Baby Shower
"That's good for a boy or a girl, right?" AJ nodded, turning her laptop around to Punk who was sitting on the couch watching hockey.
"Yeah, that looks good." Punk nodded, not looking away from the TV.
"You didn't even look." AJ scolded, angrily turning her laptop back around to her where she was scrolling through cribs.
"You've been showing me them all night." Punk laughed a little, "I trust you to pick a good crib." He nodded.
"Well I'd like your input. It is your child too." AJ said.
"Babe, they all look the same to me." Punk shook his head.
"No, there's oak wooden ones and there's white polished ones." AJ said, "I really like this grey matte one. I think it's good for a boy or a girl. And I definitely think we should go with the white walls and the cloud stickers. Will you be able to do it or will I call for someone?"
"I can paint a couple walls and put stickers on." Punk scoffed.
"Well I want it done properly." AJ made clear as he turned to her, "Please."
"No, I was planning to half ass it and make it look terrible." He nodded to her as she rolled her eyes, "You gotta chill out." He chuckled a little.
"I am chilled out." AJ laughed, "I just want my baby to have a nice nursery." She shrugged.
"This baby is only gonna care about a few things. Sleeping. Your boobs. Pooping. And me, because I'll be its favourite person." He smiled to her teasingly.
"The boobs automatically win. I'm it's favourite person." AJ assured him.
"They are good boobs." Punk nodded to himself.
"Stop." AJ scoffed, "Ok, well I'm ordering this crib." She warned him.
"Go for it." Punk encouraged. It wasn't that he didn't care, he just knew and trusted she had her own vision, and he was happy to just go along with that.
"Ok, now I need to look for drapes. I saw the cutest ones somewhere. They had little moons with faces on them." AJ smiled to herself as Punk looked over, watching her smile as she scrolled through on the laptop.
"Can you believe in four months it's not gonna be just the two of us anymore." He smiled a little, reaching for his coffee and taking a sip.
"I know." AJ said with slight fear, "I can't wait for that moment where we bring him home." She smiled, "Shoot, I keep saying him." She realised as he chuckled.
"You do." Punk noticed, "You still think it's a boy?" He asked.
"Yeah, I do. Mother's tuition." She shrugged, "I really don't care, though. I mean, that sounds wrong but I just want whoever it is to be happy."
"We don't even have names." Punk said, "We're kinda unprepared." He thought about it.
"Phil, don't even do that to me." She stressed, pulling her blanket closer as he chuckled.
"I'm just playing. We got plenty of time." He nodded.
"Renee said you should take me on a babymoon." She smiled.
"What the hell is that?" He shook his head.
"It's like a pregnant honeymoon. Have some alone time just the two of us before… he or she arrives and causes chaos." She smiled, placing her hand on her bump, "I don't know if I'd be able to get time off work, though. Maybe a weekend if I'm lucky."
"We can figure something out. That sounds like a good idea." He nodded as she smiled, "Is she still throwing you a baby shower?"
"Yeah, she's throwing me it here, apparently, so you need to be gone for the day." She nodded.
"I need to leave my own house so you can both have a party for two?" He looked over at her.
"It's not a party it's… it's preparation." She nodded as he looked over at her.
"Is it hurting you that no one is coming?" He asked, "Cause sometimes Renee thinks she's doing good when… she's just drawing attention to something that's kinda sad." He nodded.
"It is sad." AJ agreed, "But… it's my life and it's the only person who I know my baby is gonna be able to count on. I'm not the new mom to be who is gonna go to her mom for advice, am I?" She asked him.
"You can tell Renee just to forget about it." Punk shrugged, "You could go shopping instead, go for dinner." He said.
"Phil, I'm ok." She nodded to him, "It doesn't make me feel lonely if that's what you think. I have everything I need." She assured him as Punk nodded, "We'll have fun." She shrugged as Punk nodded, watching her look down at her laptop. He knew it was hurting her, she was too tough and stubborn to say.
"Oh, hey what are you doing here?" Renee asked, noticing Punk standing at the nurses station the next morning, "April is doing a post op right now but I could let her know you're here-"
"No. No, she doesn't need to know I'm here." Punk assured her, "It's you I wanna talk to. Well, not just you." He said, looking around for someone.
"What's up? I'm kinda busy." She said.
"This baby shower you're planning for April this weekend… I think we should get more people at it." He nodded to her as Renee clutched her folder to her chest and raised a brow.
"The baby shower has nothing to do with you. Like Dean says… you're just the sperm guy when it comes to the baby shower. This is about April." Renee nodded.
"I'm not the…" He rolled his eyes, not bothering to argue back, "Ok, I know it's her day and it's nothing to do with me but… I think it's making her feel lonely. She'd never say it out loud because it's April, and I know you would probably make it a fun day and it'd be great but… I think we should try and get more people to come." He nodded.
"Like who? She doesn't talk to anyone else." Renee said, "She'd rather have no one there than people she doesn't even like."
"She likes other people." Punk said, watching Shauna walking down the corridor, "Hey, you!" Punk called as Shauna widened her eyes and put her hand on her hip.
"You?" Shauna questioned, walking over to them, "I don't see no fires around here. Can I help you?" She asked.
"You can." Punk nodded, "April likes you, right?" He shrugged as Shauna looked at him.
"Don't you dare." Renee said quietly through her teeth, nudging Punk on the back. The thought of their attending coming to the baby shower made her want to cry.
