Disclaimer – Part three of the four part side story, this probably takes place after their enemy is really defeated because they are all living normally and peaceably. Shane isn't in this story, so he's probably out trying to find himself. Just a little spoiler tidbit, in the main story he ends up falling for Ivory and tagging along with Triple H's gang. So this side story will probably take place before that starts to happen. And Shawn Michaels is in this story again, by this point and time in the main story he starts to tag along with them more and more often but doesn't stay with them for great lengths of time. But anyway, enough of that stuff, and onto the story. And since it's long I will break it up into three segments. So read, review, and enjoy.

In a flash of light, the whole world seemed to go by as time for him stood perfectly still. It was almost like in those action movies, where it shows the city streets at night sped up to zoom by in six seconds, only it wasn't just street lights and cars on the freeway, it was an entire man's life. The whole thing was like a drive in movie, but instead of a motion picture it was snippets and scenes from the home movies of the mind, flashing against the star filled night sky. The car accident was just that, an accident, a freak accident. Driving home late at night after going to the store to get some food, a drunk kid had jimmied open a big rig and thought it would be great to take it out for a test drive. Unfortunately, the test drive wasn't that great for the ones who were trampled under the wheels, one Ted Irvine and an unknown passenger. After coming around the corner, the truck barreled down the freeway ramp, through a stop sign, and crashed.

"Chris…" A single word uttered under the oxygen mask, as paramedics and police and fire officials tried to save him after ripping him from underneath the wreckage.

"Hang on sir, hold on. Everything is going to be alright." A female's voice was heard, but it was muffled, his crystal clear vision growing fuzzy and blurred as he blanked out.

"Dad, dad!" A small voice was heard shrieking happily between giggles.

"Come on Chris!" Ted heard his voice echo back as he opened his eyes to a bright sunny summer day as he played with his small son in the front yard. "Are you ready? Catch!"

"Got it!" Chris jumped up and grabbed the ball.

"Yeah! You win!"

"Yay!" Chris cheered, bouncing around as he hugged the ball tightly. He ran and jumped onto his dad.

"Whoa!" Ted fell back and laughed. "You're getting strong, you'll be a great athlete if you keep that up."

"Really, you mean it!?" Chris's blue eyes went wide with joy.

"I do. I know it."

Chris smiled warmly, "Hey dad?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think Uncle John and Auntie Lynn would be proud too? I never see them anymore and it makes me unhappy."

Ted sighed as he saw his son's expression change, "Sure they will." He sat up, propping his son on his knee. "Just because you don't see anybody anymore, doesn't mean they don't like you any less. Family is one of the most wonderful things in the world, it's a treasure you should cherish. Your mom, me, your grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, just because you might be far away, doesn't mean you aren't close."

"Hmm…" Chris nodded, lowering his head in thought.

"You see what I mean?"

"Yeah…"

"Hey, come on. Don't be sad." Ted smiled, changing the subject. "Do you know what tomorrow is?"

"Wednesday…?"

"Yes, but what are we doing tomorrow."

Chris paused in thought, then he gasped as his face lit up, "OH! Going to wrestling!"

"Yeah!" Ted shook him happily. "Come on, let's go inside!"

"Yay!" Chris ran inside, arms out like a flying plane.

Ted chuckled to himself but then sighed as he looked up, lost in thought as he quietly muttered, "John, brother, we haven't seen you since Chris was an infant. You and Lynn have a family and lives all your own, but still, sometimes we do forget… I hope you both, as well as young Paul are well. He and Chris would get along so well, they are so much alike. Only… you in Connecticut, with money to spare, and me in Winnipeg. So near, yet so far…"

"Dad!" Chris called and came back to the door, waving to grab his attention. "Hurry up!"

"Ah." He smiled. "Coming kiddo!"

"Come on dad." Chris laughed, his young face bright with simple joy.

Come on dad.

Come on dad.

Come on dad!

COME ON DAD!

"Huh?" Ted felt his body jolt as he looked around.

"Dad!" Chris was screaming.

