A/N: Sorry for the late update! I had extreme procrastination on this one. So on this chapter, as stated on my FF Twitter, I'll be using some ideas given by you amazing reviewers! The power of reviewing :). Here's the next chapter! I hope you enjoy!

Recap:

"I want you to come back home, John. I'm sick of this back-and-forth. I'm sick of sleeping without you in my arms. I can't do it anymore. I want you to come back home." Punk explains. [...] "You mean the world to me, Phil. You're the only one I want, and the only one I'll ever need. I promise." John says, then chews the inside of his lip. "Babe, I feel the same way. You're my one and only okay? Till death do we part, like I promised." Punk replies,

Monday; Brooks' Residence:

Punk slowly becomes conscious and automatically goes to wrap his arms tighter around John, happy to have his Husband back home with him and things back to normal. The only problem is that when he goes to squeeze John, John's not there. Punk moves his hand along the bed trying to feel for John in case he rolled away in the middle of the night, but Punk finds he's not in the bed at all. He lays silent for a moment or two, thinking that maybe he's in the bathroom or in the kitchen, but he doesn't hear any noise at all.

Punk finally opens his eyes and he's met with a terrifying sight. There are papers strewn around the room and no John to be found. "No, no, no," Punk whispers, automatically thinking the worst. He quickly hops out of bed and picks up the first paper he comes across, and he realizes it's from the divorce papers, "Fuck! No!" Punk yells out, then begins running around the room picking up all the papers off the floor, and as he does, he starts to realize that not only are the divorce papers strewn around the room, so are the surrogacy papers, "Goddammit, nooo," Punk silently begins to plea. He heads over to his dresser with the papers, and that's when he sees a note lying there.

YOU WERE GONNA FUCKING DIVORCE ME? ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS? That's right, I found the goddamn

divorce papers when I went looking for the surrogacy folder. I can't fucking believe this, Punk. I worked my ass

off to get back in your good graces and for what? For this? Why'd you even send me through all that separation

bullshit just for things to end like this? You could have saved me a lot of time, pain, and emotions by just ending

it immediately. I seriously can't believe this. You know what, fuck it. I'm done. I filled in all the blanks that I needed

to, and I signed my name. Don't even try and contact me when you send the papers in. I don't want to hear from you

ever again. I'm gone, and you never have to worry about me ever again. I've packed everything I want from there,

feel free to burn all the rest of my stuff. Do me a favor and don't let Gage forget me, it's the least you can do.

Thanks for absolutely nothing.

Goodbye, Philip.

"Fucking no! John, no!" Punk yells, tossing the letter onto the dresser. He begins moving at lightening speed, separating the divorce papers from the surrogacy papers as he changes into some regular clothes, then shoving the surrogacy papers into the dresser and heading into the kitchen and sliding on his shoes as he digs through the junk drawer for a lighter. Once he finds one, he tosses the divorce papers into the sink and lights them on fire, gathering up his cellphone and wallet as they burn, then setting the papers out and dashing out the door. He hails a cab to the airport, and on the way, he decides to text Shaleigh.

Punk: Don't know if you're home or not, but there was an emergency at home. I'll be gone probably the rest of the day. John's not there either. Don't call unless it's an emergency. Love u. Thx.

Once that's taken care of, he heads to his flight app and books the next flight out to Boston, figuring that since John's house in Tampa is gone, the next place he'd go is to his Father's, and before he knows it, the cab is dropping him off and he's boarding a flight to Boston, fingers crossed and holding his breath.

2 & ½ Hours Later:

Punk heads up the walk and bangs on the door over, and over, and over till Cena Sr. finally comes and answers the door. "Philip?! What are you doing here?" He asks, completely confused. "I need to talk to John. Please. He misunderstood everything." Punk pleads, knowing Cena Sr's going to do everything in his power to protect his son and keep him away from him; especially if John told him what happened. "What are you talking about? He's not here! Why would he be? What happened?!" He asks, and Punk can see the genuine confusion on his face. "H-He's not here?" Punk asks, his hands going to grip at his own head, close to breaking down. "No. Why would he be? Philip, tell me what happened!" Cena Sr. demands, but Punk just takes off back to the rental car, only taking enough time to yell out behind him, "I don't have time! We'll call you later! I'm sorry!" Punk yells out as he hops back in the car, driving off at top speed to the only other place Punk can think of that John might be at.

