Chapter 20

Unlike some broken bitches, Steve definitely had a show to go put on, so he had been gearing up. Which was pretty easy, black trunks, boots and that was about it. He opened the door, half-expecting to be greeted to a massive fist aimed at his forehead, his blue eyes narrowing and then widening when he realized just who was standing there.

"How the hell did you manage to get away from him?" He demanded, pulling Anciana inside the room and shut the door behind them, flipping the lock. Steve turned, taking her in and inhaled deeply. They hadn't seen each other since they were kids, his twin… and she was married to the Undertaker, of all people.

"Jesus…" He whispered harshly, reaching out to awkwardly touch her shoulder. "Ani…"

"I told him I was going to catering, which I am, after I leave here." Anciana noticed he'd locked the door and felt a little uncomfortable, stepping back as soon as he touched her shoulder. "I don't know you. Please don't touch me. I just came here to ask you something…and then I'll get out of your hair." Her voice somewhat shook, the nerves overtaking her, but Anciana had to stay strong. This man held a lot of answers to her questions, especially if he was her brother. Her first question revolved around that. "Are you truly my brother…my twin brother? And if so, why did I leave home? Why haven't I talked to you since I was a teenager?"

"Honey, you… you don't remember me, at all?" Steve asked, his rough, gritty voice gentle. "How can you forget me, Ani? We're twins!"

Granted, they hadn't seen each other in quite some time, but they were twins! He'd have known her anywhere. Steve searched her eyes, eyes that were identical to his and seen nothing familiar in them at all. Not even the rage, the sheer burning rage, and resentment, the sorrow, he had been there the day she had left home. Hell, he'd take that right now, anything except this… confusion, lack of recognition.

"You really lost all yer memories?"

Nodding, Anciana didn't know how or why, but she felt in her heart this really was her brother…her twin. She felt a connection to him the moment she watched one of his matches against Mark on the videotapes. For some reason, his name had pierced through her and now she knew why.

"Yes…well…mostly, yes. I…had a flashback a little while ago with two kids playing and chasing a kite…" The nostalgic smile curved his lips and Anciana instantly knew why. "That was us, wasn't it? When we were little…chasing a kite?" Coming here had been the right decision. Reaching out, she took his hand and immediately felt a familiarity about the touch, blinking as tears slid down her cheeks. "What happened between us? Why haven't we spoken in so long? What did I do?"

"Yeah, we were little… Mom was tryin' to show us how to do it and the wind caught my kite. We took off after it."

Steve remembered 'what she had done' like it was yesterday. They had been fighting, with their father. She had decided she wanted to wrestle and none of them had been for it. Anciana was a girl, for one, and everyone knew women didn't make it in wrestling, not really. Not as anything major, they were arm candy. There had been a big blow out and she had been devastated when Steve hadn't sided with her, but instead stood firm with their Dad. Groaning, Steve ran a hand over his bald head, staring down at her.

"I'll tell you, but then you gotta tell me somethin', Anci." He decided to compromise, having a few questions of his own. "You got to tell me how the fuck you wound up married to Taker. Deal?"

"I…I don't remember, honestly." Steve didn't look very convinced of that answer and Anciana heaved a sigh. "From what I was told, Mark and I met in Vegas a month before my accident. We had a whirlwind romance, went to a local chapel and got married. Cameria, my friend in Vegas and my ex-roommate, vouched for him. A month later, he…struck me down with his car accidentally. It was raining hard outside apparently, again I don't remember any of this, I'm just telling you what I was told from Mark, Cameria and Doctor Horris. Mark was on his way to stop me from walking to work, wanting to surprise me since I hadn't seen him much because of his job. The streets were slick from all the rain and…I crossed the street, he hit me and…he took care of me, Steve. He paid for all of my hospital treatment and bills, he only left my side for a day or two out of the week and was always right back to the hospital. And then when I was released, needing more medical care, he brought me to our home in Houston, where we currently live. And now apparently I have a twin brother he's worked with for years and I was training to become a professional wrestler before the accident." That about summed it all up.

It took Steve awhile to process all that and when it finally did, it all sounded like a load of malarkey. "He hit you, with a car…" He echoed, shaking his head, his bald scalp taking on the red tinge that indicated he was angry. "That's horseshit, Anci… he fuckin' knew who you were and probably did it on purpose. I don't buy for a second that you two are married. You got paperwork? You got weddin' pictures? Anything?" Who the hell was Cameria? His twin had been living in Vegas all this time?

"Yes, there's paperwork with a marriage license and everything. And yes, we have pictures from our wedding."

Paul had been busy ever since Taker decided to go through with this plan.

"Whether you like it or not, I'm married to him and…that's not going to change. He only lied to me about knowing you because of our fallout. He wanted me to regain my memories first and then deal with you my own way." Anciana sank down in the nearby chair and clasped her hands in her lap, hating how upset she was making this man. "Now it's your turn. Why did we have a falling out and why haven't we spoken in years?" The entire time, her voice remained soft and low, not losing her temper the way Steve was on the verge of doing.

"Because you thought you were gonna be a wrestler." Steve said finally, sighing and then half-smiled.

Hell, she had no memories of that and he wasn't overly keen to be dragging it up. That fight had led to them not talking for over a decade and he had seen that arm bar she had delivered on Taker. Steve wasn't keen on eating his words either, though from the sounds of it, she hadn't ever made it through the door. Women in this industry weren't considered anything but eye candy; the matches they did have were few and far between, only a small handful of women had actually made names for themselves. Alundra Blayze came to mind and, even then, with all her talent, she was now in WCW, under the name Madusa, and had been blackballed by Vince, due to her dropping the WWF Women's championship in a trashcan on WCW programming.

"And we all said no."

