Cuts Heal In Time (CM Punk)

Chapter 29: Let it Out

Bella laid on the bed over the covers, with the divas' championship in her arms like a small child.

It had been fifteen minutes since her phonecall with Punk, and she was still crying like a baby. He didn't even ask her what room she was in, but she knew he'd find a way to her. He always did. Her pity party was abruptly interrupted by knocking.

She dragged her feet to the door to open it. And there he stood. He was wearing a cubs hoodie with some navy sweatpants and in his hands, he held another one of his hoodies, a family-sized pack of Twizzlers, and two cans of Pepsi.

The sight made her eyes begin to water once again.

He walked right in the room and placed the snacks and drinks on the nearest hard surface. He handed Bella the hoodie and told her, "You look like you could use a shower," before grabbing the back of her head and planting a kiss on her forehead.

She quietly walked to the bathroom and showered before pulling his hoodie over her head. After that, she pulled her unruly hair up into a bun and brushed her teeth.

She walked out of the bathroom and Punk was laying on her bed, over the covers like she was before, looking at her with his hazel eyes that always looked warmer when she was around.

She made her way onto the bed and snuggled up next to her friend, who knew that his presence was all the comfort she would need. He grabbed the remote, that was on the nightstand next to the bed and turned on the tv, channel surfing until he landed on one of the Fantastic Four movies.

"That'll have to do," he mumbled before turning his attention to the woman in his arms, "Bella."

She closed her eyes when he addressed her. She would never get tired of hearing him say her name. It just sounded so right.

"Yeah?" she rasped.

"How are you feeling?"

"I don't know."

"Well, congrats."

"What?"

"On the Championship."

"Oh yeah."

Punk was beyond worried. She was so out of it. He had never seen her like this before, without her running away from him. He genuinely had no idea what to say.

"I know what you're thinking," she said, with seemingly no emotion.

He began to rub her back, "What am I thinking?"

"You're trying to figure out what to say to me," she said, "you don't have to try so hard."

Once again, he didn't know what to say.

"I'm not a ticking time bomb."

"I know you're not. I never thought that you were," Punk said.

She didn't respond, but she wrapped her arm around his stomach, just wanting to be with him at the moment.

"My mom OD'd," she casually spoke into his chest.

Punk immediately sat up from his position when she said that, "What?"

"My birth mother," Bella said, "she OD'd and she's an alcoholic"

Punk's eyes widened when realization finally hit him. It wasn't just a vicious assault. That moment with Nikki brought up painful memories that she didn't want to resurface. He knew of her mother's alcohol problems, but he didn't know she had OD'd.

"She's not dead. But she might as well be."

"Do you want to go visit her? We can go back to Chicago."

"No way I'm visiting her. She's not my problem anymore," Bella shrugged.

Punk looked at her with disbelief.

"Let's have sex," Bella said out of nowhere.

"Bella," he breathed out, "I'm not gonna have sex with you."

"Why not?"

"You need to deal with what you're feeling in a healthier way."

"Sex is healthy."

"Bella you need to talk to somebody. It doesn't have to be me, but you need to talk to somebody."

"Why?" she asked, "I just told you why I was so upset."

"But, you basically just flipped a switch, just like that. You were crying like five minutes ago."

"Yeah. I got it out of my system."

"Bella, I don't understand. You haven't talked to me since Friday morning, you go completely off the radar this weekend, and now you want to have sex?"

"That pretty much sums it up, yeah."

"Can I have a hug first?" he asked.

"No," she said, not wanting to give in. She knew that he knew, she was one hug away from breaking down, and she didn't want him to see her like that.

"Please."

"No, Punk."

But he pulled her in for a hug anyway, and it wasn't long before she broke down. She began to cry like she did when she was just a little girl. She let out what she thought were the ugliest sounding sobs on the planet, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, as she felt her own throat tighten. She couldn't stop the tears that began to flow out of her, as her entire body began to tremble.

He somehow knew all the right things to say, "Let it out. I'm not going anywhere."

He still had one arm wrapped tightly around her waist, as he placed his other hand on the back of her head, stroking her hair.

Her gutwrenching sobs tore through her chest as she tried to steady her breathing.

After what felt like forever in his arms, she let go of him and laid back down on the bed.

He laid next to her, and the two of them were on their backs looking up at the ceiling. Without looking at her, his hand found her own, and he grabbed onto it tightly.

"I'm sorry," was all she could think to say, still looking up at the ceiling, "You don't have to stay here with me."

"I want to."

She stayed silent for a bit, trying to understand why he was so good to her, why he had always been there for her during their friendship. She couldn't wrap her head around the fact that he actually cared for her in ways he couldn't describe. And she cared for him. More than she had ever cared for any man she'd ever met.

"Why?"

"Because you mean the world to me," he said as if it were a simple answer, "I would do anything for you."

She still couldn't understand why. Was it because they were having sex now?

He noticed that she was deep in thought and said, "I can't explain it either, but I know you would do the same for me."

That part, she agreed with. She wasn't sure how they had gotten to that point, how they had built such a strong foundation of trust, why they cared so strongly for one another. What took her a decade to build with Jade, she had built with him in less than a year. They were so similar. They just got each other in ways nobody else could.