Hah, I managed to post 2 chaps this week! Am I a good girl or am I a good girl? ;-)

Thanks for your reviews and: I love you guys! Hope you'll enjoy this chap as well as the other 2 :D

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To my sincere surprise his odd magic tomato sauce tasted really good. My approving sounds made Randy grin like a Cheshire cat and I wondered if he had cooked for someone else before. Well, probably for Sam, but he seemed to be genuinely happy that I liked it, almost like it was the first time someone liked his cooking. He looked… cute.

We ate in silence, except for my occasional "Mmh!"-grunts, until he leaned back and gave me a frown.

"Okay, so why magic?" he asked casually.

I gesticulated between the two of us.

"I've had a bad day, you've had a bad day, until we came here. Then you started with that sauce and TATA, our mood changed from bad to good. So, it must be a magic sauce. It's as simple as that," I explained, grinning.

He gave me a funny look.

"Ooh, I think I have to cook more often, if my food does magic?" he chirped happily.

"Heaven forbid, no!" I exclaimed and focused back on my food.

A second later I felt something sticky on the side of my face. A spaghetti. That brat had thrown a spaghetti at me. I looked up at him, pursing my lips, but he only sat there, eyes on his plate and a smug smile plastered to his face.

Okay, if he could do smug, I could do, too. Therefore I let the spaghetti be where it was and continued to eat. He didn't say anything about it, me neither and the only sign that he was amused was that every once in a while the corners of his mouth twitched. And let me tell you that, it wasn't easy for me to stay serious. That piece of pasta stayed perfectly fine on its place during the whole dinner. After finishing dinner, I started to carry the dishes into the kitchen, put the stuff into the dishwasher… the spaghetti still stayed where it was.

When I turned to go back to Randy, he suddenly stood right behind me and I almost ran into him. I hadn't heard him follow me. Talk about catlike moves. He stared at me and arched an eyebrow.

In response, I folded my arms and asked: "What?"

"You're looking pretty silly, you know?" he answered and had obviously a hard time not to laugh.

I arched an eyebrow myself and had to bite my tongue, trying to prevent the laughter that crawled up my throat.

"Well, duh, Orton."

"But you have to admit that I'm good at aiming, Cena."

Well, he had a point there, he'd managed to put that sticky little thing from the corner of my eye, right over my cheek to the corner of my jaw in a straight line. I nodded approving.

"Yeah. Yeah, you are."

"You should peel that off before it sticks to your face permanently," he remarked, pointing at the spaghetti.

"Nah," I shook my head no, "it was a present from you and I don't throw presents away, you know?"

That did it, he turned away and began to chuckle, trying unsuccessfully to cover it with a cough.

"Hah! I won!" I crowed over my triumph in our little who-loughs-first-competition.

When he finally stopped chuckling and coughing and turned back to me, I greeted him with a bright smile and he smirked back, shaking his head.

"John, John, you're not only looking silly, you are silly…"

"No news, Randal."

Randy's eyes locked with mine and for a moment we just stood there, looking at each other. Then his smile vanished a little and he reached out, hesitantly.

"Let me get that off," he whispered and his fingertips touched my cheek, pausing there for a few heartbeats.

I felt a warm tingle where his fingers lay and it cost me all my self-control not to close my eyes and lean into his touch. His eyes… some strange expression shone in them and for a second I hoped that he…

Then I felt him peel the spaghetti off. He threw it into the sink.

"John…" he started and I noticed how hoarse his voice suddenly sounded, "promise me that you never try to change who you are."

His request took me aback, because I wouldn't have expected something like that and I wondered what was going on. But I nodded.

"I not planning on doing so," I answered slowly. "Why?"

"Just… promise me, okay?"

"Okay, I promise. Randy, I'm a little worried here. Care to tell me what's wrong?"

He waved aside and tried to bring back a smile on his face, but it wasn't a convincing one.

"I… I don't know. I guess… too much stress. Too many things that have changed. You are the only constant in my life and I don't want to lose you."

If I've ever been speechless, then it was in that very moment. I felt a wave of warmth run through me and at the same time a shiver ran down my spine. I opened my mouth to say something, though I honestly didn't know what to say, when he saved me from not knowing what to do.

"I could do with a beer," Randy grinned, obviously embarrassed, and went to the fridge to fetch some.

When he turned back to, I took a step towards him and hugged him tightly. I took him by surprise I guess, because he froze for a second, before returning the hug.

"Thanks," he whispered right beside my ear and his breath against my skin gave me goose bumps.

"Anytime," I whispered back.

