When they made it to Davenport, they took a quick nap before starting to pack her things. The next morning, she called a moving company to come out and help with the packing and to transport her stuff to Vegas. She went to the hospital to finish her resignation letter and clean out her office. She talked to her boss and turned in her keys, badge and letter. She apologized again and he told her he was sorry that she was leaving. They went back to the house and by then, Colby had made it home and the moving truck pulled in behind them. "What the fuck are you doing back here?"

"I am packing my shit. I won't be here much longer, don't worry. Besides, my name is on the deed too, Colby." She turned to the moving guys and told them to start with the kitchen, the dishes and cutlery.

"Hey, what are you taking?" Colby asked irritated.

"I am taking everything that is mine. The furniture I bought I am taking. You can keep the beds and the electronics and all that. Most of the kitchen stuff I bought so all that is coming with me. The rest I don't care about. You can keep it all."

"You are really leaving me for this asshole then, huh? You two are moving in together already?"

"Yeah, Col, I thought I made that pretty clear. We are over."

"Yeah? You have some nerve acting like the aggrieved girlfriend when you cheated on me with Jon for six months. You screw around on me, leave me, then come back and tell me you still love me. We have amazing sex and I think things are fine, and the next thing I know, you show up to the arena. I was so fucking happy to see you, and then you break my heart again. No, you haven't just broken my heart. You ripped it out, stepped on it, put it in the blender and hit purée, then drank it like a smoothie. I can't believe some of the venomous things that you said to me and Joe, like you never fucked up. I fucked up but it was one damn time."

"You think I am just mad about you screwing Joe?! That is not even the worst part. You making me believe that he forced himself on you, you flat-out lying it what was the worst part. Not that I am happy he fucked you and I do think he took advantage of you, but why wouldn't you just tell me? And don't act like it was just one time. Jon told me what you said."

"What I said when?"

"When he asked if you had always been faithful. You confessed to him then that you had cheated before you 'knew what you had with me'. So that obviously makes it okay. Yeah, I know I messed up and I betrayed your trust. I may have been really late telling you, but I did tell you. You still, after all that, never told me that you cheated too, more than once. You liked playing the victim too much. I should have just left you before then but I didn't, I guess because I loved you. You have shown a side I didn't even know you had, and I am sure I am to blame for most of it. But why would you lie to me about that? Why would you make Joe look so bad?"

"He did do that to me when I was drunk, Dixie. That wasn't a lie. And I had to tell you before Jon did. I knew you wouldn't listen to me otherwise. You say you should have left me before? I may not have been the best boyfriend, but I didn't hit you, I wasn't mean to you, I took care of you and I loved you. Maybe I didn't treat you like a whore in the bedroom like you wanted, but what kind of man ties the woman he loves up and chokes her while he is fucking her!"

Jon's eyes widened and he knew Colby meant him. Colby saw the stunned looks on both of their faces. "Yeah, Joe told me how he found the two of you. So yeah, I didn't want to hurt you, sue me. Tell me the truth, did you set out to seduce Jon? You said you should have left me so did you plan on finding someone else on the side and still leading me on? Talk about having your cake and eating it too. Go on, tell me. Tell me what I already know. You said you had been tired of me for a while, so how long were you lusting after Jon? Do you want Joe too? Were you mad because Joe slept with me or because he didn't sleep with you?"

"That is fucking ridiculous. No, I don't want Joe. Maybe I did want Jon before but I never planned on acting on it."

"Bullshit. How did it happen then? I don't believe you hadn't planned it. All those times you hung out with us, you just wanted to spend time with him, not me, right?"

"No, that is not what was going on. I wanted to spend time with you, but even when you weren't working, they got more of your time than I did."

"How can I believe shit you say?"

"How can I believe what you say either? I wouldn't have been nearly as mad if you hadn't tried to manipulate me. Even though I came to see Jon, I still care about you and would have listened. What did you think would happen, Colby? You tell me that and I would just let it go?"

"I was desperate okay! I was desperate for you to stay with me. I fucking love you! I may have left some shit out, but I didn't lie to you. I just didn't want you to leave me for this scumbag."

"You know that things will never work between us again. Too much has happened. I am sorry for everything I have done and I am sorry for the things I said to you. I want you to be happy and find the woman…or man, that is perfect for you."

"What? I told you I am not gay, Dixie."

