Story Name: Fireworks
Author: Mrs Bridget Orton
Characters: John Cena/OC, Randy Orton/OC
Rating: M - rated for strong language and sexual situations
Disclosure: I own none of the WWE superstars that you recognise. I only own the other fictional characters. I own Mercedes.
Summary: Is it possible to love two people at the same time? To love a man who has asked you to marry him and to also love a man who is already married to someone else? John Cena/OC/Randy Orton.
Chapter 1 - One Year Ago
A/N: I have put the two different sets of stories in bold and normal font so you can easily distinguish between the two. They're not flashbacks or anything. Just two separate conversations and storylines happening at the same time
"It's killing me Maria," John Cena finally blurted out, shattering the silence in the room as he brought his hands up to his head.
His large fingers running through his short hair as he did so.
"I know John," Maria Kanellis nodded, still keeping her distance from John, almost unsure of how he was going to be when they sat down again for one of these talks.
It wasn't exactly like she hadn't expected it to be him at the door when she had answered it. It had been him every night for the last few months. Exactly the same time - 3am on the dot. No matter where they were that night. No matter what city they had ended up in. No matter what hotel. No matter what had happened that day or night, she'd be up, anticipating the short, sharp knock at the door that she knew, no matter what, was coming.
"It's killing me to know that she's happy with him in a way that she should be happy with me," John spoke again, snapping the brunette out of her thoughts as her eyes were drawn back to the man sitting on the edge of her bed "With him of all people. She's happy with him."
The strings on the brunette's heart jerked as her eyes met the bright blue eyes of John Cena. Blue eyes that always seemed so calm and happy, that were now welling with tears that threatened to fall onto his flawless complexion any second now. It was taking all her willpower to not join him as she forced her own tears back.
"I don't wanna do this anymore," Mercedes cried as she finally surrendered herself to the strong arms of the Randy Orton.
Randy sighed as he held the petite woman closer to him. Her tears soaking through his dress shirt. The same dress shirt he'd been wearing out tonight, that he hadn't even had a chance to change out of yet.
His hand came up to stroke the back of her head. His fingers running through her soft long black locks. It was like this was the routine that happened every night they were together, which just so happened to be nearly every night for the past few months. Every single night for the past few weeks. Randy knew it was coming no matter what and it was the last thing that he wanted to have to go through every single night. It was exhausting to say the least, especially considering how hectic his wrestling and media commitments had been lately. When he got back to his hotel room at the end of the day the last thing he wanted to have to deal with was all this. Yet despite how much he hated how all this had affected him, his concerns were still, first and foremost, with her. All of this was the last thing that he wanted to see Mercedes to have to go through.
"I don't want to be the reason why..." she stammered, trying to find the words to express herself, her face still buried in the chest of the Legend Killer "Why things are the way they are. To know that I'm hurting someone that loves me."
Breaking his embrace slightly as she took a deep breath, Mercedes forced herself to look up into Randy's baby blue eyes. The same blue eyes that belonged to her boyfriend. The boyfriend that she wasn't holding right now. The boyfriend she should have been holding. The boyfriend whose bed and whose room she should have been in right now instead of Randy Orton's.
"I want her to be happy," John continued, a single tear rolling down his cheek, which he immediately brushed off with the back of his hand "I want more than anything in the world for her to be happy."
Maria simply nodded. She didn't want to shatter the moment and break the chain of thought John was obviously in. His eyes were glazed over as they gazed intently at a patch of carpet just in front of his feet. It was almost as if she wasn't even there and he was just talking to himself. Maria sometimes got the feeling that even though she was there listening to every word he said, that he didn't even realise half the time that she was still there. In these moments it was as if he wasn't even speaking to her. He just needed to sit there and say out loud the things he needed to get off his chest.
"I guess I just wanted her to be happy with me," John finally admitted with a detached sigh, almost as if he were just about to burst into tears.
"Mercedes is happy with you John," Maria interjected softly as she placed a small hand on his thigh in reassurance "If you didn't make her happy, she wouldn't have said yes when you asked her..."
"IF I MADE HER HAPPY SHE WOULDN'T STILL FUCKING BE WITH HIM!" John suddenly exclaimed, almost violently shoving Maria's hand off his leg as he immediately stood up, almost as if he was seeking something to throw at the wall.
