Chapter 60

Trina Michaels was found guilty and ordered by the judge to pay Jon back for all the divorce documents he sent her to be signed. That added up to be around $13,000, but the judge bumped it to $20,000 for emotional distress on Jon's behalf. Then she had $20,000 in court fees, which covered the judge, Jon and her lawyers along with all the time Trina wasted with her pathetic lies and excuses. When it was all said and done, she had to fork over $53,000 and she cut a check before leaving the courthouse. It was either that or Trina would end up going to jail to work off her fines. Being in the porn industry, the judge highly recommended Trina didn't go that route and she agreed with him. Not only that, but Jon's divorce was granted immediately and there would be no waiting for it to be processed. Melanie had come through in more ways than one and Jon would never be able to repay her for all the help. He also owed Mia since it was because of her Jon ended up having Melanie for a lawyer and getting Trina out of his life forever.

"You rock." Jon complimented, walking out of the courthouse a free man and stopped Melanie, gripping her shoulders gently. "I mean it, Mel. Thank you for everything you did."

Melanie smiled softly with a nod and took his hands off of her shoulders to hold them in front of her. "You didn't deserve to be jerked around as long as you were. And if you want, we can sue the hell out of your former lawyer and get him for fraud and god knows what else he did illegally. Only if you want too though."

Jon shook his head, having a check for $20,000 in his wallet he had to deposit in his savings account before heading home. "Fuck it. I have everything I want in my life and I don't need the blood money. I have plenty with my job. The only thing I want to do is leave here and go home to my woman."

"Understood. If you change your mind, you know how to get a hold of me." Melanie walked past him down the stairs and then stopped, turning around to look up at Jon. "Tell Anisa I said hi."

"Will do, take care, Mel."

It took 10 minutes to deposit the check from Trina in his savings account and another 20 to get home since he lived on the outskirts of Vegas. While driving, he thought back to the past few days alone with Anisa and couldn't wipe the smile from his face if he tried. Wednesday was spent sexing it up in every room of his 2 bedroom condo, both not able to get enough of each other. Thursday rolled around and it was time for the inevitable talk. Anisa woke up and told Jon she was finally ready to hear what he had to say, to hear his side of the story with Trina Michaels. It took him a while, but Jon didn't leave out any details and told her everything, how he'd basically been tricked into marrying Trina in a thick drunken haze.

Anisa felt stupid for the way she treated Jon and he simply said he didn't blame her for cutting him off. They both vowed to never lie and keep secrets from each other again as long as they were in a relationship. So far, this had been the best 5 days off Jon had in a long time and it wasn't over yet. In the morning, they were catching a flight to Chicago to stay goodbye to Coralie properly at Phil's. Then coming back to Vegas for their final day off before going back on the road for Raw on Monday.

Stepping inside his condo, Jon heard silence and knew Anisa was napping in the bedroom. He hadn't let her get much sleep over the past couple of days, making up for lost time and decided to let her rest. Pulling out some hamburger patties he defrosted the night before, Jon opened the package and began seasoning them, deciding to make lunch. Anisa cooked every meal since they'd been in Vegas and it was Jon's turn to return the favor. He wasn't the best cook in the world, but Jon could grill up some delicious burgers and make some sides to go with them. Potato salad and chips – simple and easy to clean up. Once the burgers were seasoned, Jon walked out on his patio and turned the grill on before checking on his girlfriend.

"Hey, I didn't know you were up." Jon said by way of greeting, walking over to Anisa standing at the window and gently held her hips. "What's on your mind, darlin'?"

"Coralie." She admitted softly, wiping a few stray tears away from her eyes. "I just keep wondering what would've happened if I didn't ignore and cut her out of my life because of my brother. She might still be with us if she didn't get on that plane and run off to see her sick Aunt Maggie in Switzerland. I should've been there for her and asked about the video instead of letting my brother handle it. He's just as stubborn, if not more, than I am. And now she's gone. I'll never see her again…"

Jon cradled her head when Anisa turned her face into his chest, tears soaking through his t-shirt. Truthfully, he hadn't thought much of Coralie's death since they got to Vegas because he put all of his focus into Anisa. There was nothing he could say or do to make her feel better about the situation either. Only time would heal the wound Coralie's death left in everyone's lives she'd been part of. He sighed, resting his cheek on top of her head and stroked her back, holding Anisa close never wanting to let her go. Pulling back, Jon kissed her tears away and pressed his forehead to hers, softly brushing her lips with his.

