Title: Concrete Hearts

World: AU

Rated: M (Mature)

Genre(s): Romance/Angst

Pair(s): Phil/Beth, Chris/Jessica, Chris/Phil, etc.

Summary: Chris and Phil are both heartbroken souls looking for a connection. When they find it in each other, the whole world conspires to keep them apart.

Disclaimer: I don't own anyone. I also don't own the movies mentioned.

Warning: Slash, Het, Mpreg, etc.

Part: 8/? – A Glam Attack

OOOO

Elizabeth Phoenix stood in the middle of the mat, her hands and wrists covered as she let loose a vicious assault on her 'best friend', Ricardo. The truth was, she couldn't stand the man. He was a whiny little bitch that could barely stand on his own two feet without the assistance of his boyfriend, Alberto Del Rio. The blonde woman hit the soft covers all over Ricardo's body, almost sure that the (somewhat) delicate hits would bruise the man's dark skin underneath. She was extremely worried about her boyfriend, Phil… she hadn't heard from him in over a week.

As if on cue, her cell started to vibrate. Paul Wight, Beth's trainer, connected the cell to the computer and turned on the screen. Phil's face materialized on the screen, revealing that he was on some kind of bus, the destination unknown. He watched as Beth went to work on Ricardo, running his back into one of the poles in the corner and smiling with sick satisfaction as he crumbled to his knees from the pain. Beth had always had a rather unusual pain kink. Phil watched as she lifted the man into the air and tossed him onto his stomach, before she covered him for the three count. Paul called the match.

"Hey, baby!" It was a little freaky how Beth knew it was him, even if she hadn't actually seen him. She turned to him with a broad smile. "I feel like I haven't heard from you forever. How have you been? Where are you?"

Phil stared back at her, silent. It looked to be about 12:00 PM there, while it was around 6:00 PM where Beth was. "I was hired for a security job that will take about six months. But I'll be there to see your shining moment. I wouldn't miss it for the world."

Beth smiled at him as she started to unwrap her hands and wrists. "Have you cleared it with your new boss?"

"Yeah. Shawn's cool with it." Phil said slowly. "Out of the six months on the road with the band, I have ten personal days. I plan to use them to come see you in London."

"Wait? Shawn, as in, Shawn Michaels? The manager of several bands, including Fozzy, but none as important as Fozzy?" Beth gushed. Phil nodded. "Oh, it was always a dream of mine to see Fozzy in tour. Guess all the tickets are sold out, huh?"

Phil really didn't want to do this, but he knew that it was the right thing to do. "Actually, I happen to have a ticket for when the band comes to Cameron, North Carolina. It's all yours if you want it."

"Really?" Beth's eyes widened to the size of saucers. "Oh, thank you baby! Thank you so much!"

"It's not a problem babe, really. You don't have to be so thankful." Phil said.

"Oh, but I am!" Beth exclaimed. But then, her eyes narrowed when she saw the gauze strip on his cheek. "Baby, what happened to your face? Did some woman hurt you? Tell me her name."

Phil smiled nervously. He knew that there was a significant chance that if he told Beth about Jessica, Jessica would end up hurt somehow, and the trail would lead back to him… "It's nothing, babe. I cut myself shaving, that's all."

"If you're sure…" Beth trailed off uncertainly.

Phil looked away from his I-Phone for a moment. He realized that they had arrived at their destination. "I'm sorry babe, but I gotta go. I promise I'll call you soon, okay? Love you."

"Love you too, baby. See you soon!" Beth waved at the screen, before the call disconnected.

Beth turned around in time to see that Ricardo had waddled off of the matt and in the direction of the first-aid kit for an instant ice pack. She rolled her eyes. Seriously, that boy needed to grow a set. She turned around and walked off of the matt, taking an ice cold water bottle out of Paul's hands and taking a drink. It wouldn't do to become dehydrated in her warm-up, after all. While she took a short break, Paul set to work folding up the matt and moving the gymnastics equipment into place. He secured the balance beam to the floor and set a small container of chalk nearby. Beth smiled at him in thanks.

MEANWHILE

Chris sat in his usual seat in the back of the tour bus, his knees drawn in toward his chest, with a spiral-bound notebook in his hands. He was trying desperately to find the inspiration for new lyrics, but the usual fountain of inspiration was dry. The other members of the band had dozed off, not used to having to awaken at such an early hour and succumbing easily to their exhaustion. The only other one awake was Phil, who had just ended a conversation with his girlfriend. Chris studied him curiously. What was the cause of this sudden rift between them?