After some time of driving, Punk whips the car into the parking lot, seeing two cars in the driveway so he knows he's home. Punk jumps out of the car and races to the door, yet again banging on the door till it's answered. "What the fuck are you doing here?" Punk can tell by the look on his face and the tone of his voice that not only is John here, but John told him what happened. "I need to see John. Marc, please." Punk begs. "The fuck you think I'ma let you see him fo'?" Marc asks, and Punk groans at not only the way he talks, but that he's wasting time arguing with him when he could be explaining himself to John. "Listen, Marc, I know you're his cousin and you guys are as close as Brothers, and you want to protect him. I get it. But John's got everything wrong. I just need him to hear me out. I just need to explain myself, let him get my side of the story, the truth. Please. You can even supervise it." Punk begs, and Marc mugs him for a moment before sighing and giving in.

"Fine. Go ahead. All the way down the hall to the left. I don't need to supervise things, I'ma head out for awhile. I'll let ya'll handle ya'll shit like grown men. Just don't fuck up my house, aight, dawg?" Marc says and Punk nods his head at 200 mph, a huge smile on his face, "Thank you so much!" Punk says, and Marc grabs his keys off the front table and heads out to his car, and Punk waits till Marc's gone before heading into the house and to the room that John's in. He takes a deep breath, then knocks on the door.

"Who was at the do—" John starts to say till he looks up and sees Punk in the doorway, "What the hell are you doing here?!" John asks, nothing but anger and rage showcased on his face. "John, we need to talk." Punk says, taking a step into the room, but John jumps up off the bed, "I have nothing to say to you! Get out!" He yells, and Punk holds his hands out, signaling no animosity, "John, please listen to me. I—" John cuts in, "I don't wanna hear what you have to say! Leave!" He yells some more, and Punk takes a few steps closer, "John, this is all a misunderstanding. Those—" Punk doesn't get the chance to talk, as John cuts in again, "No, Punk! I told you in the letter that I didn't wanna speak to you ever again! Get out!" John screams, and that's when Punk grabs him and loses it.

"I DID NOT FLY ALL THE WAY OUT HERE FOR NOTHING! Now sit down," He shoves John back onto the bed, "and fucking listen to what I have to say!" He takes a full-on macho stance in front of the bed, glaring down at John, and John just stares back with hurt and angry eyes, in shock at Punk doing that, "John, I'm sorry. That was wrong of me. You just wouldn't listen and I—"

John cuts in yet again, "Why would you send me through all those months of separation, just to divorce me in the end?" He asks, his voice soft and weak, John practically having given up on everything. Just wanting it all to be over and him left to himself. "I wasn't going to divorce you, John. I wouldn't have asked you back home if I was going to do that. I was not going to divorce you!" Punk promises, and John shakes his head, "You can't lie and say that, Punk. I saw the goddamn papers. They were filled out! They were just waiting on my information and they could have been filed! You can't lie and say that, goddammit!" John yells at him, and Punk sighs,

"I'm not denying that I had the papers. Listen, I just…I felt trapped and out of control. Not with you, but the situation. I felt like it was caving in on me. I felt like you had full control of the situation. You made the decision to sleep with him, you forced me into talking about things, you even basically made the decision of me putting you out by packing beforehand and putting the idea in my head! I just…I had no say, no decision in nothing! I've always been in control of situations no matter what, and I just felt like there was nothing I could do in this one. That I was a slave to your pain. I told Lars how I felt during a moment of weakness, and he suggested divorce if I wanted out of this and wanted control of the problem again. I told him I didn't want to divorce you, that I still love you and I just wanted a handle on the situation. He told me he understood, and that maybe if I got the papers and went through the process alone, it'd give me the illusion that I had the complete control of things. He was right. I felt a lot better after it. I felt like I had leverage, and that you weren't controlling everything anymore. Granted it made me a bit more bitter at you, I still felt better about things. It was never about divorcing you, John. I mean, come on now. I knew all that information I left blank for you to fill in. If I really wanted a divorce, all that I would have needed you to do was sign and get the rest of your shit out of my house. But instead I asked you back because I didn't want a fucking divorce, and I don't now! Please. You have to believe me on this." Punk tries to explain himself, dropping to his knees on the bed as he finishes, ready to plead and explain all night till John understands.

