A few days had gone by and Sean and Kerry were moving out of living with Punk and AJ as they had bought a new house not far from where their old one was. They were grateful for the claim Punk had got them, it helped tremendously. Since they'd lost practically everything from clothes to their actual beds and couch type things, they supposed they deserved the claim.
Punk was still on heavy dozes of medication. He had to take things slow, but he was insisting on helping Sean and Kerry with their new house, with the help of AJ of course too.
AJ and Kerry were upstairs sorting out the bedrooms whilst Punk and Sean resided downstairs with the kids, trying to put things into place. It was hard since Punk had a few shot up limbs he had to work with, so they just took their time.
"Hey, what would you say if I told you me and AJ were gonna move." Punk said to Sean.
"What? Like house?" Sean asked, shrugging, "I'd say that's good." He said.
"Country." Punk said as Sean paused, looking up and over at him, at the opposite end of the new bought couch, "It's not finalised. In fact, I haven't actually confirmed it with AJ, but we talked a little about it a few days ago. She seemed interested." He shrugged.
"Where to?" Sean asked.
"Spain." Punk said.
"What has Spain got that here doesn't?" Sean asked with confusion.
"A new start." Punk said, "When I was there… you know, for that year I was gone, I couldn't stop thinking about how much April would have loved it. I guess I didn't get to enjoy it all that much since I was so angry all the time, but I knew her and the twins would have loved it." He sighed, "I wanna be a good dad, and I wanna be a good husband eventually." He said, "I want a new start with my family. New job, new home, new place." He shrugged.
"What if I don't want you leave?" Sean said.
"You can always come visit." Punk said, "But nothing has been confirmed yet. I haven't actually told AJ about properly going through with it yet. But I know she's in love with the idea." He said, remembering how intrigued AJ was when he spoke to her about it, "I think we'll be happier out there."
"What makes you so sure?" Sean said.
"I just know." Punk said.
"Well obviously I'll be cool with whatever you decide to do. But I'll miss you." He admitted, "You're the only family I really have." He said as Punk nodded.
"And I'll miss you too." Punk said, "But I owe a good life to AJ. I wanna make her happy, and I wanna make sure my kids are safe." He said, "We just need a fresh start somewhere." He admitted as Sean nodded.
"I get that." Sean said, "I'm happy your finally free in a way. You can go be whatever you want to be now." He smiled, almost a little jealous, "You deserve to go off into the sunset with your family. You've put yourself on the line so much since you were practically a kid." He said, "I'm sure I can let you move. If it's what makes you happy." He smiled.
"Thanks, dad." Punk nodded playfully as Sean rolled his eyes.
"You're a jerk." Sean spat.
"Who's a jerk?" AJ asked as she and Kerry came back downstairs and into the living room.
"You're boyfriend." Sean replied as AJ smiled to Punk who laughed. She liked seeing Punk happy again. She always thought that it was his job that made him happy. She never took into consideration that it was actually his family who made him smile like he never would before.
"We better shoot off." Punk admitted, "Thing one and thing two are gonna be getting hungry." Punk looked over to Caleb and Harleen who sat in the new rug, quite happy, but starting to get a little restless, trying to crawl around and touch different ornaments.
"Are my babies getting hungry?" AJ asked, crouching down as Caleb giggled whilst Harleen looked up at her father.
"Up!" She exclaimed, "Up… up." She repeated whilst looking up at Punk who frowned.
"You know I can't life you, baby girl." Punk sighed, watching Harleen frown and look away, breaking his heart as he gave in. What did a bunch of doctors know about recovering from his injuries anyway?
"Ok." He nodded, lifting her up slowly, making it difficult from his sling that was in the way, but he managed to have her up, swinging from his hip, the side of his good shoulder.
"Phil." AJ hissed as if mad with a small child, "You know you shouldn't be lifting them." She said whilst lifting Caleb up.
