Hold On
The next morning Punk was still by AJ's side, refusing to leave her or Hartley. He kept peering into the NICU to stare at Hartley as well. Sleeping was not an option for him.
"How's it going?" Jason asked approaching Punk as he was glancing through the glass window of the room Hartley was in.
"AJ and Hartley are both doing really good." Punk told him.
"I just stopped by AJ's room but she was sleeping." Jason told him. "Did you sleep?"
"Nah." Punk said shaking his head. "She's small." he said looking at Hartley.
"Small like AJ, tough like her too." Jason assured him. "Do you need anything?"
"Yea I do." Punk said turning to look at him. "I need you to sell the car for me as soon as you can and get me cash."
"What? Why?" Jason asked.
"They canceled my insurance." Punk whispered. "They're going to toss AJ and Hartley out."
"They can't do that." Jason scoffed waving it off.
"They can transfer them to county and they won't get proper care there." Punk told him quietly. "I need to pay them something. Here's the key." He said taking it off of his keyring.
"I don't even know how much to sell it for-" Jason began.
"You'll figure it out. Whoever offers the most in cash." Punk reminded him.
"Hey." Jack greeted walking over.
"You'll take care of that for me?" Punk asked Jason and he nodded.
"Hey kid." Jack nodded to Jason who smiled and slapped his shoulder as he walked away.
"Took care of your insurance problem." Jack told him passing him his and AJ's insurance cards.
"What? How?" Punk asked dumbfounded.
"I pretended to be you and pleaded." Jack shrugged. "You missed last months payment. I paid it and had them activate it right away."
"Thank you." Punk said sincerely.
"I already gave it to the nurses, everything is squared away." Jack told him and Punk nodded. "Just worry about your family. How is she doing?" he asked nodding towards the nursery.
"She's doing well. It's still going to be a few weeks." Punk told him and Jack nodded.
"How's the wife?" Jack questioned.
"She was up all night asking me to check on the baby and asking when she could hold her." Punk smirked. "She finally passed out a couple of hours ago."
"Get the rest while you can." Jack urged. "You'll have a lot of sleepless nights to look froward to. Especially a premature baby."
"Yea?" Punk asked unsurely.
"You just have to be extra cautious. You were premature." Jack confided.
"No kidding." Punk mumbled looking back at Hartley.
"Yea we were up all hours making sure you were breathing alright. We even took those CPR classes." Jack told him.
"I had no idea." Punk admitted.
"How could ya?" Jack shrugged. "Point is, you turned out ok."
"I'm going to need to be home more to help AJ." Punk told him.
"You can't afford to take too much time off." Jack warned him.
"I can't afford to even take today off." Punk told him. "But I can't leave my wife and daughter either."
"You can afford a couple of days." Jack said to him. "I have a couple of cars on my lot I'm going to send to your shop and have the guys work on them for me."
"You don't have to give me business." Punk said shaking his head.
"What did I say about being too proud? I need work done on a few cars so I'm paying your shop to do it." Jack told him sternly.
"Thanks." Punk said to him.
"I saw you've been out here for a while, she just woke up." A nurse said peeking her head out. "Ready to hold her?"
"It should be my wife." Punk said nervously. "I'll go get her-"
"Your wife will have all day to get a chance but we have a small window right now." The nurse told him.
"Do it." Jack said pushing him.
"Just put on the gown and gloves." The nurse pointed out for him.
"AJ should really be doing this." Punk said getting the yellow hospital gown on.
"Well she's sleeping and your daughter needs to be held by a parent and that's you now." Jack said anxiously. "Hurry up!"
"I am." Punk hissed at him.
Punk walked into the room as the baby was being removed and the nurse placed her in his arms. He was so afraid he's squash her. She was so tiny. So frail, yet so full of life. He looked down at her and remained frozen so he wouldn't startle or upset her.
"Wow." Punk whispered looking at her.
"She's a looker." Jack confirmed standing directly behind Punk, peering over his shoulder.
"She's amazing." Punk said in complete awe of the small being in his arms. "I hate that she's hooked up to all of these wires." he frowned.
"It's temporary." Jack told him.
"I made her." Punk said in shock.
"You had some help." Jack snorted.
"I wish there was more I could do for her." Punk said to Jack but looking at Hartley.
"You're doing everything you could possibly do." Jack assured him.
"We might not even a home to take her home to if I don't step up my game." Punk reminded him.
