"Have you spoke to your father yet?" AJ asked Punk, lying in bed with him the next morning, having just wished to sleep in his arms the full night, without undressing, without moving, just wishing to lie there and rest.
"Yeah." Punk nodded, "He knows I'm angry with him. I told him to stay away from you." He explained as she curled tighter into his chest, "I won't let him near you again, April. I-I had no idea he'd stoop so low." He shook his head. He still couldn't wrap his head around what his father had done. Did he want to hurt him? Did he want to hurt April and his future grandchild?
"He's just a coward." AJ said, "As soon as you had left he was following me up those stairs." She said, "Are you going to continue working for him?" AJ asked, looking up at him.
"I don't think I have a choice. Especially with the… baby. I'm gonna need money." He explained to her as she nodded, "Just because I work for him doesn't mean I have to work with him. Just… don't worry about him, or me for that matter." He asked as she looked up at him with raised eyebrows.
"You know I'll always worry about you." She sighed, "I just can't believe this." She admitted. She still couldn't believe she was going to have a baby. She was disappointed in herself that she doubted Punks commitment and love, but could you blame her? She really didn't imagine him sticking around, but she was proven wrong, he was here, holding her.
"Do you have any idea what you're doing? Because I know I don't." He admitted foolishly. They'd not even moved in with one another yet. They'd only been dating for just around seven, going on eight months. Things had went from a slow zero to a shooting ten, just overnight.
"Well as far as I know, Phil. I haven't been having any other babies recently." She said as he smiled, glad to see she hadn't lost her sense of humour, "We'll learn as we go. Well… that's what everyone says, don't they?" She asked him as he shrugged.
"No clue." Punk sighed, "Were you really… going to get rid of it?" He asked her curiously. He didn't think she'd go through with it, but he swore he saw so much truth in her eyes when she spoke those words.
"No." AJ shook her head, "I just said what I felt at the time. I thought it would solve everything. If I got rid of it… then we'd have no problem, but I just wasn't thinking. I don't think I could live with myself. I couldn't go on knowing what I'd done." She sighed.
"I'm glad you're deciding to keep it." Punk said, "Despite my flaws, I really want to prove I can do this. To everyone that I know is gonna doubt me. My dad already told me that the baby is the devil and it's just gonna turn out like me and him." He said as she sighed, sitting up and looking down at him whilst he lay on his back on his side of the bed.
"First of all, you have nothing to prove to me. I know you can do this. Second, when has anything your father ever said to you actually meant anything? Third, if our baby is half the person you are, I'd say we're pretty lucky." She smiled as he turned to her with a smile, "We can do this, can't we?" She asked him nervously. She was of course a bag of nerves. It wasn't like her mom or even her father was around to let her know how easy it would come to her, and how wonderful being a parent was. She had no one to get tips or tricks from. She felt very much alone, but she knew she wasn't, she knew Phil was here.
"Yeah." Punk nodded, propping himself up on his elbow, "We can. It's clear we're both scared… I've never been more terrified in my entire life, but… that doesn't mean I'm going to drop out." He said, "We'll get there." He took her hand, rubbing the back of it with his thumb softly.
"I think you should move in." She said, "If we're gonna raise a child together, we're gonna probably have to live together." She smiled as he laughed lightly.
"I guess you're right." Punk nodded, "If it's what you want-"
"It's what I want." She smiled, "But promise me, just… promise me you won't ever bring work home to me… to us. I don't want jobs following you home. I don't want your father anywhere near me-"
"I know." Punk nodded before she could go on, "I'm gonna keep you both safe. I promise." He smiled, "You want some breakfast?" He asked as she nodded.
"Yeah." She smiled, leaning forward and pressing a kiss on his lips softly.
A few days later, AJ and Punk were at their first scan. It was all very new to both of them, and they made no harm in showing that. Punk had even questioned why the baby didn't look like a full grown baby on the monitor. There was being new to this sort of stuff, and then there was just being stupid, in AJ's opinion anyway.
"It's so small." Punk screwed his eyes up, looking over at the monitor as the midwife showed them the outline of the small fetus.
"You're eleven weeks, April. Get ready to be showing that small bump off in a few weeks. Everything looks great." The midwife smiled as AJ turned to Punk with a relieved smile. For some reason, she already felt so close to her baby. She felt like, if anything were to happen to it, she'd fall apart. It was wonderful to know that everything was going great, "This is your first, right?" The midwife assured herself, not being able to remember AJ's records when she looked them up this morning.
"Yeah." AJ nodded, "Is there… is there anything I should be doing?" She asked curiously whilst Punk sat beside, staring at the printed off sonogram picture whilst AJ got her stomach cleaned from the gel.