"Do you know how much it hurts?" Mercedes spoke again, the tears still falling freely from her eyes "To know that it's because of me he's miserable. To see the way he looks at me every time I walk out the door to come here."
Randy remained silent as he looked down sympathetically at the woman in his arms. Her beautiful brown eyes were red and puffy from crying and her cheeks were stained with tears. She looked up at him so innocently, yet so vulnerable. She looked almost lost. The fire and soul that he always saw behind her eyes was gone. Like she was merely a shadow of her former self. This wasn't her and Randy knew it. This wasn't the person he wanted her to become, even though he'd gotten exactly what he'd wanted. Even though she was still standing here with him, fitting perfectly in his arms as if it was where she truly belonged.
The Legend Killer would have been lying if he said that his intentions from the start hadn't been to have Mercedes as his. And while she wasn't exactly that, and while John Cena was still in the picture, in a way he still had her. It was still his bed that she sought out each and every night. It was still his door she'd come knocking on at 2:45am each and every night. It was still his hands and his lips that were conquering her body and keeping her satisfied to the point that she couldn't help but come back for more. It was still his hands that would intertwine with hers and feel that diamond engagement ring brush across his knuckles.
Maria would have been lying had she not said she was completely terrified by the intentions of John Cena right now. His fists were clenched and his teeth were gritted hard in his mouth. His eyebrows were furrowed and his eyes were narrowed in anger. His breathing had become harsh and hard. His short shallow breaths were the only noise being heard in the room right now. Whilst the WWE diva knew that John would never lay a hand on a woman, Maria had never seen him like this. She'd seen the anger in his face and in his body movements a number of times during matches in the ring, but this was different. This was a different kind of anger and that was what scared her because she didn't know what she should expect.
It was a couple of minutes before John's breathing slowly started to settle down. The WWE Champion finally resumed his seat and turned around to face Maria who was still sitting in the same spot at the end of her hotel bed across from him.
"I'm sorry Ria," John sighed, his face completely wiped and showing no traces of the anger that had been there moments before "I'm sorry."
"It's all right," Maria said softly, sending a small smile in his direction "Honestly John, it's all right."
"I have no idea what to do anymore," John hopelessly admitted as he let his head fall into his hands as a large sigh escaped his lips "I have no idea. I thought that putting a ring on her finger would make it all stop. That it would magically change everything back to the way it used to be. To the way everything between me and her was supposed to be."
"Mercedes..." Randy started as his right hand gently reached out to cup the side of her face.
"I don't want to do this to him anymore Randy," Mercedes blurted out again, breaking down into a new set of tears "I don't want to hurt him like this. I might as well take a gun and put it to his head. Just get it over with. I don't deserve..."
"Mercedes stop it!" Randy Orton suddenly exclaimed, causing the small woman to jump at his sudden exclamation.
He couldn't believe what he was hearing out of her mouth. He couldn't believe that she had just uttered those very words.
"I really thought that you two were truly meant for each other," Maria admitted, trying her hardest to divert the conversation to a lighter side of the topic.
She knew that John only sought her out for comfort and an ear to listen to all his problems involving his fiancé, but Maria didn't think it was the best thing to let him wallow in all his depression night after night. Even if she could lift his spirits a little for a couple of moments, she would have done her job.
"I thought we were too," John replied softly.
Her eyes immediately sought out his in confusion. He could only imagine her vision was still blurry due to the tears still welling in her eyes. Randy sighed as he placed his hands on Mercedes' shoulders and bent down to her level. Her brown eyes were wide as they maintained his eye contact.
"Stop talking like that," Randy said gently, as he rubbed up and down her arms "This is crazy.."
"Crazy?" Mercedes inquired in astonishment, the tears one again streaming down her face as the words left her lips "What we're doing is crazy Randy! We're crazy! All of this is crazy!"
"Mercedes, c'mon, please.." Randy spoke again, in an attempt to calm down the small woman before him "You're going to make yourself sick if you keep crying like that."
"She really brought out the best in you John," Maria commented again, forcing the champ to break out into a smile.
Even if it was only a small and half-hearted smile, at least it was a smile.
"She did, didn't she?" John sighed as he nodded, his eyes diverting themselves from Maria "She was just everything that I'd ever wanted. She was everything I could have possibly imagined in the girl of my dreams. She was just perfect. She was just perfect for me."
"Yeah, she was" Maria replied with a nod, staring intently at John Cena.
