Chapter 21

Randy, A.J. and Laura returned to Randy's place in St. Louis two days later to see how Jeff and Jessie were faring. Jeff had told A.J. on the phone that he had good news and bad news so she was eager to find out what it was the entire way home.

"Will you hurry up!" A.J. whined as she waited for Randy and Laura to get their bags from baggage claim.

"Will you calm down?" Laura snapped moodily, grabbing her bag off the conveyor belt.

Randy chuckled, grabbing his own bags. He held up the suitcase to his girlfriend and motioned for her to start walking. She stuck her tongue out at him and rushed toward the nearest exit, her eyes scanning the expanse for any sign of Jeff. She smiled when she spotted Jessie bouncing up and down by the doors and ran over to them.

"Jeff you better start talking cuz I've been waiting to hear this for two days," A.J. said as they left the airport.

"Can we wait till we get back to the house, you know, get settled in first?" he asked cautiously, glancing at Randy, who nodded in agreement.

A.J. pouted, batting her eyelashes at him. She whined and whimpered, hoping her act would have some affect on him, "Please?"

"No, now shut up and turn around," Laura snapped again from the back seat next to Jessie.

"What crawled up your ass and died?" A.J. asked, looking offended.

Laura shook her head and looked out the window, "I just sat through a two hour flight listening to you bitch about what Jeff had to say. I'm not in the mood to hear more."

"It was kind of annoying, A.J.," Randy muttered, not looking away from the road to see her face.

A.J.'s jaw dropped and she glared out her window. She kept silent the entire ride back, ignoring any and everyone if they addressed her. At one point Jessie even started pelting pieces of popcorn at the back of her head to get her attention, only making the situation worse. By the time, Randy pulled up the house A.J. was fuming at all of them and refused to speak to them.

"Come on, A.J., what did I do to you?" Randy pouted as she stomped into the house ahead of them, her hair hiding her face.

"Fuck off!" she yelled over her shoulder, her stomping footsteps heard all the way up the stairs.

Randy and Jeff glanced at each other with apprehensive looks and followed her into the house. Laura could not keep a straight face as she and Jessie giggled about her unnecessary attitude.

The group got settled into their respective rooms, Laura rooming with Jeff and A.J. with Randy. Jessie spent her time doing her homework due the next day and listening to her iPod. Randy leaned on the doorframe to her room, a smirk on his face as she hummed along to his theme song, completely unaware that he was there.

"You can sing, Jess, its not like you have a bad voice," he chuckled, startling her.

"Randy!" she threw her pencil at him with a scowl. "Why aren't you bugging A.J. she doesn't have homework."

Randy shrugged and took a seat on the edge of her bed, "Yeah, but she refuses to speak to me, so I figure I'd pay you a visit. What're you working on?"

"Math," Jessie frowned, glaring at the times tables on the page.

"Can't you just use a calculator?"

"No," she shook her head. "We're not allowed to use calculators until we get passed the easy stuff. This is just a review."

"Oh."

Jessie shook her head again and returned to jotting her answers down on the page. The two sat in silence for a moment before a knock on the door forced then to look up. Laura was leaning against the frame with a smile, her hair pulled back into a ponytail so you could see her face.

"Did I interrupt the bonding?" she laughed, taking a seat in Jessie's beanbag chair that Jeff had gotten her.

"No, we were just talking about math," Jessie shrugged, brushing her own ringlets from her face. "Homework sucks, you guys are lucky."

Both Laura and Randy laughed at Jessie's face and she crossed her arms over her chest moodily. Laura got to her feet and perused the room, her hand moving over the papers and pictures scattered on Jessie's desk.

"When was this taken?" she asked, holding up a picture of her, A.J. and Jason from the previous year. "A.J. looks so happy."

"Oh, that was last year, A.J.'s birthday. I'm going to make a scrapbook for her for her present this year. Jason's brother Tom took that after we spent the entire afternoon raking leaves in Jason's back yard. He pushed her into the pile by surprise and we got into this huge leaf fight," Jessie explained, indicating the leaves stuck in her and her sister's hair. "But don't tell A.J. I have all of these pictures, I want to surprise her."

"Our lips are sealed," Randy promised, motioning to his mouth and zipping it shut.

Jessie beamed at them, placing her homework back in the folder and tossing it on top of her open backpack. "Thank goodness that's finished. What's taking Jeff so long, I want to know what this news is too."

Laura rolled her eyes and glanced out the door, looking up and down the hallway to see if there was any sign of her boyfriend. "He's just goofing around. I think he's waiting for Matt to call with confirmation that it's all going well. He's not exactly sure if A.J. will like the news at all."

