A/N: So I've published one of those new story-lines I've been working on. Please check it out, I want to see what you guys think about them because I may use similar discussion or dialogue or events within this story if I feel they fit in. Anyways, since I haven't done it in a while, I do not own John Cena or anyone affiliated with him or the WWE as a whole, I only own the OC's. Also, this chapter is named for the song by Lifehouse, I don't own it, I just like it… Thanks for not suing.
Chapter 11: Whatever It Takes
John had left message after message on Morgan's cell and called her every day at the same time but she never answered.
Whatever she had heard, she was convinced that it was true and she wasn't talking to him. He tried to explain in his messages but he could never find the right words to say. He didn't want to tell her what Ted had said about her because he didn't want to upset her more but he knew she'd never understand unless she knew what had provoked him.
John had kept his promise to Stephanie and stayed far away from Ted. In fact, he hadn't left his hotel room for three days straight except to appear for shows or appearances.
Saturday night arrived quicker than he expected it to and though he knew she wouldn't answer John called Morgan anyhow to let her know that he'd be there to pick her up at the airport when she arrived.
Her phone rang twice before she picked up.
"Hello" she said. John was surprised she had picked up at all.
"Morgan, it's John. I was just calling to let you know I'll be at the airport to pick you up tomorrow" he said slowly hoping she would agree.
"Oh, I didn't know it was you calling. The caller ID on my phone is broken, I think I need to get a new one" Morgan sighed, "I suppose that's fine, I'll see you tomorrow. My flight arrives at 2 o'clock, Gate 14B, make sure you're on time please" she told him.
John started to reply but she had already hung up. He sighed in frustration and silently vowed to himself that he wouldn't get rattled tomorrow.
If she doesn't wanna talk, just give her some time. She can't ignore me forever right he said to himself.
Morgan said goodbye to the people she had worked with and drove her rental car to the airport. She boarded the plane and sat down for the flight with a book she had been meaning to read for a while. She sent a text message to John to let him she was on her way but didn't bother to say anything else.
Truth was, she was still very angry with him. She knew she didn't really have a right to be because she didn't know the whole story, or at least didn't know his side of it, but she'd take care of that as soon as got back and go from there.
The plane landed in record time and she stepped into the terminal and saw a crowd of people gathered near the exit tunnel. She figured that must be John, even when he wears a disguise, people still recognize him. She walked over to baggage claim and grabbed her suitcase before making her way through the crowd that had formed.
"Excuse me, pardon me" she said as she pushed her way through all the screaming girls. Finally she reached the middle of the crowd and sure enough, there stood John, posing for a picture with a wide grin on his face.
"Well, you look like you're having fun" she said sarcastically. "Can I have the keys, I'll wait in the car until you're finished here I guess" she asked him.
John looked up and smiled sheepishly at her. He pulled the car keys out of his pocket and held them over his head.
"You'll have to give me a hug to get them" he said grinning.
Morgan scoffed. "Fine" she said. Morgan moved closer and John hugged her tightly. "I missed you" he whispered in her ear. "I know" she told him.
John gave her the keys and went back to finish signing autographs and posing for pictures while Morgan loaded her bags into the rental. She plugged her IPod into radio and began to sing along with the music.
Twenty minutes later John finally opened the driver's side door and started the car.
"I'm sorry that took so long" he said apologetically.
"Mhmm…" was all he heard. John sighed, clearly frustrated but reminded himself that he expected this.
"Stephanie said if you had any questions about what happened between me and Ted you could talk to her anytime" he tried.
"Fine, whatever" she replied coldly.
"Are you ever gonna talk to me" he asked.
"You're not my favorite person right now" she said.
John gripped the steering wheel and gritted his teeth.
"Alright, fine. When you're ready to talk you know where I'll be" he told her as they pulled up to the hotel.
Morgan quickly got out of the car and grabbed her bags from the trunk. She walked inside the hotel and went to the front desk to get her room key.
