I'm so sorry I've been so lazy lately! I feel like I was pretty good at keeping up and now I'm slacking off. I know Something I Need has been neglected again, but I'm not sure where I want to go with it next. We're going to start this chapter from Chicago, Punk vs. MJF Part 1! AEW owns all you know I own those you don't.

Chicago - Jessica's POV

I sat in MJF's locker room by myself. Everyone else was busy, I wasn't really allowed to see Phil and my brother still hasn't spoken to me. I could see that the loss of Santana and Ortiz has really made him crazy and him not knowing what I was doing was driving him crazy. I'd spoken to my sister in law a few times over the week glazing over the topic of Phil. She didn't seem as against it as my brother, but I kept reminding myself he came from a good place…I just couldn't find it in me to be the first to reach out. My phone buzzed breaking me out of my thoughts.

"Have you decided if you want to stay with me tonight…at the house?" Came Phil's text. I exhaled loudly. Phil had been asking me for 2 weeks about staying with him at his house. I haven't been there since I left Phil…is it something I could do?

"I have not…" I wrote back slowly. Its not that I don't want to stay with Phil…I just didn't know if I was emotionally ready to go back there…especially knowing that April had made it her home for the past 7 years…it wouldn't be how I left it.

"Baby." Was all he said. I knew he wanted me there badly…he wanted a taste of the old life and I did too…but I'm not sure I'd get the good feeling he would. I scrolled down to Rene's name and pressed call.

"What's up girl?" She asked answering the phone.

"Everyone hates me and I need help." I said.

"Okay, dramatic." She said with a chuckle, "No one hates you."

"You don't know that." I said.

"Phil loves you, I love you, Nora loves her Auntie…your brother loves you." She added the last part hesitantly.

"Yeah, not sure about the last one and if I don't answer Phil the first one won't be true either."

"You want my honest opinion?" She asked me.

"As long as it's yours and not Phil's in disguise." I said back.

"Stay with him, go to the house…see if it's different from yourself. You can't fear the house forever…especially when you loved it so much."

"I do love that house." I said sighing, "But what if I look and all I see is April?"

"I can promise you, you won't see a trace of her." She told me.

"How? You've been there since?" I asked.

"No…" she said trailing off.

"How do you know?" I asked as the door to the locker room opened.

"You'll have to go and see for yourself! Just know that someone worked very hard on making it the place you remembered." She said, as I watched Max sit in front of me.

"I guess I will." I said, as he motioned for me to hang up, "Listen Renee, I have to go…I'm being beckoned." I finished flatly.

"Got it, let me know what you do." She said and she hung up.

"Renee? Moxley's wife?" He asked me, I nodded. "I didn't know you were friends." He said simply. I was taken back by the lack of arrogance in his voice.

"Yeah…we were all friends from…before." I told him, he nodded.

"Well, I didn't mean to interrupt your phone call," he started, my eyebrows raised, "But I needed to ask you a few things."

"About?"

"Wardlow." He said.

"Oh, what about him?" I asked.

"I don't feel he's really with us anymore." He told me.

"I mean…me and him are both bound by contract. We don't have a choice but to be with you." I said honestly.

"Yeah, but before he seemed into what we were doing…now he seems to resent our group. Has he said anything to you?" He asked.

Yes, he hates you, I thought. "No, he doesn't say much to me now…not after his match with Phil." I said.

"Well, if he does…you're contractually obligated to tell me." He said, his smirk finding his face and the arrogance coming back, "Because if you don't…" he stood up, "Well you know." He chuckled. "I assume you're going to go for your pre-show walk around the building." I nodded, he spoke again, "I know you go see your brother and you're not walking…just know I'm allowing that." He fixed his scarf and left…allowing me to see my brother? His head is so far up his ass that he doesn't know Phil and I are making out in closets and my brother isn't talking to me. I laughed myself as I texted Phil about a closet I saw towards the parking lot and made my way there. Once I arrived I opened up and waited for Phil inside. 10 minutes go by and Phil doesn't show. I pick up my phone and call him.