"Chris! Where are you?" He called through the darkness, he ran forwards but paused, a scene flashing before his eyes. Somebody had broken into the house, it was dark and hard to see with so few lights on, but Ted had attacked him with a hockey stick and he got away. "It's alright, I'm coming for you! Just stay there!"

"Dad!" Chris began to cough terribly. "Dad!"

"Chris?" Ted finally could see, the house was on fire! He ducked from the smoke as he climbed the stairs and up to the bedroom.

"Dad!" Chris was crying in fear, he was on the bed.

"Ted!" Loretta got up, she had been hurt pretty bad, so Chris was staying with her to help protect her since she couldn't move and he was too small to help her get up and out of the house fire.

"Lori, Chris! Let's go, we have to get out of here!" Ted reached out to help her up, Chris running to hold his other arm as he led them out the door.

"Dad, what are we going to do?" Chris sobbed, coughing as the fresh air replaced the smoke in his lungs.

"We have to get to the doctor." Ted looked down at his wife, she was fading fast from smoke inhalation. But she was also hurt very badly, and she had lost a lot of blood.

"Don't worry about me, I'm okay…" She smiled through her quiet whisper as she shut her eyes.

"Come on, stay with us." Ted growled as he lay his unconscious wife in the back seat of the ambulance, fire crews were on the house, police were filing the report and surveying damages, and the paramedics began to work on Loretta. "Come on, you can't do this." Ted growled, tears in his eyes.

"Teddy, it's alright." She whispered meekly, reaching out a weak hand. Ted clenched it tightly. "I love you."

"No, no! You have a son! What about Chris?"

"Chris, don't call him, I don't want him to see me like this." She opened her eyes slightly. "Tell him, that I love him…. I love him so very much, Teddy Bear." Her voice choked as tears began to fall from her own eyes.

"Oh Lori… no." Ted sobbed as he pulled her hand to her face, kissing it. "God I love you."

"Ted…" She smiled lovingly at him as she closed her eyes and her hand went limp.

"No, no, no…!" Ted gasped and buried his face onto his late wife. The paramedics stopped and looked at each other, it was never a good moment when a loved one is lost, and it was something that they had to get used to, and yet it got harder and harder each time.

"Dad? Dad… dad."

"Chris?" Ted turned around and rushed to him. "Chris, I'm so sorry."

"It's alright, dad. Mom told me, I was with her in the bedroom. She told me how much she loved me, she knew what was going to happen. She said, she was sorry…" He tried to stay strong for his dad, but his eyes were red and his cheeks stained with tears.

"Chris…" Ted knelt down and hugged him. Loretta Irvine had known she was going to die.

"It's alright dad, I'm here for you now. I won't ever go away. I'm here for you…"

I'm here for you…

I'm here for you…

Dad, I'm here for you.

I'm here for you.

I'm here.

Dad.

Dad?

Dad!

DAD!

"Dad!" Chris barked in the hospital room, standing over his father's bed as he shook him. "Come on dad, I'm here, I'm right here, wake up!"

"Ugh…" Ted groaned and his eyes slowly opened. "Chris… what the, what…" His blurry vision became less fuzzy as he saw his adult son over him. It was no dream, this was real.

"You're alright, ah, thank God." Chris sighed and then frowned. "Don't you ever freakin scare me like that again! Ugh!" He slumped down in the chair. "I can't believe you. Do you think I like to worry about you dad? Huh! God…!" He growled and began to rant. Ted chuckled to himself and let out a sign, it was like roles were reversed and Chris was the worried father, but then again Ted would hate to see his own son in the hospital. "Especially with how mom died, you go and do some stupid stunt like this. Dad, I don't believe you sometimes."

"I'm sorry… but, I did remember a lot, I had a lot of time alone to think, and…" Ted cleared his throat, Chris glancing up at him. "If I had died, you would be all alone. Sure, you are an adult, but there is so much you don't know, so much we haven't done, seen, so much I haven't told you. So much, there are so many things I wanted to do and say to you, and if I had died, all of that would've just been a long lost dream…"

"Dad…" Chris sighed, his dad must've had a near death experience, and he was in a hospital bed, maybe he should go easier on him. He stood up and sat on his bed, "Chill out dad, it's alright. You have a second chance now."

