Separate Ways

"You can't go anywhere. Michael wants you laying low right now. The last thing you should be doing is getting a flight back to Chicago." AJ told him, standing up, trying to get herself together, to not break down in front of them, even though it was testing her. She just felt stupid. Stupid for preaching about how great Ben was to her, for telling Punk that they both loved one another… just for this to end up being revealed. She felt really hurt and really foolish, and she didn't like it at all, "I don't even know why he has that email. It could be something completely different from what we think.' She said as they both stared at her and shook their heads, "Ok, so it's not… but I still need to talk to him. I'm still his wife."

"Yeah and that clearly meant the world to him." Punk said as AJ looked across at him and sighed, "Look, I almost understand all of the stuff with Alberto and Dennis. I was a easy option to take the fall for them in their little revenge mission… but what the fuck does your husband have against me that he played a part in all of this?"

"Do you think I know the answer to that? AJ asked angrily.

"Well you sleep with him every night." Punk replied quickly, both of them inching closer to one another.

"Alright, ok." Dean walked in between them to push them back a little from one another, "Ok, let's not fight about it." He said, "AJ is right. You can't go anywhere." Dean nodded to Punk who put his hands on his hips and groaned, "I'll go with AJ."

"Since when were either of you my bodyguards." AJ said as they looked at her, "I can talk to him myself. He's not gonna kill me or hurt me-"

"Just like you thought he wouldn't lie to you?" Punk asked, "You don't know what he's like or what he's after, I think this is proof of that." He said, "Dean is going with you."

"Oh, so I have no choice?" AJ asked.

"Yeah, that's right." Punk said. He couldn't stand the thought of AJ going back to Chicago, back to this man who played a part in setting him up. He had horrible visions of him hurting her, getting angry with her. If he knew she knew about his play in all of it, then that gave her leverage and he knew that would set him off. Dean was going with her. Not because he thought she couldn't handle it, but to satisfy his conscience.

"I won't get involved." Dean said as AJ just made a face, "What? I won't." Dean said, "You talk between you and him, I'll… watch and occasionally shoot fire from my eyes at him, and then we go to the police and we tell him what we know."

"That's my husband." AJ said.

"Oh, and what? You wanna forgive him?" Punk asked her, "Because from where I'm sitting, they all deserve to die and go through what I went through on that last day. The paedophile can go first." Punk hissed.

"This is easy for you to say. You haven't shared a life with him for years. You're not married to him." AJ said.

"If I was I'd kick his teeth out." Punk said, "He doesn't deserve you. I wouldn't have said that to your face unless this happened, but he doesn't. Not if he's doing shit like this… if he's hanging around people like Alberto and Dennis… would you wanna have kids with him? Huh? Knowing he's friendly with rapists and paedophiles?"

"Shut up!" AJ yelled angrily, looking across at him. It was so easy for them to write Ben off. She knew they didn't like him from the get go anyway, but that wasn't something that bothered her. She knew they were both childish like that, but they didn't know how this felt. She had a life with Ben, for many years. He took her when she really had nothing to give. And he was good to her… but of course that didn't make anything that he'd done ok, she just wanted a second to think about it all.

"We'll get a flight tomorrow." Dean nodded, "First thing… and we can be back here tomorrow night." He said as AJ ran her hands through his hair.

"Fine." AJ nodded as Punk looked over at her.

"You want us to stay here?" Punk asked her. He felt bad for losing his cool with her, but he was just so mad that not only had her husband been a part of trying to kill him, but he'd hurt a woman he still very much cared about, and that made him mad. Very mad. No one got to hurt her, even if they weren't together anymore.

"Actually… I want you both to leave. I just want to go to bed." She sighed, rubbing her forehead as Dean turned to Punk and made an awkward face, "So can you go?" She asked them once not seeing either of them budge.

"Yeah." Punk nodded, "We're uh… just come see us if you need anything." He said as AJ nodded, looking over at them and watching them leave the hotel room, sitting down on the end of the bed, letting her tears flow, waiting for them to close the door over before doing so.

Meanwhile Dean and Punk stood outside her door, listening to her crying and sighing to themselves.

"You should see if she's ok." Dean nodded quietly to Punk, "I'll go to my room, book us flights." He said, "Remember she loves this guy… and lives with him, and has a life with him." He said, "it's not as easy for her to just say fuck it he's a pig, like it is for us." Dean said as Punk nodded.

"Yeah, I think I forgot that for a minute." He admitted sadly.

"Yeah." Dean said, patting him on the back, "Go see if she's ok." He nodded, walking down the corridor to go to his room whilst Punk waited at AJ's door, knocking back on it.

"What?" He heard quietly from her.

"Uh… just… open up." He said, listening to her move around and approach the door as she opened it up. He'd saw her cry before. Way worse than this. She wasn't hiding herself from him, but she just felt like an idiot.

"What is it?" AJ sighed as he walked into the room.

"Are you ok?" He sighed, watching as she walked away, sitting back over on the bed.

"I feel like an idiot." She said, wiping her face as he walked over to her and sat down beside her.

"You're not an idiot." Punk shook his head, "In fact, you're the least idiotic person I know." He said, "He's the idiot. And I know you just think I'm saying that because I never liked him anyway or whatever… maybe I didn't, but… one, the guy helped try to kill me for a crime I didn't commit… and two, he's hurt you. And I don't like that." He shook his head as she looked up at him, "I thought just like you did that he was a good guy and that he did love you, maybe that's why I didn't like him in the first place… and if you told me, hey Phil, I'm with this guy now and he's really good to me and we love each other… I'm not gonna be bitter… maybe a little jealous… but I wouldn't have come in between that… but now… knowing what we know… you just can't brush something like this off." He said.

