Comfort


A week had gone by where AJ had spent her time going to work and coming straight back to Renee's apartment to hide under the sheets of the spare bedroom. She couldn't really face much of anyone, besides the pizza delivery man. She figured it wasn't the best coping mechanism, but it was the first time she'd ever been in a situation like this.

"Hey, where are you going?" AJ asked, standing at the bathroom door with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders, watching Renee doing her make-up in the bathroom mirror.

"Going over to Kat's with the guys." Renee said, "You should come."

"I definitely shouldn't." AJ shook her head. She hadn't spoken to Punk or Jason the entire week. She knew Jason wouldn't want to talk to her and she knew Punk was just keeping his distance like she'd asked. It confused her all the more and left her wondering about what it was she really wanted.

"I think you definitely should." Renee turned around, "You've been in this apartment all week, you've got a tomato soup stain on your t-shirt…" She noticed, "I haven't seen that blanket leave your shoulders. You need to come out and have some social interaction."

"I had plenty of social interaction this week." AJ nodded.

"Three of your patients died today." Renee scoffed.

"What's that got to do with anything?" AJ asked.

"I know it bums you out when there's more than one death in a day. Because it's more than one family to tell that they've lost someone they love." Renee nodded.

"Yeah it sucked." AJ agreed, "But I can just stay here and order in-"

"Ok, but I really think you'd feel better if you came out." Renee nodded, "Look, there's no rules to what you do after a nasty break up. You kinda feel like you're just floating around with no clue what to do, right?"

"Kinda." AJ nodded.

"So just take some control." Renee said, "You know the guys will make you laugh."

"I can't believe you hang out with all of them on your own. Everyone probably thinks they're gang banging you." AJ scoffed.

"Yeah, I'm sure that's what everyone thinks." Renee chuckled, "I'm only interested in hanging out with Dean. You know that. He just happens to enjoy spending time with his friends too and I'm not the girl who gets mad at stuff like that."

"I know." AJ said, "But I'll be ok. You go have fun." AJ nodded.

"Look, you called Jason last night and he didn't answer. He probably just wants space. I'm sure in the weeks to come you guys will sit down and talk about things, how it's gonna end or how you're gonna repair your relationship if that's an option… but right now you should be with your friends. Well… friends and the man who made you orgasm eight times-"

"Renee!" AJ yelled, pushing her over into the bathroom and closing the door over, listening to her laughing loudly as she couldn't help smile, "This is why I didn't want to tell you the details. Idiot."

"Eight times?! That's more than some people have in a lifetime." Renee chuckled to herself as AJ leaned against the door, shaking her head.

"I hate you." She nodded with a smile.

"No you don't." Renee laughed.

"I'm staying here." AJ vowed.


Renee headed on out to Kat's bar, meeting the guys after their shifts to have a good night. Punk tagged along like always, finding it to be a strange week after having no contact what so ever with AJ. He'd been informed by his brother that she had in fact told Jason, not name dropping him however, and that she was staying with Renee after they had essentially broken up.

He wasn't happy about it, because he knew it was causing her a great deal of pain and stress, but he wasn't overly upset about it either, because he figured it may have given her a chance to figure out what she wanted, and what was in front of her.

"I tried to get her to come tonight but she wasn't having it." Renee told Punk, "And there were three deaths on her wing to do, just to further depress her some more."

"Well you can't force her." Punk shrugged.

"I know." Renee nodded, "She is doing a little better than what she was, but she still has her moments."

"I don't get it. Is she holding out for him to forgive her?" Punk wondered.

"I don't even know. I don't think she knows." Renee said, "She's not really a person who needs forgiveness because she's not a person who does bad things. I mean… she's a straight A student, graduated med school with honours, she's kicking all our asses in the residency program." She said.

"So you think it's just more about being forgave than wanting him back?" Punk asked her.

"Maybe." Renee nodded, "But I mean… realistically, who takes anyone back after they've slept with someone else?" She shrugged.

"You'd be surprised." Punk nodded, looking over at the entrance where she spotted AJ walking through, "Thought you said she wasn't coming." He sat up a little as Renee looked over.

"She said she wasn't." Renee said, smiling as she saw AJ approaching the table. She was glad her friend had got out of her sweats and decided to join them, "Hey." Renee smiled happily.

"Hi." AJ smiled, sitting down beside her.

"April, you want a drink?" Dean asked immediately.

"Just a water for me, please." AJ nodded to him.

"Alright, coming up." Dean tapped her shoulder, heading over to the bar as AJ nodded, looking over at Punk who nodded to her politely as she smiled.

"What changed your mind?" Renee nudged her.

"I didn't wanna sit in the apartment crying for another night, feeling sorry for myself." AJ shrugged.

