"The nurse said that he'd get weekly check ups for the first few months he's out. She said they do it with all babies who have been put into intensive care after birth." AJ told her mother who she sat with in the living room. The night was still going on, and their friends and family were still here celebrating the homecoming of Caleb, and the safety and health of the twins as a unity.
"Well that's good." Janine, April's mother smiled. She was so thrilled to meet her newest and first grandchildren. She was extremely thrilled for AJ that she and Phil had their family complete. Their healthy family now. She wished nothing but happiness for both her daughters, and she knew Punk was making AJ very happy.
"Yeah. I guess it is." AJ nodded, "I'm so glad they're both home. Everything feels so right now." She smiled with a relaxing sigh. It was wonderful and just so peaceful to know her babies were both upstairs, tucked away nice and snug, snoozing their little heads off. Their health and safety was all she cared about.
"It will do." Janine nodded, "But now comes the hard part." She laughed, "Raising one baby was hard enough for me. But I guess I didn't have much help from your father." She admitted with a chuckle at her misfortune, "I'm sure you'll manage just fine."
"We've been doing fine with Harleen this past month. We've really picked up things quickly. Looking after Caleb too won't be any different." She predicted, "Phil is great with them. Really great." She said, hating to sound shocked about that. But she was. Punk had really bonded with both babies extremely quickly. He was a wonderful, wonderful father.
"I'm glad." Janine smiled, "There's nothing worse than being a single mother. At first you think it's better, because you can take charge and feel independent. But we all need that help, that shoulder to lean on." She smiled, "I'm glad he's here for you, April."
"Me too." AJ smiled gratefully, suddenly hearing a painful cry echo through the baby monitor sitting beside her that Punk had passed to her on his way out to get diapers. Which was taking rather long now that she had noticed the length of time he'd been gone for.
"I'll be right back." She told her mother, pushing herself off the couch and heading upstairs, "I'm coming, I'm coming." She said in a sing song voice whilst coming upstairs. She couldn't tell if it was both of them, or one of them, but she was betting that they would both end up crying eventually.
"Hey, hey… what's all the crying for?" She asked softly whilst walking into her and Punks bedroom, closing the door behind her and making her way over to the cribs, noticing it was Caleb who was whaling the room down whilst Harleen lay awake, but voiceless.
"What is it, little man? First night too much for you? Huh? Mommy's here..." She said whilst gently lifting him out of his crib. His tiny little limbs fit into his fitted baby grow that he was wearing, "Mommy is here. It's ok." She kissed his head whilst bouncing him ever so lightly in her arms.
She was surprised that Harleen hadn't started crying yet. She was lying there quite the thing in her crib, just gazing up as her mother tried to soothe her brother back to sleep.
"What is it, baby?" AJ sighed as Caleb continued to cry out. He didn't need changed, she'd figured that out from the still fresh diaper that was on him. He couldn't have been hungry. He was fed not that long ago, "You miss daddy?" She asked him, walking over to the window, looking through the blinds into the dark street, "He'll be back soon. I promise." She pressed a kiss on his head. It was clear to her that Caleb missed his father. Call her crazy, but sometimes she felt the way Caleb was feeling when Punk left. He was irreplaceable in all their lives.
"C'mon, close your eyes back over." She whispered, bouncing him in her arms lightly whilst making her way back from the window, placing Caleb back in his crib, singing all sorts of lullabies and saying all sorts of soothing words, until eventually, he and Harleen fell back asleep. Just a little bit of their parents touch was all they were needing. There was no harm in that.
Punk had just finished buying flowers for AJ at the nearest store, which was actually about fifteen minutes away. He'd picked her favourites… Tulips. And he'd also grabbed a pack of diapers too, as they were running pretty low on them at home.
He couldn't wait to see her face when he got down on one knee and asked her for her hand in marriage. It was the perfect day, and the perfect timing. The time that he had been waiting for since his first plan was thrown out the window.
The ring was sitting in his drawer at home. A ring he'd picked out when AJ was around five months pregnant. There was no doubt about it. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with AJ, and their twins. He couldn't wait to raise their children and grow old with her. Nothing had ever sound more appealing.
He walked along the pavement in the quiet town, practically deserted, but a copper like him didn't really care about walking in strange streets after dark.
His hand clutched the bunch of flowers he'd bought, whilst a pack of diapers were sat under his arm against his torso. He could have whistled down the street, he was that happy.
His son was healthy now, safe at home under the watchful eye of he and AJ, alongside his beautiful sister. Their family was complete, and he was just grateful for everything.
He continued to walk along, oblivious to the fact a larger vehicle had parked up behind him. A bigger engine than a car. Perhaps a van or a truck. He thought nothing of it. Until he felt an immediate hand cover his mouth, hands violently ripping onto him for a grip.
He dropped the diapers and flowers, trying his best to claw back at whoever was daring to put their hands on him, but whoever it was, was fast. He already had a black bag over his head, with his arms tied behind him, roughly being shoved into the back of a black van. He tried to shout and curse, but his mouth had been silenced with a large chloroform soaked rag that was weakening him and knocking him out, even when he was trying to resist.
"Let me know when he gets back, alright." Sean said to AJ, the last to leave the small party with Kerry and a sleeping TJ who were already in the car.
"I will." AJ nodded, "It's not like him to wander off." She admitted, a little worried herself, "He's probably got caught up in something to do with work. But at least I'm not alone here." She smiled to herself.
"Yeah. You take good care of my niece and nephew." Sean said, "Call me if you need anything. I'm sure Phil will be home soon." He said as AJ nodded.
She was a little mad that Punk had been gone for so long, and clearly had taken a detour on his way home. She wanted him to be here to say goodbye to everyone, and to thank them for all the gifts, and for just being here, but she had to do it by herself. But she was so happy, that not even Punk popping into work on his way home could annoy her. She couldn't wait to go upstairs and see her sleeping babies. Their father would be home soon enough.
"Thanks for coming. And thanks for the presents." She smiled, "We'll speak to you soon." She said as Sean nodded, heading away down the steps and into the car to drive his own family home.
AJ shut the door and headed away upstairs, figuring she would go for a bath, taking the opportunity whilst the twins were sleeping, and Punk had apparently gone out. She wasn't worried. She assumed he'd be at work, and she wasn't mad like anyone would assume she would be. He'd been off work for nearly two months now. He was bound to be missing it, and she didn't mind if he wanted to pop in to say hello to everyone. She wanted him to know that.
She sat on the edge of the bed in their bedroom whilst the bath ran across the hall, stripping down her clothes whilst she held her phone to her ear, calling him as it went on to voice mail, rolling her eyes at his carelessness.
"I hope you aren't scared of me." She began, "You… you don't have to make up excuses, Phil. If you wanted to go to work tonight, I would have been ok with it." She smiled to herself, "As long as you don't leave me in our house alone, all through the night." She whispered, "You know I can finally have sex again, right?" She asked him whilst walking across the hall into the bathroom, stopping the fully ran bath whilst shutting the door over, "Maybe that will motivate you to come home quicker to me." She smiled playfully, "I've left the front door open, I'm going for a bath. Don't hesitate to join me when you come in if I'm still in it. We have a lot of weeks to be catching up on. I've missed you." She admitted. From giving birth, she'd been told by the nurse to wait a few weeks before having sex again. With everything going on with Caleb, she wasn't really up to it anyway, but now she was fine, and her family were fine, she was feeling up to it again.
"Don't be late. Ok." She said, "I love you." She hung up, placing her phone over on the window ledge whilst stripping down her remaining clothes and getting into the relaxing bath, no idea that her boyfriend had been snatched completely off the street earlier in the night.
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