"Have you taken your tablets?" AJ asked Punk the next morning who sat at the kitchen table with TJ who was eating his cereal, aka… spilling it all over himself and the table.
It was a pretty full house. Punk and AJ were residing on the couch, and Sean, Kerry and little TJ were upstairs in what was Punk and AJ's room. The twins of course took residence in their own room in their own cots.
"Do I have to take them?" Punk asked.
"Yes." AJ said, "Here." She popped two tablets out of their foiled containers, passing them over to him with a glass of water.
"Hey, buddy. Push the bowl closer to you." Punk helped TJ out, pushing the bowl closer to him so he didn't spill half his cereal all over the table, "Doesn't your dad teach you anything?" He asked whilst TJ shook his head, causing Punk to laugh.
"I do too." Sean shrieked whilst sitting up on the kitchen counter, "I taught you the alphabet last week, TJ." He said whilst the three year old ignored his father, causing Punk to laugh, "What you laughing at? You have two to teach alphabets and numbers to." He reminded him as Punks laugh faded, which caused AJ to laugh.
"Phil… Sean was wandering if you got the claim for them. He's just to chicken to ask you." AJ said, turning to Sean who made a face.
"I'm working on it." Punk said, "I mean, you're definitely gonna get it. They can't just ignore the fact your house got blown up by a bomb that wasn't your fault. I just don't know how it all works yet. I'll figure it out." Punk said as Sean nodded, "Where is Kerry?" He asked
"She's still sleeping. She hasn't been getting much sleep. Her stitches are annoying her. She's getting them out today." He reminded them.
"Well we were gonna go out tonight with the twins. You know. Get out of the house for a bit." AJ turned to Punk who nodded to her, still up to going out and having a relaxing night with his family, "So you have the house to yourself." She told Sean who grinned.
"Hey!" Punk said, "No. Don't you think about it." He warned him.
"They're angels." Punk smiled, sitting down in an outside beer tent at an end of the year festival in Wickerfield park. It was annual thing and Punk and AJ decided it would be fun to go down for the night. He'd even managed to win her a teddy bear by shooting down some cans. Which was easy for him of course. There were rides and stalls, and everyone was their with friends and family. It was a great atmosphere.
"They are." AJ agreed, looking on at Harleen and Caleb fast asleep in their double buggy. When they arrived both of them were eager to look around, pushing themselves up and gazing around at everything going on, but they had eventually zoned out from exhaustion, which cued Punk and AJ to go get a drink and a seat, and some doughnuts in Punks case.
"Kerry and Sean should take TJ here. I think it's on all the way until the new year." She admitted as Punk nodded.
"TJ would like it." Punk nodded, "I remember going here as a kid with Sean. Mom would tell us to share the money, but I used to just spunk it all on my own stuff." Punk recalled.
"No wonder Sean hates you." AJ laughed, taking a sip out of her plastic cup which was filled with pepsi.
"I only done it every now and then." Punk scoffed, "Anyway, how are you feeling?" He asked.
"I'm fine." She smiled, "Have you talked to anyone on the force about you leaving?" She asked curiously.
"Not yet." Punk shook his head, "I was thinking about going tomorrow." He admitted.
"I'll come with if you want me to." She smiled comfortingly as he nodded with appreciation.
"Thanks, but I'd rather go on my own. It's gonna be hard saying goodbye to everyone." Punk admitted as AJ nodded, understanding the tough position he was in.
"Isn't there a way you can still be on the force but just… I don't know, not get into as much trouble?" She asked.
"I'm not sure I want to be on it at all anyway." Punk admitted, "Maybe it's time to start a new career."
"You're a bit old for that." She announced as he laughed.
"Thanks." He smiled, running his hand through his hair.
"You know what I mean." AJ said, "It's a bit late to start training to do something else. And plus, what else would you even want to do?" She asked.
"I don't know." Punk shrugged, "Something that I don't need to go to college for or already have a degree in obviously." He said, "I mean… I always had this weird fantasy when I was in Spain." He told her, "We opened our own bar. We had a house on the beach. You still taught kids. You're fluent in Spanish anyway." He pointed out as she smiled, "We were really happy." He smiled to himself, "It was always sunny. We were always laughing." He smiled, "It kept me going whilst I was there for that year." He said.
"That's a nice fantasy." She smiled, "But you? Running a bar? Bit ironic, is it not?" She laughed.
"I knew you'd say that." He laughed, "Tons of people do it. In fact, half the bars over there aren't ran by Spanish people." He said.