As ridiculous as it sounded, Anciana believed him and rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly, knowing it had to be a pretty big fight for them not to speak after all this time. "I'm going to assume 'we' means our mother and father? Other siblings too?" At his nod, she lowered her head and sighed heavily. "Vince McMahon wants me to be part of this storyline with you and Mark. I'm not going to do it though, no matter how much he hounds me."

Mark's words had come back to her. A quick glance at the clock told Anciana it was time to leave. They had talked far too long for her to simply be down in catering.

"I should get back to Mark…"

"All Vince wants to do is use you." Steve informed her flatly, he himself had only just started forging a proper name for himself and hadn't been a part of the WWF all that long, only a year.

He had to shed the stupid gimmick Vince had given him when he had signed on. The Ringmaster… that had been dumb. Now he was acting on-camera as… himself, mostly, with the volume notched all the way up and it was starting to pay off.

"Stone Cold Steve Austin's twin sister… and the… Undertaker's wife…" He could NOT keep the disgusted expression off his face, that had left such a horrible taste in his mouth. "You need to divorce him, Anci. That man is evil."

"Considering the reason behind us not speaking for over a decade, you might want to tread carefully with what you say. I'm not divorcing my husband just because you two don't like each other. You'll deal with it." There was the stubborn Williams streak she had unleashed upon Mark earlier and now it was showing to her twin. "I don't even know you, Steve. I want to get to know you, but…you have to respect my wishes when it comes to who I'm with. Mark is not evil either and has given me no indication I'm in danger. He's treated me like a queen, actually. Why would I leave someone like that? Now I really need to go." She headed for the door to unlock it, knowing Mark would be worried about her enough as it was wandering around the arena by herself.

"Anciana," Steve sounded exasperated, moving to stop her from unlocking the door. "Honey, listen to me, you don't know him. I don't care what he tells you, or how he treats you, the man isn't right in the head." Why couldn't she see that? Mark Calaway was a sadistic, ruthless bastard with an evil streak that would've earned him a place as king of hell. "Just… be careful, okay?" He could see the anger building in her eyes and knew he was pushing it, inwardly groaning. Anciana was finally back in his life, after all this time, but with hefty baggage. "You remember anythin' else? I could… we could talk, and I could tell you about yer life."

The anger in her eyes softened a bit and she touched Steve's face, cracking a smile. "I'd like that, but not tonight. You have a show to put on. Why don't we meet for coffee or something tomorrow morning?" They were staying here since the house show was only down the street in another building than Raw Is War. "Call me when you're ready." Pulling out a pen from her pocket, she turned his hand over to jot her number down and then kissed his cheek.

Once she was gone, all Steve could do was stare down at the paper, gathering it was a pager number and sighed. His twin sister was married to the Undertaker. She had been in a potentially fatal accident that had left her without her memories, even of him, her twin. Apparently, they weren't 'those' kind of twins because he hadn't felt a thing wrong or… anything.

"Fuck…" He groaned, dropping down onto the old wooden bench, unsure of what to say or do now.

When Anciana finally returned with the water, Mark was dressed for the promo he would be cutting in the ring, staring at his wife intently. He wasn't a fool, he had known the minute she announced she was going to catering where she would also go. Not about to press the issue, just yet, Mark refused to do it after everything that had happened tonight. But if Steve had screwed things up for him, the bald bastard would be next to be run over.

"Here's your water. Sorry it took so long."

Anciana smiled apologetically, accepting a kiss from him and sat down on the nearby bench to sip her own water. She noticed the outfit he had on and raised a brow – black sweatpants that wrapped around the ankles and a long sleeved black sweatshirt. What the hell? He kind of looked hot…in a comfortable way. That wasn't his normal in-ring attire though. What exactly was Vince making him do tonight? It wasn't her business, so she didn't bother questioning him about it and looked up when he stood in front of her, lowering to be eyelevel with her.

Vince wanted him to break the whole kayfabe thing, so to speak. Go out there and discuss his actual life as Mark instead of the Undertaker. But the information Vince wanted him to spew wasn't necessarily Mark's life, not all of it. It was… weird, and he wasn't entirely sure how all of this would play out, breaking his own character.

"Do you feel any better, darlin'?" He asked softly, knowing Anciana had gone off to speak with her twin. Given that she hadn't come in here screaming hell at him told him she wasn't gearing up to leave him yet. There wasn't a doubt in his mind that Steve hadn't tried to urge her to do so.

"I'm getting there."

Anciana leaned into his touch as soon his hand came in contact with her face, sighing in contentment and rested her hand over his to lace their fingers together. She wasn't leaving him, not unless he gave her a legitimate reason to. Mark had never treated her badly and, until that day came, she would remain by his side, regardless of what Steve said or wanted. Even though she didn't love him yet, the feelings for him were stirring and growing stronger with each passing day.

"I can't lie to you, Mark. I went to see Steve before going to catering…and I know you think he's dangerous and I shouldn't waste my time on him, but…he's my brother. I don't know how I know it, but I do. I'm…meeting with him tomorrow morning for coffee to talk about the old days, to see if he can't jog my memories. You're not mad at me, are you?"

He shook his head, smiling down at her. "Darlin', I knew the moment you said you were going to catering where you'd go." Mark informed her, understanding lacing his tone. "It's only natural, I suppose, wanting to see him, talk to him." He sighed, reaching out to touch her head. "Just… don't overload yourself. That one memory," When she had been making popcorn. "Knocked your ass for a loop. I don't know what a rush would do to you, Anciana." Not to mention, if she regained her memories this early on… he'd be in a sling. "How do you feel about him?" Hopefully, Austin would reveal his true colors, his temper – the temper that had nearly crushed Anciana tonight again – and cancel out any hopes of reconciliation.