Disclaimer: Characters are owned and produced by The Disney Channel, That's So Productions, Brookwell-McNamara Entertainment and Warren & Rinsler Productions. I am just borrowing them for these stories.

Author's Note: Vanessa Riverton commented in her review of chapter ten and I quote, "(btw great choice on songs to convey emotions)". Yorusoi said, "The songs could really be heard in the words of this chappie…". And my one of my original hall of famers, Pookie22 said, "Can't wait til you start playing happy songs again."

Yes, I have been using songs to convey the emotions, theme and feel of the chapter. Well, I want every one of you before you start reading, if you are on your computers, to go to youtube and type in "Going the Distance Rocky". You want the one that says, "Bill Conti – Going The Distance (Rocky)". You listen to that and then the go to the related videos section and listen to the one that says "Bill Conti – Overture (Rocky II) as you are reading this chapter. You will get so pumped up for your journey out of the valley of the shadow of death that you will be ready to go out and fight Apollo Creed and Clubber Lang yourself! The beginning of one of the greatest attempted comebacks in fan fiction history is about to begin.

Chapter Title: Going The Distance from the soundtrack of the 1976 Academy Award winner for best picture, Rocky. Written and produced by Bill Conti.


Love Conquers All

Chapter 11

Going The Distance

Tuesday, April 7, 2020 – 6:30 am

Raven couldn't sleep. Not with all that was going through her mind. In the span of one calendar year, her life had gone to hell in a hand basket. Exactly one year ago earlier to the day, Chelsea and Raven hit what she considered to be the emotional and physical high point of their thirteen year marriage. It was the day that Chelsea had partaken in Raven's ultimate sexual fantasy. Now, just three hundred and sixty five days, Raven and Chelsea teetered on the edge of complete matrimonial annihilation.

As she did when she wanted and needed to completely zone out and get away from the world as she knew it, Raven parked herself in front of the television. Normally, she would watch QVC, HSN, the Style Network or a good mind-numbing comedy to lift her spirits. But with Eddie's words about fighting for her marriage like she had never fought before still ringing in her ears, one movie that was not on her normal movie list.

Scene from Rocky II – 15th round of the World Heavyweight Championship – Rocky Balboa (challenger) vs. Apollo Creed (champion).

[an exhausted Rocky lands a knockout punch on Apollo, but sends them both falling onto the ring]

Adrian: [shocked] Oh!
Referee: One! Two!
Announcer: If he gets up, Creed will regain the title! If neither of them gets up, it's a draw and Creed will win the title automatically! The count...
Referee: Four...
Apollo's trainer: [calling to Apollo] Get up, my Man!
Mickey: GET ON YOUR FEET!
Adrian: [whispers] Get up.
Referee: [Pandemonium in the stadium grows] Six! Seven!
Paulie: [Screams] Get up!
Referee: Eight!
Apollo Creed's wife: GET UP!
Referee: Nine...
[Finally admitting that Rocky deserves the championship, Apollo collapses; Mary Anne moans]
Referee: [Rocky at the last second stands up] TEN! YOU'RE OUT!
[Paulie and Adrian screams in happiness; Mickey yells]
Announcer: He made it at the last second! Rocky Balboa has shocked the world! He is the new heavyweight champion of the world!

Ring Announcer: Ladies and Gentlemen! In a stunning upset, scoring the win by a knockout, the new Heavyweight Champion of the World...
Rocky Balboa: You're great.
Ring Announcer: ROCKY BALBOA!
[Cheering grows louder]
Apollo Creed: Good luck.

"Chelsea and I are gonna need one hell of a Rocky Balboa comeback for this one." Raven said out loud to herself. Raven's voice then picked up a little more passion. "But I'll be damned if we go out like this."

Tuesday, April 7, 2020 – 7:30 am

Chelsea was in her car, on the way back to the apartment after her forbidden sleepover with Evelyne. Chelsea felt as if she were watching her life from outside of her body; watching as someone that looked and sounded like her made all of the wrong moves in her life. As she drove, the regrets over what she had just done, began bombarding her brain. What she had just done was sordid and wrong on so many levels. In her mind, she had decided that as wrong as Raven may have been for sleeping with Devyn, she was even more wrong because her indiscretion was premeditated. She was angry at herself for being attracted to Evelyne, for kissing Evelyne, for sleeping with Evelyne. She was also angry at Raven for, in her mind, being hypocritical and weak in succumbing to Devyn. Chelsea had anger boiling inside her that right or wrong, had to come out. Her plan was to go home, take the longest, hottest shower of her life to remove all traces of Evelyne from her body, throw out the clothes that she was wearing and figure out a way to have a meaningful, productive conversation with Raven. She loved Raven and wanted more than anything to somehow get out of the dark, dank hell she was in and return to the place of love and friendship that she and Raven were accustomed to. Her prayer as she pulled into the garage of the building, that it wasn't too late.

