A/N: Many thanks to VM and Emma for their reviews! Only 2 more chapters left!

WARNING: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS MENTION OF RAPE. IF THIS DISTURBS YOU, DO NOT READ!

DISCLAIMER: I own no one from the WWE. I only own my characters.

CHAPTER 28: GOSSIP GIRL

"Look at this shit hole…"

"WHAT THE FUCK? COONEY, CALL AN AMBULANCE!"

"….another one in the bedroom…"

"….SHE'S CRASHING…"

"Critical…won't know the full extent…"

"Pray…Just Pray…"

3 days later…

I could see a bright light through my eyelids. This was aggravating because I was trying to sleep.

I gave up, and accepting defeat, I opened my eyes.

The culprit was a fluorescent light that was dimly lit above me. The rest of the room was black.

Only light in the entire room and had to be above me.

I realized I was propped up against some pillows and I was covered with at least three blankets.

If this was heaven, I was quite comfortable.

I wasn't quite sure why I was in heaven, much less how I got here.

I started feeling bummed out about dying. I didn't remember it. I just remember hearing voices at different times but I couldn't make out what they were saying.

The door opened and a woman in white walked in.

"Miss Aubin, you're awake! That's quite a relief, we were worried about you." The woman in white exclaimed.

"I'm dead; I'm not supposed to be awake."

The woman in white chuckled.

"Oh sweetheart, you're not dead, although for a minute we were afraid you were. You're in the hospital."

I blinked. A hospital?

"Are you…are you a nurse?"

"Yes, sweetheart, I am."

"I'm alive" I said more to myself than to her.

"Yes, you are and believe me; quite a few people were worried about you."

"Are you sure you have the right patient?"

"You're name is Melissa Catherine Aubin, correct?"
"Yes"

"Then you're the right girl. I'll go alert the doctor that you're awake. He'll be very pleased, I'm sure."

"Ma'am?"

"Yes, dear?"

"What's your name?"

"Nurse Kathleen Paige at your service."

"Thank you Nurse Paige."

"For what dear?"

"For saving me" I whispered.

5 minutes later, the doctor appeared.

"Miss Aubin, you gave us quite a scare."

"My apologies doctor, I swear, it wasn't my fault"

The doctor chuckled.

"How're you feeling, champ?"

"Numb and sore if that's possible."

"Sounds about right."

"Doc, what happened…to me?"

"You were brutally raped and badly beaten. The police found you, in my estimate, a good 12 hours after the attack occurred. The police said you were moaning and barely conscious. An ambulance transported you here, Baptist Memorial Hospital. I was the doctor on call the afternoon you came in."

"You suffered a mild to a slightly severe concussion. You had scrapes and bruises all over you. A rib was broken and two more were bruised. Your vaginal wall was scraped up pretty bad. We had to perform emergency surgery to stop the hemorrhaging. There was also some moderate swelling to the brain that has kept you in a coma for the past 3 days."

"Your injuries are nothing that will affect you long term, again, as long as you follow doctor's orders. You will be able to engage in intercourse again and bear children although I don't advise you to engage in either activity for at least 6 months."

"Works for me, doc."

I had no intention of ever having sex again. Hell, I adopt the kids.

Doc examined me for a few minutes and checked the machines that were hooked up to me.

"Melissa, do you remember anything from the attack."

"No. The last thing I remember is waking up that morning. Is this because of my concussion?"

"No. It's the result of your emotional injuries. It's probably a good thing that you can't remember anything, Melissa; because it will give you time to heal."

"Do you think I'll ever remember what happened?"

"Maybe, maybe not. I'm not a psychiatrist so I can't tell you the statistics for sure. What I do know is that when you're ready to deal with the trauma, you will remember it. The emotional injuries, however, are a separate entity to be dealt with altogether."

"Get some rest, Melissa, we'll talk again soon"

I took a deep breath and lay against the pillows.

What a day…

10 hours later…

I didn't realize I fell asleep again until I woke up.

This time, the room was black.

The door creaked open, letting in light, and a small shadow.

"Melissa…Melissa you awake?"

"It depends, who's at the door?"

"Tina"

"I'm awake"

"About time."

