Book Of One-Shots

1

Wrestling,Rated: M, English, Drama, CM Punk, AJ Lee

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, mostly because they are not characters but are real life people. Also, Rated M for language.

Summary: After a devastating loss, Punk wishes he had never become 'CM Punk'. But he's about to realize he's lost something even more important than his first fight.

After a tough loss in his UFC debut, Punk was at his lowest point. He was questioning everything as he went over those two minutes constantly. He was angry, he was disappointed, he was sad, he was ashamed, he was embarrassed. He had trouble looking anyone in the eye as he and his wife slipped out of the arena and headed back to their hotel where their dog, Larry, was awaiting them. They packed up all of their stuff in the middle of the night and skipped out. AJ insisted on driving and the car ride was mostly silent.

"You can talk to me." AJ said keeping her eyes on the dark road.

"I have nothing to say." Punk retorted as he kept his arms folded and glanced out the window.

"Phil-" She started.

"Stop, please." He pleaded lightly. "I can't take you being nice to me right now."

"Why wouldn't I be nice?" She questioned.

"Look at what I did." He pointed out. "I fucked it all up. We left WWE, we moved to Milwaukee and I promised it would be worth it."

"Wasn't it?" She questioned. "I mean you didn't win but you certainly didn't lose. You loved training and being in Milwaukee."

"I really don't want to discuss this anymore." Punk told her shortly. "I don't want to fucking think about anything right now."

"You must be thinking of something." She noted.

"Yea, I'm actually thinking how I would have been better off following a different career path." Punk snorted. "Not even wrestling, I should have just skipped all that shit so I could be a normal guy."

"You are normal." AJ defended with a shrug.

"I'm not. If I was normal half the world wouldn't be on social media mocking me." Punk snapped. "A regular 9-5 job where nobody knows who the fuck I am. That's the path I should have taken. I fucked up."

"You didn't fuck up." AJ sighed.

"You didn't go through what I did tonight." Punk reminded her. "I don't think I could ever show my face anywhere again."

"Phil-" She began again.

"I'm done now April." He said to her and turned up the radio.

Punk was actually able to drift off to sleep as AJ drove the five hours back to Chicago...

Punk woke with a start. Part of him didn't want to start the day and answer all the phone calls from friends and teammates who were desperately trying to reach him. The sun was shinning and his head was buried in his pillow but he could still feel the hot beams hitting his bare back. He reached over without picking his head up to his nightstand and grabbed his cellphone that was going off and turned the alarm off. He removed the pillow from his face and was shocked to see he had no calls, no texts and no voicemails. He wasn't upset by it, actually relieved and then sat up and realized he wasn't home or in his hotel.

He was in a tiny apartment, so tiny that his kitchen, living room and bedroom was all just one giant room- a loft. The place was a mess but Punk smiled. This was an amazing dream. He jumped out of the bed and pushed open the dirty curtains and saw he was living downtown. He looked at how everyone hurried along as rush hour was in full swing and quickly felt his ear and eye and realized he wasn't hurt, that fight never happened. He wasn't 'CM Punk' he was Phil Brooks. This is exactly what he wanted.