Chelsea walked down the hallway to the apartment with her day's itinerary playing on a feedback loop in her mind. As she approached the door, she heard the sound of the television playing.

"I didn't… leave the TV on." Chelsea whispered to herself as she pulled out her keys. At the same time, she pulled out her small canister of pepper spray as well as her cell phone and dialed 9-1-1 without hitting send. When Chelsea eased the door open, her heart both flipped and sank at the same time. Until that moment, she didn't think it was possible to be joyously happy and incredibly sad at the same time.

Chelsea had rearranged the living room after her explosive redecorating session, therefore, the sofa, which used to face the front door and the TV which faced the window, were reversed. She could see the back of Raven's head as she sat on the couch watching what Chelsea recognized as one of the Rocky movies. Upon hearing some of the dialogue, she figured out that it was Rocky III.

Scene from Rocky III – Training session at Apollo Creed's Los Angeles gym

[During Rocky's training with Apollo, he's in an another world, haunted by the first Balboa-Lang fight; Apollo lands some practice hooks

]
Apollo Creed: He's hooking. He's hooking. He's hooking! Damn, Rock, Come on! What's the matter with you?
Rocky Balboa: Tomorrow. Let's do it tomorrow.
Apollo Creed: [Screaming] There is no tomorrow! THERE IS NO TOMORROW! THERE IS NO TOMORROW!

Raven, oblivious to the door opening behind her, quickly spun around when she heard the front door close. She too had the same internal reaction as Chelsea when she saw her; overwhelming joy and relief mixed with overwhelming grief. Raven's mood grew somber as Chelsea's state of dress confirmed in her mind the redhead's whereabouts the night before.

"How long have you been here?" Chelsea asked softly as she walked over to put her keys on the kitchen counter.

"Since about ten last night." Raven said. Chelsea simply nodded. A couple of seconds of awkward silence ensued before Raven asked a piercing question. "How was she?"

Raven's question felt like a punch to the stomach that took the wind out of Chelsea's sails. The normal part of Chelsea wanted to burst into tears, revealing the hurt that the question inflicted. The new, protective part of Chelsea, however, came back with a comment that was snapped off like a Rocky Balboa jab.

"Not as satisfying as I thought it would be." Chelsea sniped.

Not to be outdone, Raven fired off a shot of her own. "Maybe you should have taken the strap-on with you."

Chelsea cracked right back. "I think she was a little too tight for that."

"All right! You know what? I didn't come here for this!" Raven exclaimed as she shot up off the couch and started around the edge to head for the door.

"Rae, wait!" Chelsea held her hand up, stopping Raven about a foot from her position. "That was bitchy and wrong and I'm sorry."

Raven decided to stand down. "I'm sorry about the strap-on crack."

"Is this how we're gonna be from now on?" Chelsea asked.

"I don't know." Raven said quietly.

"We need to talk." Chelsea said.

"I'm standing right here." Raven said.

"I don't think this is the right time." Chelsea said.

"There is no right time right now, Chels. If you're afraid that some stuff will come out of our mouths that we'll regret, guess what? We're way past that right now." Raven said.

"I am so fucking pissed off at you!" Chelsea exclaimed.

"You should be." Raven said calmly.

"Do not take the high road with me!" Chelsea yelled.

"I'm not. I'm dirty just like you're dirty. No sense in both of us yelling and screaming at the same time." Raven said.

"I don't want you to be rational right now!" Chelsea exclaimed. "I want you to yell and scream and cry like I'm doing right now! I want you to rant and rave and defend what you did! I fucking hate you for sleeping with her! I know I hurt you but that didn't give you any right to go and do that to me!"

Raven allowed several tears to stream down her cheeks as she watched Chelsea's outburst but she refused to lose her cool. "You're right." Raven said softly.