"It's going to turn around, trust me." Jack assured him. "Stop thinking about the negative. You're holding your baby daughter for the first time. Appreciate it. Not everyone gets a moment like this."
"You're right." Punk agreed.
"Talk to her." Jack encouraged.
"And say what?" Punk asked. "She doesn't even know me."
"Oh she knows you." Jack said to him. "She's heard you for the last couple of months. I used to read to you while you were in NICU. Used to bring comics."
"That explains my appreciation of comic books." Punk snorted. "I should bring them for her."
"She'd probably like that." Jack agreed.
AJ slowly opened her eyes and it wasn't her husband or mother who greeted her, it was Alex who was leaning over her bed and starring at her.
"Sorry, didn't meant to scare you." Alex said stepping away. "I bought you flowers." She said pointing them out.
"Oh that was nice." AJ said trying to sit up but she was still in a lot of pain.
"They're your favorite." Alex pointed out proudly.
"Yea." AJ said glancing at them. "Thank you."
"You're welcome." She said sitting on the edge of AJ's bed. "When are you getting out?"
"It won't be for another couple of days." AJ said to her.
"You look good." Alex assured her. "You don't look like you should be here past today."
"My body feels a different way." AJ teased. "Have you seen my mom or Phil?"
"Nope." Alex shrugged.
"I really appreciate you coming down here Alex and thank you for the flowers but I need to rest." AJ told her and Alex jumped off the bed.
"You don't want me around?" Alex asked sadly.
"It's not that. It's just I really want to go see the baby today and they won't let me if I haven't rested enough." AJ reasoned.
"That's a terrible excuse AJ." Alex said grabbing her bag in a huff. "If you don't want me around just say it."
"I swear Alex it's not it's just-" AJ stopped when Alex knocked her vase of flowers onto the floor and stormed out of the room passing Jason on her way.
"What the hell was that?" Jason asked watching Alex storm away.
"She's just really needy and normally I play into it but I need to focus on my daughter instead." AJ said as Jason carefully stepped over the glass.
"That's crazy." Jason said to her. "You need to be careful at the crisis center AJ." He warned her.
"She's harmless." AJ told him and he eyed her. "She really is."
"Right." Jason said to her. "How are you feeling?"
"I feel like I want to see my baby." AJ told him.
"Punk was watching her." Jason told her and AJ smiled.
"Good. I don't want her alone." AJ said to him. "While I have you here, I have to tell you about this wild dream I had while I was in surgery. I saw David but it really wasn't a dream."
"What?" Jason smirked.
"David was there and he was telling me what was happening with the baby and told me she'd be ok." AJ said to him. "He said he has three great looking grandchildren."
"He does." Jason agreed smugly.
"He said Phil is going through a hard time." AJ admitted and Jason didn't react. "Is it about the shop? I know it's not doing well."
"You let Phil worry about all of that." Jason told her. "I'm going to take a few weeks off at the bank and pick up his slack at the shop so he can be with you and the baby."
"You can't do that." AJ argued.
"Lucky for me my boss is my father-in-law." Jason told her. "Mike just called me and told me Jack sent over a bunch of cars so they're pretty busy. It's picking up again."
"Good." AJ said relieved.
"He just feels the weight of the world on his shoulders you know? This birth was very unexpected." Jason pointed out.
"Tell me about it." AJ remarked sarcastically.
"You know how he is. He wants to fix everything and do it all himself. He's stubborn." Jason shrugged.
"You'll look out for him? Make sure he doesn't get in over his head?" AJ asked him.
"Of course." Jason promised.
Punk was heading to AJ's room when he saw Hugh who waved him over to the waiting area.
"Is everything ok?" he asked. "Is it AJ?"
"She's fine. She's in with her brother." Hugh told him. "How are you holding up?"
"Tired." Punk told him honestly. "But I just got to hold Hartley for the first time."
"Yea? Magical huh?" Hugh asked with a grin.
"Yea." Punk admitted with a tired smile.
"You know I was never able to hold April when she was first born, I wasn't in the picture." Hugh said taking a seat and Punk joined him. "But having a little girl changes your life. Makes you get your priorities in order."
"I have them in order." Punk told him.
"I know you do. I don't want you to think I've ever looked down on you for what you do." Hugh told him. "Did you know that my father was a construction worker? We lived in a trailer my whole life and I had to pay my way through med-school."
"AJ never mentioned it." Punk told him honestly.
