Chapter Thirty-Four: Carry On

Haley leaned her head back against the lip of the claw foot tub and sighed in pure contentment. The warm, soapy water soothed her aching muscles and perfumed her skin with the scent of lavender. Her iHome sat on the vanity counter, and Christina Aguilera's rich voice filled the small bathroom as she sang about being 'Bound to You'. Completely at ease, Haley found herself singing softly along with her.

"I found a man I can trust, and boy, I believe in us. I am terrified to love for the first time. Can't you see that I'm bound in chains? I finally found my way. I am bound to you. I am bound to you."

"You're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen." Dave's deep timbre sounded over the music and she stopped sing along in order to smile.

She glanced sideways to see her fiancé leaning against the doorframe leading into the bathroom. "Are you sucking up?" She teased lightly.

"Are you still giving me a hard time for not telling you?" He lifted his eyebrows at her, the corners of his mouth beginning to curve into that smile she loved so much.

"I've accepted your explanation of wanting to keep your return a surprise." She laughed, returning her head to its previously reclined position. "After all, no one knew I was returning when I came back at Survivor Series, so I have no room to talk."

"And we both shocked the shit out of Randy on our returns, imagine that." He stepped further into the bathroom. "How's your back?"

"Good for the moment." She told him. "Though I'll be feeling that scoop slam in the morning. I hate him, but I have to admire how effective those are."

"He will never, ever get to put his hands on you again." Dave lowered his large frame to kneel beside the tub, resting his arms on the outer lip. "I'm back now, and I'm not going anywhere."

"I know." She opened her eyes to beam at him. "It's funny, the moment I finally settle with my fear of Randy, and suddenly it's not just Hunter standing between us anymore. Dwayne's back. You're here. It's like this nightmare is finally over."

"There's still some hurdles up ahead." He reminded her. "But, between the four of us, we'll get through it."

"I know." She closed her eyes again and exhaled deeply. "I'm actually looking forward to going to work again. I want a match next week, preferably the Diva's tag I was denied earlier because Vickie is a power hungry, sadistic cow!"

Dave laughed. "If she wasn't in a wheelchair still, I'd say have a match against her. God knows I'd enjoy watching you kick her fat ass."

Haley giggled at the very thought. "Well, since that's not an option, I'll settle for helping Candice with Beth Phoenix and her new groupie? I guess that's what she is, Rosa Mendes."

"It's weird enough that Beth is dating Santino Marella of all people." He agreed with a slight shake of his head. "Now she's got this kind of crazy chick dogging her footsteps."

"Candice says she fights like a total girl too, all squeals, shrieks and just awkward." She smirked at the thought. "It'll be hard for me not to laugh at her in the ring if that's the truth."

"Mhmm…and then you'll teach how it's done, knowing you." Dave mused, reaching over to push a loose tendril of hair behind her ear. "So?"

She opened one eye to peer at him. "Yes?"

"Think this bathtub is big enough for the two of us?" He asked with an impish smirk on his face.

"I don't know." She replied. "But it could be a lot of fun to find out!"

"You know what I just realized?" Candice Michelle commented lightly as she browsed through the rack of dresses, pulling out a black one for closer inspection.

"No? What?" Kelly replied, turning away from the selection of boots she had been eyeballing to face to the current Women's Champion.

"Torrie's store is awesome?" Haley guessed, holding a pair of jeans against herself to see how long the pant legs were.

The three Raw Divas were currently in Torrie Wilson's boutique Simply Jaded, since the tour had stopped in Los Angeles. They had been anxious to see the Boise Belle, and felt a little retail therapy and some much needed girl time was in order.

"No, though it totally is." Candice chuckled. "But, this Monday is a three hour edition of Raw because it's the draft!"

Kelly's eyes widened. "Oh my God! None of us can leave Raw! They can have Beth!"

Haley grinned at Kelly's comment, folding the jeans over her arm to add to her try-on pile. "The Divas don't get drafted as much, Kel. The chances of us leaving are slim. I'm more worried about losing Dwayne or Dave to SmackDown or ECW."

"Dude, how awesome would it be if Randy got drafted to ECW?" Candice grinned evilly. "Or Ted and Cody."

"Don't get my hopes up." Haley laughed, shaking her head. "I wouldn't get that lucky."

