The Diversion

"I gotta ask it." Dean said, sitting across from his brother in the isolated visitation room, with the bars between them. It was the most difficult thing he'd saw in his life. Waking up and hearing all about his brother and what had happened, it made him feel physically sick, especially when it was well documented that the death penalty was going to be pushed for.

"Ask what?" Punk asked him.

"Did you… Did you do it?" Dean asked. He knew in his heart of hearts that his brother was never capable of such a inhumane act, but due to so much of the evidence, and how everything really did point to him, he just had to ask.

"Fuck off." Punk muttered to him as Dean took a sigh of relief, "Of course I didn't do it, idiot." Punk said, "It's two kids. Two girls who… I didn't even know or see until I walked in on them dead in that building site." Punk said, "I didn't touch them." Punk told him as Dean nodded.

"I knew that I just… to be sure." Dean said, "There's so much evidence, Phil. Like the blood on your pants in your hotel room. How the hell did that happen?"

"Dean, I have no clue. I am just as in the dark as you are. I didn't touch those girls. I just found them, and the cops showed up right on time to find me finding them. Maybe when I was at the building site someone was putting the blood on my pants in the hotel." Punk shrugged.

"But who? All the boys you're with are our friends, good people. Pearce and Kane. And… And you said they were at a bar."

"Yeah, and I left to go get some tools from the site." Punk said, "And that's when I found them."

"What is your lawyer saying?" Dean asked.

"Fuck all." Punk said, "He said that he's gonna try push for a deal. No death penalty but practically life imprisonment. He said it's the best shot we have." He shook his head.

"So he's completely ignoring the fact you're innocent?" Dean asked.

"Well like everyone else he probably thinks I'm not." Punk said, "But he said there's no way we can fight against literal forensic evidence. He's gonna try and get rid of the death penalty and get whatever deal he can for me, and he wants me to plead guilty."

"Fuck that." Dean said, "You didn't do it, you can't… you can't spend your life in here." He said. He didn't know what he'd do if he lost access to his brother for the rest of his life. Sure, it was better than him getting put to death but the closeness they had made this torture.

"He's a lawyer he's just trying to think realistically." Punk nodded.

"You know I gotta call her, right?" Dean said as Punk tilted his head.

"Who?" Punk said.

"AJ." Dean said.

"N-No. No, don't." Punk screwed his face up, "Just keep her away. I don't want her to see me like this." He shook his head and looked down.

"Hey, look at me." Dean said as Punk looked up, "You're innocent, so don't you dare let this place convince you otherwise." He warned, "I'm gonna call her, not because I think she'll make you feel better, but because she's an attorney and a good one. She could help you."

"She's married and has a life of her own. Just leave her alone. She's probably saw the news and ignored it."

"I seriously doubt that." Dean said, "She'll want to see you, regardless." He nodded.

"No, please just leave her out of it. I don't know what this all is, Dean. Someone clearly wants me gone. I don't know who, but there's bad intentions somewhere. I don't want her involved. I barely want you involved." He said.

"Well tough shit. I'm your brother. And she still cares about you, I know it. She can marry five different people if she wants, I know she still cares about you." Dean said as Punk just shook his head.

"It's not worth it." Punk shook his head, "I don't want to be reminded of the life I could have had whilst I'm sitting here waiting to find out if I'm gonna die or not." Punk said, "I don't wanna see her and… and know that she loves someone else."

"Then ignore all of that and let me call her so she can actually help you. Forget about whatever wounds you both have, she's an attorney, a good one, she could help you." He nodded as Punk just sighed.

"Alright, Brooks. Visiting time is over." The guard walked in from behind Punk.

"Please, I don't want to drag her into this." Punk shook his head, although the thought of seeing his ex-girlfriends face right now was a pretty sweet thought.

Dean watched as his brother was cuffed back up and escorted out of the room. He then left the room himself and headed out of the prison, standing outside and lighting up a cigarette to deal with his stress.

He then got his phone out and called AJ, holding his phone to his hear with one hand and puffing on his cigarette with the other as he listened to it ring until finally, she picked up.

"Hey, AJ it's me. Dean." Dean said, "I need your help."

"Hello! Are my people home?" Punk exclaimed through the house as he got home from work. He had successfully dodged Sam all day and had managed to keep his head down like he had planned.

"In here." AJ said as he reached the kitchen where he saw AJ cradling Frankie, holding him as she walked around the kitchen whilst Keala sat at the kitchen table with her colouring in pencils, "How was work?" She asked him.

"It was fine." Punk assured her, walking over and giving her a kiss hello, smiling down at Frankie who was awake and enjoying lying in his mother's arms, "Hey, monster. What up?" He smoothed out the little wispy hairs he had as AJ smiled to herself. There was nothing more she loved than seeing the man she loved being such a caring and loving father to their children.

"So nothing bad happened?" AJ asked discretely as Punk looked from Frankie to her.

"No." He said calmly, "He stayed away, I kept my head down. No drama." Punk assured her as she smiled and nodded.

"Good." AJ smiled. It was the exact thing she wanted to hear after worrying all day about what would happen if Sam bumped into Punk.

"Oh and my dad came to see us. He went to his first meeting. Said it was brief, not much was said but… hey, at least he went." Punk nodded, walking over to Keala, kissing her head as she shoved him away, trying to concentrate on her drawing.

"Did he say what they did?" AJ asked, watching him sit down at the table across from Keala.

"Just like an introduction. He said there was a lot of people there." Punk nodded, "He seemed pretty cool about it." He said as AJ nodded.

"Well that's good." AJ smiled as Punk nodded.

"What are you drawing?" Punk asked curiously, resting is chin on his folders arms on the table as Keala stared at him.

