A lot of mixed reactions about last chapter, but for the most part it seems many of you expected Punk to act that way, though it was still dick nonetheless...Despite his thinking, Melissa didn't get pregnant on purpose, and this chapter will bring the two together again as Brooke prepares for her first tournament...
Thanks so much for the reviews guys, they hit 200 today :) Also thanks to the new readers that are finding this story and enjoying it...busy first week at the new job up ahead, but I'm going to try to write in the evenings and get something posted later this week...enjoy!
Punk sat in his driveway staring at his hands on the steering wheel for over an hour. His phone vibrated and rang repeatedly, but he ignored it finding it hard to get over what had just happened.
It was like the first time all over again watching the tears flood from her eyes as she told him she was expecting, her voice full of shame and guilt that this had happened a second time and she'd tried to keep it from him. He could tell Mel was putting all the blame on herself and rather then take some it, he'd said some of the most hurtful words that had ever come out of his mouth. Granted Punk was known for his brutal honesty and not having a filter from him brain to his mouth, but afterwards even he couldn't believe the accusations he'd thrown at her. He was a man of few regrets, but this was a big one that he wasn't sure he could fix.
Putting himself in her shoes, Punk realized that not only would he never speak to Mel again, but he sure as hell wouldn't move closer to her. In fact he was beginning to wonder if he'd ever see Brooke or their new baby; she had every right to shut him off from seeing their kids, but he hoped she wouldn't go that route. Brooke was now apart of him; she was so much like him that it was scary sometimes and he'd be lying if he said he wasn't the slightest bit excited to hear he was becoming a father again, but with that excitement came more fear and frustration then he could handle; thus the regretted words came out of his mouth.
He took a deep breath closing his eyes and thinking of how he could fix this, but was interrupted by Colt pushing his face up against the window. Despite jumping at the noise, Punk managed to laugh as his best friend made goofy faces; Colt's adolescent comedic ways were something that he usually rolled his eyes at, but at that moment he needed the mood lightened. Punk opened the door climbing out of his SUV and coming face to face with Colt who immediately knew there was something up.
"What's going on man? You just abandoned your girlfriends surprise party that I know you busted your ass to put together, that's not like you." Punk nodded looking down at the ground and kicking around a stray rock.
"How pissed is Amy?"
"On a scale of one to ten I'd say a thirteen, but she's hiding it well. So where did you disappear to?" Punk thought about making up an excuse, but he knew Colt would see right through it. Besides that if Mel was still crazy enough to move to Chicago despite how he'd reacted to her news, he'd find out sooner or later just like everyone else. Letting out a deep breath, he leaned against his SUV and let it out.
"I went to see Melissa and she told me she's pregnant."
"Oh man...I guess that's good news for her, but what is it to you? It's not like the kid is yours, you've been with Amy." Punk's silence said it all as Colt shook his head beginning to pace. "Jesus Christ Phil! Have you never heard of a condom?"
"It's not like they're fool proof, how do you think Brooke got here?"
"When did this happen?"
"A few months back when I went to Vegas for the UFC fights. You couldn't go last minute, so I had an extra ticket and Mel was alone on her birthday, so I took her. We had a nice night and I don't know how it happened, but one thing lead to another and we slept together. I realized that I wanted to see if there was still that spark between us and wanted to give it another try, but the next morning she flaked on me and said it was a mistake."
"Well how do you know 100% this is your kid?"
"Colt she told me she hadn't been with anyone since Brooke was born, which means she's only been with me."
"Girls say shit like that all the time..."
"True and maybe I'm an idiot for buying it, but I don't think she's lying. It's not like it matters though because she told me and I immediately accused her of entrapment and then questioned the paternity, so who knows if I'll ever see this kid or Brooke ever again."
"She wouldn't do that; if she didn't want you in the picture she never would've told Brooke you were her dad when she asked."
"I hope you're right, but I feel terrible for the things I said; it was like I was having an out of body experience where I kept telling myself to shut up, but these terrible, angry, hurtful things just kept coming out like word vomit."
"Word vomit is the worst...I know you're kind of all over the place with this, but you need to pull yourself together and talk to Amy."
"I don't even know what to tell her; should I just tell her about this whole baby thing?"
"And ruin her birthday even more, that's not exactly wise..."