"I just don't understand how you could possibly think I had all, or even any control or leverage in this situation. You put me out, you dangled yourself and your love in front of me constantly to keep me from leaving that goddamn hotel for months on end, you had all the power and choice in how far we went with each other every time you came to see me since we were separated, you had all the power on whether and when I came home. I had absolutely no power, Punk! I sat there hanging from a thread of your control, okay? So that's bullshit!" John yells back his side, and Punk sighs, "Look, you may have felt that way, but just remember. I was the one who got cheated on, okay? From there it felt like I slowly lost control of everything and by the end I had none. Alright?" Punk sighs, and John crawls closer to Punk, grabbing his hand and arm.

"But Punk, you know me and what I went through with my first marriage. You know what she did to me, how she cheated on me more times than I can count…or can even fathom. Look, I know I screwed up royally by what happened with Randy, but just based off what I went through, you should have known how big of a mistake it was to me, and how sorry I was, and how much I hate myself for it, and how it would never, ever, ever happen again! Everything that happened was so unnecessary. It just…" John trails off with a heavy sigh, not even knowing what to say. "Ya know, you're kinda right. If it weren't for me going into shock and then numbness, I would have realized that. We could have sat down and talked. I could have found out it was basically my fault you did, I could have cleared up what you thought about me cheating. Just everything we went through could have been avoided." Punk mumbles at the realization. "So many months of our marriage just wasted on stupidity." John says, picking at his fingers, stupidity running through him.

"John, I'm really sorry. All this was my fault." Punk says, turning to look at John. "Don't say dumb stuff like that, it was my fault." John replies. "No it wasn't. It was mine." Punk retorts, and John moves that matter aside for a moment,

"So you really weren't going to divorce me? Like, ever? There was no point in your mind that you wanted to?" John asks, and Punk quickly takes John's hands in his, "There was never not any point that I wanted to give us up. There was never any point I wanted to let you get away. There was never any point I wanted to break our family up. There was never any point I stopped loving you or thinking you or we were worth it. John, baby, I asked you home because I wanted you home…desperately. Honestly, I wanted you home a long, long time ago, but we were just having so many issues and I wanted them all solved before you came back home. Only problem was that more and more problems arose out of that. After awhile I figured the best way to squash all those problems was to just bring you back, where the problems wouldn't matter anymore. Too bad I was wrong." Punk says, and John scoots closer and pulls Punk's arm around him,

"I want us to be okay. I mean perfectly okay. I want to be home with you, I want to be a full-time Dad to Gage again, I want our marriage back in tact. I want everything back to normal. I just…" John's still hesitant, and he doesn't want to go home with that little 'what if?' in the back of his mind.

"Listen to me, baby. I have never cheated on you, and I apologize for flirting too much. I didn't realize I was doing it so much, and I'm going to try and stop, I promise. I forgive you for what happened, and I'm done thinking about it. I apologize for that stupid separation and how long it lasted. I never, ever wanted to divorce you. I want you home, and that's where I'm taking you, and I don't want you to ever fucking run away on me like that again, alright? Did I miss any bases?" Punk asks, and John chuckles a bit, "No, I think you've got them all covered." John replies.

"I'm serious, John. Don't you dare ever run away from me and scare me like that again. Ever. Or I'm gonna have to break your legs off or something." Punk warns, and John laughs out, "I need my legs, thank you. And I won't do that ever again. I'm sorry. I should have confronted you. Just like I should have confronted you when I suspected you of cheating. I'm learning, alright? I promise, next time there's an issue, I'm gonna confront you on it. No matter how scared of the answer I am." John promises, and Punk smiles and caresses John's face. "Look how adorable we are, learning from our mistakes and stuff." Punk chuckles and John laughs some more, "Shut up." He knocks at Punk's chest.

