Meeting


"Oh, hey. It's my favourite baby boy." Shauna smiled, walking over to the nurses station where AJ was standing with Matteo in his carrier which was sitting on the desk, along with Renee who AJ had been chatting with.

"She's distracting me, don't give me into trouble." Renee pleaded with Shauna who was too busy saying hello to Matteo.

"I was just coming to stop by and see everyone." AJ nodded to Shauna, "It feels weird being away from here for so long." She admitted truthfully. Even just to come back through the hospital entrance as a mom was very overwhelming.

"Well you don't have to check on us. You should be taking this time to rest and be with your son, before I get my hands on you again." Shauna nodded.

"You miss me, don't you?" AJ smiled.

"Of course I don't." Shauna rolled her eyes, "I miss an extra set of hands. That's it." She said coldly as AJ just smiled.

"Do you like his outfit?" AJ asked them both, "I wanted him to wear something nice to come to mommy's work. And then we're gonna go visit daddy, aren't we?" She spoke to Matteo, stroking his cheek. He had the tiniest little jeans on with a shirt and denim jacket.

"He's adorable." Renee smiled.

"As much as I'd love to stay here and talk to you, I have patients to see." Shauna nodded to her, "Don't be here for too long, Mendez. Go home." She suggested, walking off down the corridor as AJ just smiled.

"So you're going to see Phil after you leave here?" Renee asked, taking Matteo's hand as he grabbed onto her finger.

"Yeah, it just feels good to be out the house with him. I'm really not one for being inside all day, not moving." She said as Renee nodded.

"Well as long you feel ok." Renee said as AJ nodded.

"Actually… there is one thing I might need you to check." AJ turned to her.

"What?" Renee smiled, too busy looking at Matteo to sense AJ's embarrassed tone, "You're the cutest little monkey. Yes you are." Renee tapped Matteo's nose, speaking to him in a silly voice.

"I need you to… examine me." AJ said as Renee turned to her.

"Where?" Renee dreaded to know.

"Down there." AJ said discretely.

"Uh… go to gyno, I'm not doing it." Renee chuckled.

"No, because I'm fairly sure it's nothing but… well we had sex the other night for the first time since I had him and it felt fine at the time. It felt great. But after it kinda hurt." She groaned as Renee looked at her, unimpressed.

"April, you had a baby. Your body has changed. It's probably just… still tender." Renee made a grossed out face, "Maybe you shouldn't have rushed back into it."

"It wasn't rushed. It wasn't sore at the time." AJ assured her, "If it was I would have stopped, believe me." She said.

"You just give it a little bit more time. That's my doctor's advice. I don't need to look. Maybe just make sure he's not... drilling for gold too often. Give yourself a break. He'll live." Renee assured her as AJ nodded with a chuckle. She missed being at work with her friend.

"Hey have you heard anything else about the job cuts yet?" AJ asked her curiously.

"No, nothing. As far as I know no one's being fired yet." Renee scoffed.

"I'm worried." AJ admitted.

"No, don't be." Renee said, "You're a great doctor."

"I'm not even here. I'm a resident who had to pause her program because she had a baby." AJ said.

"There's nothing wrong with that. You'll be back soon and it'll be fine. They're not gonna consider letting you go just because you're on maternity leave. That's… horrifying if any company or work place did that to someone." Renee shook her head.

"I know." AJ sighed, "It's just got my stomach in knots." She admitted.

"Don't worry. Shauna is our attending and mostly she hates us but… she does think we're good at our job. She'll have a say in who goes and who stays and I don't doubt she'll stick up for us." Renee said as AJ nodded.

"Yeah, hopefully." AJ said, "I told Phil I knew about Jason being back." She told her.

"I don't know why he didn't just tell you in the first place." Renee shook her head.

"I don't either but… part of me also sees where he was coming from. I was stressed about my mom showing up and he probably didn't wanna make it worse." AJ shrugged, "At first it kinda freaked me out but now I'm… I'm not even bothering about it."

"You shouldn't." Renee nodded.


"Hey, there's my little guy." Punk smiled, standing in the garage of the fire station, on his lunch break with Dean when he saw AJ walking in with Matteo in his carrier.

"Hey." AJ smiled, happy to see them.