"And did the twins like living there? Living on the beach?" She asked him.
"Yeah. They loved it." Punk nodded.
"Living in a foreign country, huh?" She said, "What about your brother and Kerry?" She asked.
"Why do I feel like you're jumping onto this idea?" Punk smiled, "I know you. I know when you want something you get it." He said.
"Hey, don't make me out to be a spoilt brat." She said, "It's a nice picture to think about. Living on a beach." She shut her eyes at the thought, "No more danger. Just us and the twins." She smiled, reopening her eyes and looking back at him, "I bet you're wishing you didn't bring this up now." She laughed.
"You're serious?" He asked her.
"Hey, you know I'm not saying book us flights right now. It's just a nice option to think about. It's not like there's much going on for us here anyway. Besides your brother being here." She said.
"He could always come and visit." Punk said naturally, realising he was agreeing to something he only seen as a dream, "Ok ok… let's just slow down." He said as if talking to himself, "We're getting a bit ahead of ourselves." He admitted as she chuckled.
"Ok." She nodded, "I guess we should just focus on getting good health back and sorting a claim out for Kerry and Sean." She said as Punk nodded.
"When I go to the station tomorrow I'll ask about it." He said to her as she nodded.
"Ok." AJ nodded, "I love you." She leaned over the table bench, pressing a quick kiss on his lips as he smiled.
"I love you too."
"Phil… how can I help you?" His old boss from New Jersey, Carl, greeted him, standing in what used to be Paul's office, head of the department.
"What are you doing here?" Punk asked.
"I've been transferred to here now." Carl explained, "I'm sorry to hear what happened. At least no one got seriously injured." He said as Punk chuckled, looking down at his crutch and his slinged arm, watching Carl laugh to himself, "I never seen it coming. You know… Paul." Carl said, "I was stunned when I heard."
"I think everyone was." Punk admitted.
"So what are you doing here anyway? If it's work your looking for, you know I don't want you here until at least a good few months. I've been told about your injuries. They need resting." Carl said whilst unpacking the boxes he had brought, setting up his new office.
"I'm not here for work, Carl." Punk said, "I'm here to leave the force." He said as Carl looked up.
"You serious?" Carl said.
"I don't get a kick out of it the way I used to." Punk admitted, "My heart is some place else." He said, "I don't want a fuss. I just want to leave you my badges, sign some paperwork, and get going." He said.
"You sure about this?" Carl asked, "You're one of the greatest cops I've ever had the pleasure in working with, Phil. You're great at what you do." Carl said.
"Too many people have got hurt because of me." Punk said, "My girlfriend being one of them." He said, "I wanna provide safety for her and our kids. I want to marry her one day, and make sure she knows we'll never have to be parted." He said, "The job is just too much now."
"Well it's your decision." Carl said, "I'm happy to sign whatever it is and let you off, but there'll be a big gap left at the station here when you leave." He said, "A big gap."
"Someone will come along." Punk assured him, taking out his Lieutenant badge and placing it down on the desk, alongside his other badges, "I wouldn't leave if I didn't want to. I want this." He said positively.
"I'll go print off some paper work you'll need to fill in." Carl said.
"Thanks… and I need to talk to you about a claim for my brother and his girl-"
"I already have it." Carl said, "It was posted here this morning." Carl said, walking out of the room to go print off some documents for Punk.
"How do you feel?" AJ asked in the twins room whilst changing Harleen and putting on a fresh diaper and clean pyjamas for her, watching Punk sit on the rocking chair with Caleb on his lap.
"I feel good." Punk smiled to himself, "Yeah… It was sad saying goodbye to everyone, but it didn't feel wrong." He admitted.
"Who's a good girl?" AJ smiled whilst leaning over Harleen on her changing table, tickling her little feet as she giggled, causing Punk to smile, "And the claim?" AJ asked, lifting Harleen up and perching her on her side.
"Oh, yeah. It's downstairs. It's a cheque. Obviously they can't buy them a new house, but it's enough money to replace everything they had. That includes the things in the house and the house itself." Punk said, "I'm sure Sean will be happy with it." He nodded as AJ smiled.
"I'm proud of you." She said, "I know that… it's been hard. Nothing has ever really been easy for us. And I'm glad you decided on your own to leave." She said, "We can be safe now. We don't have to worry about what's coming next." She pointed out, "We can start over." She said as he nodded.
"Yeah." Punk nodded, looking down at Caleb bouncing him on his knee as he pressed a kiss on his head, "We can start over."