"So how was the trial?" Anisa asked, changing the subject and hooked her arm through Jon's to guide him out of the bedroom.

"Let's get you a glass of wine and I'll tell you all about it, darlin'."

Mia never felt more accepted and loved by anyone as much as Joe's family, getting along with everyone. His sisters Summer, Myritza and Vanessa accepted her right away and Matt already thought of her as a sister. Joe called his parents and told them what happened with Mia's family, or as much as he knew anyway. They promised to keep it a secret and didn't treat Mia any differently than they had the first time she met them. As promised, Patty cooked up a feast to celebrate Joe's first WrestleMania victory and made sure Sika cleaned out the pool. She wanted everything to be perfect.

"How about a bonfire tonight?" Joe suggested over dinner later that day, wanting to use the new fire pit his parents purchased a few months ago. "We can make s'mores."

"Hell yeah!" Matt crowed, high-fiving his brother with a grin while the sisters rolled their eyes.

Joe ended up getting his way, being the baby of the family had perks and he took Mia out where the fire pit was to set everything up. "This is such a beautiful property." Mia sighed wistfully, looking around at the large backyard Sika and Patty had. "You could build at least 3 houses their size on this land."

"I know." Joe grinned, snapping some thick tree sticks on his muscular thighs and tossed them in the pit, suddenly having an idea. "Come with me for a minute. I wanna show you something."

Mia eyed Joe suspiciously, remembering the last time he said that and shook her head. "Not at your parents', Joseph." She scolded, trying to stop the smirk from curving her mouth.

He chuckled, taking her hand and walked away from the fire pit further down the stretch of land. "Don't worry, I won't attack you here, but once we get back to my house, all bets are off."

Arching a brow, Mia let Joe guide her wherever he wanted and stopped a few minutes later, both of them staring at a treehouse with a ladder attached. "What is this?" She looked up at him with wide dark eyes and saw a big smile on his face, turning her gaze back up to the treehouse.

"Matt and I built this with Dad when we were kids. Well, I was a kid and Matt was an adult, but you know what I mean. We're 16 years apart." Joe hadn't been back here in ages, never having time whenever he visited because of his hectic work schedule. "I wanted to share something personal with you, something not a lot of people know about me. And this place is special."

His words touched her deeply and Mia leaned up to softly kiss him before they went to the ladder to climb up to the treehouse. Once up top, Mia stuck to Joe's side like glue since heights bothered her a little and looked around, seeing art plastered all over the walls. They were drawings Joe and Matt did over the years, Matt a little better than Joe. It was still adorable nonetheless. Joe had to keep his head ducked since the treehouse wasn't big enough for him anymore, but it was sturdy to hold the weight. He wasn't a little boy anymore. Pulling something out of a wooden crate, Joe turned to face Mia and took her hand, kissing the back of it.

"When I was 8 years old and Matt was 24, we had a talk one night before Matt's college graduation and made a vow that, if we ever found the love of our lives, we'd bring them to our treehouse and give them this." Joe placed something in her hand and Mia looked down, her eyes growing wide at the wooden box.

"What is this?"

"Open it and find out."

Mia felt tears swell in her eyes, staring back at a small piece of wood with her name engraved in it. "Joe…"

"This piece of wood is part of the treehouse." He took it out of the box and moved over to the corner where he'd broken the piece off at age 8 with Matt's help, putting it in the wooden box their father made. "Mandy's is on the other side." Joe pointed to where it said Mandy Anoa'i with a smile and felt Mia tremble against him. "Madison and Jordan's are up here too by hers."

"What are you trying to tell me, Joe?" Mia had to ask, watching him place the piece of the treehouse with her name on it back where it belonged and it fit perfectly.

Lowering to one knee in front of her, Mia gasped through tears as Joe pulled out a second wooden box and placed it in her hand, taking her free one in his. "Mia Malik, I love you more than anything in this universe and I don't care about our heritages or how different we are. You belong with me and I belong to you. Just like this treehouse, we came into each other's lives and took pieces from each other's hearts. I don't know about you, but the piece I have from your heart will always stay where it's supposed to and the piece of this treehouse with your name on it represents that. I meant it when I said my family has more than enough love for you. They adore you, we love each other and now I'm asking you to be mine completely. In my treehouse and giving you a piece of my heart, will you be my wife?"

Mia hadn't opened the box yet and felt tears flood down her cheeks, nodding without hesitation. "Of course I will." She didn't care what the ring looked like and captured Joe's mouth in a passionate kiss, clinging to him with every ounce of strength she had.

