"All right, so for a shitty Yankees fan, Will, you're not a bad guy!"

John carried his plate to the kitchen as Will followed him with a laugh. "Thanks, I guess I should be honored to be accepted by a shitty Red Sox fan!"

John and Will's laughter melted together as they busied themselves cleaning up.

Cody and Randy watched them with amusement and walked towards the other end of the yard. Randy settled Alanna in her playhouse and walked to sit besides Cody on the bench. He pulled out a cigarette from his back pocket and took a drag before having it taken by Cody.

"One drag and that's it. Smoking is bad for you, Codes,"

Cody smiled and handed the cigarette back to Randy. "Then why do you do it?"

Randy smiled. "I'm older,"

Cody laughed and looked over at Will, still laughing as John and he talked. "Thanks for tonight, Ran,"

Randy lifted an eyebrow and watched his daughter play. "Thanks for what? I was an asshole that almost ruined everything."

Cody took the cigarette back and inhaled deeply. "But you realized that by doing that you were hurting me and you stopped. You talked to him and gave him a chance. You were very sweet."

Randy rolled his eyes. "Me and sweet in the same sentence doesn't sound right."

Cody laughed. "But you do it for me because you love me,"

Randy took the cigarette back and nodded. "That I do,"

Cody leaned his head on Randy's shoulder and sighed deeply. "This was an almost perfect night. All that was missing was Teddy being here." He lifted his head and saw Randy frown as he stubbed out the cigarette. "Ran, when will Teddy come back? Can't you do anything?"

Randy shook his head. "Cody, I told you, we have to let Teddy work this out and let him come back on his own. We can't push him because he may never come back then."

Cody nodded. "I guess." He looked over at the house and saw Will and John had finished cleaning and were sitting down around the kitchen island with cups of coffee.

"I should get Will home."

Randy nodded and walked over to the playhouse. "Al, babe, let's go inside and say goodbye to Uncle Cody and his friend."

Alanna smiled and slid down the slide to her father's arms. Randy picked her up and placed a noisy kiss on her check as she giggled loudly.

Cody led the way into the kitchen and smiled at Will. "Ready to go?"

Randy walked in as Will stood up to shake John's hand. He set Alanna down on a chair and stared as Will approached him. He reached out his hand and Randy shook it, a small smile on his face.

"I hope you enjoyed yourself tonight. We should do this again soon."

Will smiled. "I did and I hope we can do it again soon. It was really nice to meet two such important people in Cody's life." He turned to smile at Alanna and bent to place a kiss on her head. "It was very nice to speak to you. You are a brilliant little girl!"

Alanna giggled.

Cody picked her up and hugged her tightly. "I'll see you tomorrow, princess. I love you,"

Alanna squeezed his neck and placed a kiss on his cheek. "Love you, Uncle Cody. Your friend is nice."

Cody nodded and set her down. He gave John a quick hug and a longer one to Randy. With a quick wave, the men walked out of the house into the night.

John walked up next to Randy and wrapped an arm around his waist. "I'm very proud of you, baby,"

Randy raised an eyebrow and looked over at him. "Really, why?"

John nodded towards the door. "You were obviously annoyed by Will being here and despite a rocky beginning, you turned it around and made it a great evening. It's nice to know that when you really love someone you'll make an effort for their sake." He looked over at the stuffed dishwasher and smirked. "It's also amazing how you manage to come inside after I've done all the cleaning up."

Randy smiled. "The cook shouldn't clean, too, should he?"

He gave John a quick kiss and picked up Alanna. "All right, babe, let's go clean up,"

As Randy walked upstairs with his daughter, he thought over the conversation with Cody. It really had been a good night. Despite his best effort to hate Will, the guy had turned out to be a really decent person. He was an open book and gladly answered all of their, shall he say, intrusive questions and didn't bat an eye. He seemed to understand they weren't being nosy; they were just looking out for Cody.

Randy walked Alanna into her bedroom and helped her pick out clean pajamas and underclothes. He settled her into a shallow bubble bath and pulled his cell phone out of his pocket, just staring at it. Cody was right. The only thing missing about the night had been Ted's presence. It was worrisome to Randy that their friend hadn't even called.

Randy stared at his phone and tried to fight the urge. He busied himself with Alanna's chatter and laughter as she splashed in the water but finally could not stand it.

"Al, stay put, OK. I'll be right here in the doorway."

He walked over to the bathroom door, keeping Alanna in his sight and dialed a familiar number.

"Hello,"

"Hey Brett, its Randy,"

Randy smiled as he heard the younger Dibiase on the other line. He got along just as well with Brett as he did with Ted; the men all knew each other since childhood.

"Ran, what's up, man! How are things in Orton-land?"

"Good, all is well. I took a couple of week's vacation time to spend with Al. I go back next week."

Brett whistled on his end. "How is the princess?"

Randy smiled at his daughter, who was still splashing happily in the tub. "She's perfect. Can't wait to see you, man; any news on the rehab front? When will you be cleared to wrestle?"

Brett sighed. "Soon but not soon enough. I can't wait to be on the road with you guys living my dream."

Randy nodded. He understood Brett's frustration as he himself was plagued with injuries early in his career.

"Don't worry, B, it'll happen for you. At least you have Teddy keeping you company for a bit."

Randy held his breath at Brett's silence. "I wish I had Teddy keeping me company. I keep asking him to come visit me but he's always busy."

