Aftermath

"Ok, slow down." Lyla shook her head, "Come and sit down." She nodded to AJ who was pacing in front of her after showing up at her apartment, clearly distressed.

"Why wouldn't he just tell me?" AJ shook her head, walking over to the couch and sitting down beside Lyla who was in her pyjamas. She'd been in bed when AJ had showed up, buzzing her apartment to be let in.

"Why would he want to? It's a pretty awful thing." Lyla said, "Especially when he knew what you've been through. He was probably scared it would spook you so he… left it out of the story."

"Well consider me spooked." AJ shook her head, "And then he just started beating up Luke. Really aggressively. Everyone was staring. I mean… he's probably going to get arrested. Someone probably called the sheriff."

"Luke was harassing you. I think it's good Phil showed up when he did." Lyla admitted.

"He didn't need to beat on him so badly." AJ said, "I mean… is that what he's really like? What if one day he snapped like that with me?"

"AJ." Lyla said, "Do you honestly think that would happen?" She questioned as AJ looked at her.

"No." AJ said, "But… do you blame me for thinking about it after what happened tonight?"

"No, I don't. But you love this man. He's got a past. Most people do. I don't think he's a bad person. And I think you know he's not." Lyla said, "If anything it shows how much he cares for you. How bothered he was seeing Luke cornering you like that."

"Yeah, but I didn't need him to bloody him up so bad." AJ sighed, "I didn't think he could be so violent." She shook her head. She was so used to her boyfriend being so kind and soft with her. So comforting. A safety net almost. To see him lose it like that was frightening. Especially after hearing about what he'd done to the witness in his brother's case.

"Everyone can snap if they're pushed too hard." Lyla nodded.

"I just don't understand. He always talks about how much he hated his brother growing up. How horrible he was to him." AJ said, "And yet… he risked everything to try and keep him out of prison? It doesn't make sense."

"Maybe his brother has something on him." Lyla shrugged.

"Well, that's not comforting." AJ sighed stressfully.

"The only way you find out is if you talk to Phil. Don't avoid him. That will only make it worse. He's probably feeling bad about what happened, especially if he knows he scared you." Lyla nodded.

"I'll talk to him in the morning." AJ shook her head, "Can I stay here tonight?"

"Yeah, of course you can." Lyla smiled.

"And hey… I'm sorry if I annoyed you when I suggested you hook up with Cole." She said, "I… it was just a fun idea. I didn't mean to push you or anything."

"You didn't annoy me." Lyla assured her, "I'm just… not interested in dating."

"Any particular reason why?" AJ asked her, "You know you can talk to me."

"I know." Lyla nodded, looking down nervously and swallowing the lump in her throat.

"Hey, what's wrong?" AJ shook her head, sitting up a little, noticing immediately that Lyla was holding back.

"It's nothing. It's stupid." Lyla laughed a little.

"No. Tell me." AJ insisted, "Come on. How many times have you had to sit here and listen to me ramble on? Talk to me." AJ nodded as Lyla looked across at her.

"I still think about Lewis." Lyla nodded, "That's all." She shook her head.

"From college?" AJ asked as Lyla nodded, "Oh." AJ said, "But I thought you broke up with him?"

"I did." Lyla nodded, looking across at her friend, "I broke up with him so I could move here with you." She admitted as AJ looked at her with confusion.

"What do you mean?" AJ shook her head.

"I really liked him." Lyla nodded, "A lot." She emphasised, "But you were going through so much and seeing you talk about moving away and starting up our own shop… it was the first time I'd saw you happy in so long." She nodded, "And I didn't want you to go on your own. I didn't know if you would be ok. So I broke up with him." She said, "I thought it would be easy to move on, but it hasn't been. And now seeing you and Phil together… how happy you are. It makes me miss him."

"You broke up with him because of me?" AJ asked quietly.

"No. Not because of you." Lyla shook her head, "I just wanted to make sure you were ok. You were so excited."

"I would never have forced you to come with me." AJ made clear, not being able to help feel incredibly guilty.

"I know. But then I was scared that you wouldn't go on your own." Lyla said, "I've saw him a few times when I've went back to New Jersey to visit my parents. And we've kept in touch on Facebook but… it's not the same."

"I didn't ask you to be my guardian, Lyla." AJ shook her head, "I didn't ask you to break up with him." She said.

"I know you didn't." Lyla said, "But you were a mess. You needed someone to be there for you. I couldn't let you come out here on your own."

"So… what are you saying? This has all been a huge burden to you? I've kept you from someone you love?" AJ shook her head.

"No, I'm not saying that. You know I'm not saying that." Lyla said as AJ stood up.

"It feels like you are. You're not shackled to me, Lyla. I can handle life on my own, believe it or not." AJ said.

"Can you?" Lyla stood up, "Then why are you here crying to me about your relationship?"

"Because you're my best friend." AJ shook her head.

"Yeah, exactly. That's why I came here with you. Because you're my best friend and I love you. And I wanted to do anything I could to help you move on from what happened to you." Lyla said.

"But now you resent me?" AJ figured.

"You're putting words in my mouth." Lyla shook her head.