Breaking the kiss, Joe opened the box for her and slid a beautiful three stoned princess cut diamond ring set on a white gold band on her left ring finger. "SHE SAID YES!" He roared out of the treehouse and an eruption of applause made Mia look out the open window, eyes shot open at the sight of Joe's big family.

The group of friends all stood around the beautiful lilac tree with cans of beer, two of Coralie's favorite things. Coralie planted the tree when she first moved in with Phil because they were her favorite flower and she felt like a piece of her was always there, even when she was gone on the road. It was the only place Phil could think of to have a proper goodbye ceremony in her honor. Krystal called and gave him the idea of making rocks with one thing etched in them Coralie loved. They would be placed under the lilac tree in a circle and represented their unbreakable friendship. So Phil told her to do it, telling her to call everyone and get one word from them to etch in the rocks.

Jon - Spirit

Anisa - Sister

Mia - Genuine

Joe - Hope

Krystal - Peace

Colby - Funny

Ryanne - Best Friend

Randy - Family

The final rock had the picture of a rose on it, signifying her last name with a C and R on either side. It sat in the front of the tree and connected all the other rocks in a circle. Everyone stepped up, said the word or small phrase they chose to have engraved in their rock and placed it under the tree followed by a swig of beer. There were TIKI torches lit on either side of the tree and the moon shined down brightly on them, those being the only light. The lilacs on the tree hadn't bloomed yet, but they would in June and Phil couldn't wait to smell them. It would always remind him of Coralie. Everyone drank beer and headed back inside the penthouse, but Phil stayed outside by the tree staring at it for a while, contemplating what he was supposed to do without Coralie in his life.

"It's getting chilly out here, bro." Anisa said from the doorway and walked over to join her brother, wearing one of Jon's sweatshirts to keep warm. It was early April and the first signs of spring were shown, but it was still cold at night. "You should come inside."

"Where's Jon?" Phil asked, crushing his bottled water and tossed it in the trashcan nearby, rubbing his temples. He was still straight edge and had made one exception due to the ceremony for Coralie, only taking a sip of his beer before tossing the rest of it.

"Sleeping. He's exhausted. I couldn't sleep and wanted to check on you." She hopped up on the wooden picnic table beside Phil and grabbed a beer, understanding why her brother wasn't drinking. Didn't mean she couldn't. "This was a very nice thing you did for her, you know. She's up there smiling down on all of us."

"I hope so." Phil lowered his head, trying to hold tears back. "I loved her, Nisa. I really did and I treated her like complete shit all because of a bogus video. I thought she cheated on me with Luke Harper and I was wrong." He let Anisa comfort him by rubbing his back. "I can only hope she forgives me now."

Anisa leaned her head on his arm, holding his hand and could only imagine the amount of guilt her brother felt after what happened. "She does. That's just who Coralie was, Phil. She didn't let a lot bother her and she died knowing you loved her, even though you two were at odds. So don't beat yourself up about it anymore. Forgive yourself and move on with Melanie. She's a great woman and no, I'm not saying that just because Jon is divorced and all mine now."

Chuckling in spite of everything, Phil glanced over at his sister and draped an arm around her shoulders, kissing the top of her head. "Thanks sissy, I needed to hear that."

Throughout the rest of the days off, the circle of friends decided to stay at Phil's. Nobody knew what the future held. Ryanne's pregnancy was going strong, Krystal and Colby had decided to move in together, Joe and Mia were engaged to be married, Phil had invited Melanie to spend time with him since he was officially on leave from the WWE and Jon and Anisa were slowly rekindling their relationship. In a way, Coralie's death had opened a lot of doors and made her friends take leaps of faith they normally wouldn't. They were each other's solace to help get over the death of their fallen friend.

The End.

**So if you think this is the end, you're wrong. Originally, this story was supposed to be 110 chapters long, but I decided to split it up into two stories. So the sequel, Virulence, will be written soon. I'm going to break from these characters for a bit to work on another story that's been on the forefront of my brain and finish up editing another Jon story, which will be my first AU (alternate universe) fic involving the Shield. That will start being posted tomorrow while I work on my other projects hehe! So don't fret, Anisa and Jon's adventure (along with the other characters) isn't over yet! Thank you all so much for the love, support and reviews! I'm so glad you enjoyed this story and hopefully you'll enjoy the sequel more.**