"And how has the intimacy situation changed since our last session," the marriage counselor questioned.

"It hasn't," Galina answered. "We took your advice about spending more alone time together and bonding exercises but besides kissing, I can't go any further. I hate it because I don't want Joe to feel like I'm rejecting him or make him feel bad because he didn't do anything wrong."

"Joe?" the counselor prompted him.

"I'm willing to wait until she's ready. I knew we weren't going to automatically jump back into things and pretend like it never happened. I know that we need to strike a balance between working toward consummating our marriage again and being aware of the feelings that we're both are going through," he replied.

"Galina, what's your biggest hang up?" the counselor asked.

"His relationship with Robyn," she confessed. "For the last few months he's been all around the world with her. She was clearly crazy about him and the feeling was mutual. Obviously, they had their own sex life. Thinking about Joe with another woman freaks me out now that we're back together and I think if I can forget about it, things will get better but I can't do that when a new picture of them together at a children's hospital drops every Monday or Tuesday. It's a great cause so I accept that it's going to continue. Besides, even if they didn't work together on the campaign, they'd still see each other backstage 4 times a week. I'm not even going to pretend like seeing my husband and his ex-girlfriend together doesn't sting."

And the truth comes out. He suspected that this was the issue but was waiting for her to admit it. "Galina, if I'd known that there was even a slight chance of us getting back together, I wouldn't have crossed the line with a coworker knowing that it would create an uncomfortable situation after the fact. I'm sure there's nothing I can say or do that'll change how you feel about us being around each other but let me ask you this, have I ever cheated on you?"

"No," she shook her head.

"And I'm not going to start now. While I understand your concern, you have nothing to worry about," he assured her. He wasn't a cheater and Robyn wanted nothing to do with him so even if he wanted to, he couldn't.

"I think you should try taking a social media break. Seeing them together won't be healthy in the early stages of re-establishing your connection with Joe," the counselor recommended.

"I think you're right," she agreed.

An alarm buzzed and the counselor looked at her watch. "Unless you want an extension, I think our session has concluded."

"Not today," Galina declined. "He goes back on the road for live events tomorrow and needs to be rested."

"I think that went well," Roman slid his hand around Galina's shoulder as they walked through the parking lot. Despite the lack of intimacy, the reconciliation was going well and unlike when they tried to fix things the first time, they were fully committed to it this round. They were generally in a good place and were communicating much better thanks to the sessions.

"Yeah," she leaned into him. "Feels like we're dating all over again. Let's just take things one day at a time until we're back to normal."

"It's the summer so if you and the kids want to come on the road with me, you can," he offered.

"Thanks but I'm not ready for that yet," she replied. He nodded, knowing that she probably wanted to feel secure in their relationship again before facing Robyn.


Roman stood backstage watching a fatal 4-way championship match on the monitor between the champ, Bayley vs the forgotten ones of Smackdown, Ember, Liv and Robyn. It was a good match and Robbie was the standout. She hasn't been seen on WWE TV since Money in the Bank which was sad because besides Asuka and Kairi, she was the most skilled woman in the division in his opinion. He couldn't even secretly pull strings anymore because thanks to Stephanie, Robbie knew that the authority figures were aware of their relationship.

Things were still awkward between them during the hospital visit. Stephanie came along for a photo-op which only made the tension worse. Afterwards, Stephanie decided to stop for lunch. Robyn didn't utter one word voluntarily, only speaking when spoken to. The rest of the time she spent playing with her food.

Finally, Stephanie sat her fork down and looked between them. "I take it you two have broken up?"

Robbie's head snapped up. "What?"

Roman wasn't surprised. These days Vince shares everything with Stephanie. He sighed. "It's complicated."

Robyn shot green daggers at him. "So Stephanie knows which means Mr. McMahon and Triple H know. Who else knows? What else haven't you told me, Joe?"

"And judging by that, I'm guessing it was a bad break up," Stephanie replied. She turned to Rob. "You do realize how important Joe and his reputation is to the company, right?"

She scoffed. "If you're trying to ask if I'll expose him, no, I won't. Being his temporary side chick is not something I'm very proud of."

