Chapter 26

"Excuse me, yer WHAT?"

Mark sighed, not sure if explaining it a second time would do any good and scrubbed a hand down his face. "They're callin' the event In Your House: Revenge of the Taker. Somethin' has to happen in order for me to WANT revenge on Mankind – Foley."

Frowning, Andalyn had a hard time wrapping her mind around this concept and began pacing, chewing her thumbnail nervously. What they were asking Mark to do was…barbaric, to put it mildly. Then again, professional wrestling wasn't all wine and roses to begin with anyway. She hadn't meant to raise her voice like that, after Mark explained what would happen, but…it the shock of the situation. They'd gone from talking about their next days off in Houston to…this.

"Lemme get this straight, because I wanna make sure I understand this perfectly clear," She paused, stopping in front of him and saw the resignation in his emerald orbs, the frown deepening. "Yer actually gonna let Foley – Mankind – whoever the hell ya wanna call him throw some kind of FIREBALL at you? And not just anywhere on yer body, but your FACE? Am I understandin' that right? And all so ya can spice yer feud up that's been ongoin' for, what – a year?" Was she the only one who thought this was completely stupid and dangerous?

"Darlin', it's gonna be controlled and-"

"And what? I'm supposed to sit back here and watch a fuckin' fireball shoot ya in the face and not overreact? Mark, I get ya got yer heart set on takin' Rebel to the game and ya need some time off to do it, but…does it have to be THIS extreme?" Andalyn cupped his face in her soft hands, not wanting anything marring or scarring his beautiful skin. "What if it goes wrong? What if he doesn't shoot it right and ya end up blind or worse off? I-I don't like it. I don't want ya doin' it. And that's my feelin' on it, I'm sorry."

Mark couldn't back out on this idea, not after sitting down with Mick and mulling over all the details, wanting to make sure he really wasn't putting himself in danger doing this. Mick assured him it would be flawless, the fans would eat up the feud and he would be an even bigger face than he was now. They had to get the juices flowing with their feud again, which had abruptly tapered off due to the Royal Rumble and WrestleMania XIII. Now that the fiasco was over with and Mark didn't have a contender for his belt, Mick had stepped up to take that role happily. He wouldn't win – the event wasn't called Revenge of the Taker for nothing and they both knew what that meant. If Mark was taking a fireball to the face than Mick would receive 10 times worse in return. His former in-ring manager and mentor, Bill Moody, -the WWF fans knew him as Paul Bearer- would also be part of the storyline since his character had turned on the Undertaker to join Mankind's side.

"When is this supposed to happen?" She whispered, breaking the silence between them while staring out the window as the rain poured outside, tapping at the window.

"This comin' Monday on Raw. Bill is gonna come out to beg me to come back to him and that's when it'll happen." Mark answered quietly, slowly moving toward her until his hands found her hips and rolled his thumbs in soothing circles through the thin material of her nightgown. "Please don't be mad at me for doin' this."

Andalyn dropped her head, keeping her arms firmly crossed in front of her chest, but the rest of her body relaxed against him. "I'm not. I'm just…I don't know." How was she supposed to feel about this? "I know ya love this crazy lifestyle and what ya do in that ring. I get it. I see yer passion for this business and I never wanna take it away from you. I'm just…worried about you. This sounds dangerous, too damn dangerous and I just hope nothin' goes awry with it. 'Cause whether ya realize it or not, yer gonna be burned with a fireball somewhere on yer face. It's not gonna be fake and no amount of makeup will cover that up. I realize yer doin' it so ya can keep yer promise to our son, but…god I don't trust this. I don't trust Foley with this."

Completely understanding her trepidation, Mark wished there was something, anything, he could do to take it away. There was nothing to worry about. He trusted Foley wholeheartedly and knew the man was a professional. They'd never taken their feud past the ring, not even with the Boiler Room Brawl last year at Summerslam. Mark enjoyed working with him, they had epic battles together and this would be no exception, only filled with more intensity because of the fireball aspect.

"What can I do?" He whispered in her ear, wrapping his arms completely around her and rested his chin on her shoulder, his mouth sealing to her neck. "Hmm tell me what to do to make you feel better 'bout this, Andy…"

He knew her weak spot and, try as she might; Andalyn had already caved into him, groaning out softly in both frustration and desire. "Sex isn't gonna make me forget 'bout how stupid this idea is." She muttered, sliding her hand up to bury in his dark red tresses and finally couldn't take the teasing of her neck anymore, turning to capture his mouth. "Distractin' me will only work temporarily."

