Hard to Handle

"If you don't hear back from me in a few days it's because I shot myself in the head." he snorted.

"Don't even joke." he said as he shook his head.

"Whatever." he snorted and headed towards the door. "I'll see you later man."

"Later.'

He got into his car and drove home. He went into the house and locked the door before going upstairs, and nearly tripped over Tigger on his way up. He grumbled and moved him out of the way before making it upstairs to his bedroom.

Ellie heard him come in but didn't bother to speak to him. He was already dealing with enough for the night and didn't want to start questioning him. She just continued to lay on her side and pretend to sleep.

He usually knew when she was fake sleeping but it completely slipped by him tonight. He took it for what it was and went to take a quick shower. He came out about ten minutes later with a t-shirt and a pair of boxers on. He hesitated but decided to climb into bed next to her, lightly placing his hand on her hip. He likely wasn't going to sleep but he wanted to be next to her. He knew he'd been treating her unfairly recent and his conversation with Punk only worked to make him feel shittier for it.

She felt him touch her hip but didn't move, she simply muttered "I'm here for you", to him and would try to get some sleep tonight.

When he heard her voice, he broke down. He pulled her in closer to him and nuzzled her neck. "I fucked up with you, El." he said softly.

"It's okay." She said softly as she turned on her other side to face him. "You're dealing with stuff." She shrugged.

"It's not okay." he shook his head and rested his head on her shoulder, wiping at his eyes. "You've been so patient with me and I've been failing you. You're my rock babe, and I've been pushing you away. I'm so sorry."

She sighed and wiped his tears away, then kissed his forehead. "You haven't been failing me." She said. "Why do you think that?"

"I haven't been the man you need me to be." he said. "In all aspects of our marriage. The shit I'm going through, none of it is your fault, so I need to stop treating you like it is. I love you, El." he kissed her shoulder. "I love you so much. I don't want you to ever think that I don't, or that I'm losing interest in you, because I'm not. I'm crazy about you woman." he hugged her tighter to him.

She chuckled a little and nodded. "Honestly, I thought that's what it was. Even before your Mom was in the hospital, you've been snappy and I thought maybe you were tired of me." She said.

"Work's been stressing me out and I took it out on you." he said.

"Why? What's going on?"

"It's just really dry right now. I feel useless."

"Well, why don't you and Punk start having shows at the school? I could book some of your friends and so on. It would be something for you until things pick up again."

"We're not a promotion."

"You could be. I'm sure Punk would want to do a few shows every once in a while."

"I'll talk to him about it."

She nodded. "Good. I just want you to be okay and not stress, babe. I don't want you to keep thinking you're failing me cause you're not."

"I can't help but stress, but I just want you and me to be okay." he said. "I know you've been fed up with me lately and I haven't been the easiest to deal with it."

"Well now that I know why, I understand." she said. "It probably didn't help that I was nagging you about romance and stuff. You don't need to worry about that, you've got enough on your plate."

"Ellie, you and the kids come first." he said. "If you think that I'm slacking in something, then fixing it has to be my priority."