Author's note: Hey people 'hugs all' I'm back with a new chapter... and I hope you all like it...
Zanderlover: Hey there girl... I officially hate my mailing system... or there really is someone in a conspiracy against us... I guess my last mails didn't reach you... again 'frustrated sigh' I guess I'm going to try mailing you through the review system again... hoping that this works... 'hugs' I hope you enjoy reading it...
But now on to the chapter...
Disclaimer: Don't own anything in this story besides my OC's...
Chapter
7: Scars
Randy ran blindly down the hall. He didn't know where he was going. The only thing he wanted was to get as far away from John and the others as possible.
Since he didn't really know where he was going, he suddenly ran into somebody.
The young Orton wasn't prepared for that and the other person obviously wasn't either, so they both tumbled to the ground.
"Shit Randy. Didn't you see the signs 'running forbidden'?"
Randy looked up and looked directly into Shawn Michael's face. Marissa Reed-Michaels stood, looking down at them, laughing a little, but she quickly stopped when she saw the pained expression on the Legend Killer's face. Randy had a hand on his chest and his breathing was uneven.
Shawn was already back on his feet and just now took in the state of Randy. He paled a little and extended a hand to help the Legend Killer up.
Randy reluctantly took it and let himself be helped up.
Shawn wasn't one to avoid a certain topic so he got straight to the point.
"Damn Randy, why are you running around half naked and who did that to you?" He questioned, referring to all the bruises on Randy's face and chest.
"None of your business… and now if you'd excuse me… I'm in a hurry." And with that he walked past his girlfriend's parents and disappeared down the hall, hoping that Shawn wouldn't follow him. He knew that HBK could be very persistent if he wanted to be.
A quick look over his shoulder told him that he'd escaped the interrogation for now because Marissa and Shawn were nowhere to be seen.
Randy slowed down his pace a little and tried to catch his breath but it hurt and the young Orton feared that one of his ribs might be broken.
Shit… I seriously hope they're not… The last thing I need right now is having to explain my injuries to Martha.
Another thought suddenly occurred to him.
And what the hell am I going to tell Vince? I mean there's no way he and the others won't notice the bruises.
"Oh fuck…" he cursed, slamming his fist against the wall.
Suddenly a voice could be heard behind him. "Stop that Randy… you'll only hurt yourself more."
Randy spun around and looked directly at Triple H, who was leaning against the opposite wall, looking at him intently.
At first
the young Orton was tempted to give a harsh reply but then he
remembered that Triple H had actually tried to help him before, so
his conscience won over his bitterness towards the Game and he softly
said: "Thanks for your help earlier…"
If Hunter was
surprised at his words he didn't let it on.
He just shrugged. "It was the least I could do."
Randy nodded slowly.
"But what's gotten you all worked up again? Or did ya just test the static of the arena for fun?" Hunter wanted to know.
Despite the situation, Randy found himself chuckling a little but then he shrugged again, having no idea what to tell the Cerebral Assassin.
But apparently his face told everything.
"You're thinking about what to tell the others, well except John, who seems to know everything, where you got the bruises from, am I right?" Hunter wanted to know.
Randy looked at him in surprise. He couldn't believe how well Hunter still knew him after all that had happened.
He had no idea what to say to that so he just nodded.
"I understand that you don't really want to tell the truth… I don't know why though but it's none of my business… so all I'm going to do now is offer you a plausible excuse for the others."
Now Randy was totally surprised. Before he could say something, Triple H continued: "If it helps you to keep your secret you can tell people that we've gotten into a fight that has gotten a little out of control and if someone asks me about it, I'll stick with it… people will believe that."
The Legend Killers eyes widened even more. This conversation with Triple H seemed a little surreal to him.
"But you know that some people will get very mad that you've hurt their golden boy… so why are you trying to help me? And where's the catch?" Randy said, his voice sounding a little bitter, like Hunter noticed.
And Triple H had no idea why RKO was suddenly so bitter about his third Generation Wrestler gimmick.
He decided to find out later and instead just said: "Well, let's say I want to start to make it up to you… and when have I ever cared about what others think?"
Hunter sighed a little. "And to answer your question there's no catch."
"Um… well then… thanks… I guess…" Randy stuttered a little helplessly.
"You don't have to thank me… after all that's what friends are here for."
And with that Hunter walked down, leaving a very confused Legend Killer behind.
Friends… Randy tried to recall the last time Hunter had actually called him a friend.
I can't even remember falling through the rabbit hole… He thought, shaking his head in confusion.
"Hey there Randy…" Another voice called from behind.
The young Orton just groaned in confusion.
What is this? 'Stalking Randy day'? He wondered, putting a fake smile on his face before turning around.