"Is he awake?" Punk asked, not being able to see Matteo yet since his carrier was turned the opposite way.

"Yeah, I just fed him in the car." AJ nodded, turning the carrier round.

"Hey, buddy." Punk smiled as he saw Matteo looking at him, "Did you just have your lunch with mommy?" He asked, unstrapping him from the carrier and lifting him out.

"More like from mommy." Dean chimed in, sitting on the desk as AJ smiled to him.

"I spent most of the morning at the hospital actually. It was nice getting to see everyone." AJ nodded, watching Punk sit down on the chair with Matteo in his arms.

"You're just there to see who's getting fired." Dean scoffed as Punk looked on at AJ.

"No I wasn't." AJ defended as they both looked at her, "Ok so maybe I was. But so far no one has been let go." She said.

"You don't gotta worry. Your job will be fine." Punk assured her as she just nodded.

"His shirt and his hair was a big hit with the nurses." AJ nodded as Punk smiled.

"Of course it was." Punk nodded proudly.

"Why is it just you two in here?" AJ asked. Normally there was more guys around during the lunch hour.

"They're all busy working." Dean nodded.

"And you both just decided lunch was a better option?" She asked.

"We've been non-stop since 7am." Punk said, "Chief told us to take our break and let the other guys head out." He nodded.

"Well at least you're both behaving. Being sensible. What I like to see." AJ smiled as Punk nodded.

"I'm going to take a leak." Dean announced, heading inside to the office area whilst AJ sat on the desk in his place.

"Did you get checked out?" Punk asked her.

"No, Renee made a good point. It's probably just still… tender down there." AJ nodded, "It'll be fine." She assured him, appreciating his concern.

"Is it just me or is he getting bigger every day?" Punk asked, looking down at Matteo in his arms as AJ smiled.

"He is almost two months old." AJ nodded, "But I don't know, putting on those tiny jeans on him still puts into perspective how tiny he is." She laughed a little as Punk smiled.

"Yeah, you're right." Punk smiled.

"How was your morning? Busy?" AJ asked him as he nodded.

"Yeah, nothing too chaotic but it was non-stop." Punk said.

"How has everyone been feeling? You know, since Frank and Drew?" She asked.

"We have our moments but we're doing ok." He nodded as she smiled.

"I'm glad." AJ said, watching Punk too busy paying his attention to Matteo. Her heart swelled whenever she saw the smile which Matteo put on his face. She knew they would grow to be best friends. All her love for her husband just seemed to amplify since Matteo got here.


"Jeanette." Jason greeted formally, sitting down at a table in Kat's bar as Jeanette looked across at him.

"We could have met in a… a coffee shop." Jeanette scolded, "This place is for morons." She looked around the bar, which they were sitting in a seat tucked away in the corner.

"It's a local." Jason said, "I'm not gonna keep you hostage." He shook his head as Jeanette looked across at him.

"She won't let me see him." Jeanette said, "My grandson. She won't let me see him. Or I should say, he won't let me see him." She said with anger as Jason looked across at her, "He's in her head. He's turned her into this… monster." Jeanette shook her head unhappily.

"Yeah well that's her decisions." Jason shook his head, uninterested as he took a sip of his drink.

"Don't you still care about her?" Jeanette asked desperately, "You must."

"I do." Jason nodded, "Of course I do." He mumbled, taking another drink.

"And you could get her back." Jeanette nodded to herself, "There will be cracks in her relationship with this… this other man." She said, "And we can expose them, and when they're exposed you can be the returning ex that she realises she's never really fallen out of love with." Jeanette nodded with a proud smile.

"The only reason her and I aren't back together is because I left town." Jason agreed, "But I needed to allow. Needed away from Chicago after she practically left me at the altar." He shook his head.

"She was confused. It's April. She can't make decisions for herself. She's never been able to do that." Jeanette shook her head, "And now she has a child. She can't handle that on her own. She can't handle anything on her own." She spoke to herself as Jason nodded along, taking another drink.

"And what if she's too hung up on this guy? I mean… like you said, she's got a kid with him." Jason shrugged.

"Please, it won't be long until he's just a weekend dad." Jeanette shook her head, "I'll be seeing that child more than he does." She vowed, she promised to herself.