The little Beamer's engine screamed as A.J. red lined it, tearing down a road she could barely see through her tears. The dark clouds that had been gathering all afternoon seemed to mirror her distress as fat raindrops began to splatter on the windshield.
Kane and Lita. Lita and Kane. The image of the two of them together was burned like a brand into her brain. Closing her eyes she could still see them, flushed, clothes ripped and looking down at her with faces guilty as sin.
The steering wheel rumbled in her hand and her eyes flew open. The car was wandering over the shoulder of the road. She yanked the wheel to the left, swerving slightly before bringing it back to the pavement. The rain was coming down harder now, water sluicing over the windshield. Hands shaking, she thumbed the lever for the windshield wipers.
Bright headlights splashed in her rearview mirror. She squinted, looked back and saw Kane's truck, as dark and massive as himself, following right on her tail. Over the drumming of the rain, she could hear a horn blare out. She fixed her eyes on the road ahead of her, her mouth set in a grim line, shaking her head even as tears continued to course down her cheeks.
Kane, how could he betray her? She'd gone to find him, to apologize, to mend the terrifying gulf that had opened up between them in the last week. There had really been no looking for him, there was only one place he could be. And she'd driven up the long pitted driveway with words of atonement on her tongue. And then she'd seen them, kissing….no….mauling each other.
She felt like she'd been hit in the chest by a sledgehammer. The words she was going to say turned to ashes in her mouth. All she wanted was to get out of there, get away from him.
And that was easier said than done. She glanced up in the rear view mirror again and saw he was still right behind her. She thought she could see him, waving at her through the wind shield. She stomped on the gas pedal, slamming it all the way to the floor. She saw with some satisfaction, his headlights receding. No way his gas guzzler could keep up with her nimble little Beamer. She didn't care what he had to say to her, she wasn't hearing it. He'd proven himself just like every other man, faithless, cheating.
But even as she repeated the mantra in her head, her heart ached. Could she blame him, really? Lita was the mother of his son and she was strong, beautiful, exotic. She made A.J. feel like a plain little mouse in her presence. What could she, little geeky A.J. Lee, really offer Kane? She was little, weak, insignificant and prone to bouts of…well…mental instability. Given a choice, why would he choose her over Lita?
Headlights again flooded her mirror. She cursed under her breath as she saw him looming again in her rearview mirror. Why wouldn't he just leave her alone?
Too late she saw the sharp bend in the road. She gasped as she slammed on the brakes and jerked the steering wheel. Her wheels locked as the car skidded sideways, hit a large puddle and went crashing through the guardrail and down the embankment. A.J. stood on the brakes, gripping the wheel so tightly her knuckles turned white. She was thrown back and forth, her stomach lurched into her throat as the little car crashed through scrub and underbrush.
"Oh god!" she squealed as she looked through the windshield straight at the oncoming trunk of an enormous tree. She tried to shield her head and face but the car slammed into the tree, her head slammed into the windshield and everything went black.
Kane slammed on his brakes an instant before A.J.'s car hit the railing, sending his truck into a tire smoking slide. The truck did a complete 180 and ended up diagonally across both lanes of the road. Kane watched, horrified and helpless as A.J.'s car smashed through the guardrail and disappeared over the drop. He spilled out of the truck, slipping on the wet pavement and landing hard on his knees. He staggered over to the shoulder and the splintered remains of the railing just as a bone rending crash came echoing up the slope
"A.J.!" He screamed. The rain pounded down in torrents, he was drenched in an instant, his dark hair plastered against his skull. Heedless of his own safety, he hurled himself over the edge, half sliding, half tumbling down the steep hill. Broken branches and churned earth led him to the car, crunched and smoking, the hood crumpled against a tree like an accordion. He clawed at the driver's door, it was stuck fast. He balled his fists and slammed them into the driver's window. Once, twice, he felt a sharp, agonizing pain run through his right hand and ignored it as he punched the window a third time. It shattered. He could see her dark hair, the slender curve of her neck.
"A.J.!" He reached in, shook her gently, her head rolled bonelessly. He pulled her limp body from the wreckage, cradling her head against his chest. Something hot trickled down his wrist. He looked at his hand. It was full of blood.