"You're right man...I'll have to face it sooner or later, but now isn't the right time. Just please leave this between us; I'll tell everyone else once I make things right with Mel, willing she'll ever speak to me again." Colt rested his hand on Punk's shoulder pulling him in for a manly embrace.
"I'm sure everything will work out, but I must say I figured I'd be in a position like this before you."
"Well let this be a lesson to you, don't be irresponsible...better yet just don't have sex with women, it complicates everything."
"Even though I like sex, I never get any, so I think I'll be okay..."
Melissa turned off her alarm, but stayed in bed staring out the window. She was exhausted from the happenings of the last twenty four hours, unable to sleep as the events of the night before played on repeat in her head. As much as she tried to shrug off what Punk had said, every word stuck making her feel a sick stabbing pain in her stomach. Checking her phone, she wondered if maybe he would have texted to apologize or left a voicemail saying something, but there was nothing showing her that he clearly didn't regret his actions furthermore making her think she deserved everything she'd gotten.
Letting out a sigh, she threw back the blankets heading for the shower. Despite everything that had happened the night before, Melissa knew she had to put on a smile and be the bigger person today. Brooke was expecting to see both of her parents at her tournament and that's exactly what she'd get. Even though the wounds from his words were still very fresh, she knew she had to push everything aside and interact with Punk for the day if only for the sake of their daughter. Melissa wasn't sure if they would both present the idea of moving to Brooke, or if she'd be left on her own there.
Part of her wanted to decline the offer to transfer to the Chicago office, but she knew that wouldn't change anything. Regardless what Punk's thoughts were about the new baby, she knew he'd still be in Brooke's life; that was something that she couldn't take away from either of them even though at the moment she wanted nothing more then to snap her fingers and make the last six months go away. Melissa couldn't deny that Brooke needed her father in her life, and while Punk was proving to be a good dad, she still found life to be much easier when it was just the two of them.
Stepping out of the shower, she caught a glimpse of her reflection in the mirror and knew she'd need extra make-up to get through the day. The bags under her eyes were heavy from the lack of sleep and constant stress in her life; the hours she'd spent crying hadn't helped her looks either. For the first time in a long time she noticed her physical age catching up with her mental one; she'd always passed as being at least two years younger then she actually was, but today she felt forty five and was looking to be pushing thirty six. Feelings of self-loathing kicked in as she hated the fact that she let her emotions take hold of her and turn her into the mess before her, but the sound of Brooke running up the stairs brought her out of it.
"Mom, where's my black belt?" Melissa shook her head trying to push aside the turmoil she was feeling and put on the happy mom face.
"It should be in your bag, but if it isn't there then check the laundry room."
"I found it…" Melissa shook her head finding a distraction hearing the door bell ring. Giving herself a quick once over in the mirror, she quickly shrugged rushing down the stairs to answer the door and immediately regretting it as she found Punk standing at her door step. Rather then greeting him, she walked away finding a need to busy herself settling on an unfolded basket of laundry. Unfortunately for her, Punk wasn't about to let her go that easily.
"Can we take a couple minutes and talk about last night…"
"What about it? I think you said everything you needed to, or at least for my sake I hope you did." Punk let out a sigh finding that Melissa was not going to let her guard down and listen, not that he could blame her at all.
"Mel I'm sorry about what I said…" His apology caught Melissa's attention, but to his dismay she wasn't so accepting of it.
"Which part? The part where you accused me of doing this on purpose, or when you basically called me a whore by denying this baby could be yours? This might be hard for you to understand, but as much as I've thought about having another baby, this is not in any way the right time and the fact that it is yours doesn't help matters either. It's just my luck that I'm not with anyone for ten years and the first time I'm stupid enough to go there, I pay for it with the biggest consequence." Melissa bit her cheek trying to hold herself together, but he could see the tears welling up in her eyes.
"Everything I said last night was just stupid and I didn't mean any of it. You have to understand where I'm coming from here…"
"Let me guess you're scared right? Well welcome to my world Phil! No worries though because I'm letting you off the hook. Brooke and I are moving to Chicago because it's good for us, it has nothing to do with you. I hope that despite everything you still continue to be a father to Brooke, but as far as this new baby goes I'll handle everything."
"Please don't be like this…"
"Don't be like what?" Punk thought for a minute trying to word his response carefully, but their conversation was interrupted as Brooke entered the room.
