-3-

Punk sighed and started up the stairs. He knew that if he left here with the kids when she was pissed off like this, he would regret it somehow. Emma had perfected the silent treatment the last few months; another one of those irritating things she did just to grate on his nerves. He walked down the hallway, slowing down to peak into the kids' bedrooms. He smiled as he saw Jack's room decked out in Chicago Cubs paraphernalia everywhere. The next room down was Josh's decorated in a Cars theme. Then finally there was his little princess's room. He smiled as he saw that Jenna had finally convinced her mom to paint the walls pink. How long had it been since he had been up here and actually looked around instead of just coming up here to find Emma and to pick a fight with her?

Shaking off that feeling, he continued down the hall to the master bedroom. He thought about not knocking and just barging in, but he knew Emma would scream if he did that. On second thought...

Punk opened the door and walked right in; he didn't care right now if she was going to scream at him. This was his house and she was still his wife; she had to realize what a huge mistake they were making right now by actually going through with this.

She was sitting cross legged on the bed with her head down. He swore he saw tears running down her face before she wiped them away and looked up at him with a glare. "Don't you knock?" she said softly.

"No. This is my house," he said cockily as he crossed the room and sat down across from her on the bed. Her first instinct was to move away from him, but instead she stayed where she was.

"What do you want?" she asked softly.

He moved some hair out of her face and whispered, "You."

She shook her head. "Can't have me," she whispered back.

He leaned in closer to her, "Yes, I can," he murmured as he felt a small victory when she didn't pull away from him.

"No, you can't."

Moving his face even closer to hers, "I can, and you know I can, Emmy Sue..." he trailed off as he covered her mouth with his. Surprisingly enough, she let him kiss her and she actually kissed him back.

"Phil..." she whispered as he broke the kiss, her blue eyes starting to glaze over with desire for him. It had always been like this with the two of them; they could scream and argue and fight, but a simple kiss could still make all the bickering disappear.

"Emmy..." he whispered back as his hazel eyes met hers. She was finally giving in; or not.

"Get out," she whispered."

"Damn you, Emma. Why do you do this? Why do you insist on being so difficult all the time?"

"That's who I am," she said as she moved off the bed and started to walk out of the room, leaving Punk alone on the bed wondering what just happened. How could she go from letting him kiss her to bitch in less than five seconds?

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"Kids! Come inside!" Emma hollered out the back door. It was almost six o'clock and she had to start getting ready for her night out. She smiled as she watched Jack gently stop the swing he was pushing Jenna on and lift her up and immediately took her hand. He motioned for Josh to start heading inside. She knew that since Phil had moved out, her eldest son had taken on the role of 'man of the house'. A title that made Emma nervous because Jack was only eight years old and didn't deserve to have so much responsibility with his younger siblings.

Pushing that thought away she said to the kids as they came up the deck steps, "Are all of your bags packed for dad's house tonight?"

Jack nodded. "Yeah, they're all upstairs."

Emma nodded as she closed the sliding glass door behind Josh and followed the kids through the kitchen and into the living room where Phil had apparently made himself at home and was sitting on the couch with the TV on. Jenna's little face immediately broke out into a huge smile when she saw that her dad was still here. She climbed up onto his lap and snuggled up. Phil smiled down at his youngest and kissed the top of her little head. Emma watched from the doorway of the kitchen. She had been married to Phil for over eight years and it still amazed her to see how gentle he could be with the kids even though he spent the majority of his life getting beat up in a ring and talking shit to men twice his size. He used to be gentle like that with her too; she quickly pushed that thought out of her mind and went upstairs to grab the kids' overnight bags. Coming back downstairs, a framed photograph caught her eye. She stopped and looked at it for a second and tried to fight the feelings of yearning that were racing through her right now.

It was a photo of her, Phil and the kids the night he won a Money in the Bank ladder match. Those matches were brutal and he was all beat up, but at the same time he looked happy and content as he posed with his family and little Jack proudly held the briefcase that would guarantee his dad a shot at the heavyweight title. Jenna was just a baby and Josh had a huge smile on his face as Phil had hoisted him up on his shoulders. Looking closer, Emma saw that even she had a big smile on her face. Sighing, she started to move away from the photo and headed downstairs.

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Emma paused at the bottom of the stairs and watched in amusement as the three kids and her estranged husband sat on the couch together, lost in an episode of Spongebob. "What time are you bringing them back on Sunday," she asked as she set the bags by the front door.

"Late."

"Wrong. Jack and Josh have school Monday morning."

"Why am I always wrong, Emma?" Phil asked cautiously as he turned his attention to her.

"That's just the way it is, Phil," she said with equal emphasis on his name.

"Fine. Well, come on kids, let's get going. We got to call Uncle Scott and see if he wants to meet us for dinner."

Emma watched in amazement as Josh shut the TV off without a fuss; he loved Spongebob and it was usually hard for Emma to convince him to shut it off when it was time to go. That was another think about Phil that irritated her to no end; he had this way of getting the kids to behave for him that Emma never could. Mornings before school were a nightmare some days, and lately she found herself longing for the days that Phil would be home from the road and would be able to convince them to get ready for school without a fuss. He had a certain way with the kids that Emma found herself lacking lately.

