I own none of the WWE superstars (but I'd love to own Mark for a night).

Going Back Again

"I can't believe you're leaving me tomorrow," I said sadly to Mark. It had been six days since we had learned that Glen was coming home, and six days since we had learned that Vince wanted Mark back on the road. Since then, we had spent practically every waking moment together. We know it was wrong, but that didn't stop it from feeling incredibly right.

"Don't remind me," Mark replied, sounding just as sad as I felt. He stood up suddenly from the bar stool he had been sitting on and put his arms around me. I was sitting on the counter in front of him, and he just stood there, looking into my eyes.

"What's up?" I asked him nervously. Just the way he was looking at me, that hot, intense look, was freaking me out. It was like he was staring into my soul, burning me with his unwavering gaze as he stood there with his arms around me.

"Nothing. I'm just looking," he said simply. "Just memorizing every little detail of you."

"I'm surprised you haven't done that already," I teased, touching his arm. "I've had everything about you permanently engraved into my mind..."

He sighed and leaned his forehead against mine. "It's our last day together for a while. Why don't we do something?"

"What do you suggest?" I asked curiously.

"You might think I'm a little perverse for suggesting this, but I think we should do something," he said slowly. "Something you might think is kind of twisted."

"Like?" I asked. He'd already said that we should do something, but he had yet to say exactly what it was that he thought we should do.

"I want to go back to the place where it all went down," he said quietly. "Your special place in the woods."

My mouth dropped. "Are you serious?" I asked finally. "I didn't think I'd ever want to go back there."

"I'm serious," he said, nodding his head. "Things happened there, bad things...and I feel like we can resolve some issues if we go back there."

"Why would you want to go back there?" I asked, aghast. "That place is full of bad memories now..." My voice trailed off as I thought of all the good times I'd had there, back when it was just my place and no one else knew about it. Of course, Mark and I had been about to make a sweet, beautiful memory there on that fateful day, but that was before Glen had caught us together...

"I know you might think I'm crazy, but I have to go. We have to go," he said, touching my face. He tucked a strand of loose hair behind my ear. "I feel like I need...completion...before I leave tomorrow morning, you know?"

I did know what he was talking about. With a small sigh, I nodded at him. "Yeah, we could do that," I said. "When did you want to go?"

"Let's go now," he said.

I nodded at him and got down off the counter. I let him take my hand in his. Taking a deep breath, I looked up at him, into those piercing green eyes of his. "Let's do this."

We walked out through the kitchen and made our way outside. First, we walked over to the pier. My mind kept going back to the last time we'd been at the pier together, the time when Mark had threatened to drop me in the water unless I admitted that he had no shortcomings in the bedroom. It hadn't been difficult for me to tell him that, I suppose, mainly because it was true... I looked up at him and noticed him gazing out at the water with a thoughtful expression on his face.

"What are you thinking about?" I asked, squeezing his hand lightly.

"I'm just thinking about us," he said quietly. "Will there even be an 'us' when Glen gets home next week?"

"I've been wondering that same thing," I said, moving in front of him and wrapping my arms around him. I leaned my head on his chest and felt the familiar feelings of safety and comfort wash over me when he wrapped his arms around me. "I'd like for there to be an 'us' but with Glen back at home, I just don't know how that would be possible."

"Me neither," he said sadly, letting me go. He took my hand again, and we headed slowly over to the path that would lead us to what had once been my secret place. We walked in absolute silence down the path. Even though he had been there only once before, he knew the way by heart. I started to get more and more nervous as we got closer and closer to the spot, and when we reached the end of the path, I was practically a nervous wreck!

"Just calm down," he said in a soothing voice. "It's just us two. Nothing's going to happen this time."

I nodded mutely, and we stepped into the clearing, that clearing where the sun didn't shine and yet the grass grew. Immediately. everything that had happened the last time I was there flew into my mind, and I closed my eyes. Closing my eyes turned out to only make things worse, because then I could visually remember the day as well.

"Sit with me," he demanded in a low voice, sitting on the ground and leaning his back against a tree. I nodded again, because that was really the only thing I could do. He pulled me into his lap and I leaned against him and closed my eyes. "This place is still beautiful," he said after we had sat in silence for a while.

"If only we could erase that day," I said with a sigh. "Then this place would still be as beautiful as it used to be."

"I wished that we could erase that day, too, back when I was in the hospital," he admitted quietly. "But then I thought about it. Whether it seemed like it or not, I felt guilty when we first started sneaking around. Now, thinking back, I realize I wouldn't have been able to keep our affair a secret for much longer."