"I don't have to. It's written all over your face. I've finally moved on… I'm in a relationship and now you resent me because you've spent all these years feeling like you couldn't be with the person you love… because of me?" AJ questioned.

"April, that's not what I'm saying." Lyla said, "You told me to tell you how I'm feeling so… this is me telling you how I'm feeling."

"I am not keeping you here." AJ made clear, "You're not bound to me by some oath… you're free to do what you want."

"I wanted to help you. That's what friends do." Lyla said.

"Well, I feel like a terrible person now." AJ told her truthfully, "I would never have wanted you to come here if you didn't want to." She made clear.

"I know that. I'm responsible for my own choices. I'm not saying any of it is your fault." Lyla said, "I'm just telling you the situation and how I'm feeling. I don't regret a single second of us being here." She said as AJ looked across at her.

"I think I'm gonna go." AJ said tiredly.

"You said you wanted to stay." Lyla said.

"Well, I don't want to be any more of a burden to you." AJ shook her head, grabbing her bag from the floor.

"April." Lyla said, watching her friend head for the door, "Just stay." She said, but she watched AJ walk out of the apartment and close the door behind her.

"You're lucky he's not pressing charges." Cole shook his head, walking with Punk to his apartment who was holding the gigantic teddy bear which AJ left.

"He's only not pressing them because he knows he's been harassing AJ." Punk shook his head, "Stupid fuck got what he deserved."

"I don't doubt it. But maybe next time don't do it in front of hundreds of people." Cole suggested.

"If I see him anywhere near April, I'll do it again, I don't care who it's in front of." Punk shook his head, rubbing his knuckles which were starting to bruise.

"She didn't seem thrilled by your actions." Cole pointed out.

"Well spotted." Punk shook his head. It was all he was thinking about. The look on AJ's face, the fear. He never wanted her to look at him like that. He never thought she would. He desperately wanted to see her to make it right.

"She knows about why you were disbarred, right?" Cole asked.

"Most of it." Punk nodded, "Why?" He turned to him.

"What does 'most of it' mean?" Cole asked.

"She knows about the fraud." Punk nodded.

"Ok, well I think I told her the whole story then." Cole said, "I thought she knew." He defended.

"You told her about the witness?" Punk asked, stopping in his tracks and turning to face Cole.

"Yeah. Dude, I thought she knew. She told me she did." Cole said, "But when I was talking about the witness part, she started to look a little confused." He admitted, "Why didn't you just tell her? You seem serious about her."

"I am. That's why I didn't tell her. I didn't want to scare her." Punk said, running his hands over his face stressfully. This didn't help matters. Knowing AJ now knew about his awful behaviour with the witness in his brother's case, it made him feel sick, because he knew she'd be thinking the worst of him now. Thinking about the violence.

"Is that her?" Cole said quietly, pointing behind Punk who turned around and noticed AJ walking down the street.

"Yeah." Punk said.

"I'll… give you a minute." Cole nodded, heading off further down the street just as AJ noticed Punk was standing a few feet away from her.

"I don't want to talk right now." AJ shook her head.

"I'm sorry. I didn't… I didn't mean to scare you." Punk said, "I know Cole told you about what happened with the witness."

"Yeah… how you put them in hospital? In an innocent person?" AJ said, "And all for your brother who you hate?" She shook her head.

"I was trying to keep him out of prison." Punk said.

"Why? He's clearly a terrible person." AJ shook her head, "What does he have on you?"

"What? Nothing." Punk shook his head, "Look, I wanted to tell you but… I didn't want to scare you or hurt you. I couldn't have you thinking that I was capable of hurting you because I'm not."

"I don't need everyone tiptoeing around me!" AJ yelled with frustration, "Acting like I'm made out of glass, ready to be shattered at any given moment. Because I'm not." She made clear. She couldn't figure out if she wanted to cry or scream with anger.

"I know you're not." Punk said, "But you looked so uncomfortable with Luke… I got mad. I lost my temper and I'm sorry." He said, "I shouldn't have."

"And if you lost your temper with me?" AJ questioned.

"I would never hurt you. You know that." Punk said seriously, "I love you." He reminded her as she looked up at him. She knew in this moment that she loved him too. Very much. But her head was spinning.

"How do I know you're not keeping other things from me?" AJ shook her head, "I've told you everything about my past. Even the most awful details." She said, "I didn't want to but I did… because I trust you." She said, swallowing the lump in her throat.

"I didn't want to tell you because I'm ashamed of it. All of it." Punk said with frustration, "I hate what I did. I feel sick thinking about it. I didn't want you to be ashamed of me, too." He said.

"You don't think I was ashamed to tell you the details of how I was raped?" AJ shook her head as he looked down at her, running his hand through his hair, not entirely having the right response to give her. He only wished he'd been completely honest with her from the start.

"I'm sorry." He shook his head.

"I just want to go to bed." AJ said tiredly, "It's been a really long day."

"Can I see you in the morning?" Punk asked.

"I'll call you." AJ shrugged, walking past him.

"You don't want this?" He asked her, still holding the gigantic pink teddy bear as AJ turned and looked back at it.

"Yes." AJ said, snatching the bear from him and holding it close to her chest, "Good night." She said, turning back around and walking down the street.