"Hi Welcome to the Marriott, do you have a reservation?" asked the clerk.
"Yes, it should be under Barlow, Morgan" she told the young woman.
The clerk scrolled through the lists on the computer screen and frowned. "I'm sorry there seems to be a problem. It seems somehow we've overbooked and your room is no longer available" the clerk said.
"Well is there another room you can give me" Morgan asked frustrated.
"No, I'm sorry. We're booked solid" she said. "Is there anyone here that you can room with until we can find a suitable room for you" she asked.
John had walked up in the midst of the conversation and saw the frustrated look in Morgan's eyes.
"Ma'am, she can stay with me. Room 215, if you can give me an extra key card that'd be great, thanks" John said. Morgan glared at him but smiled at the clerk when she handed her the extra key card.
"I'm very sorry about this Miss" she told Morgan.
Morgan smiled. "It's alright, sometimes these things happen. Thank you for your help" she said and walked towards the elevator.
Morgan reached the hotel room, unlocked the door, threw her bags in the closet and collapsed onto the bed furthest from the door. She figured it must have been the one John had slept in because she could smell his scent on the pillows.
John got to the room a few minutes later and saw Morgan lying on his bed staring out the window. He walked over to the bed and sat down slowly not wanting to upset her further.
"Why did you do it John" she said suddenly. "Just tell me why and I'll understand" she said still staring out the window.
John sighed. He hadn't wanted to talk about it right that second. He'd wanted time to figure out what to say but Morgan wanted an answer and he was tired of fighting with her.
"I was talking to Randy and Cody after one of their practice sessions and Ted was just glaring at me so I asked him if he had a problem with me and he told me to stay away from you. He said you were still his fiancée and that eventually you'd go back to him and I didn't have a chance in hell" he told her.
Morgan looked at him wide-eyed. "So you slugged him in the face?" she asked incredulously. "John, that's hardly a reason to give someone a busted lip" she said.
"That wasn't the reason. That was how it started" he told her. "Anyways, so I told him he was crazy to think you'd go back to him and that he needed to just stay away from you and he didn't say anything so I turned to walk away and that's when he…" John paused for a moment not sure how to tell her what happened next.
"John, what happened. What did he say" Morgan asked. She momentarily forgot she was angry at him and reached for his hand. "John, what is it" she asked again. Morgan could tell whatever it was, he didn't want to tell her.
John took a deep breath and spoke, watching Morgan's expression carefully as he did. "When I turned to walk away he said that he'd figured it out. He said that the whole time he was coming home late, you were with me. He said if I wanted you I could have you and you called you a 'two timing bitch.' I told him to take it back and he told me to make him, so I did" John finished.
He stole a quick glance at Morgan's face and noticed her lower lip quivering. He thought she was crying and turned to face her but she wasn't crying. He saw rage in her eyes, the kind of rage where people say that someone was "seeing red."
"Morgan, I know you're mad at me and I'm sorry for that I really am but I couldn't let him say those things about you. Not when I know they aren't true" he told her. "Stephanie suspended me for two weeks but I get to keep the belt. She hasn't decided yet what to do with Ted I guess. I suppose she's probably waiting for you to decide on that" he told her.
John stood up and moved to get his key card from the night stand. "I'll leave you alone for a while, I'm going to go down to the weight room I think." Morgan didn't say anything and John left the room and headed downstairs to the weight room for a workout. He figured she'd come around eventually she probably just needed to sort everything out and she'd be fine.
Morgan let everything John had sink into her brain and she was furious. She was undoubtedly angry at Ted for lying to her and trying to turn her against John, but she was more angry at herself for believing him when he'd called. She couldn't understand why she'd believed him at all and now she felt horrible for treating John the way she had when all he'd been trying to do was protect her.
She got up and grabbed her purse and key card, wrote a short note for John and walked down to the hotel bar for a drink.
