State of Grace

Summary: Serial monogamous CM Punk's longest relationship isn't romantic and it's with a former Randy Orton mistress who has a tangled dating history.

DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING RECOGNIZABLE.

Please Note: There is some dirty-ish stuff mentioned at some points. I hope none of you are offended by it. And just for explanation, the story begins in Alabama because the best sports orthopedic surgeon is based there. And obviously this begins just after Punk's emergency knee surgery at the beginning of the month.

It was a dream Phil had many times. It was always the same in the million times he'd had it. He stood underneath a small canopy of flowers, a gentleman in long elaborate robes to his right. He looked to his left to spy the crowd of people dressed in formal suits and gowns seated in expensive chairs. Suddenly, music began to play, and it drifted in the warm breeze that seemed to be from a Caribbean island but had been packaged to Northern Illinois. Looking straight ahead, a woman stepped out from behind the large columns, her elaborate sparkly dress generating 'aahs' from several of the women in the crowd. Phil felt his stomach spark and twist. Very quickly she was in front of him, her lovely blonde curls loose and beautiful. Phil reached out to touch the soft material that covered her face…

Opening his eyes, Phil awoke to find himself in a hospital bed, his leg suspended in the air by a metal contraction. He felt tired and woozy and extremely lightheaded. Turning his head he caught an eyeful of blonde curls.

"Cassidy, why are you sitting so close?" He said slowly. Looking up, green eyes seemed to come from every angle.

"Sorry, I was studying your bone structure. I have the opportunity to do a neck piece and I have no idea what the dimensions are like so I was using you." She smiled her wonderful very faint southern drawl evident, especially considering the location it being Alabama after all.

"Why are you here? You're booked solid and you're not in Chicago." Phil asked.

"Yeah, I'm booked solid, but I could use a few days to chill, even if it's in Alabama." She giggled still sketching away.

"When did you even get here?"

"About two hours after you went into surgery," Cassidy mumbled feeling a little weird about having rushed to get down so quickly.

"Well, thanks for coming either way."

"You're welcome, least I can do, after all." She smiled and then looked back down to shade something. Phil attempted to lean over and look but he still felt a little woozy. Staying in the hospital for the full two days was a waste he realized on Wednesday. Of course he hadn't felt awesome after surgery, they'd cut his knee up, but the following day, his knee felt a million times better, yet they still didn't allow him to leave. But finally, finally, he was walking out of Alabama General Hospital. Slowly but he was walking. Cassidy stood next to him in a very conservative outfit, a tiny bright green t-shirt and those ridiculously popular and insanely expensive yoga pants. While, some people thought that yoga pants were pretty risqué especially if you weren't under a certain size, Cassidy carried them off like a pro. But then again, she wore way less and tighter clothes for work. Outside, Phil gingerly got inside a taxi and half listened as the driver commented on Phil's tattoos, how pretty Cassidy was, and what was wrong with Phil's leg. Cassidy, so sweet replied back happily. Four hours of waiting and a plane ride later, Phil stepped out from O'Hare airport and inhaled the Chicago air. Like true Chicagoans he and Cassidy had no problem getting a cab home. Cassidy was in the door, in her room, and back out the door in less than fifteen minutes while Phil collapsed in front of his television, drained of everything that had went on in the last 56 hours. Before he closed his eyes, he reminded himself that he had to go out again at nine to grab a late dinner with Cassidy.

Five years ago, at a show in St. Louis, Phil hadn't figured that he'd meet someone so important to him. It was a Thursday and he was listening to Randy continue to ramble on about some girl he was dating.

