A/N - I've been doing more writing today than I probably should've, so here's this one. I'm not thrilled with this chapter in the slightest. I have however written the last chapter for this fic, so I'm not concentrating on working towards that end. I'll do what I can to get something else posted in the next week or so, but it could be a little longer than that.
Please read and review - I'm gonna need feedback after this one to motivate me, cause I really don't like this. Even if you don't like it, tell me that too! Knowing what you don't like will let me know what to cut out of future chapters.
Here we go again!
Chapter Twenty-nine - Sweet Dreams
It was good to be home. To see David, he seemed happy. Caitlyn was as beautiful as ever, taking her blonde hair from her mom, although she was highly impressed to have the same hair colour as me for once. I think David noticed the spring in my step, and he definitely noticed my intense need to check my phone every other minute, just in case there was a message from Jeff. Not that he knew it was Jeff I was waiting for a message from, he probably just thought it was work. I had no idea how to tell David about Jeff, I didn't know how he would react, what he would say, how it would make him feel after all that had happened before.
Caitlyn and I stood in front of my apartment to wave David off the next day. I wished he could stay around for longer, so I had more of a chance to think of a way of telling him about Jeff, but I guess I wouldn't have to do much talking when he came back on Thursday night to get Caitlyn and Jeff was sitting on the sofa watching TV. I think even she could tell I wasn't my usual self. I was worrying not only about what David was going to think of Jeff, but what Jeff was going to think about all of it.
I looked over at the clock on my nightstand. Jeff would be arriving soon. I wanted Caitlyn to be settled before he arrived. "C'mon bunny, it's time for you and Rabbit to get some sleep. We'll make cupcakes tomorrow okay?"
"Uh-uh, love you."
"Love you too baby girl" I tucked the duvet close around her and kissed her forehead. In the middle of the double bed, she looked so tiny. She closed her eyes, and clutched onto her bunny teddy, Rabbit, that I kept here for her. I stood and watched her for a few minutes as she drifted off to sleep.
Something dropped on the floor. Startled, I jumped. I turned round, Jeff had dropped his bag on the floor, his mouth hanging open. "I can explain…" I trailed off, trying to work out where to start.
He left the spare room wordlessly and dropped onto the sofa. "Who's David?"
I stepped back and closed the door as quietly as possible. "What?"
"David. He was who was calling you at the hotel. I didn't say anything because it had nothing to do with me. But now you invited me here and there's a child in the next room who you're calling baby girl? After some guy you've been ignoring calls from. What's going on?"
I glanced over my shoulder at the door which separated my past from my present, my old life from new. My heart split evenly between the two. I walked over to the cabinet by my bedroom door and pulled out a blue photo album. I flicked through until I found the image that would help explain everything, as I walked over and sat down to Jeff. "This…" I started, pointing to David, Andrew and Elizabeth, "Is my brother, mom and dad. When I dropped out of college and started in the WWE, they were less than pleased. I was meant to graduate, do more studying and I think they had it in their heads that I would become a professor, just like them. It was all education, education, education. Me and David had to watch the WWE in secret because they didn't like it all that much. We were both captivated, we had found a world outside of books, outside of school, music. I rebelled first, college just got so mundane and the PA job came up, so I took a shot. I dropped out and somehow got the job. Remember I said in the hotel last week about what my dad said when I told him about the job?" I looked up from the photo, the last photo I had of the four of us together, and turned to Jeff, he looked as though he didn't have a clue what to say.
"Do you really want to run around the world after silly boys who might kill themselves one day jumping off the top of a ladder?"
I smiled, surprised he not only remembered the conversation I was referring to, but also managed to quote me, quoting Andrew, verbatim. "Those were the last words that Andrew ever said to me in person. I left the house that night and haven't been back in eight years. We exchange emails, they send money, but we don't have the typical mother/father/daughter relationship. David finished college, but his girlfriend got pregnant about a year after they graduated and now we have Caitlyn. Her mom wanted a career so David's been looking after her full time since she was six months old."
"I held her the day I was born, I was there for everything, for both of them. Christmases, birthdays, but missed her third birthday party cause I was with Simon. I told David that I had to do some things for Stephanie, and she called his place asking for me. When he found out about me being one of the string of many, he promised never to speak to me again. He said he had no respect for me and that he didn't want Caitlyn to have any idea of what I was doing. She was three, but they pick up on things, you know? And I fell apart. I hadn't spoken to Andrew or Elizabeth in seven years, but my little brother, it was horrible. I had let him down, myself down."
"Then when Simon turned up with his wife and I stayed in this apartment for eighteen days. I wouldn't talk to anyone. I hadn't spoken to David in six months but he brought me back to the real world. Caitlyn had been asking about me, so we took her to Disney. It was something we had always spoke about doing and he encouraged me to get back into doing what I love. I don't think I could have gone back to work without him, or Caitlyn. They are my family. And Lou too. I know I never speak about my family, but it's just hard. I'm such a girl sometimes…" I sighed, not sure what to say next.
I tried, but I couldn't read Jeff's face, he looked as though he was thinking, thinking hard. The serious look on his face had replaced the smile that I was used to seeing him wear. I had to get that smile to come back, "But Caitlyn isn't my secret daughter, so maybe you won't hate me?"