Chelsea's anger and frustration hit its all-time high when, without thought of the consequences or warning to Raven, she hauled off and slapped her wife across the cheek. When she did that, Chelsea looked at her right hand and trembled in fear, not only of Raven's retaliation but the fear that came from knowing that she had officially lost all control of her emotions. Chelsea began sobbing.

"Raven! I'm so sorry! Oh God!" Chelsea exclaimed as she reached out to touch Raven's cheek. Raven quickly flinched and took a step back as she brought her hand up to her stinging left cheek. To Chelsea's astonishment, Raven remained eerily calm.

"Did that make you feel better?" Raven asked as she looked into Chelsea's eyes with a look of hurt, her tears trickling down her face. "Because… I cheated on you… and I know… how upset you are… I am going… to let that slide…" Raven said calmly before turning up the heat. "But if you EVER put your hands on me like that again…" Raven then caught herself as she lifted her head up toward the ceiling and let out one painful sob. "I can't do it. I can't even bring myself to threaten you. Goddamnit, I love you too much to do it."

"Rae…" Chelsea eked out in a sob.

"You… know… how much pain… you felt when you found out that I… slept with Devyn… and then you walked out of this apartment last night… with the expressed purpose of going over to Evelyne's apartment to fuck her." Raven said tearfully. "That was premeditated… cold and disrespectful and I…" Raven stepped forward, shaking her finger in Chelsea's face as she trembled. "I want to fucking choke you right now!" Raven's angry scowl morphed into a look of painful remembrance. "But then… I look into your eyes… and I don't want to hurt you anymore." Raven said through steadily streaming tears. "I want… to kiss you and hold you and make you never want to leave my bed for another woman ever again." Chelsea began to sob again.

"I'll never touch you like that again." Chelsea sobbed.

Raven began to gain a measure of composure. "Why did you do it? Huh? Why did you sleep with her last night?" Raven said as she started drying her tears.

Chelsea dropped her head. "I was so… hurt. I mean… you're standing here, knowing that I slept with her. I heard you, Rae." Chelsea said tearfully. Raven took a deep breath and dropped her head. "You left me one of the most incredibly heartfelt messages I've ever heard. My God Rae, I would have made love to you on the spot if you were standing there. And then… not a half an hour later, I hear you calling out Devyn's name?" Chelsea's lip quivered. "Thirty minutes, Rae? Thirty minutes?"

Raven grew tearful again. "I was sitting at my desk, thinking about you and I started crying and… she came in to see if I was all right and I just started venting about everything that had happened between us… and I swear Chels, she didn't seduce me or anything like that! I was hurting! I was cold and lonely! I kissed her! She stopped me twice and I wouldn't take no for an answer!" Raven cried and gasped loudly. "And if I could take it all back and just run out of that office and come over here and do with you what I did with her…" Raven sobbed. "I didn't want her! She was just there and you weren't! But you… you fell for Evelyne." Raven trailed off as she cried.

"I didn't… fall for Evelyne. It was lust that just got out of control… honest." Chelsea squeezed out.

"Do you still want to be married to me?" Raven asked with as soft and unsure a voice as she had ever used.

"Do you still want to be married to me?" Chelsea responded.

"Eddie once told us that the eyes are the windows to the soul. You tell me." Raven replied.

Chelsea took a good look into Raven's hazel eyes. They seemed to be blazing. "It looks like you're still in." Chelsea said.

"What about you?" Raven said.

Chelsea dropped her head. "I vowed to be your love, your friend and your partner for all the days of our lives. We're not dead yet, so…"

"We're going to counseling." Raven declared.

"I have no problem with that." Chelsea said softly.

"And we need to… keep our living arrangements for a little while." Raven said.

"I hate this." Chelsea spat.

"I hate what you did to me." Raven answered.

"I hate that you betrayed me." Chelsea replied. Raven nodded. "I don't want you to ever see her again."

"We stop working together at the end of the month." Raven said.

"That's not soon enough." Chelsea defiantly said.

"Chels, that's gonna have to do. We have some loose ends to wrap up and we can't do it by email or telephone." Raven said.

"Then I want Tristan there with you. No alone time with her." Chelsea said.

"Chels! I don't want her!" Raven exclaimed.

"How can I trust you?" Chelsea exclaimed. "You did it once! You could do it again!"

"How do I know you won't leave here today or tomorrow and go back to screw Evelyne again?" Raven countered. "We may not trust each other right now but we've gotta step out on faith!"

"Goddamn you Raven!"

"Goddamn you Chelsea!"

