Meeting Mom
"What should I wear?" AJ asked, standing at the nurses station with Renee who was filling in some charts, "Do I dress up? Do I go casual? In between?" AJ thought to herself.
"Your meeting his mom who has dementia. She won't remember what you wore the second you leave." Renee shook her head.
"I'll remember, though." AJ scoffed, "And Phil says she has good and bad days so… she might start to recognise me if she sees me again." She shrugged, "Have you met her?" She wondered.
"Yeah, she's sweet but… every time I go she doesn't remember who I am." Renee shook her head, "And every time Dean apologises to me after, as if I don't know how Dementia works." She said.
"They just love and respect her so much so I… I do want to make an effort." AJ nodded, "Maybe I should bake her something." She thought to herself as Renee shook her head.
It had been a month since she had ran out of the wedding with Jason. She'd been living with Punk gladly and hadn't seen Jason since the wedding. Renee had pretty much transported all of her boxes from the house to Punk's apartment, which she was grateful for. And things were going really well. She truly did feel like she was getting a fresh start.
"You don't need to try and impress her, you know." Renee said.
"I do because I'm dating her son who she really loves so… I want to know that she thinks I'm suitable enough for him." AJ shrugged as Renee chuckled.
"She's not some old little wench from the 1930s." Renee chuckled, "She's hilarious. She'd rather crack jokes with you than talk about your relationship. Or maybe that's just how she is with me." Renee bragged deliberately as AJ scoffed.
"Are you saying I have to compete with you?" AJ questioned.
"I will be the better daughter-in-law." Renee confirmed as AJ shook her head with a smile.
"You're ridiculous." AJ said, "They must have wanted kids really bad." She thought about it, "How comes it's always the ones who really wanna be parents that have complications?" She frowned, "It sucks."
"Is it just me or do you feel awkward talking about the whole adoption thing around them?" Renee asked. Dating men who were brothers meant they had lots more to gossip about with each other.
"Uh… I guess it's never really been brought up much with us." AJ shrugged, "Phil did say they don't refer to themselves as being adopted."
"Yeah I know that but even just if I'm asking Dean questions, he just gets all defensive." Renee shrugged.
"Well it is a hard thing to get your head around." AJ nodded, "I'm sure in the back of their head, no matter if they wanna admit or not, they probably wanna know what happened to their real parents-"
"You're not allowed to say real parents." Renee reminded her.
"Uh… the sperm guy and the surrogate then." AJ corrected herself as Renee smiled, "If I was them, I know I'd be curious, but then I know that being curious about it may have hurt their parents… the ones who raised them." She said as Renee nodded.
"They had to have died, right?" Renee nodded to AJ, "If it was a taboo teenage pregnancy thing then it would have been a single adoption with a kid who had no siblings." She said as AJ shrugged.
"Well they don't know the answers to it so we sure as hell don't." AJ said, "And I don't think they wanna know."
"No, definitely not." Renee agreed, "Hey, are you doing anything exciting today? I've been put on walk ins." She shook her head unhappily.
"I have a few MRI's to go over." AJ nodded to her, "But who knows what the day could bring." AJ shrugged.
She got home from work later on that night, getting showered and changed into some casual clothes which she had decided on wearing to meet Punk's mother, officially.
"Oh, you look nice." Punk smiled, looking up from his bowl of cereal as AJ came into the kitchen.
"And you're… eating a bowl of cereal at 6 in the evening." AJ nodded.
"Do you make the cereal rules?" He asked.
"No." She smiled.
"Seriously, you look great." He nodded.
"Why the tone of surprise?" AJ folded her arms with a small smile.
"No surprise, just… I like it." He shrugged as she smiled, "I was thinking maybe once we go see her, I could take you out for dinner." He nodded, taking his empty bowl and dumping it in the sink.
"That sounds nice." She smiled, walking over to him and wrapping her arms around his neck whilst his circled her waist, "Or we could just go for a burger and have car sex." She shrugged as he chuckled and nodded.
"That works for me too." He nodded as she smiled. He'd never lived his life where someone was so integral in how he functioned and how he felt throughout the day. She was always on his mind and he loved living a life with her in it.
"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little nervous." She admitted.
"Why?" He shook his head.
"Well I know, from what you tell me, how much your mom loves you and… what if… what if the girl who cheated with you and ran out on her own wedding to another man isn't good enough for you?" She asked as he laughed a little.
"Babe, I wasn't planning on telling my mom those details." He smiled a little, "She… might not know what day it is." He reminded her as AJ nodded.
"I know but we do and it's our job to treat her like nothing is wrong and to talk to her like we would anyone else." AJ nodded, "That's important." She said as he nodded with a smile.
"Yeah, it is." Punk said, "But I ain't telling her how we met. She don't remember much but that, I guarantee she'll remember." He nodded as AJ smiled.
"Maybe she'll remember me from the hospital." AJ thought to herself.
"I seriously doubt it." Punk said, "Don't be nervous. This isn't a test." He assured her, leaning down and kissing her softly as she kissed back.