"Seriously, though, John. I want us to be happy. I want us to grow our family. I want us to watch our kids grow up. I want us to watch our grandkids grow up. I want to grow old with you. I want to celebrate a 50th anniversary with you. I want to pass away with you still as my Husband and with the knowledge that we were happy and that we made it. I really want that, John. Don't you?" Punk uses a finger to tilt John's face up to look at him, "I want that desperately." John replies. "Then we've gotta start handling this marriage thing a lot better, okay? We've gotta get the hang of it." Punk says, and John nods, "I know, I know. I'm willing to try if you are." John smiles, and Punk smiles back, "I'm very willing. Does this mean you're coming back home with me?" Punk asks, and John nods again, "Yes, baby, I'm coming home." He answers, and Punk pulls him tightly to his body, squeezing him for a moment before kissing his lips over and over and over again.

"I love you so much, baby. Please don't scare me like that ever again." Punk whispers as he buries his face in John's neck. "I love you too, Philip. I won't ever again, I promise." John replies. "God, I thought it'd take a whole lot more than this to get you back home. Why was this so relatively easy?" Punk pulls away and asks, and John sits back and gives a small sigh, "Just needed to be talked back from the ledge, so to speak. Plus I guess I needed proof you really loved me and wanted me. Flying all the way out here and searching for me is pretty testamental." John explains, and Punk again takes his hands, "I do love you, John, and I want you too. Of course I was gonna come out here for you. I'm glad you're coming home with me." Punk whispers, and John smiles, "I'm glad too." He replies.

"Uhm," Punk pulls out his phone and checks the time, before putting it back in his pocket and turning his attention back to John, "We've got three hours till we gotta get to the airport for the flight I booked us, sooo, how about in the meantime we…" Punk trails off as he lays John on the bed and begins kissing at his neck, and John moans out for a moment before pulling away from Punk's lips, "Punk, we can't. Marc would come in here having a fit if we started that." John warns, and Punk rolls his eyes, "He'll live. Besides, he left after I got here, so he won't even know. Shhh." Punk explains, then leans back down and begins kissing at John again.

3 Hours Later:

"Babe, wake up. We gotta head to the airport." Punk shakes John a bit, trying to get him up. "Huh? Where am I?" John yanks away from Punk and sits up, "You're at Marc's house. Get up, we gotta get to the airport. You're still coming home with me, right?" Punk asks, and after sitting there just blinking for a moment, John nods. "Yeah, I am. Sorry. That was a really deep sleep." John gives a little chuckle, reaching over and looking for his underwear. "Well you already know I'm pretty damn good at putting your ass to sleep." Punk laughs and John rolls his eyes, but blushes, "Shut up." He replies.

The men quickly put their clothes back on and gather up John's things, then head out of the room to the front door. When they reach it, Marc walks back into the house before Punk can grab at the door-knob handle.

"Oh. You guys made up or some shit?" He asks, noticing the luggage. "Yeah, we're gonna be fine. Thanks for letting me crash here." John says. "It's coo', we fam. But uhm…you really leaving with dude?" Marc asks, and John looks at him funny, "Yeah, we solved our problems, things are fine now. Why wouldn't I?" John asks. "'Cuz he's on dat bullshit. Why w—" Marc starts to explain, but Punk cuts in, "Woah. Look, you don't know anything about what's going on between us, okay? We're fine now. Move out of the way so we can go. We need to go pick up our son soon." Punk explains, just wanting out of there. "Nah, dats yo son with that ex-bitch of yours. You fu—" John cuts in on Marc, "Hey! You're stepping way out of line! You need to watch yourself! That is my son too, alright?" John yells, and Marc just shakes off John's anger, "Listen, Cuz', I'm just saying. The way I see it, dude's ruining your life. Ain't been nothing but complaints from you about him. He ain't worth it." Marc explains his side. "Marc, you're—" John starts, but Punk cuts in, "You need to mind your fucking business. I'm trying to hold my temper because you're his family, but you're seriously pissing me off right now." Punk warns, and Marc rolls his eyes and scoffs. "Why don't you shut the fuck up, you dirty, fucking faggot?" Marc spats at Punk, and next thing Punk knows, John's punched Marc's lights out and stands over his unconscious body seething in anger.

