Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to any of the WWE Superstars listed within this story. All events are purely fictional and any relation to real life is purely my insane psychic ability, but I assure you, it wont be lol

Summary: A one night return turns into a whole lot more for one ex superstar and the man that just couldn't seem to forget about her.


"Randy, dude are you even listening to me?"

He wasn't of course, his mind was elsewhere, what with all that was about to take place in just a few short hours from now. They were yet again in another city, this time one that he had spent many a night in, enjoying the night life, when he was young and didn't have a care in the world.

It had been years since he had gone out and done the things he did then. Finding random women, ring rats as the boys liked to refer to them, and getting so plastered no one, including him could remember their names in the morning light, but the memories seemed to stick with him like glue.

It had been six months since he had officially become single, a feeling he still hadn't been able to get used too. A feeling that even the guys he worked with didn't understand. They wanted the Randy Orton of old back, the one that would party all night, get girls phone numbers, and never call. The playboy, the real and true Viper, the man he just could not be any more.

He had a very valid reason for being a reformed man. Samantha had done that for him at first, but then it had been the birth of his daughter. The day she came into the world, he vowed to be a better man and he had stuck by it, living his life no longer in the fast lane, but more in the carpool lane, the one where everything was safe and contained, just the way he wanted it for the precious angel he now called his entire world.

Thinking about Alanna could bring him to tears in no time, and that was something that he did not want happening as he was supposed to be preparing for a title match that evening. He knew he should be listening to John, his best friend since their mere debuts a few short years before, but his heart wasn't in it, and to be truthful neither was his mind.

His heart was in Missouri with his daughter, and his mind was on the upcoming ex superstar that was about to make yet another hometown appearance in the ring that night. Truth be told, there was something that he had never been able to let go of when it came to the elusive Ms Stratus, and even after all these years, the flame didn't seem to want to fade.

One of course that she had no idea about. His feelings for her, or whatever you wanted to call them had been from afar and until the day she had retired from the ring he had never told her, and with her making an appearance tonight, he was seriously debating whether or not now would be the time. Which was why even as John called his name again, seemingly getting more frustrated, he found himself still not listening.

"Okay so we go out there tonight, and basically I do whatever the hell I want to you and you take it and I win the Championship right?"

He turned his had up instantly at the sound of the match and him losing the title. If there was one thing in the world that could take his mind off missing his little girl, and maybe missing someone who could possibly be a really great love of his life, it was the belt.

Ever since he had been a young child coming to the arena's and watching his father wrestle, he had always had a serious love for the Championship gold. More then that he respected it, and in the end was the sole reason he continued to fight on in a business where injuries were common place and he had been hurt more then he had been healed.

"Yeah, okay smartass. I'm listening. So what exactly is it you wanna do out there tonight besides beat my ass so bad you steal my belt?"

John grinned and Randy, unable to stand it laughed back, his thoughts finally away from what he didn't have, and instead what he did have and what he had to work like hell to keep and defend.

"I want to know where the hell your head is at first of all."

John Cena showing concern? Randy had always known him to be a good man, one that seemed to take great care in the ring and out of it when it came to the people he came into contact with, but to actually sit here and want to get personal when they had a match to plan, well it just wasn't something familiar to Randy.

"Where it always is, at home with my little girl. Now can we get to the match now?"

"Nice try, its more then that. Ever since Vince dropped the bombshell on us last week on live television that Trish would be making an appearance this week, you've been in a mood and before you tell me that's not true, I've seen you dude. You are a train wreck and you ignoring me proves it."

Randy knew he was right. He had been a mess since hearing the news, and as much as he tried to stay in the frame of mind of the Viper, of which he had now been called and had grown accustomed too, he obviously hadn't sheltered his feelings as well as he'd hoped.

"You don't know what your talking about."

"Yeah I know, and Santa Claus is real, and the Easter Bunny really does leave chocolate all over the damn place. Look I get it, you don't wanna get into it, but since I remember a time where you couldn't even speak straight around a certain Canadian diva, you ain't fooling me."

"Fine, I admit it, her being here this week, us being in her hometown, its bringing up a lot of bad memories in terms of the way I used to be before Alanna was born, and its also making me remember that there was this woman, the one woman in the entire company I could spill my heart out too, and I never told her that she meant something to me, and then she vanished."

The minute his speech was done he started wondering if he had said too much. John and him had never had issues sharing things personally before, on the rare occasions that it did happen, but somehow right now, this seemed a little too deep, even for him.

"You think I'm crazy don't you John? Bringing a woman into business."

John shook his head, negatively and immediately threw himself down onto the ring apron, and looking Randy directly in the eye.

"I'll be honest with you, I've been there, you know how I felt about Amy when she was here, and you also remember that much like you I didn't get the nerve up to tell her, and I've regretted it ever since. So no, you don't sound crazy. What you sound like is you have unfinished business and my suggestion is to deal with it, tonight, before it again becomes unfinished and she walks out of her life again, possibly for good."

Randy really played John's words over in his mind, letting it sink in, knowing that he had indeed been there when John had a thing for Trish's good friend Amy Dumas, better known as Lita, and he also remembered that John had also let the woman walk away, something he had never entirely lived down. He also knew his best friend was right, it was either he did something tonight, or he risked her walking from his life and never addressing it again.

Something he just could not admit to being prepared to do.

"I know Sam did a number on you man, I do, but maybe its time to think about what is best for Randy Orton, and not what the rest of the world wants for Randy Orton."

"And how do I go about doing this oh wise one?"

It was then that John motioned with his hands back towards the ring, and then smiled. "Well for starters you work out a hell of a match with me for the show, then when its all said and done, you find the girl, and you ask her out, and for the love of God Randy, you don't let her walk away."