AJ quickly to Kerry and Sean's, not sure what had actually brought her here. All she knew was she had to cut a few wires and make sure everyone got away in ten to fifteen seconds.
She ran into the house, almost falling in the living room door where Kerry and Sean were.
Sean was still examining the bomb attached to her, trying to find a way to get it from her safely. The time was ticking on. They had three minutes, and he was getting more terrified.
"What are you doing here?" Sean shook his head, "Where is Phil?"
"He's breathing." AJ said, "That's about it." She said, "Get me a knife, quickly!" She said, rushing over to Kerry who was crying at this point as the clock ticked on, "Phil told me how to get it off. It's ok." She nodded to her as Sean ran back into the living room with a knife.
"I know what I'm doing." Sean told him, "You have to take TJ and the twins, get them out of here, a good few miles. Once I get this off Kerry we have ten seconds to clear." She said, "Go." She demanded as Sean nodded, putting his trust in AJ, giving Kerry a kiss before rushing away upstairs to get TJ and the twins, who had slept all the way through the events this evening.
"You sure you know what you're doing?" Kerry asked as AJ looked on at the bomb.
"Phil… Phil told me. He said cut the… cut the blue wire first." She remembered, opening up the latch and spotting the blue wire, snipping it with the knife as Kerry shut her eyes the entire time, in fear that it would all just blow up, "And then..." She paused, standing up straight, "I can't remember which one was next." She placed her hand on her head as Kerry's eyes nearly popped out of her head.
"Please, remember." Kerry begged, tears running down her cheeks, "We can't die. We… we're moms." She gasped as AJ just shook her head.
"It was red… red then yellow." She said, convincing herself as Kerry watched her, shutting her eyes over, afraid that death might come early, listening to the red wire snip as AJ sighed with relief, knowing she had got the order right.
She quickly then snipped the yellow and they both grabbed the explosive vest from around her chest, throwing it on the ground and running out quickly to the hall.
They couldn't have ran out of the house fast enough. AJ knew they had ten seconds, and despite getting out of the house, the bomb was huge and knocked them off their feet on the pavement in front of the now, blown up house.
Kerry landed hard on the pavement, bumping her head off the ground whilst AJ done the same, only hitting her already injured head off the kerb. It wasn't like a sore arm, or an aching leg. When a head was injured, it had a mind of it's own, there was no shaking off, and she couldn't help but fade out to unconsciousness.
"You ok?" Sean asked, walking through a curtain with TJ to find Kerry sitting on the edge of the bed, having just received stitches for her head in a examining room on the first floor.
"Yeah." Kerry whispered, looking over to three year old TJ who was rubbing his eyes with tiredness. It was 4am and he had been woken up when his father quickly ripped him from his bed, "Hi, baby." She sighed, almost crying at the thought of almost losing him today, and Sean.
She lifted him up to sit on her lap, cuddling into him as he noticed her stitches on her head.
"Mommy, you fall?" He asked as she nodded.
"Yeah. I was a bit clumsy." She nodded, "But Auntie AJ helped me." She smiled, looking up at Sean who was pretty quiet.
"If Phil wasn't so beaten up, I would kill him for dragging us into this." Sean said.
"I don't think he would have meant to have us in danger, Sean." Kerry said, "It's all over now. I'm just glad everyone is safe." She said, kissing TJ's head as the little boy cuddled into her, giving her all the comfort in the world.
Sean sat down on the bed beside her, "AJ was taken back into surgery. I don't think escaping hospital with a swollen brain was very smart of her." Sean said.
"If it wasn't for AJ, we'd all be dead." Kerry turned around to him, "Including Phil."
"Phil isn't much better." Sean said, "Shot shoulder, shot leg, blood loss, trauma to the head. I swear the guy is Superman. Any normal guy would be dead." He said, amazed by his brothers strength, even with so many injuries.
"Where are the twins?" Kerry asked.
"They're with a care worker just along the corridor. They asked if they wanted me to take them, and I knew you'd want to see TJ. I said we'd pick them up when you get the go ahead to leave." He said.
"They want to keep me until I'm out of my concussion. I still feel a little… out of it." She admitted.
"I don't know where we're gonna go." Sean pointed out, "We don't have a house."
"We can go to AJ's." Kerry said as Sean nodded.
"You were so brave today." He admitted, "Braver than I would ever be with a bomb strapped to me." He faced her as she forced a smile.
"I sensed help would come." She said, "And if not, I prepared myself to know that if I died, you'd be here, with TJ." She smiled.
"I could have lost you." He said. It was the scariest experience of his life. Knowing he could have lost the woman he loved since he was practically a child.
"But you didn't." She smiled, "I'm here. And despite their injuries, April and Phil will be ok." She said, truly believing they had won in this war that had went on.
"I thought he was my boss." Punk sighed, heavily bandaged up as he lay in the hospital bed, "He turned on me." He said, getting frustrated that he had to be interviewed by a cop, when he was a cop himself, "C'mon Peter, you know who I am, you don't have to fucking interview me." He rolled his eyes.
"Four men were killed tonight. One at the hands of you, which was all our boss. And three at the hands of your girl." He said.
