Yay, a new chapter!!!! I'm soooo sorry that I haven't posted this sooner...it took quite awhile for me to get this chapter complete and satisfactory. Thank you guys for being so patient and for all of your reviews...I hope you enjoy this nice long update!

Some info is revealed about Katharine in this chapter...I just want to preface it by stating that it is not my intention to make every bad thing in the world happen to her. I merely want to explore the possible ramifications of a painful situation that unfortunately occurs all too often. If anyone is offended then I apologize and ask that you stop reading.

Now that all of that is out of the way...on with the good stuff! Disclaimer...


Chapter Nine: Revelations

When Katharine met Randy for the first time, she never in a million years thought she would be keeping watch over him while he lay passed out in his bed like a blithering drunk. That was exactly what she was doing at the moment, however, and the strange thing was that she had chosen to do so. Randy was too out of it to ask her to do anything coherently, and she was actually afraid to leave him alone over night. She was sure he had slept off many drunken binges just fine, but that was before he had met her. He should have known that things would be different now that they were friends.

Getting him home had been no easy task because a drunken Randy Orton was more stubborn than a sober one. He protested as she got him in the car and complained of her driving all the way back to his apartment. He was barely able to remember where he lived: a beautiful apartment complex in upper Manhattan. If Katharine hadn't been so concerned with getting him inside she would have been in awe of the place.

Randy shouted, whined, babbled, and giggled like a school girl up to the tenth floor where his apartment was. A fairly good sized place for a New York City apartment, it was nicer than anything Katharine had ever seen before. Randy had made a bee-line for his liquor upon entering his home, but Katharine easily snatched it away from him. There was no way he could fight her in his inebriated state and even he knew it. She remembered him laughing at the irony and then staggering into his bedroom, closing the door behind him.

Katharine was left standing in the middle of his apartment with a bottle of vodka in one hand and Randy's house keys in the other. "What the hell do I do now?" she wondered out loud.

The answer was soon given to her in the form of a loud thudding noise coming from Randy's bedroom. She quickly set the vodka and keys down and sprinted towards the door, pushing it open as fast as she could. She expected to see furniture turned over on the ground, but instead she merely saw Randy sitting on his behind and laughing like an idiot. "I fell!" he slurred through irrepressible giggles.

Katharine rolled her eyes and did her best to help him up. "Yes you did," she replied in a patronizing tone. "I think we should get you to bed before you hurt yourself."

"You're pretty," was the only response that she received. Randy allowed her to help him over to his bed and collapsed on it, still fully clothed. "And you kiss good," he added as he grinned at her.

"Thanks Randy." Katharine pushed him into the middle of the bed and pulled his shoes off for him, the only article of clothing that she was willing to take off of him. "Try and get some sleep because you're going to have one massive hangover tomorrow."

Randy closed his eyes and gave one final chuckle. "Hangovers are for wimps," he muttered before succumbing to his drunken stupor.

Katharine sighed and watched as his breathing slowed down, becoming much more regular. His features relaxed and it didn't take long for him to fall into a deep sleep. She knew she should leave now since there really was no reason for her to stay, but for some reason she couldn't bring herself to do so. What if he had gotten himself so drunk that something bad happened to him during the night? She didn't want to go and leave him defenseless.

It was completely out of character for her to stay, but that seemed to be describing Katharine a lot lately. She had allowed herself to become close to Randy when normally she shut others out of her life. She now felt tied to him, as if her existence was inexplicably entangled with his, and as a result she had allowed him to kiss her.

"Why did you let him kiss you?" she wondered out loud to herself as she watched Randy sleep. They both may have wanted it, but Randy had been drunk and she shouldn't have allowed him to do it. If he couldn't think for himself then it was her responsibility to herself to do so for him. And what about her promise to herself that she would mend what was broken inside of her before letting another man in? She was far from healed and yet she had kissed him, wanted him to do it. There was no way she could protect herself if she let Randy in before she was ready.