"Triple H could get drafted back to Raw." Kelly shrugged. "That would make things easier for him. I just hope Evan and I stay on the same brand."

"Now you're just toying with me." Haley sighed. "I would love for Randy to get drafted away and Hunter to get drafted back, but we'll just have to wait and see."

"I'd love to draft Christian." Candice added. "I got to do a lot of segments with him before he left and have barely seen him since his return. It would be great to have him on Raw."

"But then we'd lose out on him beating the crap out of Jack Swagger." Kelly joked.

"He's feuding with Tommy Dreamer now, I think." Haley corrected. "Tommy vowed to win the ECW Championship one more time or he wouldn't renew his contract. His contract expiration date is coming up fast."

"That's it, I have to have these boots!" Kelly decided, before continuing on the topic at hand. "I love Tommy. He's the nicest man. He deserves to be ECW Champion again. No offense to Christian, but I'd like to see Tommy beat him."

"Hey, speaking of extreme, what if we got Jeff back?" Candice brightened at the thought. "I'd love to team with him again."

"Ooh! We send Phil to SmackDown too!" Kelly giggled.

"Now we're just playing who we save and who we'd kick off the island." Haley grinned, plucking a gray fedora hat off the rack and plopping it on her head, studying her reflection in one of Torrie's decorative mirrors.

"That's cute!" Candice told her. "You should get it!"

"Yeah, I like it!" Kelly agreed. "You only wear cadet caps, and that's just to the arena. And they're all Triple H monogrammed too. You need a stylish hat too."

"Kelly, half my casual wardrobe is Triple H monogrammed." Haley reminded her with a chuckle, removing the hat from her head. "The other half is divvied between Rock and Batista merchandise."

"And the one Kennedy t-shirt you own." Candice added, moving on to Torrie's jewelry selection. "Because I sure as hell hope you burned everything with Randy's brand on it."

"Ugh! I know I got rid of all my CM Punk merch. You better have gotten rid of Randy's stuff too!" Kelly made a face of disgust.

"I own nothing with RKO on it anymore." Haley told them. Except for that one thing that I can't bring myself to throw away because I'm brain sick or something.

"Good." Candice nodded in satisfaction. "Be gone with all that bad mojo."

"We should go to the movies this weekend!" Kelly suddenly suggested excitedly. "I want to see the Star Trek movie 'cause Chris Pine is-"

"Totally hot!" Candice finished her sentence. "I'm in."

"I've got to meet with David on Saturday to pick out flowers." Haley informed. "So we can go after if you want. I also want to see Fast & Furious because don't tell Dave, but I'm secretly in love with Paul Walker."

"Uh yes!" Candice laughed. "That boy is fine!"

"I'm not usually a blonde guy kind of girl, but he is my exception to the rule." Haley chuckled. "Ever since I saw the first one."

"Let's make it a double feature!" Kelly squealed. "Hot guys all around!"

"You know," Candice joked. "Cause we're lacking in hot guys where we work and all."

"There can never be too much male eye-candy." Kelly laughed.

"I wonder if the guys know we objectify them just as badly as they do us." Haley chuckled.

"Randy almost shit his pants last night." Hunter was as jovial as anyone had seen him months. "Between you returning, and Vince making that tag match for Backlash, he looked like he had serious constipation, or he knew his life was about to end."

"That Jabroni actually paled underneath all that spray tan he wears." Dwayne smirked before taking a large bite of his turkey burger.

"The only other time I ever got that level of satisfaction Batista Bombing someone was when I did it to you years ago in Hell in a Cell." Dave used his French fry to point at Hunter. "No offense."

"I tried to have you run over with a limo, and all kinds of other shit," Hunter smirked. "Bygones."

"You really are a sick son of a bitch Helmsley, you know that?" Dwayne chuckled, shaking his head in amusement. "The lengths you go to."

"And yet," Hunter grinned. "I've held more gold than both you two bitches combined."

"Careful with the name calling." Dave playfully warned. "We could screw you over in that tag match at Backlash."

"Yeah, cause neither of you actually want to beat the shit out of Randy?" Hunter snorted, reaching for his glass of water. "You both can't wait to get your hands on him, who do you think you're kidding."

"Can't let you have all the fun." Dwayne nodded in agreement. "I've only had the pleasure of whipping his Bitch posse's candyasses."