"Well I'm glad you came." Renee nodded as AJ smiled, looking over to Punk again. Locking herself away had almost made her forget how he made her feel, what had got her into the mess she was in in the first place.


She was glad she had changed her mind and went to Kat's as she had a good time with the guys and Renee. It cleared her head for a few hours and that was what she really needed.

Renee had gone to the bathroom and a few other guys from the fire team had split, leaving only her and Punk at the table. She hadn't spoken directly to him much tonight, but now there was no choice.

"You look… really good." He nodded to her.

"For someone who just got thrown out of their house and dumped by their fiancé?" AJ looked over at him as he nodded.

"I wasn't going to say that specifically but… sure." He nodded as she smiled a little, "How you doing?" He asked her as she shrugged.

"I've been better." She nodded, "I got nobody to blame by myself." She shook her head.

"You know you don't have to be so tough on yourself. You did the right thing by telling him." Punk said, "And look, for what it's worth, I'm sorry for being the main problem in all of this for you." He shrugged.

"You don't have to apologise. You're not… a problem." AJ shook her head. She didn't want him to feel like that, "You've just changed a lot, that's all." She nodded, tucking her hair behind her ear and looking down as he watched her.

"Do you wanna get out of here?" He asked her as she looked over at him, unsure, "Just to go grab a slice of pizza or something." He made clear.

"I am hungry." AJ thought to herself.

"I know some good places." He nodded. He just wanted to spend time with her. He wanted to talk to her and, if possible, help her with the situation she was in if he could. Because he did care about her. A whole lot.

"Ok." AJ nodded, standing up from the table and putting her jacket on, grabbing her purse, "Wait, I should tell Renee-"

"Tell Renee what?" Dean came back from the bar.

"We're gonna go get some pizza." Punk nodded to him as Dean looked at them both, "Pizza." Punk assured him.

"Ok, well I can tell her." Dean shrugged.

"Ok then. Let's go." AJ nodded to Punk who smiled, following her out as Dean smacked him on the back on the way out, causing him to turn around with a middle finger for him as they left Kat's.

They walked towards a strip of twenty-four hour fast food take-out spots. He wanted to take her to the best.

"I suppose Renee or Dean filled you in on my current living situation." AJ said, walking down the street with him, her arms folded whilst his hands found themselves in his pockets.

"They mentioned it." Punk nodded, "Have you talked to him since you told him?"

"No. I tried calling him last night but he didn't answer." AJ said, "He was pretty clear about where he stood with me, though."

"Is the wedding off then?" Punk asked her.

"What do you think?" She asked, looking down at the ground as she walked, "I just never wanted to hurt him like that. Maybe we were fighting a lot more and we weren't seeing eye to eye but… hurting someone like that is just different. There's no going back from it." She shook her head.

"And you've acknowledged it." Punk said, "You need to forgive yourself too, you know."

"He'll forgive me before I forgive myself." AJ shook her head, "I guess my heart had to have been really swayed to hurt someone I love like that." She looked up at him as he nodded.

"Yeah?" He said, in a hopeful voice he didn't mean.

"Yeah." She nodded to him.

"Where's your head at?" He asked her, "I mean… if he forgives you, are you back with him? Picking out wedding dresses?"

"I don't know the answer to that until I hear it from him." She said as he nodded to himself, "Phil, I need you to know that you're not just the other guy who has caused me problems. I mean I've thought about you just as much this week as I have about Jason." She told him as he nodded.

"Ok, you want pizza?" He asked her, walking towards the open window for take-away at a pizza place.

"Man, that smells so good." AJ nodded as he smiled, "Just cheese for me."

"I knew you'd be a fussy eater." Punk nodded.

"I'm not a fussy eater." She laughed as he smiled, "How insulting."

"There's so much choice and you just want cheese?" He chuckled.

"It's what I like." She scoffed, "Don't pizza shame me."

"Alright alright." Punk nodded. He'd never been with a woman who simply made him feel happy to be around. Whenever she smiled or she laughed, something just felt good inside him.

"I'll go sit over at that bench." She told him as he nodded, waiting in the queue to get some pizza. He watched her as she walked over, sitting down on the bench, not being able to take his eyes off her. He'd never fallen for a girl like this before, and yet he still felt like so many barriers were in their way.

He got them pizza and walked over to the bench she was sitting at, handing her over the slice.

"Thank you." She smiled, taking it from her as he sat down beside her.

"I figured cause you're a doctor you don't put this type of grease in your body." He smiled to her as she chuckled, taking a bite of the pizza, the cheese pulling all the way out as she chuckled to herself.

"I love grease." She nodded to him as he chuckled.