Katharine sat down in the comfortable chair across from Randy's bed and pulled her knees up to her chest. She wished with all of her heart that she was different person, someone who was ready to fall head over heels in love with Randy Orton without any inhibitions, but that was not the path destiny had chosen for her. It seemed as if she had been born into suffering and she had been doing quite well with it until Randy came along, making her want to break down every defense mechanism that she had built around her to cope.

Her family life had been less than ideal, but Katharine coped by throwing herself into her school work in hopes of getting out of town and starting a life of her own elsewhere. She loved to write and had dreamed of going to NYU for as long as she could remember. That dream almost came crashing down around her, however, when she was sixteen. It was a memory that Katharine didn't like to think about much, but it had affected everything about her life ever since.

It was the homecoming game and one of her friends was throwing a party after the game. She normally didn't go to parties but she decided to give it a try since there was nothing better than a mother passed out from alcohol waiting for her at home. What Katharine hadn't counted on were some of the guys from school being there, guys that she considered to be assholes. They proved their reputation right that night.

A few stray tears leaked out of her eyes and Katharine drew in a deep breath. All of the therapy in the world couldn't make her forget what happened that night, and it was the cause of the many problems that she experienced later on. A bout with depression nearly cost Katharine her dream of getting out of California and making it to NYU, but she managed to pull herself out of it with therapy. It couldn't make her forget but it helped her cope. Once she reached New York City, however, the pressures of college life made her alter her coping mechanisms and she turned to controlling her appetite. It was as if she was being haunted by that night when she was sixteen and the only way she could control it was through food. This time she wasn't alone, though, and Kellie helped her get through it. In fact, Kellie was the one who got her to speak with Health Services on campus about a year ago. It took some time, but Katharine eventually realized she had a problem and spent the past summer in a group therapy program for young women who suffered from eating disorders.

Her life was finally back on track for the first time in years, and that was when she vowed to fully heal herself before letting someone new in. That all changed when Randy Orton literally walked into her life and slowly turned everything upside down. He showed her that despite all that had happened to her, there were people out there who were more broken inside than she was. At least she was coming out of her inner darkness; Randy seemed to be swallowed up by it when they first met. Though she hadn't wanted to admit it back when they first met, she had always been drawn to him and the desire to help him was overwhelmingly powerful. It was the reason she had picked up the phone that day and called him. That desire made her go to lunch with him and inspired her to write about his life for her entrance story. It was the reason she kissed him tonight.

Katharine wished with all of her heart that she could confide in Randy, that she could share her story with him and have him tell her that everything would be okay. As much as she wanted to do it, she knew that no one could make it better for her and it was something she had to struggle with on her own. There was a chance that she could save Randy from heading down the same road that she had been on, though. She doubted that he would develop an eating disorder, but by getting hopelessly drunk tonight he showed that he was behaving in his own self-destructive manner. She didn't want him to hit rock bottom like she had.

Katharine was pulled out of her thoughts by Randy moaning in his sleep. A look of worry crossed over his features and she walked over to the side of his bed. Apparently he wasn't drunk enough to avoid having nightmares because his sleep looked troubled. Katharine placed a hand on his cheek and sat down on the bed beside him. "Ssh," she soothed him quietly. "I'm here, and everything's going to be okay. You're going to be okay." It was a promise that she intended to keep.


What the fuck? That was Randy's first coherent thought when he awoke the following morning to sunlight streaming into his bedroom and headache pounding at his temples. His head felt like it had been run over by a truck and his body was heavy. The only time he ever felt like that was after… oh no, he had definitely gotten drunk the night before.

He rubbed at his eyes that had yet to crack open and quickly tried to place what had happened. Did he go home with a girl? Did he pass out somewhere else besides home? Try as he might, Randy could not remember anything that had happened the night before. Everything was too much of a blur.

He didn't want to open his eyes, afraid of what he was going to see, but he knew he couldn't stay in limbo between sleep and consciousness forever. His eyes slowly opened and he blinked a few times to adjust to the sunlight that was causing his head to throb in the most unnatural way. When he had adjusted himself to the light, he quickly realized that he was in his own apartment, tucked snugly into his own bed. Randy looked to his side quickly and let out a sigh of relief when he didn't see anyone beside him. Apparently he hadn't been stupid enough to hook up with another random girl last night.

