The Chance of Lifetime
Disclaimer: I own nothing except the OC's. Everything/everyone else belongs to WWE or themselves.
Rating: T
Summary: A chance meeting Wrestlmania XVII weekend is life changing for the Undertaker and a fan.
Chapter 1
It had been a weekend Melanie had only dreamed of. She had spent the week in Atlanta, only an hour from her home and had been able to go to all the Wrestlemania week events, every session of Axxess, the art show, the Hall of Fame, and of course, Wrestlemania itself. Her only regret was that she had been unable to get a VIP ticket for the Axxess session that the Undertaker was at, and therefore was unable to get his autograph. He had for a long time been her favorite wrestler, and even though she had never met him, she felt a connection of some sort with him.
Another Wrestlemania in the books. He was now 19-0, and while Mark couldn't be happier about his undefeated streak continuing, that happiness was tempered with the fact that this weekend had brought about the end of his short marriage to Michelle. He was still reeling from her presenting him with the finalized divorce papers in front of several of their co-workers on Wednesday night. Her revelation that she had fallen in love with someone else shocked him and that she wouldn't come to him to talk things through privately first was one of the most painful aspects of the whole situation.
When Wrestlemania was over, Vince McMahon had buses lined up to take everyone back to the hotel, but Mark turned him down, instead arranging for a private car to take him back to the hotel, after detouring to a park that Mark had always enjoyed visiting when he was in Atlanta. When they got to the park, Mark walked towards the small pond, a place he had always found to be tranquil, in spite of it's location in the middle of a busy city. As he approached the pond, he noticed the small woman sitting on the bench overlooking the water, and realized that the woman was crying. Mark started to walk away without disturbing her, but something drew him to her. He walked up to where she was sitting and said, "Do you mind if I join you?"
Melanie looked up in shock and after reminding herself to breathe, said, "Not at all, have a seat. I'm Melanie."
"I'm Mark. It's a beautiful night, do you mind if I ask why you're sitting out here crying?"
"Just have a lot on my mind and I guess I got overwhelmed by it, that's all. You had a great match tonight, by the way. I was on my feet the whole time and I think my heart stopped a few times."
"I'm glad you enjoyed it, Darlin'."
"I'm glad you weren't seriously injured. Some of those moves you do scare the crap out of me. I was praying every time you did one that you got up from it."
Mark chuckled and said, "I'm glad I wasn't injured, too. What moves are you talking about?"
"That running dive over the top rope for one. I think you take five years off my life every time you do it. And any time you crash through the announce table, or the Cole Mine, or when someone does your own moves to you, like Triple H doing the Tombstone."
"Well, crashing through things are a rare occurrence as you know. As for the dive over the top rope, most people like it, so I try to do it in big matches, but it does hurt like hell when I land, so I'm cutting back on how often I do it."
"Ok." Melanie said with a chuckle, having realized how stupid she must sound to him. After a few minutes of silence, Melanie realized that Michelle wasn't with him. "I don't want to pry into your personal life, but where's your wife?"
"Michelle and I are divorced." Mark said.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pry." Melanie said, feeling horribly for bringing up something that was obviously painful to him.
"Don't be, Darlin, it's not your fault. It's still pretty new. Michelle gave me the finalized papers Wednesday night in front of some of our co-workers. Apparently, she's fallen in love with someone else. I had no idea anything was wrong in our marriage."
'Wow." Melanie said in shock. Wanting to change the subject to spare him having to discuss it anymore she said, "Why aren't you at the after party?"
"I didn't feel much like going. Michelle's there with her new guy and I knew everyone would be staring at me to see what my reaction to them is." Mark replied honestly.
"Aren't you concerned that people will think that you aren't there because you are hiding from her and her new lover?"
"I guess a little, but no one would ever suggest it to me, or where I can hear it, so I won't know if they feel that way or not. But you know what? I'm not going to have them thinking I'm hiding. I'm going to that party, and I'm taking a friend with me." Mark said, standing up.
"Good. Have a great time." Melanie said, standing up to shake his hand.
"I will, and so will you." Mark said with a grin.
"Huh?" Melanie said in confusion.
"You're going with me, Darlin, unless of course, you have something better to do." Mark said mischievously.
"No, I don't have anything else to do. But Mark, I'm not dressed for a party and my makeup's a mess."
Mark looked her over, taking in her beauty for the first time. From her long curly auburn hair to her long sexy sundress that complimented her figure perfectly down to the sexy stiletto sandals on her feet. "You're dressed fine, but if you want to touch up your make up, we can go to your room, or mine, if you want first."
"I was going to drive home tonight, so I don't have a room." Melanie told him.
"Well, I guess we're going to my room, then. Come on, let's go get freshened up and head to the party." Mark said, holding his hand out to her. She took his hand and they walked to the parking lot. Mark told his driver to take the rest of the night off and rode with Melanie to the Hyatt, where Mark and the rest of the WWE were staying, and where the party was being held.
When they got to the hotel, they handed the car off to the valet and Mark led Melanie up to his room. "Bathroom's in there if you want to freshen up some or change clothes." He said.
"What's the dress code for this party?" Melanie asked.
"Nothing too fancy. Most of the women will be wearing dresses or skirts, though."
"What are you wearing?" Melanie asked him.
"Nice pants and a button down shirt." Mark responded.
