Aj was just finished changing out of her wrestling gear after performing at a house show. She was then approached by Stephanie McMahon.

"Listen Aj, you and Phil have been amazing on camera together but it has been brought to my attention that the story line may have caused some awkwardness between you two. I just want you to know that I don't normally do this but we are no longer having you and Phil on camera together," Aj just stood there frozen in place, in shock. "The writers actually have been thinking of putting you with Justin Gabriel which was why I was more open to it." This time Aj's mouth dropped open.

"Stephanie," Aj interrupted, "I appreciate it so much how you went, somewhat, out of your way for my comfort. There is a part of me that would love to accept it, but there is another part that knows I'm not going to get past this awkwardness unless I confront it head on. I guess I don't know what I want right now." Aj said looking down at her feet. Stephanie put a hand on her shoulder. "Listen, I'll leave the choice up to you. Creative is prepared for both outcomes. The night of your decision if you kiss Phil then your story line with him will continue. If you kiss Bryan, then we will go with the Justin story line. You have plenty of time to think about it!" Stephanie gave Aj a pat on the back and walked off. The decision just put more stress and fear on Aj. Kissing Punk...even if she did want to keep working with him, how would she work up the nerve to kiss him? Was Stephanie crazy? Calm down, Aj she thought. Her feelings would work themselves out eventually.

Aj had been avoiding Punk for the past couple of weeks. Despite acting awkward around him, on camera she didn't let it effect her. Off camera it was like she was in a trace and it was hurting Punk pretty bad. He could only think of what he might have done to cause this. He blamed himself for thinking the story line might actually be the thing to bring them together. When they had a scene together he could see the old Aj in her eyes. Punk appreciated every second of it that he saw. One day after filming after filming he turned towards Aj but she was running down the hall.

"Aj wait!" He called after her but she just acted like she couldn't hear him. When he finally got to his bus he threw his bag onto the couch, grabbed hold of his hair and let out a loud yell. An un-expecting Kofi was laying on the couch and got the awakening of a lifetime. Punk had never seen Kofi that scared before.

"Well good to see you too!" Kofi said holding a hand to his chest to make sure his heart didn't bust out.

"I need your help." Punk said looking at Kofi, very distressed.

"Okay so I would just talk to Aj. I mean I'm sure she is nervous about the whole story line thing because, c'mon anyone would be if there love interest was as ugly as you," Kofi teased Punk.

"Wait, I didn't mention anything about Aj or my situation." Punk said nervously. He wondered if he talked in his sleep.

"Dude, how you feel about Aj is written all over your face when you see her," Kofi began his rant, "You can be in the worse mood and when she walks over you turn into butter. And everyone has noticed her acting strangely recently so clearly you did something wrong." Kofi tried to teased him again but Punk remained stoic.

"I don't want to lose her." Punk said after a couple minutes of silence.

"Then talk to her!" Kofi urged.

"The story line is making her uncomfortable because she obviously doesn't like thinking of me as anything other than a friend." Punk decided.

"You don't know that," Kofi replied.

"What do you suggest I do then? Go up to her and say "Oh hey Aj! So I just wanted you to know that I've had the biggest crush on you since I met you and it has developed into what many people would call love. So yeah you can go back to avoiding me now and have an actual reason for it!" Does that sound good to you?" Punk asked very tense.

"Yeah that would work for me," Kofi smiled, "did you ever think that maybe she is just nervous because she has to play her feelings out to you in front of the world."

"You think that she actually likes me?" Punk asked

"I know she does. Why else would she be acting weird?"

"I'll talk to her tomorrow." Punk decided.

Kofi hadn't wanted to spill his best friends secret but he knew how thick headed Aj and Punk were. He shot a text to Kaitlyn.

Phil's got the love bug. Go for the kill.

Kailyn was in her hotel room waiting for Aj to get out of the shower when she received Kofi's text. She nodded as if Kofi could see her and sat quietly waiting. When Aj finally appeared Kaitlyn began the fight.

"Aj, you do know that you're avoiding him right? He's going to know something's up and figure it out sooner or later." She said

"Kait, I need more time to figure everything out, you know how much pressure i'm under!" Aj said rather annoyed.

"Look, I'm not suppose to say anything but Kofi just texted me. We decided that when Phil finally admits his feelings for you we were going to do anything to get you two together. Since you refuse to talk to him I guess I'm going to be giving you a spoiler alert for your later conversation. The guys in love with you!" Kaitlyn finished. Aj was at a loss for words. Finally she yelled, "NO WAY!" Aj and Kaitlyn were dancing around the room jumping and screaming finally they both fell on the bed.

"This is the best day ever." Aj said with a sigh.