He couldn't shake the heaviness that enveloped his body and Randy wasn't sure why. Even when he got completely plastered it never seemed to affect him like this. What in the world had he done last night?

His eyes slowly moved downward and he recognized that he was in the same clothes as last night. That was nearly as surprising as what, or who to be more accurate, lay draped across his stomach, also fully clothed. "Katharine?" he wondered out loud at the site of her.

She didn't respond, however, and fear suddenly racked Randy's body. He slowly sat himself up and shifted her so that she was lying back on his bed. "Katharine?" he said softly. Randy lowered his head and listened for her breathing, which was coming easily and naturally. She was just in a deep sleep, and he didn't even want to consider the reason why he had been so worried that something had happened to her.

He watched her as she slept, taking note that she was still in the same clothes that she had worn the night before. She must have spent the night there and not gone home at all, but how did she get here? The last thing Randy remembered was being thoroughly pissed and broken down after therapy and heading to a bar. His memory faded after his tenth shot in ten minutes, so he must have gotten a hold of Katharine somehow over the course of the night. And she had stayed with him. Randy didn't want to think about what that meant either.

He rubbed his eyes and let out a small sigh. Having Katharine in his bed had been a fantasy of his for awhile now, but it wasn't supposed to be like this. In his fantasy, they would have made love until neither one of them could move, and then they would have done it again. She wouldn't have stayed with him out of pity and played nursemaid for his drunken ass, which was what he suspected had happened.

Well the least he could do was let her sleep. Randy carefully scooted her up so that her head was resting against his pillows and he pulled the covers up around her. It was mid-morning and he assumed that she hadn't gotten to sleep until late, which was his fault. Randy brushed a few stray locks of hair out of her face and took note of her pink lips, gently resting together in an example of slumber. He vaguely remembered kissing those lips, but that must have been a dream because there was no way Katharine would let him do that. She seemed to have an aversion to physical closeness, even though they had become good friends. He still hadn't given up on finding out the reason for that.

Randy slid out of bed and headed to the bathroom. Knowing that Katharine was just a few feet away from him in his bed was cause for a cold shower. He disappeared into the bathroom and peeled out of his clothes, which clung to his body and reeked of alcohol. That was the last time he was going on a drinking binge for awhile.

He made the shower as cold as he could possibly stand and climbed inside, letting the cool droplets rain over his body. Nothing could erase the warmth that grew inside of him at the thought that Katharine had spent the night with him. Randy wasn't very good at figuring out his feelings, but he knew that he felt something for her, something deep that he had never experienced before. It was as if she understood everything that he was going to say before he said it. He didn't have to tell her what was going on inside of his head because she already knew it.

Instead of getting completely wasted last night, he should have just gone to the restaurant and talked to Katharine about his difficult therapy session. Dr. Jamison forced him to take a good look at himself and it was painful for him to recognize just how much he had screwed up in his life. As much as he wanted to tell her what was discussed in his therapy session, he didn't know if he could find the words to explain it. It was too difficult for him to do so.

Randy's thoughts began to shift to Katharine, and he found himself thinking about all of the little things that he had come to love about her. He loved the way the corners of her mouth turned up into a smile when she was trying not to laugh. He adored the bright look in her eyes when she was happy and how earnest she was whenever she was listening to him speak. He couldn't think of one thing that he disliked about her, and if Randy was being honest with himself, he would admit that it frightened him a bit. He was falling for her hard and fast, and he didn't even realize it.

The cold shower finally reached its desired outcome and Randy wrapped a towel around his waist when he had finished. He dried off quickly and threw on some sweats before exiting the bathroom. He wasn't surprised to see that Katharine was still asleep and he smiled softly to himself. She looked so angelic, so peaceful, and it felt right that she had spent the night here. It was something that he could get used to.


Instead of being woken with a start by her alarm clock, Katharine gradually drifted back to consciousness that morning. It was something that she wasn't used to and if she had been more coherent she would have realized how weird it was. For the moment, though, she simply reveled in lying back in her bed with nothing to do.