"You got cheese on your lip." He pointed with a smile as she used her napkin, "My mom always took me and Dean here on a Friday after school." He nodded as AJ smiled.

"Sounds like you have a really great relationship with her." AJ said, "That's good. A lot of people don't."

"Yeah, I know. Super grateful for her. Makes it harder to watch her go through what she's going through." He nodded.

"Yeah I bet." AJ nodded. She felt like she was talking to a friend she'd known for years. There was just an ease about sitting with him, eating pizza and talking about whatever came to their mind. She knew that was rare. So rare she didn't even feel that way with Jason.

"You close with your mom?" He asked her.

"Yes and no." AJ said, "I'm close with her in a sense that she's very present in my life but… emotionally close? Not really." She shook her head, "In fact, this is the longest she's gone without talking to me. After I told her about splitting up with Jason and the reason why she just hung up the phone on me." She shrugged.

"That sucks." Punk nodded, "I mean I'm pretty moms are supposed to be there for you, no matter what."

"Well… not mine." AJ hummed, "I don't get upset about it. She's been that way my whole life." She nodded.

"Just you and her?" Punk asked.

"My dad died when I was eighteen." AJ nodded, "And I have no siblings. Pretty lonely childhood actually." She thought to herself.

"Close with your dad?" He asked her as she shook her head.

"Pretty much same situation as my mom." AJ said, "He was a surgeon, a good one."

"Oh, is that why you wanted to be a doctor?" Punk asked her curiously.

"No. No, I wanted to do that for me." AJ assured him, "He took his work home with him. He just… He wasn't a very good man." She nodded as he watched her eat some more pizza. He took his own comfort in knowing she was able to open up to him. To talk to him about her life and her past. Because he knew the type of person she was, and he knew only certain people got to know those types of things about her.

"So no luck in the parent department then?" He asked as she laughed a little.

"No, I wouldn't say so." AJ shook her head, "What about your dad?"

"He died about ten years ago. Heart attack." He said, "I don't think it was until he was gone that I realised how much he did for us. I mean I kinda thought adopting kids would be tough cause… well they're not your own, right?"

"You're adopted?" AJ turned to him with surprise.

"Yeah." He nodded to her, "Me and Dean slap each other when we use that word cause we… well we don't feel adopted and it kinda feels like we're disrespecting our mom and dad." He shrugged.

"I… I didn't know that." AJ said, "But you're both brothers?" She asked.

"Yeah." He nodded, "Yeah, they adopted us both. I was three and Dean was just a baby."

"Oh." AJ smiled, "Wow, what a good thing to do." She nodded.

"Yeah well it gave me a family so…" He nodded to himself as she watched him eat his pizza.

"So you know nothing about your biological parents?" She asked.

"Not a single thing. I don't think my mom and dad even knew anything." Punk shrugged, "It's hard to explain to someone when you're adopted that your biological mom and dad aren't really a thing in your mind. Dean calls them the sperm guy and the surrogate." He nodded as she chuckled loudly which made him laugh.

"Of course he does." AJ chuckled, "I guess it's true. A mom and dad are people who raise you. That's how you define a mom and dad."

"Yeah." Punk agreed.

"Was your dad a fire fighter?" AJ asked curiously. She had genuinely never been more interested in someone. She wanted to know him, and sitting there with him, it just felt so easy to ask him questions and to answer his. There was something so peaceful about it.

"No… No, he was a bank manager." Punk nodded, "And mom taught the second grade."

"Wow, they even sound just like… really good people." AJ nodded as he smiled, "So why'd you wanna be a firefighter?"

"You really wanna know?" He smiled.

"I do." She nodded.

"One day we were at the park. I was maybe ten or eleven. Dean was seven. You know in the parks they have those baby swings? And they're tiny?" He asked her as she nodded.

"Yeah…" She waited.

"Well Dean would always stuff himself in them, and eventually this time he got stuck." He told her as she chuckled, placing her hand over her mouth, "So the fire brigade had to come and cut him out." He chuckled to himself.

"And that's what sparked a fuse in you? To be a firefighter?" She chuckled.

"They just looked so badass. And the truck was cool. The uniform." He said, "Obviously when I got older I actually got interested in what it takes to be a firefighter. I was always kind of good at sports at school so the athletic parts kinda made sense."

"So watching your brother get cut out of a baby swing was what made you interested in that career?" She smiled.

"Mhm." He nodded as she chuckled.

"You guys are ridiculous." She shook her head as he nodded, "I don't want this pizza to end." She told him.

"Good, right?" He nodded.

"I've never even been down here before." She shook her head.

"You a restaurant kind of girl?" Punk asked her.

