6 months later…
"What do you think, Liesel? Roses or Lillies?" Punk asked his near two year old daughter, standing outside a florist looking at the flowers, commemorated for valentines day, looking at Liesel in her stroller as she pointed to the roses, "Yeah?" Punk asked with a smile as she nodded.
His gift for his wife couldn't ever beat the gift she had gave him early hours of yesterday morning. But he was still going out his way to make her feel special, with his daughter's help of course.
He'd just picked Liesel up from her Aunt Elise's where she had been whilst he accompanied AJ in the hospital on the birth of their second child. Now he had collected her and was picking up some last minute presents for AJ, ready to take Liesel to see her.
"Da! Da! Dadadada-"
"You like this?" Punk asked, picking up the stuffed toy elephant holding a heart. She was going crazy when pointing and looking at it, "You wanna get this for mommy?" He asked her as she nodded.
"Ye!" She squealed with excitement as Punk laughed.
"Ok ok." Punk nodded, "Costing me a fortune here." He said, taking the items he was buying to the counter whilst Liesel pushed herself out her stroller to look around.
She was ever so excited to see her mother and the new baby. Despite young and still a baby herself really, she was told for six straight months that she was going to be a big sister, and now the idea sounded pretty good to her.
She was into sleeping in her cot now, eating some solid foods, and even sometimes popping out a sentence or two, as well as taking some steps. She was growing so much and Punk hated it. But he couldn't deny the joy he felt when seeing her growth and always being there. He promised he would always be there, for both his children.
Once Punk paid for the gifts and took them home to wrap whilst giving Liesel her lunch, he headed back out with her, taking the new car seat for the new baby, making sure he had everything for taking AJ and the baby home.
Liesel clutched the requested elephant she made her father buy in her hands whilst perched at the side of his body, being carried and supported by one of his arms as the other was holding the car seat.
"You excited to see the baby?" Punk asked her with a smile as she nodded, "And mommy?" He asked her as she grinned, nodding again. She was the double of April. He seen none of himself in her at all, apart from her cheeky mouth and her green eyes. She was gorgeous and extremely charming to those she met, which worried Punk a lot.
Punk opened up the door to the room AJ and the baby were in, smiling as he seen AJ sitting up in bed, pyjamas on, a lot fresher than what he had left her like yesterday, just a few hours after a difficult labour.
"Momma!" Liesel squealed at the sight of her mother, making AJ smile just as much.
"Hi, baby." AJ smiled as Punk sat the car seat down and sat Liesel with AJ who was getting swarmed with hugs and kisses from her daughter, "Oh, I've missed you, baby." She smiled as Liesel sat on her lap, having lost interest or knowledge of the baby now that she'd seen her mother.
She was a mommy's girl, but was very much acquainted to falling asleep with her father, or playing games with him. She loved both her parents, and it showed, AJ and Punk done everything they could to make sure she was always happy.
"Where's my other baby girl?" Punk smiled, taking off his jacket and looking down in the bassinet beside AJ's bed at his second daughter, lying sleeping quite calmly, "How has she been?" Punk asked his wife who smiled with a nod.
"She's been ok." AJ nodded, watching Punk scoop up the baby girl in his arms, cradling her as he smiled down at her beauty. They'd done it again. They'd had another beautiful baby girl. Another girl Punk had to worry about until he was buried six foot under.
Harper Lily Brooks had arrived under a fourteen hour birth. Compared to Liesel, who was out in an hour, if not less, AJ had found it hard going, and still looked completely exhausted. He knew he was on strict everything duty for the next few weeks until AJ found her strength again.
"They give you your medication?" Punk asked as she nodded with a smile.
"Don't worry. I've not gone crazy yet." She joked, playing with Liesel's hair as she sat on her lap, resting in against her mother who she had missed.
Since AJ had been told that her psychosis would occur when she had another baby, she had been put on her meds straight away, requested by the doctor, and was told that it would prevent any episodes from happening. She was still a little frightened, but she knew her medication would help her, and the doctor obviously knew what she was talking about.
"You're so beautiful." Punk whispered, pressing a kiss on Harper's head. She had April's eyes and nose, but also looked a lot like Liesel, who wasn't happy about the lack of attention her father was giving her.
"Oh, baby. Daddy hasn't forgotten about you." AJ smiled whilst looking on at Liesel's petted lip whilst she looked on at her father and baby sister.
"You're still my girl." Punk smiled over to Liesel who smiled and wasted away into her mother who laughed, "I got you a present." Punk announced, putting Harper back down in her bassinet after getting a little hold and hello from her.
"Mommy… fo' you." Liesel smiled, handing her mother the elephant she had picked, watching AJ take it with a smile.
"Thank you, sweetness." AJ smiled, kissing Liesel's head, always melting over her daughter's shy and sensitive ways, turning to her husband who revealed a dozen red roses and a small gift bag, her eyes lighting up but then fading as she realised the roses symbolised a special day she had completely forgotten about.
