Title: After Montreal

Rated: M (Mature)

Genre(s): Romance/Drama

Pair(s): Bret/Shawn, Mark/Hunter, etc.

Summary: That match may have cost him more than his reputation in Montreal. The entire roster is thrilled that Shawn is the new champion… but Shawn could care less. Because, out there, in front of millions of fans, he broke a man. He lost his boyfriend. And he's not sure that he could ever win him back. Until he receives news that could alter both of their lives forever…

Disclaimer: I don't own anyone, besides my OCs.

Warning: Slash, Mpreg

Part: 2/? – The 'Talk'

OOOO

Shortly after Shawn vanished with the children, Hunter stormed up to Bret's locker room and beat on the door harshly. A series of muffled curses came from within, but as far as Hunter could tell, there was no movement toward the door. Frustrated, he hit the wooden frame harder, practically screaming at the inhabitant. What right did this man have to make Shawn cry like that? How could he just ignore Shawn, when all Shawn could do was desperately plead for atonement? It killed Hunter to see his friend like that, and if he had to tear Bret a new one, he would.

He had attracted the attention of several other wrestlers who were still wandering the halls, but he couldn't care less. His attention was focused soley on the Hitman. If his concentration strayed for even a moment, he feared that he would lash out at an innocent bystander and only serve to cause more harm… no, he wanted to save all of that frustration for Bret. At that moment, he didn't care that Bret had just lost his title to a man who he thought he could trust. He didn't care that Bret was hurt. In fact, even if he would never admit it aloud, he wanted him to hurt.

"Damn it, Bret! Open the fucking door before I break it down!" Hunter hissed, continuing his violent assault on the Hitman's door. Still, there was silence within. "I know that you can hear me, Bret."

All of a sudden, the door swung open and Hunter was barely able to refrain from breaking the man's nose. "What the hell do you want, Helmsely? I'm tired, I hurt, and I'm not in the mood to deal with your shit."

"I'm here to talk about Shawn." Hunter said. His blunt nails cut into his skin as he tried not to throttle Bret.

"Why the hell would I want to talk about Shawn? More importantly, why would I want to talk about him with you?"

Hunter's eye twitched. "Shawn was extremely hurt by your actions -,"

Bret cut him off. "Oh, he was? Glad that he knows what it feels like, now."

Bret didn't anticipate the fist coming at his cheek, the impact resounding in the now-vacant hallway. Or, maybe he had forseen it. Maybe he wanted Hunter to hurt him. Slowly, Hunter's hand fell down at his side. This may be his only chance to land a hit on the Hitman… after all, it wasn't like he was in the mindset to defend himself, let alone fight back. But he couldn't do it. Images of how heartbroken Shawn would be if anything ever happened to Bret, even more heartbroken then he was now, held Hunter's fists at bay.

"Is that the best you have, Hunter?" Bret asked calmly, absently rubbing his swelling cheek. "For some reason, I expected more from the Connecticut Blue Blood."

"Don't tempt me, bastard." Hunter hissed. "I'm not here to hurt you."

"Really? Shocking."

Hunter shoved the older man back a bit, his dark eyes narrowed. Bret looked unfazed. "Like I said, Hitman, don't tempt me. You were an asshole to Shawn, and -,"

"Could you just hit me again?" Bret asked around a yawn. "'Cause, to be honest, I'd rather have a shiner than sit here and listen to you bitch."

Hunter didn't disappoint. He hit the older man's forehead so hard that blood sprayed his fingers, but Bret didn't even seem like he noticed. In fact, the Hitman was actually smiling. Laughing, even. Hunter was a little worried that he had given the man a concussion, or maybe his brain had melted… because a normal man wouldn't laugh when he was about to be beaten to a bloody pulp by his boyfriend's best friend. Then again, Bret had never been normal. If only to wipe that sarcastic little smile off of Bret's face, he landed a blow on Bret's nose. It broke with a crunch.

The Hitman's eyes fogged over as he rocked a little bit on his feet, and he tentatively reached up to find a steady stream of blood flowing from his nose. For the most part, the wound on his forehead was contained. He grabbed a dirty shirt out of his gym bag and pressed it to his face, thankful that it didn't really fit anymore and would have been utterly useless anyway. Bret looked at Hunter, trying extremely hard to keep him in focus. Maybe he had pushed the tiny blond a little too far with that last comment…

"I'm sorry." He said, but his voice was muffled by the fabric of the shirt. "You came here to talk about Shawn, and I was hostile toward you. Don't worry about this," he motioned to all the blood. "I'll be fine in a few hours."

Hunter looked him over once, finding that a little hard to believe. "Why didn't you let him explain?"

Bret shrugged, flinching when it put pressure on his nose. "What was there to explain? He betrayed my trust and took my title. That's it. Case closed."

"Why don't you understand that there is so much more to it than that?" Hunter asked, exasperated. "You know that Shawn loves you, and he would never willingly chose to betray you."