"Exactly." Ted groaned as he sat up slowly. Chris gasped and cringed but Ted went on, "Chris, you had once asked me a long time ago, about my brother John." He paused and looked around. "John, where is he?" John had been the passenger in his car, after so very many years apart, they finally got time to spend together and were going out to catch up and have some fun.

Chris sighed and lowered his eyes, "Sorry, dad. But, he didn't make it…"

Ted was in shock, he was utterly speechless, "John… my big bro…ther… is, gone…?" His head fell. "Oh my God…"

"Dad, I'm sorry…" Chris was quiet. He was an only child but could imagine losing a brother was worse than a very close best friend. "I never really knew John, and I know today was the first day in years that you finally got to spend some time catching up with each other, but he is still family, and, family is very important." Ted looked up as Chris spoke. "Somebody, once told me that…"

"Yeah, I saw that, when my life flashed before my eyes."

"Dad." Chris chuckled.

"No, I'm serious. And that brings me to what I was going to say. See, John was my brother, he was married to your Auntie Lynn. But they divorced, in fact they were also re-married. But, long story short they had a boy, he has a son, a few years older than you." Ted groaned, pain returning to his body.

"Take it easy, you're loaded on meds dad." Chris sat up to hold him back down.

"No, but, see, he's a wrestler, you might work with him, or have once before." Ted began to cough violently, Chris's eyes shaking.

"My cousin, a wrestler… but, who, what is his name, what does he look like, where is he from? I need to know more." Chris cried, holding on tightly to his shoulders.

Ted caught his breath and opened his eyes, smiling at his son, "You've grown up and made me so proud. You and your cousin may have been completely different, but I couldn't be prouder to call you my boy."

"Dad…" Chris was lost, he had no idea what to say or what was going on. What could he do?

"Chris…" Ted's eyes fluttered as his voice became quieter. "I'm sorry, I guess I won't be able to do all of those things with you after all."

"Don't be crazy dad, that's foolish!" Chris's voice choked.

"Everything I could tell you, now I can't… I'm sorry Chris, I'm so, so sorry…"

"Dad…" Tears poured from Chris's eyes as he bit his lip, his throat closing up dry.

"Forgive me, son… I love you." And with that, Ted shut his eyes and became silent.

"Dad, dad no…!" Chris held his breath as his face turned red, until finally he lowered his head and began to cry, the quiet sounds no longer being able to hide in his chest as they blurted out and became louder and echoed through the empty room.

About a week or so later…

The funeral had been very private, quick and small. Lynn had gone to John's funeral in Connecticut with their families. Chris had already said his goodbyes, so he left alone. Family was something that was very important to the Irvine's, Chris's cousins had made it out, but it was a small turn out, and after that, not much was said as everyone went their separate ways and returned to their normal lives. Chris was left alone to think about his parents, how his dad had always told him how important family was and how even if they were far away the ties would always be a strong bond. The will reading was scheduled for that weekend, so the family lawyer had already assigned a brief meeting time with Chris in New York. Chris had to go back to work, business is business and the show must go in when it comes to the world of show business. Emotionally, Chris was very quiet and self kept about his personal life, not liking to burden others with his private business. Chris's friends knew what had happened so they left him alone until he was ready to talk, of course there was only one person who could get away with talking to him first about things so deep and emotional.

"Chris, are you hungry?" Kari Ketchum asked in the hotel room.

"No." Chris was reading a TV guide on his bed, facing the window, his back towards her.

Kari sighed, she didn't want Chris go be sad, but she was getting angry, she had lost her mom as a toddler so couldn't exactly relate to his situation of having neither parent alive now, but she wanted to see him happy, "I know, coping takes a long time, but, we have to move on."

"It's, it's not that I'm worried about…" Chris spoke up rather quickly.

"Huh?" Kari blinked.

