Notes: I actually like Switchfoot and have seen them in concert at least twice. It just didn't seem like a group that Punk would listen to. I blame the radio last night. Mara is owned by Laurel and she helped write part of this chapter. Lyrics in song owned by the bands.

Mara looked up from her computer as a bag of Lindor truffles and a 1.5 liter root beer was set beside her, Pulling her ear buds out she looked up at one of the NXT superstars. "Can I help you Hero" she smirked then calmed when she saw his face. "Chris, what's wrong?"

He looked at her and shook his head "Mara I need you and Seth to head to Dayton, Phil's been injured. They are calling for his friends"

"Punk's hurt," she gasped, "what happened?" Had she been that out of the loop that she missed it?

"Colt called me to say that Cena hit Punk in the head with a steel chair and Punk's in a coma. I don't know why we are just finding out about this now," Chris said obviously pissed. "Colt thought WWE would have told us and that's why he didn't call."

"Like WWE wants to let everyone know that Cena hurt Punk again," Mara said as she unplugged her laptop and shoved it into her laptop case. She looked up at Chris anger flashing through her eyes "Vince doesn't want his golden boy to get in trouble. He hates it that the fans care more for Punk..." she took a deep breath, "Do I need to get the tickets or am I letting Seth drive this time."

"I'm coming too," Hero said. "I spoke to Dusty and he told us we can take off as much time as we need. He told me that Seth's title would be safe while we're gone. But WWE isn't paying for our airfare so it's up to you and Seth because I don't care either way I just want to get there."

"Dusty said you were looking for me," Seth Rollins said walking up to them. "What's up?"

"Punk's in a hospital in Dayton. It's bad Seth. They are calling all of his friends to come see him just in case."

"What? When?"

"Almost two weeks ago. I don't know why we didn't hear sooner. Colt called me and said he thought WWE would tell us. But WWE…"

"WWE didn't want us to know that Cena hurt Punk again this time with a steel chair. Bondye modi crackwhore regrèt, pitit gason yon femèl chen."

Seth just shook his head having no clue what she said and could only guess that it was cussing from the one word he did understand. People who knew Mara were used to her cursing in other languages. "So how we getting there?"

"We were just talking about that," Chris said. "We either need to get plane tickets which the WWE won't be paying for or make the long drive up to Dayton. It'll be about a 16 hour drive if we drove the without stopping."

"Guess it would be good of a time as any to cash in some frequent flyer miles," Seth said.

"Thank God we travel so much," Chris said trying to joke but it fell flat.

"Why don't you guys get your bags and I'll bring my car up." They hurried to do so. Mara took her phone out and dialed a number she still knew from memory. The phone rang a few times before she got voice mail. "Colt Cabana you better have a good reason for not calling me and telling me Punk's hurt!"

They arrived at the hospital and Mara looked at the other men before silently slipping into Phil's room. She couldn't believe it when she entered the room and heard Switchfoot's This is Your Life playing. Who would put that music on? She wondered. She hit stop and took the CD out. She thought of throwing the CD in the garbage but instead put it in its case and hid it. She grabbed another CD at random and inserted it.

She sat down in the chair next to the bed. She picked up one of Punk's wrists and fingered the scars that were still present. They were a little harder to see because of the tattoos that were hiding them but she knew they were there. She still remembered that day. She had gone with Julio to the hospital to make sure Punk was okay after the New Church sliced into one of his wrists with scissors. Why Punk and Julio Dinero started working with Mitchell after that was beyond her. She liked them leaving Raven but why they joined a man that caused them all such pain she could never understand.

She listened to the music playing on the CD player. The song playing was very familiar to the young woman; it was one they had many discussions over. Avenged sevenfold was one band she could never get into their music just like he couldn't stand her obsession with Brent Smith and Shinedown. "I put all your books on the top shelf,
Even the one with the four leaf clover
Man, I'm getting older
I took all your pictures off the wall
and wrapped them in a news paper blanket
I haven't slept in what seems like a century,
and now I can barely breathe

She whispered along to the lyrics as they started playing "Your words still serenade me,
your lullabies won't let me sleep
I've never heard such a haunting melody.
Oh, it's killing me
You know I can barely breathe" she leaned over and kissed his forehead "Don't leave Punk, you're still needed here

She didn't know how long she sat there but she finally tuned back into reality and heard the chorus of the song playing. "Just open your eyes and see that life is beautiful. Will you swear that no one will cry at my funeral." She stood up and looked at the man on the bed. "Don't make us swear that Phil. I think your family and friends will flood the church if you leave

"Miss," a voice said from the doorway. She turned around to see a nurse standing there. "We like to keep the visits short for Mr. Brooks as we only allow two visitors in at a time."

"Oh," Mara said as she stood up. "Sorry I guess I lost track of the time. She squeezed Punk's hand before she left the room. She walked to the waiting room the nurse had pointed to and found Colt, Joe, Daniels, and Kaz sitting there. "Okay who put the Switchfoot CD in?" She asked.

Joe, Daniels, and Kaz all pointed at Colt who just gave her an innocent look.

"Colt, Dear I love you but I got into this discussion with Julio about Switchfoot. If you play it again I'm taking a kendo stick and shoving it up your ass." She turned away as a voice echoed though the waiting room.

"Kinky. Sounds like my kinda girl" Raven said not seeing the female until she turns around and the kinda chubby little girl he remembered from the Asylum was still a little heavier than what WWE liked but he could see the intellect and smart ass light in her eyes. "Oh not you again."

"Hello to you too Raven."

"I guess everyone's coming out of the woodworks," Daniels said as he got up. "I'm going to get a coffee he said and left the room. Kaz followed him.

"We really need to stop meeting like this," Raven said to Mara as he sat down in a waiting room chair.

"I always thought the next time I'd see you in a hospital was because you OD'd."

"That's cold Mara. But not wrong," he said as he glanced at her. "You look good."

"You mean I look skinny. You can be truthful. I was a fat chick back during the asylum days. I honestly didn't think I'd see you here."

"I respect Punk. What happened almost 5 years ago is forgotten. He became a huge star and then…" Raven shook his head. "Still can't believe they didn't fire Cena when Heyman ran him over. Who is running that fucking company?"

"Shane's running RAW I heard," Chris said as he and Seth came back into the room. "First thing he did was fire Cena, Heyman, Lesnar and no one would tell anyone in NXT why. Said it's not really any of our business on why WWE does what they do." He became solemn. "How are you holding up Colt?"

The older man sighed. "Not well. I'm still kicking myself for not going to RAW with Punk. He said he wanted to do this on his own and I had to meet with some people in Hollywood. If I had gone to the show I could have protected him."

"Cena had a vendetta against Punk," Joe said. He had been sitting in the corner quietly listening to everyone else talk. "I've been watching the stuff on youtube and Cena was after Punk. If it hadn't happened then it probably would have happened another time. I just want to get my hands on Cena. Would have tonight if that nurse hadn't come in." He cracked his knuckles. "If he even thinks about coming here again, I'll make him sorry."

Several people added their agreements. They then sat down and caught up with each other. Most of them hadn't seen each other in years and there was a lot of catching up to be done.

Notes: As Daniels said, lots of people coming out of the woodworks in this story. Translation of Mara's cursing would really up the rating if I defined it. It's Welsh and not a pretty thing that Mara called Cena.