I closed the photo album and placed it on the coffee table in front of me. I glanced out of the window, the sun had set, the sky had turned a bluey grey colour. It looked rather dank and depressing, hopefully the mood in my apartment would begin to contrast that of the mood outside. I looked at Jeff, hoping I would hear the words I wanted him to say.
"I don't hate you Kit, it's just a lot to take in. I mean, we haven't even spoken about the Simon thing since before the dinner and, it's just a lot to take in."
"You said that already," I teased, hoping to lighten the mood.
He smiled the smile I was waiting, and held out his arm, inviting me to cuddle into him. So I did. "Did you tell David I was going to be here?" he asked.
"Actually, I didn't. I didn't know what to tell him," I admitted, "I mean, yeah sure I'll take Cait for the week, but Jeff Hardy will be here too. I'm sure that would have gone down a treat. He may be my little brother, but he still likes to look after me. He would ask questions that I don't have the answers too…" I trailed off, knowing the direction this conversation was heading was something that I could no longer avoid.
"Like what?" Jeff asked, putting his arm down from the back of the sofa, around me, pulling me closer into him.
"Like you really don't know what I was getting at…" He shook his head, trying to keep the smile off his face, "Are we a couple?"
"We are a couple of people, yes."
Sighing, I held my head in my hands and couldn't help but laugh. "But are we a couple?""A couple. Like Matt and Lou."
"Matt and Lou what?"
"Matt and Lou," he explained. "You know, my brother and your best friend and their wild week of whatever they are doing wherever they have gone. Or something."
"I thought that was secret brothers business?" I said, reminding him of the conversation we'd had almost a week ago.
"Unwritten rule means I can tell my girlfriend."
The door to the spare bedroom creaked open, and I turned to find Caitlyn standing at the door unsurely. She clutched onto Rabbit as tightly as she looked Jeff up and down, frowned and ran back into the room. I covered my mouth to stifle my laughter as I turned to Jeff, to find him also frowning. "I don't think my niece likes my boyfriend too much."
"Cait…" I trailed off, not really sure of what I was going to say. I was about to tell my four year old niece that Jeff was my boyfriend, before I had told anyone else. "Can you not sleep?" I asked, sitting up on the bed next to her.
She nodded, "Wh-who was that out there with you Aunt Katrina?"
"That's my friend Jeff. He's staying here for a couple of days before we go back to work on Monday." It wasn't the whole truth, but it would do for now.
"Like Daddy's gone to stay at his friend's place?" she looked up at me, her eyes wide.
I nodded, "Yeah, do you know the name of Daddy's friend?"
She scrambled from under the duvet and reached over to the nightstand where she kept her diary. She pulled out of a photo, "Rachel. She stayed over just after you left at Christmas. I like her, she does things with me like Mom would do when I see her sometimes."
"Do you miss your Mom, Bunny?"
She shrugged her shoulders and sighed, "She works too much. But I've got Daddy and Rachel and you and Louise is here sometimes. Will your friend be around a lot like Rachel is with Daddy?"
"Maybe Bunny. Now, I know it's late. But if you wanna talk to him, I won't tell if you don't." Smiling, she nodded. I got off the bed and picked her up, carrying her through, "You're getting too heavy for this Bunny." I put her down on the floor and sat back down next to Jeff, "Okay Bunny, this is Jeff." She stood with her hands behind her back, just watching him. "Jeff, this is my wonderful niece Caitlyn."
"Hi Caitlyn."
"Hi," she whispered. She stood there silently for a moment watching Jeff closely. She smiled at him and yawned, "I'm tired. I'm going to go to bed."
"Okay, baby girl, I'll be there in a minute."
"Night Jeff," she said, before turning around and running back into the spare room.
"I think that went quite well. Not sure David will be so easily charmed though. He's sort of coming back tomorrow for dinner."
Jeff held his head in his hands and sighed, "You've gotta be kidding? Have you not put me through enough already?"
Shaking my head, "I promise that after you meet David I have no more surprises. Well," I paused, as his eyes widened with worry, "No more scary surprises. Just some other surprises…"
Lying in my own bed with Jeff next to me, I felt safe. For the first time since I had gone back to Smackdown, I felt as though everything was maybe going to turn out okay. Jeff pulled me in close to him, "You know, if Caitlyn was your daughter and David was an ex, that would've been fine too. I don't see why it had to be such a big secret."
"I dunno," I sighed, "I mean you didn't think I was a whore when I told you about the Simon thing. Does anything phase you?" I asked,
"Meeting David. He will like me, won't he?"
I turned to face him, "Well, I already know for a fact he likes Jeff Hardy, the wrestler. But Jeff Hardy, my big sister's boyfriend? That might take him a little getting used to. At least you don't have to worry about my parents, just David and you can probably finish winning Cait over tomorrow by helping with the cupcakes."
A quiet week off was a rarity, and I was going to enjoy every last second of this one with Jeff. I couldn't quite belief how okay he was with it all. He brushed over the Simon thing as if it was no big deal and I pour my heart out to him about cutting myself off from my family and springing Caitlyn on him, he was perfect. The only hurdle left for us to jump for now was David.
I checked my phone to find an alert to check my email about the script for the draft episode of Raw. Sighing, I looked over at Jeff, sleeping peacefully. I slid over closer to him, his arm falling around my body, "Get some sleep, I've got some impressing to do tomorrow," he whispered.
Whatever Simon had planned could wait, for now.