"No, sweetheart. Maybe you and your husband could go to some anti natal classes running up to the birth, and the leaflets I gave you will tell you all about you and your body during the duration of your pregnancy. There's no one playing tricks on you. There's no challenges." She smiled, admiring the young girl and her timidness.
"We aren't… we aren't married." Punk butted in.
"Oh." The midwife nodded, "I'm very sorry."
"Don't worry about it." Punk nodded as AJ turned to him, watching as he turned back to the sonogram.
"That's us then. I'll see you again in a few weeks, ok?"
"Why is it so small?" Punk asked, sitting in the drivers seat in his car whilst AJ unbuckled beside him, about to get out of the car from getting home from the hospital.
"Because I'm only eleven weeks." AJ implied, "It's gonna be tiny." She told him as he handed her the sonogram picture.
"I guess you're right." Punk nodded, "Well I'm gonna go to the club, see what's going on. Will you be ok?" He asked her as she nodded.
"Yeah. I might take a nap." She said, feeling rather tired, "Will you be home for dinner?" She asked him.
"Depends what you're making." He joked with a smile.
"You'll eat what you get given." She said as he chuckled.
"Alright ma'am." Punk said as she smiled, getting out of the car and walking up the steps to her house as Punk drove off.
She was a little sad that Punk was so quick to confirm their relationship status as just casual boyfriend and girlfriend having an unplanned baby. They hadn't talked about marriage, and she wouldn't spring the conversation on him, she knew he wouldn't like it, but she wanted to know at least if there was a chance she would get to put on a white dress one day, and walk down the aisle.
She headed straight upstairs when she got in, grabbing a piece of sticky tape and taping their first scan picture on the mirror in what would soon be 'their' bedroom. Punk was in the midst of moving in.
Things were all happening so fast, but it felt right. This baby was a part of their lives now, despite it not really being here. She felt a connection with it.
She just hoped Punk wouldn't be so scared by such commitment that he wasn't used to. She knew she couldn't judge him just from his upbringing and his job, but she was surprised he was sticking around. She was glad he was here. She really did need him. She couldn't do it all alone.
She smiled taking a final look at the -stuck to the mirror- sonogram, running her hands through her hair and walking round her bed, lying down and curling into the duvet to take a well needed nap.
"You're such an idiot." Dean shook his head, unboxing stock behind the bar in Invictus, whilst Punk and Sami sat on a stool.
"I'm not an idiot." Punk argued.
"You are." Sami agreed with Dean, "C'mon none of us have been stupid enough yet to knock a chick up." Sami said, "Is she keeping it?"
"Yeah." Punk nodded, "Went to the scan thing today." Punk nodded.
"Scan thing?" Dean laughed, "You sound prepared." He laughed.
"Yeah..." Sami added, "I know we aren't no children haters, but… are you sure you're ready for something like this? You don't have to go through with it if it isn't what you want." He said.
"It is what I want."
Dean shook his head, "You aren't convincing me, Punk."
"Look..." Punk began, "Yeah, it's not planned, and yeah I am shaking in my boots here. I don't know anything about raising a baby. But I'm doing it because I love AJ, and… and I'm gonna love this kid. I'm not going to force the same things on this kid as my father done to me." Punk said. It was a promise he had already made.
"I just don't want you to be unhappy." Sami said.
"I'm not unhappy." Punk argued defensively, "I'm allowed to be scared, aren't I?" He said as they both just nodded, "I love AJ. If it wasn't going to happen now, then it would have happened in a few years time." He said. Of course he loved AJ, and he had thought about the future in the past.
"I just hope you know what you're up against." Dean said, "Supporting a child off drug and blood money? Isn't such a classy thing these days." He said, "It's hard to believe April is ok with you continuing to-"
"April is fine with me doing my job." Punk said quickly, "As long as I don't bring it home with me. She's ok with it. She's been that way since the start." He told them.
"Nah, trust me." Dean said, "When that baby comes, she'll be asking you in a flash to leave this place and go work in retail or something." He chuckled as Punk shook his head.
"Not going to happen, boys." Punk smiled, "I don't know if you heard about my dad but-"
"We have." Sami nodded, "He told us all yesterday. You ok about it, I mean-"
"I'm fantastic." Punk smiled, "The quicker he goes, the less time I have to wait in all of this being mine." He looked around with a smile. He knew his father was filthy rich. He wasn't too bad off himself, but he knew when his father passed, not that it cared that much to him at this moment in time after the stunt he pulled on AJ… he just couldn't wait for this business to be his. He hoped AJ wouldn't hear him ever saying that.