"I can do both. I like to get dressed up and go somewhere nice but… I also like sitting on a bench eating a slice of pizza whilst my life is falling apart around me." She shrugged as he chuckled.

"Yeah, I mean fair enough." He nodded, finishing his pizza and tossing the paper plate in the trash beside him, dusting his hands off on his jeans, "Hey, the fire station is just round the corner, you wanna go have a look?"

"Oh, yeah." AJ nodded eagerly, finishing her pizza before getting up and taking off down the street. There was just a trust she had in him, so strong like she'd never felt before. Part of her just didn't want to part ways with him tonight.

"Alright, the boys must be out on truck number one." Punk realised, walking into the garage area of the station where the trucks were all lined up.

"Do you do night shifts?" AJ asked him.

"Sometimes." He nodded, "Mostly days, though."

"You guys must see some pretty horrific things." She said as he nodded.

"Yeah, we do." He nodded, walking down the garage where the other few trucks were lined up.

"They seem even bigger than what you'd imagine." AJ said with awe.

"You ever been inside one?" He asked her.

"No." AJ shook her head.

"Let me go get the keys." He told her as she smiled a little, staying put by the desk at the end of the garage, where she assumed they hung out on their breaks.

She then watched him reappear with keys for the truck nearest to them, unlocking it and opening the door for her.

"It's so huge." AJ chuckled, using the steps carefully to get into the truck in front of the wheel. Punk closed the door over and got in at the other side, watching her look around at the wheel and everything fascinating around it, "Do you drive it?" She asked him curiously.

"Sometimes." He nodded, "Depends who gets there first really."

"There's so many buttons." She said, "I feel like I'm so high up." She smiled as he chuckled.

"You wanna see where the goons sit?" He asked her, getting out of the truck, walking back around to the side she was sitting at, opening the door and lifting her down as she smiled. He handled her like she was porcelain and she loved it.

"Is this where you sit if you're last to make it to the truck?" She asked, watching him open the door behind the driver's seat, showing her the four or five seats where the rest of the crew would sit.

"Pretty much." He chuckled, stepping up into the seats behind, giving her his hand as she stepped up after him.

"This is just so cool." She nodded, sitting down on one of the seats, "But you guys must get so nervous in here whilst driving to a fire." She thought to herself, "It's kinda panicking me and I'm just getting a tour." She chuckled as he smiled.

"You do get used to it." He nodded.

"You seem like you really love your job." She nodded to him.

"I do." He said, "It's good to know you're making a difference to someone's life. I'm sure you can relate." He said as she nodded.

"Yeah." She said, "Although I had three deaths on my wing today." She said, leaning back on the seat.

"Renee mentioned it earlier." He said, "That must suck."

"Yeah, it does." AJ sighed, "I guess it's on those days you really feel like you're making no difference at all."

"Not everyone can be saved. It's a cruel part of life." He nodded.

"Yeah it is." She agreed, looking over at him as he looked at her with a small smile. Their eyes were saying the same thing. They saw this confined space but with comfortable seats and suddenly the time for talking was over.

He watched as she moved over to him, pressing her lips against his, kissing him passionately but not for long as she crouched to her knees in front of him.

"You ever taken a girl in here before?" She asked curiously whilst undoing his jeans.

"No." He shook his head, his eyes never leaving her as she pulled his jeans and boxers down. He lifted his helps to help her, watching as she then wrapped her hand around his length. This was not the intention either of them had, but it just happened and just like before, they couldn't stop themselves.

"No one can see us, right?" She looked up at him, stroking him up and down as he shook his head.

"They'll all be out for the night." He nodded, closing his eyes over and rolling his head back as she closed her mouth around his shaft, bobbing her head up and down as he moaned out, "Fuck… April." He whispered, brushing her hair out the way, holding it back from her face whilst she took him all the way in and out of her mouth.

All she wanted was to make him feel good, that was where her head was at. She'd never had that raw passion with anyone, where she had to have them right there and then, no matter where they were.

"Mmm… put it back in my mouth." She moaned after releasing him for a breath, opening her mouth as he guided his length back in, watching her suck up and down as he moaned to himself.

"Fuck, just like that." He moaned through his teeth.

She spent a lot of time on her knees in front of him, using her hand and mouth on him whilst he pulled at her hair and moaned her name. She realised he was probably getting close as he pulled her up from on her knees, picking her up and laying her down along the seats as she chuckled.

"Am I gonna need to put a seat belt on?" She whispered in his ear, tugging at his ear lobe with her teeth as he chuckled, pushing up her t-shirt off her head and pulling her bra down to release her breasts.

"Maybe." He nodded as she smiled, helping him rip the rest of her clothes off, knowing she was in for another memorable night with him that she just couldn't resist.