Light in a Bad Day
"Hey." AJ found Punk and Dean downstairs, sitting at the main entrance of the hospital, both of them standing up as they figured she had news for them.
"Is she still in surgery?" Dean asked.
"No, she's out." AJ nodded, "It went really well. They got the clot. She's out and in a recovery room now." She said as Punk sighed with relief, "They don't normally let doctors deal with their family if they're a patient but… I'll be checking in on her." AJ assured them both.
"And when she wakes up… will she be ok?" Punk asked, "Well… not ok, but-"
"She should make a full recovery." AJ nodded, "She'll spend a few days here and then she'll be transferred back to the home. The nurses there will be given instructions for medication she'll still be on. She'll pull through it." She said positively.
"She must be terrified." Punk sighed, sitting back down once his nerves allowed him to.
"She was actually pretty calm before going into the surgery. She was sleepy but she was ok. She did ask for your dad a couple more times." She nodded.
"Well, that's not something we can give her exactly." Dean said, sitting down on the couch again.
"You guys should go home. I can call with updates. You've barely slept." She looked at Punk worriedly as he just shook his head.
"No, I'd rather wait to know she's awake and see her before we go." Punk said as Dean nodded.
"Ok, well… it's your call." AJ nodded, "I can't stay, though we're super busy and I-"
"That's ok." Punk shook his head, "You go, we'll be fine here." He nodded.
"I'll come get you both when she wakes up." AJ nodded.
"Ok." Punk said as she leaned over and gave him a kiss, cupping his cheek softly before walking off to get back to work. It felt cruel that she couldn't stop and comfort them, but she really had to be back on her wing, just like Renee was. Perks of being a doctor, there was really no time.
"You think she's pulling through this?" Dean asked Punk.
"I trust April." Punk nodded, "I think she can get through it."
"Yeah, get through it just to struggle on and keep forgetting us." Dean nodded to himself as Punk looked at him, "It gets to a point where it just feels like torture. I don't know the last time she actually saw me and knew who I was." He shook his head.
"Yeah, I know." Punk nodded, "We didn't even tell her about the baby cause every time we've gone to see her she doesn't know who we are." He said, "I always pictured this part of my life with her and dad still here. I know she's still here but… let's face it, she's not really." He shook his head.
"Yeah I thought she'd be the overbearing grandmother." Dean agreed, "It's just sad cause she would have loved it." He nodded, "And she would have loved AJ and Renee." He said as Punk nodded.
"We can't depress ourselves thinking about stuff she's gonna miss. Just gotta think about the time we did get with her. Which was a lot of time." He nodded.
"Not enough." Dean shook his head, "I'm gonna go get a coffee, do you want one?" He stood up.
"Yeah, I'm running on about two hours sleep right now." Punk nodded tiredly.
"We've been lazy this week. We gotta stop ordering in." AJ said, sitting in the kitchen with Punk, sharing a pizza which they'd ordered after agreeing they were both too tired to cook after the long day they'd both had.
"I think we can forgive ourselves." Punk nodded.
"You must be so tired." She frowned, placing her hand on his arm as he nodded.
"Yeah, I think I'm gonna just go to bed after this." He admitted, "I'm still just worried about my mom."
"She's doing good, Phil. She woke up and she was showing positive signs of a good recovery." AJ assured him, "I see this stuff every day, I know when it's bad and this… it's not bad." She nodded. Gerry's surgery had went very well and she had woken up some time after, a little confused, but showing good signs post-surgery that things were going in the right direction.
"It's just a lot to go through." Punk nodded.
"It is but she's got through the dangerous part and she's gonna get better. I know it doesn't help her remember us or even you, but it's really good they caught this in time." She said as he nodded.
"Yeah, I know." He said, "I wish my dad was at least here to be there for her and… be there for us too, I guess." He nodded.
"What was your dad like? You don't talk about him that often." AJ said.
"He was just a good dad." Punk nodded, "Loves his family. Loved playing with us out in the yard. When we got older we kinda drifted apart. I guess when you become a teenager you think you're too cool to hang with your dad. Dean got into some trouble at school and I was sort of in the middle of it. But it passed and we got close again." He said.