The first thought that registered in her mind was that the bed was softer than what she was used to. When did her crappy mattress turn into a fluffy cloud. She slowly opened her eyes and nearly gasped out loud when she realized she wasn't in her apartment. Where was she?

It didn't take long for her to remember that she was in Randy's apartment, and that she had stayed with him because he had been completely wasted the night before. Katharine knew that she had been sitting on the bed watching him, and at some point she must have fallen asleep herself. The only difference was that she knew she had fallen asleep on top of the covers, her head resting on Randy's stomach. Yet somehow she had ended up underneath the covers, tenderly nestled between two soft pillows. There was only one person who could have done this for her.

She looked to her left where he had been sleeping the night before but Randy was not there. He must have woken up and found her, and in his thoughtful way had let her sleep longer. Luckily for her she had the day off, a rare occurrence for her but something that she desperately needed.

Katharine slowly became aware of a delicious aroma wafting through the room, sliding past the barrier of the closed bedroom door. It smelled like eggs and pancakes, which could only mean one thing.

She climbed out of bed and stretched a little, taking a second to fix her rumpled clothes and unruly hair before quietly slipping out of the bedroom. She followed the hallway out into the kitchen where her suspicions were confirmed. Randy was standing in the kitchen finishing cooking what smelled like a delicious breakfast. He heard her quiet footsteps and turned around to see her standing in the doorway. "Good morning Sleeping Beauty," he greeted her brightly with a smile.

Katharine smiled back at him and walked over to the counter. "You cook?" she asked in a teasing tone.

Randy simply grinned at her and placed the last pancake on the plate that was piled high with them. "I have some hidden talents in the kitchen," he answered. "I thought it was the least I could do to thank you for last night. You didn't have to stay and take care of me."

She shook her head. "I wanted to. I was worried about you, Randy. I've never seen anyone that wasted before."

The pounding headache that Randy was suffering from reminded him just how much he must have drank the night before. "I'm sorry for worrying you," he apologized. "And I know it was wrong to drink so much. I just…"

His voice trailed off, almost as if he was afraid to continue. Katharine reached out and touched his arm to reassure him that she wouldn't judge him. He swallowed and averted her eyes.

"I was in a bad place last night," Randy confessed. "My therapy session sucked and I didn't want to feel anymore, so I numbed myself by getting shit-faced. It wasn't the brightest idea I've ever had."

So the therapy was what had done it to him. Katharine remembered all too well how draining it could be to open yourself up to a complete stranger and be judged. That was the last thing she wanted for Randy.

"Therapy is painful," she said quietly while Randy brought the food over to the table. "But if you work at it, it can help you."

"That's what everyone says," he replied in frustration as he turned back to her. "I was on the phone with a friend of mine this morning and he told me the same thing. Unless you've been there, you don't know how hard it actually is. I'm sick of everyone telling me how I should feel!"

A wave of butterflies rose inside of Katharine. She could confess everything to him right now, show him that they were more alike than he realized, but getting the words to come out of her mouth was easier said than done.

Katharine took a deep breath. She could be there for Randy without divulging all of her secrets. "Randy, I'm not telling you how to feel," she began patiently. "And I know how hard therapy is because I've been there."

Randy's frustrated expression softened into one of shock. "You?" he questioned, his voice barely audible.

She shoved her hands in the back pockets of her jeans and approached him. "Yeah, me. It's not something that I enjoyed going through, but it helped me figure myself out and deal with some pretty painful things. It can help you, too, if you let it."

Randy couldn't wrap his mind around the information that Katharine had just shared with him. What could she possibly have gone through that would require her to go into therapy? Discovering the answer to that was more important to him than trying to figure out his own problems.

Katharine knew that he didn't know what to say, and she hoped that her statement was going to have the desired effect on him. "Do you want to talk about what's bothering you?" she asked gently. "I've been told that I'm a good listener."

Randy chuckled a little. "You are the best listener that I've ever met. We can talk, but what I really want to know is why you were in therapy."

