"Why won't she stop crying?" Punk asked, turning to Sean the next morning as they sat in the living room. It wasn't a thing he normally done. Normally it was Sean coming to him for help, but he supposed Sean had mastered fatherhood for a longer time than he had.
Harleen would not stop crying. No matter what he done. And it was a cry of pain. He could tell from the features on her face. It broke his heart. Caleb was sitting quite the ring on the mat, playing with some new toys he was given, but his sister just wasn't settled.
"I don't know, Phil." Sean shook his head, running his hand over his face. He had a slight hangover, and his nieces whaling and screaming wasn't helping it.
"I've fed her, changed her, burped her…" Punk shook his head, feeling helpless.
"Sometimes babies cry for no reason." Sean said.
"Yeah, small newborn babies. She's one." Punk said, bouncing Harleen on his lap as she continued to cry painful tears, "I'm gonna call AJ." He admitted quickly as Sean groaned.
"Why? You gotta figure this stuff out yourself. Check her temperature. See if she's wet again. Maybe she's hungry, get her a biscuit. Try put her down for a nap again. There is more to looking after kids than just feeding, changing and burping them." Sean explained as Punk stood up.
"Sorry, I forgot you were father of the year." Punk snapped.
"I'm not. I just don't panic when something seems to be going wrong. If she's still crying after doing all of that, then yeah… call AJ, go ahead." Sean said.
"Hangover you was never my favourite you." Punk grunted, walking out of the living room with Harleen still shrieking in his ear.
He tried everything Sean had suggested. He seen if she needed changed again, passed her a biscuit to which she threw out his hand, he even tried lying down with her in the spare bed he was sleeping in, singing past her cries in hopes she'd fall asleep. But nothing worked, until he checked her temperature and it was increasingly high.
He got her ready, changing her out of her pyjamas and headed downstairs to let his brother know that he was going out to the hospital. Caleb was quite happy sitting playing with his nephew, and Sean was keeping a close eye on them whilst he watched TV. He didn't need to worry about much.
"Harleen Reylissa… Brooks." A nurse poked her head out of a room as Punk stood up and walked into the hospital room. Harleen's cries had turned into whimpers. He was hoping that whatever pain she was feeling had died down.
He thought about calling AJ on the way here, but he had to deal with this himself. If he and AJ were going to be apart from now on, he couldn't just call her up everytime he was worried or scared about something. He had to deal with these things by himself.
"What seems to be the problem here?" The kind young, lady asked as Punk took a seat, holding Harleen on his lap carefully, "Day after Christmas, huh? Too many sweeties?" She tickled under Harleen's chin as Punk smiled.
"No… she's just been crying the full morning. Her temperature is a bit high." He explained.
"Ok, well I'll just check her over. It might just be something viral we can get her some medicine for. Don't worry." She smiled as Punk nodded, helping take Harleen's jacket off so the nurse could check her over.
After checking everything. The nurse concluded that it was an ear infection that Harleen had. She explained that an ear infection was very painful, and that it was probably why Harleen had been screaming so much. But she had pre scripted her with some medication to hopefully clear the infection, and also some medication to soothe the pain.
"You're a brave girl." Punk kissed his daughters head whilst strapping her into her car seat in the back of the car, "You're so brave." He admired, stroking her cheek as the baby girl clung to her small, rhino teddy bear, looking up at him with still teary eyes. She'd just been given her first doze of medication, so he hoped it would settle her now, and maybe she'd get a sleep when she got home.
"You can close your eyes now. No more pain." He told her with a smile, shutting the back door over and getting into the drivers seat, starting the engine when suddenly a fist began to rapidly bang at his window, startling him completely.
"Jesus..." He whispered under his breath as he turned to see AJ, angry and defiant as she demanded he open the door.
"Alright, alright… calm down." Punk told her whilst stepping out of the car, "We agreed 2pm. It's only 12." He said as AJ shook her head.
"You're at the hospital. What's wrong? Are you ok? Is she ok?" She asked quickly.
"I'm fine. Harleen has an ear infection. I got her some medicine to take. The nurse said it would clear in a few days." Punk said, "Why are you here?" He asked curiously.
