A little less Brooke this chapter, focusing more on Melissa and Punk...I jumped around and skipped through a few things, but you can fill in the blanks with ideas of awesome times, I honestly was just too lazy haha plus after writing the first part, I got the idea for the second and didn't want to hold off on writing, so I hope you understand why it completely skips over Punk's visit to Modesto...

Thanks for all the reviews/favs/follows...so glad you're loving Brooke, she's such a smartass kid, but at the same time she's very kind hearted and you can't help but love her :) Enjoy!

Punk let out a sigh as his phone vibrated from his bag, but couldn't resist smiling once he saw the photo message. Brooke had sent him multiple texts a day, but one that always stuck out was a picture of her calendar, a big red "x" drawn through each day as it passed and today marked the last red "x." In just twenty four short hours, he'd get to see Brooke and excitement didn't come close to how he felt. The plan was to spend a week in Modesto before flying home for knee surgery, something he was not looking forward to, but the promised time off was finally being granted; however it came with a cost.

Punk stared at the diamond encrusted title in his hands as he chewed on his lip ring; tonight was the last night he'd hold that coveted title, possibly for the last time in his career. The last 434 days had been a whirlwind, but despite his personal wants to hang onto it, he knew dropping it was not only good for business, but it was best for his personal well being. His thoughts were interrupted by Kofi entering the room, tossing him a bottle of water.

"Still not sure about the final outcome of tonight?" Punk shrugged his shoulders before looking at his long time friend and travel partner.

"The upside of this is that my luggage will be much lighter." Punk smirked getting a laugh from Kofi before their conversation was interrupted by his phone vibrating again. Punk smiled at the text once more as Kofi looked on wondering what was up.

Punk had chosen not to let anyone in on the fact that he had a daughter; after all he hadn't even told Amy or his sisters yet. The words just wouldn't come together to put it out there and it was a fairly complicated story to explain, so he chose to keep it to himself; it still didn't keep others from wondering just what it was lightening his mood.

Kofi had been traveling with Punk for the last five years and knew when it came to the title he had no intentions of dropping it. Different outcomes had been discussed for his previous matches against Ryback and Cena, each time Punk took a stand against the creative team explaining why it was crucial for his title reign to continue. Because of his previous passion, Kofi and a number of others found it hard to believe that Punk was dropping the title so willingly…especially to The Rock who would be a transitional champion with the storyline wrapping up at Wrestlemania and John Cena being the top guy once again.

"What's up with all the text messages? Usually you have your phone turned off by now to avoid the distraction; Amy missing you that much?" Kofi sent Punk a wink noticing the lack of response. "Did I say something wrong? I don't mean to pry man, it's just you've been on your phone non-stop the last month; it's just not like you." Punk took a deep breath setting his phone aside; he figured the story would come out sooner or later and Kofi was one of his closest friends in the company.

"Listen, can I trust you with something?" Kofi looked a little bewildered unsure how to take Punk's serious demeanor.

"You know you can trust me with anything; is everything okay at home?"

"Ahh yeah, everything is good there, but I found out something a month ago and it's pretty big." Punk raised his eyebrows still unsure how to come about telling the whole story and Kofi took notice of his hesitance.

"How big are we talking? Is Amy pregnant or something?"

"No, but there has been a new addition to my life recently in the form of a child."

"I'm not following…is Chalene expecting?" Punk rubbed his hand over his head choosing to quit dancing around the subject and just come out with it.

"I found out I have a daughter…"

"What? Did you cheat on Amy?"

"Kofi you know me better then that, no! Eleven years ago, right before I joined the company I was in a pretty serious relationship. A month before I hit the road, she told me she was pregnant, but said she was getting an abortion, which I protested, but she went and did it anyway…or at least I thought she did. I found out in Sacramento that I have a ten year old daughter, her name is Brooke and I'm a dad…"

"Wow…I did not see this coming…" Punk laughed at the stunned look on Kofi's face.