"Well, whoever you want, I hope you find the one that deserves you. I don't want to fight anymore: not with you, not with Joe. I don't want you fighting with them either. It may be too much to ask right now, but I am just tired of the drama. I am sorry I have put you through this. I said before, I never intended to cause you pain. Part of me will always love you but we just aren't right for each other, and even though you are angry and upset now, I know you will see it too. I am sorry I hurt you and I am sorry for the things I said to you and him. I was upset, shocked and wasn't really thinking. We both made a lot of mistakes and I hope that we can find a way to forgive each other one day."

"Yeah, it will never happen. I still can't fucking believe that you actually think Jon is more right for you than I am. I will never forgive either one of you. You broke my heart and destroyed my faith. I can't trust anyone anymore. You not only seduce him but made my best friend turn on me, and probably have cost me my other best friend too," Colby told her, glaring at Jon who was standing in silence. Jon was listening, not really wanting to get in the middle because he knew they both needed to get things off of their chests.

"Okay, you can blame me for taking Jon, as you called it, but the shit with Joe is not my fault. I wanted to protect you, which obviously was stupid on my part. I didn't know that was why you tried to stop me from confronting him, because you had exaggerated what happened. I will take responsibility for my part in all of this, but not all of it." Jon was surprised that Colby was also upset about losing his friendship. With how mad he was, Jon didn't expect Colby to say that.

"Everyone is fucking turning on me because of you."

"No one is turning on you."

"The hell they aren't. Do you know how it feels to see the woman you love with a man who was supposed to be like your brother? Or how it feels to think that everyone is talking about my girl leaving me for my best friend, to hear them whispering about me not being man enough to keep you? You weren't there when I had to explain to my family that you didn't love me anymore. And now, everyone thinks I am unable to defend myself, or gay, or whatever after you told everyone that Joe raped me."

Dixie heaved a deep breath."You shouldn't have told me that shit then. And I am sure no one thinks that. Jon told them I was mistaken. Which, that's fine because I don't give a shit what they think. I am truly sorry for hurting you, I am. God knows I have tried but I can't keep forcing myself to do something my heart isn't in, and I am sorry for that too."

"Oh, so you had to force yourself to love me? That makes me feel so much better."

"That isn't what I meant. I have always loved you; that is something that never changed. But I forced myself to stay with you, hoping that things would different. If I didn't love you, I would have left a long time ago and I wouldn't be standing here explaining myself. Look, I don't want to fight anymore. It is done. I want to be with Jon."

"You think he can love you like I did? You think he will take care of you like I did? He fucks everything that moves and takes home strippers and any other bitch that offers him sex. Soon he will do to you exactly what you did to me. It will all blow up in your face because like I said, you don't know him like I do. Maybe it would be poetic justice if he cheated on you or even better, you getting tired of his shit and finding someone else. You say you want the excitement, but picking his drunk ass off the floor and keeping ringrats away from him will get really old."

"If it blows up in my face, so be it. It is my choice and I will live with the consequences. But what I won't live with anymore is a man who treats me like a fucking hobby. You saw what, a perfect little wife and kids that you could come home to and play house with a couple of days a week? Makes you respectable to have family on the side, but wrestling is your life. Not me. Never really has been me. I am done with this, Colby. I have apologized for the last time. I am not perfect, but you sure as hell aren't either."

She turned away and grabbed Jon by the arm. "Come on and help me." She started putting sticky notes on things that she wanted the movers to take then dragged Jon upstairs to help her pack her clothes. She started throwing things in boxes and Jon could tell she was very upset. He wanted to say something to her, but he really didn't know what to say. She emptied the dresser and put a post-it on it as well, then went to pack up the bathroom.

Several hours later, almost everything that she was taking was ready to go and be loaded on the truck. With all the guys doing it, it didn't take as long as she was thinking it would. They filled the truck with the divan and curio cabinet, the dresser, trunk and chest from the bedroom, and the vanity from the bathroom. They then piled boxes inside along with her paintings. Everything else, she left there. Colby was surprised when she took their photo album. He started to question it, but didn't want to start another argument.

Before she left, she laid the keys to the house on the coffee table. "I will call my lawyer and see what I have to do to transfer the deed to your name. It's yours. Bye, Colby."

She turned and took one last look at her home before she walked out. She gave her car keys to the mover so they could tow it to Vegas behind the truck and signed the papers. Jon gave them his address and the driver told them they would probably be there by Friday.

Colby watched as she walked out of his life, the house already seeming colder and emptier. He sat down on the couch and tried to keep himself from breaking down again, the reality that she wasn't coming back to him starting to sink in. He hated that it was really over and didn't know how he was going to get over her leaving him.