"Hot, like that one Dutch Victoria's Secret model, only she's shorter." Now, a lot of guys weren't happy that Randy was with this girl, especially since he was technically married but some, like Phil, who was privy to the secret inner workings of Randy's personal life, didn't care. In truth, Phil was interested. The girl, Cassidy Bradshaw, was a tattoo artist and while still green, she could rock some black and gray since she'd down some work on Randy's sleeves. And according to Randy, she was also doing some very solid and pretty nice Japanese work which interested Phil since he was looking to add a chest piece and his normal artist wasn't a Japanese centric artist. So he met Cassidy. She was definitely pretty and she also had a very interesting octopus tattoo on her side which confused and aroused Phil. After the first meeting, Phil began keeping up regular communication with Cassidy, he wanted to work with her and they had one thing in common: tattoos. It also wasn't hard to find stuff to talk about. Phil couldn't stand people without any personality and Cassidy had a lot, almost too much. She was insanely clever and loved to find the joke in everything but she was also so comforting. Within time, Phil started to wonder what Randy and Cassidy had in common at all. Cassidy was smart, her intelligence masked beneath her immature antics. While Randy was, a fun guy, he was just more focused on pussy than world affairs or European literature.

A year after Cassidy was introduced as Orton's girlfriend, she suddenly wasn't anymore. The locker room moved in on her very quickly. Word around the locker room was she had a beautiful tight pussy. Nobody got a chance; instead she started dating some guy who played for the St. Louis Rams. Another year followed and finally Phil's chest piece was completed. The football boyfriend had gotten traded to the Bears so Phil was able to see Cassidy when he made it home which wasn't often but he always made a point to see her. She always insisted in buying dinner since he'd told a few guys about her work and his endorsement had made her a pretty well-known and in demand tattoo artist but Phil always said no. Then out of the blue, just after a long show in Omaha, Phil received a phone call from Cassidy.

"Can I stay at your apartment for a little bit? Marcus tried to propose but then dumped me and kicked me out." She said her tears obvious to anyone.

Six days later, Phil got back to Chicago to find his whole apartment changed. It was cleaned and looked entirely different. While Cassidy promised that she would only stay a few weeks, Phil knew she wouldn't. It wasn't that Cassidy would overstay her welcome, it was just every time that she mentioned looking at a new place, Phil said that maybe she should stay a little bit longer to save more cash. Two and a half years had eventually passed filled with holidays celebrated and a completely redecorated apartment.

Dating made it difficult obviously. Not many girls were in favor of dating a guy who had a girl roommate, especially a hot girl roommate. And while it limited his dating ability and being able to stroke lots of girls, Phil had to admit that having to handle his business in the bathroom by himself was worth it to see Cassidy in all those work clothes that showed off significant amounts of black lace bras and Cassidy's patented brightly colored panties. When Phil dated Amy, she hadn't minded, in fact, she found a friend in Cassidy, even getting a cool goblin inspired tattoo. Amy also helped Cassidy get a date with Adam.

Oh, there were many a nights where Phil had endured nightmares of Cassidy moaning out Adam's name. Amy never noticed Phil's awkwardness when she stayed over at the apartment and Cassidy was in North Carolina visiting Adam.

Amy and Phil ended only because Amy got a brand new job at a radio show and she didn't have time to visit as much anymore. After that, Phil decided to give Beth a try. Bad idea, he said after it was finally over. While on the surface very nice, Beth was always suspicious of Cassidy who was also single, having broken up with Adam, a few days after Phil asked Beth out.

Waking back up, Phil checked the time, and after a quick shower he headed down several streets. He noticed that several Chicago businesses had already begun setting out their holiday decorations. Cassidy wasn't a fan of the holidays. It actually made her crazy. Too many people, too much to do to prepare, and it's all exhausting, she'd say. But Christmas was still fun. Phil actually loved their traditions. Their families would come over on Christmas day and everyone had to wear pajamas.

Many times, Phil's own mother remarked how wonderful Cassidy was. I don't see why you don't just date her, she'd mention ever few weeks. Phil never really had a good response for that. He'd try to say that it wouldn't happen because Cassidy was too young and they obviously had never crossed that line for a reason.

"Yo Punk! What's up man?" The tattoo parlor that Cassidy worked in was owned by a skinny guy named Chet.

"Chet, how are you?"

"Great, you're lucky man; your roommate and your girlfriend are both here. So hot."

Girlfriend. Phil had forgotten that Amy was heading down to spend a few days in Chicago. But there she was, sitting next to Cassidy who was chewing on her pencil studying a photo.

"Ames, hey, what's up?" Phil asked pulling her into a hug, not noticing Cassidy didn't look at them until they'd released the other.