"You and me both, but she's a great kid and despite just getting to know her, she's a lot like me…so much like me that it's a little scary."

"I'm not sure the world can handle a female version of you…" Kofi laughed as Punk sat beside him on the bench. "How are your family and Amy feeling about this?" Punk's happiness leveled down as he pursed his lips.

"You're the first person I've told…"

"Are you serious? How could you not inform your girlfriend of a year and sisters of this drastic change in your life? They deserve to know man!"

"I know they do and they will in time, but I want to tell them in person; with this job I don't exactly get to run home whenever, so they'll find out next week. My sisters were pretty close with Melissa, so I think they'll be accepting and excited to find out they have a niece, I'm not so sure about Amy though…"

"I have a feeling you might have to throw in some hearts and flowers with that conversation; if anything I see her being pissed off you waited so long to tell her."

"It doesn't help that she's been talking about kids lately and I've shrugged her off…" Kofi shook his head.

"Man you really aren't very good with relationships are you?"

"It's a little rough when your job is the top priority in life and you're traveling 300 days a year; if I could be at home I'd be all for having kids, but I want to be there for everything. I missed out on ten years of Brooke's life and have so much catching up to do; I don't want that to happen again." Kofi patted Punk on the back before heading toward the locker room door.

"Good luck with all that man; you know I'm here if you need to talk. Thanks for confiding all this in me and let Brooke know I'm looking forward to meeting her." Punk gave his long time friend a smile feeling some weight lifted now that he'd told someone, now he just needed to figure out how to tell his other friends and family; telling Amy was something he was looking forward to the least.

Punk woke up just after 2AM feeling the pain radiate through his left leg; he groaned knowing the odds of getting any more sleep were slim and decided to find another way to entertain himself. He reached for the remote noticing his phone vibrate picking it up instead. Just as Punk had expected he had close to a dozen missed calls ranging from the corporate office, Vince himself, Chez, Colt and Brooke; he felt bad he'd missed the calls from Brooke seeing she was probably worried. They'd discussed the surgery procedure a dozen times, for Punk surgery was nothing, but there was little he could do to put his daughter's nerves at ease. Even though it was after midnight in California and Brooke was most likely in bed, he called in hopes of leaving a voicemail to ease her worries, but was surprised to get an answer instead…but not from who he expected.

"Hey, are you okay?" He smiled to himself hearing Melissa's voice full of concern; suddenly his knee didn't hurt so badly.

"I've been better, but things went well. I just wanted to call Brooke and let her know everything went well; I feel bad I missed her calls, but I was dead to the world, apparently anesthesia does that to people." He heard her nervous laugh wondering just what she was doing up at this hour. If he'd learned anything the week he spent in Modesto was that Melissa wasn't much of a night person anymore; she was second to bed and usually the first up every morning. "What has you awake at this hour?"

"Umm…actually I was just about to head to bed when Brooke's phone started ringing. I debated ignoring it, but she was really worried about you, almost too worried to sleep." As much as she tried to hide it, Punk sensed that Brooke wasn't the only restless one.

"So was Brooke the only worried one?" He smiled already figuring what her answer was.

"Maybe just a little…"

"Only a little?"

"Yeah, this wasn't near as bad as when you fractured your skull; I think I used up most of my worry for you when that happened." An awkward silence fell between them with neither person knowing what to say; Melissa took a deep breath ready to put an end to this conversation. "Anyway, it's late and you should be resting, so why don't you do that."

"I'll try, but I'm pretty sure I've gotten my fill of sleep for the night; let Brooke know I'll call her tomorrow and we can talk about her spring break visit. Good night Mel and thanks for caring even if it was only a little bit…" Melissa bid him good night, turning off the phone and heading to her room.