"Side chick?" he repeated. "Rob, you know that's not what you were to me."

"Oh?" she raised a brow. "Let's see...no one could know, we stayed hidden behind hotel walls and you picked the wife when it came down to it. Sounds like a side chick to me."

"I think we're done here and I hope you two can work on moving into a better space with each other but for now, remember that it's all about the kids," Stephanie said.

"I know. Trust me, I do," Robbie replied. "If it weren't for them I wouldn't be sitting here right now."

The match ended with Bayley coming out on top as expected during a throwaway match at a house show. The women made their way backstage and he didn't know if it was out of sexual frustration but his eyes immediately went to the short trunks that Robyn was jerking down to cover her exposed butt.

He quickly ripped his eyes away. Sexualizing Robyn while he was in the process of reconciliation with Galina wasn't going to help anything. Even having made the decision to end the relationship, it was hard to let go even if it was the right thing to do. She stopped to grab a water bottle from one of the coolers backstage and that's when he decided to make his move.

"Great match," he complimented.

"Thanks," she grumbled, not paying much attention to him.

"I left some stuff at your condo. I'll be in Orlando Wednesday to film a commercial at the Performance Center for something WWE is working on and I can stop by and-"

"No!" she interrupted before he finished his sentence. "Everything in that box is replaceable to be honest but if you must have it, I can drop it off at the PC because you have no right to stop by my place."

"That'll be fine," he nodded, still lingering there.

"What?! Say something or leave instead of standing there staring like a creep," she hissed.

"Stephanie said we should work on moving into a better space with each other so…" he shrugged.

"Speaking of moving into a better space with each other. I received an email this morning: 'Robyn, you still have items in your cart from a past visit,' or something like that. I followed the link and it was a home decor site. 'Why was I here?' confused, I ask myself and that's when I thought about it, 'oh yeah, Joe and I were supposed to be house shopping in Tampa soon and I was getting a head start'," she chuckled bitterly, pausing to take another swig from her water bottle. "You get to go home to Galina and the kids while I go home to an empty condo wondering what could've been. Yeah, we can possibly move into a better space but I'm going to need time and you can't force it like you've been doing so far."

"I don't know what you want from me, Rob. There are only so many ways I can say I'm sorry."

"Well stop because I don't want your apologies. They don't help and they don't change the situation," she replied. "Everyone knows you're a good guy, Joe, alright? I know you didn't intentionally set out to hurt me but because you're a good guy and did what you thought was right, you did. I'm sure you'll regret it though but that's not my problem."

"Why the hell are you so invested in my marriage failing? I'm sure that would give you some sort of satisfaction but Jesus, Robyn, we have kids!" he argued.

"You had kids the first time you decided to separate but okay. I'm sure you and Galina are rediscovering each other. I bet you hired the best therapist in town and you're paying him or her an arm and a leg despite the fact that you two do most of the talking and the advice that he or she gives you is generic and can be accessed on Google for free. I'm guessing Jojo is happy. Things will be swell...for the next two, maybe three months. That's when the both of you will revert back to your old habits but it won't be enough to make you think that the reconciliation attempt was a failure. No, that comes later. When you do realize that it's really over, neither of you will acknowledge it because you've wasted too much time, money and effort to admit defeat. Slowly, you'll turn into every other miserable couple grinning and beating it just for the kids. By the way, how's the sex? If you're even having it," she taunted, smugly.

Roman blinked as he stared at her, perplexed. How did she know all of this? No, she knew nothing. It was all bullshit she pulled out of her ass, her very nice ass. She did get one major thing right but he'd never let her know it. He cleared his throat. "The sex is...amazing, better than before actually."

He saw the surprise on Robyn's face, her shoulders sagged slightly as her face fell. They stared emotionless at each other until she finally let out a relenting sigh and nodded. "Look, I'm sorry. If you two can work it out, I'll actually be happy because then, sacrificing our relationship wouldn't have been in vain. I know the last time I said this to you, it was sarcastic but sincerely this time: good luck, Joe."