"Ok, give me half an hour, tops." Melanie said as she grabbed what she needed out of her bags and headed into the bathroom. Once inside, she changed into a purple and silver sweater dress that ended just above her knees with a wide black belt. Taking a look in the mirror, she realized her makeup was a lost cause and grabbed a washcloth and her facial cleanser to take off the remnants of it before reapplying. Ten minutes later, her make up done, she spritzed some spray gel on her hair and finger-combed it, changed her earrings and tossed everything back in her bag. Melanie emerged from the bathroom and hid a smirk when Mark did a double take when he saw her. "I just need to change my shoes and I'm ready to go."
" Take your time. I'm in no hurry." Mark said as he watched her shove her discarded dress into a suitcase and pull out a pair of silver sandals with heels so skinny he didn't know how in the world she'd be able to stand up on them. Melanie quickly put the shoes on and fastened them around her ankles. She went back to her suit cases and pulled out a small handbag and tossed her cell phone, ID, and a small compact into it.
"Ok, I'm ready when you are. Oh, what should I do with my bags?" Melanie asked.
"Just leave them here. There's a second bedroom that you're welcome to stay in." Mark said as he opened the door to the suite.
"Ok, thanks." Melanie said as they walked down the hall to the elevator.
A few moments later, the elevator doors opened into the ballroom where the party was taking place. Wrestlemania was playing on several large screen televisions around the room and the Superstars, Divas, Hall of Famers, and their families were sitting or standing around the room talking amongst themselves while enjoying the buffet meal and open bar. Everyone's heads turned when Mark and Melanie walked in. After a few seconds of staring, most went back to their conversations, but not Michelle. As Mark suspected she would do, she stormed over to them. "Who the hell is this?" Michelle shrieked.
Mark smirked and put his arm around Melanie's waist, pulling her closer to him. "This is Melanie, a friend of mine." Mark said before leading Melanie over to the buffet. They filled their plates and moved on to the bar. "What do you want to drink?" Mark asked her.
"Vodka and Cranberry juice." Melanie said. The bartender fixed her drink and gave Mark the JD and Diet Pepsi he ordered. Their drinks in hand, they went over to the table in the corner of the room where Triple H, Stephanie, Kevin Nash, Shawn Michaels, and his wife Rebecca were sitting. Everyone shuffled around so that they could sit down. Mark made the necessary introductions and they settled into a discussion of the matches playing on the large screens. Everyone was interested in Melanie's reactions to various things that happened during the matches and the results of each match. Melanie tried not to sound like a "fangurl", but still get her point of view across. When the Undertaker-Triple H match came on, the guys laughed at the way all the women cringed at Mark's running dive over the top rope and Stephanie and Rebecca agreeing with Melanie that the move "scares the crap out of them." Once the match was over, their conversation turned to how the various storylines should move forward from here and how Mark should make his next return to TV. "If I had a choice, he'd go back to the American Badass gimmick." Melanie said. The women agreed, all of them admitting that they really liked the tight jeans and him riding the motorcycle to the ring.
A couple of hours later, the women were more than a little tipsy and the men weren't feeling much, if any pain either. Most of the people had begun to clear out of the room as it was nearing 4AM. "We should go so they can clean up the room." Stephanie suggested.
"It's too early to call it a night." Kevin said.
"Maybe it's too early for you to call it a night, Kev, but those of us that worked tonight are ready for a little shut-eye." Triple H said.
"I agree." Mark said as he stood up and helped Melanie to her feet. "Good night, everyone."
Mark led Melanie back upstairs to his suite. Once inside, she sat down on the couch to take off her shoes and earrings. "Thanks for letting me stay here tonight."
"You're welcome. Thanks for going to the party with me."
"You're welcome." Melanie replied.
"I'm going to go change into some shorts and a t-shirt. Why don't you go get more comfortable as well? I'm a little too wired to sleep yet, if you want to stay up and talk some more." Mark said.
"I'd like that." Melanie said before going into the room she was going to sleep in. She quickly changed into the silk pajama pants and black t-shirt that she normally slept in before returning to the living room. Mark joined her a few minutes later and they sat on the couch talking for the next few hours, only stopping when they realized that it was daylight. They talked about Mark's career, his marriages, and his career. Melanie told him about the dysfunctional relationship between her and her family, her job that she hates, and how more than anything, she would like to just tell everyone to kiss her ass and take off on a road trip for a few months, just to have a break from everything.
"Why don't you do it?"
"I don't want to do it alone, and since the point of it would be to get away from my family and friends, it would pretty much defeat the purpose of the trip to ask one of them to go with me."
"So, the only thing holding you back is having someone to go with you?"
"Yeah."
"Problem solved. Why don't we go together?"
"What?"
"I'm serious. I don't have to work for a few months other than doing some scouting at FCW in a couple weeks. Let's get a few hours sleep, then I'll rent a car. We'll take your car back to your house and you can take care of anything that needs to be done so you can take off for a couple months, then we'll hit the road."
"Where will we go?"
We'll head to Texas first. I need to get some more clothes and take care of a couple things there and see my kids, then we'll hit the road. What do you say?"
"I say yes. Let's get some sleep and hit the road." Melanie said with a smile.
Mark agreed and they said good night, er good morning and headed to their bedrooms. A few hours later, they both got up and after taking their showers and doing their normal morning routines, they checked out of the hotel. Their first stop was the rental car company to get a SUV for their trip. Once that was done, they headed to Melanie's house. After an argument with her grandmother over her decision to take off on a trip with someone she just met, Melanie grabbed some more clothes, said goodbye, they left. After a quick stop at the mall where Melanie was a customer service manager so that Melanie could let them know she wouldn't be back, they hit the road on their way to Texas.