"I know." Mark smirked, stepping back to pull her nightgown up over her head and licked his lips at her naked form, immediately lifting her to where her legs encircled his waist. "Enough talk, I wanna make love to you and forget about everythin' else for a while."

Andalyn had zero complaints or arguments with that plan, allowing Mark to love her as much as he wanted.

"Mom, yer phone is ringin'." Rebel informed her, pausing his game and picked her phone up, walking it over to where she sat with papers strewn all over. "Yer a mess."

"Damn it, where is it?" Andalyn felt like she was losing her mind, or maybe she already had and didn't realize it until now. "I swear it was right here…" She proceeded to dump her entire briefcase full of paperwork out on the floor again and began sifting through it, finally smacking the concrete floor in frustration. "Fuck!"

Rebel was concerned about his mother, not recalling seeing her this frustration and upset about something since…her secret came out about Mark being his father. Was she hiding something else from him – from Dad? He sincerely hoped not and would think his mother had learned her lesson about keeping secrets from them. Granted, he'd taken Mark being his father like a young man should, but Rebel still somewhat resented her for it to this very day.

"Mom, what's goin' on?" Something was bothering her, but Rebel couldn't figure out what it was. He already knew what was going down with his father tonight on the show and thanked his parents for warning him ahead of time about it. "Dad's gonna be fine…"

Andalyn shut her eyes, slumping on the ground on her knees and felt her hormones acting up, burying her face in her hands letting a few tears fall. Mark was currently having a last minute meeting with Foley, Bill and Vince regarding tonight's fireball segment. She wished the worry and anxiety would leave her body, but until it actually happened and was over, there was no chance of that happening. Suddenly, a sick feeling erupted in her stomach and Andalyn bolted into the bathroom, barely making it to the toilet.

Wrinkling his nose, Rebel groaned at the sounds of his mother retching and shook his head, picking up the papers to put them back in her briefcase. That wasn't the first time she had thrown up, recalling her doing it earlier that morning and yesterday too. Was she getting sick again? He frowned, remembering the last time his mother had been sick. She had walking pneumonia and his father had to take care of him while she got better. With the UCLA basketball game coming up in a few days, Rebel hoped that wasn't the case and whatever she had went away quickly. Selfish as it sounded, he was really looking forward to going to a basketball game with his father.

"All better?" He asked once she walked out of the bathroom and took his mother's hand, guiding her over to sit on the bench for a minute. "What's wrong, Momma?" Rebel reverted back to his little boy ways for a moment, truly worried about his mother and rubbed her hand. "Mommy?"

"I'm okay, Rebel." She whispered, taking a long swig of water and leaned her head back against the lockers, trying to get the dizziness to disperse. "Just…give me a minute, sweetheart. I'm fine, I promise." Where the hell were these nausea spells coming from all of a sudden? Granted, she hadn't ate much the past 2 days, but that was due to the anxiety tonight brought on.

Rebel didn't believe that, deciding he would be mentioning this to his father because something told him his mother hadn't. "If you say so." He grunted, pulling his Game Boy back out and started playing it again, sneaking glances at her every couple minutes to make sure the color came back in her face.

By then, Mark had returned to the dressing room and grabbed his gear bag to go change for his segment, dropping a kiss on top of Andalyn's head on the way to the bathroom. Rebel watched the uneasy smile cross her face and sighed, knowing she was worried about his father's segment on tonight's show. Truthfully, he was too, but it was also Dad's job and she had to understand that. He wouldn't do something to put him in harm's way, Rebel didn't think anyway.

"Before you tossed yer cookies earlier, ya had a phone call, Mom." Rebel announced after Mark stepped out of the bathroom in his full Undertaker gear, going back to gaming while his father eyeballed his mother almost shrewdly.

"You threw up?" Mark demanded, trying to keep his tone neutral while etching his patented black tear drop on his right cheek right on the bone with a liner pencil. He added markings at the ends of his eyebrows and over them to look more like the Deadman. "Everythin' alright?"