"NO!" he roared, clutching her to him, rocking her back and forth. She was unresponsive. He couldn't even tell if she was still breathing. Her hair was matted with blood. Rain ran into his mask, flooded his eyes as he threw his head back and howled in primal agony.
Headlights flashed over the embankment. A moment later a tall, flashlight wielding figure appeared, tentatively sliding down the hill.
"Hey! Is someone down here? Has there been an accident? Is someone hurt?"
Kane squinted as the flashlight shined directly in his face.
"K-ane?" the voice was familiar. The flashlight bobbed. Incredibly, it was his son, Lucius. The boy's eyes widened as he took in the wrecked car and A.J's limp form.
"Kane? Oh my god. Is she OK? W-what happened?" He stammered.
"Help her!" Kane bellowed.
Lucius gulped, "I'll call for help! S-stay right there!" He climbed back up to his car to call for help on his cell phone.
There was a masked, seven foot monster in their midst, pacing back and forth like a caged beast. He was soaking wet, dripping water on the faded yellow linoleum, his boots leaving muddy tracks on the waiting room floor, but no one dared approach him to ask him to wipe his feet. The hospital staff whispered nervously amongst themselves. God help them if something happened to this monster's pretty little wife. He carried with him an air of barely contained rage that had driven all but one brave young man out of the room. He was like a ticking time bomb, about to explode.
Lucius sat in a waiting room chair, scrunching down to make himself as small and unnoticeable as possible as he watched his father pace back and forth. He had a magazine open, but unread in his hand. Lucius felt like he'd been watching a film where half of a reel had been cut, one moment he'd been driving home from the movies, the next he'd nearly collided with a truck abandoned across two lanes. He found Kane and A.J. at the bottom of that hill, her car crashed into the tree. He'd called an ambulance and then gone back down to check A.J's vitals. For an instant, as he tried to coax his father into letting her go and laying her down on the ground, he thought Kane was going to put a massive fist through his face, but then he'd relented as Lucius checked her pulse. Her heartbeat was weak and thready but there. He was more worried about her head wound where she'd smashed into the windshield.
A doctor stepped into the room, "Mr. uh... Kane?" he said, glancing at Lucius then turning to Kane.
Kane spun around, towered over the little doctor. "How is my wife? I want to see her." he demanded.
The doctor looked up..up..up at Kane and gulped. "Uhm...your wife is stabilized, Mr. Kane." he said nervously. "She's got a broken leg, some head and neck injuries, but she will pull through. And you'll be happy to know that the baby is fine. We did a ultrasound to be sure and everything looks top notch."
Kane froze, his mismatched eyes pinning the doctor to the spot, "Baby?" he repeated.
"Uh, yes, " the doctor said, "You did know...? Your wife is about six weeks pregnant."
Lucius's mouth dropped open. Baby? Was he going to be a big brother?
Several conflicting emotions seemed to cross Kane's face before he said in a rather unsteady voice, "I want to see her."
The doctor nodded,"Yes, but only for a few minutes. She's in and out of consciousness and she needs her rest."
Kane slowly pushed the door open and stood for a moment, staring at his love. She was small, dainty, like a butterfly, especially when she skipped around like a little girl, her glossy hair trailing behind her like gossamer wings. Now she looked like a butterfly whose wings had been pulled off. She was hooked up to half a dozen monitors, tubes went into her arms. A huge bandage was wrapped around her head, he couldn't tell if they'd had to shave part of her hair or not. Her neck was immobilized by a brace.
A bolt of pain shot up his arm as he clenched his fist against his leg. He knew he'd probably broken his hand smashing the car window open but that was the least of his concerns. Seeing A.J. like this scoured his soul. He took a deep breath and approached the bed. Her eyes were closed, her face pale and puffy beneath the scrapes and bruises. He reached out, touched the curve of her cheek with one trembling finger.
Her eyes fluttered open, focused on his face. He braced himself for her anger, her hurt, the accusations. He would have to face them sooner or later and he knew he deserved every bit. But her eyes, when they met his, filled with the gentle love and trust he remembered of old.