"I'm fine." Punk insisted, "She needs her cuddles from her daddy." He said as Harleen rested into him comfortably, giving him all the pleasure and comfort in the world. Being a father was something he never thought twice of, but now he was one, to two beautiful children, everything felt calm. Which was ironic since the twins were sometimes out of control, but he sensed a calm in his life now that he never had before the twins or meeting AJ for that matter. Everything was relaxing, and fatherhood had oddly came easy to him. He was so scared of it at the beginning. He thought because he didn't have a dad, he wouldn't know what to do, but then he remembered he had a terrific mom and a brother who had already matured way before him in some respect. He had all the teachings he could get, and it just was a natural thing he loved doing now.
"We'll swing by tomorrow and see how you're getting on." Punk said as Sean nodded.
"You don't want your blanket?" Punk asked, leaning over Caleb's cot in the twins room, putting them to sleep. They'd had their dinner and enjoyed a warm bubble bath, and now it was finally time to send them off into dream land.
Harleen was already fast asleep, practically zoning out the minute her head touched the soft mattress, but Caleb was refusing to shut his eyes. Every time Punk put the blanket over him, he'd kick it off and wriggle away from it.
"You're gonna be cold." Punk told him, "C'mon, shut your eyes over." He soothed, stroking Caleb's cheek whilst placing the blanket back over his body, "Shut your eyes, that's it." He smiled, watching his son slowly but surely get defeated by his own exhaustion, falling asleep just like his sister, allowing Punk to head out of the room, shutting the door behind him and going into his own room where AJ was sitting in bed watching TV.
He took their laptop from under the bed and sat down beside his girlfriend, opening up the laptop at where he had last shut down at, realising she had spotted what he had last looked at.
"You're looking at houses over there?" AJ asked him as he turned around to face her.
"Yeah." Punk nodded, "I mean… I was just looking." He said defensively.
"Can I see?" She asked as he nodded, turning the laptop to face her more as she leaned into him.
"This one is right on the beach." He pointed, "It's three bedroomed. Kitchen, living room, it has a full ring of decking going around the house. There's a balcony in one of the bedrooms." He said, flicking through the images of the house.
It was truly beautiful. Especially when it was sat on the beach.
"It's gorgeous." AJ gasped, "It's more like a condo, wouldn't you say?" She said.
"Yeah, I guess. But it looks great. And really spacious." He admitted, "The twins would love it. Especially with the age they are." He said as she nodded.
"Is this really realistic, Phil?" She asked him, looking up at him as he nodded without thought.
"We can do this." He said, "Start over. Make a better living somewhere else. Leave everything that has happened behind us." He said, "You don't want it anymore?" He asked.
"No… no, I do." She assured him, "I just don't want us to be living up to so many expectations that aren't gonna be made of anything." She said, "How realistic is opening up our own bar?" She asked him.
"I'd just have to see what places are there to rent. Then I'd get a stocking system and trading system. We wouldn't own the bar, we'd just run it. The way it works over there, is someone will own a street of bars and restaurants. But then there will be people who run them." He explained, "We'd still make a shit load of money." He said.
"Oh, I don't know." AJ sighed, "It all seems so wonderful when we're sitting here, but will it really be all sunshine and rainbows when we get there?" She asked, "It's a lot of money to move, and if we are… I want it to be worth it."
"What part of this house looks disappointing to you here?" Punk asked her, "I want to move on, April. Just you, me and the twins. No more looking over our shoulder or waiting for the next bad guy to come take me away." He said, "I think this will be good for all of us."
"I trust you. And I'll go wherever you want to go. You know that." She smiled, "As long as I'm with you and the twins, I don't care where we are or where we go." She said as he smiled, pressing a kiss on her head as she lifted her head up so his lips were actually met with her lips, cupping his cheek as she closed down the laptop, taking it and sitting it on her bedside cabinet, running her hands through his hair as he melted into the kiss.
She really was willing to go anywhere, as long as she had Punk and their children. Nothing else really mattered.