Morning After

"Why aren't we at pre-k if it's Monday?" Rudy asked, sitting at the dining table with everyone the next morning where Patrick and Finn had made a breakfast spread. Eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes, toast and pastries covered the table.

"Because of the storm, baby." AJ said, pouring some orange juice for her before she got the chance to do it herself and spill it everywhere.

"But the storm is done." Rudy said.

"Yeah, but it'll be messy outside from the wind. We'll need to help clear it all up. That's why mommy and daddy can't open up the coffee shops today." She explained gently.

"Oh." Rudy realised.

"Anyone know how bad it is?" Daryl asked whilst cutting up a pancake for Brianna to have. Sometimes he was oblivious to how fatherly he had become. Shiv noticed for sure, sitting across the table and watching, trying not to smile as Brianna kept tapping to Daryl to ask him things.

"The town group chat says it's not too bad. Some fallen trees. No damage on the main street so far." Becca said.

"That's good." Lyla said, "It sounded awful."

"Always sounds worse than it is." Punk nodded to her.

"So… how did everyone sleep?" Becca asked, sitting her phone down and looking at them all, not being able to help notice the strange silence that fell over them all.

"I slept like a baby." Finn inserted, "Your sofa is like floating on a cloud." He nodded, reaching for more bacon.

"It was… kinda hard to sleep with all the noise." Punk said, "But I mean… your place is amazing."

"Thanks." Becca smiled, "Well I spent most of the night throwing up." She announced.

"Oh, really?" AJ frowned.

"Yeah." Becca nodded, "I didn't get to sleep until like… 5am."

"The sickness is the worst part. I had it real bad." AJ nodded.

"I didn't have it." Shiv shrugged, "I didn't have a single symptom, actually."

"Ok, don't rub it in." Becca rolled her eyes as Shiv just chuckled, "Not even a sore boob?" She had to ask.

"Becca." Shiv scoffed, nodding to the kids, "You need to work on that."

"They don't know what boobs are." Becca scoffed as Rudy turned to her, "Do you?"

"Them." Rudy pointed to Becca's boobs as Punk groaned to himself, running his hand over his face.

"Ok." AJ couldn't help but laugh, "Moving on." She said, begging someone to take over the conversation.

"I didn't even have cravings." Shiv added, "Smooth sailing the whole way."

"Really?" Daryl had to ask.

"Really." Shiv nodded.

"God, please give me what she had." Becca looked up and joined her hands together as Lyla scoffed.

"Yeah, cause that will work." Lyla scoffed.

"Hey, where did Cole go?" Finn asked, only realising that in the time he'd gone to the bathroom and returned, Cole had left.

"He left to go check on our house. The new house." AJ said, "I think he was worried about there being damage."

"Hopefully there's not." Finn frowned, "What's the situation with the shops?"

"Just gotta make sure there's been no damage. If there hasn't… maybe we could open up in the afternoon." Punk shrugged.

"Or we could help other people with the clear up." AJ inserted without looking at Punk.

"It was just a suggestion." Punk defended bluntly as everyone looked around awkwardly, sensing the strange tone from Punk and AJ, one they weren't used to witnessing.

"Hey, where did you go during the night?" Lyla looked over at Shiv, "I woke up for a drink and you and Brianna weren't there."

"I checked on daddy." Brianna told Lyla before Shiv could answer, "And then I fell asleep, and mommy and daddy were asleep on the floor." She explained as they all looked from Daryl to Shiv.

"Oh." Lyla said with a small smile.

"It was just… sleeping." Daryl said as Shiv looked at him with confusion.

"You have to give an explanation?" Shiv asked him.

"It's none of our business." Punk inserted, "I'm gonna shoot and check the shop out." He announced, standing up from the table.

"Can we come?" Thomas asked.

"Yeah, of course." Punk smiled, messing with his shaggy brown hair as Thomas giggled.

"You need us?" Daryl asked with a mouthful of pancake.

"Would be helpful, yeah." Punk nodded.

"Ok." Daryl nodded, "You stay with mommy, and I'll see you later, ok?" He told Brianna, kissing her cheek as she jumped off his lap and ran over to sit beside Shiv.

