I'm glad some people are happy to see Brock coming into the story! I tried to write him the best I could. I didn't want him to come off as pushover when I highly doubt that he in real life. And I don't want to relieve too much personality all at once. But you know he's got to have one, if he is married to Sable. A fact that I didn't know for the longest time, up until last year some time. Of course I already knew who Sable was. I can still hear King's high voice screaming about puppies whenever she was on the screen.

But I had to have him in the plot line, because I'm totally a citizen of Suplex city! I've jumped aboard the Lesnar band wagon, as much as I thought I'd never would. Especially after the streak ended.

But, on we go!

Chapter 4- The Grey

Randy

"That was Casie's plane."

John's words echoed around the room, impacting each occupant. My heart fell into my stomach as I stared at my best friend. His shoulders drooped as his legs shook dangerously. I rushed to his side, placing a hard grip on his bicep, and steered him towards the couch. I chanced a glance over at Lora. She hadn't moved, still boring a hole in the TV with her gaze. I couldn't decipher any emotion on her face. She was just blank. I tore eyes away from her and sat down with John on the couch. "How do you know that was her plane?"

John pulled out his cell phone, and went to his text messages and found the last text he received from Casie and handed me the phone. It was sent in the wee hours of the morning, giving the flight details and times of her trip. I stared at the numbers and compared them to those on the TV. The iron fist around my heart gripped harder. They were identical. It was now that Lora finally seemed to snap out of her stupor. "You don't even know she was on it. She could have missed the flight, or had a layover somewhere and switched planes."

My heart told me that my wife was doing nothing but grasping at straws, but I didn't have it in me to shoot her down. Not when she had lost so much already. I agreed with her just to placate her for the time being. The logical part of my brain knew the truth. It was just something I could feel. But I had no clue on how to start to figure out if Casie was, indeed, on that plane. Then inspiration struck, "I'm going to call Vince."

Both Lora and John nodded at me, and my wife replaced my spot on the couch next to John, rubbing soothing circles on his back. I stepped out onto the front porch, in the hot heat of August. Pulling my phone out of my jean pocket, I took a deep breath and called Vince. "McMahon?"

"Vince, it's Randy," I spoke quickly and quietly. Words almost failed me. How was one supposed to have a conversation like this? But I shook my head, knowing that I had two people counting on me. "Vince, listen. Have you heard about that plane crash in West Virginia? Well, John's here at my house, saying that that was Casie's flight home from London."

"Shit, you can't be serious Randy?" If I didn't already know that he knew I wouldn't joke around with something like that, I would have gotten pissed off. I asked him if there was anything he could to find out if Casie had been on that plane; they hadn't released to the press the passenger list, not even if there were any survivors. "I'll get right on it. It might take some time, but I'll my personal PI's to track her movements down. Randy, watch after John until we have definitive proof."

oo

Time stretched on in an unbearably slow fashion. There was still no word from Vince, and the news had started to show less and less of the wreckage as the hours passed. Lora and John only left the couch to use the bathroom or to pace in front of the TV. I poked my head in on them from time to time from the kitchen. Lora was sitting, legs curled underneath her, flipping through the channels to see if another station had more details. John was staring out of the window, over the front porch, as if he was waiting on Casie to pull up in a cab.

As night fell, I had left the two of them alone to go relieve Luke's babysitter and bring him back to the house. When I returned, I noticed a familiar car in the driveway. Sure enough, when I had entered my home, I saw the blonde Genevieve in the kitchen, tossing some leafy greens in a large bowl and checked on a pre-made lasagna in the oven. And that's where I stayed, because Lora was in no place to play hostess.

"How are they doing?" Ginny whispered from the barstool she perched on. Her face was drawn tight in stress over her friend, and my heart tugged at the show of support for my wife. Not only was she worried for Lora, Genevieve was fretting over John as well. She and John had grown closer in those few days he had kept Keith while everyone here was sick. Keith had Tom coming over to his uncle's house which earned the two adults some bonding time.

"I haven't a clue," I murmured, settling down in the seat next to her. I picked up my glass tumbler of dark brown liquid and sipped at it. The bourbon burned the whole way down, but it was a welcome pain. "I can't help but fear for Lora. She's already lost so much in her life. The thought of having to watch her go through another loss is heartbreaking."

Ginny nodded, sipping on her own red wine. She licked her lips and sat her glass down. "I'm worried for John if the worst comes to pass. I know how it feels to lose someone like that. Especially if you have a child together."