She was trying to read him. Trying to anticipate what his next move was going to be. Trying to grasp exactly what was running through his mind, and his heart. Trying to grasp exactly what he was thinking.
"Maybe she was too good for me," John suggested with a shrug as his eyes fell into his lap "Maybe I didn't deserve someone as amazing as her."
Mercedes closed her eyes and tried to calm her breathing and her tears before she opened them again. She watched as Randy reached out his hand to her. His thumb gently wiped at the tear stains on her cheeks. His knees were still bent so he could maintain eye level with her. His blue eyes soon locked with hers once more. Blue mixing with chestnut brown. She couldn't help but feel the tears again and the lump in the back of throat as she saw the look in his eyes. A look full of concern, sincerity and love. Concern, sincerity and love for her. She shouldn't have, but she hated it so much when he looked at her like that.
"I'm a horrible person," Mercedes suddenly said, her voice and her eyes dropping as the words left her lips.
"You're not," Randy immediately replied, seeking out the young woman's hands with his own.
Their fingers once again intertwining. Her eyes remained on the floor.
"I didn't want to hurt anybody," Mercedes blurted out, concentrating on steadying her breathing so she wouldn't burst into tears again "I don't want to hurt anybody."
"I know you don't baby," Randy reassured her as he squeezed both her hands.
"But no matter what I do," Mercedes continued, almost as if she hadn't heard the Legend Killer at all "No matter what I do, I'm still hurting somebody."
"John you did deserve her," Maria immediately reassured him, her voice strong and sure about the words she was speaking "You of all people deserved somebody like her. Somebody special and amazing. You deserve someone like that John."
"Then why am I sitting here with you every morning at 3am?" John inquired with wide eyes as he looked at Maria.
"I know you aren't meaning to hurt anybody," Randy replied as he released one of her hands in order to hook her chin and make her look into his eyes "Everybody knows that. It's just the way that things have ended up."
"But it's all because of me Randy," Mercedes stated as another tear fell from her eyes "All this mess is my fault."
"You did deserve Mercedes," Maria said, trying to sort into words what she was trying to explain to John Cena "You still do deserve her. What you don't deserve is this situation. Nobody deserves to be in a situation like this. No matter what you could have possibly done, you didn't deserve to be in this mess. It's kinda just the way it's all happened. It's just the way that life is I guess."
"What do you mean?" John asked in curiosity as his eyes remained solely focussed on the beautiful diva before him.
"This isn't all your fault and we both know that," Randy corrected her "I'm so sorry that this is the way things are, but for us to be together right now, this is the way that things have to be."
"Do they have to be?" Mercedes asked with a hopeless sigh as she stared into the baby blue eyes of the man before her.
"Not if you don't want them to be," Randy replied, taking a deep breath to control his emotions and keep them down for now.
The last thing they needed now was for both of them to be a crying mess together. Randy's eyes fell to the floor beneath his feet.
"Just say the word and I can be out of your life forever," Randy said softly.
He hadn't wanted to say the words because losing her was the last thing he ever wanted. He never wanted to lose her. He never wanted her to leave him, but what else was he supposed to do. He didn't want to see her like this anymore. It broke his heart to see her cry. It broke his heart to see her like this. She didn't deserve this and she definitely didn't deserve all this on account of him.
"I believe that everything in life happens for a reason," Maria started slowly "Everything we go through happens for a reason. What doesn't kill us only makes us stronger, right?"
John immediately nodded in reply, urging Maria to continue.
"Life isn't easy," Maria continued "It was never meant to be and neither was love. If we have to fight for the things we love and the things we truly want, it makes them that much more special and it makes us realise whether or not they're actually worth it."
"I don't want that at all," Mercedes immediately replied, her hand reaching up to touch Randy's that was still hooked under her chin, his eyes rising to find hers "I want you to be in my life, now and forever."
"I don't want to see you like this anymore," Randy admitted, a huge sigh escaping his lips as his eyes flickered sideways before coming back to rest of her "I don't want to see you cry anymore. I don't want to be the reason that you're crying and that you're miserable. I don't want us being together to be something that makes you anything other than happy."
"If you and Mercedes are meant to be together then just a ring on her finger isn't going to just magically make it happen," Maria blurted out before immediately closing her mouth upon realisation of what she had just said "Sorry."
"No you're right," John nodded slowly as his mind kept processing everything that Maria was saying to him "Please go on."
Maria took a deep breath, composing her thoughts, before she continued on.