"Death is a part of life, I've made peace with that. When I lost my mom, I felt the same way. This isn't good bye, it's a see you later. I know I'll see them again." Chris turned to her.

Kari's face softened, "Then, what's wrong…?"

"I've just been thinking about how my dad said there was so much he wanted to tell me but never got the chance to, and on his death bed how he wished he had the time to tell me them now, but couldn't." Chris paused for a moment, then continued. "So I've been thinking about what he has told me, you know in the past. And he talked about family a lot, and how important it was to have strong bonds with those you care for." He glanced at Kari who was listening to him intently. He went on, "And he told me that I had a cousin, his father was in the car and died with my dad. But, although I never knew him, he said that he was a wrestler."

"A wrestler?" Kari's eyes went wide.

"Yeah, but I have no idea who he is, my dad couldn't tell me, and he didn't know for sure either."

"What is his name, you know, his real name?"

"Well, his last name is different than mine I know for sure, his parents were re-married divorced parents, if that makes sense."

Kari counted on her fingers, "So then he would have the last name of his mother's former husband. Right?"

"Correct." He nodded.

"So then you have to ask your aunt then."

"Yeah, Auntie Lynn. I don't want to bring up the past after she lost her second husband, my Uncle John. All I know is, I remember his name was… Paul, or something like that."

"Paul…" Kari began to think. "Well there are tons of wrestlers, I'll bet you've worked with tons of 'Paul's' in the past."

"And I may not have worked with him at all."

"You won't know until you call Lynn and find out her ex-husband's last name."

"But I don't have her number…"

"Ah…" Kari went pale at the stupid irony.

"Anyway." Chris cleared his throat. "Tomorrow I meet with the lawyer in New York. You're welcome to come with me if you like."

"Sure." Kari nodded. "We have until Monday to meet up with the others."

The next day, at the will reading…

"Welcome Chris." The lawyer greeted from behind his desk.

"Thank you for seeing me." Chris sat down, Kari did as well.

"I see you've brought a friend."

"Hi, I'm Kari." She smiled.

"Well, I know you're busy, so I'll just begin." The lawyer opened the envelope. "This sealed note inside is directed to be read by you and you alone, I haven't seen it, so you may read it at your leisure. This letter I have open is to the whole family so I will forward it on after today."

"Yes, I understand." Chris nodded.

The lawyer read the letter until finally reaching the end, "And so, I leave my items to my family, however they care to divide it up. My home was rented, so I leave my car to... well, it was totaled, so I suppose the insurance money will go to you instead, Chris."

"Right, uh huh."

He continued, "All bank monies of Loretta and I will be given to you as well, the sole heir of the family, after all final expenses have been paid. The only other items I choose to leave you are the entirety of my office. You may go through them if you wish, keep only what you desire and you can give the rest to family or close friend as chosen. Know that your mother and I love you, are truly proud of you, and to my family, I love you, miss you, and shall see you again. My only wish is that time didn't make us so busy, so busy that we never got to see each other when we were alive." He folded the letter back up and looked at Chris.

Chris was silent in thought and finally spoke up, "Alright. So, I guess I should go to the house now and look in my dad's office."

"Do you have keys?" Kari asked.

"Of course I do." Chris scoffed, pulling them out of his pocket.

And so Chris and Kari took the next plane out to Winnipeg…

"Chris, do you think it was just alright to leave like that? I mean, what about the others." Kari spoke up.

"I told them, they understand. Besides, I don't need a whole crew of chaperones and a child."

"Well then what about me?"

"Huh?" Chris turned to her.

"Why did you need me to come if you don't need anybody?"

Chris smirked, "You already know the answer to that. I wanted you to come."

"Really…?" Kari blushed meekly.

Chris chuckled, "How long have we been friends? You should know me better than to ask silly questions like that. Besides, if I had to pick somebody to travel with, I would have to choose you."

"Aw!" Kari beamed happily.

