A/N: Update time!

The days flew by before John realized it and before he knew it, 3 days had passed since he had said goodbye to Randy. From the moment he walked out of his home and put on his "John Cena of the WWE" hat, he barely had a moment that wasn't consumed by appearances, interviews, meetings and actual performing in the ring. By the time he arrived to his designated hotel room for the night, the small amount of energy he had left was reserved for his nighttime conversation with Alanna. He knew the exhaustion he felt after a long day of work was shared by Randy and it was obvious neither was in the mood for a long, serious conversation. They listened as the other spoke briefly about their day, voiced their love for each other and said good night. John knew he should bring up the call from the adoption agency to Randy but the thought of doing so via cell phone and when they were miles away was something he just couldn't do. It was easier to wait the final few remaining days until they were together again before they tackled that difficult subject.

John exited the bathroom of his hotel room for the night in Austin, Texas and slipped on some underwear. He threw his body onto the king size bed provided for him and stared at the television, mindlessly flipping through the channels looking for entertainment. He dropped the remote after coming upon the ESPN channel and picked up his cell phone. After a quick glance at the time and calculating the difference between where Randy was in Atlanta, Georgia, he decided to try and see if the younger man had already left the arena for the night. A few rings into the call and his question was answered when he heard Randy's weary voice answer, "Hey,"

Despite the exhaustion he felt and the same he heard in Randy's voice, John smiled. "Hey. I'm surprised to see you answering. You didn't stay for the whole show?"

"No, I couldn't. Al isn't feeling well so I just wanted to get her on the bus so she could take some medicine and sleep it off," responded Randy.

John quickly frowned in concern and sat up. "What's wrong with her?"

"She must've picked up a little bug or something. She had an upset stomach and a fever but it wasn't too high. I gave her the meds right away and made her eat some soup and then she went right to bed. I'm sure she'll wake up better tomorrow," answered Randy quickly in an effort to calm John's nerves. "Don't worry, Johnny."

John slowly relaxed back onto his pillows and rolled his eyes. "I will always worry about our daughter, Ran."

"It's because you're the maternal one." teased Randy, causing John to laugh softly. "Shut up,"

John took a deep breath and debated once more whether that was the best time to tell Randy the secret he had been holding for days. Just as he decided to come clean and opened his mouth to speak, Randy suddenly spoke up again. "You have no idea how much I wished you were here with me today."

John's eyes widened at Randy's softly spoken, emotion filled statement. He pressed his lips together and licked them nervously. "Why? What's going on?"

"I just miss you and I wish you were here. Things are weird, bad, shitty…you name it." responded Randy. "We had a SummerSlam meeting today and the main topic was Brock and his match. The thought of having to see that man again…just the sound of his name is making me sick."

"I know. We had our own meeting and I kinda felt the same way when I heard his name." John suddenly smiled. "Well, not really. I didn't feel sick so much as I felt like punching a hole through his head."

Randy's voice remained somber. "I can't believe this man is coming back and is gonna be in the same locker room I'm in and that I'm just supposed to just go about our business like nothing happened. I'm supposed to ignore the fact that he tried to fuck me over and damn near ruined my marriage…"

"Stop. He didn't ruin anything. We're fixing it, remember?" interrupted John quickly. "The day you actually come face to face with that asshole you won't be alone, Ran. I'll be there and he'll see that his goal of fucking up your life didn't come true."

Randy remained silent for a few seconds before speaking again, his voice so low that John barely heard him. "Promise me?"

A smile came across John's face and he wished for the hundredth time that he were in bed beside Randy so he could reassure him. "Yes, Ran, I promise you. I will stand beside you and rub it in his face how happy we are and how much in love we still are with each other."

"I love you, Johnny. I wish you were here in bed with me right now." replied Randy, his voice morphing into a tone John hadn't heard in months; a tone that made his body go into sensory overload. He inhaled sharply and clutched the sheets underneath his hand tightly in his fist and whispered back, "So do I."

John quickly cleared his throat and tried to calm his raging body. He knew the last thing Randy was trying to do was excite him, especially since he was probably in bed with their daughter. It was just him reading too much into Randy's words. The younger man had always been able to send his hormones into overdrive, be it with a look or his voice. John took a few deep breaths and slowly felt himself relax.

"John, you still there?" A worried Randy now asked and John quickly responded. "Yeah, I'm here. I'm just a little tired, I guess."

"I'll let you sleep then…"

"No!" interrupted John before Randy could end the call. "I'm tired but that doesn't mean I don't want to talk to you. I love talking to you no matter what."

"OK, then, but enough about me. Tell me about your day," responded Randy sounding much happier. John smiled and shrugged to himself. "Meetings, signing, appearances, 2 hour meeting with Creative then wrestling. Same old shit, another day."