It was like that totally clichéd moment where the light bulb goes off in the inventor's head, because when Phil turned a bit in his seat and bunkered down to catch a few winks before they arrived at their new hotel, Chris was able to catch a glimpse of that perfect face. His heart hammered away in his chest as he watched Phil's eyelids flutter, until he finally caved and fell asleep like the rest of them. Without really thinking of it, his hand flew across the page. Words were drawn out of him without any kind of rhyme or reason… he wrote them down because they felt right.

"You have it bad for him, don't you?" Chris started. In his haze, he didn't even realize that someone had awakened. Zack Ryder, one of his back-up dancers, stared at him with exceptionally clear chestnut eyes.

"How do you know?" Zack shot him a look and Chris relented. "Is it that obvious?"

"Well, if I didn't know before…" Zack motioned to the illustration of Phil at the top of the page, and then to the numerous mentions of the security officer's name. "…I would have to be an idiot to not know now."

Chris shook his head. "I don't know. I like him and all, but… it's never been this hard before. There's never been so much at stake. One step out of bounds and my wife has full custody of the kids. But she shouldn't be able to dictate my life."

"It won't always be this difficult." Zack tried to console him.

"Was it this difficult for you and Kane?" Chris asked.

Zack was silent as he tried to remember. Kane was the warden at The Rosaria Correctional Facility. When he and Zack had first met, Zack was a fifteen-year-old boy who was in with the wrong crowd. They were arrested for armed robbery of a gas station (by none other than Officer Phil Brooks and Officer Dolph Ziggler, ironically). Kane could see that the boy was sorry for what he had done and he had protected him from the other prisoners during his two year stay. He was paroled after the second year, while the other three boys served their full six year sentences.

Now, almost twelve years later, fate had finally dealt them a favorable hand. Kane and Zack were to be married in November, the week after Fozzy returned from their six month tour. And, three months after that, they would welcome their first child into the world. Chris almost looked up to Kane and Zack. They were a success story and showed that love could blossom in even the most odd of circumstances. Zack shook his head, as if he had broken out of the prison of his own mind. He turned to Chris and blinked his chestnut eyes in the older man's direction.

"If it's any consolation, I just remembered that I overheard Jessica talk to the receptionist at the front desk last night." Zack said nonchalantly. "It sounded like she wanted a key to Phil's room. She had a pocket knife and some scissors in her pocket."

Chris' eyes widened considerably. "And this didn't strike you as odd?"

Zack raised his hands in his own defense. "Hey, it was almost one in the morning. I was overly tired and had horrific morning sickness. The only thing I wanted was my bed."

"Okay, okay." Chris relented. "Thanks for letting me know."

"Not a problem." Zack said dismissively. "I'll talk to you later."

Chris was silent as he watched the eccentric man walk off. Finally, once Zack had vanished entirely, he turned back to staring at Phil from afar. The ravenette hadn't even stirred from the noise of Zack and Chris' conversation. In fact, it seemed like he had fallen into an even deeper sleep in that time. His chest rose and fell ever so slowly, and Chris smirked when he heard a small snore. Phil was just too adorable for his own good. And he was too precious for Chris to abandon just yet. All he had to do was find out the true depth of Jessica's vendetta against Phil. In other words, he would have to confront the beast.

TWO HOURS LATER

Beth had finished with her training and now stood in front of her boyfriend's apartment, looking for the spare key that he usually kept underneath the matt. When she couldn't find it, she took a bobby pin out of her hair and picked the lock. With one good twist of the door handle, she was inside. Her mission was short and simple. Locate her boyfriend's emergency credit card, which he always kept in a second wallet in a locked dresser drawer, so that she could pay off an old friend who had agreed to help her to 'take care' of Phil. Beth turned the light on and walked to the bedroom with confidence. This was too easy.

Using the same bobby pin that she had used to pick the lock on the front door, she unlocked the drawer and opened it, rifling the contents around for a brief moment, before she found it. Sliding it out of the wallet, she smirked. The funds on the card were built partially from his inheritance and partially from the money that he had been saving for his entire life, which meant that there was a minimum of one-thousand dollars on the card. That would be more than enough to take care of the job and have some left over to toss around on some new gymnastics equipment.

The Glamazon turned around and smirked when she saw Jessica Irvine standing in the doorway, an expectant look on her face. She showed her the card and that expectant look morphed into a smile. Oh, all of this had been way too easy. Phil would learn what it meant to come between a wife and her husband, the hard way. She had tried to be friendly. She had tried to warn him. But Phil had decided to be recalcitrant and to ignore her all too clear advice. And now, he would have to pay the price. What better way than with his own funds, by the hands of his own partner in crime: Dolph Ziggler?

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A/N: Please Review!