Randy put her down on the table in the Trainer's room and growled, "She's pregnant."

The trainer, who hadn't seen what the fuss was about since all Keri had got was a boot in the stomach – not even that hard – immediately sprang to action.

"Do you feel any cramping? And nausea? Or pain in your lower back?" he asked, laying her down so he could examine her stomach.

"No," Keri whispered.

She was holding onto Randy's hand, fear crippling her. Was she being punished? Was she not meant to have this child? She should have told Vince like Randy had told her to. This was all her fault. She hadn't even had the baby yet, but already she'd proved Jeff right. She wouldn't be a good mother. She couldn't keep her baby safe in her stomach, what chance did it have when it was born?

"How far along are you?"

"Fourteen weeks," she whispered.

"We need to get you to a hospital straight away," the trainer said. "The doctors there will do a scan."

"Am I losing my baby?" she whispered.

"I'm afraid I can't say for sure. A scan will show if there's anything wrong. I'll arrange the transport now."

"I'll come with you," Randy said to her as the trainer walked away to make the call.

"You still have your match_"

"Mine is the last one. There are three matches to go. We'll take Ted and Cody with us, if I need to leave you there at least you'll have someone there till I can come back," he cut in.

She swallowed and nodded. She needed him there, since he was the only one who knew about the baby.

"Everything will be okay," he said, pulling her into an embrace.

She wished she could believe that.

"What the hell were you thinking? You should have warned us."

"Vince didn't give me that option_"

"You could have fucking hurt her!" Jeff snarled, pacing so he wouldn't actually attack his brother.

"Calm down, Jeff. She wasn't hurt," Shane said, standing beside Matt and Shannon.

"She could have been."

"You know, for someone who claims not to give a shit about her, you're actually proving otherwise," Shannon quipped.

"Now's not the time, Reject," Jeff growled.

"Relax, bro. She's fine," Matt said again.

But they saw her coming out of the Trainer's room, her arms around Randy's waist, looking like he'd never seen before. Randy had one arm protectively over her shoulder as he used the other hand to bark orders at the unfortunate person on the other end of his cell phone. And Jeff had to think hard, as he'd never seen that expression on The Vipers face before, but it looked like Randy was worried and scared. The man who always spat in the face of danger was scared.

He suddenly got a very bad feeling.

"Does it look like she's fine to you?" he snapped at his friends before hurriedly making his way to Keri.

The second she saw him approaching she tensed and tightened her hold on Randy. He bit down an expletive. Now wasn't the time to go all territorial. Something was obviously wrong.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"Yeah," Keri answered.

"Let me take you back to the hotel_"

"No!" Keri cut in sharply. "I... I'm going to hang out with Randy."

"Keri, maybe you..." Randy started, but Keri silenced him with a look.

Randy looked at him almost sympathetically for a second before leading Keri away.

Jeff had an uneasy feeling that whatever Randy had been about to say was very important.

"Is she alright?" Matt asked as he came to stand beside him, watching as Randy and Keri walked away.

"Something's wrong."

He could feel it.

"You're imagining things again, dude. Come on. Let's go watch the rest of the show. If she needs us she'll find us," Shane said.

Imagining things again. The last time he'd felt something was wrong with her she'd turned out to be pregnant. With his child.

But of course, he couldn't tell the guys that.

Keri came back from the hospital completely exhausted from her emotional upheaval, even though it had only lasted an hour at the most. The hospital was only a few minutes away from the arena and she'd been seen almost straight away, probably because Randy's large frame pacing up and down the waiting room – in Viper mode, of course – had intimidated the shit out of everyone.

"You should have gone back to the hotel," Randy muttered as he led her down the hallways of the arena. "You heard what the doctor said."

"I'm fine. Stop stressing," Keri said, pushing him towards his locker room. "Go get your gear on. I'll be with Reject and the rest of the gang, watching the rest of the show. Call me when you're ready to go."

Randy stopped by his door and turned to face her.

"You should tell him," he said seriously. "He has a right to know. After what happened tonight... I just think you need him."

"Who's side are you on?" she asked, though her voice was resigned.

"The baby's," Randy said softly, then gave her a little smile before disappearing into his room.

Keri sighed before turning to head to Matt's locker room. She bumped into the cameraman who'd done her promos earlier and muttered an apology. If she'd been paying closer attention she would have noticed he'd been everywhere she'd been that day, but her head was elsewhere.