"But what is it?" Jessie asked excitedly, seeing the Laura really wanted to tell her.

"I can't, this is Jeff's news, let him say it," she pleaded. "I can't."

Randy pulled Jessie into a bear hug at the pout on her face and she squirmed in his embrace, "Let me go!" she yelled, her voice muffled against his shirt. "Randy!"

"Cheer up then, I don't need both of you being grumpy," he laughed as she tried to push his arms over her head.

Just as Jessie managed to pull her head out of Randy's arms Jeff appeared in the doorway looking ecstatic. Laura raised an eyebrow at him expectantly and he smiled, running his fingers through his fire engine red hair, "Meet me in the kitchen and I'll tell you what's going on. I'm going to go get A.J."

Jessie squealed happily and raced out of the room, closely followed by Laura and Randy. Jeff shook his head at them and continued down the hall towards A.J. and Randy's room where he could see A.J. staring blankly at her sketchbook. He knocked softly on the open door and she jumped.

"A.J. is it safe to talk to you?" he asked with a chuckled.

"What do you want?" she demanded, not turning to look at him.

"If you'll come down to the kitchen I'll be sharing the news," he muttered, leaning against the frame, his eyes on her as she perked.

"Really? You'll tell me now?" she turned to him with a smile.

Jeff laughed at her, being reminded of Jessie, "Yeah, come on," we motioned for her to follow him and he made his way down the hall.

A.J. grinned and raced past him, her long ebony hair fanning out behind her as she ran down the stairs. Jeff laughed and followed her into the kitchen where Randy, Jessie and Laura were waiting expectantly, a small smirk on Laura's face.

"Alright, out with it!" Jessie ordered as soon as he entered the room.

"Okay, okay, I'll tell," he raised his hands in surrender. There was a crushing silence in the room, the tension unbearable. Jeff opened his mouth to continue when the doorbell sounded, making them all sigh with disappointment. "Well, since I'm up, I'll get it."

The group waited patiently as they heard Jeff pull open the front door. Jessie's face lit up at the sound of John's voice and she rushed into his arms when he entered tha kitchen. He scooped her up off the floor and sat down in her vacated seat, knowing what Jeff wanted to say was important.

"Alright, now that we're all here," Jeff started again and the tension mounted once again. "I'm pregnant."

A.J. was the first to burst out laughing, she fell out of her chair clutching her stomach and gasping for breath as the rest realized what Jeff had just said. Randy grinned and helped A.J. back to her seat, Laura trying not to lose her composure at the corny joke.

"Sorry, you could cut the tension in here with a knife, I had to," Jeff chuckled, taking a seat at the head of the table. "But in all seriousness I just wanted to tell you, well, I'll start with the good news…" he dawdled, earning a glare from John and A.J.

"Stop stalling and just say it!" she shouted impatiently, now fully recovered from his joke.

"Alright, The good news is, I'm coming back to Monday Night Raw. My first match is with Edge since he no longer has a storyline with John," Jeff explained.

"And the bad news?" A.J. pressed eagerly.

"The bad news is nobody will be here to stay with Jessie when we go back on the road, and I don't know haw we're going to work that small problem out."

All eyes shifted to A.J. and she frowned, knowing what was coming next. She sighed and got to her feet, crossing her arms over her chest. "So I guess that means I'm the one who's going to have to stop traveling in order to stay with Jessie, is that it?"

Jeff shrugged, his eyes apologetic, "If you don't want to you don't—" he started nervously.

"No, don't even do that Jeff, I know that's what you meant. Since I'm the only one here who's not a wrestler I have to sacrifice my traveling. I get it. It's no big deal, I just have to stay here and be Randy's personal assistant. I have no problem with that."

The room fell into silence once again, everyone's eyes no the floor. John cleared his throat to break the pressing quiet, a realization hitting him out f the blue.

"Well, that gives you more time to paint," he muttered. "And you said that's what you wanted for your birthday."

A.J. smiled and nodded, "I guess you're right, it's not really that bad of news, Jeff. Don't feel bad. I have more time to catch up on my hobbies while still maintaining a job. And I have more time with my little sister, which is always fun."

Jeff sighed with relief and the tension instantly dissipated from the room. Randy got to his feet as well and moved toward the living room.

"So, who's up for a game of Madden?"

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Another chappie, another day! I hope you all liked and blah blah, I'm not in the mood to type the same thing every chapter. But in all seriousness, I do hope you all liked the chapter, 'specially you Jessica! Oh, and since it's the day before turkey day I just want to wish everyone a big HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!! And don't forget to review.

Thanks!

Sadie