Like Old Times
Hideous Attack
Miami, Florida
10/7/04
Paul and Shawn relaxed on a beach in Miami, Florida. They were quite pleased with Vince McMahon, who allowed them to go to Florida 4 days before Raw kicked off live in Fort Lauderdale. However, it was mostly done out of guilt for how hard he was running Shawn and refusing to let Paul tell him the truth about everything that was going on. The weather on the beach was perfect. Paul became extremely jealous because Shawn didn't burn under the sun. However, Shawn just laughed it off. "Hah hah! You burned!"
"Where'd Chyna go?" Paul asked Shawn, who looked around the beach and didn't see her. He shrugged his shoulders. "Beats me… She probably got dragged underwater by sharks and…" Shawn stopped talking when he heard Paul laughing and saw Chyna approaching them. "You guys talking about me? What's so funny, Paul?" She asked. Paul never answered her. He continued laughing. Shawn looked at him and looked away in embarrassment. He never thought Paul would act that way towards his ex-girlfriend. He was really weird sometimes, but Shawn wouldn't be able to live without him.
"Man, I always miss the funny stuff…" Chyna stated. She sighed and walked away. Shawn smirked. "Just look into the mirror and boy will you be in for a laugh…" He mumbled. He looked over at Paul, who just started laughing harder. It came to the point where it was very annoying and Paul's face was turning red. Shawn looked at the people around him on the beach. They were staring at him in an odd way. A little boy walked over to Shawn. "He's really weird. Can you get him to shut up?" He asked.
Shawn chuckled at the little boy and nodded his head yes. The kid was right, anyway. Paul wasn't acting himself. Shawn grabbed him and dragged him over to the water. "Shut up or I'll throw you in." He threatened. Paul laughed harder in Shawn's face, so Shawn scooped him up and slammed him into the water. Several people started to giggle at the act.
Paul rose up out of the water and gave Shawn a dirty look. "What was that for?" He asked. Shawn ran in to help Paul stand up and walked back to their spot. "What on earth are you talking about? You were laughing like a maniac. People were getting scared. I don't like it when people get scared. So… I gave you an option. Shut up and I'll leave you alone, or… Keep laughing and be thrown in the water… You obviously choose to keep laughing." Shawn explained his actions towards his friend.
Paul picked up his towel and hit Shawn with it. Shawn threw the bottle of sun tan lotion at Paul in response and rubbed his head. "Did I hit you in the head?" Paul asked after picking up the lotion bottle and folding up his towel. Shawn rubbed his head a little more. "Yeah. You got me right in the forehead… Nice shot…" Shawn replied and folded his towel. The two started to make their way towards the parking lot.
Paul looked around for their car and raced toward it."Come on, Shawn! I don't want to burn anymore!" He shouted. Shawn chuckled at Paul's stupidity and took his sweet time walking to the car. Paul jumped in and started it, so Shawn decided to jog over to the car and hop into it as well. "Wow. I'm surprised with you. I can't believe you actually ran to the car to prevent from burning...Which... Um... I don't think you can possibly burn anymore then you already did..."
Instead of getting a decent reply, Shawn got a whack in the head. It was enough of a whack to send his body forward and his baseball cap flipping off his head. Shawn caught himself before he would've hit the dashboard. "Yeah! Now what!?" Paul shouted teasingly. Shawn just glared at him. Uht oh... Here comes an unwanted mood swing... Paul thought to himself. Shawn turned his head away from Paul slowly and leaned it against the window. "Have I ever told you that you can be a real asshole sometimes?" Shawn asked.
"Uh... Wait, let me think about that... Hmmm... Yep!" Paul replied and smiled proudly. Shawn turned for a moment to see this and couldn't help but smile. Try as he might to be mad at his best friend, the smile Paul was making made him want to be overjoyed with happiness. Once Paul saw the smile on Shawn's face, he backed out of his parking space and drove in the direction of the hotel. "You're not only an asshole, you're also an idiot. Did I ever tell you that?" Shawn asked again, waiting for the same exact response.