"Hey Chris." He said looking at Jericho who had suddenly appeared behind him. For a moment Randy feared that Martha was with him but to his relief she wasn't.
"Where's Martha?" He questioned before Y2J could comment on his injuries.
"She's working… actually she told me to tell you that your results have arrived in case I see you.
Shit… Randy swore in his thoughts. With all that had happened today he had totally forgotten about the tests Martha had run.
Chris
saw the Legend Killer's worry and asked in concern: "Randy, are
you okay? I mean Martha naturally wouldn't tell me what results she
was talking about… and why are you looking like you just had the
living shit beaten out of you?"
Perhaps because I
have… He mused in his thoughts but wasn't ready to
tell Chris what he was thinking.
"Oh… I've just gotten into a little fight with Trips… it's nothing to worry about. And Martha has just run some tests because of the headaches I've been having lately… again… nothing to worry about."
Chris seemed everything but convinced but he knew that pressuring Randy was never a good idea.
"Well then… thanks for the information… anything else you need or want to tell me?" Randy was eager to get rid of Chris. Not that he disliked Chris or anything like that but the longer he stayed here in the hall the greater was the chance that more people would see the bruises on his chest and he honestly didn't need that.
Chris was a little taken aback by Randy's reaction but he shook his head slowly.
"No,
that's all for now…"
"Okay… thanks… do you have any
idea when it's best to go and visit Martha?" The Legend Killer
questioned. He didn't want to run into anymore wrestlers when going
to see the doctor. He knew they would only worry about him and Randy
didn't need their concern.
I can handle this alone and they will only make things more complicated for me… He thought.
"I
don't really know… she just told me it should be as soon as
possible…"
Great… that means she found something…
just what I need… Randy thought sarcastically.
"Okay… well then I guess I'll see you later…" And without another word he walked down the hall, leaving Jericho staring after him in confusion.
When Jericho was out of sight, Randy leaned against the wall, taking a few deep breaths to get himself under control.
"So what am I going to do now?" He muttered and looked down onto the ground.
"Perhaps put a shirt on first before I do something else…" He added sarcastically.
But where do I get one… mine is in the locker room and I'm not sure if going back there is such a good idea…
Randy sighed a second time and leaned his head backwards again until it was resting against the wall.
He pondered his options for a while and then he decided to just borrow one of John's shirts.
His locker room was the nearest and he was sure his best friend wouldn't mind and hopefully he wasn't there right at the moment because a discussion with him was the last thing he needed.
So after a quick glance around to check if he'd run into other wrestlers he started down the hall towards John's locker room.
Just to be sure, Randy knocked and when nobody answered he entered the room, looking around for a second. He found one of the typical Chain-Gang shirts.
"Well not my favourite colour but better than nothing…" He joked a little just to feel better a little.
The Legend Killer slipped on the shirt and looked at himself in the mirror to see if any of the bruises on his chest showed.
When he saw his appearance he knew why all of the others had worried about him.
The young Orton was awfully pale and the bruises on his cheeks were a dark contrast to that and he in general looked very tired and if he was serious he wanted nothing more than just crawl back into bed and not see anyone for the rest of the day.
But he knew that just wasn't possible. For now he needed to go see Martha and find out what was wrong with him.
So with a sigh he left John's locker room, feeling a little safer now that people couldn't see the state his chest and back was in.
Randy had decided to not tell Martha about his ribs and his speculation that they might be broken. It was bad enough if she saw the bruises on his face there would be enough questions and Randy realised that he needed to thank Triple H for giving him this excuse.
He'd just bandage his ribs up at the hotel room and that would've to do. The only problem was he needed to persuade Vince to let him wrestle with a shirt for once so that people wouldn't see the bruises and the bandages.
He stopped in front of Martha's office door and listened for a second to be sure that nobody else was in there. When he didn't hear anything he knocked.
"Yeah? Come in?" Randy heard Martha call and slowly opened the door.
"Hey
there Martha. Chris told me you wanted to see me."
"Oh, hey
there Randy… I didn't expect you so soon." Dr. Cormela said and
looked up from the paperwork she was doing.
Randy was about to reply something when Martha gasped on seeing the wounds on his face.
"Damn Randy… what happened?" She questioned, standing up and walking over to him.
She carefully touched the Legend Killer's face and checked the wounds.
"Oh that's nothing… just a little run in with Hunter…" Randy said dismissively.
"Sit down… I'll take care of that wound on your left cheek or it will perhaps become inflamed."
Randy reluctantly sat down. He didn't want people to make a fuss about his injuries. He just wanted to forget about them but he also knew that it probably was for the best when Martha took care of the wound because it really hurt he had to admit.
