I hope ya'll enjoyed your Thanksgiving! I loved spending the time with my family. Just to give everyone a little heads up, there's only 3 more chapters left! They might come at sort of a rush, because I'm just that excited to get to the third installment! And by rush, I mean, shortness of days.

Chapter 36- Drive Me Crazy

Randy

"Does Mike still have that mark on his neck?" Lora asked as John and I returned to the bus. Several times throughout the trip back, John had to help me steady myself. My knee had been partially displaced. As harsh as that sounded to me, the trainers said it should be fine once the swelling went down. That seemed to be taking forever. It was now Wednesday, and I still could barely bend my knee. Which made walking a pain in the ass.

To say that I was angry with the decision made without my knowledge of my title was an understatement. Things like that have been known to happen on short notice, when the time just seems right, but it's rare and far between. And never had it happened to me. Once to John, and I believe Paul's had his few unannounced changes. Other than that, it never happened. And from what I heard, Lora hadn't been thrilled with it at all. That was the only part of the circumstance that I enjoyed. Casie had told me, in great detail, exactly what had happened between Lora and Mike. Now, they had never had gotten along, but both knew well enough to stay out of each others way. I chuckled to myself, remembering the faint detail of a criss-crossing pattern on the back of Mike's neck, courtesy of Lora. He had kept his mouth shut, and the stagehands never told on anything they saw happening back stage, so Vince did not know. Not that he would do anything about it, but I didn't want the word to get around. "Barely, but I saw it."

I limped over to the couch, and flopped down heavily. I groaned and grimaced as the pain from my knee surged through my leg. I felt movement on the couch and looked over to see Lora taking a seat next to me. In her hand, a glass of iced tea and two Aleve's. The look on her face told me that she was upset about something. I didn't have to wait long to find out. She cast her eyes down as I took the pills from her hand, her teeth sinking into her bottom lip, "I feel like this is my fault somehow."

I looked at her, confused at her words, "Exactly how would you be to blame for this?" As I gestured towards my knee.

She shrugged her shoulders, "Well, maybe if I had kept my big mouth shut, Mike wouldn't have been so rough with you."

"You don't know that," I reasoned, resting my hand on her knee. When she still didn't look at me, I squeezed it slightly. "Mike's never been one to play by the rules. And if we're telling the truth, I like your big mouth just the way it is. I wouldn't want to you to change."

Lora finally smiled and rolled her eyes slightly. She slapped my leg and stood up to walk over to Keith. "You honestly sit there and say that you love my quick temper?"

I didn't say anything, just smiled softly as I watched as she picked up the red-headed toddler that meant the world to me. I caught her words that she was giving Keith a bath in the little blue tub that was just his size.I kept my gaze on her until I could no longer see her through the doorway of our bedroom. I took a deep breath, and turned my attention back John. But I caught him giving me a weird look. Like he was trying to figure a piece of a puzzle. But, instead of keeping up the silence, I opened my mouth, "So, where's Casie?"

"Edoin asked her to come along for a small shopping trip," John answered. It had been so long since any of us have really seen her. She traveled on her own now, spending most of her time on the phone with Matt, who was still out with a recovering from a fractured leg. John stood from the soft leather chair across from me and moved to the free spot on the couch. "Can I talk to you?"

"After all these years, and you still have to ask?" I rolled my eyes at him and he chuckled softly.

"Well, it's just so hard to get you on your own without the girls, you know?" That I knew was the truth. Not that that was anything to complain about, but Lora and I barely had a moment where we weren't together, unless we were both working. There's only so much distance we can put between ourselves on this bus. John fiddled with his hands, as if he didn't know where to start. Finally he turned towards me, "Well, it's just that I haven't asked you, how you were doing?"

I blinked. That was not what I was expecting. "What?"

John seemed to have surmised his mistake in words and waved his hand to signal a restart. "What I meant was, how are you doing? Being married? I know I'm a little late in asking this, but…."

"You want to know how I'm doing being married?" Again, this wasn't what I was expecting. By no means. Though it wasn't a hard question to answer. "Well, it's not easy. Living with someone else, having to share your space. To go from living on your own to sharing a life is hard. You have to be considerate of her things and her needs. But even though it is difficult at the same time, if it's with the right person, you don't care. Having Lora all to my own is by far the best decision I have ever made. Waking up next to her every morning, knowing she agreed to be with me always, amazing. I don't care if she leaves her bras in the bathroom. I don't care that there's more of her clothes in my closet than my own because she's filled up her own. She doesn't care that I leave the TV on at night while I'm sleeping. She doesn't care that I forget to clean up after myself after I eat. It's give and take."