John came back to the hotel room about an hour later and immediately noticed that Morgan was missing. He saw her bags in the closet so he knew she was still in the building and then he saw the note on the night stand.
John,
I'm sorry I didn't let you explain before. I feel horrible for the way I've treated you the past week. I don't know why I believed him when he called me and told me what you'd done but I'm sorry for not letting you tell your side of the story. I'll talk to Stephanie before Raw tomorrow and get this all straightened out and then I think I'm going to take a leave of absence from work. I have an apartment in Stamford, maybe I'll stay there for a while and I don't know. Maybe things aren't working out the way we hoped they would. It's been less than a month since we've been together and things are already falling apart. I'm just not sure I can do this anymore. I love you John, I don't want you to ever think differently but I need to do this for myself.
Love,
Morgan.
John read the note a full three times before he fully realized what it was she was saying. He shoved the note in his pocket and grabbed his key card and headed down to the lobby to see if he could find Morgan somewhere.
He searched the restaurants and the small gift shop before checking the pool and the hot tub thinking maybe she had gone for a swim but still he couldn't find her. He felt his phone vibrate and pulled it off his belt loop and answered.
"Hello" he said.
"Hey John, its Rhodes" he heard Cody's voice on the other end. "You might want to come down to the bar in the lobby, Morgan's a little smashed" he said.
"Oh man. Alright I'll be right there in a minute thanks man" John said. He hung up the phone and sighed loudly before heading over to the bar to retrieve his drunk girlfriend.
John walked into the bar and saw Cody and bunch of guys sitting at a table. Morgan was sitting next to Cody, downing shot after shot without thinking twice.
"Morgan" he called over the music. "I think it's time to go" he said. "You look like you've had enough to drink" he said as he reached out to help her stand up.
"Johnny, is that you" she said. "Yup, you've definitely had enough to drink" he said. Normally John would have thought this was hilarious but considering the circumstances that led to Morgan being in this state, he couldn't even manage a smile.
"Come on I'll take you back to the room" he said. Morgan leaned on John for support. "Okay" she slurred. She tripped twice on the way to the elevator so John decided it would be better if he carried her rather than risk her getting hurt. He picked her up as soon as they were out of the elevator and carried her down to their room. He set her down for a moment to get the door open and picked her up once again when he'd successfully unlocked it.
John carried Morgan into the room and kicked the door shut with his foot before placing her gently on the bed. He went to the bathroom and got her a glass of water and the bottle of advil he knew she would need later.
"You're gonna have one heck of a hangover tomorrow" he said.
"Mhmm, probably" she said slowly. Morgan soon fell into a deep sleep and John sat next to her stroking her hair as she slept. He left the room for a few minutes to get some snacks from the nearby vending machine and when he got back Morgan was moving around in her sleep and groaning. John put the food down on the table and watched her for a few seconds before she started to thrash and scream.
John raced to the bed and did his best to wake her up. He shook her by the shoulders and called her name and finally her eyes shot open .
Morgan took sharp ragged breaths and looked around for a minute before she realized where she was. She looked up at John who was white as a ghost and appeared scared out of his mind and she reached up and hugged him tightly.
"I'm okay, just a bad dream that's all" she said. He let out the breath he'd been holding and the color came back to his face. "Good, you had me pretty scared there" he told her.
"Don't be, I'm fine" she said. Suddenly Morgan jumped up. "Okay, maybe I was wrong" she said and raced for the bathroom. Thirty minutes later she finally emerged from the bathroom having disposed of her stomach contents and showering and brushing her teeth afterwards.
She sat down and John handed her a diet coke he'd bought from the vending machine and the bottle of Advil from the night stand. She smiled and said "thank you" and took two Advil and a sip of her drink.
John wasn't sure if she remembered the note but he knew he had to ask. "Um, Morgan" he said quietly.
"Yeah" she answered. She turned towards him and waited for him to say something.
He didn't say a word but simply pulled the note from his pocket and handed it to her slowly.