Emma hugged and kissed each of her children good-bye. "Be good," she said as she finished hugging Jenna.

Jack opened the front door and his siblings followed him out to their dad's car. "Where's my kiss good-bye, Emmy?" Phil asked as he picked up Jenna's suitcase.

She rolled her eyes at him. "Good-bye, Phil," she said simply and started to walk away from him.

"Love you too, baby!" he shouted after her as he shut the door behind him, making sure that the door locked as he walked out. Emma was careless sometimes and forgot to the lock the door; it made him feel a little bit better knowing that she was safe as she headed upstairs to get ready to go out with her girlfriends for the night. Phil smiled to himself as he pictured her long and lean frame in that little red dress she had pulled out of her closet earlier...

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"So, he just came over and demanded that he be able to take the kids tonight?" Emma's best friend Amber asked in shock.

Emma finished the last of her drink before she answered, "Pretty much. He even went behind my back and called my mom and said that he was taking them and that she didn't need to drive into the city after all. Then, after they left, my mom called back, just bitching up a storm about how my husband has no respect for her and how he's rude and cocky and blah blah blah blah." Emma signaled the bartender for another drink. "I couldn't even get a word in edgewise to remind her that he's my soon-to-be ex-husband."

"You know, Em, I never understood what you saw in him."

Emma looked down and tried to hide the little smile on her face. "Once upon a time, we were actually happy together."

"What happened then? If he was so wonderful, why'd you file for divorce?" her friend asked curiously. Even though Amber was one of Emma's closes friends, she had only heard bits and pieces of why she had suddenly decided to end her long term marriage.

Emma's drink came and she paid for it. Taking a big drink before she answered, she thought about why she actually didn't want to be married to him anymore. "I was 24 when Jenna was born, and I suddenly realized that holy shit, I'm 24 years old and I have three kids. Phil was just starting to get over in the WWE and I was all alone with the kids all the time. I had no job, no college degree, no nothing. It was just me and the kids. All I was was a wife, mother, chauffeur, chef, maid and the list goes on and on. This wasn't how my life was supposed to turn out when I married him."

"Huh. But...I still don't get it; did he cheat on you or something? It sounds like you had it pretty good."

"Yeah, material wise, I had it good, but I missed him. And no, he never would have cheated on me. He's a good guy; I just...I just wonder if there's more for me to do in the world than to just keep popping out babies and keeping the house clean and the bed warm until he comes back. Do you know what I mean?"

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"Daddy, why is your house so messy," little Jenna asked as she wrinkled her nose at the sight of Phil's apartment. He chuckled as he thought about how much his baby girl reminded him of Emma right now.

"Because daddy just got home from being on the road. I haven't had time to clean up yet," he said as he walked into the tiny kitchen to call Scott.

He was just about to dial Scott's number when there was a knock on the door and then it opened right away. Punk tensed up and was ready to start throwing punches at the intruder, when Scott walked through the door.

"Uncle Scott!" Josh and Jenna shouted as they ran into their dad's best friend's waiting arms for a big hug.

"Kids!" he shouted back with a laugh as he hugged the two little ones tight.

"Hey, next time you knock on my door, wait for me to answer it, you doofus," Phil said with a big grin as he playfully punched his best friend on the arm.

"Hell no. You wouldn't have answered the door if you knew it was me!" Scott laughed in his defense.

"Shit. You sound like Emma. I bet I stood outside and pounded on that door for five minutes before I finally gave up and just unlocked the door with my key."

"Ah. Is Emma being a problem again?" Scott asked carefully.

"No, she's just being Emma..."

"Daddy? Josh said I couldn't sleep on the top bunk in the bedroom!" Jenna whined as she pulled at her father's shirt.

"Why not, baby?" Phil asked as he knelt down to her level.

"He said it's because I'm a girl! And that girls don't sleep on the top bunk! Then he said I had to sleep on the floor!" she got out before she burst into tears.

"Oh, Jenna...You're fine. Go tell Josh that I said you could sleep on the bunk beds. And if he gives you any grief, tell him if he don't listen, I'll make him sleep at Uncle Scott's tonight."

Jenna's little face broke out into a big grin as she darted away from her dad, shouting down the hall, "Joshy! Daddy said I could sleep on the top bunk!"

"What's wrong with sleeping at my house?" Scott asked.

"Nothing. I guess..."

"Whatever. So, what did you and Mrs. Emma get into a fight about today?" he asked as he walked into the kitchen and helped himself to a soda.

"The usual. She's a saint, I'm a devil, she's always right and I'm always wrong. I'm a bad husband and she was the perfect wife. Blah blah blah..."

"You know, I don't understand why you insist on trying to get back together with her; doesn't sound like to me like she really wants to work things out, Punk."

Phil shook his head. "She does; I know she does. I just have to find a way to convince her that it's supposed to be me and her forever."

"Good luck, man," Scott said as he chuckled.

"Luck is for losers. I believe in fate."