This is a request from Rated-RKORyder back in September. I'm sorry for delaying this. I really hope you like this one-shot. Enjoy!
Disclaimer : I don't own anybody in this story. The superstars belong to WWE and the OC and plot belong to Rated-RKORyder.
Impatiently lacing her boots, Charity Talbot or as the WWE Universe called her Sam Stark was surprised when a pair of muscular arms locked around her waist from behind. She then smiled and turned her head to face her boyfriend of 5 months, the handsome Cody Rhodes then giving him a peck on the lips.
"Where've you been? The match almost start", she squinted her eyes at him, now her body solely faced his with her greenish brown eyes staring in his identical ones.
He brought her body closer as he smiled sheepishly, "Relax, Miss Stark! I know how much you love the crowd but don't be so restless. You'll do fine, as you always do ".
He was actually gone that long to retrieve a beautiful diamond ring kept in a small red squared box in the men's locker room. That's right, he was planning to propose to her after their mixed tag match at the house show. What would be a better way to propose the girl of his life after their scripted win and not to mention, it was in her hometown that she would wrestle in. Some people, no, most people would call him beyond crazy for popping the question that soon but could he say, he was just so madly in love that he was thinking that the only reason he was born in this world is to love and spend the rest of his life with a woman named Charity Talbot.
He was spending so much time just now thinking where he should hide the small ring and after several threatening attempts, he taped the ring inside his one of his boot with a cello tape, praying it would not fall off before or during the match.
"Aww, baby!", she cupped his face, feeling touched, " This is one of the millions reasons why I love you, you know. I'm sorry for acting like this but I mean no matter how many times you wrestled in your hometown, you'll always get that nerve wrecking feeling that you don't want to mess up, ever. You know how I am, right?"
Cody ruffled her medium length, dark brown hair and planted a kiss on her forehead, "I understand that and as I said, you won't mess up anything tonight. You'll always be the Sam Stark who give out more than 100% to make sure the crowd and her fans don't go home disappointed with the divas wrestling and you prove that every single time so you don't have nothing to worry about, okay?"
She sighed deeply before looking up at him and nodded.
"Good!", he showed her his cheery smile as the loving couple walked out together from the room to go to the black curtain, where they would wait their turn for their match.
Time flew fast when they found themselves in a match against TJ Wilson and Natalie Neidhart, another WWE real life couple who goes with the ring names of Tyson Kidd and Natalya respectively. The match started with the men and after several trades of blows and beatings, they both tagged in the women.
They started to impress the crowds with their various submissions holds, with the crowds mostly rooting for their favourite diva, Sam Stark. Everything went smooth and followed the script perfectly but as soon as it's time for Sam to receive a kick to the stomach, Natalya did it a little too hard and a loud thud could be heard from the first ten rows. The audience gasped in horror as Sam fell to the mat and she quickly rolled out of the ring.
Cody stood frozen in horror as he knew this was not apart of the script and he was scared to death at that time that he wished he could stop the match but the boss wouldn't like when he hear it. He saw her limping to the ramp while holding her stomach. Charity knew Cody was going to follow her so she turned around and smiled in his direction, mouthing, "Keep going. I'll be fine".
He in return nodded hesitantly, mouthing "I love you!" to her before entering the ring to continue the match with Tyson while Natalya pretended to run after Sam until they reached behind the curtain.
Charity was in the trainer's room after being helped by the medics and instantly got checked by the doctor in there. She was glad that she was quick enough to walk away from the arena, or to be specific from Cody. He would surely get worried if he saw her in tremendous pain and not to mention he would freak out if he saw the blood dripping down her legs, which she only realised once she reached the room. She was hoping that everything would be alright and nothing bad happened even when she still feel that throbbing pain down her stomach. Her head was dizzy and everything started to become blurry and the last words she heard before she passed out was, "We need to bring her to the nearest hospital!".
Charity blinked her eyes a few times due to the bright light shooting her in the eyes and there she was; on a bed in a room with walls all white. She took a look on the right when she saw a female doctor smiling at her, a sympathetic one.
"How long did I pass out?", she mumbled.
"About three hours", the woman in her early 40s said. "You were brought here by the medical personnels from your workplace, along with a man who claimed to be your close friend"
Charity ignored the latter part as she asked her yet another question, "What happened? Am I injured or something?"
The doctor let out a long sigh before looking straight in the 25 years old woman on the bed, "I'm sorry to tell you, Miss Talbot, but you suffered a miscarriage. We've checked you again for any other possible injuries and I also have to tell you that your womb is so weak from the impact that... ", she her lips trembled before continuing, " the chance for you to get pregnant again is really low unless you stay away from wrestling for quite a long time!".