The whole time she'd waited for the doctor and the scan that would show if her baby's heart was still beating, she'd been thinking and praying and making promises. It was obvious to her now that Jeff had been right. She'd be no good as a mother, as the sole protector of such a precious little thing. No matter how much she wanted the baby to love her, no matter how much she wanted to do right by it, she wouldn't be able to do it on her own. Putting her baby's life at risk... well, it had put a few things in perspective. So she'd promised herself, if her baby lived, she'd tell Jeff. He'd take care of his child. Whether he poisoned the baby's mind against her or not, he'd always take care of his child, always protect it, the way he'd always protected her.

That was the important thing. The main thing.

Jeff looked at his watch for the hundredth time, trying to judge if enough time had passed for him to just drag Keri back to her room. They needed to talk – clear the air once and for all.

He was going to ask if they could be exclusive, even though they didn't really have a relationship in the first place. He didn't like that she was sleeping with Randy, too. Imagining them together was driving him insane. So while this thing between them lasted, while it burned so strongly in his blood, she had to be his exclusively. Until he didn't want her anymore.

But what if he never stopped wanting her?

He didn't want to scrutinise that statement any further. Already, between spending the whole night with her and all the statements his friends were making, he'd had to bury a lot of things that he didn't want to look at too closely.

"Just go find her and drag her to your room like you did last night," Shannon grinned when he noticed him look at his watch again. "In front of the whole fucking world."

"Shut up," he muttered.

He'd been right to assume there would be pictures of that on the internet but he didn't really care.

"Or go tell Randy that 'if he ever puts his hands on her ever again you'll cut his balls off.'," Shane laughed.

He vaguely remembered saying that to one of Keri's ex-boyfriends before he'd beat the crap out of him.

"Frankly, I'm surprised you haven't attacked Randy yet. It normally takes you just a couple of hours," Matt added.

"What are you talking about? I don't just attack her boyfriends. Only the scum who hurt her," he protested.

The three of them turned to look at him in amusement.

"What?" he asked.

"We're not denying that most of her boyfriends have been scum, but you beat most of them up before they've done anything to deserve it," Shannon laughed.

"Do not!"

"Remember that French dude? He'd only been in the house ten minutes before you beat him up," Matt chuckled.

"You didn't see what he did_"

"He looked at her wrong. That's what you said, isn't it?" Shane laughed.

"Well, he did."

"What about that guy from up the road? He didn't make it through the gate," Shannon said.

"Because I know him! He'd have fucking raped Keri then stolen all our shit without any of us being any wiser!"

They laughed at him again and he still didn't get what was so fucking funny. He'd only been looking out for her, just as they all did.

"Matt, I don't know why you're laughing. You're overprotective of her," he pointed out.

They laughed again.

"Nah, dude. Matt is protective of her, just like we are, in a good, normal way. You, Jeff, are overprotective. You're ready to kill someone of they even look at her."

Because he saw the look in the men's eyes, of course it made him mad. But that was only because he wanted her for himself; to be the one to fuck her at his pleasure. Not because he was in love with her.

"Face it, dude. You're in love," Shane chuckled. "You've fallen so hard it ain't even funny."

Something jarred inside him as it had been doing all day. Something scary. Something disturbing. Something that made him go on the defensive.

"I'm not! Keri's the last person I'd fall in love with. She's completely wrong in everyway. She's not trustworthy; she lies; she'd sell her soul to get what she wants. She's a nasty piece of work, she gives me grey hairs, she's crazy, she doesn't know when to shut the fuck up, and if it wasn't for the fact that I like fucking her, I'd stay as far away from her as possible. I fucking hate her!"

Of course, none of that was true, and he probably shouldn't have said anything about fucking her. But before he could say a word to apologise, he heard the soft gasp behind him.

Something inside him broke even before he turned to see the look in her eyes.

"Keri..."

Fuck.

"I... ah... I'll see you guys later," she whispered, turning away quickly.

"Keri, wait."

He stood up quickly to follow her, his heart hammering in his chest for a reason he couldn't explain. He said stuff like that about her all the time – even worse than that - to her face. She normally said something nastier back to balance things out. But saying it now, after everything they'd been through, it just seemed so wrong. Saying that, after the tenderness they'd shared last night...

"Keri!"

She didn't look back once as she half walked-half jogged down the hallway with him close behind.

"I didn't mean it," he confessed. "Please stop. Talk to me."

"I think I spoken to you enough for one lifetime," she said wearily.

Something about her voice sounded final. It scared him. It made him think.

What if Keri decided she didn't want to be around him anymore? What if he never saw her again? Would he get through that?

"Don't say that. Please," he said, some of his desperation sounding in his voice.

"I'm tired, Jeff. I can't do this anymore."

"Let's go somewhere we can talk," he suggested urgently.

She stopped suddenly and turned back, making him almost collide into her.