"John…" Punk says in shock, not really sure what to do. "Come on, let's go." John replies, grabbing Punk's arm and pulling him out of the house, and Punk grabs the luggage and heads out with him to the car. "Should we have left him?" Punk asks. "Fuck him." John replies, and Punk leaves that alone. "Uhm, well, we've gotta call your Dad later. That's the first place I went and I didn't explain anything to him. So I'm sure he's kinda worried." Punk explains. "Whatever. I'll call him later. I just wanna go see Gage." John replies, and Punk nods, "Alright."

Later; Dumas Residence:

"He sleep?" John asks as Amy leads them to Gage's room in her house. "Nope, wide awake. Playing with his Papa and Da-Da action figures. Punk, you're losing." Amy chuckles, and Punk rolls his eyes, "Splendid." He mumbles.

"Gage, look who's here!" Amy says as they walk into his bedroom, and Gage turns around at hearing his name, and his eyes absolutely light up, "DA-DAAAAA!" He begins screaming and squealing in excitement, flailing his arms and shaking around. "Gageee!" John smiles and rushes over to pick him up, squeezing him tightly, "Oh, I've missed my baby boy so much!" John says, spinning him around. "They're cute." Amy chuckles. "They are." Punk nods, watching them with a smile.

"Guess what, Gage? Da-Da's back home! Isn't that exciting? I'm never gonna leave again! I promise. Oh, I missed you so much, Gage-y!" John begins kissing all over his face.

"John's home? You guys made up?" Amy asks, and Punk smiles and nods, "Yeah, he's home. It happened yesterday. We had some issues this morning, but we're pretty good now." Punk explains, and Amy squeals a bit, "Aw, I'm so happy for you! That's great!" She says, knocking at his shoulder. "Thanks, Amy. I appreciate it. Hey, uhm, I want to apologize for how I've treated you. I mean, I'm probably never gonna forgive you for what you tried to do to my Sister, I'll just tell you that now. But I've gotta put up with you for the next 17 years. The least I can do is be decent to you. I need to be mature about this for Gage anyway. So, can we call a truce?" Punk asks, and Amy smiles wide, "A truce would be great actually. Hug on it?" She asks, holding out her arms, and Punk stares for a moment, contemplating, but eventually gives in and hugs her.

"Woah, Gage, look at that! Are Mommy and Papa actually getting along? They're hugging? This entire week's been a miracle!" John chuckles, facing Gage towards them and pointing. "Shut up," Punk chuckles, pulling away, "Come on, I wanna get home. Where's Gage's bag?" Punk asks, and Amy grabs the baby bag, and after some quick goodbyes, the men are on their way.

Brooks' Residence:

Things were great at Amy's, and things were great in the car. It's when they got home that things got weird.

"Hey, where are you going?" Punk asks, reaching out and grabbing John's arm. "I'm going to go play with Gage in his room." John answers, and Punk interlaces his fingers with John's, "I'll go with you. We can all play together." Punk replies, and John smiles and nods and they all head into Gage's room.

After playing with Gage for awhile, John laid him down for a nap and the men ended up watching a movie in the den. As they watch, John gets thirsty and gets up to grab a drink, but Punk quickly grabs him by the arm and yanks him back down, "Where are you going?" He asks. "To get some juice." John answers. "Oh, okay. Uhm, I'm gonna grab some chips, I'll go with." Punk replies, and the men get up and head in the kitchen.

Once the movie went off, John kicked off the blankets Punk laid on them, and stood up. "It's really hot in here, I'm gonna go up to the roof, kay?" John says, and Punk quickly stands, "I'm hot too. I'll go too." Punk says. "Oh. Uhm, okay." John replies, then takes Punk's hand and leads him up to the roof.

Later in the day, the men sit back in the den watching TV, when John stands and Punk's eyes follow him from where he's at in the big chair, trying to stay silent.

And he succeeds!

…Till John grabs his keys.

"I'm—" Punk doesn't even give him a chance to speak, "Where are you going?!" Punk asks, jumping out of the chair, fear in his eyes. "Going to grab food. I'm starving. I was just about to ask what you wanted." John explains. "Oh." Punk mumbles.