Hearing the shocking result, Charity looked away to her tangling fingers and tears started to fall from her eyes. She bit her lip trying to stop herself from crying but she couldn't. For God's sake, she just knew that she was pregnant with Cody's child and she just unknowingly keep wrestling and it brought her to a tragic event where she lost it just like that.
The doctor rubbed her back in circles and gave her a sympathetic look, "I'm sorry, hun. I should leave you now. I'll call your friend here", she finished before walking out of the room.
Charity looked up to the door and there stood her close friend since she got into the wrestling business four years ago. She cried and he approached her, sitting on the bed with her as he pulled her in a hug.
"Dolph,"
"It's okay. Everything will be fine!", he mumbled in her hairs.
She buried her face in his chest when she remembered Cody. No, he shouldn't know about her stupid mistake.
"Does Cody know I'm here?"
"No, he doesn't. I know you don't want him to get worried so I told Nattie to tell Cody that you're gonna be fine and that you'll see him soon when you get back to your home in Florida"
"Thanks". She sniffled before looking up to him, "Do me a favour, please! When I'll be released from here, bring me to Los Angeles with you. I don't want to face Cody at this time"
"I don't think that's a good i..."
"Please, Dolph. You're my best friend and you're the only one I trust in this situation. Please?"
He rolled his eyes and admitted defeat, "Okay fine! But you're finding your own place to stay!"
She wiped her tears with her hands, "Thank you! I'll tell Vince about my condition and after everything is settled, I'll follow you okay?"
He simply nodded.
It was a year ago when the love of his life disappeared from his life and Cody was miserable since then. If everything ran smoothly that time, she would already have his last name as hers but things didn't go according to his plan. The ring he supposed to propose her with was now hid securely in his wallet. What's the use of being pushed as one of the top wrestlers if Charity wasn't there to cherish it with him? He tried to call her, text her, find her but failed. She didn't respond and no one knew where she was, or so he thought.
The last thing he knew about her was a short text sent to him a year ago saying that she was sorry and that was it. Three days later, the entire WWE Universe and workers were shocked to hear that she was released from her contract due to personal problem. He was devastated to hear that and moreover, she didn't even tell him why. He waited for so long and now, when he heard that she was going to visit her road family after Raw made him excited and he knew it was the chance for him to catch up with her. Whatever she has to say, he would never judge her and he will understand. Always will.
"Hey babe, I'll stay over at Zack's tonight! So I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"
Charity stopped playing Dolph's iPhone and stared at him unbelievably. Her best friend of five years, boyfriend of one year rather spend the night with the guys instead of her, who rather travel to visit him all the way from Los Angeles to Long Island and at the same time, risking herself to be seen by everyone who didn't know her whereabout during her disappearance all this while and one of them was Cody.
How funny it was that she always compared her relationship between her and Dolph with Cody and her. If only she had enough courage to tell Cody the truth about the baby they supposed to have, then she wouldn't date Dolph. A couple of weeks after the horrifying event, he asked her to be his girlfriend, assuring her that he could support her and protect her from everything. Trying to run away from Cody's remembrance, she said yes. She admitted she love both of them but now, she love Dolph more. She once loved him as a friend, so loving him as a boyfriend wouldn't be a big problem, right? He, in a way, even helped her to forget her painful memory so that should be an advantage though.
"Can I come with you?", she asked him with hopes in her eyes.
In return, Dolph scoffed at her, "Darling, you can't! I mean... this is party for men. There wouldn't be any ladies coming tonight. If you come with me, what will the others say? Imagine what they will label you if they knew you're the only girl in the party, surrounded by a dozen men."
"Who cares about what people say!", she pouted.
He held her shoulders and looked her in the eyes, "Charity, you cannot come and that's final. I promise I'll see you tomorrow and we'll go shopping, okay?"
Her shoulders slumped with the sound of her sigh, "Fine but be careful, okay? I'll just have to head back to the hotel then"
"That's my girl!", he kissed her head.
She smiled and took her bag with her before she headed to the door. "Love you!", she turned to him but he was already turning his back.
"Me too!", he gestured with his hand.
When Charity shut the door closed, she was surprised by a built figure in front of her. The man she used to call hers was right in front of her and he looked different this time. He was more muscular, more tanned, more handsome but his eyes; the eyes that she liked the most out of his other features, showed a visible pain that almost resembled hers.
"Hi!", he opened the conversation.
"Hi!", she awkwardly replied.
"Long time no see"
"Uh huh"
"Look, we need to talk! About you... us!"