They left the apartment and drove to the care home where Gerry was, signing in at the front desk and heading to her room where she was sitting at the table with some tea and the TV on in the background.
"Hey, mom." Punk announced right away, so not to startle her, and to figure out if she was recognising him on this day.
"Hi, sweetie." Gerry nodded.
"It's me, Phil." Punk nodded.
"Yes, I can see you." Gerry assured him as Punk smiled, turning to AJ beside him who was laughing quietly, "And you brought AJ." She noticed as AJ raised her eyebrows, turning to Punk with confusion.
"Do you… talk about me to her?" AJ wondered.
"No, not once." Punk said suspiciously, "I know Dean and Renee don't either."
"She must remember me from the hospital." AJ said with a surprised smile.
"I'm watching the price is right." Gerry told them as Punk looked over at the TV.
"I thought you liked watching a movie at this time." Punk said, walking over to join her at the table, leaning over and kissing her cheek. He only affectionally hugged her or kissed her if he knew she was aware it was him.
"I do but it wasn't a movie I liked." Gerry explained as AJ sat down beside Punk, "Did you bring AJ to check on me? Cause I'm fine." She insisted as Punk shook his head.
"No… no, she's not here to check on you." Punk assured her as Gerry nodded, "She's… out of uniform." He nodded.
"I can see that." Gerry said, "Now that's a job I couldn't do. A doctor. Oh, it seems like complicated this and complicated that." She shook her head.
"AJ's actually a neurologist." Punk nodded.
"Not yet." AJ chimed in, "I'm working on it."
"Brains and beauty. That's fortunate." She smiled to AJ, "So you're taking her on a date to come see your old mother?" She turned to Punk.
"Mom." Punk scoffed.
"What?" Gerry said, "Does he hold the doors open for you? Say please and thank you?" She asked AJ.
"Oh, of course." AJ nodded as Gerry looked over at Punk suspiciously.
"I do." Punk insisted as Gerry just smiled to herself. Punk was glad she was in a good state of mind right now. It gave him hope that he could really introduce AJ to her, as if there was no dementia at all, the way he would have wanted to introduce her.
"He does leave on all the lights in the apartment, though." AJ said as Punk turned to her.
"Oh, I used to hit the ceiling whenever our electricity bill came through." Gerry nodded to her, "Him and his brother would leave the house with every single light, switch, appliance, TV still on." She shook her head as AJ smiled.
"I can believe that." AJ chuckled.
"I'm going to get a coffee, do you want one?" Punk turned to AJ with a small smile. Glad to see she wasn't so nervous any more.
"Uh yeah, please." AJ nodded as he walked off to go get them some coffee.
"I've never met one of Phil's girlfriends before." Gerry nodded to AJ who smiled. She found it sweet that she already knew without either of them having to say anything. Even in her condition.
"I hope you don't get to meet anymore." AJ admitted as Gerry smiled.
"I should have just let you go on your own." Punk teased, leaving the care home and heading back to the car as AJ smiled.
"So if this was a test… you're saying I passed it?" She smiled.
"I think so. She was more interested in talking to you than to me." He laughed to himself, getting into the car behind the wheel as she got in beside, "I'm just glad you got to meet her on a good day." He nodded gratefully.
"Yeah me too." AJ nodded, "That's what a mom is, isn't it?" She nodded to herself, "Just selfless and caring." She said. She'd got to spend a good amount of time with his mom, talking to her about all sorts, about her, about the boys when they were little, and she just could tell by the way she spoke that she was a mom everybody would want.
"She's a good one." Punk nodded.
"When she was talking about you guys first days at school." She frowned, "I can just imagine how sweet you were." She smiled, leaning her hand over and stroking his cheek as he chuckled.
"I was a very sweet boy." Punk nodded to her as she smiled. He was so glad he got to watch his mother bond with AJ so well. It was like they'd know each other for years and with his mother's present condition it was hard for her to welcome new people into her life.
"I can't believe she did remember me from the hospital." AJ said as Punk pulled out from the parking space to leave.
"Yeah I can't believe that either." Punk said, "Crazy how dementia works. I am setting myself for one day, walking in and her not knowing me and… her never knowing me again." He nodded, "I know it's coming."
"She's still there. She's still your mom." AJ nodded, "You know what she said to me when you were getting more coffee?" She asked him.
"What?" Punk dreaded.
"She said that it helps her heart that I'm a doctor, because if you ever get hurt at work, I can take care of you." She smiled as Punk nodded.
"That's true." Punk agreed, "A good firefighter doesn't get hurt, though. She's worried about our jobs since forever." He shook his head.
"Well I would too, you're literally running into fire." AJ shook her head, "It's crazy."
"Well I got a doctor to take care of me now, don't I?" He teased as she smiled, "I'm glad you came." He said, leaning his hand over, placing it on her thigh as she placed her hand on top of hers.
"Me too." She smiled.
"Ok, I will find us a place to eat and you think of a place where we can park this car and get down to it." He nodded as she chuckled. Laughing. It's all she did with him. He made her so happy. She was so happy.
