Author's Note: This chapter is mostly background information also. I really hope this isn't confusing! Any reviews are greatly appreciated! Also thanks to Shannygoat for her help in getting this up and loaded!!
A short while later, Jaime's alarm clock went off. She quickly shut it off, so Dave wouldn't wake up. Dave still had his arms around her, so that made it difficult to effortlessly get out of bed. She wriggled a bit, and his grip lessened, but he never woke up. She smiled, as she sat on the bed watching him sleep peacefully. Noticing it was already 6:15am, she threw on some sweat pants and softly kissed Dave goodbye.
Jaime had a busy morning, practice at the rink from 7am-8:30am, then 30 minutes of weight training, followed by an hour of cardio. After that she had ballet 11am-12pm, and a meeting with her coach and manager at 1pm to discuss upcoming events and shows. She was out of the competitive world, but did still do shows. What she really wanted to do was coach. Watching the little kids on the ice, learning a new move, a jump or spin, or even to just stop made her smile. She kept her focus all morning long, not wanting to let her mind wander back to the 6"5 animal that was sleeping naked, in her bed.
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When Jaime arrived home it was a little after 2pm, and she was tired. She was a sweaty, tired mess and all she could think about was a long hot shower. Her whole body probably ached, but all she could feel was her lower back muscles constricting. Jaime wasn't even sure if she could stand up straight due to the pain. All she wanted to do was turn the water on as hot as it could go, and have it spray directly on her lower back until she either couldn't stand it anymore, or until she had to go to the hospital with third degree burns. Walking past her bedroom she saw that Dave was still asleep in her bed. Being the heavyweight champ had its perks; however, his schedule was gruelling. He rarely complained about it, but she knew that it was very difficult for him, not being able to spend time with his daughters whom he adored. Jaime closed her bedroom door, to try and keep any noise from waking him up.
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It seemed like she had been in there forever, just letting the water hit her tired muscles. Jaime tried to release herself from the physical abuse she had put herself through only a few hours ago. She was leaning against the wall, the steaming water hitting her lower back, trying to give the rigid muscles some relief. Many skaters were riddled with injuries over their careers, some even ended careers. Jaime's lower back injury was no exception. Several years prior she had strained every muscle in her lower back, and even with vigorous physiotherapy she never completely healed. She rarely complained about the pain, but she was constantly trying to massage or rub the muscles to help ease the tension. Her mind began to wander to happier things then the pain. It wandered to one of her favourite topics, Dave. A smile formed on her lips as she thought back to the night it all started...
Jaime had grown up in "the industry". Her parents were both employed for the WWF, before it became the WWE. She understood what the business was, and what was expected of the superstars. She grew up watching Macho Man Randy Savage, Hillbilly Jim, The Junkyard Dog, The Hart Foundation and so many more. She was only 3 years younger than Stephanie McMahon, and they had been friends since they were children. Everyone assumed Jaime would follow in her family's footsteps, somehow being involved in the business that she loved and respected. Vince had offered her a job to work in the company when she turned 18, however she gratefully she declined. She wanted to pursue her skating and go to college to become a social worker, which is exactly what she did.
The crew and superstars watched her grow from a baby into the beautiful woman she was today. She was friends with almost all of the superstars, including a few close friendships with Paul Levesque (Triple H) and Mark Caloway (The Undertaker). Mark kept an eye on her from afar, considering her like a daughter, letting her live her own life, but she knew he was there if she ever needed him. Paul was like her brother, but was involved in her life like an over protective father. It was because of Jaime that Paul and Stephanie began seeing each other. She loved Paul to death, but on a good day she tested his patience like a defiant child. Jaime teased him saying it was practice for when Aurora became a teenager.
Paul's patience and involvement with Jaime was a full time job as far as he was concerned. She had never been close to either of her parents, as they were on the road while she was primarily at home. He vowed to be there more for Aurora, but he could also relate to their decisions, seeing as how he was travelling the world doing the job that he loved. He was lucky enough that Aurora could travel with him and Steph. Marrying the boss's daughter definitely had its perks with that situation!