Panic swelled inside of Katharine but she clamped down on it. If their friendship progressed further, Randy was bound to find out what she had gone through sooner or later. At the moment she chose later, but she could still draw on her own experiences and help him.

"Let's sit down and eat this yummy breakfast that you made and we'll talk," she replied.

Randy wasted no time setting the table and bringing the food over to them. He poured them each a glass of orange juice and even pulled out Katharine's chair for her like a perfect gentleman. He was sitting across from her within minutes, waiting to hear what she had to say.

Katharine took a deep breath. "I don't want to talk about what sent me into therapy," she began. "It's just something really personal that I still struggle with."

As disappointed as Randy was, he understood and had no intentions of pushing her into confiding her deep secrets. "Okay," he answered. "But how did you deal with being in therapy and hearing someone analyze your life? The doctor doesn't even know me and he's making all of these judgments."

Katharine leaned forward and gazed directly into his eyes. "Are the judgments accurate?"

Randy didn't respond and Katharine knew that she had struck a nerve. "I'm not saying that to hurt you," she continued. "But one of the things that I learned while I was in therapy was that there were a lot of things about myself that I didn't want to face. The doctor was able to pick up on those things right away and I resisted hearing them at first, but in time I realized that she was right. If I had learned that sooner, I could have benefited from therapy much more quickly than I did."

Emotions rose inside of Randy and he felt as if he was choking, drowning in his own pain. Deep down he knew that Dr. Jamison was right: he pushed people away by hurting them before he could be hurt and he ran away from his problems. He wanted to drown his sorrows in alcohol the night before so that he wouldn't have to think about it. He wanted to fix what was wrong with himself, but in order to do that he would have to let someone in. He didn't know how to do that.

Katharine could see that Randy was torn up inside and it hurt her to see him in so much pain. She wanted nothing more than to take it away for him, if he would let her. She reached out and grasped his hand in hers, then stared deeply into his eyes. "Talk to me, Randy," she implored. "I'm right here, and I promise you I won't judge you. I'm your friend."

He shook his head. "You will hate me if I tell you everything that I have done," he replied quietly. "I'm a mess, Kat. I don't deserve a friend like you."

She emphatically shook her head. "Don't even say that. I don't think I could ever hate you."

Randy stared back at her from across the table and saw the sincerity in her eyes that shone through from her heart. Last night had shown him that he needed someone to trust and Katharine could be that person for him. He knew deep down that she would never judge him, regardless of all that he had done. He decided to take a leap of faith and confess everything to her.

"I can't promise that you're going to like what you hear," he began. "But I owe it to you to tell you everything about me, so here goes nothing."

And he began to spill forth all of his secrets. Katharine listened as Randy told her about his childhood and how he wanted so desperately to live up to the legacy that his father and grandfather had created. He explained how he had rebelled as a teenager and entered the military upon graduating high school. She learned about the struggles that he had gone through when he realized he had made a mistake and how he turned his life around. Randy told her about his first few years in wrestling and how his success began to feed into his insecurities. She heard about how he drowned himself in alcohol and women in order to numb the pain and how he lashed out at everyone in the company to make himself hurt less. The more that Randy confessed to her, the harder she began to fall for him.

A deafening silence enveloped them both after Randy had finished bearing his soul to her. He felt purged, cleansed of all of his mistakes by letting them out. He felt free for the first time in his life, but he hoped he hadn't achieved that at the expense of his friendship with Katharine.

Katharine smiled at him. "And what in all of that could possibly make me hate you? I'll tell you what: absolutely nothing."

Randy smiled back at her. "Most girls aren't that understanding."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "I'm not most girls, and I realize that you're in the process of facing all of those demons. It's a hard thing to do, but I promise you it gets better."

He sighed and collapsed against the back of his chair. "I hope so because this is mentally draining."

Katharine squeezed the hand that she was still holding. "You're going to come out of this a much stronger person, Randy, and I'll be here every step of the way. I promise."

"Thank you for staying with me last night," he whispered. "And for being my friend."

"Thank you for sharing your secrets with me," she replied. Katharine could only hope that one day she would have the strength to do what Randy had just done.