"Um... Hold on a minute... As a matter of fact... Yes! You did! 30 minutes ago! Now... I'm hungry. Let's run in, change, run back out and go to Applebee's!" Paul shouted excitedly as he pulled in to the hotels parking lot and parked the car. Shawn chuckled. "Alright. I'll race you. One... Two... Two and a half... Two and three quarters... THREE!" Shawn shouted.
The two members of D-Generation X nearly tripped over themselves jumping out of the car and running into the hotel. They raced passed the person at the front desk, who was well aware of who they were and what had been going on in the wrestling world as of late, and only chuckled lightly at the action. Although they were supposed to be racing, they wound up in the same elevator together and did nothing but laugh. Some people got on and stared at them, wondering what drug they were currently smoking. Once the elevator stopped on the fifth floor, Shawn and Paul screamed out their "excuse me's" and ran down the hall, lightly pushing one another into a wall. Unfortunately for Paul "Triple H" Levesque, he crashed into a janitor. The two rolled down the hallway, making Shawn have to jump 3 feet in the air to avoid being knocked over.
Once the two stopped rolling down the hall, Paul sat up and apologized to the janitor. Shawn stood by the hotel room and laughed. Paul thought the man was about to piss his pants. "Calm your ass down, Alpha Male... It's not that funny... I could've broke that poor old man's back..." Paul sympathetically stated and watched as the janitor, who looked to be around his mid 60's, stood up and used a broom he had as a cane to get back over to his cart. He muttered curse words at Paul as he pushed the cart and hobbled down the hallway. Shawn, now beat red in the face and tears pouring out of his eyes, fell on the ground and laid there. Paul walked over to him and kicked him lightly in the leg. Once Shawn regained himself, he stood up and opened the door. "Hurry! Shawn hungry. Shawn want eat."
The two raced around their hotel room like chickens that had just lost their heads and grabbed clean clothes. Paul ran into the bathroom and changed, and as soon as he got out, Shawn raced in and did the same. They were out of the room in a matter of 5 minutes, literally. As they walked down the hallway, a woman poked her head out of her hotel room door. She pointed to them. "Hey! You two creeps! That janitor is going to get you two in soooo much trouble," She began, making Shawn and Paul stop in their tracks and turn to look at her. "Oh, yeah? And what did we do to him?" Shawn asked, scratching his head. The woman pointed to Paul. "He knocked him over, and the two rolled down the hallway! Were you two high or something? He's 66 years old, for goodness sake! You could've killed him!" The woman yelled back. Paul looked at the woman, then at Shawn, and back again. "Do you have any idea who we are? We're D-Generation X for goodness sake! It was an emergency, I mean... We were running to our hotel room because we had an emergency..."
"What kind of 'emergency' could be so important that you can plow over a 66 year old man and get away with it?" The woman asked. She was really starting to annoy Paul and was already reminding him and Shawn of Chris Benoit. Paul and Shawn looked at each other and tried to think of what to say. Paul's eyes landed on Shawn's scar from Unforgiven and raised his eyebrows at Shawn. Shawn put his head on the scar and slightly nodded his head yes. He knew what Paul was thinking, and the man didn't even have to open his mouth. "Well... Um... Ya see... My buddy here... He... Got into a really bad fight with this guy named Glenn... And Glenn caused him to get a really, really, really bad concussion... This led for him to acquire amnesia... And he doesn't remember the past 7 years... And whenever he remembers something we have to give him some medicine that the doctor prescribed... Cause if we don't he can... Well... Die..." Paul explained. Well, at least some of it was the truth... Paul thought. The woman looked at Shawn, who was looking around innocently. When his eyes connected with hers, he gave her the best puppy dog pout he could muster. Who could resist those adorable eyes?! The woman squealed to herself.
She exhaled, as if sighing in relief, and smiled. "Oh... Alright... That sounds pretty serious... I'll pass the information along to the janitor and let him know how serious your situation is... I'm Alannah, by the way... Alannah Copeland..," She paused and stretched her arm in Paul's direction. "Oh. I'm Paul. Paul Levesque," He replied and shook it. "Oh my God! I was wondering where you looked familiar! I'm Adam's wife! Edge! Alannah Copeland? Sound familiar now?" She joked around and looked at Shawn. He just stared at her and didn't make an attempt to shake her hand. "Oh yeah! I didn't even recognize you. You look great, Alannah. How's Adam? Where is he, by the way?"