She laid in bed staring out the window at the full moon wondering just who she was trying to kid. She'd been a nervous wreck all day knowing that Phil was having his knee surgery; he tried to put up a front that it was nothing, but even she knew deep down he was worried, how could he not be. Even Brooke seemed to be more at ease then she had seeing of the four missed calls Phil had from Brooke's phone, Melissa had made three of them. She let out a deep sigh trying to convince herself that it was perfectly normal to care for his health and well being because he was a friend and the father of her child, but as she closed her eyes, she couldn't help but wonder if deep down there was a different reason.

Melissa gazed aimlessly off into the distance as she waited for Brooke to be dismissed from school. She didn't realize just how much she was out of it until Brooke herself snapped her fingers causing her mom to jump.

"Are you okay mom?" Melissa shook her head in an effort to snap herself back into the now before adjusting her sunglasses.

"Yeah, I'm okay, just a crazy day…is your seatbelt buckled?" Brooke snapped her buckle into place as Melissa began to pull out of the car pool lane. Within minutes her daughter was going on and on about her day causing Melissa to feel guilty because she couldn't focus on what she was saying; she was too side tracked thinking about an impending opportunity.

"Mom are you even listening to me?" Brooke took notice that something wasn't right, but before she could question her further, her iPhone buzzed causing her to smile. Forgetting all about her mom's current state, Brooke was quick to answer the call excited to talk to her dad for the first time in almost two days. "Hey Punk, how are you?"

"I'm alright kiddo, hanging in there, trying to remember how to use crutches again. Did your mom tell you I called?"

"Yeah she did; I'm glad everything went well." Melissa stopped at a red light realizing her daughter had stopped talking to her and was now on the phone, most likely with the person she needed to talk to.

"Is that your dad?" Brooke nodded feeling irritated with her mom suddenly taking notice in what she was doing; she attempted to ignore her, but Melissa took the phone leaving the ten year old to pout.

"Hey, sorry to interrupt, but this is important…" Punk was taken back to hear Melissa's voice on the phone, but let her carry on anyway. "So originally Brooke was supposed to spend half of her break with me and half with you…"

"That was the plan; is everything still a go? We're both looking forward to it, so I hope you haven't changed your mind…"

"Actually I was hoping you could help me out and take her a little longer. The big ad campaign I've been working on is closing around that time and I've been asked to fly to New York and present seeing they're going with my idea, but I can't do that unless you agree to take Brooke earlier then planned." Brooke's annoyance quickly changed to excitement at the idea of getting to spend an entire week in Chicago with just her dad; Punk on the other hand was feeling a little uneasy. Granted there were lots of things to do in Chicago, but he wasn't sure he was ready to entertain a ten year old for an entire week.

"Ahh, is there really no one else?" Melissa's lack of filter and full on feelings of anger exploded as she went off; she'd lost out on countless opportunities to further her career because there was no one else and now the one person that could help her had the nerve to ask such a question.

"Forget I ever asked and you know what forget about Brooke coming at all! I'll handle everything just like I always do, but thank you for doing absolutely nothing!" Melissa felt hot tears stinging her eyes as she hung up the phone not even bothering to hear what else Phil had to say. He could easily argue that she kept him out of the loop and she was the reason for missed opportunities, but if Melissa would have pushed keeping Brooke and starting a family, Phil very well could have missed out on the biggest opportunity of his lifetime; the least he could do was return the favor.

Melissa drove home in silence trying to ignore the tears her daughter was crying beside her; maybe she had been a little rash, but the fact that Phil couldn't take his daughter for one week was ridiculous. Melissa took care of Brooke's every need emotionally, physically and financially on a daily basis and never looked for a way out, so why couldn't Phil just do the same thing? Melissa pulled into the driveway and had just put the car in park as Brooke got out slamming the door shut behind her; she watched Brooke run into the house and let out a long sigh resting her head against the steering wheel, why couldn't he just have said yes?

Brooke's Spring Break trip to Chicago is off thanks to Punk's insecurities and Melissa being at the end of her rope...can they work together to fix things for the sake of their daughter, or will this be the end of something that was just beginning?

I'll update later this week...please let me know what you think :)