Hope you all had a good holiday! Also hope that you're all enjoying the story :P
A BIG thank you to: wAcKiEjAcKiE826, fairytink101, & LadyLit for the reviews on the last chapter. I appreciate you doing so! And TY for all the new story alerts/favorites. It makes me happy hehe :) As does, reviews...so leave one!

Don't forget that italics mean a past event :)

"I'm hungry," the little brunette whined from the backseat, with a sleeping Randy settled on the other side.

Stealing a glimpse in the rearview mirror, Mike bit back the smile that was widening on his face. Melody had been complaining for the past half hour about wanting to stop somewhere for food but he had no intention of doing so anytime soon. He loved toying with the diva, she got so easily irritated.

"This is why I hate riding with you guys," she began. "I knew I should have ridden with Melina and Jillian instead. They would have had the decency of stopping at like, a gas station for snacks when I was suffering from starvation."

"Being a little overdramatic, are we?" Ken questioned from the front-passenger seat, his head resting against the window.

Rolling her eyes, Melody slouched down in her seat and laid an arm across the duffel bag resting between her and Randy. "Says the man who once barged into my hotel room because he thought I stole his pack of gum." This statement invoked a chuckle from Mike who knew exactly where the missing pack had gone—though he never revealed his knowledge about it.

"I was stressed and I needed it," the Wisconsin loudmouth declared, repeating the same explanation he had given to everyone else when word hit the locker-room that he had thrown a fuss over some silly gum.

"You were such a little bitch over some gum," the former reality-star declared, trying his best to keep his attention focused on the black asphalt road, otherwise he would have lost his composure and erupted into a fit of laughter.

Ken exchanged a scoff in reply and slowly closed his eyes. "Shut your pie-hole. I've got to catch up on my beauty sleep."

"Ha, good luck with that," Mike muttered under his breath.

A few minutes passed before Melody's stomach growled, reminding her that she craved food. Meanwhile, the Chick Magnet kept both hands planted on the steering wheel but thrashed his head back and forth to the music that filled the vehicle. Shifting her eyes around, Melody debated the decision of whether or not she would attempt to sneak a piece of Ken's gum to chew...to serve as a distraction from her hunger. He wouldn't notice if she took one piece, right? Just when she was ready to unfasten her seatbelt, the young woman's memory was jolted with a fact she should have remembered instantly when she first began to hear the grumblings from her stomach.

Protein bars.

Randy always had a few packed away in his bag and she suddenly found herself excited over the idea of unwrapping one and sinking her teeth into it. Boy, she must of been that hungry to salivate at the mere thought. Gazing down at the black bag she had propped her arm upon, Melody slowly unzipped it and began searching through it for her desired protein bar when something else caught her eye. Moving aside the near-empty bottle of Jack Daniels inside, Melody carefully took a diamond ring into her hand. A ring that once represented a future of love and happiness...

For the past three hours, Melody and Cody had been scavenging bars and dialing hospital numbers in search of their friend who had disappeared after the show without a single trace. Calls that went directly to voicemail and his visiting fiancé who had been too distressed to explain his whereabouts resulted in them fearing the worst. When none of the hospitals claimed him, their minds settled with ease before overturning with worry once again. Where was he? Was he lying unconscious on the side of the road and no awareness of so had stirred around him?

Bars and pubs were destinations in the search but that resulted in Cody and Melody splitting paths to quicken the probable find. Each wandered to and from a number of various drinking establishments before the former WWE champion was found in a bar located no more than a few miles away from their hotel.

"You know I don't like hide-n-seek," Melody greeted upon walking upher hand positioned against his slumped form. "You've had me worried sick. Cody and I have been looking for you everywhere."

No response.

His body felt tense and he made no effort to look at herhis vision lingering on the once again empty glass of scotch in his hand. If their eyes had met, she would have found the formation of tears brimming in his. This wasn't a picture of the Legend Killer often seen, if ever. His mind had surrendered to the dueling emotions of anger and dejectionhis emotions blurring with drink after drink.

"What's wrong, buttercup?"

Oh little Melody. Wherever life had taken him in the past few years, she was dashing along at his side. He loved her just as he did his biological siblings but at twenty-four, she was a baby still. At least in his eyes. She had never been as fragile as he believed but the need to protect her had always been naturally innate. Now, his world stood still and little did he know, the roles would reverse and she'd soon find herself watching over him.

"She's been cheating on me." Randy's words escaped his lips before he had realized. Before anything else could be said, Melody's arms enveloped tightly around him, wanting to steal away his pain. She didn't need to hear anymore. If he was hurting, her heart was aching too. However, his jaw clenched upon her embrace and he pried her arms from him. "I need to be alone."

"Randy—" she started.

"I don't want to talk to you right now." For the first time since she had arrived, Randy locked his eyes with hers and discovered the young woman staring at him in utter confusion. Randy Orton would not show anyone his shattered form. No one. Not even her. "Leave."

"You shouldn't be alone right n—"

"Get the fuck out of here, Melody!" he harshly barked at her. He didn't intend for it dance so coldly from his mouth and yet, it did. It not only rattled her but it also unnerved him. He had never spoken to her in a tone like that beforefrightening them both. Sinking her teeth into her bottom lip, Melody held her own tears captive until she turned and rushed out.

After she had left, Randy downed countless numbers of drinks but nevertheless, he was able to get into a cab and back to the hotel during the wee hours of the morning. Instead of returning to his own room, where he was confident his fiancé, or better yet, now ex-fiancé, was awaiting his homecoming…Randy stumbled his way through the halls to find room 431.

Melody's eyes shot open at the sound of rapid thudding against the door to her room. Her roommate for the night, Layla, stirred at the sound but remained asleep. "That girl could sleep though anything", Melody had always said. Slipping out from under the covers, Melody rubbed her eyes as she sluggishly made her way to the door. When she pulled the door open, she was greeted with the scene of Randy slouched against the door frame, his eyes glazed over. No words were exchanged and Melody was somehow able to drag the 6'4 man into the room and to her bed. Before his eyes closed, he uttered a quiet, "You I know love you, right kid?"

This began a string of routine nights and those words stood as the basis for why Melody put up with it all. He'd drink his troubles away with an endless amount of liquor and Melody would find herself receiving barely comprehensible phone-calls at odd hours of the night to pick him up, or she would awaken in the morning curled up on the floor because she had surrendered her bed for him and didn't want to trouble her roommate for the night. She reasoned to herself and others that he would be better in time—with help. Her help. Heartache and misery simply didn't disappear overnight.

The ring Melody held caught a shimmer of light and reflected into the rearview mirror which drew Mike's attention. Watching her slowly slip the ring on her finger and study it, the man spoke up. "Whether you see it or not, you and him are going to end up together."