"Oh, he's with that mischievous Jay Reso... Christian... He's always getting himself and that Tomko guy into trouble... Sometimes I just wanna strangle him... How's Stephy? And what on earth is wrong with Shawn?" Alannah asked Paul after looking over at Shawn, who remained still and silent. Paul looked over at him, then looked back at Alannah. "Ah, don't worry about him... He gets... Um... Spaced... Heh... Oh! Yeah... Christian is always getting into trouble with Tomko... They get so annoying sometimes... I just don't want to strangle him I wanna... Kill him... Man, he really needs to pay for his actions as of late... Hitting poor Shawny in the head... Oofa... Look at the time... We'd better get going. I gotta feed the beast. Ha-ha... I'll see you later, Alannah. BYE!" Paul shouted, grabbed Shawn by the arm and jogged down the hall.
The two ran out of the hotel and hopped back into their car, and just as Paul said, headed down to Applebee's. "Um... What just happened?" Shawn asked, looking at Paul. Paul, who was now driving the car, looked over at Shawn. "Ah... Nothing, buddy... Just had a run in with Alannah Copeland, Edge's wife. Now... AHA! Yes! Applebee's!!!!!! I'm starving!" Paul shouted as loud as he could, which was pretty damn loud. Shawn had to cover his ears to try and ignore the sound, but to no avail. Paul's voice still floated into his ear drums. God he's giving me a headache... Shawn thought to himself. Paul pulled in to the Applebee's parking lot, parked the car and hopped out triumphantly.
They walked in to the restaurant and placed orders. As soon as their waitress walked away with the order, they busted out laughing. This made them receive their fair share of stares. Shawn nudged Paul's shoulder. "I have a good idea for a prank," He began and waited for Paul to finish chewing on a piece of steak. "Yeah? And what would that be?" Paul asked and wiped his mouth with a napkin. Shawn adjusted himself in the chair before continuing. "Well... I thought we could start teasing Vince about... His preferences..." Shawn stated playfully.
Paul nearly spit his Pepsi all over the man in front of him. "'Preferences!?' What kind of drug are you on, Shawn? What the hell are you talking about?!" Paul shouted to him. Shawn chuckled. He obviously knew that was coming. He leaned in closer to Paul, almost as if he was about to tell him a deadly secret that only he was privy too. "I mean... What he likes... Ya know... Chickens, maybe? Roosters...?" Shawn stated playfully once again.
The look on Shawn's face made Paul realize what he was really talking about. "Are you serious!? That is... Genius... Vince likes..," Paul and Shawn had the same idea at the same exact time. "Cocks!" The two laughed, making several people look at them from their tables. Little kids peered over their French fries to look at them. Once they stopped laughing, Shawn cleared his throat. "Well... Um... Yeah... Awesome... Wanna see a movie after we eat?"
Paul shrugged his shoulders and stuffed another juicy piece of steak in his mouth. "Ah, I don't see the harm in it. Alright. We can make it to a 6:30 show if we hurry up and eat," Paul stated, making Shawn hold up his napkin over his own dinner. Once Paul stopped talking, Shawn put the napkin down and picked up his fork. It was then Paul noticed Shawn didn't even start eating yet. He glanced down at his watch. "Not hungry?" He asked, once he realized the food was there for about 10 minutes. Shawn shrugged his shoulders and started to play around with the food with his fork. "Eh... Not really... Well, I was..." Shawn's voice trailed off as his eyes landed on a beautiful woman. He couldn't help but stare.
Paul followed Shawn's eyes to the woman and looked back at him in shock. He picked up a glass only half full of water and spilled it on him. Shawn jumped back and looked at Paul curiously. "Michael Shawn Hickenbottom! I am ashamed of you! How... Dare you... Stare at a woman in MY presence!" Paul shouted, mostly joking around. Paul started laughing, and when he didn't hear Shawn's laughter join him, he stopped. As soon as he opened his eyes, a spoon full of potatoes flew across the table and hit him in the face. "That's for the unwanted bath, fuck face." Shawn stated and added insult to injury by laughing.