Chris sighed beneath his smile and put on his headphones, staring out the window in thought. He was still thinking about his dad and about his family past, how he lost his mom so young and so tragically. He had never been an emotional guy, he always kept things bottled up and hidden, he never revealed his weaknesses to anybody. The only one he ever learned to trust was Stephanie, and look at what happened between them. After that, the only person he ever allowed into his life was Kari, he trusted her more than any of the others in his life. Was it because she was just like Stephanie? There was just too much on his mind. He shut his eyes, he needed some sleep.

After arrival, Chris and Kari headed to the Irvine residence…

"So what do you think will happen to the house then?" Kari asked as she looked around, it was a large two story house with a large green yard, flowers under the windows, small bushes lining the hedges by the sidewalk, and a tree in the corner by the fence going to the next door yard. "This is amazing, this is your childhood home?"

"Yeah." Chris nodded.

"It's incredible, you're so lucky!" Kari was beaming in awe at how beautiful the house was.

"Four bed, four and a half bath. Front and back yard, attic and basement. Garage complete with laundry." Chris recited the specs like a hungry realtor.

Kari laughed, "Hey, this mansion is paradise. Remember, I come from an apartment, sharing a bedroom with my brother and one bathroom between the two of us. My grandma had only a one bedroom little house. This place is huge."

Chris smiled, "Yeah, I did have it pretty nice. But, I don't know… I mean, I have a home."

"Are you sure? Are you sure it's a home, and not a house?"

Chris turned to Kari and they stared at each other for a moment, "You know something? You're right. That place, I mean, it's just a place I go on off time, it's just a bedroom to me. But, this is my house."

"Maybe you should make this your residence. You could easily sell your place in Florida and buy it with the rest of the money they have saved in their bank. It is your home, and it's full of memories. I know I'd hate to have to sell our place or move, no matter what, it will always be my home."

"Well, now that that's figured out, come on, I want to show you around." Chris led her inside, and gave her the grand tour. "I saved the best part for last."

"Oh yeah?" Kari followed him out a door into a room of darkness. A light turned on as the garage door opened to reveal what lay inside. Kari gasped, "Oh my gosh…!"

"Great isn't it?" Chris stood proudly next to a beautiful black convertible Mustang, 1965, in nearly complete mint condition. "This is my dad's car, we used to work on it, and he said one day he would give it to me. I knew he loved it though, and all the time and money he put in working all those hours, I could never take it from him."

"Wow." Kari didn't even want to touch it, it was so perfect. "I know what you mean, my dad was like that with his cars. But never ANYTHING came close to like THIS. Whoa."

"Well, I guess I ended up getting after all though." Chris smirked as he rubbed the top. "Money, house and car."

Kari sighed, this must be so hard for Chris to come back and see all of these memories now that his parents were both dead, "I, I'm sorry Chris."

"Hmm?" He turned to her.

"I wish I knew what to say, I want to do something or be there for you, but, I can't… I don't know how to act. It's so hard for you and you try so hard. This is a tough time to you, and I can't really relate, so I don't know how I can be of any help towards you."

"Kari…" Chris sighed and walked over to her, putting a hand on her arm. "Just you being here, that's enough."

"Chris…" Kari felt her heart racing and she blushed slightly, having to glance away. "Shut up…" Chris just laughed.

Finally after seeing everything and making up his mind, Chris locked up after taking one last look around, "Well maybe in a few weeks I can take some time off and look take a better inventory and move my stuff over, and all that."

"This has been enough for one day, we should just call it quits and head back for now. We've still got a job to do."

"Yeah. And my cousin… I wonder who it is." Chris sighed as they walked off.

"I'm sure we'll find out. I mean, this is the marquee of sports entertainment. There isn't any other company around anymore, he would have to come here one way or another."

"What if he already came and went?"

"And what if he's already here? We don't know yet Chris."

"Why wasn't I told sooner? Why was it kept from me? This just seems so strange. Almost like he was hiding something from me, something he knew that he didn't want me to find out."

"Maybe they're criminals."

"Hey…!"

"I'm kidding! Look, we can ask questions and not get any answers, or we can look and keep going and maybe find them ourselves on our own."

Chris paused and made a face, "You know, you don't have to worry about this."

