Cut Off


"Hey, what are you doing here?" AJ smiled, opening the door in the early afternoon to Dean who crutched his way into the house.

"Hey, I was here to speak to Phil about something. Is he around?" Dean asked her, taking his hat off as AJ closed the door over to keep the cold out.

"He's sleeping. He's doing nights right now." AJ told him.

"Shit, I knew that." Dean said.

"Is everything ok?" AJ asked him.

"Yeah… yeah, everything is fine. Just something I wanted to talk to him about. About our mom." Dean said, crutching into the living room, smiling as he saw Matteo sitting in his little swing chair, "Oh, hey buddy." Dean smiled.

"He's just been fed and changed so… he's super chilled out." AJ nodded as Dean smiled.

"He looks a whole lot like Phil." Dean nodded, "But I can see him like you too." Dean turned to her with a smile.

"He's the best boy." AJ smiled proudly as she watched Matteo, "Can I get you some lunch or something? I was about to make a sandwich for myself." She said.

"Uh… sure, yeah. Whilst I'm here I may as well get fed." Dean nodded as AJ chuckled.

"I'll go fix us something." She told him as he watched her head to the kitchen.

He sat his crutches down, hopping over to Matteo and leaning down the best he could, still rehabbing his broken leg, stroking Matteo's cheek softly and smiling.

"You're all kinds of cute." Dean smiled, "You spending time with your mommy? You keeping her company?" He asked as Matteo looked up at him with big brown eyes.

Dean smiled and returned to the couch, taking a seat and sitting his beanie on the coffee table as AJ eventually came back with lunch for them.

"He got home even later than what he was supposed to so he's gonna be exhausted." AJ said, "I was up and feeding Matteo when he got home."

"Passing ships in the night, huh?" Dean said as AJ nodded.

"It's only temporarily." AJ said, "You missing it?" She asked, biting into her sandwich whilst Dean had already made short work of his.

"Yeah, of course. They still let me come out in the truck and see what's going on. Just sucks not being able to do anything." Dean shook his head.

"You'll be back in no time." AJ nodded, "Is everything ok with your mom?" She asked him. She was worried since Dean had said he needed to talk to Punk about their mom. She knew if it was anything bad he would tell her, but she just had to make sure.

"Yeah, she's fine." Dean assured, "Well… not fine. But, you know…" He trailed off as AJ nodded.

"I was gonna visit her with Matteo at some point but I don't think Phil wants me to. I don't think he wants her to not know who he is." AJ nodded.

"Yeah, I get it." Dean said, "I visited her last night and she didn't say one word to me the whole time I was there. Just a lot of blank stares. She didn't even ask me for coffee." He said.

"It's rough." AJ nodded.

"How are you doing?" Dean asked, rolling his head back on the couch and looking at her, "I got a mom who doesn't know me and you've got a mom who… you don't wanna know." He said.

"Weird how that works." AJ nodded, "I'm ok. I'm just hoping she stays away. Her and Jason. It's hard for me to know they were together and no doubt talking about me." She shook her head.

"It's childish." Dean said, "I think they're both jealous." He nodded.

"Like how?" AJ asked him, leaning her elbow on the back of the couch, turning into him.

"Well Jason is just jealous cause he blew it with you. And your mom is jealous that you have a relationship that she never had. I mean… her and your dad didn't get along, right?" Dean clarified.

"Not at all." AJ nodded.

"It's just jealousy." Dean shook his head, "Don't lose your sleep over it." He tapped her leg as Dean smiled.

"I'm trying my best." AJ said, "I think Phil is worried about me. My mom can really mess with my head. Even at my big age." She nodded.

"He just wants to make sure you're not upset or hurting." Dean said.

"Dean, I keep having these nightmares." AJ told him, "I'm a little girl. We're back in New Jersey, where I grew up as a kid. And my mom has a baby." AJ shook her head as Dean looked at her, "It's pretty vague but… it feels real." She shook her head.

"You got cousins?" Dean asked.

"No." AJ shook her head.

"We can dream about all sorts. You're a doc. You know that." Dean nodded to her, "And your mom has been on your mind lately. It's not abnormal." He said as AJ nodded.

"Yeah, I know." AJ said, "What was it you wanted to talk to Phil about? If it's really urgent I could wake him." She said hesitantly.

"Oh, no. Don't do that." Dean insisted, "I can talk to him later. It was just about mom. I opened her mail last night and she had a weird letter from a prisoner."

"A prisoner?" AJ shook her head.

"Yeah, a woman. Called Nickie." Dean said, leaning to the side and taking the letter from his pocket, showing it to AJ who read it.

"Well she doesn't sound friendly." AJ raised her eyebrows.

"I showed Renee and she said it's probably an old friend maybe." Dean nodded, "There's no Nickie's in the family."