Shame washed over me. I hadn't even thought about Luke, my godson. The little boy could very well have lost his mother today; I was being selfish, just thinking about my wife alone. Back when Lora had the twins, for a short period of time, I thought my kids were going to lose their mother. The thought was life shattering. Pain almost debilitating. I forced myself to look away from Genevieve as I let those thoughts consume me. That poor child.

The sound of my phone vibrating on the glass top of our kitchen table stirred me from my down spiral. I rushed to it, finding an e-mail from Vince. About damn time, it had been over seven hours. I clicked and tapped at my phone until I opened the message.

Randy,

I just received this from my PI Taylor. Its surveillance footage from the layover exchange in Washington D.C. That's where the crashed plane departed from. I haven't viewed it yet. I thought it better that, good or bad, John should be the first. Let me know the outcome.

Vince

I ran into the living room. After informing Lora and John of Vince's discovery, they gathered around me. My heart was beating painfully. This was it, the answer we were all waiting for. Lora wrung her hands around her wrists and John stared stoically at the phone, waiting on me. I took a deep breath and opened the attachment and hit play.

The scene on the screen showed a string of people lining up and handing over their ticket to the flight attendants. Person after person filed into the doomed plane as the time stamp continued to click on. Lora's hand gripped my forearm at the same time I saw her. There she was, Casie, smiling at the woman in the blue suit, handing over her ticket before boarding the plane. The screen went blank as the video cut off. No one spoke. It was like they were afraid to speak, to make this situation real. As if they thought maybe if the silence stretched on, then they could stay blissfully ignorant to fact that Casie was indeed on that fateful airplane. The commercial on the TV ended and the news popped back on, with BREAKING NEWS in red letters across the screen.

"We have just now been informed by the local police in West Virginia, after an extensive search and rescue, there were no survivors. The cause of the crash is still yet to be known. The police are still searching for the black box to try to determine what could have caused such a tragedy—"

Genevieve appeared suddenly, as she shut the TV off with the remote. I looked up at her to see the painful emotions running across her face. And at that very moment, I did not know what to do. I didn't know what to say, I didn't know how to act. It was as if I was frozen in stillness. My brain refused to act, and my muscles wouldn't move. Casie Patterson-Cena. Wife of my, for all intents and purposes, brother, best friend of my wife and mother of my godson was dead. She had died. I couldn't think. I couldn't wrap my head around it.

"No," Lora shuddered out. Her breath quickened and came in short gasps. I finally forced myself to move, if it was to only turn my head to look in her direction. Her eyes were still on the dark screen of the TV. Fresh tears brimmed on her lashes and slowly, one by one, began to streak down her face. "No, no, no."

She buried her face into her hands and started to cry silently. My heart shattered into pieces watching her fall apart. I reached out for her and she fell into my arms, her head tucked under chin. Tightening my grip around her, I felt the couch shift underneath me. John had stood up suddenly, looking around the room, as if for a loss of purpose. If my heart had been broken by Lora, it was nothing compared to seeing the look on John's face. He had just lost his wife. I had no words for him, because if I had been in his shoes, nothing would have helped me. Those moments where I thought I was going to lose Lora had sent me into a tailspin.

Suddenly, John did an about-face and strode purposefully from the house. I stared after him, not knowing what to do. Lora needed me but so did John. He didn't need to be left alone right now. But Lora was a crying mess in my arms. I was torn between my best friend and my wife. A part of me didn't want to let Lora go, having witnessed just how delicate life was; then another part of me reared up with guilt and shame knowing I could hold my wife when John never would again. Genevieve moved to stand in front of me, placing a soft hand on Lora's shoulder. "Go to him. I'll stay with her. He needs you."

I nodded and gave Ginny a look of appreciation and let her arms replace mine around Lora's frame and tore off after John. Once outside, I saw that John's truck was still here, but he was nowhere in sight. I ran to the street and spin in a circle, trying to find him. I spotted a white blob bobbing through the trees directly in front of the house and took off after John's retreating form. Once I caught up with him, we were in a small clearing with a few power poles lined up next to one another. John collapsed against one of the poles and I ran up behind him, placing a hand on his shoulder. John moved so suddenly, spinning around and throwing his arm in a punch, trying to aim it at me. I just barely ducked and his torso hit mine and I brought both my arms around him tightly.