Before she could reply him, the door to Dolph's room opened and there he stood, his usual cocky looking face turned red with anger, shocking Charity while Cody just stood there, dumbfounded.
"So this is why you're so eager to go to Long Island in the first place, huh Charity?"
She tried to calm her boyfriend, "Baby, I can explain..."
"Explain what? That you're still head over heels with this goof in front of me? You're going back to him? I can't believe you're such a slut.."
"Watch your fucking mouth, Ziggler!", Cody cut him off, raising his pointing finger on the blonde's face.
"It's my fucking mouth so I have the rights to say whatever I want!", he turned to Charity, "You talk to him again, we're through!" before he took his stuff and walked away quickly from the former lovers.
"Dolph, wait!", she sobbed but to no avail.
"Since when are you guys dating?", Cody asked confusedly.
She looked at him angrily, "One year ago! You happy now? He put me back in place this past year and now you ruin it!". She sank on the floor, sitting and crying.
He hated to see her like this. He knew they are best friends but he didn't know how come those two were together but he wouldn't judge. Just no! It was not his nature to judge someone without knowing the whole story. Besides, he love her so much that if he had to put his feelings aside for her happiness, then he would do anything to make her happy again.
He knelt down to talk to her, "I'm sorry, I didn't know about you two. What if we follow him and tell him that nothing happen just now? I'll try to convince him with the truth"
"You would do that?"
"Yeah, I'll do anything for you but first of all, go wash your face and get a hold of yourself then tell me where he's going so we can find him, okay?"
"Okay!"
Cody and Charity had just arrived in front of Zack Ryder's front yard with Cody's rental car. She impatiently got out of the car, couldn't wait any longer to convince Dolph. Patience was never her thing. Cody soon followed suit and entered the house with her.
She looked around but Dolph was nowhere near to those guys. As much as she wanted to ask them, they would only thought her as a treat in their very drunken state so she decided to find him herself. Meanwhile, Cody tried to protect her from the drunks by shielding her with his own body all the way upstairs.
She opened every door one by one until she founded Dolph, in a very very unpleasant way. Him on top of her ex- colleague, Nikki Bella playing tonsil hockey with no clothes on, was very disturbing.
Charity gasped and covered her mouth in shock, causing Dolph to be caught off guard and he quickly wore his boxer on.
"I can explain, babe!"
Her chest was rising up and down from the anger she collected when he called her a slut, "Shut it! Just now, you called me a slut when I didn't even do anything with Cody and here you are, sucking her face off, groping her body? What does that makes you, huh? A fucking saint?"
He approached her but she pushed him away. "If you're doing this then why are you dating me in the first place? What wrong have I done? Have I done anything that hurts you?"
"No", he looked down in shame.
"You really want us to end, don't you? Well then, you have your wish granted!", she snapped and then, ran all the way back to Cody's car.
Cody gave Dolph dirty look, "You shouldn't treat her that way!", before walking out too.
Cody finished filling in the bath tub in his hotel room with lukewarm water and he was ready to get Charity in it. For two straight hours, she was sitting on the sofa, her hands tightly hugging her knees near her chest. She had just stopped crying and her state was a mess. He slowly made his way to her and got down on his knees to her level.
"Hey, I've done with the water. I'll bring you there, okay? You need to freshen yourself after... all of that", he didn't know what else to call it.
She sniffed in her nose, nodded weakly before stretching her arms out to him. He knew what she want so he picked her up bridal style to the bathroom and placed her carefully in the tub. Soaking herself in the water with clothes was her weird nature of relieving stress so this time was no different.
When Cody was about to leave her, Charity grabbed his hand, "Can you sit here with me?"
"Sure!"
He stepped in with his shirt and jeans intact, sitting in front of her as he studied her for some time. Her hair was tied messily, the bags under her eyes were visible and her eyes were red. He could also sense that she was still crying inside but she wouldn't show. That's the Charity Talbot he love so much, never wanted anyone to see her pain but somehow, everyone has their limit.
"I guess this is what I got for leaving you, lying to you! Serves me right, yeah?", she chuckled to herself.
"Don't blame yourself, ba.. Charity. Everything happens for a reason. Whatever you do, I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation behind them and as much as I want to know sooner, I won't force you. I'll let you decide when's the good time for us to really talk about it, okay?", he said as he held her hands in his for comfort.
She smiled thankfully to him before looking down to the waters, shaking her head, "You deserve to know now. First of all, I'm so so sorry, Cody. If you know about it, you'll hate me and you've got a great career ahead so I don't want to be that burden that hold you back"
She continued, looking in his eyes, "I was pregnant, Cody! But I had no idea, I truly not. After Nattie accidentally kicked hard on my stomach, that's when I know. I'm so stupid! I lost it! I lost our baby, Cody!", her eyes now tearful.