"I don't have to, but I want to." Kari smiled. "No matter what, we're always there for each other. I'm not going to get afraid or back out now. We're in this together, and I'll stick to it till the end. Because, I know you would do the same for me. Isn't that reason enough? Friend?"

Chris chuckled, "Yeah, sure whatever helps you sleep at night." He walked off.

"Hey shut up!" Kari laughed, chasing after him.

And so, things went back to being business as usual… but that didn't last too long…

"Chris, I'm going to be having you work with Triple H." Linda was saying in their meeting.

"Aw man…" Chris groaned to himself. "Things just keep getting better and better. Alright, that's fine. So will it just be a beat down?"

"For now, we'll see how it takes and go from there. Talk with Triple H and try to hammer things out."

"Yeah, hammer is right." Chris grumbled.

"We're going to do the injury angle, so get ready for a beating." Linda grimaced.

"Yeah, I know." Chris sighed. Linda was pretty much at the mercy of Triple H, she was in charge but Vince had left him with the title, and in order to make the angry man happy, you had to do whatever he wanted. "Well thank you."

"I know everything will be alright."

"Hey, I can take some of my aggression out right? Everything will work out for a reason." Chris gave her a reassuring smile and left the room. He headed towards the gym in the arena where of course Triple H would go to work out. Chris took off his shirt and began to box with the body bag, punching and roaring in rage. "Why does my life SUCK!"

"Do you mind?"

"Huh?" Chris turned, panting and dripping with sweat to see the man himself enter.

"This room is for real athletes." Triple H grumbled quietly, the kind of man who spoke quiet but exploded physically to let his fists do the talking.

"Beat it!" Ric Flair chimed in behind him.

"I don't see why we can't share." Ivory protested quietly, she had nothing against Chris. Why she hung out with the likes of Ric and Triple H was beyond Chris's understanding. "The room is big enough for both of you."

"You just don't understand, diva girl." Ric laughed, causing Ivory to frown angrily at him.

"So, little man. I hear we are to work together." Triple H passed Chris, leaving them to face their back towards each other. "I'll have you know, I've gotten stronger since the last time we met. I will destroy you if you can't hold your own."

"You just bring it, brother." Chris snarled, turning around. "You think you earned that title, it's only because Stephanie didn't give it to me that you ended up with it."

"Then prove me wrong…" Triple H glanced over his shoulder, causing Chris to freeze. "I'm better than you in every way. I grew up with money, my body is better, hell, even my blonde is better than yours." He smirked. "Just try, just try and prove me wrong." He walked off to go pump iron, Ric and Ivory following him. Chris snarled as he watched them go.

"Geez, what an ass."

"Huh?" Chris turned towards the doorway. "Kari…!"

Kari scoffed and walked towards him, leering at Triple H, "I am soo sick of that guy. I thought he was cute at first, I respected his athletic ability, but he's just a pompous dork! Where does he get off it…"

"Well, he may be right. He's like a bigger and better version of me."

"Please, he's nothing like you! You have such a better personality, and you're smoking hot!"

Chris chuckled, "Yeah, yeah… he is…"

"He would sell out his own family! I feel sorry for his poor parents. I hear that one is dead, or divorced or something. So maybe his childhood messed him up. Money can isolate you."

"Yeah, he's… hey, wait…!" Chris gasped, his heart freezing as thoughts flashed through his mind. "Triple H had money… he's from Connecticut… his family life, secluded in his childhood… He's blonde, and…" He squinted, in the darkness he could see both Lynn and John's faces. "Oh no…" His eyes shivered as he placed Triple H's long blonde hair around the face. "And Auntie Lynn…" A fear formed in the corner, and in a flash of light. "Dear God. Paul is… Paul is…. Triple H, is…!"

"Chris, what is it…?" Kari was wide eyed and shaking from Chris's physical appearance, she could tell by his stature and pale expression that something was really wrong.

"NNNAAAAAAHHHHHHOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!"

"Hmph." Triple H scoffed. "What's that idiot roaring about…?"

"Beats me, doesn't concern us." Ric shrugged it off.