Shakes
"Hi, baby. Hi." AJ smiled, holding Matteo in her arms as she stood by the bed the next morning, "You're wide awake this morning. Yes you are." AJ nodded in a funny voice, tapping his little nose as she looked at his wide eyes.
"I said to Dean we'd stop by before we left." Punk told AJ, walking back into the room. He'd slept on the chair for majority of the night. He didn't want to leave AJ's side. Something about missing the birth made him want to stay right beside her all the more now that he was here.
"You hear that, Matteo?" AJ asked, "You wanna go see Uncle Dean? Huh? You wanna meet your crazy uncle?" She smiled as Punk lifted the carrier onto the bed which he'd gone to collect from the car.
"How you feeling?" Punk asked her.
"Better than this morning." AJ nodded. When she woke up she felt nauseous and dizzy, and when she tried to stand up she just felt like she was going to pass out. It turned out she just needed water and something to eat, which she'd already forgotten to do as a new mom.
"Don't you worry, I'm gonna be feeding you up." Punk smiled her way as she chuckled.
"Just… not spicy food." AJ nodded as he chuckled.
"Do you think that actually worked? Do you think that made you go into labour?" He asked her as she walked around the bed beside him.
"No, I think it was just a coincidence." AJ said, "There's no way it could work that fast."
"You never know." Punk shook his head, watching as she put Matteo into the carrier, "He's such a dude." Punk smiled, looking on at his son, his wispy hair sticking up and his face pouting as AJ smiled.
"He's a little dude." AJ smiled, "And he's so handsome." AJ said in a funny voice, stroking his cheek as Matteo kept his eyes on her.
"You realise we're gonna be talking in those voices all the time now." Punk nodded.
"I'm not really mad about that." AJ shrugged as he nodded.
"Yeah me neither." He said, fixing AJ's bag for her as they got ready to leave the room. He was so overjoyed to be living with a healthy baby and healthy wife. It was all he could have hoped for.
"You must be exhausted." AJ rubbed his arm.
"I must be exhausted?" Punk questioned.
"Hey, you don't have to undermine yourself just because I gave life yesterday." She smirked, "I know it sounds intimidating but… you're allowed to be tired too." She assured him.
"I slept on the chair." He assured her, "And we'll find time to sleep when we get home." He nodded.
"He's such a good baby." AJ said, leaning into Punk as she looked on at Matteo in his carrier, just staring at them both.
"I think he's just trying to suss us out." Punk nodded as AJ chuckled, "He's trying to figure out which one of us is the soft one."
"And which one of us has boobs." AJ nodded as Punk laughed.
"Ok, you ready to go?" He asked, kissing her head as she nodded.
"Yeah, let's go." AJ said, heading out of the room as Punk took Matteo in his carrier and AJ's bag, "He'll be down at trauma." AJ nodded to herself, of course knowing the hospital like the back of her hand.
They eventually made it down to Dean's room, slowly with AJ taking it easy of course.
"Hey, let me get a look at this kid." Dean smiled, watching them walk into the room, sitting up in the bed watching TV which he turned down.
"How are you feeling?" AJ asked, walking slowly into the room, heading for the nearest chair to take a seat.
"I'm probably feeling better than you." Dean nodded.
"I feel great." AJ smiled tiredly as Dean just smiled, turning to Punk who sat the carrier at the bottom of the bed, taking Matteo out and passing him to Dean who smiled upon meeting his nephew for the first time, getting eyes on him and all his sweetness.
"Ok, that's a cute baby." Dean nodded, looking down at Matteo who looked up at him, "You guys are parents." Dean smiled to AJ and Punk, "I mean… this little guy belongs to you." He said as Punk chuckled, turning to AJ who just smiled.
"You think he looks like me?" Punk asked.
"He does a little. He's got April's eyes, though." Dean nodded.
"Yeah, the eyes are throwing everyone off." Punk said.
"And look at his hair." Dean laughed.
"He had his first bath this morning, the nurse was washing his hair and it looked even longer." AJ chuckled.