"So, there's nothing about being single that you miss?" John asked. Something in my head asked me why John was asking these questions. He's never been this curious before. But, instead of asking questions of my own, I decided to answer his.

"Things are different, but I like the change. Sure, when you were single, you could go out to bars whenever you wanted too. But I get to go out with Lora, and that beats any night that I was by myself. When you were single, your choices solely affected yourself. Now, I think about Lora before I make any kind of decision. And she usually knows better, and helps me make a choice that is right for me. And to know that I'm the one she counts on for protection, that she needs me to feel safe, means more to me that anything. So, no. There's nothing about being single that I miss." John nodded, thinking about that, mulling it over in his head. I waited for him to speak, to give any reason behind those questions, but nothing came. So, I urged him in the conversation. "Is there any reason you ask?"

John looked up at me, a blank look in his eye. He was obviously not paying attention to me any more. When my words settled into his mind, he shook his head as he stood up from the couch. "No, I was just wondering. But it looks like I have to go. The gym isn't going to wait on me all day."

And with that, he was out of the door before I could say anything else. He left me sitting there, staring at the spot where he just disappeared.

oo

By the end of the week, my knee was feeling just fine and back to normal. I even got to work in the gym with John this morning. We had rolled into Las Vegas, Nevada last night, and I was doing everything I could to keep me busy. The last time Lora and I had come to this town, my uncle Barry had just passed away. And Lora was six months pregnant. That was a very rough time for me, and Lora had been there every step of the way. Something jogged my memory of the conversation I had with John a few days ago, about the differences of being married or single. I don't know how I would have made it through that time if Lora hadn't been there.

I stepped out of the shower, wrapping a towel on my waist. After making sure I was sufficiently dry enough, I went into the bedroom. I saw Lora sitting on the bed, dressing Keith in a pair of cargo shorts and a baby blue Polo with brown sandals. Lora, herself, was wearing a pale yellow, halter sundress, with black flip flops, and her hair fell straight over her shoulders. Once she noticed my arrival, she turned her head towards me and smiled. "I'm taking Keith to get his hair trimmed. It's getting so long. Then, we are going for a walk in the local park, want to come?"

I watched as she took a soft bristled brush and combed through Keith's hair, not giving it a real part, just combing it forward. I could see what she meant. Several sweeps of red got into his eyes, and he annoying pushed them away. I smiled, thinking he was just like me when it came to that. I hated my hair in my eyes. I couldn't stand it. I nodded towards Lora, and quickly got dressed in a simple pair of jeans and a white t-shirt. That was another thing, Lora never complained about anything that I wore. She left that department up to me. The rental arrived shortly after that, and I loaded Keith's stroller into the trunk as Lora fastened his seat into the back seat. She then punched in the address of the local barber shop in the GPS, and we were off. I adjusted myself so that I could hold the steering wheel with one hand, and I reached over with the other and took her hand. I laced my fingers with her delicately soft ones, and squeezed slightly. I tried to never pass up an opportunity to touch her.

Twenty minutes later, we pulled into the parking lot of the shop. It looked simple enough, and nothing too fancy. Lora asked me to get him out of the carseat, while she prepared his bag. And I soon learned that what she really meant was get her camera ready, not just a snap shot camera, but a video recorder. I smirked at her without saying anything and followed her through the front door. There was several stations set up with a stylist at each one. The faint smell of hair chemicals was in the air all around us. Lora walked up to the front desk where a woman was standing, jotting down notes. She looked up and smiled, "You must be Orton."

Lora nodded and let the woman direct her to a chair near the middle. Keith was already enjoying himself because there were mirrors all around him. He loved to play with mirrors, and always got a kick out of them. Keith's stylist, Jasmine, was very petite. And by that, I mean she was even shorter than Lora. It didn't help her that she was wearing black flats either. She looked up at us, and smiled. "Oh my, he does have a lot of hair! How old is he?"

"Four and a half months," Lora said, and Jasmine looked shocked. It wasn't everyday you saw a baby with this much hair. She rushed about, getting his booster seat set up, and his cape that he would get to wear. It was yellow with all kinds of different zoo animals covering it. She then brought out this elastic strap that Velcro's in the back to make sure Keith wouldn't fall over and a mistake happen. Lora then turned to Jasmine, holding her video camera in her hand. "Is it okay if I set this down on your station, so it would catch his first hair cut? Also, would it bother you if I was taking pictures?"