Dixie felt sad as well, for a chapter of her life that was ending, but pushed it away; filling her mind with thoughts of how good things would be once she got settled in with Jon. He took her to a late dinner before they got on a flight to Chicago, then to Las Vegas. Jon knew she had a lot on her mind, but he was glad she seemed to get some closure with Colby. She was similar to him in that she usually kept a lot of things bottled up. He wanted to change that with her though, and both of them open up to each other. After the way their relationship started, he wanted them to be honest with each other and never hide things from each other. He didn't know if things would ever be okay between him and Colby again, but like her, he hoped that forgiveness would find them somewhere down the road. He started to not tell Dixie what Colby had confessed about cheating on her in the past, but he didn't want Colby to be able to pretend he was innocent in their break-up either. She told him she couldn't get too angry at him with what she had done as well, but she didn't feel as guilty as she did previously, knowing he gave in to temptation long before she did.

It was the middle of the night before they made it to Jon's apartment. They were both tired so they showered and got into bed. She rested her head on Jon's shoulder as he ran his fingers through her hair. He was grateful that after the eventful week that she was back home with him where she belonged. "Babe, tomorrow we will do some rearranging and make room for your stuff."

"You want me to move it all in here?"

"Yes. This is your home now. Our home. I told you before that you could decorate this place however you want. I am not much for putting things on the walls and designing or any of that shit so you do whatever you want."

"Okay. Thank you, baby."

"For what?"

"For everything."

"Everything?"

"Yeah. For being everything I need you to be. I don't know how you know what I need or when I need you but you do. You gave me the chance to choose you all over again and had faith in my love for you that I would come back. You let me vent to Colby and never got in the middle of it. You welcomed me into your home and made me part of your life. It is more than you just making room for my stuff, but making room for me."

"Dix, I never stopped believing that I was the right man for you, I just fucking hoped that you would see it too. I wouldn't dream of letting you stay anywhere else and you aren't just part of my life, you are my life."

She hugged him tightly and pressed her cheek to his chest. "You are my life too, Jon. I want us to always be happy."

"We will be. Our relationship won't be like the past. I will be open and honest with you if you promise to do the same. I don't want there to be any secrets between us and I never want you to keep things from me. If I am fucking up and you aren't happy, you tell me. If the sex isn't good, you tell me. If you feel like I am ignoring you, you fucking tell me. If you are sad and bad memories are getting to you, you come to me. I will listen and I swear to you, I will do the same. I won't hide my feelings from you and I won't push you away. I want us to trust each other and build a real relationship. Dixie, I may fuck up and I may be hard to love at times, but I have never really done this before, so have patience with me because I am trying."

"I know you are. I promise to always be honest with you. I will be gentle with your heart. I know what Colby said, and I don't want you to think I will go out looking for…"

"Shhh, I know. He doesn't know what I do about why you want me and more importantly, he doesn't know how much you really love me. I do though. I won't doubt your love for me and I am not going to listen to him. You don't listen either. The ringrats and shit, well he was right about that, but things are different…"

"I know. I know you well enough to know why you turn to them. The same reason you turn to booze. But you don't have to anymore, because you have me. I love you, Jon. I will take care of you and never let you deal with your demons alone again. We will make our own happily ever after and have the kind of family that we both always craved. I'm not saying we try to have babies starting tomorrow, but that is the kind of life I want with my own Prince Charming."

Jon laughed, "You call me an angel, and now Prince Charming? I can say with no doubt that you are the only woman to have ever said that to me, or about me. I want that too though, Dix. We won't be the Cosbys but we will be happy."

"You are my idea of Prince Charming, baby. Maybe not every other woman's, but mine for sure."

Jon couldn't stop the big smile that was on his face. She had no idea how much the things she said meant to him. He was glad that she understood him and saw through his walls. She smiled back and brushed her thumb across his lips before kissing him. "Let's get some sleep, baby. Lots to do tomorrow." He nodded and held her tighter, closing his eyes. She snuggled under his arm and soon they were both asleep.

The next day, they rearranged furniture and she called her lawyer, telling him that she had moved out of the house with Colby and she needed to have the deed transferred. She told him she didn't care about the money she put into it, she just wanted her name off of the paperwork. He told her he would draw up a quitclaim deed and email it to her to sign before recording it with the court. She agreed and told Jon what she was planning, but he looked at her like it was going over his head.

She also looked into accounting jobs she could do from home. She didn't know how long she would travel with him, but for now, she wanted to spend all the time with him that she could. Jon told her he couldn't be happier that she would be with him. When she was around, he didn't have the urge to drink as much, and he hardly noticed other women were even in the room.