"He wasn't a big fan of the bath. Little guy doesn't like people touching his hair." Punk nodded as Dean smiled.
"Where's Renee?" AJ asked curiously.
"I sent her home to go get some sleep." Dean nodded.
"How's the leg feeling?" Punk asked him.
"It's feeling ok. I'm gonna be on crutches for a while and… out of action at work." Dean said, "Trying not to think about it honestly." He admitted.
"You'll be back before you know it." Punk nodded.
"I gotta use the bathroom." AJ announced, standing back up slowly and heading over to the bathroom in the room.
"Is she ok? She looks pretty ghostly." Dean said quietly to Punk.
"She's just exhausted." Punk said as Dean nodded.
"We can take him to hockey games." Dean said, smiling down at Matteo who was falling asleep in his uncles arms.
"Yeah." Punk smiled. Getting to introduce his son to his brother was a great feeling. Knowing he would no doubt become their mini me.
"You got the shakes yet?" Dean turned to Punk who shook his head.
"Not yet." Punk said, taking a seat by the bed as Dean looked at him, "The funerals will probably be next week." He said as Dean nodded.
"It still just feels like a nightmare." Dean admitted, "I woke up sweating this morning."
"Yeah, I barely even slept." Punk said, "Tied between being upset about losing two friends, work colleagues… and also not being there for April." He shook his head. He was being pretty tough on himself right now and he knew he didn't need to. His wife was completely understanding, and he knew she was just glad he was safe and that their baby boy had arrived healthy.
"Hey don't blame yourself for that." Dean shook his head, "You can see the next one." He teased as Punk chuckled, watching AJ come back out from the bathroom, "You guys should get this little one home. I'll have plenty of time to spend with him." He nodded. He could see they were both exhausted and no doubt needed rest.
Punk and AJ left the hospital with Matteo after spending some time with Dean, so glad to be finally going home, this time for the first time as a family of three. It was so special, and although tragedy was in Punk's head, the feeling of carrying Matteo through the door of their house was an unforgettable one.
"Are we supposed to show him around?" AJ smiled, closing the door over whilst Punk held Matteo's carrier, looking down at the baby boy who was sleeping.
"I don't think he's really interested." Punk chuckled.
"Should we just take him upstairs?" AJ asked as Punk nodded.
"Yeah?" Punk asked her for a second opinion.
"Yeah." AJ shrugged. They were learning together. Obviously, neither of them had done this before and it was a new experience for both of them, which definitely helped, because they could lean on each other.
"I'm pretty sure if a baby is sleeping you're just supposed to let them." Punk nodded, walking upstairs as AJ followed slowly behind.
"Yeah you don't wake a sleeping baby." AJ nodded, taking one step at a time as Punk looked back.
"Do you need some help?" He asked her.
"No, I'm fine. I'm just taking my time." AJ assured him. She was pretty exhausted, and her body felt extremely weak, but she wasn't surprised after what it had just done. She was taking it easy on herself because she knew that's what she needed to do right now.
"Here, take my hand." Punk said, reaching his hand out as he stood at the top of the stairs, taking her hand and helping her up the last few stairs.
"Thank you." AJ nodded, reaching the top as he kissed her head, "Hopefully he likes his nursery." AJ smiled as Punk nodded, opening up the nursery, taking Matteo into the room in his carrier.
"Hey Matteo, this is your nursery." Punk whispered, sitting the carrier on the changing table, looking at his son who was sleeping, "Yeah he doesn't care about any of this." He nodded as AJ smiled.
"I can't believe he's here." AJ whispered. It just felt so surreal that their baby boy was now here and in the nursery with them.
"I know." Punk smiled, taking Matteo out from the carrier, walking over to the crib and placing him down gently.
"Hopefully he likes us." AJ nodded as Punk chuckled, placing his arm around her waist as they stood at the crib, "I love him so much." She whispered, resting her head on Punk's shoulder.
"Me too." Punk smiled, "We should get some sleep whilst he's sleeping." Punk nodded.
