Moving Forward


One year later…

"I asked Dean to come by and check on the mail." Punk scoffed, walking into the house as AJ followed behind.

"Yeah, like that was going to happen." AJ shook her head, "You know, believe it or not, it feels good to be home." She nodded to herself.

"Yeah it does." Punk smiled, "Feel any different?" He asked her, sitting their suitcases over by the stairs.

"No, not one bit." AJ admitted, "Should it feel different?"

"I don't know. I just suspected it would but… no difference to me." He nodded, "It's a lot colder here, that's for sure." He groaned.

"Yeah, I miss the sun." AJ agreed, closing the door over and hanging up her coat, "Any interesting mail? Any of my secret admirers wrote to me?" She teased as he chuckled.

"No. Nothing interesting and no secret admirers." He shook his head, tossing the opened mail by the door as AJ walked over to him, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Is this the part where you carry me upstairs?" She smiled as he shook his head.

"I've carried you enough these past two weeks. You gotta learn to pack better shoes." He advised.

"I didn't know they were going to cut me up so bad." AJ scoffed, "You made for a good taxi cab."

"Yeah I think I've actually lost weight." He nodded, "Between that and all the sex."

"I had you working hard." She grinned as he nodded, leaning down and kissing her softly, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her close, "I'm so hungry. Airports make me hungry." She said, pecking his lips one more time loudly before walking off down to the kitchen as Punk followed.

"Hey!" Dean yelled as AJ almost jumped out of her skin, walking into the kitchen with Punk where Dean and Renee were. There was a baked cake with other treats and goods made, accompanied with balloons and banners plastered around the place.

"So you can come bake a literal cake in here but you can't check the mail?" Punk nodded.

"What's all this?" AJ smiled, walking over to the island of the kitchen, smiling at all the baked goods sitting around a cake which had 'just married' written on it.

"Since you guys didn't really have a traditional wedding with people fussing over you, we thought we'd throw you guys a little welcome home party." Renee smiled.

"Renee thought." Dean corrected, "I just blew up the balloons." He assured them.

"You baked all of this?" AJ smiled to Renee who nodded.

"You really like to cook, huh?" Punk nodded.

"It's my therapy." Renee said, "I've also made some lasagne. It's in the fridge. I figured you guys wouldn't have time to cook with all the unpacking." She said.

"That's really sweet. Thank you." AJ smiled, giving her a big hug at the warm gesture, "And thank you for blowing up the balloons." She looked over at Dean who gave her a thumbs up whilst eating a cupcake.

"So how was the honeymoon?" Renee asked, "Your tan is insane. I just burn in the sun." She scoffed.

"It was so great." AJ nodded whilst Punk sat over with Dean, "It was romantic and peaceful… we just had the best time. The beach was great, I think we went every day." She laughed a little.

"You guys have a lot of sex?" Dean nodded to Punk briefly.

"Yeah." Punk nodded.

"Cool." Dean said, finishing the rest of his cupcake. It was all he really had to ask, and it was all Punk really had to say. Men.

"I'm dreading unpacking all our clothes." AJ rolled her eyes, "Especially when I'm straight back at work tomorrow."

"It'll go down quick." Renee nodded.

They had gotten married in an impromptu wedding at the registry office two weeks ago, followed by a two week honeymoon in Hawaii. The only people who attended the wedding were Dean, Renee and Punk's mother, who unfortunately wasn't quite sure what was going on at the time.

They had also moved into Punk's mother's house a few months ago, which was now under both their names. It wasn't a decision taken easily. Mostly Punk had gone back and forth about it, but once they decided to make the move they hadn't looked back. Somehow the house felt different from when he stayed in it as a kid. He was afraid it wouldn't feel like theirs, but it really did.

It had been an exciting year with lots of wonderful moments and progression in their relationship. Their marriage just felt like it was the right thing to do. AJ rented a dress from a charity shop just like she wanted to, and when she said her vows, looked into his eyes, she knew that was exactly how she was supposed to feel on her wedding day. Magical.

"Are you really back at work tomorrow? That quick?" Dean asked AJ.

"So am I." Punk chimed in, "We have been gone for two weeks." He laughed a little.

"How has the hospital been?" AJ asked Renee curiously.

"Three of your patients died." Renee nodded to AJ.

"How can they be her patients when she wasn't there?" Punk scoffed.

"She was treating them before she left." Renee said, "It was some lost cause scenarios anyway." She nodded.

"Let me guess… Paul Wheelan didn't take the surgery he was suggested with?" AJ asked as Renee nodded, "I will never understand people who would rather die than have surgery."

"You don't know what people's fears are." Dean shrugged as AJ shook her head.

