Lie

"Morning." Finn smiled to Shiv as she arrived for her shift at Brewks.

"Morning." Shiv said, wondering why he was looking at her with an odd smile, "You ok?"

"Yeah. You?" Finn asked.

"Fine." Shiv nodded, putting her apron on and tying it at the back, "Where is boss man?"

"Taking in a delivery out back." Finn said, rolling out some dough for bagels he was making, "How is Brianna? Daryl told me about her wrist."

"She's fine. Excited to go show her friends her cast." Shiv smiled, "She had a bit of a rough sleep, though. Struggled to get comfy." She said, pulling a rack out the dishwasher to take through to the front.

"Hey, Cole has made a lot of progress already on the new house." Finn told Punk once he came into the kitchen after taking in a delivery.

"Yeah, it seems to be going a bit better in his capable hands." Punk nodded, "Shiv in?" He asked.

"Out the front." Finn nodded, "What's that?" He pointed to the envelopes which Punk was holding.

"Mail. I took it with me from the house. Didn't have time to open it there." He said.

"What a sad old man." Finn concluded.

"Oh, morning." Shiv said to Punk as she walked back into the kitchen.

"Morning." Punk nodded to her, "I heard about Brianna. Is she ok?" He asked her with concern.

"Yeah, she'll be fine. Tough as old boots." Shiv smiled.

"I heard she got a McDonald's for her bravery." Finn smiled.

"Yeah, she did." Shiv nodded, "So Daryl filled you in?"

"Yeah." Finn nodded to her, "Filled me in on everything." He raised his brows with a suggestive smile as Shiv looked at him, immediately realising what he was getting at.

"Shut up." Shiv shook her head. She hadn't expected Daryl to tell anyone. She didn't think guys talked about that stuff. But she knew she couldn't be mad since she told Becca right away.

"I didn't say anything." Finn put his hands up, "And I think it's great."

"Oh, go away." Shiv shook her head.

"Shit, I think I opened one of April's letters." Punk realised. He was so tired from being up all night with Thomas, he'd torn through his mail and not realised he'd accidentally picked one belonging to AJ up.

"So? You're married." Shiv said.

"We got our own bank accounts for the coffee shops, though." Punk explained, realising he was looking at one of AJ's bank statements. He knew he probably should have stopped looking once he realised, but they were married after all, and they had a mortgage and raised two children together.

"Anyway, back to last night." Finn turned his attention back to Shiv.

"Please don't be like this all day. I don't have the energy." Shiv told him.

"I'm just saying… it's not a big deal. It's good and it's healthy." Finn nodded.

"Spoken like a real dude." Shiv rolled her eyes, "We're not talking about it."

"This isn't right." Punk shook his head with confusion as Finn and Shiv turned to him.

"What? She making more money than you?" Finn chuckled.

"No. More like giving it away." Punk shook his head, walking through to the front of the shop.

"Morning." Daryl said, walking into The Brewberry and getting his apron on.

"Not a scratch on my car. Well done." Becca nodded to him.

"I'm a good driver." Daryl nodded, "Where's the other two?" He asked.

"In the kitchen fussing over a walnut and carrot cake." Becca waved her hand.

"Which we could use your help with!" AJ yelled from the kitchen as Becca rolled her eyes.

"So… what did you get up to last night?" Becca smiled to Daryl.

"What do you mean? You know what I got up to." Daryl shook his head with confusion as he prepped the coffee machine to make himself a coffee.

"Mhm. I know." Becca nodded to him with a smirk as Daryl just looked at her with confusion.

"Why are you being weird? It's too early." Daryl shook his head tiredly.

"It was going to happen at some point, right?" Becca shrugged as he turned to her, realising she was talking about his… incident with Shiv.

"What are you talking about?" Daryl asked more seriously.

"What do you think I'm talking about?" Becca smiled.

"You know what happened?" Daryl asked.

"What happened?" Lyla came through from the kitchen, AJ following with a large, perfectly decorated carrot cake.

"Daryl fingered Shiv last night." Becca nodded to them both clamly.

"Jesus Christ." Daryl shook his head, "That's a nice way of putting it." He groaned, running his hands over his face whilst Lyla and AJ stood in shock.

"Wait… what?" AJ shook her head.

"Can we please not talk about it?" Daryl asked, "How do you even know?" He asked Becca.

"She told me. She called me last night, freaking out." Becca said.

"Freaking out bad?" Daryl worried.

"No… I wouldn't say it was bad." Becca said, "She was definitely mad she didn't come, though. I could tell." She nodded.

"Is this conversation really happening?" Lyla wondered, "You and Shiv… you had sex?" She asked Daryl.

"No." Daryl shook his head.

"So you fingered her then left?" AJ clarified.

"You girls have no manners." Daryl said with disgust, "We had a… a moment, yes. But it's not a big deal and it… it shouldn't have happened. We'd had a long day with Brianna. Our emotions were all over the place. We weren't thinking." He said.

"And she'll testify to that?" AJ asked.

"I think so." Daryl nodded, "I don't know. We haven't spoken."

"This is not what I expected to hear at 8am." Lyla admitted, "But honestly? It's not surprising." She shrugged.

"Alright, can you all stop saying that. That's all I heard from Finn last night." Daryl shook his head.

"Aww, you told Finn? That's cute." Becca smiled, "Bromance."