"Is there any sort of… I don't know, traditions that he had with you that you might do with this little one?" She asked curiously, placing her hand on her bump.
"No, he wasn't a very traditional man." Punk chuckled a little, "He'd take us to cubs games and hawks games. I'll do that." He nodded to himself, "Honestly, I'm just gonna wing it." He teased as she chuckled.
"Me too." She nodded, "Cause I really don't know what a mom is really supposed to do. I've never really seen it." She admitted, picking at her pizza crust as he looked at her, "Am I gonna be just like my mom?"
"Of course you're not." Punk scoffed, "She's… a unique kind of person." He rolled his eyes as AJ smiled.
"I just… I want this little baby to be happy. I want him or her to feel lucky that we're their parents. Cause I know when I was a kid I… sometimes wished I had different parents." She laughed a little, looking down.
"No, this kid can't do any better than us." He teased as she looked over at him with a smile.
She looked back at her pizza crust, still thinking about what Gerry had said to her this morning, about reminding her of the boy's mother. She was under the impression that no one had met Punk and Dean's biological parents. Not even Gerry. But today it seemed otherwise.
She thought about asking him, looking over at him, the words on the tip of her tongue… but she didn't want to awake something like that after the day they'd had. She wasn't sure she ever wanted to awake something like that. She knew how he felt.
"I can clear up here if you wanna head upstairs." She nodded to him, "You need to sleep. Aren't you up at 5 tomorrow?"
"Yeah." He nodded, "Yeah, ok. I'm going." He assured her. The best thing about marriage sometimes, was just being taken care of. It was a good feeling. A warm feeling.
"I'll join you soon probably." She laughed a little as he smiled, standing up and leaning over, kissing her and looking into her eyes.
"I love you." He said as she smiled.
"I love you too." She nodded, "Now go to bed." She ordered.
"Alright, I'm going." He hummed, leaving the kitchen and heading upstairs to crash into bed.
AJ began clearing up the kitchen, growing more fond of the idea of going to bed early for the night. She took the trash out and put some dishes away before locking up and heading upstairs.
When she got into their bedroom, she saw Punk was already fast asleep. She knew it wouldn't take him long to crash.
She got into her pyjamas, getting into bed beside him, hugging into him in her usual position which was good for her baby bump, watching him as he slept peacefully, exhaustedly. He was her whole world. She was reminded by it every day when she got to kiss him good morning and good night. She couldn't wait for this baby to arrive and to see him with her or him.
"What are you looking at?" Punk mumbled against the pillow. He could just tell, even without opening his eyes, that she was staring at him.
"You." AJ said, "How adorable you are."
"Oh, don't call me adorable." Punk scoffed, still keeping his eyes closed.
"Why not?" She laughed, "What else would you rather me call you?" She asked.
"Just… not something that is associated with cute things like… bunny rabbits." He said.
"You're just like a little bunny rabbit." AJ smiled, pinching his cheek as he smiled a little, "I'm sorry, did I wake you?" She frowned.
"No, I heard you coming up." He said, eventually opening his eyes, "Believe it or not, now I can't sleep." He rolled his eyes.
"Neither can I." She whispered, "Do you need me to tire you out?" She smiled.
"Yeah, maybe I do." He nodded, leaning in to kiss her when she backed away suddenly to his confusion.
"I think the baby just kicked." She sat up as Punk raised his eyebrows, watching her feel her bump, "Either that or I just got really excited." She nodded as he chuckled, sitting up with her as she kept her hands on her bump.
"Will it do it again?" He asked hopefully.
"It's doing it again." AJ nodded, grabbing his hand quickly and placing it where she could feel the kicks, "Feel it?" She asked him as he nodded with a smile.
"Holy shit." Punk raised his eyebrows, "How weird does that feel for you?" He wondered.
"It's… a little weird." She admitted as he chuckled, "But it's really kicking. It's a little person." She smiled, looking down at her bump happily. It was an incredible feeling, one she was glad to experience with him beside her.
"Now I'm glad I didn't fall asleep." Punk nodded as she smiled, leaning over and kissing him softly.