"You know, you're wasting valuable time that we don't get often." I said when he picked up.

"I'm not coming unless you agree to stay with me tonight at the house." He said, I sighed.

"We haven't seen each other in a week and you're holding out?" I asked. He laughed.

"I'm negotiating for the long term sweetie." He said.

"You're too much…" I said, "Why don't you come to the closet and we can talk about it?"

"You promise you'll tell me why you have reservations?" He asked.

"Yes!" I said, getting slightly annoyed. All of a sudden the door opened and Phil came in.

"You were there the whole time?" I asked.

"Yeah, I knew you'd call when I didn't show up." He said smiling, "Now, why won't you come to the house?" He asked, his arms going around my waist. I sighed as I placed my hands on his chest.

"I'm scared." I said in a small voice. He frowned.

"Of what baby?" He asked softly.

"Of seeing a home I didn't make with you." I whispered. He pulled me to his chest and kissed the top of my head.

"I'm telling you, you will not see any of that…just possibilities of the home we will make." He said. I looked up at him unsure.

"I promise." He said, leaning down and pressing his nose to mine, "I want to do something special tonight since we can't really go on dates…please come."

"Okay." I whispered. He leaned forward and kissed me softly. I pressed back, moving my arms around his neck. This kiss was different than our usual preshow make out session, this one had more emotion and feeling. He pulled away before I was ready.

"I'll see you ringside and then after the show I'll come get you from your room." He told me.

"How?"

"I still booked the room next to yours." I laughed, he really was too much.

"I'll see you later." He said, leaning and kissing me once more. He left quickly and I headed back to get ready to go ringside. Before I knew it, I was heading out with MJF, passing my brother in the process. He just looked at me and I smiled, his face never changing. Guess he's still mad. I took a deep breath as we hit the stage and met Phil in the ring. He winked at me and I smiled, the crowd going crazy. The match began and it was brutal. Phil was giving Max his all, beating the holy hell out of him, but Max was giving just as much back. It helped that Phil had the hometown crowd behind him, but I knew Max was going to start fighting dirty. I cringed once I saw Phil had begun to bleed from his knee. While the blood made for awesome matches I hated when any of us started to bleed..it pulled at the heart more. As the match went on I began to smile more because Phil was going to win…we'd be a step closer at getting free.

All of a sudden Max began to unravel his wrist tape…he had an abnormal amount…

He wrapped Phil's neck in the tape and my eyes nearly popped out of my head. Phil and I locked eyes as Max pulled tighter and he began to fade.

"Don't close your eyes!" I yelled, "Fight it!" Sean came over to me and pulled me back, putting his hand over my mouth.

"The only person you should be cheering for is Max!" He yelled into my ear over the crowd. I pulled away just in time to hear the bell…Phil had lost…in the worst way. Max and Sean started to cheer as Phil gasped for air. The ref lifted Max's arm and the piece of tape fell.

"LOOK!" I shouted. The ref looked down and saw the wrist tape. Immediately he stopped the celebration and motioned to restart the match. Max noticing this began to throw a tantrum, Sean came over and pushed me to Wardlow.

"Next time you open your mouth, big man is taking you out." He hissed. I looked up at Mike who remained expressionless. Phil and Max began to wrestle again, this time I was sure that Phil would pick up the win…no way Max would attempt to cheat after being caught…

The match continued to go back and forth for a bit until Phil threw Max out of the ring to mine and Mike's feet. Mike pulled me back just before Max could land on me. Mike glared up at Phil as Phil approached us.

"You almost hurt her." Mike said gruffly.

"You and I both know, I'd never." Phil said back as Max groaned and slowly moved behind him.

"Watch yourself." Mike said sternly. I looked up at Mike wondering why the fuck he was acting the way he was. The ref yelled for Phil to get back in the ring as Max found his way in…the next few moments were a blur.