It was then that I realized he was shaking. I heard his breath ripping from his throat and as his cheek pressed against my throat, I felt the wetness of tears. I redoubled my strength in my grip and held on to him. John took a shuddering breath and screamed out at the top of his lungs. I had never heard John make such a sound in the whole time I knew him. It shocked me, but not enough to let go of him. I just held onto him tighter as his screams reverberated around the trees and echoed back to us; amplifying the sorrowful pain around us. His knees gave way and his dead weight propped against me with such force that I staggered into the power pole his had previously used. I felt like the world had just come crashing down around us as I ignored my own tears welling and threatening to spill over.

"O-Oh God!" John choked out as I had to lower the both of us to the ground because I had lost some of my control and could no longer support his weight anymore. I released my tight grip, but still kept an arm around his back. John had lost all control and was in between screaming and crying out in agony. His face was twisted and etched with anguish. "H-How could s-she just be… g-gone? I talked to her l-last night! What am I going to do now? How am I g-going to just go on… w-without her?"

I shut my eyes tightly, feeling my own tears flow down my cheeks. John was broken. There was no other way to describe it. My breath caught in my throat, trying to find something, anything, to say to him. But I knew my words would do nothing to bring Casie back. I swallowed down the jump in my throat and tried to speak without my voice cracking. This was a complete failure. "You've got too, John. You can't just stop living, no matter how much you want to right now. Luke has already lost his mother today; he can't lose his father too."

At my words, John wrenched his body from my grip, and falling to his hands and knees in the dirt before us. His fingers dug into the ground, unearthing soil with the fierce grip from his hands. And his screams started back up again with renewed force. I knew I had only made it worse by bringing up his son. How in the hell was John going to break the news to Luke?

oo

I stood silently in my dressing room, slowly wrapping the black tape around my palms and wrists. To me, and a handful of other people backstage, it seemed pointless to continue on with the Summerslam tonight. Just two days ago, former WWE Diva, Tamara, had been killed in a horrific plane crash. John was nowhere in the building, not even in the same state as the pay-per-view. Vince had postponed his US title match against Rusev, the Bulgarian Brute, until his mental state came back. To my knowledge, no one had even spoken to him since the body of his wife was flown back to him. He refused to speak to anyone, and Luke had been pretty much living with us.

"Hi," a small voice spoke out, and I jumped slightly, not having heard the door open. I looked up to see Lora meekly walking into the room. Lora had decided to come with me, not wanting to be left alone since the death of her friend. "I just talked to Becky. She said the kids are doing fine and are getting ready to watch their Daddy on TV."

A small smile crossed my face at the mention of my kids. But that faltered when I thought back to the night when we told them about Casie. Tiegan had just cried, until she exhausted herself into sleep while Keith was surprisingly quiet about the whole thing. He tried his best hold in his feelings the best he could. My young son was only six years old, but was already an old friend of death. A thought that tore at my heart. He only had an outburst when it was time for Lora and me to leave. He screamed and cried and begged us not to get on any airplanes. He didn't want the same thing that happened to Casie to happen to his parents. He was only consoled when we promised to take the tour bus instead. It tacked on another eight hours to our trip, but it was worth it for our son. I held my hand out for her to take and lead her to the door. "Are you ready for this?"

"No. But that doesn't mean it won't happen with or without me," Lora sighed and tucked herself into my side as we made our way to the arena floor. I wrapped my arm around her and followed the throng of people heading in the same direction we were. At the gorilla station, where the curtain to the entrance was, a huge crowd of superstars stood waiting. I pushed through them and pulled Lora with to the head of the group. They moved quickly out of our way when they realized who was coming through. Everyone seemed to cast sympathetic stares in Lora's direction. They all knew how close the two of them were.

At the head of the group, I saw Vince, Paul and Stephanie. All of them looked as if they had lost a deal of sleep, but none of them as much as Stephanie. She detached herself from her husband and moved to stand in front of Lora. "How are you doing?"

"I'm fine," came her response, but her voice betrayed her. She was anything but fine. But like my Lora, she was strong and willed herself to get through each day, if not just minute to minute. Stephanie engulfed my wife into a bone-crushing hug, her pale green eyes dusting over.

"You can take some time off if you need too," Stephanie said as she pulled back, wiping at her eyes discreetly. Paul reached out and took her hand back in his to try to give her some support. As I did when I pulled Lora back into my chest.

