Chapter 25

"Punk….what is she talking about…..why is she saying that you wanted to leave me?" Emma asked in a voice barely above a whisper. She was in shock; yes, she had cheated on him and filed for divorce. But that was irrelevant right now—he swore he forgave her and that they were going to get past this. What was Beth talking about through? Punk had sworn to Emma over and over again that he had loved her and the kids more than anything and that he would never give up on them, no matter what. Emma placed her hand on Punk's arm; he was entranced with Beth right now and Emma couldn't get a good read on what her husband might be feeling right now. "Phil….answer me….please…."

Punk was still staring Beth down who was returning the stare she was receiving with an evil smile of her own. "Yeah, Punk. Tell her. Tell her how after she filed for divorce you came over and told me and Scott about how you were sick of her. Tell Emma how you wished you had never married her and let her trap you with those kids. You might have gotten that little one tested," she said as she cast a scornful look at little Jenna, "But I bet you didn't even think about testing your boys, did you? Emma is a slut, Punk. She slept around you and got knocked up. She doesn't love you, Punk. She's just holding you back. Think about it, baby, if you weren't tied down to her and her brats, you could be living the life you've always wanted—you could be free," she finished, her blue eyes fully glazed over right now as she stared Punk down.

"Phil, what is she talking about?" Emma asked again, the tears that were welling up in her eyes just a minute or so ago, falling freely down her cheeks.

Punk turned and faced his wife, taking in her tear stained cheeks and fearful eyes. He let out a sigh of frustration and turned back to Beth. "Now is not the time to be having this conversation," he said softly as he shot her a stern look. He looked away from her and looked at the small crowd that had formed, seemingly to watch his newly resurrected marriage slowly crumble apart. Again. "Now, if you don't mind, the show's over. Beat it," he growled at the onlookers. He gently took Emma's arm and led her back into the room. Beth grabbed his arm and pulled him away from Emma before he could shut the door.

"Think about what you're doing, Punk. Think about how upset you were that night when you came and confided in me. You don't need her anymore. You don't need her to hold you back," she whispered furiously like a desperate woman.

"Back off, Beth," he murmured quietly before he pulled his arm away from her grasp and walked into the room, closing the door securely behind him. He looked around the room—Jenna was absorbed in playing with her dolls and Emma was sitting on the couch, knees pulled up to her chest, letting the tears flow down her face. "Hey," he mumbled as he sat down next to her. "We should talk….." he began….

.

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Punk's flight had just landed in Chicago; he had been overseas on tour for the past two weeks and he missed his wife and kids terribly. He stopped at a floral shop on his way out of the airport. He smiled as he thought about the look on Emma's face when he showed up a day early with flowers in hand.

Emma was trying to convince the kids that it was past eight o'clock and that they had to go to bed. She desperately needed ten minutes alone. She had been a nervous wreck all week after she had visited the lawyer's office on Monday. Scott had finally convinced her to file for divorce. After everything that had happened with her and Scott, she had finally gave in to him and had agreed to divorce her husband. That was the easy part; the hard part was going to be telling Punk that it was over and she wanted out.

She was just about to scream out loud in frustration when the front door swung open and her mouth dropped when she saw who was standing there. "Daddy!" Josh and Jenna screamed as they ran full force into their father's arms, practically knocking him over. Emma watched in disbelief as her husband stood in the doorway, hugging two of his three children with one arm and the arm held a huge bouquet of beautiful red roses. Punk let go of his two younger kids and pulled his oldest in for a manly hug. Punk managed to get in the door and shut it behind him all while listening to his kids babble and giggle about everything that had happened to them in the last two weeks and what kind of fun they were going to have now that daddy was home. Emma was still standing there by the couch in shock. This threw her whole plan out the window. She still hadn't worked up enough nerve to tell him that she had filed for divorce; she was going to work on what she was going to say tonight and practice it tomorrow before he came home.

After catching up with the kids for another half an hour, Punk and Emma managed to get the kids up to their bedroom and tuck them in for the night. Emma watched Punk tuck Jenna in last. "Good night, princess," he whispered as he kissed her forehead and slowly walked out of her room. Emma felt like her heart was going to break. She had been holding in the secret of Jenna's conception since the child was six months old; she had just turned three a few weeks ago. Emma wasn't sure how much longer she was going to be able to keep it from him. Part of the reason she wanted the divorce was, yes, she wanted to be with Scott and hold him to all of the promises he had made her, the other part wanted to push Punk away so she wouldn't hurt him by hearing the awful truth that his wife had been hiding from him.