"K-kane?" she whispered.
"A.J." Kane breathed.
"What happened? Are you alright?" She asked.
"There was an accident." Kane said, "You were hurt. Don't you remember?"
A.J furrowed her brow, "No...I can't remember anything." she said, frowning a little, "The last thing I remember is talking with you and your brother about going back to the WWE, and then I wake up here. Did I...Kane? Kane?"
She trailed off as her husband fell to his knees beside her hospital bed. He clutched at her as he buried his face in the front of her hospital gown. His shoulders shook. A.J. helplessly stroked his damp hair, bewildered. Was it possible, her husband who'd once been called monstrous, soulless, a demon, was actually...crying?
When he finally raised his head, his eyes were red, though his face was mostly dry. "I thought I'd lost you," he said hoarsely.
"Oh, Kane" A.J. whispered,"I'm still here."
He nodded, entwining his fingers with hers. A.J. reached out, touched the mask, "Let me see your face, so I know I'm awake and you're really here. Please, before they make you leave?"
He closed his eyes as she slipped her fingers beneath the edge of the mask, pushing it up off of his face. She trailed her fingertips over his cheeks, the bunched skin, the old scars. He didn't know what she saw in his ravaged features but she smiled. "I love you, Kane."
He brought her small fingers to his lips, "I love you, A.J."
Her hand slowly fell as she lay back and closed her eyes, exhausted from the effort.
"Sir?" a soft voice said from the doorway. He pulled the mask back down and glanced over to see a nurse poking her head in the room. "She really needs her rest now. You can visit her again in the morning."
Kane nodded as he rose to his feet. He pulled the blanket a little more securely under her chin then turned and left the room.
Outside the room he approached the doctor,"Doc," he said, "Her memory, why can't she remember anything about the accident?"
The doctor cleared his throat, trying to be as professional as possible in the face of this masked giant." She's suffered a rather serious head trauma, Mr. Kane. Partial memory loss of the events surrounding the accident is quite common and nothing to be alarmed about."
Kane studied the doctor, his mismatched eyes gauging his sincerity,"Will she ever get those lost memories back?"
The doctor shrugged,"Only time will tell. Oftentimes the brain protects itself from traumatic events by erasing the very memory of those events. It's quite possible she never remembers the accident."
"Or the events leading up to it?" Kane pressed.
The doctor looked at him warily, "Well, it's possible she could have lost a few hours or even several days, depending on how severe the injury to her brain."
"I see," Kane said, "Thank you Doc."
He pulled a chair over next to A.J's door. He sat, his long legs reaching almost completely across the narrow hall. The doctor considered telling him it was against hospital policy to have family loitering in the hall after visiting hours but wisely decided that was Security's problem and walked off to do his evening rounds.
Kane leaned his head against the wall and closed his eyes. She didn't remember. That had to be a blessing, right?
He felt a profound sense of relief. He'd been given a chance to redeem himself, to undo the terrible mistake he'd made. And on top of that...
An involuntary smile touched his lips. A baby!
"Kane?"
His eyes flew open at that voice. How dare she...!
He leapt out of the chair so fast it tipped backward and fell over with a loud clatter. Lita's eyes barely had time to register her alarm before he wrapped his hand around her throat and slammed her back against the wall. He knocked the wind out of her, her head thumped against the plaster hard enough to make her see stars. He thrust his face up against hers, nose to nose. His hot breath churned in her face.
"What the hell do you think you're doing here, you bitch!" He rasped.
Lita did not struggle, she kept her arms at her side, her green eyes slitted with pain as his fingers dug onto the soft skin of her throat. He could feel the bones in her slender neck, all he had to do was squeeze...
"Kane," she wheezed, "I came to...apologize..."
His upper lip curled as he imperceptibly applied more pressure to her throat, then with a enraged grunt, he dropped her and turned stomping down the hall.
She staggered, trying to keep her feet, hacking and coughing, watching him as he abruptly turned and flung his dark hair out of his face.
"You came to apologize?" he said between gritted teeth. "After what you tried to do, you think I am interested in your apologies?"