"I'm drawing the beach." Keala told him as Punk nodded.

"Why the beach?" Punk asked her.

"Because I like the beach." Keala told him.

"The beach is annoying. Sand gets everywhere." He said.

"You're annoying." Keala replied casually as Punk nodded along.

"Possibly true." Punk agreed as AJ laughed from over in the kitchen, "You drawing some crabs and jelly fish?" He asked her. He liked to just watch Keala sometimes. She fascinated him and how someone so adorable and smart and energetic could have come from him was beyond him.

"Crabs yes, not the jelly fish cause they're bad." Keala told him, picking up a different pencil.

"But crabs are bad too, they pince you." He said, snapping his fingers over at her as she slapped his hands away. He already liked to annoy her and she hadn't even reached the teenage years. He felt like it kept her on her toes, and she done the exact same little quirky things that AJ did when he was annoying her.

"But crabs don't mean to hurt people they're just frightened." Keala said.

"Since when were you an expert on the sea life?" Punk laughed a little as AJ smiled to herself whilst listening in, making up Frankie's bottle as she held the baby boy in her arms.

"Since we done some at school." Keala told him.

"So what's your favourite sea creature then?" Punk asked, still resting his chin on his arms and looking across at her.

"I think either the star fishes or the octupussy." Keala said as AJ laughed loudly from the kitchen and shook her head as Punk tried not to laugh, "What?" Keala looked at them both.

"It's just octopus." Punk nodded, "An octopus." Punk said as Keala looked at them both, wondering what they found so funny. Sometimes she felt like she was the parent.

"Why are you giggling?" Keala asked them consciously.

"No reason." AJ shook her head, "I like the star fish the best." AJ nodded, trying to move on, looking over at Punk who was sniggering. Sometimes she felt like they were still eighteen. Still children only with children of their own. Adulting wasn't something they were quite gripping just yet. Definitely not in certain aspects of their life.

"What is your favourite then?" Keala asked her father.

"I like the big ones that look like pancakes." Punk said, "What are they called again?" He asked them both.

"Sting ray?" AJ asked him.

"That's the one." Punk nodded, "I like them."

"They're bad they sting people." Keala shook her head.

"But they look like pancakes." Punk shrugged, "This looks like one for the fridge." Punk nodded as he looked on at Keala's drawing. She was a really good drawer for her age. Punk reckoned she was going to be some sort of artist. She was extremely creative.

"If there's room." Keala nodded.

"Here, you feed the baby I'm gonna go shower." AJ said, walking over to Punk and passing Frankie to him as Punk took him into his arms as AJ sat his bottle down, "I won't be long." She said, giving her fiancé a kiss and cupping her daughter's cheek as she then walked out of the kitchen.

He smiled as he watched Keala concentrate on her drawings whilst he then looked down and Frankie and began feeding him. He felt blessed every day to have been afforded this life with his family. He knew that in different circumstances, he could have been dead, and he could have died a long time ago in prison after being so falsely accused of a crime he didn't commit. Every moment was precious now. He figured it was why he was so protective of it all. So protective of AJ and their family. He knew what it felt like to feel nothing, and to believe that everything good was going to disappear, and so he held onto this so tightly. He held onto all of it. His family. His brother. His dad whom he never thought could be any sort of stable figure in his life.

But it still lived with him every day.

"Did you see what he did to my face? Did you get the email I sent?" Sam asked, sitting in his house in his living room with his phone pressed to his ear.

"I did." The voice nodded, "He'll pay for what he has done. Don't worry about that." The female voice said, "Everything around them they taint. Everyone." She said.

"Tell me about it." Sam shook his head, "And now their psycho dad is onto me too. I'm not one to be frightened but… he's a scary dude."

"Well he's protecting his sons."

"Sons he doesn't even know?" Sam scoffed.

"As long as you have been keeping your head down, you keep yourself to yourself, they won't come near you again." She said, "This is way more than just business now. This is personal." She nodded.

"There is only so much more racist things I can say." Sam shook his head as the other line laughed to herself.

"That's true." She said, "If you're not ready for this then I can always get another cousin to help me."

"Are you kidding? I didn't get my face rearranged to just pull out." Sam said, "Plus… I'm the only cousin you have that Anna doesn't know."

"That's true." Jean smiled, "It's gonna get dirty." She said, spinning around in her chair in her office in New York, "Those brothers need to go."

"I know you got your issues with Dean, he's dating Anna, I get all of that… what's your problem with Phil?" He asked.

"What's not my problem?" Jean shook her head, "Besides the fact he should have fried in the electric chair, he's just a diversion I've taken." She nodded, "Nothing more."

"You know he was innocent, right?" Sam said.

"Yes I know." Jean said, "Innocent from killing those girls. But not innocent of other things." She nodded, "His mother wasn't the angel they both thought. They were doomed from the minute they came out of her." She shook her head.

"Don't tell me you're taking out your issues with her on them." Sam said.

"Maybe." Jean said, "But they also have my daughter in their grips, and that's not going to happen for much longer. But I'm going to wait. Wait until the new generation picks up. So I can take that too." She said.

"And what do you need me to do?" Sam asked.

"Just keep doing what you've been doing this whole time. Keep your eyes on things, keep me updated." Jean nodded, "Keep your head down."

"Ok." Sam nodded, "As long as nothing ends in death." He rolled his eyes.

"There are worse things than death, Sam."

A/N: And that is the last chapter of this story. One more sequel is going to follow up! LOTS and LOTS to be uncovered. There's always a back story to a back story and all will be explained in the next story so look out for it. Thanks for the reviews and support on this one!