"Now...Your turn..." he whispered as he pulled her in close for a hug and started backing them up towards their bedroom. They had two weeks of love making to catch up on and he intended to start right now. As he started kissing her neck and unbuttoning her shirt, she started to panic. She had to do this now. "Punk...stop..." she whispered in between kisses.

He shook his head, "Nope, need to feel you," he mumbled into her ear. She pushed him away. "Whoa. What's the matter, Emmy?" he asked with a confused look on his face.

"We need to talk," she said quietly as she sat down on the edge of the bed.

It was never good when a woman said 'we need to talk', Punk thought to himself as he sat down next to her. "What's the matter?" he asked softly.

"I want a divorce," she whispered.

He looked at his wife in disbelief. "I'm sorry, Emmy, can you repeat that?"

"I want a divorce," she whispered again, still not looking at him.

He placed a hand on her chin and forced her to look at him. "What the fuck are you talking about?" he growled.

"This isn't working. I want out," she whispered while avoiding his eyes.

"Damn it. Look at me, Emmy. What are you talking about? Why the hell would you want a divorce?" he said as he started to raise his voice.

"I just want out."

"Bullshit. Tell me why."

Emma moved away from him and stood up. "I already filed the papers. They're on the kitchen table," she said quietly before she walked out of the room and headed downstairs. Punk followed her. He had to remind himself to not start raising his voice; his kids were sleeping.

He caught her arm in the living room and turned her towards him. "Why?" he asked again.

"It's over, Phil. I just...I want out. This isn't working anymore. You're gone all the time and I'm stuck here with the kids...and...I just want out."

"Emma, we've been married for a long time, we have three fucking kids together! It's just not that easy to say 'all right' and just end it! You need to talk to me!" he demanded as she tried to move out of his grasp.

"It's over, Phil. That's…..that's all there is to it….Please sign the papers and make an appointment with your lawyer before you take off for the road again," she said softly as she grabbed a quilt from the couch and headed towards the guest room, leaving Punk to stare after his wife in disbelief.

He needed to get out of here; he needed to talk to someone. Grabbing his car keys off the coffee table where he had dropped them when he had come home less than an hour ago, he took off. Being careful not to slam the door behind him, he closed it softly. Getting in the car, he took off across town to talk to his best friend. Scott would know what to do—if his best friend wasn't able to give him any advice, at least he would be there to listen to him vent his frustrations.

Scott answered the door, clad in only his pajama pants. "Hey, man, you're back early," he said with an easy smile. He was going to say more, but one look on his buddy's face, told him that he was not in a joking mood right now. He moved aside and let Punk inside. "What happened? I thought for sure that if you were home early, you'd be all over Emma right now?"

"She wants a damn divorce!" Punk shouted as he started to pace around his friend's small apartment. "I came home a day early to surprise her and what does she fucking tell me? That she wants a divorce! She said it isn't working anymore and that she wants out!"

"Dude, calm down…." Scott said slowly, trying to digest everything that was happening right now. She had really done it—she was leaving Punk for him. He fought like hell to keep the smile from forming on his face.

"What the hell is going on?" another voice said from the hallway. Punk and Scott both looked up to see Beth standing in the hallway, one hand on her scantily clad hip, the other hand absentmindedly twirling a piece of blond hair around her fingers. Punk's mouth dropped as he took in Beth and then he looked at his friend, who wasn't wearing enough clothes either. "Shit," he mumbled and started towards the door. "Didn't mean to interrupt anything," he continued to mumble as Scott and Beth both followed him to the door. "I'll, um, catch up with you later, man," he said before he reached for the door knob.

"Punk, stay, man. You don't have to leave. What's going on? What happened with Emma?" Scott said as he grabbed his friend's arm and led him back into the living room. Punk sat down on the couch, his best friend on one side of him, and his friend's…lover (?) on the other side of him.

"What happened?" Beth asked, trying to keep the contempt out of her voice as she thought about Punk's bitch wife, Emma.

"She wants out. Said she doesn't want to do it anymore," Punk said softly as he stared at the wall ahead of him as his mind wandered back to him and Emma's long relationship…..