Randy laughed in his ear. "The life of Super Cena. Well, at least you can't ever complain you're bored and have nothing to do."

"I wouldn't mind a little boredom sometimes. By the time I get home I'm too exhausted to do anything but sleep and that stinks when you have a kid who wants your attention." John rolled his eyes and lowered his bed further into bed, shutting off the television.

"Well, not this time. Al won't be with us in Tampa this week, remember? I'm dropping her off with Sam and then I'll head home alone. Looks like it's just you and me this week, Cena."

John's exhaustion suddenly disappeared and his eyes widened. "What?"

"Did you forget? It's Sam's week," replied Randy. "Remember Sam? I know you two have never been the best of friends but she plays the role of the mom…"

John could practically see the smirk on Randy's face as he teased him. "Yes, I remember Sam, funny man. I just forgot it was her week. You know in my ideal world Ally is with us always."

"I know. That's my ideal world, too." Randy sighed in his ear. "Anyway, we'll have to find some way to entertain ourselves while in Florida. We have therapy for a couple of days but other than that I don't know what we can do. You know I hate being down there. It's too damn noisy. I hate the city."

"Yes, I know you hate the city and that you only go down there for me. I promise I'll think of a way to entertain you, Orton," mumbled John.

"Oh, is that so? How are you gonna entertain me?" asked Randy, his tone deepening once more. John frowned and decided to ignore it in an effort to keep his sanity. He cleared his throat and took a deep breath. "I have my ways. Whatever we do decide to do, though, we need to set aside a couple of hours to talk, just you and me, preferably before the therapist appointment."

"Oh, God. What now? I can't take any more bad news, John." Randy groaned loudly in his ear, all teasing and flirting now over. "Just tell me now and get it over with."

"Ran, I don't feel comfortable telling you over the phone. Let's just wait until we're home and together, OK." pleaded John.

A loud sigh was his only answer. John groaned inwardly, annoyed at himself for telling Randy of the news that awaited him at home. He should've known better than to mention anything to the younger man. Randy had never been the most patient soul.

"Ran, it's nothing we can't work out together. Trust me, baby, please," John held his breath, hoping for some type of response from his husband. Asking for his trust and using a term of endearment didn't seem to go over well with Randy after all they'd been through but John didn't know how else to break through the silence.

Surprisingly, when Randy finally responded, he spoke calmly. "OK. I'll just wait till we get home. I'd better get some sleep in case Al wakes up at the crack of dawn feeling better."

"Sounds like a good idea. Give her a kiss for me and tell her how much I love her and miss her." John smiled as he spoke of his daughter.

"I will. I'm sure she'll want to call you as soon as she wakes up since she missed your call tonight. Don't complain if it's a 6am, though." Randy laughed softly. "Have a good night, Johnny."

"You, too, Ran." John ended the call feeling more at peace with the whole baby secret he was keeping. At least he had given Randy a warning of the serious talk that was to come. There was no way he could be accused of lying now. He settled down into his bed, positive Randy's premonition of being awoken by his daughter at the crack of dawn would come true.

Two days later, John found himself in his Tampa home all alone. Randy had taken a flight from Atlanta directly to St. Louis to drop off Alanna. Sam had promised to meet him at the airport so he could take a flight coming down to Tampa as soon as possible and for once, she had kept her promise. Randy's flight should've arrived in Tampa almost an hour earlier so according to John's schedule, he should be home any minute. Randy, however, did not work according to John's schedule and asking him to do so never worked. Therefore, John found himself wandering around his empty house and forcing his patience to the breaking point.

After his husband had still not arrived half an hour later, John decided to put himself to work. He dragged his suitcase into the laundry room and carefully sorted out the clothes, reading off the directions Randy had posted on the wall after his first laundry disaster. He loaded the washer and put in the designated amount of soap then took a step back, a pleased grin on his face as he saw the machine begin to work. After a quick glance at his watch, John exited the laundry room and walked into the kitchen, debating whether to order lunch for him and Randy. As he lifted the phone to his ear, the sound of a car pulling into the driveway distracted him. John quickly dropped the phone on the counter and ran to the door, smiling happily as he saw Randy exit the car, luggage in tow. He pulled the door open and stepped out into the sunshine, his smile widening as Randy approached. "Thank God you're home! What took you so long?"

Randy raised an eyebrow. "I can't control traffic, John."

John shook his head and took the suitcase from Randy's hand. "It doesn't matter as long as you're home. I was going crazy all alone here. I actually started doing my laundry."

Randy's eyes widened as he followed John into the home, closing the door behind him. "Oh God,"

"I followed your instructions, I swear!" John held up his hand and laughed softly, leading the way into the laundry room. "I've learned how to work the machine. Took me a couple of years but I learned…"

Randy followed him into the room and saw the machine working effortlessly. John watched him, a proud smile on his face. Randy took his suitcase from John's hand and rested it against the wall. "Very good, Johnny. I'm very proud. You could do mine next."

