"She's an angel." Dean nodded, "Definitely not your kid." He said, getting up from the floor and sitting back down with Anna, "She was fine." He assured his brother who nodded.

"She went down after her bottle about eight, right?" Anna turned to Dean who nodded, "And that was her until about 7 this morning." She said, "She's great."

"What about when you guys changed her?" Punk asked, "She's been shifting away now and then every time we try change her diaper. She'll try slid up the mat with her legs."

"Yeah, she was doing a bit of that." Dean laughed, "I thought it was funny, and when I laughed she started laughing." Dean said.

"It was adorable." Anna nodded as Punk smiled. He was glad Dean and Anna had gotten on good with looking after Keala, he didn't have any doubts but he hoped that Keala wouldn't give them too much trouble, which she hadn't.

"So you didn't miss mommy and daddy?" AJ asked her as Keala sat in the basket of her legs playing with one of the little hammer toys she had, picking it up and throwing it away, then picking it back up again with fascination at all the different colours.

"I think you probably missed her more than she missed you." Dean laughed a little, "How was your night?" He asked.

"Yeah, it was good." Punk smiled as AJ nodded, trying not to smile too much, "We did miss her though." Punk said, "But it's good to know she enjoys staying here, we'll be calling you up to babysit more often now." He smirked as Dean laughed.

"Hey, as long as I'm handing her back after a night, I'm cool with it." Dean raised his hands as Punk laughed a little, "I'll go get her things together from the kitchen." He said.

"I'll give you a hand." Punk said, both of them heading through to the kitchen whilst Anna crouched down to Keala with AJ, talking to her about how the night had gone, filling her in on any details.

"She already does that thing you do when your mad." Dean said, standing in the kitchen whilst Punk packed away the formula bottles.

"What thing?" Punk laughed.

"When you scrunch your nose up and your whole face goes tight." Dean said, "She was getting cranky before we put her down last night and she kept making that face. It was haunting." He said as Punk laughed.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure Ape has pointed that out to me before." Punk said, "I don't see it."

"She's pretty cool, though." Dean said as Punk laughed.

"I'm glad you think so." He nodded.

"Mom would have loved her." Dean nodded to himself, "That's all I kept thinking about. She would literally probably babysit for you like five nights out of the week." He said as Punk nodded.

"Yeah, I know." Punk nodded sadly, "Wish she was here to meet her." He said as Dean smiled and patted him on the back.

"Me too, bud." Dean said.

"When is your next meeting?" Punk asked him.

"Next week." Dean nodded, "Trying to figure out when is the best time to stop going." Dean said, "I feel better, on the inside and the out. But I guess I'm scared that if I stop going then… I might fall down a bad path again." He said.

"Well it's what you think. What you think you can handle. If you don't feel ready then keep going, and if you've got the confidence that you know you're good, then maybe it is time to call it a day. No one knows what's best for you better than you do, especially for this type of thing." Punk nodded, "I just want you to know how insanely proud I am of you." He said.

"Alright, stop it." Dean shook his head.

"No, you need to hear it." Punk said, "I won't lie to you, I was worried, I was really worried about you. At one point I barely even recognised you." He said, "But you done one of the toughest things ever and you admitted there was a problem, and you helped yourself fix it." Punk said, "It didn't look easy, and I saw how much you struggled, but I am so proud of you for finding yourself in all of this. We all went through our shit, yours came a little later, a little heavier, but you bounced back." He nodded as Dean smiled, "You're stronger than you think. I know that better than anyone."

"Yeah, well I had a good support system." Dean said, "A good brother." He nodded as Punk just smiled.

"Yeah." Punk nodded, "Likewise." He said.


Later that night, Punk and AJ had taken Keala home, thanking Dean and Anna for babysitting her as they really enjoyed having the night off from parenting, even though they missed their baby a lot.

"Why don't you wanna eat this?" AJ said, sitting at the kitchen table at the edge, trying to feed Keala some pureed vegetables whilst Punk sat across.

"Well look at it, would you wanna eat it?" Punk asked, watching as every time AJ raised the spoon to Keala, she shut her mouth and turned her head, causing him to laugh. She was still a baby, but she wasn't dumb.

"She's a baby, Phil." AJ rolled her eyes, "She's supposed to be eating some solids if they're soft enough." She said, "All she likes is banana." She rolled her eyes.

"All you like is bananas." Punk said as AJ turned to him.

"Is that meant to be a joke?" AJ asked him.

"April Mendez, get your head out of the gutter." Punk gasped, "And you said I had a dirty mind." He said as AJ shook her head, "But it's true, you only like bananas. Maybe she'll be the same."

"I don't mind some vegetables." AJ shrugged as Punk looked at her plate where she hadn't touched a single vegetable.

"Yeah, I'm sure you do." Punk said, "Maybe she's just not ready for solids yet. Some babies take longer." He said as AJ sat the small bowl down and sighed.

"Can't you just eat a little bit?" AJ asked Keala, resting her head on her hand and staring at the baby girl who stared back, "Please? Pretty please." AJ asked her as Punk just laughed and shook his head.

"Here, you want some of this?" Punk asked, taking the little baby spoon and giving her a little bit of mashed potatoes, leaning over as she immediately opened up her mouth and ate it off the spoon, "There's my girl." Punk smiled as AJ folded her arms, "What?" Punk laughed, "She likes the carbs, what can I say?" He said.

"She can't just be eating potatoes and bananas." AJ said.

"Well for now it's a start." Punk said, "Look at her, she loves the mashed potatoes. She really is my kid." He nodded, giving her another little spoonful as AJ just shook her head, but smiled as she watched Keala take the little bits of mashed potato.

"She's gonna be a fussy eater, I can tell." AJ nodded.

"Like you." Punk raised a brow.

"I'm not fussy." AJ said.

"You are." Punk replied, "And you know you are." He said as AJ just waved her hand at him just as there was a knock at the door.

"I'll get it." AJ said, "Maybe it's Dean bringing around that teddy bear we left." AJ said, walking on out to the hallway and reaching the door, opening it up as she looked on at the familiar yet unexpected face.

"Michael?" AJ shook her head, looking on at the detective from Tampa, "Hi." AJ shook her head with confusion.

"Hi, April. Sorry to bother you." Michael said, "Do you mind if I come in?" He asked.

"No, come in. We're just at dinner." AJ pointed through to the kitchen as Michael nodded, "What are you… what are you even doing here?" She asked, closing the door over and walking through the hallway, leading him into the kitchen as Punk looked up and saw Michael, shaking his head with confusion.

"Phil." Michael nodded.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Punk asked, in a friendly way of course.

"Oh, this must be Keala." Michael smiled, crouching down by Keala's high chair as Keala looked at him, "Anyone tell you you look like your mom?" He said, stroking her cheek softly as Keala smiled, "Oh, man. She's adorable." Keala smiled, standing back up straight, "My wife just had our first daughter a month ago." He nodded.

"Congratulations." AJ smiled as Punk nodded, both of them however desperate to know why he was here, "Not to be so rude but… well, I don't assume you're here just to say hello… what-what's up?" She asked.

"I uh… I need to talk to you both." He nodded.


A/N: Let me know what you think!