"Have you thought about what you're gonna do?" Kerry asked, sitting in her own kitchen with AJ, listening to the squeals and giggles from the twins in the living room who were playing with their big cousin and uncle.

"About what?" AJ asked.

"Sean said you're thinking about going back to work. I was just wondering if you were gonna go back to teaching." Kerry said.

"I'm not sure." AJ admitted, "I feel like I've lost the passion to do it." She said.

"Would you ever consider doing anything else? You never know… maybe you'll find something you enjoy more." She shrugged as AJ just shrugged. It was hard trying to talk to AJ this past year. It was completely understandable of course. She'd lost her boyfriend. The father of her children. Her soul mate, best friend, love of her life. She could understand if she wasn't very enthusiastic anymore.

"I don't think so." AJ shook her head, "There's nothing else I'm really interested in." She said, "I suppose staying in all the time isn't going to help me." She acknowledged.

"Definitely not." Kerry agreed.

"I suppose I could do some charity work." AJ said, "If it keeps me busy." She shrugged as Kerry nodded.

"That's a good idea. That way, you're in control of your schedule. You can work it around the twins." She smiled as AJ nodded.

AJ was forever grateful to Sean and Kerry for sticking by her, even when she had tried to push everyone away in the beginning. They were the ones who made sure she still ate, and she still got rest from constantly being on her toes with the twins. They were a great help. She owed so much to them.

A few months later and Punk was finally given the go ahead to leave Spain- his home for a year- and go home to his family. He knew it would be no walk in the park. In fact, he had no idea how AJ would react when she seen him again. She'd probably think she was going insane. But he'd be there to catch her when she fell.

There was no better feeling than stepping off the flight that landed late on in Chicago. He'd missed the damp smell of the air, and the sound of rickety trains. He knew it was going to be a long road home, but nothing was holding him back now.

Paul had warned him to take it easy with AJ, he volunteered to let her know first, but Punk insisted on charging head first into the house, which probably wasn't the best thing to do on a Sunday night, past the twins bed time.

He still had a set of keys. In fact, he was in the exact same clothes he was taken in no less than a year ago. He'd refused to bring anything with him that was bought in Spain. His home was here. His things were here. Everything he had in Spain was just temporary, no matter what Sam would say to him.

He opened up the locked door, walking into the house and shutting the door over behind him. It smelled like babies, definitely, but it was freezing cold. It didn't feel like a home anymore, and that saddened him.

He walked through the living room that appeared to be empty, and through into the kitchen that was also completely empty. He paused in his tracks though, when he heard a trigger being loaded, and a frail voice behind him, yet to see his face.

"Don't move." She whispered.

If there was one thing that she remembered from Punks teachings and tellings, was how to protect herself and the twins. She'd got a gun a few months after his death, and knew exactly how to use it on any intruders, which she seemed to be dealing with at the moment.

Punk didn't say anything. He put his hands up in the air and slowly began to turn around. He could never be ready to see her again, but it was going to happen sooner or later.

AJ watched as the man turned around, glimpsing into his features as she shook her head, shutting her eyes and reopening them. Was she hallucinating?

"You… you can't be here." She shook her head, "Who the hell are you?!" She yelled. Her head hurt just looking at this imposter. She didn't believe for a minute that it was her boyfriend back from the dead. She just assumed she was imagining things.

"April… April, baby. It's me. It's me, baby. Put down the gun." He asked of her whilst putting his hands down, "It's me. Phil." He tried to convince her as she shook her head.

"You're dead!" She yelled, "You… you died." She shook her head in disbelief.

"No… no, I didn't die, baby. I was under witness protection for a year. They took me the night we brought Caleb home." He quickly explained, "Put down the gun, baby. Please." He asked as she continued to shake her head, suddenly pressing the gun in against his chest.

"No!" She yelled, "You're dead. I buried you… you… you can't be here." She shook her head, resting her finger on the trigger, making Punk extremely nervous.

"It's me. It's Phil. April put the gun down!" He yelled with desperation, "I promise you, it's me. I can explain it all." He said as she continued to keep the gun against his chest, her finger resting on the trigger whilst he looked down at her.

AJ thought she was truly going insane. She had to be. He couldn't be here. He was dead. She buried him a year and a half ago. He was dead. Paul told her he was dead. She was losing her mind. She had to be.