Randy let out the breath and sighed. "He left St. Louis early last week and said he was heading towards Florida. He also mentioned going home, though, so maybe he decided to hit Georgia or Louisiana first."

Brett sighed on his end. "Georgia, maybe but Louisiana, I doubt it. I tried to get him to visit Dad in the hospital and he was beyond against it."

Randy remained quiet on his end. Of course Brett did not know what he knew about Ted, Sr. and what Teddy had done to him. That was something only he, Cody and John knew. Would Brett really wanna know that Ted put a bullet in their father's head with the intention of killing him? Would he want to know how devastated Ted was that the bullet hadn't killed him but had left him a vegetable? Randy didn't think so.

"Ran, you there?"

Randy cleared his throat. "Yeah, I'm here. Teddy has his reasons for not seeing your Dad. Don't push him; he may just come around one day on his own."

"I guess. Anyway, maybe he went to visit our grandparents because he's sure not here. It's odd you don't know where he is. You guys are all so tight."

Randy smiled. "Teddy is having a bad reaction to Cody dating someone new and he kind of ran away from the situation. He's not telling us where he went and I finally couldn't take it anymore."

Brett laughed. "So, that's what's going on. Oh, Teddy. I knew he had it bad for Codes for years."

Randy scoffed. "How did you know and we didn't?"

"I guess I'm just smart that way!"

Randy laughed. "Yeah, I guess so. I'm just worried about him."

Randy turned his head as he heard John coming up the stairs. "Listen, B, I'll call you tomorrow. If you hear from Teddy, ask him to call me. I'm getting worried."

"I will, Ran, but don't worry. Teddy will be fine. This is his way of dealing with things."

Randy nodded. "Yeah, I guess. See you soon, B." He quickly hung up the phone as John opened Alanna's door.

"Hey, I got Oz ready to go. Is Al ready?"

Randy smiled. "I'm getting her out of the tub right now."

John frowned. "Are you OK? You look weird."

Randy shook his head. "I'm fine. We'll be right there."

He quickly finished getting Alanna ready and carried her into his and John's bedroom. She quickly crawled over to where John lay and he wrapped his arm around her.

Randy got in on the other side and tried to concentrate on "The Wizard of Oz" along with John and Alanna but his mind kept wandering to his conversation with Brett.

Ted had lied to them. He hadn't gone to Tampa to visit his brother. The question now was where he had gone. Randy feared for what he may do in this state of mind. He knew Ted could be very scary when pushed; hell, he had seen him almost blow away his own father. Now, he was out there, somewhere, and he was holding a huge grudge. No, Randy didn't fear that he could hurt Cody, but Will was another story. He was an unknown; someone Ted could care less about. Ted could easily hurt him without blinking an eye.

Randy was snapped out of his thoughts by a poke to his forehead. He frowned and turned over to look at John, who was staring at him with a frown of his own.

"She's asleep. I'm gonna take her to bed."

Randy nodded and placed a kiss on Alanna's forehead before John picked her up and walked off with her. He turned off the television and dimmed the lights to John's liking before stripping off his clothes. He left on his boxers and crawled under the covers and tried to forget about Ted and where he may be or what he may be doing. Randy closed his eyes and minutes later felt the bed dip when John got in. He smiled when he felt John's arm circle his waist.

"Where are you?"

Randy laughed and opened his eyes to meet John's twinkling ones. "I'm right here. Can't you feel me?" He moved closer to John's embrace and buried his face in John's neck, inhaling the scent of his cologne.

"Yeah, physically you're here but your mind seems to be somewhere else. What's going on, gorgeous?"

Randy didn't respond and remained buried in John's neck. He placed a kiss on the scar of John's neck surgery and sighed. "I'm thinking about Ted,"

Randy felt the movement of John's chest as he laughed softly. "Not what I wanna hear in bed, baby."

Randy smiled and shook his head. "I'm worried about what he may do or what he's thinking of doing."

John stroked his head and played with his longer hair; the effect of life at home. "Baby, Teddy is fine. He's probably hanging out with Brett right now, having some beers and shooting the breeze. Don't worry so much."

Randy slowly raised his head and lay on the pillow beside John, his eyes staring into his. He tightened his hold on John and whispered, "Don't be mad at me,"

John frowned and kissed his nose. He smiled when Randy wrinkled it in return. "I could never be,"

Randy lowered his eyes. "I called Brett. Ted's not there."

John sighed and Randy looked up quickly. "Baby, we promised to let Teddy deal with this his own way. We can't check up on him."

Randy sighed. "But he lied to us, John. Where could he be? What if he does something?"

John shook his head. "We can't do anything about this except let Ted handle it his own way. Ted won't do anything to hurt Cody, baby, you know that."

Randy's eyes widened. "But he would hurt Will and by association that would hurt Cody. Ted won't see it that way, though, because he doesn't know how attached Cody already is to Will. I know, though. I see it in Cody's eyes when he looks at Will."

John quickly kissed Randy in an effort to calm his thoughts. He stroked his face and nodded. "I know how Cody feels about Will; that's why I was so proud of how much of an effort you made tonight. We can't control Teddy, though, especially since we don't know where he is. We just have to hope Ted has enough sense to not do anything on his own without even discussing it with us."

Randy closed his eyes and leaned into John's touch. "What if he doesn't?"

John didn't have an answer to provide his lover so he just pulled him in closer; thankful that at that moment he was lucky enough to have the person he loved by his side.