"I came round to Sean's. I thought that we could spend some time with the twins together. You know… they normally don't see us together in the same room, and since it's Christmas."
"Yesterday was Christmas. Today is just another day." He scoffed as she batted her eyes.
"Well… that's when Sean told me you'd went to the hospital. I left as soon as he said that. I didn't know if it was you or Harleen that was hurt." She sighed, "Is she ok?"
"Why the hell would I take her if it was me that wasn't well?" Punk asked, "All this time away from work isn't helping you get any clever." He said as she pushed his shoulder hard.
"Excuse me. That was rude." She said, "I was really worried." She told him.
"I know, I'm sorry." He apologised, "She's fine now, she's to get her medicine once every four hours until she finishes it. She's just had it so I'm assuming it's working." He said whilst spotting Harleen fast asleep through the back seat window, snuggled into her stuffed toy.
"Well I'll… I'll get going home. Let you spend a few hours with them until I pick them up again." She said, "In future, please call me if any of them aren't well. Even if you aren't… we don't need to be strangers to one another." She said.
"I know. I just thought I had to deal with that sort of stuff on my own. To get used to it." He shrugged as she nodded, turning away awkwardly.
"How was your Christmas?" Punk asked her politely.
"It was ok. After I dropped them off to you I went out with Paige and Sasha. It was good to see them again. And it took my mind off of missing the twins." She smiled, "How about you?"
"Yeah, it was great." Punk nodded, "I could have thought of ways to make it better. But it was as good as it'll ever get." He admitted.
"Well… I better get going." She announced, "I'll pick them up in a few hours." She smiled as he nodded, watching her walk away and into her parked car, starting the engine, smiling as he watched her reverse out of her space, driving out of the car park and onto the main road, when suddenly his smile faded, and the car he was watched her drive had been crashed into by another quickly paced car.
The loud bang made him jump, and he almost didn't believe what he'd seen.
"April..." He whispered to himself, not aware that his legs had began carrying him down the car park, as quickly as he could, barely even feeling them moving as he ran out onto the road, "April!" He yelled, running into the crash, trying his best to open the door at her side, not being able to from it being jammed.
"April!" He yelled, banging at the window, looking on as her face rested on the steering wheel, blood running down the side of her head as she lay pretty still, "April! Wake up!" He banged, running around the other side and opening the door, climbing in as he felt someone pull him back.
Since they were steps away from the hospital, the paramedics arrived in a split second as someone driving by had obviously called. The man who was driving the other car was ok, he was up and moving, trying to see if he could help, but AJ wasn't.
"Sir… do you know who she is?" A paramedic asked as he watched them cut AJ's seat belt off.
"Wife." Punk said, "She's my wife." He lied. He knew that if he said ex girlfriend, there was no way he'd be allowed to see her or accompany her.
"Ok… well we're gonna get her out and take her straight to A and E, ok?" The paramedic said as Punk nodded.
"Phil..." AJ grumbled as she was in the process of being moved.
"I'm here, April." He called, "I'm right here. You're gonna be ok." He promised her, suddenly realising that he had ran away from Harleen who was still in his car. He really wished he could have split himself in half, but he knew AJ was in safe hands now. There wasn't much he could do anyway, so he quickly parted ways from the crash scene and ran back into the car park, swinging open the back door, a look of disbelief and worry settling in further to his face as he seen the car seat empty. Nothing but Harleen's blanket and stuffed teddy bear sat.
He slammed the door shut and sank down against the car, running his hands over his hair as he looked up and over at the car scene where AJ was being lifted onto a gurney. When he ran down to see if she was ok, he was too busy looking to see if AJ was ok, he hadn't even took a glimpse at the man who'd crashed into hers face. And now… he couldn't spot him.
He felt sick to his stomach and terrified that not only his girl, the woman he loved was hurt, but his baby girl had been taken. It took a while, but the anger eventually kicked in, and whenever his kids or his family for that matter, no matter if it was a broken family at the moment, were hurt or laid hands upon, he wasn't someone you wanted to cross.
He stood up and raised his phone to his ear, "Paul… I need your help."