"You and Shiv should talk." AJ nodded to him, trying to be more pragmatic, "There's obviously a reason why it happened." She said, sitting the carrot cake on the cake stand on the counter, covering it with a see-through lid.

"They were horny." Becca shrugged, "Happens to all of us."

"No, that wasn't it." Daryl said with frustration, "Well… yeah, a bit. But it just happened. We just forgot ourselves. I don't know how to explain it."

"Daryl, do you find Shiv attractive?" Lyla asked.

"What?" Daryl shook his head with confusion, "Yeah, of course I do. She's…" He stopped himself, realising he was in a room full of women, and then realising he didn't care, "She's the most beautiful girl I'll ever know."

"I'm gonna vomit." Becca fake gagged as Daryl rolled his eyes.

"Ok, well… why can't you guys start over?" Lyla asked, "There's obviously still feelings there. I mean… all this time and she's never even tried to move on from you."

"It's too complicated. Too much time has passed." He said.

"Exactly. It's passed. This is now." Lyla said.

"She's right." AJ nodded, looking over once she noticed Punk walking through the Brewberry door.

"God, I bet he knows, too." Daryl shook his head.

"Can I talk to you?" Punk asked AJ in a serious tone.

"Little busy right now." AJ laughed a little.

"Yeah, well it's important." Punk said as they all turned to him at the same time.

"Jeez, what's wrong with you?" Lyla shook her head with confusion.

"April." Punk said as AJ took her apron off.

"Ok, fine." AJ shook her head, "Can you guys check the ovens for the next load?" She asked the girls and Daryl who all nodded whilst she headed outside of the coffee shop with her husband.

"You were a little rude back there." AJ said unhappily, folding her arms and facing him.

"When was the last time you spoke to your mom?" Punk asked her.

"What?" AJ shook her head, "My mom?"

"Yes, your mom." Punk said.

"I don't know. Couple months ago." AJ said, "Why?" She asked.

"Why are you still giving her money?" He asked bluntly, holding up the letter.

"Why the hell did you open my mail?" She asked him, snatching the letter from him which she realised now was her bank statement.

"It wasn't accident." Punk said, "And we're married. Didn't think it'd be a big deal."

"Well it is." AJ said, "It's my mail."

"So you don't deny you're still sending her money?" Punk asked.

"What I do with my money is none of your concern." AJ shook her head.

"Maybe not, but you've been lying to my face for three years." Punk said, "When the twins turned one you told me you were going to stop sending money to her. You told me you had the conversation with her."

"Well I didn't." AJ said.

"April… it's not like you're sending her a couple hundred dollars." Punk said, "You're sending her two grand every month." He shook his head.

"This was none of your business." She said angrily.

"How is it not my business? We have a mortgage. We have two children. We're literally building a house from scratch." He said, "You haven't seen your mom in person since you were eighteen. She didn't even come see you when you were attacked. Why the hell would you still want to give her so much money?"

"Because it's my decision." AJ said.

"Which you've been lying to me about." Punk said, "Christ, she never even came to see you when you had the twins."

"She doesn't know about them." AJ said.

"What?" Punk shook his head.

"I never told her I was pregnant." AJ shrugged as Punk looked at her like she had two heads.

"They're four years old." He said, "W-Why… Why didn't you tell her?"

"Because I got scared, ok? I knew she wouldn't come see me or them, and I knew it would hurt me. Just like it's hurt me all the other times she never visited me." AJ said.

"Yet you still give her money?" Punk asked.

"It's just habit. I didn't want the drama of cutting her off." AJ shook her head.

"It's an expensive habit, April." He said, "Especially for someone who doesn't even care about you." He said angrily as she looked up at him, swallowing the lump in her throat.

"You had no right to open that letter." She spat, feeling all kinds of anger for him.

"I told you, it was an accident." He said.

"Yeah… but you still continued to read it, didn't you?" She said.

"Yeah, cause I wanted to know who my wife was sending two grand to every month." Punk said, "And you've been lying to me this whole time."

"It's not a big deal." She said.

"Lying to me is a big deal." He said.

"We… I can afford it." AJ said.

"Not the point." Punk said, "You don't see her. You speak to her every few months for a one-minute conversation. She's taking advantage of you. You get that, right?"

"This conversation is over." AJ said.

"No… no, it's not." Punk said, "I know you have a weird relationship with her, but you don't owe her anything. She left you here with Nico and then she reconnected with you once she realised you were making good money here." He said, "It's complete bullshit. And she's taking money that we could be saving for the kids. For college or… whatever." He said.

"We have enough money." AJ spat with frustration, "I know we both grew up poor, and we feel we need to hoard our money, but we're fine. I can spare it for my mom."

"It's not the point. She doesn't deserve it and you know it." Punk said, "And you told me it was done. Lied to my damn face." He shook his head.

"Oh, just go away." AJ shook her head, having had enough of the conversation, "Go write on your stupid display board."

"Yeah, I will." Punk nodded childishly, "That carrot cake looks shit, by the way." He added whilst crossing the road.

"Oh, fuck off!" She yelled over at him before heading back into The Brewberry, watching the girls and Daryl immediately look away from her, making it very obvious that they were watching out the window the whole time.

"Everything ok?" Lyla asked nervously.

"Just get ready to open." AJ said, walking behind the counter and heading into the back.