His heart sunk when he heard her. How much have she suffered just for caring a lot about him. "Why you even think that? You know I love you so much that I won't back down from you. Even if you lost it, there's always next time, Charity. So why?", he said in a whispery tone, demanding an answer.
"Chances for me to get pregnant again is very unlikely would happen. And I know your dream of marrying the girl you love and having at least four kids with her but unfortunately, I'm not that girl, Cody. That's why I ran away from you. I was afraid that you'll get mad at me for being careless and for my inability to give what you want in the future. Forgive me", her sobs then became louder as she buried her face in her hands.
Seeing that, Cody moved and scooted closer to her, embracing her with comfort, planted a kiss in her hair, "There's no need for you to be sorry. What's important now is that you're honest about everything and you don't have to worry about me. I'll always be behind you hundred percent and after what you've been through, we'll call it a day now. I'll go to my room and let you rest your mind tonight"
She raised her head to him, "Thank you, Cody. You can always find a way to make me feel better. If I can go back to that time, I wouldn't have left you like that"
He smiled, got up and stepped out of the bath tub. Before he went out, he took a glance at her. "See you tomorrow!".
The very next day in the morning, Cody rushed to Charity's hotel room. He couldn't sleep last night thinking about him and her. She broke things off with Dolph so now, he wanted her back and do what he always wanted to do, to ask Charity to be his wife. He didn't care what happened in the last 365 days. He just wanted her back. She belonged to him. Past is past, he would do anything in order to make her happy again.
He knocked on the door repeatedly before a much better looking Charity stared at him with a hesitated look.
"Hi," he grinned at her.
"Come on in. I have something to tell you", she motioned him to get in before shutting the door.
"I also have something to say. More like asking though", he explained but before he could continue, Charity meddled in.
"Dolph asked me to marry him last night. He came back, saying that he had broke things off with Nikki and that he was truly sorry, asking for a second chance. He finally realised he loves me and he said it's better if we get married as soon as possible, which is why we're gonna fly to Los Angeles to inform his family today!", she said. "What do you think?"
Cody was registering what she said while his hand curled up in a fist, hiding the ring in his hand.
"Did you just realised what has he done to you last night? He's two timing you all this while and you forgive him just like that?", his tone started to rise.
"I know that but everyone deserves a second chance, Cody. Like how you forgive me, that's how I forgive him. Cody, I've known him for five years now; we've been dating for a year and when I had that miscarriage, he's the one that lead me back on track"
He bit his lower lip to contain himself. "I get it, Charity! You guys have been dating for a year while we only lasts five months and technically, we're still not over cause neither of us wanted to break up. He had the upper hand against me but think about what have he done to you. I'm not judging your decision, it's just I want you think for yourself. Is he the kind of guy you want to spend the rest of your life with commitment? Are you sure he have changed for good?"
She shook her head, "I have no idea. It's just that he's always there for me, okay?"
"What about me? How about my feelings? If I were him, I would never want a second chance! You know why? Cause I won't hurt you like he did. I'll treat you like you're the most precious treasure I ever own. I love you, Charity. I still do! Remember the match last year? Supposedly after we won it, I wanted to propose to you. But if you're happy with him then I shouldn't stop you! Cause what love would mean if the happiness is one sided? If this is what you want; to marry Dolph, then I'll happily back off and pray for your happiness from far away"
He walked to her, taking one of her hand and put the wedding ring on her palm, "I don't need it anymore. It's yours anyway."
With that, he walked away, leaving Charity with confused and mixed feelings. His questions started to linger in her mind and she needed an answer. An ultimate answer that would make her either satisfied or regret later.
Five months later
"I now pronounced you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride!", the preacher said.
Charity's eyes still locked on the man in front of him as he lifted her veil and proceeded to kiss her on the lips. She closed her eyes in that beautiful short meaningful kiss and she could hear the people in the church clapping merrily for them.
She opened her eyes as the kiss ended, and there she stood, still with him after what happened in the past. He made her see the light and the most important thing was that she knew that there's no one can make her happy but him. He smiled sincerely, grateful that he finally got the girl of his dream.
"Welcome to the family, Miss Talbot!"
She giggled and corrected him, "It's Mrs. Rhodes now!"
I hope you like it, Rated-RKORyder. This is the longest one-shot I've ever done so this is quite challenging for me. Readers, please review. Thank you in advance!