The next day Aj woke up with a smile on. Once she was done with her morning routine she was going to talk to Phil today and straighten everything out. She brushed her teeth, pulled her hair back into a pony tail, put on her running clothes, and laced up her sneakers. She was in such a rush to get her run over with that she didn't notice she was being watched from a distance. Justin Gabriel knew that he had to get Aj to pick him over Punk. He worked hard to convince the writers him and Aj would work good together and he even ratted about her and Punk to Stephanie. He had to make this work. He began to jog until he was next to her, "Hi Aj!" He said with the biggest smile he could make.

"Ahh!" Aj yelled not even noticing anyone was around her. She stopped dead in her tracks then bent over to catch her breath.

"Justin, you scared me!" She yelled.

"I'm so sorry! I just heard that we were working together and decided I should get to know you more!" He said trying to sound as excited as possible.

"Oh," Aj stood up straight and took a deep breath in, "well I decided that I was going to continue working with Phil. I feel like our story line has more potential." Aj felt bad turning down the guy but she didn't love him like she loved Phil. Justin fought harder, "I know it's easier to be in a story line with the WWE champion, but c'mon Aj the guy is a total jerk."

Aj was slightly offended by his comment, "No he's not. When you actually get to know him he's not bad at all. He's actually really sweet and caring." She fought back. Justin knew he had her in a good place now, vulnerable.

"Ohhh I see what has happened here," he began, "He's doing the same thing to you that he did with Kelly." He acted like he knew what he was talking about.

"What do you mean," Aj was confused, "Phil never dated Kelly it was just an on screen thing."

"Exactly, Phil doesn't date sweet people. He just fools around with them. Girls like Lita are a challenge for him so he has to end up dating them to get in their pants. And sweet girls like yourself, it's like a piece of cake for him," He stopped briefly to let it sink into Aj's head. He didn't think she was this gulable, she really did have to like him. "I even heard he told Kelly he loved her." That one hit home for Aj. It took everything in her not to cry.

"Umm I have to go Justin, I'll see you later." Aj began to slowly walk back to the hotel. Justin knew his mission had been accomplished then walked away.

Later that day, it was show time. Aj was waiting in the makeup chair. She was told by many higher ups that it looked like she hadn't gotten enough sleep the night before. What had really happened was when she went back to her hotel room she cried her eyes out. She looked in the mirror. She looked at her red puffy eyes and the purple bags hanging beneath them. She was so busy figuring out what needed to be done to look acceptable that she didn't notice Punk walk up behind her.

"Aj, please don't run away." He said. She could hear the sadness in his voice. She turned around and gave a weak smile, "Hi Phil," her voice cracked. She enver thought he would be the type that would try and use her. As long as she knew him he never acted like that, but it all made perfect sense. Her and Kelly were very much alike. Both were innocent and small. Both unlike Lita and Maria. Both CM Punk girls on TV but nothing backstage, until he claimed he loved them.

He was shocked by how stressed out she not only looked but sounded. "April, I have been building up a lot of courage to say this and I don't normally have trouble telling people how I feel about them and you know that," He tried to joke around but she wasn't in any laughing mood. He slowly continued, "I really like you and you have been my good friend for a while but I want to be more than your friend. I really really like you, Aj." He finished. Aj thought a while before she answered.

"I'm guessing that's what you told Kelly too." was all she said. She felt uncomfortable putting him in this postion but she needed to protect herself.

"Wait, what?" He questioned. He was never that good of friends with Kelly, why would she bring that up?

"You told her you liked her just to get her to hook up with you. Are you using me now too? Because i'm not strong enough like Amy to turn you away?" She let herslef fly off the handle a little bit there. She began to shake then realized Punk was just staring bewildered at her.

"You think I'm just trying to hook up with you? You really think that low of me? The only time I talked to Kelly was during our story line, and it was strictly storyline." Punk argued. He heart tore up talking to her like that, but why did she think he was a douche bag after knowing him for so long?

"That's what Justin told me. He was trying to protect me!" Aj let herself get wrapped up in the heat of the moment.

"So, you are going to let this guy manipulate you into working with him, change your perspective of me, and make you think worse of yourself. You really have changed. The Aj I fell for was confident and wouldn't let someone talk down to her " He stopped to see what she had to say. Aj realized she was crying. Her lips were trembling. She fought hard to keep her posture. She was so confused. He was right, she wasn't acting like herself at all. She had been frantic for so long and now she had to come face to face with all her problems and her brain was on over load. She knew one hing was certain tonight and she wanted to make him away of it. "Tonight, I have to make a decision. If I kiss Bryan, then my story line with you will be over and I pink up a story line with Justin," She paused to look at his face. His lips formed into a hard line, arms crossed. She continued, "If I kiss you, our story line goes on." She wanted him to be the old Punk who would help make her decision easier. She knew that would be the case though.