"Maybe it's one of those set ups where you write to a prisoner." AJ said, "I went to med school with a girl who had a prisoner pen pal, and she ended up so in love with him." She rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, I don't think that's what's going on here." Dean laughed a little, "Sounds like whoever this person is… they know who my mom is."

"Yeah and it sounds like she's mad about something." AJ scoffed, "You should look into it." She nodded, handing the letter back to him.

"Kinda feels like I'm snooping in my mom's business." Dean admitted, "Who is to say that if she was of a good mind right now, that she'd want anyone to see this." He said.

"Well she's isn't of a good mind. And this person clearly isn't aware of how sick she is. Maybe someone needs to tell her." AJ nodded.

"Yeah." Dean nodded to himself, "I just… I didn't take my mom as the kind to be friends with prisoners." He shook his head.

"Maybe it's not a friend. Maybe it's something to do with your dad's side of the family." AJ thought about it. For once she wasn't thinking about her own mother, and that felt good to be distracted.

"Maybe." Dean nodded along, "I'll look into it. I wanna talk to Phil about it first. I'll see him later." He said as AJ nodded, "Although he'll probably say everything you just said."

"Yeah, we have become one." AJ nodded as Dean chuckled.

"He's so sweet." Dean smiled, looking over at Matteo sleeping in his chair.

"I know." AJ shook her head, "Sometimes I still can't believe he's here. I really hope we can give him a little sister. I think that'd be sweet." AJ smiled.

"Give yourself a minute." Dean chuckled a little.

"Or maybe he needs a little cousin." AJ smiled to him, "That'd be even sweeter."

"Yeah, ok. Calm down." Dean nodded to her as she smiled, shoving him teasingly, looking over to Matteo who suddenly began to cry, "We're making too much noise for him." Dean scoffed.

"No we're not." AJ chuckled, getting up from the couch and walking over to Matteo, "Hey, what's wrong?" AJ said softly, picking him up from his chair and into her arms, "Are you crying cause you wanna get cuddles from your uncle? Is that it?" AJ cooed.

"I don't really do cuddles." Dean insisted.

"For Matteo? Of course you do." AJ ordered, sitting back down beside him as Dean watched Matteo, "And just like that. He stops crying." AJ nodded, amused.

"Some may say that's a kid with attachment issues." Dean nodded to her as she rolled her eyes.

"He just likes a little cuddle every now and then. Don't you, buddy?" She smiled down at Matteo, "You like being in mommy and daddy's arms, don't you?" She nodded as Dean smiled.

"Can I hold him?" Dean asked.

"Of course." AJ smiled, passing Matteo over to him as Dean looked down at him.

"He's the best." Dean nodded.


"Oh, you made it. Finally." Nickie rolled her eyes, sitting down at the booth as she looked across at Gerry who was sitting in a wheelchair beside another woman, looking blankly at her.

"Miss, Gerry has vascular dementia which has progressively gotten worse over the past months. She's in no fit state to respond to your letters anymore." Irene, a carer from the nursing home said, sitting beside Gerry.

"And who are you?" Nickie tapped the screen.

"I'm just a carer from the nursing home." Irene said.

"And what? You brought her here to sit and stare at me?" Nickie questioned, looking at Gerry who was sitting with very little expression on her face, but looking at Nickie.

"Well… today she kept mentioning your name. I don't know the relationship between you both but… I figured maybe one last visit would put an end to the letters." Irene nodded as Nickie scoffed.

"Gerry!" Nickie banged the telephone onto the glass, "Come on, I know you know who I am. Look at me." Nickie insisted as Gerry looked at her.

"I can give you a moment with her." Irene said, standing up from the booth and leaving the room as Nickie looked at Gerry.

"Come on, if you can convince those nurses to bring you here, I know you've got some wires still connected in your brain." Nickie said, "This crazy woman came to see me. I don't know who she is but I don't like her." She shook her head, looking at Gerry who seemed to look through her.

"I gave you my kids." Nickie slammed her hand against the glass, "I gave you my boys." She said, with tears running down her face, "You don't get to forget me." She said frantically, "Who was that woman? She said… my son is married to her daughter… but how does she know I'm…" She paused, "You're their mother. How does she know about me?" She questioned.

"Nickie." Gerry said quietly.

"What? What is it?" Nickie asked, scooting as close to the glass as she could.

"You need help." Gerry nodded robotically as Nickie looked across at her.

"And you need to wake up." Nickie spat, "You promised me they wouldn't find out. You promised me they'd be raised without… without knowing anything about me or what I did." She said frantically with shaking hands, "I don't need this weight sitting on my shoulders." She shook her head, watching as Gerry stood up and began to leave the room.

"Gerry!" Nickie yelled loudly, watching as some guards came over as she began to get hysterical, "No! Bring that woman back!" She yelled, getting pulled from the chair and taken out of the visiting room.