"If you and her are meant to be together then you will eventually be," Maria continued with John's blessing "But in the meantime you can either do something about it to make that happen faster or you just sit back and let fate run its course."
"I love you," Mercedes suddenly blurted out as she brought hers and Randy's entwined hands to her lips, kissing the back of his hand softly "I love you Randy."
"And you know that I love you more than anything," Randy replied straight away without so much as a second thought as a small smile crept its way across his lips "I love you so much."
Mercedes simply nodded as her eyes fell again to the floor beneath her feet. She should have been smiling. She should have been happy to hear that the man she was with loved her as much as Randy did. Hearing the words from his lips should have made her smile but instead they made her sad.
Randy sighed as he looked at Mercedes. He closed his eyes as he took a deep breath.
"But I know that you love Cena too," Randy added.
"You can sit back and let the stars and the sun and all that fate stuff run its course," Maria continued, completely on a roll as the words just kept coming straight out of her mouth "You can rely on that to ultimately lead you to your happiness with her, but honestly John I don't think that... I don't think that... Think that..."
"Think that what?" John immediately questioned, noticing the uneasiness and the hesitation in the brunette's voice.
Mercedes didn't react at all. Her eyes remained glued in the direction that they already were. Her breathing continued rhythmically. Her hands fell loose in Randy's grip. A couple of moments passed before she finally nodded, agreeing to the statement Randy had just made.
"I'm sorry," Mercedes finally spoke, not moving an inch "But I do love John."
Randy simply nodded, not entirely surprised by her words. He had definitely expected that. He had heard it so many times before and honestly he hadn't expected it to be any different this particular time. His ring was on her finger. She had said yes when he had asked her to marry him 3 months ago. Randy wasn't an idiot, he knew she loved Cena. "I can't force you to choose," Randy suddenly spoke again, this time drawing Mercedes' eyes back up to him.
Maria took a deep breath. She couldn't believe she was about to say what she knew needed to be said. She couldn't believe that she actually had the guts to finally tell John exactly what he needed to hear. She had wanted to tell him so many times but had always held back. She knew how fragile he had been these last few months and she knew that his vulnerability was at its lowest when he was here with her, knowing full well that his fiancé was spending the night with another man. Because of all that she had held back, but she knew now that John needed to hear it.
"John," Maria started slowly "I don't think that sitting here and coming here every morning at 3am is really going to lead her back to you. I don't think that you just wallowing in your depression about something that you can actually change is doing you any good. You can change this situation. You can make a difference. You can bring her back from Randy and you can bring her back to you."
"You can," Mercedes stated, knowing full well that Randy could indeed force her to do something she knew ultimately had to be done.
It wouldn't have been the most pleasant of conversations between her and Randy but she knew that he had the right to make her decide. Make her decide whether she wanted to marry her fiancé or whether she wanted to be with him.
"But I don't want to," Randy replied drawing her closer to him until their bodies were practically touching.
Mercedes had to tilt her head upwards in order to look at Randy's face. His muscular and toned body completely towering over her small frame. Yet instead of feeling small and intimidated by him towering over her, she felt safe and warm in his arms, just like she had always. Whenever she was with him she felt safe. He always made her feel safe.
"You have your ring on her finger," Maria continued "She said yes when you asked her to marry you and you know that somewhere deep inside she loves you just as much as you love her otherwise she wouldn't have said yes. If she didn't still love you she wouldn't still be wearing your ring. If she didn't still love you she would have ended things with you and she hasn't. Do something about it John. It's never too late to make a change. It's not too late to win her back."
"I have to choose," Mercedes finally admitted, sighing as she finally realised that ultimately this choice was entirely up to her.
Not the choice of whether or not it was John Cena or Randy Orton, but the choice to actually make the defining choice. A choice that she should have made a very very long time ago. Right when this whole affair had started. One year ago.
A/N: Hello readers! Hit a bit of a stalemate with my other two fanfics – the next chapter of My Daughter is proving very hard to write atm and I have no idea where to take A Guy, A House and A Hot House Mate next!So I have had this idea floating around in my head for a while and decided that it was much too similar to what this fanfic was actually about when I original posted it. So I decided to merge the two ideas together and here you have Fireworks. Hope you all like it and if you do please let me know so I can start getting into it because I would like to keep it going. PLEASE READ & REVIEW! Mrs Bridget Orton xxx