She held up a hand, "Kane, stop" she wheezed, "I'm sorry about A.J.! It shouldn't have happened. I was drinking, I was drunk! I don't even know what I was thinking!"
Kane glared at her "You were drunk? Are you sure you don't love me? You don't want us to be a family?"
Lita winced,"Oh god, look Kane, I have no idea why I said those things, OK? I was just sitting on the porch, minding my own business and you come roaring up to my house. And for once, you weren't being an asshole, you talked to me and I felt like I could talk to you. I..." she shook her head, "I don't know, OK? But the kissing and the ...you know... that was definitely the beer."
Kane crossed his arms over his broad chest, eyes narrowed, "It was all just the beer? So I should have just gotten you drunk fifteen years ago and things would have turned out differently?" he asked sarcastically.
Lita groaned,"Look, it's not like you weren't kissing me back and putting your hands all over my ass! Hmmmppff!"
Kane slapped a hand over her mouth, shooting a glance at A.J.'s door,"Lower your voice!" he hissed.
Lita pried his hand off her face, "Kane, my point is, I don't think either of us meant what happened. God knows, I didn't! And that's what I'm here to tell A.J. I'm going to make it right! I'm here to tell her that she doesn't have to worry, it was all just me getting wasted and jumping the first guy that came my way and it just happened to be you. I'm sure with her opinion of me, she'll have no trouble buying that."
Kane straightened up, even behind the mask she could see his alarmed expression, "No! You will never speak to her of it, ever!"
Lita's brow furrowed, "What? Kane, I don't understand?"
Kane's lips pressed together in a grim line, "She doesn't remember us together. The accident, she has no memory of what she saw. And that is how it will remain."
Lita's mouth opened, as if to protest, but then she seemed to change her mind, "Well...OK.. I guess that makes things easier. So the only people who knows what happened is the two of us."
"Yes,"Kane took a menacing step toward her, "And you will tell no one!"
Lita held up her hand,"OK, ok. It's in the vault, I take it to my grave...uh, figuratively speaking..."
"Mom?"
Kane and Lita turned to see Lucius coming down the hall carrying two steaming cups.
"Luke, " Lita said, giving her son a a hug. "I came to see how A.J. was doing, but I guess visiting hours are over."
Luke nodded, "Yeah, how is she doing anyway?" he asked Kane.
Kane gave him a curt nod, "She will live." He said stiffly. He saw his Luke blink at his brusqueness and floundered, attempted to soften his tone. "Thank you...my son. You may have saved her life."
Luke smiled crookedly, "I didn't really do much. I just happened to be there at the right time. Oh, here, I didn't know if you like cream or sugar..." he handed Kane one of the cups of black coffee. Kane accepted it awkwardly, his right hand would no longer close all the way.
Luke noticed his swollen, fingers. "Hey, you need to get a doctor to look at your hand!" he exclaimed.
"It's fine," Kane said, thrusting the hand behind him.
Lita turned to Kane with a big, artificial smile, "Well, I guess, I'm going to go home, then. Luke, are you coming with?"
Luke looked from his mother to the Kane who had picked up the chair and sat back down. "Are you going to stay here all night?" he asked Kane.
Kane nodded.
Luke looked at Lita,"Uhm, if it's OK, Mom. I think I'll keep Kane company."
Lita raised her eyebrows in surprise, "All night? Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I think maybe he could use the company."
Lita glanced at Kane and shrugged, "Fine, suit yourself. I'll see you in the morning."
"OK, bye Mom." Luke bit his lip as he glanced at Kane, who was sitting as still and silently as a statue. After a moment, he grabbed his own chair and sat next to his father.
Kane cracked the knuckles of his uninjured hand, waiting, expecting the boy to want to talk. But he was silent, sipping his coffee and when it was gone crossing his arms and sitting stoically, staring at the wall across from them. Little by little, Kane relaxed. He glanced over at Luke to find the boy looking back at him. They exchanged nods and went back to staring at the wall.
And though not another word passed between the two of them throughout that seemingly endless night, somehow having his son sit vigil next to him made Kane feel a little bit better.