"So you baked all of this stuff for us and now we gotta eat it?" Punk asked.

"That's usually how food works, yeah." Renee nodded, "You can take some to work, I guess."

"Oh, that's a good idea." AJ nodded, "Cause there's no way we're eating all of this." She chuckled.

"Yeah I got a little carried away." Renee nodded.

"A little?" Dean scoffed.

"You be quiet." Renee nodded as Dean smiled.

"It was sweet. Thank you." Punk said, wrapping his arm around Renee who smiled.


Dean and Renee eventually left the house, leaving Punk and AJ to get settled back at home, to take their cases upstairs and unpack all their clothes which was never a fun job for anyone after a vacation.

"Have you got the work fear?" AJ asked him, sitting on their bedroom floor whilst he lay on the bed watching hockey on the TV. They had truly become one. They had found their forever in each other and it just felt like this was how their life was supposed to be. With each other.

"The work fear?" Punk laughed a little, looking over to her as she unpacked her case.

"Yeah, like when you've been off work for so long and you get nervous to go back?" AJ asked him, "Or are you just too cool for that?" She teased.

"I'm too cool for that." Punk nodded, "Really? You're nervous to go back?" He asked her.

"I know I'll be fine once I get there. It's just the initial thought of it." She said, "Once I'm an hour into my shift it'll be like I never even had a break." She scoffed as Punk nodded in agreement.

"Yeah you got that right." Punk nodded.

"Is your team winning?" She smiled, looking over at the tv.

"Our team, babe." Punk corrected her like he always did, "And yes, they are." He smiled happily.

"Wow, two weeks of sex and sun and you come home to our hockey team winning? You're winning at life." She nodded.

"I sure am." He smiled, putting his hands behind his head comfortably as she smiled.

"You're not nervous at all to go back to work?" She asked.

"No." Punk shrugged, "It's been two weeks, not two years." He laughed a little.

"I know but sometimes coming out of your routine kinda knocks you on your ass for a while." AJ said as Punk nodded.

"I know but I'm excited to go back. I missed the guys and… I missed climbing up buildings." He nodded.

"Oh, God." AJ groaned at the thought of it.

"Come on, you gotta be used to it by now." Punk shrugged.

"I don't think I'll ever be used to you walking into fires." AJ shook her head as Punk nodded, "Been thinking about my mom." She admitted, standing up from the floor and collapsing down beside him on the bed against the cushions.

"Why?" Punk asked her.

"Well… am I supposed to tell her I got married?" AJ asked him.

"You haven't spoken with her since your first attempted wedding." He turned to her with a small smile as she shoved him.

"Behave." She warned as he smiled.

"I don't see what's the point in telling her now. She's not cared enough to see how you've been doing all this time." He shook his head.

"Yeah I know." AJ nodded, "Part of me wants to do it just to rub it in her face. You know? Like hey mom so I got married and I live in this beautiful house and I'm a doctor." She said, "I wanna be smug." She thought about it.

"Oh, well in that case, I definitely think you should call her and tell her." He smiled as she chuckled.

"I might." She thought about it, "It'd feel so good." She nodded as he smiled.

He'd watched her grow from being a woman pressured by those around her to fulfil their dreams instead of her own, to simply flipping a middle finger to it all and doing what she wanted. She had become the boss of herself and it had been inspiring to watch.

"Maybe that's just dropping to her level, though." He said responsibly, "Maybe the best way to be smug is to just say nothing. Live your life, be happy and know she's not part of it. Cause she doesn't deserve to be." He nodded.

"Yeah, you're right." She nodded.

"I'm always right." Punk smiled as she shook her head.

"Only when I say you are." She assured him, tilting his face around by his chin as she kissed him softly, slowly but surely edging her way on top of him as he placed his hands on her waist.

She loved being his wife and it had only been two weeks. It wasn't something they wanted to do because they felt it was a huge step, but more so a celebration of what they had together and the future they wanted to spend forever with. That was the beautiful part.

"Only you can distract me from hockey." He nodded as she smiled.

"I know." She whispered, lifting her t-shirt off, tossing it on the floor as he reached behind and unclasped her bra, rolling them over so she was beneath him as he began kissing her neck.

"This is our first night as a married couple in the house." He smirked, "I think we got some stuff to do." He said as she nodded, already undoing her jeans as he stripped his t-shirt off.

"Better make it special then." She said, moaning against his cheek as he went back to kissing her neck, his hand travelling down into her panties as she smiled and bit her lip.

"Gotta ease that work fear you got." He mumbled against her neck as she smiled.

"Already working." She smiled with a satisfied sigh, watching him kiss down her body and disappear between her legs.