"Phil… I… I completely forgot to get you something-"
"Are you serious?" Punk looked at her, "You've given me two gorgeous daughters." Punk said, "Nothing can beat that." He said as AJ smiled, taking the gift bag from him as he sat the roses on the cabinet beside her bed.
"Did Liesel get any valentines cards sent to her?" AJ turned to her daughter as Punks smile faded.
"No she did not." Punk said immediately as AJ laughed, always a joy to whined him up and watch his face drop.
AJ opened up the gift bag, so touched by all the thoughtful gifts her husband had got, but when opening the card he had got her at the end, it seemed rather full and lumpy.
"What's in here?" AJ asked as Punk sat down on the edge of the bed, watching her open up the card as papers slid down, along with a shiny key that Liesel got a hold of and picked up.
"What is..." AJ paused as she looked at the papers, and then to the key that Liesel was holding, "A house?" AJ asked with a rising smile, watching as he nodded.
They had been looking for a house, as they knew the four of them couldn't fit in a two bedroom house. They supposed if they couldn't find anything, the girls could share a room, but neither AJ or Punk wanted that. AJ had banged on about a house she loved the entire time span of her pregnancy, and finally managed to get Punk to go see it, and he had to admit, he did love it.
"The house." Punk corrected her.
"I thought we… I thought we didn't have enough." AJ shook her head. She specifically remembered the conversation they had about having too little money for it, because she was around eight months pregnant, hormonal, and crying recklessly about it.
"My Uncle Dennis left a lot in my name." Punk said, "And his will said that he didn't want me to spunk it away on stupid things. He suggested I buy a house, or save it and invest it." Punk said, "So you can thank him, not me."
"So we can move in… whenever?" AJ asked with excitement.
"Well I think we should let Harper settle down first, you need rest too. Me, Sami and Dean will start boxing up things. In a few weeks we can move." He nodded with a smile.
"You hear that, baby?" AJ turned to Liesel who looked up at her, still holding the key, passing it to her mother who took it with a smile, "You're gonna have a new room… a bigger room. And a huge garden to play in." She said.
"Chute?" Liesel asked as her parents laughed in sync. Whenever they took Liesel to the park, she just loved going down the chute, it was all she done. It was frustrating for AJ and Punk, but Liesel was happy, and that's all that mattered.
"I don't know." AJ turned to Punk, "What do you think, dad? Can we get a chute?" She said as Liesel looked up at him with innocent eyes. She knew how to play him, and she wasn't even two yet.
"Only if I can have a go on it." Punk said as Liesel laughed at her father's silly behaviour, taking back that stuffed elephant and playing with it as AJ looked up at Punk.
"I love you." She smiled.
"I love you too." He replied, leaning down and pressing a kiss on her lips softly.
A month later, in the process of moving into their new home, the Brooks family had been invited out for a friends and family dinner, to celebrate Harper's birth and just to see each other. Now that kids were taking over lives, it was hard for Punk, Dean and Sami to see each other the way they always used to.
The table was long, it had to be to fit all of them in. They were at the back of an Italian restaurant. Punk, AJ and the girls of course, Elise, Dean, Toni and Shay, and also Sami and Paige, who were 'just friends' according to Sami, but Punk and Dean seen right through him.
AJ sat at the end of the table, for access to Harper in her stroller, incase she needed fed or changed, but so far, little Harper was settling in a treat at home. She let her parents sleep, and wasn't a fussy baby at all. They had been blessed.
Liesel was enjoying her very first pizza as she sat beside her father who helped her cut it up in slices for her, stealing a few bits himself as he knew the toddler wouldn't eat the full thing.
The best part about Punks life now, was that his father wasn't even a shadow or a lurking past. He was completely nothing. He never shed one thought about him, and that's what served the old scum bag right. He could have been here, sat at this table with them, father and grandfather of the year, but he just didn't care, therefore Punk and Elise didn't.
"I'll get her." Punk insisted once hearing Harper's cries from her stroller, picking her up and taking her back to his seat to give her the rest of her bottle that she had abandoned earlier. These fatherly skills came second hand nature to him now, and it was bizzare when at first he had no idea how to even hold a baby. He'd come a long way. And he was proud.
"Well I think a toast is in order." Dean admitted as the table's small talk ended, "I think we're on to something really special here. And no matter what happens, the most important thing is the people sitting at this table." He said, "The past is in the past. Here's to what ever scary shit happens next." He said as Elise tapped him under the table at his language, nevertheless leaning into him and kissing his cheek softly.
'I love you' AJ mouthed over to punk with a smile as he fed Harper, Liesel beside enjoying her very first pizza, a memory good enough to remember in all their eyes as she got caught up in the stringy cheese.
'I love you too' Punk mouthed back with a smile.
And that's it for the story. There is more coming soon, but I think I'm going to take a small break to regain new plots and ideas. I hope to see you all again when the sequel is up. Review and let me know what you thought of the story and what you think might happen in the next one. Thanks again! You're all the best.