John walked in and without saying a word began to search through Randy's drawers. Finally he pulled out a pair of board shorts and threw them to Randy.

"I called Dr Andrews' office and he's running late so we shouldn't be too late ourselves," John explained before reaching down to tie the string on Randy's pants.

"Now I have to change my shirt," Randy muttered causing Alex to laugh.

Alex was impressed with how tolerant John was being with Randy. What she didn't know was how Randy had spent many nights looking after John after his surgery. Not only had Randy helped John dress, the first couple of days he had to help the man shower. Randy and John's girlfriend, at the time, had tag teamed caring for the man and sometimes John's girlfriend just couldn't be there for shower time.

"Shoes?" Randy asked,

"Wear your flip flops and hurry up!" John announced kicking a pair of flip flops towards his friend. Alex was amazed at the interaction between the two friends; she had never had a friend who would be there for her like John clearly was for Randy. Randy wrapped his good arm around John as they headed out to the car,

"Thanks," Randy smiled and it seemed that the two men had completely forgotten that Alex was there.

"No problem. But, know this; I am NOT going to help you shower after your surgery. Lex is here for that!"

"Lex?" Alex asked raising an eyebrow,

"Yea, you seem to call him Dall so it seemed fitting," John smirked turning back to face Alex.

"What is up with that Dall thing anyway?" Randy asked stepping back to walk with Alex.

"So are you going to explain the Dall thing or are we just going to continue to ignore it?" John said as they reached the car,

"Ignore it," Alex smiled as John directed Randy to the backseat insisting that she sit up front.

John dropped Randy and Alex off at Dr. Andrews' office. The nurse took them straight back to a room, telling them they would have to wait a little bit.

"So Dall, why exactly am I here?" Alex asked pulling herself up on the table and swinging her legs.

"Because John doesn't trust me and I need some support," Randy smiled reaching out and holding Alex's hand momentarily, "and would you please tell me where the hell Dall came from?"

"I meant here as in here. This state, with you, staying in a house with dumb and dumber"

Before Randy had the chance to answer Dr. Andrews walked in.

"Randy, great to see you again. I see you've bought another friend," Dr. Andrews lent in to whisper to Alex, "And may I just say that you are much better looking than John."

"Thanks, I'm Alex it's nice to meet you. I'm guessing you're Dr. Andrews?" Alex smiled extending her hand,

"That's me. Randy tends to slack on the introductions."

"I didn't get a chance!" Randy attempted to object. Only to be ignored,



"So we have your MRI results back. How about you and your lovely lady friend swap places and we can have a look at your shoulder?"

Randy turned and pouted at Alex,

"Do I have to?"

"Yes!"Alex growled jumping off the table and pushing Randy towards it. Randy pouted some more and pulled himself onto the table.

"Hold my hand?" Randy whined to Alex, causing her to roll her eyes. She liked Randy but couldn't believe how pathetic he was being seeing the doctor.

"What's wrong with your hand?" Dr. Andrews asked looking down at Randy's bandaged and still bleeding hand,

"Nothing," Randy rushed hiding his hand behind his back.

"Alex?" Dr. Andrews asked turning to Alex for answers. The doctor had dealt with Randy before and knew how much of a cry baby he could be.

"Dall threw a cup at John and it broke. When he was cleaning up the pieces he lent back and put it through his hand."

"Dall?" Dr. Andrews raised his eyebrows,

"Don't ask, she won't explain it!" Randy sighed crossing his legs and resting his hands in his legs. Dr. Andrews smirked grabbing Randy's hand before he had a chance to pull away.

"Who bandaged it?"

"I did. I think I got all the ceramic out and doused it in antiseptic," Alex explained as Dr. Andrews began to unwrap the bandaging.

Dr. Andrews investigated Randy's hand for a couple of minutes before picking up a nearby phone and calling for a nurse to bring a suture kit.

"Wait, did you just say suture?" Randy asked yanking his hand back and yelping as the cut rubbed against Dr. Andrews' hand.

