The candles had burned down to nothing, leaving the scent of black cherry lingering through the air. It felt more appropriate and right to be lying with Phil in her bed, than it ever did with Jamie. Maybe she was just comparing them too much, but she couldn't help it. Everything Phil gave her, Jamie hadn't even attempted. She didn't really know the definition of passion until she gave herself up to him.

It had been another steamy night, and they were now lying under the sheets, on their backs. AJ was tucked into him with his arm around her shoulder resting on the pillow, playing with her soft hair as their heavy breathing returned to normal.

They'd began chatting about personal things after AJ asked him what he wanted out of this. To her surprise, he wanted to know her. His words exactly. He wanted to know all of her, just like she wanted to know him. This wasn't just a dirty affair. This was real.

"Mom died two years ago. She had lung cancer. Spread everywhere." He said in the core of their quiet whispering. He didn't feel comfortable with talking about personal things with anyone, but with AJ, he felt like he could tell her anything.

"Did she suffer?" AJ asked quietly, settled into his torso as he nodded.

"Yeah. She got pretty bad. It got to a point where I just wanted her to let go. You know. It was too much for my little brother, he stayed away a lot, but I was always there. She passed just before Christmas." He said, "It was hard."

"Are you still in contact with your brother?" AJ asked.

"Yeah. I'll give him a call from time to time, but he's doing good on his own. He just had a kid actually, before I moved out here. For us being so close to our mom, we're moving on pretty well." He admitted.

"Well I'm sure she'd be proud of you both." She told him, turning on to her stomach to get a better look at him, resting her chin in the palm of her hands, "How long have you been a cop?" She asked.

"Twelve years." He told her, smiling at her interested self staring into his eyes.

"Is there like a specific department you work in?" She asked curiously. She was interested in knowing him just as he was her. She wanted to laugh with him, and smile with him, and know him inside out. She knew having him here, in the bed that she slept in with her husband was wrong. She would always know it was wrong, but it felt right. Physically and emotionally.

"I'm trained in all parts. I'm good at figuring out things. I can catch a guy on the run too." He nodded as she smiled, "It's actually pretty hard too. I mean, I'm the guy that goes and tells that family that their daughter was killed last night. I'm the guy that has to discover a body, murdered, raped or beaten." He said, "It's mentally challenging."

"Must be hard." AJ understood, stroking his arm softly as he propped himself up on his elbow, resting his head in his hand as he looked on at her.

"What about you? What's the mentally challenging parts about being a second grade teacher?" He asked with a smile.

"Oh, you know. Wiping kids noses, teaching the alphabet, cleaning paint off their clothes. The usual." She smiled, "Jamie says I could do a lot better than a school teacher." She rolled her eyes.

"Ignore him." He shook his head, "It's clear to see you enjoy your job. That's the only thing he should be concerned about." He said as she smiled.

"Do you think we're bad?" She asked him, resting her head on her folded arms whilst looking up at him, "I've been so busy attached to Jamie, I thought that the love I had with him, was the highest love I was ever gonna feel."

"You don't know what love is, April." He shook his head as she sighed, resting her head down, pressing her forehead against the mattress as he caught onto her bare back, eyeing up the black and white tattoo on her left shoulder blade.

"What's that?" He brushed his hand over the tattoo, not being able to make out what it was, watching her lift her head.

"Oh, that." She said, "I was sixteen and wanted to break the rules." She said, "It's a Chinese dragon." She said as he stared at it with a smile. He loved it. Obviously he was a big tattoo lover, but even more of a lover of tattoos on women.

"Why didn't I notice it?" He asked, curious as to how he never seen it whilst they had been naked together twice, "All that hair probably." He answered his own question.

"Yeah, and I don't think you were looking at my back the entire time." She added as he chuckled.

"No. I definitely wasn't." He agreed as she curled back up into his chest, resting her head on his bright pecs. His muscular body was so comforting to lie against. In his arms, she felt like nothing could hurt her or go wrong.

"What is this, Phil?"

"What is what?" Punk asked her as she looked up at him.

"This. Between us. Because I know it isn't just sex." She said. For them to hit things off so quick, for them to connect so easily, like they had been together all this time, it didn't feel like this was just an affair. It felt real. If it really was just a cheap fling, then there wouldn't have been so much passion.

"I don't know what it is." He told her truthfully as she looked back down, "But whatever it is, I know I like it." He told her, "Would you ever… would you ever leave Jamie?"

"I don't know." She sighed, staring into space as she thought about her husband. Her husband who she claimed to still love and care about, "I still love him."

"Do you?" He asked, "Because if you did, you wouldn't be lying naked with me right now." He said as she nodded. He had a fair point. If she was truly dedicated to her husband, then she would be sleeping alone in her bed waiting for him to come home from work, "The only reason you've lasted this long with him, is because a guy like me hasn't come up in your life to tell you and show you what you're really worth. Until now. You're just sitting in a comfortable tier with this guy." He said.

"What do you know about relationships and love?" She asked quite rightly so, "I could guarantee you haven't been in a relationship for at least a year with any woman." She said.

"Yeah. I haven't. Because I've never been in love." He told her truthfully.

"Not even once?" She asked him.

"No… Not yet." He whispered truthfully. The main reason he was so quick to just use girls and leave them, was because he knew right away there was no chemistry. He'd never found that one. He'd never looked at any of the girls he'd dated, and imagined marrying her one day, and loving her until they day he died. He hadn't had that yet. And he was pretty sure when AJ looked at Jamie, that wasn't what she seen either.

"Why'd you marry him?" He asked her.

"Because I love him." She said, "I still love him, ok. Just because I enjoy this, doesn't mean I don't love him." She said confusingly, knowing that that didn't make sense at all.

"Don't lie." He said, "It's not a crime to say you don't love him." He said. She'd only be telling him something he already knew.

But for AJ, it was harder than what he thought it would be. She hadn't questioned her and Jamie's love before until Phil came into her life. He was right. She was so busy settling for what she thought was the highest love she would feel, that it had taken a guy like him who treated her exactly how she deserved to be treated to show her all wasn't what it seemed to be.

"I've been with him for ten years. And suddenly I'm seeing him in a different light." She shook her head in a whisper, "Why?"

"Because you're realising you deserve better."

"And what is better?" She laughed slightly.

"Me."

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