"I thought we were done for when Paula caught us in the kitchen that one morning," I said. "And after that horrendous double date, I was so sure Glen would freak out."

"But later that night when Glen was sleeping, you came in..." His voice trailed off. I turned around in his lap so we could be face-to-face, straddling him in the process. He looked down at me, and the look in his eyes was so tender, so caring... "That night you came in, and you stayed with me...all night."

"I thought about that night when you were in the hospital," I whispered, reaching up to touch his face. "That night after I found out that you'd lost your memory, I slept in the guest room where you'd been sleeping...and I slept in one of your shirts because I wanted to feel close to you..."

"You're so sweet, darlin," he whispered back. "I didn't know..."

"And that next morning, Dr. Gunter called me and told me that you had your memory back... How did that happen?" I asked curiously.

"I was watching TV, and a commercial for Pop Tarts came on," he said, chuckling softly. "Some little kid asked his mom for a Pop Tart, and the word 'tart' just kept bouncing around in my head."

"Let me guess...and then you thought of me," I said, reaching around to touch his hair. "Because I'm such a tart."

"You're not," he said, looking away. "That's why I felt so bad, lying there in the hospital bed, thinking about everything that had happened with us... I felt bad about basically seducing you, and for making you cry on that first night."

"Why did you make that list?" I asked him suddenly. I had been wondering about that for a very long time, but I'd never asked him. Now that we were taking a trip down memory lane, I figured, why not ask him? "And why was I the only one on it?"

"I felt guilty for everything, for ruining your marriage and for hurting my best friend," he explained. "And I knew that if I saw you...that if you came in to see me, all I'd want to do was pull you close and...you know."

"That really did hurt, when the doctor told me that you didn't want to see me," I whispered, feeling tears pricking at my eyes. "I wanted you so much, Mark, and you didn't even want to see me." I looked away, annoyed at the stupid tears that were starting to run down my face. Why was I so sensitive around him?

"I'm sorry, Jade," he whispered, putting his hand up to my face. He gently turned my face so I could face him again, then wiped my tears away. "I always wanted you, always. But I feel guilty, because I was never supposed to have you, because you're Glen's."

"I know..." I leaned my head against his shoulder and closed my eyes, just feeling him, leaning on him. "You're leaving tomorrow..."

"I know," he said with a sigh. "Believe me, I know... Now what do you want to do for the rest of the day?"

"I want to kiss you," I said, kissing him on the neck, then on his cheek.

"Mmmm, that sounds good," he replied, giving me a chaste kiss. "But don't you think we should do something to make today memorable?"

"Today will be memorable either way, as long as I'm with you," I said honestly, looking into his eyes. "Because being with you is all that matters to me right now."

"I don't know how I pretended to hate you for so long," he whispered, returning my gaze. "I guess it was easier in the beginning because I was married...but at some point after my divorce was finalized, I realized that I just couldn't stop thinking about you."

"When Vince told you and Glen that you could both go on vacation, what...how did you end up coming here?" I wanted to know.

"Glen invited me. I said no at first, because I knew how I felt about you, but he insisted on it so I gave in," he said. He smiled. "I can still remember the look on your face when you kissed Glen and I asked you where my kiss was."

"You tricked me twice that night at least," I remembered. "I really thought you were going to cry or something after I called you...whatever it was that I called you when I got mad at you."

"I believe it was an ass and a big dummy," he recalled with a smile. "And I was trying my hardest not to laugh at that look on your face. God, you can make so many different expressions on that face of yours."

"Oh really?" I asked, raising my eyebrows.

"Yeah. My favorite one is the one you get when we're making love..." His voice trailed off. "And my second favorite is the one you made on that first night after I kissed you and turned the lights back on... You're beautiful, you know that?"

"And you're gorgeous," I replied, pressing my lips lightly against his. "Inside and out, you're gorgeous. You're not the asshole you made me believe you were."

He kissed me back, and then we stood up. "I've had enough of this place for right now. How about you?"

"I agree with whatever you say," I said seriously, hugging him.

He looked thoughtful for a minute, as if he was analyzing what I had just said. "You mean that?" he asked finally, looking at me.

"Yeah," I said softly. "Really."

"I'll bookmark that for future reference. Remember that you said that," he said. Putting one arm around my shoulders, we headed out of the clearing and back to the path. I wrapped my arm around his waist and thought about how this was probably going to be the last day we would be spending together for a while...

A/N: Took me a long time to update this story, I know. Thanks so much for the positive reviews, everyone! Please keep 'em coming... You guys are my motivation!