"April never met my father he passed away when I graduated." Hugh told him. "He was cool." Hugh admitted with a smirk. "He had a bunch of friends and everyone just loved him. He worked so hard to provide for me and my mother and he did. We always had food on the table, running water and presents under the tree for Christmas. It didn't matter what he did for living I was proud of him. Now of course construction work wasn't always steady. There were times we really struggled and had to get help from my mother parents which he hated but he did it because it was the right thing to do."
"Where are you going with this?" Punk asked him.
"Jason tried to sell me your car." Hugh said to him. "I also know the hospital had issues with your insurance. You have a newborn daughter who is going to need a little extra attention and AJ won't be able to work for a while due to the surgery. It's an extra few weeks off of her feet."
"I don't want to have to ask for help." Punk told him honestly. "It will kill me."
"You're not asking." Hugh said to him. "April is my daughter in every sense of the word, Hartley is my granddaughter and you are now my son. I want to help. We all go through slumps Phil, when I first married Pricella and was paying off my school loans I had to ask my grandparents."
"I thought moving the shop was going to help." Punk admitted.
"You were in an awful building. Is that the type of place you'd want your daughter to grow up in and visit you?" Hugh asked and Punk's heart nearly dropped thinking of all of the creeps that wandered that building.
"No." Punk said shaking his head.
"You're doing what's best for your family and you took a gamble. Give it some time, it will pick up again." Hugh assured him.
"It's all I know." Punk admitted. "And now I have this small family and I'm questioning everything."
"You built a car. You've got some talent there." Hugh smirked. "I don't want you worrying about money while you have a baby in the NICU and wife in recovery. Pricella and I are going to help out in anyway we can and that doesn't just mean money. We'll swap weeks and come and stay with you both and help too. Just let us know."
"I just don't feel right taking money from you." Punk admitted.
"We're family." Hugh told him. "No one thinks any less of you. You'll end up back on your feet soon."
"I will." Punk promised him. "And I'll pay you back."
"You can pay me back all you want, the money you've been giving me for the house has been going right into an account for Hartley anyway." Hugh smirked.
"Thank you." Punk said to him.
"Don't thank me, like I said we're family." Hugh reminded him. "And please stop trying to sell your car, April will kill you." He laughed. "Or worse, I'll take you up in the offer because I was looking at it the other night and it's a beauty. You have a real knack for cars."
"It's in my blood I guess." Punk shrugged.
"It's a talent." Hugh corrected. "You should be proud of it. Maybe instead of just fixing cars you can re-model them, add on to the shop and I would love to invest in that because I have feeling I'd make a lot of money back on that."
"You think so?" Punk asked curiously.
"Sure." Hugh said positively. "You moved to a higher end area you'd get a lot of customers and like I said you'd have to add on but I'd invest."
"I'll talk to Jason about it." Punk told him.
"Good." Hugh said standing up. "Alright, let's go get April I'm sure she's itching-" he stopped and looked over to AJ's door.
"Can I go see her now?" AJ asked limping out of her room holding onto her IV. "I'm going anyway." She said and Punk quickly stood up and walked over to her.
"Just wait for us." Punk said catching up to her.
"Did you hold her?" AJ asked looking up at him as he held her at his side to keep her balanced.
"I did." He told her.
"How amazing was it?" she asked.
"Pretty amazing." He confirmed.
"I can't wait." AJ said anxiously.
Punk was in the yellow hospital gown with gloves on as AJ sat dressed the same holding Hartley for the first time. In the chair was his entire world.
"What are you thinking?" Punk asked since AJ hadn't spoke in the last five minutes.
"I think even though she was early she's still perfect." AJ said to him but not taking her eyes off of her daughter. "I wanted her so badly and now she's here and it's better than imagined. I can't wait to take her home."
"We have to be patient remember?" He asked her.
"I know." She whispered. "I just don't feel right going home without her. What if she needs something? What if someone tries to steal her? She's the prettiest one here." She pointed out seriously and he smirked.
"I'm sure she'll be fine." He assured her.
"It just doesn't feel right." she admitted sadly. "Maybe they'll let me sleep here."
"They won't." He told her. "We still have a lot to set up at home for her since she's a tad earlier then we expected."
"She's impatient just like her mom." AJ remarked proudly looking back down at her.
"Wonderful." Punk forced out with a smile. "Just what I need."
A/N: Short filler chapter. Next chapter speeds things up, thanks for the reviews! :)