Chapter Ten

"And Just who the hell do you think you are?" Candi heard from behind her and saw Diane Hart approaching looking pissed off. Candi gently handed Nattie to Harry and turned around.

"I'm Candi fucking Langly and you need to back the fuck off Diane before I knock your ass out." Candi said causing Bret to pull Diane away. Candi looked at the other women in the room.

"Anyone else have a fucking problem with me being here?" Candi asked looking at them all. They all shook their heads.

"Good." Candi said before dragging Nattie to her room as Harry and TJ followed. As soon as Candi closed the door Nattie was hugging her again with her face buried back into her neck.

"Umm…..Candi?" TJ asked.

"What?" Candi asked turning her head to look at him.

"Why are you in your ring gear?" He raised his eyebrow.

"Cuz I had a six man intergender tag match tonight and before I could change Kaitlynn told me my phone kept going off and when I asked what song AJ said the name I have set as Nattie's so I just went and grabbed my stuff, called back and got Bret and sped over here." Candi responded as Nattie pulled away and giggled. Candi raised her eyebrow and looked at her.

"What's so funny?" Candi asked.

"You would think I would have been the first to notice that." Nattie said giggling more which caused TJ and Harry to chuckle.

"Ha Ha. Now who's going with me to get my bag so I can shower and change?" She asked them raising an eyebrow.

"I will." Harry said before the others could respond. Candi just nodded and started walking out of the room and headed to the front door and out to her car. When they got outside Harry chuckled at how she parked.

"I should probably move this huh?" Candi said sighing. Harry just nodded.

"Put it in front of the garage." He told her pointing at it. Candi nodded then got into the car and moved it into in front of the garage and got out. She then went into the back seat where she grabbed her gym bag that held her shower things and a change of clothes. After shutting the door and locking the car she walked back over to Harry.

"Let's go back in shall we? I really need a shower." She told him. Harry just chuckled and lead her back inside to the guest shower. Candi went in and showered and sighed as the water helped release her tense muscles. 20 minutes later she was walking out fully clothed and fresh and almost knocked Diane down but caught her before she fell. When Candi went to walk around her Diane grabbed her arm.

"I'm sorry about earlier, It's just I'm the one that usually has to comfort Nattie and get her to calm down." Candi looked at her as Diane explained then sighed. Candi just nodded.

"Well now you're not the only one." Candi told her before shaking her arm off and walking away. She walked back to Nattie's room and tossed her bag into a corner then flopped onto the bed and sighed causing the others to look at her.

"Diane apologized to me." She said shocking them.

"What?" Harry asked being the first to regain composure.

"After I got done showering I was on my way back here and I almost knocked her over, literally, so I caught her and went to walk around her but she grabbed my arm and said sorry and explained why she acted the way she did. I just brushed her off and came here." Candi told them before she rolled onto her front and buried her face into the pillow.

"Well if it isn't my little man!" They all heard causing Candi and TJ to tense. Candi growled softly but TJ, Harry, and Nattie all heard her and looked at her confused. Candi just tightened her hold on the pillow and het her face covered.

"Why don't you ever come to visit me when your home son?" TJ's dad asked. Candi could detect a slight slur in his words.

"Because when I left you told me to never come back." TJ said before he moved in between Nattie and Candi and started to rub Candi's back.

"Who's the rainbow haired slut?" TJ's dad asked slurring more. Before anyone could speak Candi was up and had him against the wall by his throat.

"I'm the rainbow haired slut." Candi said in a slight whisper. TJ's dad's eyes got real wide and he started shaking.

"That's right bitch, I'm back." Candi growled at him before tossing him out and closing the door. Before anyone said anything Candi fell to her knees and covered her face with her hands trying to block the flashbacks. Harry and Nattie started to head for her but TJ stopped them with a sad look on his face. After a couple of minutes she started to shake from holding in her tears. Five minutes later she uncovered her face and looked at TJ.

"Why did he have to come back?" She asked sadly and sighed. He just shrugged and let Nattie and Harry go. Nattie got to Candi first and was hugging her tightly and Harry came and hugged them both. Candi looked over their shoulders and looked at TJ.

"We need to tell them." She mouthed to him. He just nodded.

"Okay guys, there's some stuff you need to know." Candi said pushing Nattie and Harry off of her then she moved onto the bed with TJ. Once they were all on the bed she looked at Nattie.

"You can't kill us for this." She told her. Nattie just nodded confused.

"No interrupting before I'm done." Candi told both of them bringing her knees to her chest. Nattie and Harry both nodded.

"What neither of you know is TJ and I knew each other before we knew you guys. We grew up next door to each other and played together every day. Eventually we started to love each other as brothers and sisters do. Then one night he snuck over when I told him not to cuz my dad was home. He found out that night my father was a drunk and an abuser. I made him swear that night that he'd never tell a soul about it." Candi said shakily. TJ started rubbing her back and she sent a small smile his way.

"A few weeks later my dad decided he wanted to go on a road trip, he was driving and completely wasted, he plowed into a mac truck head on. My parents died on impact but I somehow lived, I died four times on the way to the hospital and twice more once I got there. After that I remember nothing till I wake up and saw TJ asleep in a chair beside me. Before I could wake him, a nurse came in. I had been in a coma for a month and she told me he had been there every day and night since the accident. After she checked everything I threw a pillow at him and he fell off the chair." TJ chuckled at the memory and Candi smiled.

"He saw I was awake and climbed onto my bed and hugged me, then he did something I haven't seen him do since, he cried, then I started crying and I held onto him tightly to remind myself it wasn't a dream. When we finally stopped crying the cops came into the room and I froze, TJ grabbed my hand and told me it'd be okay and that he wasn't going anywhere. The cops tried to make him leave but I started to hyper ventilate and screamed at the top of my lungs so they let him stay." TJ chuckled again and Candi looked over at him before continuing.

"They asked me what had happened that night. So, I started from the beginning and told them my dad had been abusing me since I was two and that he was always drunk, I told them he decided to go on a road trip and that he was drunk but wouldn't let my mom drive, then went straight into the mac truck. They finally let and I fell asleep on TJ's arm. I woke up later cuz he was tugged away from me and I started hyperventilating and screaming again which scared the social workers and his dad, they let him go and as soon as he got near me I calmed down. Then I found out they wanted to put me into foster care and I freaked which worried his dad who at the time saw me as a daughter." TJ tensed at the mention of his dad so Candi grabbed his hand and he relaxed instantly.

"He told the social workers they weren't taking me anywhere because I was going to live with him and TJ. They agreed but it was on one condition, that in a years' time he had to adopt me as his and me and TJ would actually be a brother and sister legally." Candi sighed and leaned her head onto TJ's shoulder.

"It was great for the first four months, they his dad started drinking, one night TJ and I were in the kitchen making dinner when his dad came in yelling, he went to hit me but TJ shoved him away so he turned his rage to him. Once I realized what was happening I grabbed a pan and hit his dad over the head with it then dragged TJ up to my room to see how much damage was done. There was nothing wrong so we moved my dresser in front of the door and ended up falling asleep. After we woke up and went downstairs his dad apologized to both of us but I was still cautious around him." TJ sighed and closed his eyes tightly since he knew what was coming next. Candi wrapped an arm around his waist and tightened her hold on his hand.