Friday morning, the movers arrived with all of her stuff and brought everything upstairs to the apartment. She told them where to put the big stuff and they unpacked the kitchen while she and Jon worked on her more personal things. When the guys had finished with everything Dixie needed them to do, she took out her credit card to pay them. Before she could hand it to the driver, Jon stopped her. "No. Let me."

"No, Jon. I got it. You don't have to."

"Yeah I do. You moved out here for me, so I sure as hell do. Just stop being so fucking stubborn and let me take care of shit for you." She sighed but stuck the card back in her billfold. Jon handed him his card and signed the receipt. She went downstairs with them and moved her car next to Jon's in the lot before going back to finish arranging everything. Jon was sitting on the couch with his feet propped up when she walked back in. He was grinning and looking around the condo. "Why are you grinning like that?" she asked as she motioned for him to scoot over.

"I am just grinning because this place looks like real people live here now." He turned to his side and moved back so she could lie beside him.

"I like it here, Jon. I like it best because you are here though."

"Dix, I want to talk to you about something."

His sudden serious tone worried her. "Okay. What is it?"

He took a deep breath before he started. "Okay, so like next week we are going to be in Cincy for a house show, you know. Well, I thought, if you wanted, we might go by and see my mom. If you were up for it."

"You are asking me to meet your mother?"

"You don't have to and I know it may be super uncomfortable for both of us."

"I will go with you to see your mom if you want, baby. I am just surprised that you want to."

"Yeah, it is no secret that we don't have the best relationship, but in some weird way I want her to know that I found someone to love me."

"It's not weird. It is only natural to still want your parent's approval. I understand. I took Colby to meet my mother because I wanted her to see that I had found someone good that would never treat me the way she had let men treat her and me all my life. I finally learned that I deserved better, and I will always be grateful to Colby for that. So believe me, Jon, I understand."

"I know you do, babe. I do want to show you off. I want her to see that I am a man now. I made a career for myself and now I am making a life and future for myself. I swear to you, no one will ever mistreat you again, and our kids will never know the pain we have."

He squeezed her close to his body and kissed the side of her neck. She rested her hand on his and softly rubbed. She didn't say it, but she was nervous about meeting his mother. She knew Jon had tried to make amends with her, but he still held a lot of animosity and resentment towards her for how he had to grow up. A lot of the pain he felt, he held close to his heart and never talked about. He had opened up to Dixie because she opened up to him first after an argument with her mother. He felt that she wouldn't judge him and would understand. Because of the things he told her, Dixie held a dislike of her and wasn't sure she would be able to hide her disdain.

Colby was in the house, already drunk again with his thoughts muddled by the alcohol. After the past few days, his life had become more than he could handle. His heart was completely shattered along with his ego and self esteem. Even if Jon had cleared things up with the roster about Joe, everyone still knew that he lost his woman to another man. He had never felt more alone than he did then. Now he didn't even have Joe to turn to. Joe, who was a whole other situation in himself. He hated what Joe had done and he wished so hard that he could remember. "Stop thinking about it."

He took out the portrait Dixie had given him for Christmas and hung it up in their bedroom where he could see it. He thought about what she said to him over and over, but he couldn't accept that things could just be over that quickly. He said a lot of things he regretted but regretted the things he had done more. He knew he shouldn't have used being hurt to seduce her and manipulate her when she was already so conflicted. He wondered if he had just told her the truth from the beginning when she was confessing everything to him if things would have turned out differently. He knew he shouldn't have exaggerated the truth about him and Joe and made he think Joe hurt him. He wished he could go back to the morning he woke up with her and never leave. He was so furious at her for cheating, but admitted that he hadn't always been faithful either. The blame had to fall on both of them. He thought it hurt when she told him she was leaving him the first time, but watching her walk out of his life with Jon destroyed him. He couldn't accept that she was gone for good and in his impaired state, he tried to think of a way to make her come back. He remembered her taking their photo album and hoped it meant that she wasn't over him yet. He wanted to make her see the error of her ways in going to Jon. Or getting Jon out of the picture.

He considered going to Vegas and having Jon killed, but he knew suspicion would fall on him. He decided to go up to bed and stop thinking crazy and plan how he was going to get her back, once he was sober. He kissed his hand and touched the picture of her. "I love you, Dixie. I am the man for you. I am going to get you back, somehow, and Jon will pay." He fell into bed, holding her pillow, and gratefully passed out.