John rolled his eyes and turned around, starting out of the room but Randy quickly reached for his arm and tugged him back in. John spun around from the force of the tug and found himself pressed up against the younger man, their eyes locked. Randy locked his arms around his John's waist and slowly smiled. "I missed you,"

John relaxed in the embrace, his own arms reaching up to circle Randy's neck. "I missed you, too. For a minute there I panicked. I thought you were going to stay in St. Louis and not come down here with me."

Randy frowned and shook his head. "I promised you I was coming to this home. I wasn't going to break my promise to you. I couldn't wait to see you, Johnny."

John nodded, his hands moving up and down Randy's back as he fought the urge to pull him forward and press their lips together. "Same here."

Randy rested his forehead against John's and closed his eyes. He could feel his body reacting to John's touch and desperately wanted to ask him for more. The desire to pull him down to the floor was almost overwhelming and he had to fight his body over it. Quickly placing a kiss on John's head, Randy pulled out of the embrace and smiled. "I'm starving. Can we order some food?"

John groaned inwardly at how empty his arms felt without Randy in them. He followed him out of the room and into the large kitchen and watched as he grabbed the phone he'd discarded earlier and placed an order with their local diner for deliver. John's eyes lowered to the marble countertop as he sank into a chair behind it. Now that Randy was here he would have no choice but to tell him of the baby's death. Despite his desire to hide it because of his fear of Randy's reaction, he knew he couldn't. Starting their relationship over was hard enough. Doing it all based on a lie; that he couldn't do.

"John!"

John's head snapped back up at Randy's sharp call. "What?"

"I've been talking to you for the past couple of minutes. Where were you?" Randy walked around the counter to lean in front of where John stood.

"I'm sorry. I'm just distracted," he responded truthfully.

Randy nodded. "You're distracted by what you have to tell me, right?"

John quickly lowered his head, wordlessly admitting to Randy what he said was true. Randy sighed and reached out to run his fingers over John's face. He gently lifted it and smiled. "Johnny, why are you worried? Why are you so stressed out about this? You told me that we would be able to work it out together. If that's true, then there's no need to worry about it."

John reached up to grab Randy's waist, pulling him into his lap. He buried his face in Randy's neck and inhaled deeply the smell of his husband. "I just don't want to lose you,"

Randy wrapped an arm around John's shoulders and kissed the top of his head. "Johnny, just tell me what's wrong before I start imagining the worst."

John quickly looked up and met Randy's concerned look. "You know our baby?"

Randy frowned. "Al?"

"No," John sighed and shook his head. "The adoption; the one Mrs. Long called me about,"

"Oh, yeah." Randy smiled but shook his head. "Can we finally meet the girl? Could we at least see a sonogram pic?"

John lowered his head once more. "The baby died, Ran."

Randy's eyes widened and he slowly stood up. "What? How…"

"The girl was in a car accident. She's fine but the baby died. Mrs. Long called to tell me on Friday like 5 minutes after your bus pulled away. I wanted to tell you so bad but I just couldn't. Every time I tried to tell you, I just couldn't."

John stopped his frantic rambling the minute Randy rose his hand. He watched as Randy walked farther away from him and began to pace the living room, shaking his head. "You've known about this for almost 5 days and you're just telling me now?"

John quickly stood up and walked over to him. "We were so far away from each other and doing over the phone just didn't feel right, Ran."

Randy shook his head. "No, that's not it. You thought I was gonna freak out over this and want to stop therapy, didn't you? You still don't trust me, do you?"

John quickly frowned and shook his head. "No, baby, I never thought that…."

"Stop it! You're a shitty liar, John." Randy's voice grew in anger. "Tell me the truth! It would be the first time you have in months!"

John's eyes suddenly narrowed and he found his feet carrying him to where Randy stood. "Listen to me, Ran. I get you're pissed but you need to tone down that righteous fucking attitude of yours. If I didn't trust you, and I'm not saying I don't, you know damn well I have a right not to. That's not the point here. Yes, I may have had one quick moment of question when it comes to you and our therapy but I realized just as quickly that if you love me the way you say you do, you wouldn't quit on me, baby or no baby. I'm telling you the truth right now. I didn't tell you sooner because we were miles away and that wasn't any way to break the news to you that the baby we had waited 3 years for was now gone! If you think I did wrong somehow, then please fucking forgive me!"

Randy clenched his jaw tightly, a muscle ticking rapidly on the side of his face as he glared at John in anger. He lifted his head and walked around John, stopping when he got to the doorway. "You know, me staying in St. Louis this week might not have been such a bad idea after all."

A/N: REVIEW!