"April is having a baby shower this weekend and you're invited." Punk nodded to her as Shauna turned to Renee, "She's very fond of you." Punk exaggerated as Shauna looked at Renee.
"Do I have to bring a gift?" Shauna asked Renee.
"Uh… well, traditionally yeah it would… it would suggest that guests would bring a gift to a baby shower." Renee nodded as Punk looked at her weird.
Shauna looked at them suspiciously, "Alright… I'll see what I can do." She nodded, walking on by as Punk smiled, turning to Renee who smacked him with the folder she was holding.
"Uh… ouch?" Punk shook his head.
"What are you doing? That's our attending. Are you serious?" Renee spat, "April is gonna kill you."
"She likes Shauna." Punk shrugged, "I question why but she does."
"We get enough of her at work, we don't want to see her outside of work." Renee shook her head, "Oh, you are ruining all of this. Why can't you men just stay out of things, huh?"
"Make sure Shauna has the address and the time." Punk nodded, "I'm gonna ask the chief at the fire department if his wife is free. April's met her a few times and they get along really well."
"A few times? You're inviting people who have met her a few times? Strangers basically?" Renee nodded, "You suck. She's gonna hate all of this."
"No, she won't. Trust me." He nodded, "Have a good day." He smiled, kissing her cheek.
"You better get out of here before I beat your ass." She warned as he walked off down the corridor.
"Hey." Punk moved along the bar as Kat looked at him with a raised brow, "How are you?" He smiled.
"I'm fine. Why are you in my bar at two in the afternoon?" Kat asked him with confusion, "Why are you in my bar at all, actually? This is a dad free zone, you know."
"Oh, really?" He nodded.
"Really." She smiled.
"I was wondering if you wanted to go to a party this weekend?" He asked.
"A party?" Kat asked.
"Well… a baby shower." He shrugged, "For April. You like April, right?"
"I do. I don't know the last time I saw her, though." Kat said, "I'm pretty sure she doesn't need the lady from the bar at her baby shower." She shook her head.
"She does. She likes you." Punk nodded as Kat looked at him, "She'd like it if you were there." He said as Kat nodded.
"Ok. I can see if someone will cover for me." Kat said, "Who else is going? Anyone I know?"
"Uh… Renee. You know her, right?" Punk said as Kat nodded.
"I do." Kat said, "I am happy for you guys, you know. Feels like just yesterday I watched you throw a tray of drinks down her back." She smiled as he nodded.
"First encounters are always special." Punk nodded, "I'll get Renee to text you the time and address." He pointed to her.
"Ok." Kat smiled, watching him leave the bar, clearly with other things to do.
"We'll probably be finished by dinner so I'll text you." AJ nodded, pulling up outside their house that weekend after Punk had taken her out for breakfast, to get her out of the house for Renee to set up their "two person" baby shower.
"Hey, take your time. There's no rush." Punk smiled, leaning over and kissing her as she cupped his cheek, "I'm just gonna come in and grab my hat." He told her as she nodded, getting out of the car.
"How many cakes do you think Renee has made?" AJ smiled, making her way towards the door as Punk opened it up.
"A dozen probably." Punk chuckled, stepping aside and letting her walk in first.
"I hope she didn't go overboard. Feels a bit silly just for the two of us." AJ nodded to herself, hanging her coat up on the rack. She didn't let on, but it did bother her a little that her baby shower was so small. She never longed to be a mom with so many people around her. That wasn't what she wanted. But she just didn't want to feel so alone.
"I'm sure she did." Punk smiled, watching her as she walked into the living room, following her through as he watched her eyebrow raise as she saw the very full living room.
"Hey!" Renee yelled excitedly as AJ laughed a little, shocked to see so many people there, including just about every firefighter from the fire department, as well as some of their girlfriends she'd gotten to know.
"I didn't… I didn't think there'd be so many of you." AJ laughed a little, taken back by all the gifts sitting in the centre of the living room.
Shauna smiled to herself as she saw AJ's face, looking over to Punk who was just interested in watching AJ's smile, nothing else.
"Us guys aren't staying but… we just wanted to come say hi." Dean nodded to AJ who smiled to him.
"Thank you." AJ nodded.
"Yeah, no guys allowed." Kat nodded, sitting over on the sofa with another few people from the hospital who AJ worked with, who Punk had managed to track down with Renee's help.
"Ok, we'll go." Punk nodded to the guys who began to spill out of the living room, "Let you get to eating all this good food and opening presents." He nodded to AJ who turned to him with a smile.
"Thank you." AJ gave him a hug, wrapping her arms around him tightly.
"Hey, I had nothing to do with this." He insisted, pulling back from the hug as she looked up at him, unconvinced but allowing him to play along.
"Alright." AJ smiled, "Well then thank you for getting me pregnant so I can have this shower with all these great people." She nodded as he chuckled.
"It was all my pleasure." He nodded, "Literally."
"Ok, you can go." She chuckled.
"Get your butt over here." Renee said, taking AJ's hand and guiding her over to the middle of the sofa, sitting down with her as Punk watched with a smile. He knew some of these people weren't her best friends for life, but that didn't matter, they were good people who she felt comfortable with, and she deserved to have this day.
He smiled as he watched Renee passing her the first gift, showing her all the snacks she'd made, catching Shauna at the corner of his eye looking over at him.
"I like you." Shauna nodded bluntly as Punk just chuckled to himself, leaving the living room and leaving them to the baby shower.