Tina tiptoed in and silently closed the door.

"Oh Melissa" Tina said, kissing me on the forehead "we've been so worried about you."

"Tina, what's happened over the past three days, well four days, since I've been out?"

Tina snorted

"You should ask what's been going on for the past 4 weeks" Tina, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Hunter couldn't go to the show because of a restraining order Stephanie put against him. When Hunter turned on the television and saw what Stephanie did…it wasn't pretty and I'll leave it at that. Anyway, Hunter booked the first flight to Connecticut."

"By the time Hunter got to Vince's office, Vince was on the verge of a coronary. He was screaming so loud at Stephanie and Pat that the windows were shaking. Vince fired Pat and suspended Stephanie from the company indefinitely. Word around the locker room is that Stephanie's inheritance ain't goin to her…it's goin to her kids in a trust fund that Stephanie can't touch."

"Vince was that pissed?" I said, surprised.

"Apparently not only did Stephanie embarrass the company and the McMahon family, but she fired his best WWE Diva-you."

"Me? I'm the best Diva?"

"Hell yea, girlie. When Stephanie pulled her stunt, Vince was in talks with creative to make you a bigger star. But Stephanie stopped that and Vince lost a lot of money."

"What about the divorce?"

Tina smiled evilly

"Vince was so pissed about what happened he said that Stephanie deserved what she got and that he wasn't paying a dime for her divorce. Vince basically disowned Stephanie. Linda is staying at the mansion with the girls while Stephanie is MIA. Anyway, Vince put out an all bulletin to find you and to get you back. Hunter and I flew down to New Orleans to meet with Shawn and Drexel to look for you."

"Who's Drexel?"

"A PI Shawn hired to help find you. Our first stop was the club. Drexel threatened Bobby to no end but Bobby wouldn't budge. He said that the last time he saw you was when you quit the club a couple of months ago. We were startin' to get worried until Shawn got the phone call four days ago from Nurse Paige."

"How did she know who I was?"

"When they brought you into the ER, you kept muttering 'Shawn' over and over. Nurse Paige had a hunch that it might be Shawn Michaels so she told him to get his ass down here cause you were hurt pretty bad."

Tina stopped for a moment.

"Melissa, we were so scared. When we got to the hospital, Doctor Cunningham wasn't sure if you were gonna make it. He said you were stable but guarded. They wouldn't let us see-they only gave us updates every few hours. Shawn….Shawn's been on edge since he got here. He hasn't left the hospital for nearly 5 days. I don't think he's eaten or slept either."

We both fell silent, thinking about the other grim possibility.

"I'm glad you're ok" Tina whispered, tears in her eyes.

"Me too" I whispered "Me too"

3 hours later…

It was dinner time and the hospital was quiet.

My tray was sitting in front me, untouched.

Nurse Paige caught Tina in my room and pitched a fit. She dragged Tina out the room but not before Tina slipped me my cell phone.

I had spent the last 45 minutes listening to my voicemails which ranged from funny to death threats.

Tina must have left at least 30, begging and pleading for me not to kill myself, that everything would be ok, and that she would kill me if I was dead.

Hunter promised to strip for me if I came home and Vince McMahon offered me a deal to come back to the WWE and an apology. Mental note to call him later.

Evan had called me and apologized repeatedly for not stopping Stephanie when he had the chance.

No messages from Roddy. I guess that's a good thing. After Stephanie's stunt, I couldn't face anyone, not even Roddy.

But what hurt me the most was there were no calls from Shawn. I was beginning to doubt Tina's comments about Shawn.

I started eating my dinner. It wasn't great but it better than nothing.

"Need any help?"

I looked up and found Shawn standing in the doorway.

"I thought no visitors were allowed?" I whispered as a small smile on my lips.

"Nurse Paige has a soft spot for me." Shawn whispered.

He walked over to the bed, and started feeding me.

I found this oddly comforting and sexy at the same time.

"Shawn, I'm…I'm sorry" I whispered, tears in my eyes.

"It's me who should be sorry. I went behind your back."

I pushed myself up against the pillows.

"Shawn, it's time we talked."

Shawn leaned back in his chair.

"She hated me" I whispered "She hated me because she gave birth to me…"