"You're bleeding, you've got a deep cut in your hand, you need a couple of stitches," Dr. Andrews said getting annoyed with his patient. The nurse walked in bringing a suture kit,

"Grab him!" The doctor said the second the door was opened knowing that Randy would attempt to run. With Alex sitting on Randy's lap Dr. Andrews was able to put two stitches in Randy's hand and coerce him back onto the bed.

"Okay, now let's look at your shoulder." Dr. Andrews announced pulling the MRI up on his computer screen.

"You've had a couple of separated shoulders but the work we did to repair them has been completely destroyed. If you look here you can clearly see a separation in your rotator cuff, you have completely destroyed your Infraspinatus and Subscapularis muscles." Randy didn't understand what the muscles he had injured were but knew that destroyed muscles of any sort was a bad thing,

"Come on doc, I get beat up for a living you've got to talk in simple terms," Dr. Andrews laughed. He'd been working with wrestlers for as long as he could remember and always got the same response. Holding out his arm he began to explain,

"They are the muscles that let you rotate your arm," Dr. Andrews demonstrated rotating his arm so that his palm was facing up then turning it back.

"Do you really need those muscles?" Randy asked hoping that there would be away out of surgery.

"Yea, they're slightly important," Dr. Andrews rolled his eyes at Alex.

"So, are you able to fix the problem?" Alex asked deciding it was time to but in,

"To a degree, yes, we can replace Randy's destroyed muscles with muscles from a cadaver." The word cadaver caused Randy to jump up, ignoring the pain spiraling through his shoulder,

"You're going to put a dead guys muscle into me?"

"Yea, it's pretty much the only shot you've got."

"But it's a dead guy."

"Would you complain if we were giving you that guys liver or heart or brain?" Alex laughed at the emphasis Dr. Andrew's put on the word brain. Perhaps if Randy had a brain transplant he wouldn't be such a baby when it came to doctors.

"I guess not," Randy sulked. Dr. Andrews spent another half an hour explaining what the surgery and recovery would entail.

Not once could Randy make eye contact with Dr. Andrews or Alex. The words began sinking in and he felt sick. It was going to take him nearly a year just to regain average mobility and strength in his arm. He would be lucky if he would ever be as strong as he was again. Then Dr. Andrews started giving statistics,

"Randy, in all honesty one in a 1000 chance of ever getting in the ring again. A one in 10,000 chance of ever being able to wrestle like you do now," Randy's heart sank in his stomach.

Not wrestling had been something he'd been toying with for a while. But he wanted to be able to make the choice of giving up the lifestyle he'd been thrust into. Sure he never had to work again if he didn't want to but what would he do? He knew he definitely couldn't live the same way he had been. No more massive shopping sprees, or expensive weekend getaways, no more feel good gifts or cars. Randy wanted to be able to live the lifestyle he'd grown accustomed too.

--

While Randy and Alex were getting the grim prognosis John had headed for his physical therapy appointment. He couldn't help but smile as he pulled into the parking lot, he was looking forward to seeing Ashley and having her hands on his chest. Sure it was just therapy but Ashley was definitely something special. Every time she checked his injury John's heart started beating a little faster, her hands were so soft and gentle against his skin.

As John pushed open the door he thought back to the night before. His breath had caught in his throat when they made eye contact across the crowed bar. Her smile made him weak at the knees and he stumbled slightly as he stood up to greet her. He couldn't believe that he'd managed to get Ashley to agree to drinks. She apologized for being late and he asked her about her day as he ordered her a drink. Ashley could have been saying anything for all John would know; he had completely melted into her voice. John had never felt that way about anyone before. Then when they said goodbye her soft lips brushed against his cheek and his knees buckled once more.



"Earth to John!" John shook the thoughts of the night before out of his head and made eye-contact with the woman he'd been thinking about.

"Sorry, off with the fairies," John attempted a smile at Ashley.

"No problem, come on there is someone I would like you to talk with" Ashley smiled heading to the tables at the back off the room. She indicated for John to take a seat before calling someone over,
"John do you remember Kyle?"

