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000

"Well, since my baby left me,
I found a new place to dwell.
It's down at the end of lonely street
at Heartbreak Hotel."

-Elvis Presley, "Heartbreak Hotel"

000

"Oh, hold hands for God's sake," Vince snapped when they got back to the hotel and got out of the limo. McMahon wanted to say a few things first before they went inside the hotel. "You're newlyweds, at least pretend to be happy. I do it all the time, it's not that hard."

Jeff and Maria sighed wearily, but managed to plaster smiles on their faces and took each other's hands. McMahon rolled his eyes and sighed himself. "I suppose it's good enough for now, but start practicing your lovey-dovey looks for RAW next week and they'd better be good!"

The couple nodded, and without another word the Chairman stalked off to find his assistant Johnathan Coachman to discuss the storyline.

Once Vince was out of sight, Jeff and Maria both breathed a sigh of weariness and let go of each other's hands and remained in an uncomfortable silence until a loud slurp behind them made them jump. They turned around to see Kennedy had come to the end of his drink.

"Sorry," Kennedy looked at them apologetically, although his sunglasses covered his expression. "You guys look like you could use a drink more than me. The Pussy Cat Lounge is over there. I'll buy."

"No thanks," Maria groaned. "I'm just going to find the room and go to sleep and hope that when I wake up this will all have been just a dream."

"Me too," Jeff closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose.

Kennedy nodded and looked over at Matt. "Matt?"

Matt looked at Kennedy then back at Jeff. "Want me to hang around?"

Jeff shook his head. "Nah, I just wanna at least sleep off this hangover. I can deal with the situation better if I don't have a headache."

Matt nodded and patted Jeff on the shoulder, before following Kennedy into the lounge. Jeff watched his brother go, and turning back to Maria, he asked helplessly, "Well, shall we go and see what our room looks like?"

Maria nodded. They headed into the hotel and began looking for the elevator. The two of them hoped they would not meet up with anyone they knew before they had time to get to their rooms and sleep on the situation for a little bit. Unfortunately, luck was not on their side as they ran right into CM Punk near the elevators.

Punk looked at them with an expression that looked both angry and depressed all at the same time. He slowly trudged over them."I hope you two will be very happy together…"

"Phil! Please! I don't know what Melina's told you, it's not what it looks like!" Maria pleaded.

Jeff nodded, trying to back her up. "That's right, CM, besides that little piece of paper, Maria's been faithful to you."

"I know she has…" CM said mournfully. "I know she's been technically faithful to me. But I can't be with a girl who would get so drunk off her ass, that she'd go marry some guy."

This answer caught both Jeff and Maria by surprise. Punk was not mad about the marriage, he was angry over Maria's drinking, particularly drinking to the point where you do something foolish. This went against everything a follower of the Straight Edge lifestyle like CM, believed in.

"I didn't mean to...please..." Maria stuttered, looking very lost. "You have to understand…"

"I'm sorry, Maria," Punk turned away from her. "I think it just wasn't meant to be. Our beliefs would clash too much. I think you married the right guy, one who parties and takes mind altering things just as much as you do!"

"Hey! That's hitting below the belt, Punk!" Jeff snapped in Maria's defense. "She still loves you!"

"If she did, then she would have respected me and my wishes and wouldn't have drunk herself into a blackout!" Punk snapped.

"I'm truly sorry, Phil!" Maria said in horror. She looked ready to burst into tears.

"You're taking this a bit too far, Punk, you know that?" Jeff snapped back. "You're acting as if she slept with me behind your back, which she did not!"

"But she broke the bond of trust that I had with her nonetheless!" Punk shouted. "She promised she would try to go Straight Edge with me. Because she was new to it, I said it was all right to have one or two cocktails. She promised that and I trusted her to hold to it by herself, not drink herself silly enough to marry you!"

Jeff bristled with anger; not only was Punk being extremely harsh to Maria, but he also implied that he, Jeff, was not good enough for her.

"Please, Phil…" Maria was close to begging. "We can work this out."

CM's expression softened slightly and his anger was replaced more by sadness and distress than anger. "I don't know…" He backed away from then slowly, looking down at the floor. "I have to think about this…" Pushing past them, he walked briskly away, before turning a corner, and disappearing into the lobby crowd.

Maria watched him go until he was out of sight, before burying her face in her hands and sobbing. Jeff, feeling guilty that he had been a part of this whole mess, gently placed his hands on her shoulders. "Maria, I'm sorry…"

"Don't touch me!" Maria screamed as she jerked roughly away from him. All of the pitifulness that had been in her voice before had been replaced by frustration and anger. She made toward the nearest elevator and started punching the up button furiously. Fortunately, the elevator opened in a timely manner and she stormed into it.

Jeff stared in shock for a minute at how quickly Maria's anger had been turned on him, but quickly got over it. After the doors of Maria's elevator closed, he kicked a nearby potted plant, venting his own frustrations. No doubt if he had followed Maria up to the room it would have just started a big fight, which he was too tired and wound up to deal with it right now. He decided instead to see if he could track down the lounge Matt and Kennedy had gone to and hang out with them until Maria calmed down.

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Poor CM looks like Melina got to his ears and told him the "good" news...and what of Maria and Jeff? Find out all of this and more if you keep reading and reviewing!