With his best friends narrowed eyes glaring at him, Shawn stopped laughing and looked for the waitress. He signaled for a check. Paul wiped the potatoes off his face and finished his Pepsi. "Alright, alright. Relax... Let's go see a movie or something..." Paul stated. The waitress came along and glared at the two once she saw Shawn was wet. She placed the check down and stomped away. "Oofa. Wonder what we did to her..." Shawn joked and looked at the check, then took the money out of his wallet and paid it. The two stood up and headed out of the restaurant towards their car. The waitress who served them walked over to the manager. "I absolutely HATE those two," She stated. The manager looked at her and tilted his head to the side. "Why? What did they do to you?" He asked. She looked at him seriously. "I just greatly despise them. They are very immature and they have no respect for authority. I'm going on my break. I need to smoke..." She stated and walked outside.
As Paul and Shawn were heading to their car, Shawn suddenly stopped. He got a shiver down his spine which made him freak out. Paul stopped as well and turned to look at him. "What is it, Spidey? Get a gut feeling?" He asked. Shawn remained still and silent, looking around and listening closely. He knew something was about to happen. "Something isn't right..." Shawn stated and continued to stand there. Paul began to look around as well. He hated when Shawn got those feelings.
Out of the blue, Christian and Tyson Tomko run over to D-X and jumped them from behind. At first it was a brawl, then it turned into an unfair fight. Tomko and Christian used the elements around them to help beat down D-X. Christian Irish whipped Paul into a nearby car. Paul would've sworn he heard a crack in his ribs as soon as he connected with it. He fell to the ground and groaned in pain, but was soon joined by Christian, who began to stomp him out. Tyson threw Michaels face first into a fence, then turned around and Irish whipped the bloodied man into a car. Shawn's face connected with one of the windows, shattering it instantly, and setting off the car alarm. Christian and Tomko looked at each other and ran as fast as they could down the block.
The waitress stepped outside and was about to light her cigarette when all of a sudden she heard glass shatter, followed by a car alarm. She figured it was a robbery, so she slowly approached the area. Once she saw two men run away from the car, she knew it was safe to walk faster. She stopped at the sight of an unconscious and still Paul Levesque, who lay a few feet away from the car. "This can't be good," She told herself and approached the car, only to see Shawn leaning up against it, bleeding profusely from his head and on the brink of unconsciousness. He was flopping around like he usually did in the ring when he was fading. The waitress bent down in attempt to calm him down and talk to him. "Sir! Sir? Are you with me," She asked. He looked at her, barely and slowly nodded his head.
She saw how distant his eyes were and knew he wouldn't be conscious long. She turned back to look at the restaurant and saw her manager come out. "Dave! Dave, I need help," She shouted off the top of her lungs. The manager looked around for her and ran in the direction of the car alarm. Once he reached her he asked that ever so famous question... "Denise, what happened?!" He shouted and observed the carnage that surrounded one of his best waitresses. He saw who the two were and remembered her saying she hated them, but yet the hatred seemed unimportant and forgotten at the moment as she held Shawn in her lap and pressed a towel to his head. "I don't know. We need to call 911. I think these men were jumped from behind by somebody." She stated. The manager nodded his head and took out his cell phone. He dialed 911 and requested an ambulance.
"They're coming, Denise..." He told her. Denise looked at Shawn's face to see he was still conscious, which was surprising to her. 2 minutes ago it looked like he was struggling to keep his eyes open. "Did you hear that, sir," She asked and watched as he nodded his head yes. "Ya know, you're not as bad as my husband says you are... You know him, right? Jay Reso," She paused and waited for his response. She never got one. Shawn's eyes were ignited with fury. He closed his eyes to try and keep his mind off of the situation, but he couldn't ignore the pounding in his head. His heart began to race as thoughts ran through his mind. "My god this man is bleeding like a stuffed pig! Dave, give me your shirt or something!" She shouted.