Another moment of awkward silence commenced before Chelsea calmed back down for the sake of sanity and attempted reconciliation. "Do you… need anything out of the bedroom or bathroom?"

"No, I looked. I'm good." Raven said calmly.

"I need to talk to her." Chelsea said.

"Why?" Raven snapped back immediately.

"I need to confront her the right way." Chelsea said. "I'm not asking for your permission. I'm telling you that I'm going to do it. I just thought it would be appropriate to tell you first."

"Then you won't mind if I have a word with Evelyne." Raven said.

"Be my guest. I have nothing else to hide." Chelsea said.

"Do you know why I was watching Rocky this morning?" Raven asked.

"Because you like Carl Weathers' butt. I don't know." Chelsea said referring to the actor portraying Rocky's rival, Apollo Creed.

"Because it is the ultimate story of overcoming insurmountable odds to come out on top." Raven began. "Because I needed an inspirational push. See, I'm not giving up on you. I know that the Chelsea that I fell in love with is still in there. Every now and then, I can see her fighting to get out. That's what gets me up in the mornings these days."

Chelsea looked at Raven for a moment. "I want to wake up from this nightmare." She said. "I look in the mirror… and I honestly don't know who it is that's staring back at me. I look at you and I see you but, it's not the you that I know." Raven dropped her eyes in thought.

"I need to breathe again." Raven said.

"Me too." Chelsea replied.

"I'll call Dr. Parker's office to schedule a session." Raven said.

"You want to go all the way out to San Francisco to see him?" Chelsea asked.

"He moved his practice to the city to be closer to his hometown." Raven said. "I saw him on Ellen." Raven began walking toward the door.

"This might sound crazy as hell… but I still love you." Chelsea said stopping Raven in her tracks.

Unbeknownst to Raven, who didn't hear Chelsea's drunken conversation with Gretchen the previous weekend, she was about to throw Chelsea's movie-inspired words back at her.

"Love… shoulda brought your ass home last night." Raven said before turning and placing her hand on the door knob and turning it. She cracked the door open and then stopped. "Just like love kept my ass over here this morning." Raven said in a softer tone with a pause after the fact for dramatic effect before stepping out into the hallway and closing the door.

Chelsea looked at the closed door for a moment before cocking her head to the side. It was then that her ear caught a little bit more of the movie that was playing on the television.

Scene from Rocky III – Rocky and Adrian talking on the beach

Rocky Balboa: How did you get so tough?
Adrian: I live with a fighter.

Chelsea glanced at the television then glanced back at the door. "So do I Adrian. So do I."


Original Author's Note:

This one is a relatively short chapter compared to the other ones but I think that the point got across loud and clear. Chelsea and Raven, in the face of the darkest hour of their marriage, are not giving up. I want to apologize to all of you that may have been disheartened by Chelsea slapping Raven. I only put that in there to show the difference between Chelsea's erratic behavior and the "relative" calm stoicism of Raven's demeanor. I am by no means an advocate of domestic violence and do not believe in striking your spouse, loved one or partner for any reason. But unfortunately in life, reason sometimes takes a back seat to emotion, which it did in that instance. I can assure you that no other moments like that will occur in this story. On to chapter 12. Thank you for all of your passionate reviews and comments. All of them are loved and appreciated.

By the way, I am closing the current poll. Thirty-seven percent of you said that Raven was more wrong, twenty-five percent of you said that Chelsea was more wrong and thirty-seven percent of you said that they were equally wrong. That was about what I expected.

I am, however, starting a new poll that I would love your input in. This is the new poll…

"I have been hit with requests by reviewers for femslash stories for different fandoms and it has me thinking... Which fandom would you like to see LaughLoveLive do a femslash fic for? If you choose Other, send me a PM with your vote."

These are some of the most requested ideas from people the have contacted me. Your poll choices are…

Wizards of Waverly Place (Alex and Harper), Life With Derek (Casey and Emily), Cheetah Girls (any combination), Degrassi (any combination), Law and Order: SVU (Olivia and Alex or Olivia and Casey), or some other pairing that wasn't included.

Which ever one gets the most votes will be the one that I do a story for. Heck, the second place one might get a story too! See you in chapter 12.

PLEASE REVIEW


New Author's Note:

Wizards of Waverly Place won the aforementioned poll but I don't know if and when I will ever get around to writing it. But if I don't do a story for Alex and Harper, I promise to include them in another story.