"I'm gonna check out the rest of the farm." Patrick announced, "You girls take your time." He said, as one by one the boys all left the house, thanking Becca and Patrick of course before leaving.

"Uh… ok. What was that?" Becca turned to AJ.

"What was what?" AJ asked, picking at her breakfast which she'd barely touched.

"You and Phil snapping at one another?" Becca said.

"Yeah, what's going on?" Shiv asked whilst Brianna had gone off to the living room with her pancakes.

"We just had a fight. It's fine." AJ shook her head.

"Last night?" Becca asked as AJ nodded.

"About your mom?" Lyla predicted.

"What about your mom?" Shiv asked.

"Yeah, what's going on?" Becca asked as AJ rolled her eyes.

"Oh… I forgot they didn't know." Lyla made an 'oops' face.

"He just keeps pushing the subject." AJ said.

"Can someone give me and Shiv the context?!" Becca started banging the table.

"Alright alright." AJ scoffed, "Basically… when the twins turned one I told Phil I was going to stop sending my mom money. It was something we talked about it and something I wanted to do." She said, "But… I chickened out and I've still been sending her money all this time without Phil knowing." She explained, "And he found out last week. That's what our fight was about."

"How much money do you send her?" Becca asked, of course asking the personal questions first.

"Two grand." AJ said.

"What?!" Shiv shrieked as they all turned to her, "I mean… what?" She whispered.

"When was the last time you saw your mom?" Becca asked.

"When I was eighteen." AJ said, "I know… I know what you're thinking. I get it. But me and Phil talked about it. I told him how my relationship is with her. How messy it is and how much it affects me. I told him I'd get round to calling her. But last night he was pushing it again and I just…"

"You need to call her." Lyla concluded, "He's pushing you because he knows you'll keep putting it off."

"I just know she'll never speak to me again." AJ shrugged.

"All the more reason to cut her off." Becca emphasised, "If she only calls you to get money from you then… you don't need that in your life."

"Yeah, I know." AJ said with frustration, "But it's just hard."

"It is hard." Shiv nodded, "Having a shit mom."

"I'd take a shit mom over a mentally ill mom." Becca added.

"I… love my mom." Lyla shrugged as they all looked at her, slowly but surely bursting into laughter together.

"Oh, so you and Daryl… what happened last night?" Becca remember to ask.

"Yeah, do tell." Lyla added.

"Nothing happened." Shiv rolled her eyes, "Brianna couldn't sleep and she insisted we check on him. I couldn't say no to her. So she saw him and then she fell asleep so we just sat and talked for a little while. Then we both fell asleep, too. That was it." Shiv shrugged.

"I spoke with Cole last night." Lyla informed them.

"God, what was in the air last night?" Becca scoffed, "It was all kicking off." She chuckled.

"What happened?" AJ asked Lyla.

"I mean… it was just a chat but I'm pretty sure we were about to kiss and then Finn interrupted." Lyla said.

"I'll kill him next time I see him." Becca shook her head.

"So you admit you like him?" AJ smirked.

"I never said I didn't." Lyla insisted.

"You were totally standoffish anytime we brought him up." AJ said, "I mean… he really likes you. It's very obvious."

"I don't know… I'm just not that good with relationships. Don't know if I have it in me to get attached to someone just for them to leave." She admitted.

"That won't happen." Shiv said, "Cole is a decent guy. We can all tell."

"I don't know. I'm not… I'm not making any moves." Lyla decided.

"Yeah, make him work for it." Becca nodded, picking up her phone and looking at their group chat, "Shit."

"What?" AJ turned to her.

"Phil's place has a leak in the kitchen. He's just sent a picture." Becca said, turning her phone around to show them the picture of a flooded kitchen floor, "And apparently the power is done for some places."

"Wonderful." AJ sighed, "It's gonna be a long day."

"Yeah." Lyla nodded, taking a sip of her coffee on that note.

"We should probably get out here and help, huh?" Shiv said.

"I suppose we should." Becca nodded.

"I should have brought my flip flops." Rudy sighed, looking at all the water in her father's coffee shop kitchen.

"She cracks me up." Finn couldn't help but laugh.

"How are we getting rid of the water?" Daryl asked, turning to Punk who was just standing staring at it, "Staring at it won't make it go away." He said.