In 2002, Jaime secretly married her boyfriend of 2 years, Paul's fellow co worker Jeff Hardy. He, as well as everyone else in the world, never understood how they stayed together for 2 years, let alone get married. Jeff was, in Paul's opinion, was weird, unreliable, and unfocused, while Jaime was mature beyond years, had a college education, was an incredible skater, focused and smart. When it finally came out that they had eloped, Paul was furious. He thought that Jaime wasn't thinking things through, and told her he would be there for her when things didn't work out. Never in a million years did Jaime think her marriage wouldn't last. Jeff was not her first boyfriend, but her first boyfriend who truly cared about her. She saw a side of him that anyone rarely got close enough to see. He treated her with respect and love. A true southern gentleman, through and through. Jeff was Jaime's first lover, and never pressured her into anything she wasn't comfortable with. He showed her how a man should love a woman. Things were great until the summer of 2004. Jaime had gotten pregnant in April, which is what they were hoping for. They had been trying to have kids since they eloped, but it took over 2 years. When Jaime found out she was stunned, although they had been trying, it had been such a disappointment each month when it didn't happen. Jeff cried the night she told him she was pregnant and he spent the night talking to her stomach, caressing it and kissing it. Jeff had been released from the WWE in 2003, and he had started wrestling for TNA, which allowed him much more time to spend with his wife. Both Jeff and Jaime were happy he could be with her during her pregnancy.
Matt had been let go a few months before due to the Adam/Amy/Matt scandal. Jaime was at the show the night Matt came to attack Adam in the ring the first time, in July 2004. When Matt was escorted from the ring in handcuffs by numerous security guards, something inside her snapped. Call it hormones, protecting her family, or standing up for what she believed in, Jaime got angry. Shane and Vince were trying to have Matt arrested for jumping into the ring and attacking Adam. Vince was screaming and Shane was trying to convince the cops to take him to jail. Numerous superstars were hanging around, watching the commotion with Matt, Vince and Shane as well as the local police. Before she knew what she was doing, Jaime was arguing with Vince and Shane, shouting at them for their treatment of her brother in law. A crowd was forming around them, some to see if Matt Hardy would really be arrested for trespassing, but most to watch Jaime, as no one had ever seen her like this. Her normal, sweet, quiet demeanour changed into one of rage, anger and aggression. Jaime and Vince were arguing as Stephanie happened to come around the corner to witness her close friend having a verbal altercation with her father. Steph pulled out her phone and call her husband. "You'd better get back her to the entrance, and if you could bring some reinforcements, that might help" she said with a giggle. "What's going on?" Paul asked, as he was reading over the next nights Smackdown! Script. Stephanie continued to head over to Jaime and her father's direction and held out her phone for Paul to hear. "Do you hear that? Sounds to me like someone's hormones are out of control", she said with a chuckle. Paul shook his head. He knew it was his own fault for appointing himself her guardian/big brother. He just never thought he'd get so attached to the little younger girl. Well, she wasn't really little anymore, but back when she was 17 it never crossed his mind he'd be playing referee her to and his father in law. Paul sighed, "I'll be there in a minute Steph. ", he said and closed his phone. Paul began to jog down to the security entrance to try and pull his pregnant friend off of his father in law before someone lost a body part.
Paul ran into someone, literally on his way to the security entrance, and stumbled back. "Sorry man", he said, once stabilizing himself. "Where's the fire, boy?" a deep voice asked. Paul looked up and shook his head at the older man from Texas. "Seems your little princess is in the middle of a fight with my father in law", Paul said while rubbing his temples. A deep roar erupted from Mark's chest. "Well, this I definitely have to see", said Mark as he followed Paul to watch what was sure to be a performance, worthy of any pay per view event.
Mark and Paul had just come around the corner and could hear Vince yelling at Jaime now. Paul cringed as normally Jaime would shy away from any conflict. Vince yelling at her would surely have made her cry, but not this night. Jaime fought back yelling as loud as she could, trying to get her point across. As Paul and Mark made their way through the gathering crowd, Paul noticed the change in Jaime's body. The only real difference was the small curve of her belly, now that she was just over 4 months pregnant. She was wearing black yoga pants and a white t shirt that had a little bump poking through the cotton material. A hooded zippered sweatshirt overtop made anyone who didn't know her, not realize she was in fact pregnant. Paul got in between his father and law and the person he considered his little sister. He would have found her outburst amusing under normal circumstances, however, because this was so out of character for her, he was concerned about her getting worked up and the harm that could do to the baby. Paul began pulling Vince away from her, as Mark guided Jaime over to Matt, who was leaning handcuffed by a squad car, past some of the crates they used to store the ring when they were travelling. Jaime's face was red and flushed, her hands trembling slightly. Paul came over to where Mark, Jaime and Matt were. He grabbed her face, forcing her to look at him. "Hey, you have to calm down", he said concerned. Triple H was a loud, rude, obnoxious male brute, while Paul Levesque was a sweet, caring, teddy bear. "Come on darlin, you know this isn't good for the baby", Mark said, pulling her into a hug. "I don't know why I'm so angry!! He KNOWS why Matt is here, so why in the hell is he acting like such an ass?", Jaime asked, tears filling her blue eyes. Paul laughed, "He's not acting like an ass, he IS an ass", Paul told her. Jaime put her hands on her face and took a deep breath. "I don't know what came over me", she groaned. "Hormones maybe?" Steph said as she joined the group. Jaime scoffed, while Paul, Mark and Matt let a smile cross their lips. "Ok, they aren't going to arrest Matt, but they are going to escort him from the building", Stephanie informed them. Jaime nodded and turned to face her brother in law. "I hope I didn't make things worse for you", Jaime said to him. Matt smiled. "I wish this was on video, I'm sure my nephew will get a kick out of his mother screaming at Vincent Kennedy McMahon. Everyone laughed, as Jaime rubbed her belly. "It could be a girl you know Matt", she said. "Nope, second generation superstar", Matt said indignantly. Jaime shook her head as an officer and Shane began to escort Matt to the back on the squad car to take him back to his hotel.