Phil turned around.

Max was up, ring on his finger…he pulled back and connected.

Phil dropped hard.

Max got the pin and won for real. No restart this time as the ring was thrown to Mike.

"See what happens!" Max yelled at me. I sneered back at him.

"Take her out Wardlow!" He yelled. Mike picked me up and threw me over his shoulder before I could even react. He turned and I stared at Phil the entire time he carried me out.

"Put me down." I said, once we were behind the curtain.

"Gotta take you all the way back." He said.

"Oh so he trusts you with that? He doesn't think you're going to let me go?" I asked sarcastically.

"You'll stop if you want me to keep your secret." He said.

"Oh please, you don't have the picture."

"No, but I do know about your closet rendezvous." He said, hints of humor in his voice.

"You suck." I said as we reached Max's locker room. Mike put me down on the couch and I pouted.

"You're a child." He said laughing.

"No, I just don't like being carried…or imprisoned against my will." I said back. He laughed again and we sat in silence waiting for Max and Sean. They burst into the room laughing and already speaking of a celebration that would take place next week.

"I beat your precious ex twice!" Max said, gloating in my face.

"You know most people are thrilled when their ex gets the shit beat out of them, so I don't understand why you're gloating." I said.

"Because you'll forever be hopelessly into him. Don't close your eyes! Fight it!" He said mocking me. I just glared.

"I figured since I have extra ring tape," he started, him and Sean started to laugh as I rolled my eyes. "I'll put TWO pieces of tape on your door! I'll even make it an X for your straight edge loser." He finished still laughing. I said nothing as my phone vibrated.

"I'll pick you up an hour after the show from your room…that should give the halls time to clear out." Phil said.

"I can't wait to get away from this prick."

"Soon love."

"I'm going to wait in the limo." I said pulling my jacket over my dress and grabbing my bag.

"You'll be there awhile." Sean said smiling.

"Better than here." I said and I walked out. I headed to the lot where Max's limo was waiting and got in. I don't know why Sean said they'd take forever when they were all in the limo with me 45 minutes later. We drove off to the hotel and I followed Max up when we arrived. True to his word I heard him slap two pieces of tape to my door.

"Asshole." I said out loud, hoping he heard me. I sat on the bed and texted Phil.

"Should I change?" I asked him.

"No, I think you look nice in that dress. After we do what I planned we can change." He responded. I sighed…I had to stay like this for another hour. I kicked off my shoes and laid back turning the TV on. I made sure to move around a lot to mess up the bed so I wouldn't have to do it when I came back in the morning.

"10 minutes away my love." Came Phil's text. I stood up and went over to the conjoining door and opened it. Phil's door was still locked so I couldn't open his. I sat back down and jumped when the door finally opened. Phil came in and picked up my bag smiling.

"Ready?" He asked me.

"How's your face?" I asked walking over and placing a kiss where it was still swollen from the ring.

"Much better now." He said placing a light kiss on my lips. "Let's go home." He said softly. I followed him out his door after shutting all the lights and TV to make it look like I was asleep. Once out in the hallway I inwardly groaned when I saw the taped X on the door. That fucker really did it. When we made it to the lobby Phil had me wait as he went and grabbed the car, when he came back he helped me into a huge jacket.

"Someone forgot how cold it could be in Chicago." He said zipping up the coat. I inhaled deeply as the coat smelled like him. He grabbed my hand and helped me into the car and sped off. We sat in a comfortable silence with him holding my hand and kissing the back of it ever so often. We pulled up and I swallowed hard, I really hope I don't see what I think I'm going to. He parked the car and led me up the familiar stairs to the part of the building that is his house.

"Ready?" He asked me as he unlocked the second door. I nodded as the door opened. He led me in and I gasped, my hand covering my mouth.

"Phil…"

I really wanted to add more but I felt the chapter had too much. Next chapter we'll get their first night back in the home they once shared. Will it still have traces of April or is it just how Jess left it? You'll see next time!