"Mom can we go soon?" Brooke found her mom in the laundry room and quickly noticed the presence of her dad, her smile doubling in size. "Dad, you made it!" Brooke jumped into his arms squeezing him tight.
"Of course, there was no way I was missing your first jiu-jitsu tournament. I've been talking to Rener and he says you've been improving a lot. I'm so proud of you…" Punk squeezed Brooke tight meeting Melissa's gaze for a moment before she broke it.
"I'm going to take your laundry upstairs and give you a few minutes to catch up with your dad and then we'll go." Melissa picked up the basket walking out of the room as fast as she could hoping that neither Punk or Brooke caught sight of the tears falling down her cheeks.
Much to Melissa's dismay, Brooke had insisted that Punk ride to the tournament with them. Letting out a sigh and once again reminding herself to be the bigger person, she put on her sunglasses and got comfortable in the driver's seat trying her best to ignore the person sitting beside her.
The thirty minute drive started out quiet until Brooke brought up the million dollar question, "So dad, where's Amy? I thought she was going to come with you today…" Melissa let down her guard curious just what the answer to this question was. Had he told Amy about the baby? If so she was sure Punk wasn't Amy's favorite person right now; it didn't exactly take a rocket scientist to figure out Amy was in no way Melissa's biggest fan.
"She wanted to come, but something came up…" Melissa raised her eyebrow noticing his brief answer that provided little explanation. She did her best to ignore the rest of their conversation, but as their journey stalled thanks to weekend traffic, Punk decided to engage Melissa in conversation.
"Mel you should probably take the south ramp up ahead and then we can jump on the 95 exit and avoid any more traffic." Melissa's grip on the steering wheel tightened; there were fewer things she hated more in life then a passenger seat driver, especially one that didn't even live in California.
"I think we're fine where we're at Phil; I know this route pretty well seeing I drive it once a week."
"I understand that, but we're losing precious time here and if you stay on this route there's a good chance Brooke will be late…"
"Late? Mom am I going to be late? I can't be late or they won't let me compete!" Melissa closed her eyes taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly. She was becoming more agitated with Punk as he'd now gotten Brooke wound up.
"You're not going to be late; we left the house early enough that a little traffic isn't going to cause issue."
"It might not cause issue, but I guarantee if you stay in this lane we're going to be cutting it close and Brooke is like me she likes to be there early. She needs to get her stretches in and get in the zone…"
Melissa continued to hear Punk babbling on making her head spin and the mild cramping in her stomach intensify. She didn't need this added stress right now and if it helped to take his suggested route that's what she was going to do. "Will you please just stop? I'll take the ramp, just please…" Melissa took the south ramp taking deep breaths to calm down, but the cramping persisted making her stress level rise. As much as she wanted to be there for Brooke, she was beginning to think something was seriously wrong.
The rest of the car ride was quiet and as Melissa pulled into the parking lot, Brooke was quick to jump out, but Punk remained sensing there was something off.
"What's going on?" Melissa shook her head trying to play off there was any kind of problem, but Punk knew better. "You might think you're good at hiding it, but I can tell you're in pain right now. Is it the baby, is there something wrong?"
Melissa let go of the tears she'd been holding in, "I think so, but I don't know what exactly."
"Well we need to get you to a hospital and get everything checked out."
"No! Brooke has been training for this tournament and looking forward to it, we can't both miss it or she'll be devastated."
"I think she'll understand…"
"Just please go and be with her; Jessica's family was coming today too, so she has plenty of support. I'll just go to the hospital on my own…"
"You're going alone; do you really think that's a wise choice? What if…" Punk paused unable to bring himself to say what he was thinking; despite everything that had happened between them when news that Melissa was expecting broke, he still couldn't stop caring about their growing child or Melissa for that matter.
"I'll deal with the what if, just please go be with Brooke right now. This was my mistake to begin with and like I said at the house, you're off the hook."
As much as Punk didn't want to, he got out of the car. Watching Melissa drive away, he couldn't shake the sick feeling in his stomach that something very bad was about to happen and he wasn't sure how either of them would recover.
A bit of a cliffhanger there, but everything will be cleared up next chapter...all signs point to miscarriage, and if that's the case, you have to wonder just how Melissa and Punk will cope with the loss and how or if they'll tell Brooke...