After Martha had finished cleaning the cut on Randy's cheek, she looked at the young Orton.
"And now back to the reason why you actually came here." The young doctor said and decided not to comment on Randy's injuries further.
"So Doc, what's the prognosis?" He wanted to know.
"Well… actually there's good news and there's bad news…" Martha started.
"Please the good news first… I guess then it's easier to accept the bad news." Randy tried to joke. The young Orton didn't really like the direction this conversation was taking and in addition to that, Martha's stoic expression worried him.
"Well… the good news is that your blood sample came back negative… that means you're totally healthy in regard to that… unfortunately that means we need to run some more tests to get to the bottom of your headaches…" Dr. Cormela began and Randy wasn't sure if he should or shouldn't be happy about that.
"And I'd like to send you to the hospital for a few days to run the tests… as soon as possible." Martha finished her explanation.
"What? No way…" Randy shouted and stood up from his chair.
"The
others will find out that something's wrong if I go to hospital and
as I told you earlier I don't want to worry them."
Martha
wasn't surprised or shocked at the young Orton's outburst and
just stated calmly: "Randy… I can understand that you don't
want to worry the others but they're already worrying about you.
And Randy… I don't want to frighten you but if there's really
something wrong with you I guess it's better to find out as soon as
possible…"
Randy sunk down into the chair and buried his head
in his hands for a second before he looked up at Martha again.
"I know
Martha… but this is way more complicated than you think."
Dr.
Cormela sighed a little. This was going to be harder than she had
thought.
She crouched down in front of the man and laid a hand on Randy's shoulder.
"I don't really understand why it's complicated but I trust your word and I guess I can offer you a deal."
Randy relaxed a little. "And what?"
"Well… I can make an arrangement with the hospital to run the tests so you won't have to stay there… but you need to promise me that you'll rest the whole day after you have had the tests run… and that you will tell John… if not anybody else then please tell at least John so he can drive you to the hospital and back to the hotel… because I guess you're not necessarily in the shape to drive…" Martha said seriously, trying to make Randy understand how important that was. She had figured out by now that John probably knew more about this whole mess than anybody else did.
Randy nodded slowly. The young Orton had realised that it was really necessary to have these tests run.
"But Martha, what the hell is wrong with me?" He questioned, his voice sounding weak.
For the first time ever since Randy had entered her office, Martha smiled.
"Well from the look of it I guess it's nothing serious and I just want to make sure that I'm right…" She explained.
"Oh… okay…" Randy nodded somewhat relieved.
"So are you okay with that deal?" Martha questioned, just to be sure.
"Yeah… well I guess I don't really have another option… do I?"
"Well not really…" Martha smiled a little.
"Okay… then I'll make an appointment with the hospital for tomorrow, tell them about the special circumstances and then I'll call you for the exact time when you have to be at the hospital…"
"Thanks Martha… the only question is what I'm going to tell Vince… I mean I'm scheduled to have a fight with Edge tomorrow evening." Randy told the young doctor.
"Don't worry about Vince… I'm going to tell him that you just need your rest after your breakdown yesterday… remember, you still have a concussion." Martha reminded the Legend Killer.
"Thanks
again Martha… well then goodbye for now and I'm waiting for your
call… please don't tell anybody about it."
"You should
know that I as a doctor am not allowed to betray my patient's
confidence and in addition to that I honour my friend's wishes."
Martha replied.
"Yeah… I know… I just wanted to make sure… I'm a little edgy right now. Sorry…"
"It's okay…" Martha assured him.
"So I better go now… I'll hear from you later." With that Randy left Dr. Cormela's office.
Alexandria was still walking around the arena, searching for Randy, but her boyfriend seemed to have vanished or he was effectively hiding. Alexi had started to believe in the second option because Randy's mobile was also turned off.
With a sigh the girl asked the sixth wrestler she'd come across so far if he'd seen Randy.
RVD just shook his head.
"Sorry Alexi, I can't help you there… I haven't seen Randy all day."
"Well thanks nonetheless Rob… if you see him, tell him to call me because I'm looking for him." Alexi explained, her worry increasing with every wrestler telling her that they hadn't seen Randy.
RVD
obviously sensed that the girl was troubled because he asked: "Are
you okay Alexi?"
"Yeah… I'm fine… I'm just worried
about Randy… He won't tell me what's going with him in the last
days."
"So you also don't know what's wrong with him?"
Rob questioned.
Alexi shook her head.
"Damn…
and here we were hoping you would know so that there's at least
someone Randy hasn't shut out because judging by John's mood
Randy also won't tell him what's going on."
"Huh? And
who's 'we'?" Alexi questioned, not really surprised that RVD
had noticed something was wrong with Randy.