"Howdy," John smiled at the young man and shook the extended hand.

"Kyle will be your new therapist," Ashley's words dropped John from the cloud he was on.

"Why?"

"Kyle, can you give us a minute?" Ashley asked smiling as Kyle walked away to check John's chart.

"Why aren't you going to be my therapist anymore?" John asked concerned that he had messed something up the night before, "it was last night wasn't it?"

"Yes actually."

"Oh man, I stuffed up didn't I? What did I do? Did I have bad body odor? Did I swear too much? What was it?" John asked as his shoulders sagged.

"You were amazing and I had a fantastic time"

"Then what's the problem?" John was more than confused at this stage, especially after his girly outburst.

"I can't date my patients," Ashley blushed.

"What?"

"I can't date my patients, it's the biggest ethical no-no there is and I would rather change your therapist then have to turn down tomorrow night's date."

"Oh, okay. Well then get Kyle back over here and let's get to it. I have to go pick up Randy and Alex soon."

"Alex?" Ashley asked as she headed to find Kyle.

"Randy's new girl, she's staying with us for awhile." John smiled.

Despite Kyle being John's therapist Ashley was nearby the entire time and more than once Kyle reprimanded John for staring.

"What can I say? She's beautiful," John smirked looking over at Ashley once more. She was doing some paper work with a new patient. Writing on her tablet laptop Ashley would absent-mindedly reach up and brush her dirty blonde hair out of her deep blue eyes only to have the exact same piece fall right back again.

"Yes, I know but, would you just focus!" Kyle sighed frustrated; he'd worked with John before and knew he could be like a kid with ADHD. When John had his surgery Kyle had been on vacation so Ashley had taken his patients and kept John. Kyle had been back a month and had no idea why Ashley suddenly wanted him to take on John.

Kyle watched the two momentarily; John couldn't keep his eyes off Ashley and Ashley would constantly turn and smile at John. Kyle wasn't a moron, it didn't take him long to realize that there was a mutual interest.

"You like her don't you?" Kyle asked John who was distracted yet again.



"What are you 12? Do you like her?" John repeated in a sing song voice barely tearing his eyes away from the woman, "yes I am interested in Ashley."

"She can't date patients," Kyle announced somewhat self-righteously,

"Can't date co-workers either," John didn't mind Kyle as a physical therapist but there was no secret that he had interest in Ashley as well and John couldn't help but feel threatened, "good thing I'm no longer her patient," John smirked after a moment of silence.

Kyle realized that it would be a wise idea to keep his mouth shut on the Ashley topic. Once John was finished therapy and was getting changed Ashley came to say goodbye. John's heart skipped a million beats when the woman flashed her pearly white smile that caused her eyes to sparkle. John even felt him blush as Ashley's hand brushed against his placing a piece of paper in his hand. It was her phone number, something that he hadn't yet gained as they'd made their previous meeting arrangements at therapy.

John was on cloud 9 as he drove to Dr. Andrews' temporary office. Dr. Andrews was in town a few weeks on conference and John was grateful that he'd been willing to see Randy during his stay as there was no way that Randy would have gone to see him otherwise. Alex and Randy were sitting on the curb outside of Dr. Andrews' office. Neither speaking and Randy had a face like thunder,

"So how did it go?" John asked casually.

"I don't want to talk about it," Randy muttered sulking in the backseat.

"Not good I take it then?" John asked directing his question at Alex, hoping that she might give some insight.

"Not particularly," she replied getting in the car next to Randy. The ride back to John's was silent and the heavy mood contagious. John soon found himself coming down off cloud 9 and being just as solemn as the other two.

When they arrived John let Randy walk ahead before pulling Alex aside,

"What's the verdict?" John asked knowing that he wouldn't get anything out of Randy.

"He's destroyed two muscles in his rotator cuff; they're going to repair it with cadaver muscles."

"Wrestling chances?" John was nearly afraid of the answer,

"1 in 10,000" Alex muttered before going to find Randy.