"Yeah, and we aren't going to get done for anything. She was protecting me, I was protecting her. I'm a cop, alright. I know this shit." He said with frustration, it hurting him to even shout from the movement of his body, "Paul wasn't the man we thought he was. He was setting me up like a pig for slaughter. All this time." Punk said, "He knew no one would see it coming. It was always him. He was behind everything." Punk said.
"Well…" The officer said, "Word is, that's the last of that Albanian terrorist group. The last remaining three were the ones shot last night. As far as we're concerned. It's all over." The officer said, "You take it easy. I know if you have it your way, you'll be back on the beat tomorrow with us." The officer laughed as Punk shook his head.
"I'm leaving." Punk said, "I'm done with the force. Too many people I love have been hurt in the past twenty four hours. I'm not doing it anymore." He sighed.
"You're just tired, Phil. And clearly sore and upset." The officer said, "Just, take some time off, heal up, come back rearing to go. Don't make any rational decisions just now. Just focus on getting better. Alright?" The officer said as Punk just nodded, watching him walk out of the room, walking by Sean who entered the room.
"You really leaving?" Sean asked.
"You really still ease drop?" Punk said, wincing as he shuffled around in the bed, sitting up to get more comfortable, "I want to." Punk nodded, "How is everyone? Is April still in surgery?"
"She's just out." Sean said, "I spoke to the nurse there. She said everything went well, and she's healing up nicely." He said as Punk sighed with relief, "Kerry just needed a few stitches. Her concussion is easing off so we're gonna take off soon with TJ and the twins. We don't have a house anymore, so we hope AJ won't mind us staying at hers until we can figure something out." He said.
"Of course not." Punk said, "I still have a spare key to the house in my jean pocket over there." He pointed to his clothes over by the armchair, watching Sean walk over and take it out, "I'm sorry I brought you all into this. I never meant to." Punk admitted.
"It's alright. We're all safe. Kids included." Sean smiled, "AJ done good. In fact, if it wasn't for her, I bet you'd be dead, Kerry would be dead, and I'd be raising three kids on my own." He said.
"She's brave." Punk nodded, "She's amazing." He sighed, not believing the courage and bravery that shone from AJ. Sean was right. If it wasn't for her, they'd all most likely be dead.
"You know… maybe you leaving the force would be the best decision you've ever made." Sean nodded as Punk looked him in the eye, "I'll let you get some rest. Take it easy." He smiled as Punk nodded, watching him walk away out of the room.
Later on the next morning, Punk insisted that he be given crutches, as he refused to use a bed pan. He knew he could walk fine with crutches, although it was painful, but it was worth it to pee normally. But he also wanted them so he could get to AJ. He wanted to see her, make sure she was ok.
His arm was in a sling from his shout shoulder, so technically he could only use one crutch to support his shot leg. And his ribs were all securely bandaged up on top of his stitches across his stomach. He had a lot of wounds come to think about it.
He hobbled none the less down the corridor, getting into AJ's room where she was sleeping but thankfully breathing on her own.
He crutched over to her and took a seat at her bedside, placing his crutch down beside him as he took her hand in his, the right one to be specific as her left wrist was casted up.
"You're so brave." He whispered, kissing her hand, watching her eyes open up, looking over at him with a small smile creeping on her face.
"So you pulled through." She smirked slightly as he laughed.
"Unfortunately." He said, "How you feeling?" He asked.
"My head is thumping." She admitted, reaching for the glass of water at the table beside her, taking a sip as she sat up slowly, "How are you?" She asked, putting down the glass.
"I'm sore." Punk nodded, not denying the pain, even if it made him feel weak, "Kerry is really grateful to you… hell, we all are. We'd all be dead if it weren't for you, April. I'm… I'm really proud of you." He admitted.
"I was only doing what you taught me." She said as he nodded, looking down at the ground, plucking up the courage to question her on what had been bothering him.
"Why didn't you tell me?" He asked her.
"Tell you what?" She asked.
"That you were raped." He said as she immediately looked away. She couldn't lie anymore. He obviously heard it from the guys themselves. She kept it from him because it seemed easier. She felt like, if no one knew about it, then it didn't really exist. She supposed it was the wrong way to deal with it.
"I was scared you wouldn't look at me the same." She turned to him.
"Are you crazy?" He asked, "I love you. You should have let me know. It would have been better coming from you than they scum bags last night." He admitted, "You shouldn't have had to keep that to yourself." He sighed. He hated what had been done to her. She was so strong, stronger than he could ever be.
"I knew you'd be angry and want to track them down. And I was pregnant. I needed you there for me. I just thought it would be better if no one knew." She admitted, "But I guess it feels better that you know now."
"You don't have to hide things from me." Punk told her, "They bastards are dead now anyway. Paul included..."
"Yeah, what was that all about?" AJ shook her head.
"It's a long story, I guess." Punk said, staring at her as she raised her eyebrows.
"What?" She smiled slightly.
"I'm just… thinking of how much conversation we need to have before it's appropriate to kiss you again." He admitted as she smiled.
"I think you're good." She nodded as he smiled, watching him lean him as she cupped his cheek, melting in against the feeling of his lips, not understanding why she ever wanted to push him away. Those lips carried her through thick and thin. She didn't want to be without him anymore.