Andalyn wanted to strangle their son for opening his big mouth in front of his father, sighing heavily. "I think so, yeah. Just not feelin' right tonight and it's probably 'cause of yer segment." She admitted, refusing to act like she didn't care he was about to be shot in the face with a fireball. "I still think this is a mistake…"

"I know darlin', but ya gotta get over it. It's happenin' and there's nothin' I can do 'bout it. It'll be okay, just try to calm yerself before you end up back in the bathroom again." Mark suggested, tracing his eyes with the black liner next in a thin layer. He made the mistake of letting the makeup artist the WWF hired do it one time and felt uncomfortable because the woman did nothing except ogle him. Never again, he'd rather do his makeup himself. "It'll be over before ya know it and we'll be back home relaxin'."

"Easy for you to say." Andalyn muttered, finally checking her phone to see who called and frowned thoughtfully, blinking at the ID number staring back at her. "Oh my god…"

"What?" Mark noticed the color drain out of her already pale face and lowered himself in front of her while she continued staring at the phone in shock. "Andalyn, what's wrong?"

"Taker, 5 minutes!"

"Damn it!" Mark cursed, hating that this company had the worst timing and knew whatever was bothering Andalyn would have to wait until he returned. "Don't watch this, tiger. And keep an eye on yer Momma. I'll be back." He reluctantly walked out to go do his segment, leaving his frazzled worried family behind.

It was show time.

Ignoring Mark's warning not to watch the segment; Andalyn would lose her mind if she didn't see what happened, even though she knew it wouldn't be pretty. While she turned the monitor on for her and Rebel, Andalyn hesitantly called the number back on her caller ID, holding the phone up to her ear waiting for the person to answer. While said person spoke to her, explaining what happened, her eyes never once left the monitor and horror filled them the moment the fireball incident occurred.

"Mom!" Rebel was worried sick about his father, looking back at her and watched the phone slip from her hand, both of them having watched the entire segment. "Mom, we gotta go find Dad! We gotta make sure…"

Nodding, Andalyn had to stay strong for their son and wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tightly against her. "Come on, he'll be in the trainer's room."

She hoped and prayed the fireball hit where it was supposed to instead of taking one of his eyes out. It'd been so close to his eyes…Andalyn shuddered, trying to will the tears to stay in her eyes. The news she'd just received while watching the love of her life get blasted with a fireball would definitely have to wait until later. Andalyn guided Rebel down the hallway, trying not to run into anyone and stopped outside of the trainer's room where Glen was waiting, looking concerned.

"Have you…?"

"Go in and see him. They're treatin' him now. I would prepare yourself, Andy." Glen suggested gravely, pulling Rebel against his side while the boy cried, unable to stop his emotions from surfacing.

"No…" Andalyn swallowed hard, turning to stare at the trainer's door and knocked on it stiffly, entering a few seconds later. "Mark…"

"Andalyn…" His voice was gruff with pain while his head remained back at an angle so the trainer could clean the burn just over his right eye. "Darlin'…"

Blinking, huge tears slid down her face at the sight of him and Andalyn felt her heart clench painfully in her chest. Just as she feared, the fireball had nailed him too close to his eye. This is what she'd been afraid of and he didn't listen to her! She wanted to lash out at him, call him every name in the book and pound on him until her knuckles hurt. Andalyn had never been so angry with him as she was now, but she couldn't abandon him, not ever. He needed her and she would be there for him every step of the way, taking his hand to lace their fingers together.

"Is he…?"

"He got lucky." Larry, the trainer, refused to lie to the woman and shook his head sadly. "I told them this was risky and they didn't fuckin' listen…"

"Larry." Mark's voice held warning this time laced with pain, unable to glare at him due to solution being poured in his eye along with the actual burned area. "Good thing I got a couple weeks off, eh?" He had to try to make light of this situation somehow. "Darlin', I'm fine…"

Andalyn didn't respond and stood there silently while Larry finished up, nodding at his explanation of how to treat the burn. Mark would have blurred vision in his right eye, but nothing permanent would stick. He didn't know how long the blurriness would last and they would have to hope it got better before the next pay-per-view or else Vince would have a coronary. Nodding stiffly, Andalyn walked out of the trainer's room with Mark, keeping hold of his hand and took Rebel from Glen before they headed back to the hotel.

Tonight had been a complete disaster.