Punk immediately grabbed the gun from her hand, throwing it over on the ground, a loud clatter echoing the kitchen as she backed away from him. She hugged her arms whilst in nothing but shorts and a tank top. She had been reading in bed before she heard him come into the house. She'd lifted the gun from under the bed and already called Paul, who had clearly made no action since he knew it would be Punk coming home.

"It's me…. It's Phil. I'm here. Baby, I'm here." He pointed to himself as she stood, still refusing to believe he was standing in front of her. She remembered the day. She always would. She buried him. She let him go. She'd been getting over the death of him for the past year and a half. This was completely absurd.

"I buried you." She whispered, "You can't be here." She continued to say over and over again. He looked the same, besides a few featured changes. But he still felt so unreal to her. She believed he was dead all this time.

"It's me." He repeated, taking her flinching hand and holding it tightly, "I can explain everything..."

After AJ stood and watched Punk with fascinating eyes, make two coffees for them both, she forced herself to sit down with him at the kitchen table, where she couldn't stop staring him up and down. He looked so real, yet her mind that had been told to believe he was dead, tried to tell her he was a ghost.

"You died." She pointed to him, "I buried you… there's a gravestone with your name on it at the cemetery down the road." She said, "You… please just tell me I've been dreaming for a year and a half." She could only beg.

"I'm not dead. And I never was." He told her, "I was taken into witness protection, the night we brought Caleb home. I never knew anything about it. They literally took me from the streets and flew me out to Spain with this team."

"Spain?" She shook her head, the caffeine in the coffee binding her nerves and shock down. Just a little.

"Yeah." He nodded, "Somewhere that no one would find me. It was the Albanians. They were coming for me, for putting all their guys in prison. I was in danger. If I didn't leave, I would have been killed. For real." He said, "April.. I tried to get back to you. I asked the guys who were watching me if you could come out. Or even if you could just be told that I wasn't dead, and I was ok. But they wouldn't let me. It was too risky." He said.

"I was told you were killed. On the streets." She shook her head, "I haven't sleep properly since… you… you didn't die?" She asked him. Her questions may have sounded stupid. But no one understood the position she was in at the moment.

"No. I'm here." He told her, "When they told me I had to spend a year without you. Without the twins. I thought… no way. I can't last a year without my family. But I had to. I had no choice."

"Who else knew?" She asked.

"Paul." Punk said, "Only Paul. I begged for them to tell you. I thought… If I can't be with her, let me put her out of her misery. Let her know I'm ok. But they wouldn't let me. I was stuck there. I felt like a damn prisoner." He admitted, "I can't believe it's been a year." He said, looking into her eyes.

She hadn't changed one bit. He had missed her so much. Indescribable amounts. He still loved her with every fibre of his being. Being here again with her, it was a blessing. He still had no idea how he managed to survive a year without her.

"I can't believe this." She shook her head, "I think I'm going insane." She whispered.

"I'm so sorry that you had to go through so much this year. But I never knew this was going to go down." He explained, "I never knew I was going to be taken into a protection programme. If I did, I would have told you." He said, "Which is why they probably took me so unexpectedly." He admitted.

"I've been through hell this year." She told him, "I thought you were dead." She looked across at him. She still didn't believe it. She didn't think she ever would, "How did I not know?"

"It was all set up professionally. And it wasn't to hurt anyone. In fact, it was all to protect me. I know it was torture, but God knows what would have happened to me if I wasn't taken." He shook his head.

"I wouldn't have lost a year of my life! You asshole!" She yelled with anger as he looked across at her, watching her stand up and immediately throw vicious fists in his direction, to which he could only put his hands up to cover himself from her hard hits.

She was angry, she was upset, she didn't know what to do or say or believe for that matter. Everything still felt surreal. She knew it had to be a dream.

"AJ… AJ… stop it." He asked of her, not wishing to be bet up by her on the night he returned home. It wasn't quite what he had in mind. Then again, he didn't know why he expected to run into her opened arms.

"I thought you were dead!" She cried out whilst lifelessly pushing him as he grabbed her by the wrists, watching as she cried tearfully.

"It's ok… I'm here." He told her, "Calm down." He said soothingly, pulling her into him as she slouched down against him, wrapping her arms around his very believable body, sobbing loudly and uncontrollably into his neck, still not believing he was here. After all this time.

- How will things go with AJ and Punk calming down from seeing each other again?

- Is Punk completely safe?

- Is AJ willing to forget the past year of upset and let him back in?

Find out in the next chapters.