"I'm thinking." Punk snapped.

"I don't think there's anything we can do until the plumber gets here." Finn shrugged, "We've plugged the leak. We've assessed everything else. We're lucky it's just a burst pipe we got and nothing else." He said, trying to be positive.

"Yeah, but the plumber can't get her for two days. Which means we lose three days in total of business." Punk shook his head unhappily.

"I mean… we can open. We just can't do food. Coffee only." Daryl shrugged.

"I could take Rudy's advice and wear some flip flops." Finn shrugged, "Means we can still do food."

"No. No one is working in here. The water is up to our ankles." He shook his head.

"What about Cole?" Daryl asked, "He works in construction. Maybe he'll know how to fix it."

"It doesn't need fixed. It needs replaced." Punk said, "Cole won't have a spare pipe lying around. And he's got enough to do." He said.

"So basically, we get a mini vacation for three days?" Finn asked.

"I have an idea." Daryl said, "It might not be my best idea. But it's an idea."

"Then spit it out." Punk nodded.

"What… the hell?" AJ shook her head, walking down the street with the girls, on their way to check out The Brewberry, noticing Punk and the boys outside of their shop with a makeshift coffee stand and a queue down the street.

"What a bunch of girl scouts." Becca shook her head, "They couldn't just take one day off?"

"It's actually pretty smart. They're taking advantage of everyone being outside and cleaning up." Shiv said as they all turned to her, "What? Just… an observation." She said, watching as AJ crossed the road, the rest of them following behind.

"Hey girls." Finn smiled, "Coffee?"

"I thought you had leak." AJ shook her head, looking over to where Daryl and Punk were serving coffee.

"We do. It's inside." Finn said.

"So you went with the lemonade stand approach?" Becca asked.

"Where did you even get the stand?" Shiv shook her head with confusion, holding onto Brianna's hand who was slowly but surely trying to let go before running over to Daryl.

"Manny the mayor gave us it." Daryl said, eavesdropping on their conversation, "We're doing free refills. Keeps everyone caffeinated during the clear up." He nodded.

"I have missed this guy and his beautiful ideas." Punk said, patting Daryl's back and leaning over to kiss him dramatically on the head as AJ scoffed.

"Where are our children?" AJ asked.

"Over there talking to Linda." Punk pointed as AJ looked over to where the twins were hovering around Linda who was sat at a bench enjoying her coffee.

"Shouldn't you be trying to fix the leak?" AJ asked.

"Nothing we can do until the plumber gets here. And he won't get here for another two days. He's busy as hell with all the storm damage." Punk explained.

"I think they might be mad. Look at them." Daryl nudged Punk and smirked.

"Why would we be mad?" Lyla shook her head.

"Because we're prospering and bringing the community together." Finn nodded.

"I wouldn't call filtered coffee at a shitty stand prospering." Becca rolled her eyes.

Despite their reluctance to agree, it was unusual for them to see the boys with so many customers, and it panicked them considering they weren't opened. But they'd be damned if they let onto it.

"Can you guys go away now?" Finn asked, "We're kinda busy."

"C'mon." Lyla rolled her eyes, nudging AJ.

"Brianna." Shiv called on her daughter who was standing with Daryl, watching him pour coffee and chatting with all the customers.

"Mommy, can I stay here? With daddy?" Brianna asked as Daryl looked over to Shiv.

"Y-Yeah… yeah, ok. I'll just be across the road." Shiv nodded. She couldn't say no when Brianna looked so happy.

"This isn't over." Becca pointed at the boys before joining her friends across the road, "I don't like this one bit." She said as AJ got the keys for The Brewberry out.

"Did Brianna just choose Daryl over me?" Shiv asked sadly.

"Phil isn't even acknowledging the fact we had a huge fight." AJ shook her head.

"Ok ok… we need to regroup." Becca said anxiously, "They've got our kids and they've got our customers. We need to retaliate." She nodded.

A/N: Thank you as always for the reviews! Reading them make my day. If anyone is interested, I made a Pinterest board dedicated to this story which I add to every now and then. The visuals always help me and also I just love Pinterest… I'm just like Shiv!

Hopefully the link works below.

/4urHELAqT