Disclaimer: The WWE and all things connected to it are owned and operated by one Vincent Kennedy McMahon. This is a work of fiction and the only thing I own is the creative license to be able to bring this story to the fans of fiction.
A/N: I am having a lot of fun writing this and knowing what is happening before i even post it on line for the rest of you to see. Usually I tend to lose creative control over my fiction work because I do not keep on top of it, but this one, call me the romantic but I am lost in it and I cannot wait to see where it goes next, even in my own mind. So thank you all for reviewing, it does mean a lot to me and well look out for more updates as they come along.
He entered the hospital room like a man marked for death. What Jeff had said to him still rang in his mind, like a bell that wouldn't stop chiming. How was he going to make all of this alright again? Could he really give Ashley what she needed, knowing that all of this was in part caused by him and what he had jumped the gun in assuming?
He sat quietly in the chair beside the bed, the one that Jeff had just finished occupying. He had so much running through his mind right now and to get it all out was going to be hard. Not only had this beautiful woman been on her way to make things right between them again, as she had done numerous times before when his jealousy got the better of him, but she had been on her way to tell her that she really loved him.
What had he done to repay her for that? He had fallen into bed with his ex girlfriend, the one woman that still held a large part of his heart and that had also been the one that had ripped it in half by sleeping with his best friend. Just how could he pledge his feelings for Ashley when he knew that he had betrayed her in the worst way.
"Ashley, please come back to me. I can't do this alone. Well I can, but I don't want too anymore. I need you."
He took her limp hand in his, knowing that she wasn't really there with him now and that the machines all around the room were keeping her alive. Could she make it back from this? Or was he destined to lose her before they even had a chance to try?
Jeff's words again haunted him, taking over all rational thought in his head. "Tell her what you feel before its too late and you lose the chance forever. You aren't the only one that loves her."
Jeff was right and Johnny knew it. The more he sat there, staring at Ashley in the hospital bed, the machines breathing life into her with each passing second, he knew that if he didn't say something soon, any other man who knew her could, and he might lose his chance to be in her life forever.
It no longer mattered that he had slept with Melina, it no longer mattered that they had gotten their signals crossed. All that mattered now was telling this woman how he felt about her and taking the chance that it might be the one thing that could save her.
He cleared his throat, ready to say what he needed to, not noticing the shadow in the doorway as he spoke.
"I misunderstood you, and judged you from the time I first met you when we both joined the RAW brand. I thought you were a pretentious bitch who wanted nothing more then to make money by taking your clothes off. I didn't know you were talented in so many other ways then the ones I knew about and before that night in the bar, I didn't even want to know. But you changed all of that when you showed up for me that night Ashley, and my idea of you now is completely rewritten. I needed someone that night, but I wouldn't have admitted it to save my life. You knew, you cared and well a lot of things have happened since then. Jeff tells me that you told him you love me. He also told me how concerned you were about that because well it does seem to have taken us off guard a little too quickly. Ashley, I guess what I want to tell you is that I feel the same and am sorry for all of the pain this has caused."
The shadow moved away from the door then, and treaded back into the hallway, still listening as Johnny bared his soul to the woman he so deeply cared about.
"I love you, I want to be with you when you wake up from the sleep you are in, because that is what it is, you are just sleeping beauty at the moment. I want to be the prince that wakes you from your slumber and you live happily ever after with, but it is no longer up to me what happens now. As much as I love you, I have made a lot of stupid mistakes and unforgivable ones at that. Ashley, as much as I love you, you don't need me in your life, not anymore. You can beat this, and I will stand behind that one hundred percent. But Jeff really loves you, would never do this to you, what I have done, and I think you need to give him the chance to show you just how much he cares."
Johnny dropped her hand then, placing it lightly back onto the bed and as he stood from the chair, letting it drag on the floor as he did, he felt the sickest feeling in the pit of his stomach. He knew he was doing the right thing, but he just never thought it would hurt this badly to do it.
"Please come back to us Ashley, but if anything, do not come back for me. Come back for you, for your family and for the life you still have to live."
He turned and walked from the room then, the machines still beeping , helping her breathe as he did. But what he missed as he walked from the room and slowly down the hallway of the hospital floor was the movement of Ashley's hands on the bed where he had placed them. He also didn't get to see the tear that had slid down her cheek at the same moment in time.
Why can't I make him stop? Why can't I get my mind to come out of this coma and tell him that he doesn't have to leave me?
Her brain felt fuzzy, her body was frozen in the spot it was in and there wasn't a damn thing she could do about it. She had heard every word Johnny had said and the only thing she wanted was to make him stop and listen to what she had to say in return.
She heard the beeping of the machines, of the drugs they had been pumping into her system, trying to get her to awake from her coma. She knew her family was just outside the room and they were praying for her to come back to them. She wanted nothing more then to do that, to make her father not have to lose another child before he was lost himself.
But she couldn't. As much as she tried, her brain, her heart and her body were not working together and feeling Johnny get up and leave the room and probably her life at that moment almost made her want to stay asleep for ever. To just surrender to the overwhelming feeling of death and never come back.
Jeff loved her, she knew that by the look on his face when she had admitted her feelings for Johnny after RAW, but it didn't change her heart and she knew, that even if she could wake up, she wouldn't do what Johnny wanted and be with Jeff. That was something that just could never be.
I need to wake up now! She screamed into the darkness. "I need to tell Johnny that I know what he said and he doesn't have to leave me because of what he thinks is his fault."
Focusing all of her attention on the task at hand, she relaxed her body and tried with all of her might to make her mind and body work together to bring her back from the darkness. If there was a God, he would let her come back now, and make everything right again.