"That's kinda hard to believe, considering the fact that I watched him parade out of the arena with my belt on his shoulder. You weren't the one who got screwed, Hunter. So you wouldn't understand."

Hunter shook his head. "No. It's you that doesn't understand."

Bret raised a dark eyebrow. "What don't I understand, Hunter? Enlighten me."

"You don't understand how broken he was by this -,"

"Why does everyone want to take Shawn's side? 'Poor Shawn, he had to face the Big Bad Hitman, use his own move against him, and then steal his title!' Oh yes. It's such a sob story for poor Shawny." Bret hissed. "If that's what you've come to preach, I don't want to hear it. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to see the trainer about my nose."

With a sigh, Hunter allowed himself to be shoved aside so that Bret could move down the hall in the direction of the trainer's office. He really had done a number on the man's face. He could only hope that Shawn wouldn't murder him when he saw the full extent of the damage. But, really, Bret had asked for it. All he had wanted to do was talk to the man, and Bret had had to make it violent. However, Bret hadn't laid his hands on him once. Maybe that was his intention from the start. Maybe he wanted this. Only time would tell…

OOOO

"Mommy!"

Silence.

"Mommy!"

Silence.

"MOMMY!"

Shawn turned around violently, taking his eyes off of the road for mere seconds to see what the hell was going on in the backseat of the car. "What is it, Annalisa?" He hissed out, tired and in pain.

"Mommy, make Bryan leave me alone!" Annalisa whined, trying to become one with her carseat.

"Bryan, be nice to your sister."

For the first time in the last ten minutes, silence resounded. It sounded as if Annalisa had finally managed to fall asleep, and Bryan occupied himself by trying to decipher the colors of the cars that passed by in the darkness. When he would get one right, he would then try to spell it. Shawn smiled when he added an 'a' into 'red'. Focusing back on the road, he eased into the turning lane and waited for the light to turn green. Once again, that nauseous feeling from earlier came upon him suddenly. Casting it off as adrenaline, he didn't think too much of it.

After they reached the car, Shawn had developed a killer headache. It didn't help that every five minutes or so, the children would start to annoy each other. If he could, he would move Bryan up to the front seat, but the little boy wasn't big enough yet. Taking a deep breath, he squeezed the steering wheel when Annalisa started to whine again. It seemed like Bryan had taken some of his toy dinosaurs out of his knapsack and was enjoying throwing them at his sister. Soon, the whines turned to screams.

"Would you two shut up? Ten minutes, that's all I ask. Just… shut… up." Shawn hissed, ready to bash his head against the steering wheel. He could almost envision that nice, warm bed…

"Mommy…" the two children whined. Shawn had never lashed out at them before.

However, none of them would have too much time to dwell on Shawn's harsh words. All of a sudden, a car came speeding down the other lane, swerving back and forth so much that it was obvious that the driver was extremely drunk. Shawn practically had a heart attack when the headlights turned toward his own car, and a series of muffled curses left his mouth as he tried to turn the car so that it was out of the way of the onslaught. No such luck. Seconds later, the hood smashed into the back passenger side, right by Annalisa's car seat.

Shawn was thrown forward violently, his head smashing against the steering wheel with incredible force. He was unconscious before the car came to a complete stop. Slowly, a thin stream of blood poured from the cracked area of his skull. Tires screeched on the asphalt as the bumper hit the guard rail, effectively stopping their seemingly endless spirals. Shawn's body slumped over the arm rest, still held by the seat belt. That seat belt was the only thing that kept him alive…

Bryan sat in the backseat, unharmed for the most part. He couldn't see anything, but that was probably for the best. However, he could smell gas. Thick clouds of smoke came from the hood, which had bashed against an area of the guard rail in the turmoil. Bryan sat there, terrified beyond belief. What was happening? Was his mommy okay? Was his sister okay? A soft mewl came from the seat beside him, but otherwise there was no sound until the cops and EMTs arrived.

All was silent as Shawn was carefully extracted from the car and loaded onto a stretcher. He had a thick, purplish bruise across his stomach where the seat belt had cut into his skin, and his forehead was bleeding profusely. Bryan turned away, even more scared than before. It barely even registered when two warm arms wrapped around him, removing him from the car and checking over his injuries. When he decided that he looked okay enough to walk, he was handed over to another EMT and sent to another ambulance.

Finally, Annalisa was removed from the car. The EMTs not handling the child all looked away. They could have lived a thousand years and never have seen such a heartbreaking sight. Before Bryan could blink, she was loaded onto the third and final ambulance. The sirens went on. An EMT closed the doors, before she started to attach him to the different machines to check his blood pressure and pulse. When she saw how scared Bryan was, she offered him a small smile and rubbed his shoulder.

"It'll all be okay kid. You'll see." Those were the last words he heard before it all went black.

OOOO

A/N: I was contemplating how much insight I should give into Annalisa's condition, but I figure I'll leave it as suspenseful as possible. Remember: Reviews are 3!