700 hits! Yay! Thank you all for reading this, and I hope you enjoy this shorter chapter. Matthew and Randy learn about the severity of Matt's injury, the guys have a laughing fit, and money goes flying all over Matthew's room ... Monopoly money, that is.

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Randy was sitting in the waiting room at the local hospital. He could hear periodic screams coming from behind the two doors to his right. Every scream resonated loudly, making Randy's head ache. The doctors were trying to pop Matthew's shoulder back into its socket, and from the sound of things, they weren't having much success. When Randy's shoulder was separated, a piece of the socket itself had chipped off, and they had to perform surgery to repair it.

"I hope it isn't that bad", Randy thought to himself.

He kept looking at the clock every few seconds, tapping his foot impatiently. It seemed like ages ago since Eric had driven him and Matthew to the hospital; it really had been only thirty minutes. Another look at the clock. 10:54 PM.

Eric walked into the room on a trip back from the vending machines with two bottles of water, giving one to Randy. Triple H, Flair, and Batista remained at the arena to take care of a little piece of business.

"Anything yet?"

"No. But you can sure hear how they're progressing."

Eric's ears rose up as he heard Matthew scream in anguish. The rest of the people in the waiting room were looking around the room, concerned looks on their faces. After taking a swig of water, Eric let out a long sigh and attempted conversation.

"Well, at least he held his own in the match."

Randy nodded. "He was doing well until he started to climb up the side of the cell. I don't know what was going through his mind. It was a dumb, stupid, idiotic mistake."

"Hey, go easy on Matt. I bet if you had a huge, angry monster coming after you in a cage, you'd look for any possible way to disappear."

"He could have just ran back to the locker room. Hunter and the guys would have taken care of Kane."

Eric thought for a second before he responded. "Matt probably wanted to keep it between himself and Kane. He's not someone who shoves his problems onto other people."

Randy turned and looked at Eric. "How do you know Matthew so well?"

"I met him in seventh grade. He was in my math class and I hated him so much because he was the goody-two-shoes-smarty-pants teacher's pet. But when I was having a really hard time for studying for a test, Matthew came over and helped me out greatly. I wouldn't have passed that test if it weren't for him tutoring me a for a couple of weeks. Then, I started hanging out with him after I got invited to his birthday party one year. A week or two passed and I learned that he was a really cool, laid back kinda guy. We've been inseparable ever since. When it came down to my graduation day, Matt actually started to tear up because he still had one more year to go and wouldn't see me as often." Eric stopped and thought for a second. "He hates losing friends."

Randy felt the same way. When he was out on the circuit and Matthew was at home training, Matthew would always sound a little sad and depressed whenever they talked on the phone. But whenever Randy got home, he seemed like he was the happiest and most energetic person.

"Did you guys play sports together?"

"Oh, definitely. Whatever he was in, I was in too. Swimming, football, weightlifting ... you name it, we were on the same team. When we played football, I was the quarterback, so I was the guy who held the ball when he kicked a field goal. We also loved to fake field goals, it was hilarious seeing the other team try to react to it."

Randy instantly thought of asking Hunter if Eric could join Evolution; he seemed like a team player.

"Maybe when you debut, Hunter'll let you into our group. When does Dad say you'll be ready?"

"He says a few weeks before WrestleMania, but I want to be ready by the Royal Rumble. Its always been a dream of mine to be entered into it."

Randy chuckled. One of his biggest dreams was to enter the Rumble as well.

"Your dad says I'll be big whether I'm on RAW or SmackDown. Hopefully I'll be on RAW so I can tag up with you guys."

A short silence ensued; both Randy and Eric noticed that Matthew hadn't let out a scream in quite some time. Not seconds after thinking about it, a doctor came through the two doors, clipboard in hand. It was the same doctor who took care of Randy's shoulder, Dr. Pritchard.

"Mr. Orton, good to see you again. I'm sorry it had to be under these circumstances. Your brother has separated his shoulder."

"Duh, I knew that already."

"He has the same condition you do, hypermobility of the shoulders."

"Say what now?" Eric asked.

"Its when your joints move beyond how their supposed to. When excessive movement happens, its easy for the joint to separate. Luckily for your brother, Randy, the separation was clean. Once we were able to hold him down ..." Dr. Pritchard chuckled. "... we were able to pop the bone back in its socket. X-rays were taken, and nothing of significance was found. Give him about four months, and he'll be healthy enough to return to competition."

"Four months ... that's February, isn't it?"

"Yes. When your shoulder should be ready as well."

"We'll be able to return to RAW together. Cool."

Finishing his thought, he saw the two doors open. Matthew slowly walked out, taking slow, careful steps. Randy ran over to hug him, but Matthew put out his good arm to prevent that from happening.

"Don't ... touch ... my shoulder ... at all", Matt said through gritted teeth. "Even the ... slightest pressure ... makes it hurt."

Randy wanted to ignore his plea and just squeeze the hell out of him, but he resisted. Turning to Dr. Pritchard, Randy gave his thanks. Since neither Matthew or Randy could write, Eric filled out the paperwork. Randy sat down with Matthew back in the waiting area.