"Hey, what's up? Really? You just get emergency knee surgery and you're asking me?"

"Stupid question then, are my favorite girls ready for dinner?" He asked to Amy and Cassidy. Amy's eyes looked sideways to Cassidy who was still studying the photo.

"Actually, count me out. I got a late appointment." Cassidy announced holding up the photo before explaining the guy wanted new school inspired koi fish.

Phil liked Amy, he really did. She and him had a thousand things in common, like music, art, and sports but he didn't ever think he'd marry her or anything. That's why he'd broken up with her two years ago. He just didn't think it was going anywhere but then they got back together a few months ago because…well, he didn't really know why. Amy wanted to get married though. She didn't give off the marriage vide but she did. Everybody knew that at one point she really did think that she and Matt would eventually get married but when too much time passed she needed to get out, live without him.

Cassidy didn't really believe in marriage. It was the product of being the child who came from a marriage that was successful for a while but then wasn't. Cassidy was still a little broken about it and as a result she always told guys up front that they shouldn't expect her to be all pro-marriage. But she did want to get married because she needed to know that marriage was happy and could exist and never go away. And she needed to prove it to herself. But then again, she was selective. She'd been proposed to twice and had said no to both guys.

At dinner Phil hoped Amy wouldn't want to talk about their relationship again. It was like a constant discussion. Where were they going in terms of progression? It was the most annoying question Phil had been asked. Did she want to move in? Wouldn't work, she was based in the south. Would she ask for Cassidy to move out like Beth did? Nah, Amy liked Cassidy, thought she was cool as shit.

"Phil, I met someone else and I think we should go back to being just friends." Whoa, he didn't expect that.

"I…okay…I sure." Phil didn't have a response. Instead Amy just started telling him that she hadn't cheated, she just found herself really drawn to the guy. His name was Louis. He was a record producer from Atlanta and they'd met a month ago and they'd been talking a lot and that she wanted to date him and that she even thought she might marry him.

"Have you ever thought about dating Cassidy?" Amy asked unexpectedly after they exited the restaurant. Stumbling over his words Phil told her to shame line he told his mother.

"Cut that bull, Phil. Seriously, she's like the longest relationship you've had ever."

"What do you mean?"

"You won't stay with a girl longer than a year. But Cassidy has lived with you for almost three and before that you talked to her every day for two years."

"So? She and I are friends."

"More than friends, not quite lovers." Amy said before saying that she'd keep in touch.

What did that mean? Phil thought as he walked home. He liked Cassidy. Well, he loved her. Platonically. Didn't he? Yes of course he did. But he did rely on her for a lot of things. She cleaned and cooked and was his companion when he went on the road and she had free days. But they'd never done anything physical. But then again, having a physical relationship wasn't everything. Cassidy didn't really think it was that much of a big deal. It added but it wasn't the foundation.

Back at home, he found Cassidy in the living room watching some wedding dress show. Instead of sitting with her, he snuck off to his room and laid on his bed, studying the white ceiling. Amy had been right; Cassidy was the reason that all his relationships had an expiration date. To have a successful relationship; he'd need to ask Cassidy to move out of her room.

And into his. Obviously he didn't ask her to marry him right then, he asked her on a date first but six weeks later, he asked and unlike the other guys he got a yes.

Phil reached out to touch the soft material that covered her face and he slowly flipped it back to reveal Cassidy's beautiful happy face. She wasn't a crying bride. She smiled and was serene. When the priest asked if anyone had any qualms about the union Phil looked out over the crowd. Amy sat with her pregnant belly next to her husband Louis. Randy and Sam held hands and Adam had his arm around Barbie. Near the middle April had her head on John's shoulder.

Before long, Phil was allowed to slide the band on Cassidy's finger. He'd absolved the ring tradition and instead had Cassidy tattoo her name on his finger.

And just like it he told Cassidy his vows.

"Cass, I promise to love you forever and I will be the reason you believe in long everlasting marriage."

Even the non-crying bride had tears for that.

Just a short plot less drabble. Reviews are always well liked. I'm sorry if you didn't enjoy it.