Paul, Stephanie and Mark went to go talk to Vince who was still pretty angry and Jaime turned to go sit down on one of the crates, and try to find her right mind. As she took her first step towards the crate, a sharp searing pain shot across her stomach. She gasped loudly, grabbing her rounded belly. Shane looked up from his conversation when he heard the noise, noticing that Jaime was now hunched over in pain. He ran past Matt, trying to get over to her. Jaime tried to even out her breathing but the pain only continued. Matt turned around and tried to run over to Jaime, but the officer thought he was trying to run away and tackled him to the ground. "Let me go, she's my sister!" he shouted, trying to get up off the ground. Paul, Stephanie, Vince and Mark all turned around when they heard Matt yelling and saw Shane trying to help her. Mark ran over to her as Vince told Stephanie to go get the company doctor. When Mark got to her he heard her say to Shane "It's the baby, call Jeff". Mark nodded to Shane, who ran over to Matt to get Jeff's number. The pain felt like something was slicing Jaime's stomach open. The pain was unbearable and Jaime felt her legs give out; she grabbed her stomach on instinct to protect the baby in case she fell, but Mark grabbed her in his strong arms. "Come on darlin', stay with me", he instructed her. That was the last thing she heard before she blacked out, praying that her baby would be alright.
That was the night her entire life changed for what she thought was the worse. She lost the baby and her relationship with Jeff, whom she was sure was her soul mate, fell apart. He became distant, he stopped showing up for shows in his new company TNA, and on December 26, while Jaime made her return to a WWE show to visit everyone for the first time since her miscarriage, Jeff filed for divorce. Jaime was served the papers in the hallway backstage, while talking to Dave Batista. Dave was Paul's best friend, and was fairly new to the company. Jaime liked him right away, he was almost shy, he wasn't stuck up and didn't think he was deserving of what he hadn't worked for. He watched every match every night, and would often re watch them when he got back to the hotel, trying to improve his technique so he could be the best.
A young man carrying an envelope walked up to Jaime and Dave, who were in the middle of a discussion about Dave's children, and how he felt terrible as his second marriage was now over and he was worried about how they were taking it. "Excuse me, I'm sorry to interrupt", the young man said, "I'm looking for Jaime Hardy, are you her?" "Yes, that's me, how can I help you?" Jaime asked offering him a smile. The man took the envelope he was carrying and handed it to her. "I'm really sorry about this, it's a part of my job I really do hate, but you have just been served." He told her, and gave her a sympathetic look. Jaime looked quizzically at the envelope and then at Dave. Dave looked at her with concern. He had heard about her marriage trouble with Jeff through Paul and hoped he was wrong, when he thought about the contents of the envelope. Jaime began walking towards the wall as she opened the envelope. She had no idea what was inside. She had heard the phrase "You have been served" on television before, but really had no idea what it all entailed. Dave started to walk away, not wanting to intrude on her personal life, but stopped when he heard her gasp. He turned around and saw her flipping through the pages that were stapled together with a confused look on her face. "I don't understand", he heard her mumble as she began reading the first page again. Dave stood behind her and put his hands on her shoulders. He glanced down and saw the words "Filing for Divorce, Jeff Hardy vs. Jaime Hardy. Reason for filing, irreconcilable differences". Jaime put her hand over her mouth; she could feel the bile rising in her throat. The tears were stinging her eyes. She couldn't believe it. Never did she think her problems with Jeff were this bad, it was something they could work through. Jeff apparently didn't feel the same way.
Dave took the papers from her hand and held her. She tried to struggle a little, but finally the tears began to fall, and she surrendered herself into Dave's embrace. She cried and cried until she physically couldn't cry anymore. She didn't realize it then, but Dave was now a part of her new life.