"Yeah, I agree." AJ nodded, "You just cry if you need momma or dada, ok?" She said softly, stroking Matteo's cheek.
"Yeah, I think he'll have no trouble doing that." Punk nodded, walking out of the nursery with her, "I'll take the carrier back out to the car later." He said, rubbing his eyes tiredly as they headed into their own bedroom.
"Oh, my pregnancy pillow." AJ frowned, looking on at the pillow in their bed. It made her heart skip a beat for some reason, making it so real that she wasn't pregnant anymore and she instead had this little tiny person to take care of next door.
"Thank God." Punk scoffed, grabbing the pillow from the bed and tossing it onto the floor as AJ folded her arms, "Now I can see your beautiful face when we go to sleep." He smiled.
"Yeah, smooth save." She scoffed as he chuckled, watching her get into bed as he joined her.
"I don't know what to do about my mom." He said, lying on his back beside her, looking up at the ceiling whilst she grazed her knuckles back and forth along his chest.
"With Matteo?" She asked him.
"Yeah." He said, "It's just weird that she's still here, she's still alive, but I can't even call her to tell her he's here." He shook his head.
"We could take him to meet her." AJ said, "I know she might not know what's going on, but like I always say, we know what's going on. I mean, don't you want to see her hold him?" She asked.
"I do but… it's just… it's not the same when you know she doesn't really know what's going on." Punk said.
"I know." AJ sighed, "But I think that's something you'd regret later in life if you didn't take him to see her." She said.
"Yeah, probably." Punk agreed.
"My eyes are nipping." AJ sighed tiredly, leaning her head against his shoulder as he kissed her head, both of them falling asleep very quickly.
AJ thought the first time she'd be woken up would be from her son crying, no doubt hungry or needing a diaper change. What she didn't expect was to be woken up by her husband who was shaking and yelling in his sleep.
It gave her a fright, because she wasn't sure what to do. She wasn't used to seeing him this way and it scared her.
"Phil." AJ tapped him.
"I gotta get them out." He mumbled to himself as AJ looked on, "I gotta get them out!" He yelled.
"Phil!" AJ yelled, shaking him with what strength she had in her, eventually watching him jump awake as he sat up in bed, sweating and breathing heavily.
"W-What?" Punk panted, looking around the room, feeling and hearing his own heart racing in his chest, turning to AJ who sat beside him, looking as terrified as he felt.
"W-What… what the hell?" AJ shook her head, "What's wrong?" She asked him, "You're sweating." She worried, listening as Matteo began to cry from his nursery.
"I… I can get him." Punk nodded.
"No, you stay here." AJ said, "I'll get you some water once I get him." She told him, getting out of bed and heading into the nursery where Matteo was crying.
"Hi, baby." AJ said softly, lifting him from the crib, "Hi, my sweet boy." She held him close, checking his diaper first which was clean, suspecting it was a feed he was after.
She carried him into their bedroom, looking over at Punk who was sitting in the same position she left him in.
"Is he ok?" Punk asked, almost in a trance as AJ watched him.
"Yeah, he's just hungry. Can you take him? I'm gonna get you some water." She said, passing Matteo over to him.
She headed into the bathroom, grabbing a cup from under the sink and pouring some water, walking back into the bedroom and sitting it on the bedside table.
"It was… It was just a bad dream." He shook his head, beginning to see she was worrying, his heart rate coming down as he tried to get a hold of himself.
"Yeah, a really bad dream." AJ said, taking Matteo from him, getting back into bed, pushing her t-shirt down to feed him as Punk sat back against the headboard, "Are you ok?" She shook her head worriedly as Punk just nodded.
"Yeah." Punk nodded, "It was just… it was just a bad dream." He nodded, looking on at Matteo who was now quiet whilst cradled into AJ being fed, "Look at his little feet." Punk smiled as AJ looked at him.
"That was a really bad dream." AJ looked at him seriously as he nodded.
"I'm fine." He nodded, leaning over and kissing her softly, "I'm gonna shower." He said, getting out of bed and heading into the bathroom as AJ watched, frowning worriedly.
