I had to move Randy's birthday, so all you die-hard fans, don't get too caught up in the facts! I was just rambling a bit here, but I think I'll give you a bit of a spoiler for what's coming. Besides Randy (and Jeff!), who do you think is the best person to show Rae a bit of love? Hmmm... Thank you Orton Addict, I know I can always count on you for your honest reviews. And I'm working on an update for Broken just for you. Read and review, please, you know the deal everyone. Even if you think it's boring, I'd rather know. Thanks.

"I was jealous."

She had been taking one final look at the city, knowing she would never set foot in it again. She hadn't heard what Randy had said.

"What?"

"I said I was jealous. I still am, actually."

Randy was looking down into his orange juice like it contained something too interesting to look away from.

"Jealous? Why would you be jealous?" she frowned.

Randy let out a sigh and put his drink down.

"I've always been able to depend on you, you're my biggest fan. I wouldn't have accomplished most of the things I have if it hadn't been for my little cheerleader," he answered, still not looking at her. "When you do find what you're looking for, you're going to be cheering for someone else and I'm selfish enough to not want that. I wanted to keep you to myself. You've been mine since you were one. I can't handle the thought of letting you go."

"Randy..."

"Let me finish," he cut in. "I know that's childish, but that's how I feel. I don't want to call you at three in the morning and have some guy tell me to call back in the morning because you're asleep. I don't want to have to watch if the way I touch you is appropriate. I don't want things to change. But I love you and I'm going to stand by you. There should never have been any question on that. I've been standing by you your whole life. I'm sorry I said what I said. I just didn't know how to handle it. Any guy you choose would be lucky to have you in his life."

"Randy, I know things will probably change, but you're always going to be the most important person in my life," she said as she took his hand in hers. "I'm not going to let some guy come between us."

"You say that now, but when you do fall in love you're going to think the sun shine's out of this guy's ass. He's going to be the most important person to you and I'll be just Randy, the guy you grew up with," Randy said, finally looking at her. "I've made my peace with it. I'll be happy with whatever makes you happy. Just don't forget all about me, okay?"

He was the biggest reason she was there but she couldn't tell him. Sure, she was looking for a little taste of what she could have had, but no man would ever come close to taking Randy's place in her heart. He was too important to her. He was the only person in the whole world who knew every single detail of her life, all her fears, her secrets, her strengths and her weaknesses, her joys and heartaches. No matter what they said about love, she didn't think anyone could ever become that important to her that she would forget what Randy meant to her.

"I'll never forget about you, Randy," she whispered, lifting her palm to his face. "You mean everything to me. Whatever happens from here on out, just remember that."

She meant that in a completely different light. Once she was gone, he would realise the true meaning of her words.

Randy took her hand and kissed her palm.

"I really am sorry. I can't stand you not talking to me," he said. "Well, you spoke to me last night but I don't think that counts."

"I can't remember anything past my first drink."

"I didn't think you would. For someone who likes their drink, you're a pathetic lightweight!" Randy chuckled.

"I didn't take all my clothes off in public again, did I?"

"You say that like you wouldn't have enjoyed it if you had," Randy laughed.

"That was the old Rae. The new one won't be taking her clothes off for anyone but Jeff."

"You walk around the hotel room in nothing but your underwear! I'm sure that counts as taking your clothes off."

"Yeah, but you and John don't count."

"Thanks!" Randy said with mock sarcasm.

"You know what I mean."

"I do," Randy smiled. "So I saw you with Jeff earlier. You two sorted your issues out?"

"More or less," she replied, thinking about her wild morning. "I have to give him an answer soon."

"If he ever treats you bad, you know you can tell me, don't you?"

"I know," she smiled. "You always have my back."

When they checked into their room in Albany, Randy and John had to head straight out as they had an appearance somewhere in town before the house show. She had hardly spent time with them since she had arrived; quality time, that was. Pulling in a noisy club or following them around in an arena didn't really count. Now that she'd settled on her 'someone' she should really make time to spend with Randy. The last thing she wanted was for him to feel like he wasn't important to her anymore. She didn't have much time left.

She was lying on the bed, thinking about the events of the past few days and how she'd made quite a bit of progress, connecting with Mark and Jeff. She'd expected it to take her at least two weeks, then a couple of weeks after that, she'd be jetting off. So now she'd bought herself an extra week of playing princess.

With a weary sigh, she reached into her bag and pulled out her list. The dreaded bucket list. It only had about 96 things on it. Somehow she'd thought by the time it really mattered it would have a few hundred things on it, maybe even thousands since she'd always thrived on living in the fast lane. She hadn't sat down and wrote all 96 things down at once, she'd just added them on as she went along. Then after her little trip to Columbia, when she had finally surfaced from her drug induced haze, she had added the last, most important three.