Morgan took a deep breath. "Oh" she said quietly. "I forgot about that" she told him.
John sighed. He didn't want to ask but he had to know. "Do you really think it's not working out between us" he asked her. "Is it really so bad that you don't think we can make it work, because I don't. All the problems we've had the past couple of weeks weren't either of our faults, well… the fight with Ted was sort of my fault but that's no reason to just give up. You said it yourself, you love me, so why are you trying to run away again" he asked.
Morgan was quiet for a moment. "I don't want to leave. I love you" she said. "I just feel like no matter what we do, something will always be in the way" she told him. "This whole deal with Ted isn't just gonna go away. If he went to all that trouble to call me and tell me this elaborate story then who knows what he'll do. He may have said you could have me, but I know him, he's going to do everything he can to turn us against each other and he's already succeeded once, and very simply I might add" she was speaking quickly now.
"I mean, what do we do with this. I don't want him to lose his job as angry as I am with him, I don't want him to be fired or kicked off Raw but I don't think I can continue to work and live around him like this when I know he's trying to ruin us. I don't understand how you can be so relaxed about it" she said.
Morgan had begun pacing back and forth in front of John who was still sitting on the bed. Finally John stood up and grabbed her by the waist. "Stop pacing" he said, "you're making me dizzy."
"Sorry" she said quietly. She tried to move away and John tightened his grip on her waist. "I'm not letting you go" he told her.
Morgan looked up surprised. "Wh..what" she said.
"You're scared that it won't work out between us so you're trying to run away before you get hurt. I won't let you do that. If I have to stay awake all night to make sure you don't leave me then that's what I'll do" he said seriously.
Morgan just stared at him her eyes wide in surprise. This was a side of John she hadn't yet seen and though she wasn't scared, it was still very surprising to see him so immovable on something.
As if he read her thoughts John smiled slightly to reassure her. "I'm sorry if I scared you" he said. "I just don't want you to leave when you don't have a reason to" he told her. "I love you, I don't want to lose you, not when it's taken this long for us to finally be together. I won't give up on us that easily and I don't want you to either" he said.
Morgan sighed heavily and smiled up at John. "I love you too, and I am sorry for what happened with Ted" she told him before closing the gap between them and holding him tightly.
John wrapped an arm around her waist and placed his other arm up around her shoulders and began stroking her hair. He picked her up and sat down on the bed, Morgan's legs draped over his and her head resting on his chest, his arms still wrapped around her.
"I did miss you, every day" Morgan said.
John smiled. "I missed you too. It was horrible not knowing whether or not you'd ever speak to me again" he replied.
"I'm so sorry John" she said. Morgan felt a tear fall and wiped away the others that had formed in her eyes. "It's alright. Please don't be upset" John said. Morgan nodded silently and smiled.
"Are you hungry" he asked her.
"I'm starving, what time is it" she asked.
"It's a little after five. Just about dinner time. How about I order us some room service and we stay in tonight" he said. Morgan smiled and said "that sounds great."
She got up to look at the menu and John followed coming up behind her and putting his arms around her waist, resting his chin on the top of her head. They picked out some food and John removed one arm to call room service and order before quickly replacing it.
Morgan let herself fall back against his chest and tilted her head to the side. She turned slightly to look up at him and placed a hand on his cheek. John smiled and remembered how much he'd missed her touch when she was gone. He bent down and gently kissed her releasing his grip on her waist enough for her to turn and face him. Morgan put her arms around his neck and deepened the kiss.
Five minutes later John's shirt was lying on the floor and he had Morgan backed against the wall when there was a knock at the door. Morgan pushed him back slightly and he groaned in frustration but answered the door and brought the food in. He tipped the delivery guy and walked over to where he had brought the cart. Morgan was standing there, her hair a little disheveled and makeup smeared but beautiful as always. John kissed her again and tried to get back to where they were but Morgan put her hands on his chest and gently pushed him back.