"I know that." AJ sighed, looking up at him, "You were jealous?" She wondered as he smiled to himself.

"Yeah, well… I know how good it is to be with you." He nodded as she looked at him and sighed to herself.

"I hope you know that… not a day went by where I haven't thought about you. Maybe this serves me right for being with a guy who I wasn't completely in love with. I guess all of this made me realise that." She said, "I still love you." She nodded truthfully as he looked at her, "I do. And maybe I managed to forget about it because we never saw each other but coming back here, almost losing you… I realised how much of a question mark my marriage actually was and… how much you were still the same man I loved." She nodded as he smiled.

"I guess the break we took… went a little too far." He nodded as she smiled to herself and looked down, "Hey." He whispered softly, tilting her by the chin to look back at him as she looked at him, "You know I love you." He said, leaning down and pressing a kiss on her lips.

She kissed back, not feeling as guilty as before. Feeling like in a strange way, this was supposed to happen. This was the sign that her love was supposed to be taken care by someone else. Someone who didn't lie to her or hurt her or betray her. Someone like Phil. It was always him.

Punk pulled back from the kiss, looking down at her as she sighed and took a hold of his hand, "You go with Dean tomorrow and you figure it out, and I'll be right here waiting on you when you get back." He told her as she nodded, looking up at him, feeling like she could stare at him again, and not feel bad for being a married woman looking at another man. She felt like herself again, being able to gaze at him, kiss him, seek comfort in him. She really wished they hadn't given up so easily on one another, but… here they were, finding themselves back with each other again.

"Ok." AJ nodded as he smiled.

"You get some sleep." He said, wiping under her eyes where tear marks were, cupping her cheeks and kissing her forehead as she sighed with relief to herself, watching as he stood up and left the hotel room.

The next morning whilst Dean and AJ got their flight, Punk had gone to see Michael in hopes he would let him know where Paige was staying. He wanted to thank her in person. After all, he would have been dead if she hadn't come forward when she did.

Michael gave him the hotel she was staying at and notified the officers who had been keeping watch on her to let them know Punk was coming to see her. They had surveillance around her for protection in the case that Alberto found out where she was and tried to hurt her for going to the police.

Punk headed to the hotel where she was, getting to the room and knocking on the door.

He waited on her moving around until she opened up the door. He didn't know what she looked like until now and was surprised from what he saw. She seemed so young and innocent.

"Oh." Paige said quietly to herself, not expecting it to be him.

"Hey." Punk nodded, "I'm Phil." He said.

"I know." Paige nodded, "You've been on the news for the past few months." She said as Punk nodded.

"Right." He said, "Uh… well, I guess I just wanted to say thank you to you." He nodded, "Had you not come forward with everything… I wouldn't be here, so I guess I kind of owe my life to you in a strange way." He said.

"No, you don't owe me anything." Paige shook her head as he looked on at her. He could see bruising on her arms, scars on her neck, and he was under the impression that she had been lead astray.

"Mind if I come in?" He asked her.

"No." Paige said, opening up the door wider and letting him in as he entered.

"So… Del Rio is your… husband?" He turned to her, putting his hands in his pockets.

"Well, officially." Paige nodded.

"And not officially?" He asked.

"Well let's just say I wish I'd never met him." Paige told him as he nodded.

"Not a good time, huh?" He asked, trying to be discrete.

"No, not really." Paige said, "I uh… I couldn't let an innocent person die. I would have come forward sooner but… he threatened me." She said, "And I was scared he was gonna hurt me… again." She added as he looked across at her.

"Doesn't sound like a good marriage." Punk said.

"It's not." Paige answered simply.

"Did you always know he was like that?" Punk asked her.

"A bastard?" Paige asked as Punk nodded, "Not at first. As time went on, I started to get the real flavour of what he was like. By the time I knew I should have ran… I didn't have the choice." She shrugged.

"He can't hide forever." Punk assured her, "They'll get him and you won't need to worry." He said as she just smiled and nodded.

"I hope so." Paige said, "I also hope you can move on with your life… can't imagine what it's been like for you."

"Yeah, it's been a little crazy." Punk nodded, "Never thought I'd have to prepare to die." He nodded, "But… I'm already starting to get over it. If anything it's made me appreciate life a little more." He said as she smiled, "Are you staying here until they get Alberto?"

"Yeah. The detective has been really good with me. He's got officers on the lookout. I feel safe here, for the first time." She said, "So until they get him, I'm ok here." She nodded.

"That's good." Punk nodded, "Well I won't take up much more of your time." He said, heading back towards the door. He just really wanted to thank her for being honest.

"I'm really sorry this had to happen to you." Paige said as Punk opened up the door and turned back to her.

"Yeah… well, soon it'll be over." He nodded.

"Hopefully." She smiled, "Thanks for coming to see me." She nodded as he just waved his hand.

"Take care of yourself." He said, leaving the room and closing the door behind him as he left the hotel room, walking down the long corridor until he suddenly felt a hand grab him around the mouth, another pulling a bag over his face as he tried to kick and fight, but it was a strong grip that he couldn't get out of, being dragged down the corridor to the fire escape stairs, seeing nothing but darkness.

A/N: Let me know what you think!