"I know you hate me, Jeff. I don't know what I ever did wrong... how things got so complicated_"

"You did nothing wrong. I know that now."

She shook her head and looked away from him, unshed tears shimmering in her hazel eyes.

"We're always going to fight. We're always going to say such hateful things about each other. I knew this. I thought I could handle it, but..."

"Keri, you sound like you're saying goodbye."

"Maybe I am," she answered sadly before turning to her side and knocking urgently on a door.

"Keri, we have too much to talk about. Last night_"

"Was a mistake. And you just proved it."

The door opened, and he was shocked to see Taker standing there, still sweaty from his match with Shawn and looking very pissed. Very pissed and very scary. But it didn't seem to faze Keri. She just pushed past him to let herself into the room while he stood, face to face with the Dead Man.

"I think the girl doesn't want to see you," Taker growled.

"Um..."

"Beat it, kid," Taker growled again, this time turning so he could close the door.

"Mark, please," he said quickly. "I need to talk to her."

Mark looked into the room, then back at him.

"Beat it," he repeated, then slammed the door in his face.

"I'd say another week," Shannon said as they watched the door where Jeff and Keri had just rushed through. "Jeff's going to admit he loves her."

"I'm not betting with you again. You probably know something we don't," Shane snorted.

"I'd say a couple of days," Matt said. "Hundred bucks."

"You're not going to beat him up until he says it, are you?" Shannon asked sceptically.

"Of course not. What do you take me for?" Matt asked, then grinned as he opened a bottle of water.

"You scare me sometimes," Shannon said as they all relaxed back into their seats.

Shane looked up at the corner of the room and nodded his head.

"Matt, is that a camera?" he asked.

"Hmm," Matt answered.

"And you didn't think to tell us?"

"The thing is glaringly obvious," Matt dryly. "Besides, we're being paid handsomely for our silence."

"We?" Shane asked.

"Oh, didn't I say? Vince is paying us too," Matt grinned.

"I messed up real good this time," she whispered, "and the one person who normally solves all my problems is the cause of it. What am I going to do, Marky?"

She sat with her legs hugged to her chest, tears running freely down her face. For once Mark seemed to be paying attention to her. He'd placed a box of tissues and a bottle of water on the table next to her and sat opposite her.

"Has he hurt you?" Mark asked.

Besides the really first time she'd talked to him, this was the first time he'd actually spoken back.

"He always hurts me," she grunted back. "And I hurt him back. I don't know who started it, or how. All I know is that I can't do it anymore."

"So maybe if you talk to him_"

"I can't do that now," she cut in. "I thought I could but..."

"But what?"

"He really hates me, Mark. I know I say that to him all the time but I don't really mean it. But the way he said it tonight... he really hates me. And if I told him the truth now..."

She was going back on her word. A slight chill went through her, as if to warn her that if she didn't do as she'd promised then the next time she really would lose her baby.

"I don't think the boy hates you."

"You don't know him like I do. Trust me on this."

"Assuming he didn't hate you... What would you do?"

"I'd tell him I'm still carrying his child," she answered, wiping her tears again. "I'd ask if he still wants to help me bring our child up."

She actually managed to shock Mark.

"You're pregnant? Didn't Matt kick you in the stomach?"

"Randy took me to the hospital. Baby's fine," she sighed.

"If you hate each other... why the hell are you sleeping with him?"

"I don't know. I don't know how he does it, why it happens. I just... I can't help myself. I slept with him once and all of a sudden everytime I see him I just see a massive cock on legs and just want to impale myself. Maybe it's the hormones."

Mark grinned as he stood up to go through his bag.

"It's not funny. Not even a little bit."

"I think it is," Mark said as he picked up a towel. "For some reason you young 'uns just have to go through all this drama before opening your fucking eyes. I suppose you have to be my age to appreciate your life."

"Ain't nothing about my life worth appreciating," she muttered.

At this, Mark stopped what he was doing to look at her.

"No? What about all these people who seem to care about you for some reason completely unfathomable to me? Matt, who – if I've heard right during your many pointless ramblings – has taken you in since you were a kid? His friends and family who made you a part of them with no questions asked? Even Jeff, who gets you out of trouble everytime – and may I add, these are definitely the actions of someone who hates you – note the sarcasm. And now this baby, when so many out there never get a chance to be mothers."

She looked at him, her eyes wide.

"Well, shit. You do listen to me," she said.

Mark muttered something and walked towards the shower.

"I'll be out in five minutes. If you still need to talk about this I suggest you go find someone else."

"You like me really," she said to him.

He grumbled again but she saw the slight smile on his face as he disappeared into the other room.

Then she sighed and threw her wet tissues into the waste bin.