"Are you okay, babe?" John asks, heading back over to Punk, and Punk quickly pulls him in his arms. "I'm fine. You should sit. I'll order in, okay? No need for you to go anywhere." Punk kisses John's lips, sits him back on the couch, takes his keys and pockets them, then goes for the house phone to call the Chinese place up the street. "I…okay…" John sighs, confused.

"I'm so tired, I'm gonna pass out." Punk chuckles as the men head back to their bedroom for the night. "Yeah, you should get some rest. It's been a long day." John replies, and right before they approach their bedroom door, John turns and heads back down the hall. "Where are you going?" Punk asks when he notices he hears John walking away from him. "Check on Gage." John answers. "Oh, I'll come too." Punk says, but John holds out his hand, "Babe, I'll check on him. You're tired. Go lay down. I'll be in, in a minute." John says, but Punk ignores him and keeps heading towards him, "No, no, it's fine. Gage has been at his Mom's for awhile. It's his first night back. I wanna check on him." Punk explains, and John just shrugs it off and heads into Gage's room with him.

John pushes back the blankets and attempts to get out of bed, but Punk wraps his arms around him so tight that John thinks he's gonna leave a bruise. "Where are you going?!" Punk asks in a panic, John's movement immediately having woken him up. "To piss. You mind?" John asks, trying to get out of his vice grip. "Oh. Sorry. No. Go ahead." Punk replies, reluctantly releasing John and John quickly gets up and heads in the bathroom.

Punk lays there for a moment just listening, but when all goes silent, he gets up and heads to the bathroom door, leaning his head against the door. He listens in for a moment, but still doesn't hear anything. He starts to open the door, but before he can, he hears the toilet flush and then the door snatches open and he's face to face with John.

"What the hell are you doing?!" John asks. "I, uh, I…I was gonna change, so I came over to the dresser." Punk stutters out, yanking open a drawer and grabbing out a tee. "Mhm." John rolls his eyes, then heads back into the bathroom to wash his hands and such.

When John comes back out, he grabs Punk's arm and drags him over to the bed, mid-change. "What are you doing?" Punk asks. "Sit down." John replies, pushing him onto the bed. "What's wrong?" Punk asks. "I'd like to ask you the same question. What's been up with you all day?" John asks, and Punk looks away, "I don't know what you mean." He mumbles.

"I thought we solved everything, Punk. I thought we were fine now. Do you think I'm going to leave again or something?" John asks, grabbing Punk's face and making him look up at him. "Please don't leave me again." Punk's voice is so soft, and John drops down on the ground on his knees, and takes Punk's hands in his, "I'm not leaving, baby! Why would I? We solved everything. We're okay…right? Are we okay?" John asks, and Punk quickly nods over and over, "Yes, we're okay. We're good. We're great. I just…I don't want you to leave again." Punk explains, and John squeezes his hands, "I have absolutely no reason to leave. I wouldn't want to leave. I've wanted to be back home so badly for so long. I know I freaked out this morning, but we're past that. Right now I want nothing more than to be here with you for the rest of forever, baby. Please know that." John begs, and Punk gives a small sigh.

"Alright, alright. I understand. I'm sorry for acting so crazy all day." Punk says, and John gives him a warming smile, "It's okay. Just know I'm not leaving, alright? I love you, okay?" John leans up and kisses Punk's lips, and Punk smiles and kisses his lips again, "I love you too. Let's go to bed, alright?" Punk pulls him up and the two collapse into bed, "Just not too tight, alright?" John says, and Punk chuckles as he wraps his arms comfortably around John, "Deal. Night, babe." Punk kisses at John's neck and they drift to sleep.

A/N: Okay, so this was gonna be a lot more drawn out, but like I said, last minute and I was rushed and tired. Decent enough, though, I hope! So, what'd you think? John leaving? Them making up? That asshole Marc? Punk and Amy making up (you're welcome, Nate)? Punk's self-consciousness and John's assurance? Also, when I first typed to top part, my computer died before I could save things, and the note was perfect at first. By time I got back around to typing, I'd forgotten what I typed and meh came out :/ Please leave reviews with your thoughts/guesses/etc! Next update should come NEXT Thursday after TNA! Hope you enjoyed! Thanks for reading :)