When we l let him go, I stole one of the beers in his hands and grabbed a bottle of Whiskey in addition on my way to the living room. I heard him follow me. This evening was different from all evenings before. Something was going on and I was curious what this evening held in store for us…

The evening went smooth, we talked, drank, talked, drank… and his mere company did wonders on me. He simply made me feel better and to me it seemed that at least for now he forgot about the trouble at home. He smiled, laughed, bickered and joked around carefree. His tension loosened and within a short time he looked ten years younger. He told me about his last trip to the zoo with Alanna and while I watched him, I couldn't help but smile. Complete happiness shone in his eyes, like always when he talked about his little girl. Randy Orton, the perfect daddy.

My thoughts drifted to Sam. I imagined how she sat at home, angry, alone. Again, it wasn't fair to her that her husband left her to come here but, call me an egoist, I was incredibly glad and relieved that the day had ended this way. And somehow it was her fault, too. There had to be a reason why Randy tried to get away from home, no matter what.

I love him with all my heart and believe me, I would do anything, really anything if it meant to keep him safe and happy. I would even give my life for him. As cheesy as it sounds… it's a fact. That's why I always wished him the perfect family and it was heartbreaking to see that his family obviously breaks apart.

Now, my life hadn't been easy as well in the last few months, but in a different way and at least I have him close to me. Call me a masochist, but I rather have him around and suffer than not having him at all.

His report about his zoo trip with Alanna ended and he fell silent, staring at the beer in his hand. He'd always been there for me when I felt bad and although he now smiled, I knew he was hurting inside.

"Wanna talk about Sam?" I asked quietly.

Randy's head shot up and the smile vanished.

"John, I don't want to burden you with that shit."

"Hey, that's what friends are for," I tried to encourage him to tell me his problems.

He nodded slowly.

"I don't know where to start. Lately I can't do anything right for her. She blames me for everything. And she obviously thinks that I'm cheating on her, because I caught her searching through my stuff."

His voice was heavily laced with sadness and sounded drained, tired and my whole body itched to just hold and comfort him.

"Her jealousy is suffocating. She hates it when I spend time with you. She wants me to work less. Hell, she even was jealous when I went to the zoo with Alanna for the third time in a week instead of going out with her for shopping. I mean, jealous of her own daughter? I don't get her. I guess… we just driftet apart over the past months."

A heavy sigh escaped his lips. His tension was back and I felt a knot built up in my stomach.

"Probably you should go for a holiday with her and leave Alanna with her grandparents?" I suggested. "Time to make things good, you know?"

He shook his head no.

"Just the two of us and no distraction? No, we would kill each other…"

"We could spend less time together if it helps…"

"No, John, no. That's not an option. I don't want that... I guess sometimes it's too late to repair the damage…"

My thoughts suddenly jumped to his duffel bag upstairs. It was now that I noticed that it was too jam-packed for only one night out. Why would he stay out more than one night, he had never done that before… Could that mean that he had already broken up with her?

"You can't give her up, Randy. You married her because you loved her, you have a daughter…"

"I know all that, John. That's why I told her that I need a few days off when I got my stuff."

That would explain the jam-packed bag and somehow I was relieved.

"So you're gonna stay a few days?" I asked.

"No, I'm going to stay at a hotel. I need time to think, alone."

And with that my relief was washed away. Time, alone, to think seldom produced good things which meant it could be bad for me, too, even if he'd said otherwise a few minutes ago.

Again it was as if he could read my thoughts and he said: "Don't worry, John. I'm not going to break up our friendship. Promise."

Then he laughed bitterly.

"You should be happy to be a bachelor, John. Less problems."

Well, that wasn't quite true, I had my problems but I couldn't tell him, right?

I decided to go with the flow and just answered: "There were girls, but it simply didn't work out."

His eyes were back at his beer and a deep frown appeared on his face.

"I never understood why none of those girls ever claimed you on the spot. They must have been blind," he stated and his voice was so damn tender, that I didn't even think about the next thing I did.

"Then why don't you do it?" I replied, my voice just above a whisper and realized too late that I had said it aloud and that he'd heard it, because he nodded barely noticeable.

Frozen like a deer in the headlight I dared not to breathe, waiting for Randy's reaction.

Randy only looked up and answered as quietly: "I already did."

Speechless I tried to catch up with the situation, wondering how Randy had meant it. And I could read in Randy's eyes that he knew what I was thinking. A small and sad smile appeared on my friends handsome face and he got up and left the room, leaving me without an answer to my unspoken question.

I sat unmoving, trying to think straight. I failed, miserably. This was so damn not good…