John sighed. "Alright, alright, I surrender" he said.
Morgan giggled and reached for the food they had ordered. After a few minutes of silence John spoke up. "Baby, when are we gonna tell everyone about us" he asked hesitantly.
"Huh, what" she said. Morgan looked up not sure she'd heard him right.
"It's just that I mean, Randy knows obviously and Stephanie said it was obvious to her, that's why she didn't strip me of the belt, I guess she knew you'd probably freak, but no one else knows. I'm sure Ted suspects and I think Cody's got a clue too but it's driving me crazy. I hate having to pretend we're just friends around everyone" he explained.
Morgan sighed. "I know what you mean. It's hard for me too" she said.
"Then remind me why we're doing it. It's been months since my divorce and even if there are rumors going around I don't care. We both know the truth so what others say shouldn't matter right. And if it's about Ted, Stephanie will take care of that. So why can't we just tell everyone" he asked.
"I don't know, I guess maybe we could try and see how people react" she said. "I mean, we could pick a couple of people we trust and tell them, see what they say and go from there you know" she explained.
"That could work. I'd tell Randy but he already knows. I was thinking Paul, I don't think Stephanie's told him yet and we're good friends. Dave too he's pretty trustworthy" John told her.
Morgan smiled. "Yeah, and Shawn, he's my favorite" she said. John feigned offense. "Besides you of course" she finished. John laughed, "damn right" he said.
"I'd also like to tell Mickie and Kelly, they probably already know but they're friends and I know they don't gossip near as much as the other girls so I think they're probably safe" she told him.
"Okay, so it's settled. We'll convene the council tomorrow" John said. Morgan laughed and agreed.
They ate the rest of their dinner Morgan talking animatedly about the case she worked in Stamford. She told him how it felt to be in court and how she loved her job and couldn't think of ever doing anything different. When they finished, John called room service again and left the cart outside the door and locked it.
Morgan had found a movie on television she knew John would like so she turned it on and went to the bathroom to change into her pj's and by the time she came back out John was lying on the bed in his shorts watching the movie she had picked.
"I take it you like the movie" she said. John's attention shifted from the movie to the direction of her voice and he smiled when he saw her. She had on a light blue silk tank top and a pair of silk shorts to go with it. "The movie's good, you look better though" he said and winked.
Morgan laughed. "Take a picture it'll last longer babe" she told him.
"Aw come on, why you gotta be like that" he said pouting. John did his best puppy dog impression and patted the spot next to him on the bed. Morgan rolled her eyes and shook her head in mock disbelief before sliding under the covers and resting her head on his chest.
"That's better" he said. "Though I wouldn't mind a repeat of earlier" he said. Morgan blushed furiously and John chuckled and pulled her closer to him. Morgan laid in John arms and traced circles on his chest while she watched the movie thinking about everything that happened so far. It felt good to be back in his arms again and she couldn't believe she'd ever considered leaving him. His voice pulled her out of her thoughts.
"You're quiet, are you alright" he asked.
"Yeah, I'm just thinking" she said "nothing to worry about."
"Alright, just checking" he said and he kissed her forehead.
Morgan smiled and sighed happily. When the movie ended, they found another, and stayed that way the rest of the night.
Around 11 o'clock the third movie finally ended and John was ready to turn in for the night. He looked down at Morgan and realized she was asleep so he tried to move as quietly and carefully as he could but Morgan stirred and sat up quickly.
"I'm sorry I woke you" he said. "Go back to sleep."
Morgan smiled. "It's okay, don't worry about it" she said and kissed him lightly before rolling over onto her side and laying her head on a pillow. John laid down wrapping an arm around her and took in the scent of her hair and smiled at the feeling of having her in his arms again and slowly drifted off to sleep.
A/N: So there's Chapter 11. I managed to get it out before Christmas. Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to everyone and thanks to everyone who writes reviews I appreciate it. You can expect Chapter 12 sometime after the first of the year.