"Well, looks like we found the reason Justin got involved," Punk rolled his eyes, "and it also looks like you have a choice to make." With that he left the room without a word. Aj sat there. She knew what the easier, less scary decision was. She knew what the frightening life changing story was. She made up her mind. Punk knew that nothing would come easy with Aj. She was clearly stressed out and he knew she had bad anxiety. Was she someone worth fighting for?

The lights were on Aj's bright, happy face. The way the makeup artist intended for it to look, red eye free. She skipped to the ring and began her lines with Michael Cole sexually harassing her. Then Bryan came out and acted as her savior from the creepy old man. That's when Punk's music hit. She took in the sounds of the crowd, how he entered the ring. It would be the last time she was seeing it. All three exchanged lines about Aj being crazy.

"I'm worried about you, Aj. You're not in a good place mentally," Punk paused for a moment knowing what he was about to say wasn't in the script, hopefully the audience would think he was talking about their story line. "And maybe some of it is my fault. I certainly should have said something about it a lot sooner and because I didn't, I'm sorry," He paused. She froze. Those weren't his lines. She knew he was referring to his feelings for her and her stress about their current situation. He was taking responsibility. He quickly continued on with their set script saying she needed professional help. Then he broke from the script again.

"I'm not going to string you along just to get something I want. You don't deserve that, you're a sweet girl." Punk added in. He wanted her to know that he truly did care about her, hopefully his words would get through to her. His lines stuck out like a sore thumb to Aj. She tried her best to hold back tears. He was going to say more but he was cut off by Bryan, "WHAT A LOAD OF GARBAGE!" Clearly Punk should have informed Bryan of what he was doing. Bryan just thought they were ditching the script and decided to play up his heel side. His words confused Aj even more, her brain was shutting down.

"I know what you're doing," Bryan continued. Punk would give anything to have him shut up right there. He knew what Bryan was going to say would get into Aj's head.

"You're just trying to make an end run here. Playing all passive aggressive like you actually care about Aj." He stopped for a moment for dramatic effect. It certainly had a dramatic effect on Aj. The two superstars sounded like her thoughts fighting back and fourth about her decision. She came out here thinking she had her mind made up, then Punk came out and changed that, now it's flipping back. She wanted to grab her head and scream. I can do that right? She thought, It would go good with my character. But she was interrupted by Bryan yelling some more.

"You don't care about Aj, I care about Aj!" He yelled. Punk just shook his head and tried telling Bryan to stop but Bryan was just too wrapped up in his character.

"Here he is ladies and gentlemen, playing the good guy." He continued. Aj just had her head down trying to process everything going on. She wouldn't have been surprised if she had steam coming out of her ears. Her decision was getting closer and she had to figure out what she wanted to do.

"Let me tell you a little something about CM Punk," Bryan, again, began. Punk couldn't believe his "friend" right now. "The only thing he cares about is CM Punk." Bryan finally finished. Punk knew that his last line would seal his deal with Aj. He went to jump at Bryan but Aj push on his chest a little then looked into his eyes. He knew what she was going to do and could only take a step back and watch something so important to him fall apart.

Aj knew the easier option. She left a hand on Bryan's chest and slowly took her last glance at CM Punk. She then turned to look at Bryan. This didn't feel right. Almost as if she was being forced, she reached up and began to kiss him. Making her decision. Punk could feel his heart tear in half. He stood there for a moment watching Aj's decision. In the end, he couldn't do it, he couldn't show her he was the good guy. He began the painful process of exiting the ring.

As she was kissing Bryan, she knew this was the wrong decision. This wasn't the man she was suppose to kiss. If kissing Punk meant putting her full faith in him, laying her heart out on the line, and risking a side of Punk coming out that she didn't know existed; then she was ready for that adventure. She spun around and saw he was now out of the ring. She couldn't let him get away. She rushed over, jumped out of the ring, and spun him around as forcefully as she could. He was surprised to turn around to see the petite diva standing behind him. She was just staring at him, he stared at her.

"What?" He asked. That's when she unexpectedly jumped up and pulled him towards her face. Her lips crushed against his. It was a moment they had both been desiring for so long. The way their lips moved together was perfectly in sync. She grabbed his shoulder roughly, wanting more. He wrapped his arms around her deepening the kiss. The didn't know how long they kissed for but it didn't feel long enough. Aj remembered they were on TV and slowly pulled back, which made her crave him even more. She took a deep breath then looked up to a smiling Punk. Now it was Punks turn to be overwhelmed. He couldn't wipe the smile off his face.

Editors Note: I've been working hard on this chapter all week. I know she kisses Punk previous to the kiss I wrote in as their "first kiss" but I've always wanted this to have been their first kiss, the beauty of fan fiction haha! I hope you enjoy this chapter! Thank you for your comments/favorites/follows. All of them mean so much to me! Those who want a spoiler alert keep reading...
So we are introduced to a new potential villain, Justin Gabriel, but don't worry Eva Marie will return. It may be a couple chapters though, I want to focus on the romantic aspect of the story first!