"No, no. I can't do that. Firstly, s-she wouldn't want me too," Lora said, her voice cracking despite her best efforts. She sniffed lightly and took a deep breath to calm herself. "And secondly, I've got some major stuff planned that I'm excited about. It might just be the push you're looking for Vince."

She turned her eyes to stare at Vince McMahon. He was dressed in a light grey suit with a pale blue tie. He smiled at her sadly, clearly appreciating her dedication. A stage hand said it was time to start lining up on the ramp and Summerslam would kick off in five minutes. Lora and I followed behind the three heads of the company and stood next to them at the beginning of the ramp. A tribute to Tamara would start off the pay-per-view. I could just make out Michael Cole, John Layfield and Jerry Lawler beyond the ring, standing behind their announce table. Lillian Garcia was already standing in the ring.

I stood on Lora's right side, with Stephanie on her left. Lora had her feet braced at shoulders width apart, trying to steel herself against the raging emotions inside her. She had her hands clamped together in front of her, and eyes locked onto the ring. I looked behind us and up at the titantron screen to see a photo of Casie, a.k.a. Tamara, displayed.

In memory of
Tamara
1984-2017

"Ladies and gentleman," Lillian began to speak and the crowd went respectfully quiet. "To honor the life of former, WWE Diva Tamara, please rise, as we toll the bell ten times."

The first bell tolled, ringing out into the quiet of seventeen thousand people showing their respects to a true legend in the Diva's division. The second bell followed the first, and I could hear the women around me begin to sniffle in their own sadness. I kept my head bowed, but I cut my gaze to Lora as the third bell tolled. I knew she could no longer see anything in front of her, because her eyes were full of tears, but she refused to blink to allow them to spill. After the fourth bell, her chin began to shake. She reached out for me, only moving her arm, when she heard the fifth bell echo throughout the arena. I quickly grabbed her hand, and clutched it in mine. Her breathing was ragged, but only I noticed. She really was doing a phenomenal job at holding herself together. I could only see the cracks and fissures in her because I knew what her tells were. Finally, the tenth and last bell tolled and the crowd erupted into cheers, celebrating the life that was taken too soon. Tamara's entrance music played and echoed throughout the arena one last time, while everyone clapped along.

"It's a crack, I'm back yeah standing
On the rooftops shouting out,
Baby I'm ready to go
I'm back and ready to go
From the rooftops shout it out
It's a crack, I'm back yeah standing
On the rooftops having it
Baby I'm ready to go…"

oo

Raw the next night, started out in a similar fashion to Summerslam. Except this time, they just replayed the video of the ten bell toll and the video montage of Casie's career. Something for which I was thankful for. I didn't know if Lora could go through that again. After her video was over, they showed replays of the highlights from last night's event. The small screen in my dressing room showed me with Evolution fighting against S.H.I.E.L.D. Then it showed Seth Rollins as he turned his back on Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose, attacking them both with a steel chair as the three of us stood and gawked, and Triple H going to the cheap three count on Dean Ambrose. Then it flash-forwarded to the end of the night, showing Seth stealing the title by using his Money in the Bank briefcase. The video cut out to a live feed to the announcers at their table, who were barely heard over the chants, "You Sold Out".

I stood from the couch and left the room. I was due in a spot backstage in less than thirty minutes, and I had to check in. I rounded the corner when I heard raised voices, voices that I knew.

"What are they doing here?" Pat Patterson barked as I turned to face him. I surveyed the scene before me. The old man was surrounded by Vince, Stephanie and Paul behind him. And Lora, Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar who stood directly in front of him. My hand clenched tightly into a fist when I realized that Pat was accosting my wife.

"They are here because they are a part of the story line I'm writing, and it begins tonight," Lora threw back at him. I had all the respect in the world for Patterson, but right now I wanted to throttle him for yelling at my wife, especially in her current state. "Brock is the new number one contender for the world title."

That little fact was new to me. So that's why they were at the house last week. I had completely forgotten about it after learning the news about Casie. Vince raised his eyebrows so high that they almost disappeared into his hairline. Even Stephanie and Paul looked shocked. Vince cleared his throat, "Lora, I don't know if this is such a good idea."

"Thank you! It isn't! Am I the only one who remembers what a pain in the ass he was last time?" Patterson spit out and fumed towards my wife. Heyman scoffed at his words and brock started bouncing from one foot to the other. I shook my head and moved quickly to stand beside my wife. Brock and Heyman cast me a wary glance before assuming I would take my wife's side. And in this instance, was theirs as well.