"Well 'we' means almost the whole RAW roster and even some SmackDown guys who normally are in regular contact with Randy but haven't heard a single word from him in the last weeks… the last time he's acted like this was when he and Stacy broke up. And it took him a long time to get over that… in fact he's only fully gotten over it when he met you…" RVD explained.
Alexandria rubbed her face warily.
"So I've been told…" She admitted, but she still didn't believe that she'd had such a first impact on the young Orton.
"But back then we at least had an idea what was wrong. As for now we don't have the slightest clue… but I reckon it must be bad if he doesn't even tell you."
"I guess John knows what's wrong…" Alexi informed van Dam, remembering the locker room encounter earlier. Rob van Dam nodded.
"I figured as much… but it's tearing John apart as well…" He explained. RVD had observed the two best friends in the last two days and John looked almost as pale and nearly as tired as Randy did, well except for the bruises perhaps.
Rob had noticed the black eye even though Randy had worn the sunglasses but he hadn't thought much about it since wrestler often had bruises from a move gone slightly wrong but when he thought about it now it was a little weird.
"Well I guess I better go and continue my search." Alexi finally said. RVD nodded.
"And if
I see Randy I'll tell him that you're looking for him."
"Thanks
Rob." With that Alexi started to walk down the hall, when Rob's
voice stopped her again.
"Oh and Alexi… let us know if there's something we can do for you or for Randy. I and the guys will gladly help if you let us."
"Thanks again Rob. See ya…" With that Alexandria finally walked away, continuing her search.
Perhaps he's gone for a run again because he's having another headache and now he's already back at the hotel…
With that Alexi quickly called a cab and drove back to the hotel.
And really when she entered the lobby of the hotel her search for the young Orton ended.
But to her surprise he wasn't alone. Alexandria's eyes widened a little when she saw who was with him.
"Oh my god Dhani…" She squealed happily, forgetting her worry for a second, running over to the girl and hugging her tightly.
After Randy had left Martha's office again, he had really decided to go for a run so he quickly drove back to the hotel, changing into his jogging attire.
When he pulled of John's shirt he winced a little when he saw the now purple bruises all over his chest. Before he left the room again, he quickly bandaged his ribs so they wouldn't hurt too much. It wasn't a problem for Randy because he'd learned to patch himself up without others noticing in the past and without others helping him.
He went back down into the lobby and felt slightly better than before because his hips didn't hurt with every step.
Randy was about to leave the hotel when his attention was suddenly drawn to the reception when he heard a woman talking to the receptionist in an exasperated voice.
"Please, would you tell me her room number or at least call to see if she's up there…"
The receptionist shook his head sternly.
"I'm
sorry Miss, but I can't tell you. We're not allowed to tell
random fans the room numbers of our guests."
The girl let out a
frustrated groan and Randy had the feeling that it took all her
willpower not to slam her head on the reception.
"I'm not just some random fan… I have known her for years…" she nearly screamed.
"She even booked a room in this hotel for me."
"You won't believe how often I've heard that story by now, Miss." The receptionist said calmly.
Randy shook his head and wondered if this was Alexi's friend Dhani.
Well I guess I can find out. With that he walked over to the reception.
"Excuse me but do you happen to be Dhani McMillan?" He questioned.
The young woman nodded while turning around. "Yes I am…" She was about to say more when she suddenly recognised who'd just called her name.
"Oh my god… you're Randy Orton…." She stuttered. The Legend Killer just grinned and then turned to the receptionist. He knew the young man by now.
"It's okay Mike…" He told the young man.
"She really is an old friend of Alexi. My girlfriend booked a room for this girl here…" He explained.
The receptionist looked into his computer again. "Oh yeah… now I've found it… Dhani McMillan, room 701. Sorry for that Mr. Orton… I was just…."
"…doing your job. I understand that." The young Orton assured Mike and then took the key and handed it to Dhani who was still staring at Randy in awe.
The Legend Killer realised that the young woman was too stunned to move so he took her arm and guided her a little away from the reception.
"So you're the famous Dhani McMillan Alexi has been talking about non stop since you called her yesterday?" Randy broke the silence.
"And you're Randy Orton… the youngest World Heavyweight Champion ever…" Dhani stated, still awe-struck.
She had always been a huge wrestling fan, one thing she and Alexi never had talked about, so she of course had recognised the young Orton at once.
"Yepp…
that would be me… but you can call me Randy…" He grinned.
"Nice
to meet you Dhani." He took her hand in his and shook it in
greeting.
Suddenly and before any of the two could say something a squeal from behind broke the silence.
"Oh my god Dhani…"
And with that Dhani found herself enveloped in a big hug by Alexi.
to be continued