Jasmine reassured Lora that both requests were perfectly fine, and I sat down in a chair that I had pulled up close. Even though I wasn't nearly as anxious about this as Lora was, it still meant something to me. My son was getting his first hair cut. And I was getting to be a part of it. I had been so afraid when Lora had told me she was pregnant. Because I didn't think she could make her job work, and be a mother at the same time. And that meant that I would miss out on milestones in his life. But somehow, things came together. I got to be there with Keith. I smiled as he made a horrified face at the scissors Jasmine just picked up. But as terrified as he seemed he didn't move. Perhaps he was scared to move. He kept throwing Lora these looks that clearly said, "What are you doing to me?" Jasmine looked over to Lora, then to me, when she was finished.

"Do you to try a different style? It doesn't involve cutting more hair. And if you don't like it, you can just brush it out," she said, making her case. I didn't have a problem with it, and it seemed neither did Lora. She was just trying to make sure she caught every moment on film, pictures or video. Jasmine put some gel in her hands and massaged it through Keith's hair. She used a thin comb to brush up the red hair. Within minutes, my son was sitting there in the style chair, with what Jasmine called a "fohawk". And I had to admit, even though I had seen it on other guys and it looked ridiculous, Keith pulled it off very well. Lora cooed with acceptance, and nodded her head. Jasmine seemed very proud of herself, as she grabbed a broom and dust pan. "Do you want to keep his hair?"

Lora nodded, and waited patiently with a Ziploc bag in her hand. The hair from the floor filled up half of the bag. She handed it to me when Jasmine was done, and extracted Keith from his seat. I tucked the bag safely into my jean pocket, not daring to lose it, and we paid for our treatment. Lora tipped graciously to Jasmine, and I didn't blame her. With it being Keith's first haircut, she did a magnificent job. We left the shop and headed down the street a little way, before parking in another lot. This time, it was in front of the park. Lora got Keith out this time and I prepared the stroller. She settled him into the seat, raised the sun visor and retreated to the car to get his bag. Once the bag was secured underneath in the department, I grabbed the stroller and began to head down the sidewalk. Lora wrapped her arm around mine and leaned her head into my shoulder. This was one of the few outings our family had had together. And I was thoroughly enjoying the company.

After about thirty minutes just walking through the winding trails in the trees, we found a spot near the playground and Lora spread out a blanket. I laid Keith out in front of me, as Lora returned from the car with a cooler. She sat it down and passed me a bottle to feed Keith with. Then she popped open the cooler, handed me a bottle of water and snack pack bag of chips and a sandwich. I raised an eyebrow at her lunch that she had packed for us. It was simple, but that didn't matter. We were spending time together. Just as a family. We sat in silence, eating our lunch, when Keith hears the kids laughing from the playground. His head turns in that direction, and his hand points. I look over myself, and see that they have a swing, specially made for babies. I pick Keith up and walk him over there. Carefully, I slipped him into the swing, and strapped him in. He looked at me cautiously as I picked up the swing in the air.

And I let go. And from that moment on, I knew Keith would always be a fan of the swing set. Once he figured out that he wasn't going to fall, he smiled. And as I kept pushing him lightly, his smile turned into laughter. And just hearing that made a smile come to my face. I looked behind us to see Lora with her camera again. She was snapping away. She spotted me watching and walked to me side. She let her camera swing at her neck by the strap, and curled her arms around my waist. "This is nice."

As Keith came back up on his swing, I caught the bottom of the plastic, stopping the movement. The look on his face was priceless. He looked so angry because he was no longer swinging. He gurgled at me through his pacifier. I couldn't help but laugh at the show. Lora took the moment of paused movement to grab at her camera. She called out for Keith to look her way. And when he did, his arms came up above his head, and he smiled big enough that the pacifier fell from his mouth. She snapped the picture quickly before he had a chance to move. And as I let him go back to swinging, Lora showed me the picture. Although it was unintentional, when Keith slung his arms in the air for the picture, it made him look as though he was doing a certain pose, a pose that ran in the family. I burst out into laughter, making several people turn and stare. But at that moment, Keith looked so much like me it was unreal.

oo

Once again, we were back on the bus. The house show had just completed, and Casie, Lora and I were sitting in the living room, while Keith played in his pen. John hadn't returned yet from a meeting with Vince. Lora was having a blast, showing Casie the pictures from our outing today. We had safely put up Keith's leftover hair, and already sent pictures by e-mail to both of our parents. Casie just couldn't get over the striking resemblance Keith had to me in that one picture. And Keith's ability to smile when he knew it was asked of him. He was such a ham.