"How do you feel?"

"Like there are a thousand knives in my shoulder. I don't know how you put up with this pain."

"I don't really know either. It hurt like hell ... It still does. You'll get used to it soon."

Matthew couldn't stand it. "I can't wait for the painkillers."

Randy let out a big laugh. "Yeah ... those things are awesome. You'll have to take one before you go to bed. Sleeping is really hard to do."

"Why?"

"Well, when I sleep, I don't stay in one place; I usually roll all over the bed. Even with this damn shoulder, it's hard not to stay completely still."

"I'm the same way. I always like to sleep on my side, but when I wake up, I end up either on my stomach or on my back."

Another long silence. Randy didn't want to bring the match with Kane up, but he wanted to talk.

"So ... um ... think you'll ever want to get into another Hell in a Cell match again?"

"Well ... sure ... if I'm smart enough not to climb up on top. I don't know, maybe I took one too many shots to the head."

Randy laughed and punched Matthew playfully in the arm.

"OW!!! ... Goddammit, Randy ..."

"Jeez! God, I'm sorry! ... OW!" Matthew punched Randy in the arm.

"Come on! I said I was sorry!"

"Still doesn't matter. I'm your brother. Its like that's the default setting for punching me or something. I punch you back."

"Ya know ... we're gonna fight once we're better. I'm dead set on it."

"Hmm ... I can see the headline in WWE Magazine now. 'Younger Orton brother triumphs in ... ow ... street fight'."

"Get real. You can't beat me and you know it."

Matthew narrowed his eyes at his brother, then smiled. "I don't know what life would have been like without you. I was one miserable person back in San Antonio."

"Miserable? Eric was your best friend; how could you have been miserable?"

"He was my best friend, yeah ... but he was my only friend. Whenever he wasn't around, I was always different. Mom and ... well ... my foster parents, I guess you could call them, noticed it. I had this feeling that I couldn't shake off. It was this empty part of my being. Whenever I was around Eric, that feeling was gone. And ever since we've been reunited, I haven't felt like that at all."

Eric came back into the room, shaking his hand in the air.

"Jeez ... that's a lot of damn stuff to fill out. My hand is killing me. Let's go home."

"I could go for that. We should order some pizza to pick up on the way there."

"Pizza? We eat that too often. What about Chinese? Is there a good Chinese place open this late?"

Matthew looked up at Randy and Eric arguing over what to eat and shook his head.. "I really hope those painkillers knock me out once we get home."

The smell of sesame chicken and egg rolls filled the car soon afterwards, and the three pals were heading home.

"Randy, do Mom and Dad know yet?"

" ... No, they don't. They're out at a dance tonight. They haven't seen RAW."

Matthew sighed and put his head down. "Mom's gonna have a cow ..."

"More than a cow. The whole friggin' herd."

Eric laughed. Matthew wanted to punch him in the face, but decided against it. He then reconsidered.

"OW!! What was that for?"

Eric looked over to see Matthew laughing incredibly hard.

"I don't ... ow ... know ... ", Matthew replied through grunts and laughter. Randy started laughing as well. Even though the side of his face hurt, Eric started to laugh. Jokes were exchanged and all three of them were laughing all the way to the house. Pulling in the drive way, Eric climbed out of the car and collapsed on the ground in a fit of laughter.

"My ... stomach ... I can't ... breathe ..."

The two brothers dragged Eric into the house, each of them using their good arm. The laughter caused them to ignore any pain. Matthew sat down at the dinner table, Eric lay sprawled on his back still laughing, and Randy went back to the car to get the food. Soon everyone was full of chicken and egg rolls, and Eric went out to the guest house to retire for the night. The brothers went to Matthew's room, and Randy propped Matthew's arm in a good way and left him to sleep. Randy changed into sleep shorts and tuckered in. He smiled when he heard snoring coming from Matthew's room.

"I love my brother."

Matthew heard the alarm on his nightstand and instinctively moved his arm to turn it off.

Big mistake.

A surge of pain shot throughout the whole right side of his body accompanied by a scream shooting through the whole house. Matthew heard what sounded like someone falling out of bed. Soon enough, Randy appeared in the doorway, holding his shoulder.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah ... I tried using my arm to ... turn off my alarm."

"Learning the hard way, huh?"

Matthew nodded weakly. A few moments later, Elaine and Bob Orton came into the room.

"What in the world happened to you, Matt!?"

"I ... separated my shoulder."

"WHAT?!", Elaine yelled. "HOW?"

Matthew didn't want to say anything; neither did Randy. Unfortunately for them, Eric walked into the room.

"He fell through the top of the cell and it separated when he tried to grab the side before falling in."

"I ... " Matthew tried to save the conversation. "... have the same hypermobility Randy has. The momentum from my fall ... and then ..." Matthew looked at his shoulder. " ... well ... here it is."

Elaine started ranting about how dangerous that match was just like Matthew had anticipated. Randy quickly stepped behind his mother and mouthed "MOO" to Matthew, who laughed.