Randy would be so cut up when she finally had to go. It had always been just the two of them against the world, doing whatever the hell they wanted. Everyone had known that wherever she went, Randy was always somewhere nearby. Until their careers had taken off, they had been joined at the hip. Her heart was already breaking at the thought of leaving him behind, she could only imagine how he would feel, living with the pain of his loss for the rest of his life.

Her phone rang, breaking into her morbid thoughts and she was pleasantly surprised to see Mark's name on the caller ID.

"Hey, Mark," she answered.

This was the first time in their ten year relationship that they had spoken on the phone.

"Hi, Rachael. How's it going?"

She looked down at her list, thankful he couldn't actually see her.

"Alright. How are you?"

"A bit tired, actually. I'm going to have a break soon, though, in about two months and I thought I'd go on vacation somewhere. Maybe you can come with me. It will be a good way to bond."

She didn't have two months. Her heart cracked again as she thought how much she would have loved to spend some time with him. It was her fault she was in this position. If she hadn't been such a stubborn cow and wasted all those years...

"I... I'd love that," she said with fake excitement.

"Good. Why don't you come visit me this weekend? We could make plans. Sara's dying to get to know you."

She almost laughed at his choice of words.

"Sure, but not the weekend," she answered. "We were going to go home on Thursday but I can catch a flight to Austin tomorrow then fly home Friday."

"That would be great, Rae. Just let me know when I should pick you up at the airport," he said. "So are you planning a party or something? I know what you young ones are like."

She knew what he was referring to. Her twenty-sixth birthday. On Saturday, she reached that milestone and for once in her life she wasn't throwing a party. Well, in her case, they usually turned out to be wild orgies. Some years, the festivities had been known to last a week, then it would be Randy's birthday and they'd start the party all over again. Of course, now it depended heavily on their schedules. With Randy as the WWE Champion, he couldn't take time off whenever he pleased.

"No. I'll just force Randy to take me out for a meal or something. I don't feel like partying."

"That's a first! Are you feeling alright?" Mark chuckled.

"I just think it's time I slowed down a bit, took time to enjoy what I have around me," she said. "Besides, a week from Saturday, Randy will probably make up for that."

He'd be turning twenty-eight. It would be the last birthday she would celebrate with him.

"I've got to go now, Rachael. We have a show soon, I need to go and warm up."

"Alright. I'll give you a call when I've made arrangements. Take care, Mark."

When she hung up, she threw her phone across the bed and buried her face in her pillows. Why was life so fucking unfair?

Rae had thought a dip in the pool would clear her head up a bit. Actually, she had thought a good fuck would do the trick, but Jeff had spent a good part of the morning doing that, she didn't want to knock on his door for another session. She'd just seem insatiable and maybe that would scare poor Jeff off!

The last thing she had expected was to walk out and find the pool swarming with wrestlers. So many almost naked bodies, dripping wet and glistening in the hot afternoon sun, rubbing sun screen on their tanned limbs, lying in the loungers just soaking the sun up; a few bikini tops untied as some divas worked on their backs, so much temptation in one place. They all looked ripe and ready to be plucked!

Her first instinct was to run. If she was going to make it work with Jeff she couldn't mess it up before it had even started. But as she turned to head back she saw Dave by the door, just looking at her like something he wanted to eat. Obviously, he hadn't got the message when she'd told him he'd just been a good fuck, nothing more. She wasn't in the mood to deal with him so she turned back and surveyed the scene, looking for an empty spot to sit and hoping he would take the hint and leave her alone.

She found a lounger next to a diva and it wasn't until she'd put her bag and towel down that she noticed it was Mickie. Randy had told her all about her, how she'd thrown herself at him and he'd only been more than too happy to take what he wanted. Big, stylish glasses covered her eyes but Rae knew her eyes were trained on her.

With a little smile, she slowly unbuttoned her shirt then let it fall to reveal her skimpy bikini. She knew she looked hot. The white material set off her tan and left absolutely nothing to the imagination.

"Like what you see, Mickie?" she asked as she lowed herself onto the lounger.

"Get over yourself!" the woman snapped. "I'm not like that."

"You sure? I can treat you a lot better than Randy did. Who better to understand what you need than a woman?" she teased sensually, grabbing her sun screen then sensually rubbing it on her toned stomach.

She could feel the woman's eyes following her slow movements.

"What do you say, Mickie? You... me... a hot tub?"

The woman swore as she stood and picked her things up.

"You're sick. No wonder you and Orton get along!"

She chuckled as she watched her walk away then made herself comfortable. As if she'd ever be interested in her!

Almost straight away, someone took the seat Mickie had just vacated. She let out an audible groan when she noticed it was Dave.

"Hey," he said.

"Hi."

She kept her eyes trained on the few people in the pool.