Casie was flipping through the TV channels while I helped Lora in the kitchen, preparing our dinner. I loved to help in the kitchen, because I could stand behind, making it look like I was paying attention to what she was saying, all the while, just smelling her shampoo and feeling just how soft her skin was. And I was doing the very same thing right now. Until there was loud noise from the front of the bus. Lora and I turned and saw John rushing into the living room. Casie looked alarmed and sat straight up in her seat. "What's wrong?"

John looked momentarily confused, but shaking his head. "Oh, nothing's wrong. I just want to speak to you."

Lora began to push at my chest, urging me to move. "Um, we'll just go into the bedroom. Give you two some privacy."

Again, John shook his head. "No, you can stay. I just have to tell Casie something I should've told her a long time ago," he panted, trying to catch his breath. He must've ran all the way here from Vince's office. John reached down and grabbed Casie by the arm, pulling her up to stand in front of him. He tangled his fingers into her hair, and stared at her with such light in his eyes. "I love you, Casie."

Casie slowly began to turn a shade of red right before my eyes. She smiled softly before resting a hand on his chest. "I know, John."

John let go of Casie, and began to pace the room. "No, I don't think you know just how much I love you. It hurts to breathe sometimes when I think about what you mean to me. You're the last thing I think about at night, and the first thing I think about when I wake up. There's never a moment when I'm not thinking about you."

"John, I don't know what to say," Casie said, her voice thick with emotion John was causing in her. John stopped pacing and turned to her. And somehow I knew what was going to happen before it happened. The look on his face was just so serious.

"Say you'll marry me."

I heard Lora gasp next to me, and Casie's mouth fell open in shock. She blinked several times, taking a step back. "W-what?"

John never changed, and his voice was just as serious as before. "I'm asking you to marry me. I don't care about anything else but you. You mean everything to me. I don't care what any doctor's tell us. If I can't have a child with you, then so be it. As long as I have you. Hell, we could adopt later if we wanted to. Have fifteen Asian babies and send them all to college. As long as I'm with you, nothing else matters to me."

Tears were now starting to roll down Casie's face. Disbelieve still in her eye at John's words. "I don't think you know what you're saying. John, I don't want you to rush into anything and then have regrets later."

"'Rush'? If I'm rushing, then why have I been carrying this around for over a month?" he retorted, pulling out a black velvet box from his jean shorts. Now it was Casie's time to gasp. Now, John's conversation with me earlier this week made much more sense. John was just trying to settle any remaining doubts he had before he did this. "We're in Las Vega right now, c'mon! I want to marry you and I don't want to wait any longer."

John was starting to get wound up like he would on the show. Casie's eyes nearly popped out of her head at his words. "Tonight? Get married, like, right now? Why don't you want to wait?"

"Why wait? Why wait another day, hour or minute? There's no need. I know I can't love you anymore than I do today. I want to see this ring on your finger and know that you are mine. We don't have a reason to wait. I love you, and you love me. C'mon, what do you say? Marry me."

The air in the room seemed to stop moving as Lora and I stood together in the kitchen, watching the scene before us in the living room. Lora's hand grabbed my forearm and squeezed tightly. My hand started to tingle from lack of blood supply. Casie looked weak on her feet. She wobbled slight as she stared at John, who still had the black velvet box in his hand. The next thing I knew, John's face was covered in a blur of brown. Casie had jolted across the room and flung herself into John's arms. Her answer was barely above a whisper, but Lora and I heard it.

"Yes, of course I'll marry you."

Well, an end to yet another chapter! I hope you liked this one! John's proposal was based upon a Rascal Flatts song. Let me know what you think! REVIEW!

KimmieCena, Xandman216, Queen Islanzadi, babyxbxgurl, xLou26, miamitravel, Eisac Namhort, undermyumbrella, alana2awesome, barnsley gal 09, littleone999, FireFlyFlicker, vipergirl86, Bingobaby, dreamin'BIG, jcilyx3, Christina89, Diivalover, Lil'MissCena, RICE20, hardycenagrl, JenniferRayne, RKOsgirl92, Recco101, msgemgem, iceeyes568, Tiffany and TncountryGirl This is all for you, my loyal readers!