"What's so funny?" Elaine looked back at Randy, who struggled to keep a straight face.

And then, the doorbell rang, and Elaine went down to see who it was. Randy pulled a shirt from Matthew's closet and tossed it at him so he could try putting it on by himself. Randy couldn't help but chuckle as Matthew had the shirt partially on his head with his good arm through the hole for the head.

"Very funny, Randy."

Hunter, Flair, and Dave walked into the room and started to laugh after looking at Matthew tangled in his own shirt.

"Having some trouble there, kid?"

"Hunter? Um ... yeah ... sorta."

"How long you out for?"

"Until February", Matthew said through the shirt in his face. "Randy, just pull this off me, please. I'll try later."

Randy helped Matthew while Hunter spoke again. "Eh, it ain't so bad. You guys will be able to come back at the same time."

Matthew breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't screw up his or his brother's chances with Evolution.

"You did good, kid. Rest up. We'll see you in February."

The three men quickly said their goodbyes; they just wanted to pop in to check on Matthew, then head off to the next town. Elaine and Bob went downstairs to see them off. Eric went downstairs to the weight room to start his regimen for the day. Only Randy and Matthew were left in the room. Randy decided to show Matthew a good way to put a shirt on without much pain, much to Matthew's delight. Randy compared it to when he was five years old, helping his mother feed and clothe Matthew, except now, Matthew could actually hold his head up and wasn't crying every five seconds. Elaine came upstairs with some chicken noodle soup and Sprite.

"Mom ... I'm not sick."

"No, but some soup will do you good. Now eat up."

Matthew looked at Randy and said once his mother was out of the room, "You would think mom's chicken noodle soup is a cure-all." Matthew took a spoonful. "Ooohh ... but its good." Randy laughed and yelled downstairs.

"Mom, can I have some too?"

"Come down and get some, Randy!"

"But you brought some to Matthew!"

"That's different. You can actually walk!"

Randy was baffled. "There's nothing wrong with his legs; its only his shoulder!"

"Shut up and get down here if you want some soup!"

"But, MOM!"

Randy steamed down the stairs in anger, but Matthew was laughing. Coming back up with his bowl of soup, Randy stepped back into the room with crackers.

"Crackers! Bro, give me some."

"No."

"Why not?"

"You can walk. Go get your own", Randy said with a smirk on his face.

"MOM!"

"Randy, give him some crackers!"

Randy thought he should get angry, but he started chuckling instead. This is exactly how those sixteen years would have been. Maybe there would be a way to make them up somehow.

"This won't be so bad after all. Eh, Randy?"

"Nah. I think February can take its sweet time getting here."

Eric came back in the room dressed to work out, but saw that Randy had pulled out a game of Monopoly.

"Dude, I love Monopoly. I want to be the car."

"Too slow, Eric." Matthew held the car up in his hand.

"Awww ... I'm the horse then."

"Got ya beat there." Randy held the horse up.

"Fine ... I'll settle for the stupid dog."

A few hours passed, and Matthew and Randy had the board dominated. Matthew had the oranges and reds with hotels on each of them while Randy had the light and dark blues. A hotel on Boardwalk stood in front of the little dog token; Eric had very little money after landing on Matthew's New York Avenue.

"Please don't be a three. Please don't be a three."

Eric kissed the dice for good luck and threw them on the board. Seeing that it was an eleven, he moved the dog to Chance and read the card, collecting his $200 from the banker, Randy.

"Take a walk on the Boar... oh, goddammit."

Randy grinned as the dog was moved to Boardwalk. Eric promptly handed everything over to Randy, properties, Get out of Jail Free cards, and what little money he had left over. He quickly unmortgaged the light purples and built four houses on each of them, stacking the path in front of Matthew's car.

"I think I've got you trapped, Matt."

"We'll see." Matthew picked up the dice and rolled a seven, which was enough to put him right smack dab in the middle of everything: the Electric Company. Randy took his turn and got sent to the shiny red hotel in front of Illinois Avenue.

"Show me the money, Randy."

Randy tore down the houses he just built as well as mortgage the railroads he had and reluctantly gave the money to his brother. Matthew picked up the dice and rolled again.

"Free Parking! Oh yeah!"

All the money under Free Parking went to Matthew's stack, and Randy groaned. The rain continued to fall on Randy's parade as he tore down more houses and hotels and mortgaged nearly everything he had. Only Boardwalk was left face up with one house on it. He rolled one more time and landed on ... Illinois Avenue.

"Goddammit! These dice are rigged." He threw them across the room in frustration while Eric and Matthew had a hearty laugh.

"Just you guys wait! I'll kick both of your asses in a game of Clue."

Hey, what can I say, I love Monopoly. I had to put it in there. Matthew, Randy, and Eric get ready for a board game battle of epic proportions in a game of Clue. It will be EPIC, I tell you. Also, the two brothers delve deeper into their past as they discuss ... girls. Then, on a trip to the grocery store, Matthew runs into yet another person from his past. Who will it be?

R&R


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