"Forgive me, Vince, but you did tell me to pull out any stops that I deemed necessary. And, this is something that I deem," she spoke softly, but strongly, trying to infer as much respect towards him as she could. All façade was dropped when her eyes turned towards Pat. "And you'd be lying through your teeth if you say that Brock is the only man to be a dick upon attaining the title. From what I heard, Randy wasn't the most modest in his first couple of runs. No offense, babe."

I smirked down at her, reaching out to grasp her hand to give it a little squeeze. I wasn't going to deny it. I was an insufferable prick before I met Lora. Paul Levesque sniggered into his hand and I threw him a glare. Like he had any room to talk?

"Besides, Brock here was just a means to an end, to the bigger plot twist I have coming," Lora spoke over the twitter of whispered voices around us. Vince still looked thoroughly unconvinced and Lora broke away from me to step closer to the Chairman. "I give you my word that if these two surprises I planned does not boost the Network sales by fifteen percent, I'll resign and leave the company."

"Lora," I gasped, but she held her hand up to me to quit talking. Her eyes alight with the flame of her passion. Everyone looked as completely shocked as I was. Chancing a glance behind me, I saw that Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar were staring at Lora as if she had just grown two heads. And who could blame them? Not many people stuck their neck out for either one of them as Lora was now. The only one that wasn't shocked into silence was Levesque. If I wasn't mistaken, he almost looked proud.

"Vince, give her a chance. You know as well as I, that Lora has the fan's interest at heart. We have to believe she wouldn't jump into something like this without doing her research, and trolling the forums before pitching this to us." Lora threw him a look of gratitude.

"She hasn't pitched anything! She just brings them here and expects us to be okay with it?" Pat's face was beet red and his nostrils flared dangerously. I took a menacing step in his direction. He better reign it in soon or I might have to knock this legend down a peg or two. "Who does she think she is—"

"Enough!" Vince boomed, and silenced everyone. Pat mouthed something comically, looking like a fish without water. "I agree with Paul. I'll allow this to continue to complete this arc Lora has created. But, Lora, if he puts one toe out of line, I'm going to hold you personally responsible."

And with that, he stormed away. Paul and Stephanie shot worried smiles in her direction before following after Vince. Pat just scoffed and stalked away in the opposite direction. I saw Lora's form slump momentarily in relief before turning back to face the three people still staring at her. She marched right past me and straight into Lesnar's personal space.

"I swear to God, if you ruin this for me, I'll end you. I don't care how big you are, how strong you are or how scary you can be. If I lose my job because I put my neck on the line for you," she fumed, poking him in the chest with each word of her last sentence. She was literally poking a bear. I immediately stepped to her side, expecting the worse. "I gave you my word that I would make you champion. And I plan on keeping that, and making for some extremely enjoyable moments for the Universe. I don't give a damn if you do what they tell you to do. But you have to trust me. I have your back, and I need to know that you've got mine."

As it turned out, my fears were misplaced. Instead of the growling beast I expected to see, he was just staring down at the red headed woman before him with keen interest. He didn't speak but he nodded his head at her. Assuming that's the best she was going to get, Lora turned on her heel and walked away towards my dressing room. Leaving the three of us to stare after her. To my surprise, Brock was the first to speak up.

"Quite the little spitfire, huh?" I turned to stare at Lesnar, seeing no ill will or malice. Just amusement. And, shockingly, respect. I was under the impression that Brock Lesnar respected no one, aside from Heyman. Leave it to my Lora to tame the Beast. He cut his steel blue eyes to meet my gaze. "She's got one hell of a temper on her."

Laughter bubbled into my throat and before I could stop myself, I laughed loudly at his words. Brock cut me a small smirk at my reaction as I began to follow after my wife, speaking over my shoulder, "You have no idea."

Okay, John utterly broke my heart to write about. And I know you all hate for tormenting him! A little piece of me hates myself as well! But as Dr. Ian Malcolm says in Jurassic Park, "Life… uh, um, finds a way"! Sorry, had to throw that in there. Gotta love Goldblum!

I know you all are excited for two chapter updates in one, but don't get too spoiled. I just couldn't keep my fingers quiet today!

Thanks to kimberly316, KarlishaCullen, RKOsgirl92, Chermayne, guest and bingobaby for the reviews! Keep them coming! =D