The manager looked at her and began to unbutton his shirt when an ambulance pulled up to the parking lot. Paul began to stir around a little and lifted his head to see what was going on. He saw the waitress holding Shawn and wanted to crawl over to them but stopped due to a tremendous pain in his rib cage. An EMS worker jumped out of the ambulance and situated himself next to Shawn and Denise. The other went over to Dave, who was now standing over Paul. "And what do we have here," The first EMS worker asked Denise, taking out a small flash light and shining it in Shawn's eyes. "I think it's a concussion. I have no idea what happened... I came out here and these two were lying around. But, I did see 2 figures run away, so they might have been jumped from behind." Denise stated. The EMS worker listened to what she said. "Yep. This is a concussion. Now all I need you to do is tell that to the police when they arrive. Hey! Jack! This one is coming!" He shouted to the second worker. "Alright now, what seems to be your problem," The second EMS worker asked as he bent down to observe Paul. He could tell by the tight grip Paul had on his stomach that it was his ribs. His partners comment made him lift up his head and turn it back to him. "Yeah, this one too! Bill, if he's not too seriously hurt he can sit on the bench. This one needs to lie down..." Within minutes, the two EMS workers got Paul on a stretcher and into the ambulance.
The first EMS worker, Bill, walked over to Shawn, who was now leaning against the car again, and knelt down to look at him in a better way. Damn, he was out of it. "Hey. I'm Bill. Wanna tell me your name," He asked. Shawn looked him in the eyes, an act that made Bill upset for some odd reason. He had never seen so much sadness in his life. "Shawn." Shawn replied. Bill smiled and reached for the towel he had placed on Shawn's head to see if the bleeding had lessened. Jack, the second EMS worker, joined his partner. He got a good view of Shawn's forehead once Bill lifted the towel. "Damn. That must've been some shot to the head. How is he still conscious?" Jack asked. His partner nodded his head. "I have no idea, Jack... And you're right... That is a nasty cut. We'd better get these two out of here..." Bill replied. Bill held the towel onto Shawn's head and grabbed an arm. Jack grabbed the other and the two got Shawn onto his feet and walked him into the ambulance.
Shawn glanced down at Paul on the way to the hospital. Although Paul was in pain, he looked up at Shawn as well. Paul saw that Shawn was holding a towel to his head, pressing it down firmly in attempts to stop the bleeding. "You were right, Shawn. You were right," Paul whispered. Shawn nodded his head and put his free hand on Paul's shoulder. "They're not getting away with it this time," Shawn whispered back. Paul tilted his head and looked up at Shawn to see if he heard him right. "What?" He asked. Shawn looked away, then returned his sight to Paul. "They're not getting away with it. They went too far." As the ambulance pulled into the hospital's emergency room parking lot, Shawn lost consciousness and fell off the bench.
As soon as both members of D-Generation X were cleaned up and diagnosed with an injury, Vince McMahon was called and alerted to head over to the hospital. Paul woke up to see his boss and father in law staring down at him. "Are you feeling better, Paul," Vince asked. Paul nodded his head. "Uh... Yeah... Actually I am... What... uh... Happened?" Paul asked. "Well, according to the EMS workers... They said a woman came outside of Applebee's and heard a window shatter, then a car alarm go off. She said she saw 2 figures running away from you and Shawn... I'm glad the two of you are alright... However," Vince paused. Paul hated it when he said 'however' in that tone. It usually meant something bad was about to be said. "You aren't allowed to wrestle for one full week due to broken ribs. Which means, you have to stay here where you're safe and can be monitored by doctors."
Paul was mad, but his anger faded into worry. "What about Shawn? Where's Shawn," He asked. Vince exhaled deeply. That usually meant 'give me a damn minute!!!' "Shawn is in the room next door, being monitored for a concussion. The doctor down at the ER gave him a CAT scan and diagnosed his 'problem' better. They said it was a Grade III concussion back at Unforgiven and that he has Retrograde amnesia... He even prescribed him with medicine that will supposedly make him remember things. It's called... Um... Amytal..." Vince paused and looked at Paul. "That's great! He's out of action too, right? I mean... If he's starting this medicine he should be given a week off, too..."