"Look, I know you don't want to talk to me but I though, since we're going to be bumping into each all the time we could at least be civil," he said.

"That would be alright if I didn't know what you were really after," she answered.

"I'm not going to deny I'm attracted to you," Dave said. "But I'm going to respect what you said. I'm just looking to be friends."

She didn't believe him at all. He wasn't the first man to think if they somehow became friends she would sleep with him again.

"Dave, just let it go. What happened the other day will never happen again."

Dave lay back and let out a sigh.

"I've done this a thousand times," he muttered. "I don't know why you've got under my skin so much, Rae. I'm old enough to know what happened was just a one time thing but I just can't forget it."

"You're going to have to, Dave."

He was probably a good man, but she wasn't looking to find out. He'd just been one of the many casualties she'd had to leave behind to get where she was.

"I know."

She sat there for another minute, contemplating returning to her room before she'd even had a dip in the pool. The last thing she wanted was to have Dave's eyes on her body the whole time, it was making her uncomfortable.

Her mind was made up for her when a certain rainbow haired warrior came out to the poolside, dressed in a pair of shorts and a towel hanging over his shoulder. His eyes looked around at everyone until they met hers, then a slow smile formed on his lips. Obviously, she wasn't going anywhere.

He made his way to her and her eyes took every detail of him in; his tats, the way he sauntered over, his gorgeous torso. She wondered how long she'd have to wait until she sampled his goods again. This time, she wouldn't be taken by surprise. She'd do to him what she had been imagining since she had decided on him to fulfil her dying wish.

"Hi," he smiled when he finally stood in front of her.

"Hey, handsome," she replied with a smile of her own, her eyes slowly travelling down his body.

She had to admit, she quite liked this feeling. He seemed more irresistible now after their morning together. That had never happened to her before.

"Have you thought about what I said?" he asked.

"Oh, yeah," she breathed.

His kiss had guaranteed she thought about nothing else.

He dropped his towel on the ground next to her lounger and held his hand for her in a silent invitation. With a little coy smile, she took it and let him help her up, then felt the searing heat of his gaze as he took the same liberty she had and allowed his eyes to eat up every inch of her scantily clad body.

"What are you doing tonight?" he asked, his eyes finally meeting hers.

She felt like she was drowning in them. It had been so long since just a look had got her so horny...

"Nothing. Why?"

"I thought maybe we could order in and talk," he replied. "You can tell me what you've decided."

Like it wasn't obvious!

"Talk?" she asked.

Talking was the last thing on her mind, unless it was to scream for him to go harder and faster!

"Yes. Just talk," he smiled.

She hoped to God he was only joking. Her eye lids lowered and she licked her lip with the tip of her tongue as she remembered the morning. It had scared her at first but now her body was craving it, craving the connection it had found with him. He needed to be joking because she didn't think she could go a whole night without ripping his clothes off.

"Alright," she said, deciding to hand over the reins.

She knew nothing about relationships. If Jeff thought the best way to get this thing off the ground was to spend the night talking then she would just have to trust him. But it would be so hard...

"I promise you won't regret that," he said, bringing her hand up to his lips.

The contact sent a jolt of electricity through her body. No, she didn't think she'd regret it either.

"What are you doing to me, Jeff?" she whispered, her eyes on the lips that were still brushing against the palm of her hand.

Jeff only smiled and gently pulled her against his hard body.

"Hitting the ground running," he answered before placing a gentle kiss on her lips.

When he released her she could have sworn the earth was moving. What the hell was going on?

"I'm going to do a few laps. Are you coming to join me?" he asked.

"I think I'll just sit down here," she said a bit shakily.

In his seat, totally forgotten, Dave had witnessed it all. It had dawned on him that Jeff was more than just a one night stand and a sick feeling had formed at the pit of his stomach. He'd seen the way she had reacted to him, how everything and everyone had faded into the background. He'd felt the sexual tension, it had been that thick he could have cut it with a knife.

Even now, as Jeff cut through the water in powerful strokes, he saw the way she looked at him. When Jeff eventually pulled himself out of the pool, he could almost see how her mind was working. It wasn't hard really because her eyes followed every single drop of water as they rolled off Jeff's body. When he picked his towel up, her eyes followed his movements as he dried himself. It made Dave feel sick.

"I'll see you tonight," Jeff whispered in her ear, and then he dropped another kiss on her lips.

He knew feeling this anger was stupid. Just because she had told him she didn't do relationships, then picked Jeff of all people, shouldn't mean shit. You won some, you lost some, everybody knew that.

"I don't get it. What does Hardy have that I don't?" he asked finally, when Jeff had made his way back into the hotel.

"Honestly, Dave, I don't know," she answered as if still in a daze. "But I promise you I'll find out."