Overheard


"So you're officially moved in?" Punk called from the bedroom whilst AJ was in the kitchen, doing some work at the table whilst cooking dinner.

"Yeah!" AJ called back excitedly as he smiled. For the past few weeks some of her boxes had been lying around still unpacked after Renee dropped them off, but now everything was unpacked, like she'd been here the entire time.

"What happens with the house? I know it's not like you guys are getting a divorce or anything but, if you were paying-"

"He moved me in." AJ shook her head as Punk walked back into the kitchen, "So it's pretty much all in his name. I paid bills but… that was about it. Whatever makes a disconnection easier from him, I'll take." She nodded. Although it had been a couple months since she'd seen Jason, the last time being on their wedding day, she still couldn't face or entertain the idea of speaking with him soon, and part of her didn't feel like she had to. She just wanted to move on now.

"Where were you living before you moved in with him?" Punk asked her curiously.

"I had my own apartment through med school." AJ nodded, "When Jason proposed he also asked me to move in. Thought I was a big adult moving into a big house but… it didn't feel like mine. It didn't feel like a home." She shook her head, "I feel more at home here."

"Well good." He smiled, "This place is definitely tidier than usual since you moved in." He laughed a little.

"Yeah, I… I stress clean sometimes." She nodded.

"I've noticed." He nodded, sitting down at the chair across from her, watching her doing some work she'd taken home from the hospital. He just loved watching her. Getting to spend more time with her over the past couple months had been bliss. It was like waking up and experiencing falling in love every single day.

"How was work?" She asked him.

"Yeah, it was fine. Nothing all that dangerous." He said.

"You sound sad about that." She smiled over at him.

"Well… sometimes you just want a little bit of that adrenaline, huh?" He nodded, "You still not heard anything from you mom?" He asked.

"No, not a thing." AJ shook her head, "And I don't care." She said. She'd had no contact with her mother or Jason since the wedding day, and she was fine with that. She could finally breathe on her own and she knew it was because they weren't in her head, especially her mother.

"You shouldn't care." Punk nodded, "So you grew up in New Jersey? What was that like?" He scoffed.

"It was fine." AJ assured him, "Grew up in a nice neighbourhood."

"Well with a surgeon dad, I kinda assumed." Punk nodded as she smiled, "So why did you move here?"

"My dad got a transfer to the hospital here so we moved." AJ nodded briefly, "He insisted he would just commute but my mom probably knew he'd end up having an affair, another one, so she wanted to come." She said as Punk nodded.

"Well… Chicago is much better than New Jersey so that's a win for you." He nodded.

"Oh, is it?" She smiled.

"Yeah, best sports, best people, best fire department." He said especially as she smiled.

"I do like it here." She assured him.

"What are you burning?" He wondered, looking over at the stove.

"Oh, shoot." AJ stood up immediately, rushing over to the stove as Punk smiled. He loved how scatty she could be. Getting to live with her really was just making him fall more in love with her.

"Did you save it in time?" He asked.

"No, it's stuck to the bottom." AJ frowned as he chuckled.

"I'll go call for a pizza." He nodded, laughing to himself.

"Stop laughing." She smiled, trying to hit him with the kitchen towel as he took hold of it and pulled her towards him with it, pulling her onto his lap as she chuckled, pressing her lips against his as he kissed her back softly.


"She really hasn't spoken to Jason yet?" Dean asked, the next day leaving the changing rooms with Punk where they'd gotten into uniform and headed into the outside office beside the trucks.

"No, why would she?" Punk shrugged, "She said everything she needed to say at the wedding." He nodded.

"Yeah but doesn't she want more closure?" Dean wondered, sitting down on the chair, wheeling back a little whilst Punk sat on the desk.

"I don't think so. If she did she would go get it." Punk said, "But really, I don't know what else they can really say to each other anyway. I think the message is clear that she's moving on."

"He had to have known." Dean scoffed, "He had to have known she wasn't there. Mentally."

"I guess she put on a good face." Punk nodded.