Jeff sat in Catering, cradling a cup of the tasteless coffee from the machine. He had a feeling it was crunch time, that Keri really meant what she said this time and if he really wanted it to end, now was the time to let it die.

But he didn't want to let it die. Toxic or not, he really didn't know what he'd do without his relationship with Keri. If only she'd speak to him.

Someone sat down next to him and he was shocked to see it was Maria.

"Ria! Hi," he said, sitting up a bit straighter.

He hadn't spoken to her since the day she'd dumped him and he'd thought it would be a while before she willingly had any contact with him.

"Hi," she answered.

She was subdued, not Maria-like at all; but he supposed that was only to be expected. He'd let her down big time, made too many promises that he hadn't kept. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately.

"How've you been?" he asked.

"Alright. Kinda sick of all these people looking at me with pity but hey," she shrugged.

And it was his fault.

"I'm so sorry, Ria. I never meant to hurt you."

"I know," she said. "In a way I brought it on myself."

"No, you didn't. You didn't deserve any of this."

"Yes I did. I knew you were in love with her from the moment we started going out, when you talked about her constantly. Something about the way your eyes lit up and the little smiles on your face."

"I'm not in love_"

"Yeah, yeah," Ria said, waving his statement off. "And if that didn't open my eyes I would have noticed it when you constantly said her name in your sleep."

Well, shiii...

"I guess what I'm trying to say is, I knew you were in love with her. I just thought you'd end it with me first before acting on your feelings."

"I... I have no excuse for that. I lost my head. I just..."

"You couldn't help yourself," Maria said, finishing his sentence with a wry grimace. "I know. You're a good guy. You wouldn't have hurt me if you could help it."

Why was she being so nice? He didn't deserve it.

He stared awkwardly at his coffee, wishing he hadn't put her in this situation. He should never have started anything with her. Or at least, when he started having those dreams and fantasising about Keri more, he should have ended it. But Ria had been so good for him. She'd grounded him. That was something Keri would never do for him, not in a million years. He'd always have to be the sensible one, the level headed one... and everyone knew that wasn't really his nature.

"You look good together, you know?"

"What?"

"I watched the promo for your new show. You two... you just look right. Even though you were actually fighting."

"What promo?"

Ria grinned.

"I knew it was real! Mickie was saying you were probably just a good actor, but I knew you didn't know they were still filming you."

He groaned and ran his fingers though his hair.

Great. Everyone had seen Keri beat him up. And they'd seen him kiss her. In anger. How many fans was this going to cost him?

"I really hope you two work out, you know," Ria said again. "You've found your love, you should hang on to her."

Why did everyone keep saying this? Why did they presume to know how he felt?

"Well, I don't," he muttered. "I just want this to end so I can be in a nice, normal relationship."

"All I'm saying is he's just really, really freaky looking. He's kinda hot, though, weird eye and all. Is it real?"

Mark groaned as he continued to pull her along the hallway.

"I thought you were distressed. Aren't you supposed to be all quiet and pathetic, like?"

"Don't be mean, Marky. Anyway, I think you should get Kane to join us. I would really like to get to know him too,"

"If I hated him, I'd probably do that."

"Aw, you say the nicest things."

Mark groaned again as they came to catering. He should never have started talking to her.

He sighed in relief as he saw who he was looking for and pulled Keri in his direction.

"Here. Next time keep her on a leash or something."

He sat Keri down on a chair and turned to walk away.

"See you tomorrow Marky," she called out.

He shook his head without looking back. This girl was ruining his rep.

Randy sighed and put his coffee down.

"What have you done now? I thought you were supposed to be with Matt."

He saw the look that crossed her eyes and immediately knew something had happened.

"What did Jeff do? Did you tell him?"

"No. And I'm not going to. I can't risk it."

He groaned and sat back in his chair.

"Keri_"

"I can't do it, Randy. I heard him say how much he hates me. I can't... I can't tell him now."

"Tell me what?"

She closed her eyes at the sound of Jeff's voice.

Why was he always popping up at the worst times?

AN/ Thanks for all your wonderful reviews. Wow. But it's almost one in the morning again and I really have to get to bed. Exhausted. I need a beta. Not proofread. Will have to sort that out soon. And I hear your calls for a sequel to The Bucket List. I also miss Randy hotness. It will just take a while, okay?

So... I really don't know what to say about this chapter. Jeff stuck his foot in it again. Made her feel bad about herself again. But will she tell him now? I'm starting to wind this thing down so I hope she does. Kinda had a plan of how it was going to go down written down somewhere on paper but when I started to type it out it went a completely different way.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed it.

Much love.