Vince sighed again. This time it was the kind of sigh that was followed with bad news. Damn! I know him too well! Paul thought to himself. "Well... Ya see... Here's the thing... In order to get a week off... You need to be medically excused... And... Shawn is medically cleared to wrestle, although I know he shouldn't... But I can't argue with certain people at Headquarters... They're on the brink of ripping my head off and feeding it to my dog already for my... 'Mistreatment' of Shawn Michaels for the past month. They think I should fire him, Paul. We don't want that, now do we," Vince watched as Paul nodded his head no without hesitation. "Yeah. That's what I thought. So... Shawn works on Monday and I keep my head... I'm sorry... But... I can't make excuses anymore..."
"But... Dad...You aren't making excuses for him! He really is hurt! And it's serious!" Paul yelled. Vince cleared his throat, making Paul stop. "Listen... I know how you feel. Trust me. I want to give Shawn time off too, but nobody wants to hear it, Paul. He just came back from a 3 month vacation. 3 months. Now he needs to stick around unless he has an injury which needs immediate fixing, like a torn meniscus or a broken arm. I am very sorry, Paul. But you're out for a week and Shawn is in. No acceptions."
"Whose gonna look after him, then? I'm the only one backstage who gives a fuck about him, dad. Nobody knows him better than me. Nobody knows how to treat him now that he's back to his old snotty self." Paul stated and crossed his arms over his chest angrily. This sucked big time. "I know, Paul, I know... Well... I'll tell Ric, Randy and Dave to watch him. He seems to trust them, too... And they can keep him safe from the threat of Christian and Tomko," Vince paused for a moment to see the look on Paul's face. "Don't worry. It'll be fine." Vince stated, hugged him and walked out of the room.
Why did Paul get the burning feeling that it wasn't going to be fine?
A/N: Ah. Yes. Hi. It's me again. I know, I have a lot of explaining to do... LOL... A lot has been going on in my house and... Well... I couldn't find time to type. But I did find time to write up some chapters... This is actually much different from the version I have handwritten. I decided to remove some violence and add humor. Now that I have been put in charge of my mom's laptop, I'm going to spend my extra time typing chapters up and uploading them for you guys to enjoy. I am soooo sorry! Happy holidays!
I just realized I forgot about Chyna! LOL! Ooopsies... Oh well. R & R... Or not... Next chapter will be up soon. It'll be called 'Alone & Vulnerable'
Oofa... Can you tell I studied concussions and amnesia? I read into the different Grades of concussion and types of amnesia, their symptoms and what they're caused by. I wanted to see if I was going the right way with how I was treating Shawn, and no need to fear, because I am. LOL.
I remembered something from my past that made my dad raise an eyebrow. I hit my head on a ride at Six Flags when I was 7, and that's all I remember from that day. I do know I slept over my friends house. I woke up the next morning with a bad headache. I was dizzy and at first I had no idea where I was. LOL. I spent that day puking. How... Uncomfortable... A 7 year old girl with a... Concussion... That's why I looked into the different Grades and symptoms. Certainly, it was a Grade I, which is basically a blow to the head that doesn't result in unconsciousness, but does lead to other things, like dizziness, headaches, and vomiting. The concussion I described Shawn having in the first chapter is as bad as they come, a Grade III. This is a blow to the head that results in unconsciousness, memory loss (amnesia), and the other symptoms. WOW I sound like a nerd! LOL.
Ok, now for the explanation of the 'Retrograde amnesia'... Retrograde amnesia is a type of amnesia in which the patient forgets things before their injury occurred. In Shawn's case, he forgot a total of 7 years... Tsk, tsk... Poor guy... LOL. But no need to fear! He will get it back... Eventually...
And Amytal is a real medicine that doctors prescribe to their patients with amnesia. It helps them to regain the memories they lost little by little.
Edit: At least the last chapters aren't as brutal to read as the first few. LOL