"You really love her, don't you?" Dean asked as Punk nodded.

"Yeah." He said, "I mean I've… I've had fun with girls before but it's just different with her. She makes me feel like a better person. It's soppy and it's cringe but… it's true." He shrugged.

"It is cringe." Dean agreed as Punk rolled his eyes, "And mom likes her so… bonus points, right?"

"Yeah they chatted for a while. I was kinda just sitting there." Punk chuckled.

"She does the same with Renee." Dean nodded, "Was doing some big boy thinking the other day, thinking about how she might know be around to see weddings or… grandkids, if that happens." Dean said as Punk nodded.

"Yeah, I know." Punk sighed.

"And even if she was still here, by then she'd… she'd have no clue." Dean shook his head as Punk nodded, "Bunch a shit."

"It is." Punk nodded, "You don't normally do big boy thinking." Punk smiled a little.

"Well… we're not getting any younger. You especially." Dean teased as Punk smiled.

"I'm still a spring chicken." Punk scoffed.

"I don't think we should sell the house." Dean shook his head as Punk looked at him, "I think you should live in it." He nodded to him.

"What?" Punk shook his head.

"Let's face it, I'm not responsible enough to run a house like that, and it's… it's not really my style but I don't know, I think one of us should at least consider it, and I know you told me when you showed it to AJ she really loved it." Dean said as Punk just shook his head.

"I wouldn't go live in that house and expect you to be ok starting a mortgage from scratch. No way." Punk shook his head at the idea.

"You could always help me out if I need it." Dean said, "I don't know, it just… it feels kinda sad to have that house and just sell it one day." He said as Punk shrugged.

"It's nothing we gotta think about right now." Punk nodded, "Stop with the big boy thinking. Too much can weigh you down." He said as Dean nodded.

"Has AJ spoke to her mother yet?" Dean asked curiously.

"No, and I don't think she's gonna." Punk shook his head, "I wouldn't."

"Why would you want that for your kid?" Dean shook his head, "Mother's know everything and she for sure knew that AJ didn't wanna marry Jason."

"Yeah but she wanted her to marry Jason." Punk said, "She just sounds like a bitch who's still sour about the fact she stayed with her cheating husband who she didn't love, so she was forcing the same on April." He shook his head.

"Is her dad dead?" Dean asked.

"Yeah. Cancer." Punk nodded, "I don't know who AJ seems to have disliked more." He laughed a little.

"Really? She had a rough situation with him too?" Dean asked.

"Yeah he was a surgeon who cheated on her mom all the time. And I think they used to use her as bait with each other. I don't know, it just sounds really fucked up. Kinda explains where Ape gets her easily manipulated trait from." He nodded as Dean cringed a little, looking past Punk to AJ who had come to the station to drop by some lunch.

Punk noticed Dean shaking his head, looking by him as he turned around and saw AJ standing.

"Oh, hey." Punk smiled.

"Hi." AJ said bluntly, sitting down the brown paper bag on the desk, "I uh… I was wondering if you wanted to stop and have lunch with me but I think I'll just drop it off." She nodded to him, walking by him.

"Wait, April." Punk stood up from the desk, taking a hold of her hand as she turned to him.

"No, I have work to get back to." AJ shook her head. She'd gone on her lunch break and figured she'd stop by to see him, but was a little hurt to overhear what he had said.

"What I just said there… I don't actually mean… I didn't mean anything by it, Dean was just asking about your parents and-"

"And what? Easily manipulated?" She looked at him, hurt in her voice.

"No… April, I didn't mean it like that." Punk sighed, feeling her rip her hand from his and storm out of the fire station.

Punk huffed angrily with himself, turning back around and walking over to Dean who was swirling back and forth on his chair, looking over at Punk with a shaking head.

"What?" Punk shook his head.

"I would not have said that." Dean shook his head.

"Yeah well thanks for the input." Punk sighed, sitting back down on the desk. He figured it wasn't the best way to express what he was trying to say, and hearing it back in his head made him realise how hurtful it sounded.