"And one Batista Bomb would never be enough." Dave's voice turned to cold. "I watched helpless from a fucking couch as he beat my fiancé to the point where she had to be taken to the hospital. It won't be enough until he feels the same pain…tenfold."

Both Dwayne and Hunter shared a mutual look of approval, before they looked back at Dave who sat across from them in the booth they were currently occupying at Applebee's.

"I vote you put his ass through a damn table." Dwayne told him.

"Beat him senseless with a horde of steel chairs." Hunter added.

"Then squash him with the ring steps." Dwayne chuckled. "These mental images are making me pretty happy."

"Can't say I'm complaining either." Hunter laughed as well. "You think the girls are done with their shopping yet?"

Dave groaned. "Are you kidding? It's been so long since Haley actually hung out with her girlfriends without the fear of Randy hanging over her head, they'll be gone all day!"

"My credit card is probably smoking from overuse by now." Dwayne joked. "Might have been a bad idea to hand it over to Candice."

"My wife comes from a billion dollar family." Hunter smirked. "Can't say I relate."

"Bull shit!" Dave laughed, pointing accusingly at the Game. "I didn't hand over my credit card to Haley this morning because someone else beat me to it."

Dwayne turned his head and smirked at Hunter. "You sucker!"

"What?!" Hunter protested. "She's my Punkin! And she's had it rough the past few months! She deserves a splurge here and there! And if it wasn't my credit card it would have been Dave's!"

"But I'm her fiancé, what's mine is hers and all, it's expected. You not so much." Dave pointed out. "Face it, Huntz, my girl has you whipped."

"Sucker." Dwayne repeated with a huge grin.

"I've got two words for both of you…"

"Whipped." Dave said to Dwayne.

"Totally." Dwayne agreed.

"Fuck both of you, had she asked you would have both handed over your plastic, so suck it!" Hunter snapped at them. "You're just as whipped!"

"Technically, I'm not," Dwayne said with a shit eating grin. "I handed mine to Candice."

"Only because if you didn't you wouldn't get any pie tonight." This time it was Hunter who smirked. "If Candice hadn't been in the room, you would have given it to Haley."

"Ha! Pie." Dave laughed. "I forgot that's what you used to call it."

Dwayne gaped at Dave as though he had said hell froze over.

"He was Triple H and Steve Austin fan," Hunter informed him. "Sorry."

"And just when I thought he had good taste." Dwayne said with disgust. "You pick this Jabroni and Austin over me?"

"Technically, I'm a Flair fan first and foremost." Dave shrugged. "So you can both shut it."

"Who are you calling a Jabroni?" Hunter's eyes narrowed. "Save that shit for Orton."

"Now, now," Dave chuckled. "Don't get into a pissing contest. Can't we all just get along?"

"Shut up Dave!" They both said unison.

"What the hell did you do? Buy out Torrie's entire inventory?" John Cena approached the three Divas with a teasing smile as they were pulling shopping bags after shopping bags out of the trunk of the cab.

"Pretty much!" Haley unceremoniously shoved a bunch of bags unceremoniously into his arms. "Now be a good little pack mule and bring those up to Kelly's room."

"Shit." He frowned. "I'm come over to check on you and you make me work?"

"Yeah." Haley laughed. "And I told you on the phone this morning that I was fine. My back's a little stiff, but no worse for wear, thanks to my rescuers."

"If Big Show hadn't knocked me out earlier, I would have-"

"I know, John." Haley assured him. "Now be a good guy and help Kelly with her bags!"

"Ugh, fine."

"Thanks John!" Kelly beamed a bright smile at the World Heavyweight Champion, grabbed her purse and led him back into the hotel, waving cheerfully at her friends.

Candice grinned. "You sure know how to boss men around."

"I grew up with two brothers and Dwayne," Haley reminded her. "You learn things."

"Think he'll come back and help us with ours?" Candice joked.

"No. Did you see how many shoes Kelly bought? His arms will be dead by the time they get to her room." Haley laughed. "We're on our own."

"We have less than she did anyway, you're right." Candice hefted her own belongings and waited while Haley paid the cab driver. Only when Haley lifted her own shopping bags, did she begin to head inside.

"I can't believe we found my something blue today." Haley said with a dreamy sort of smile. 'Those garters you found are so gorgeous!"

"Well make sure Dave aims for Dwayne when he tosses one." Candice chuckled. "Helping you with your wedding is making me fantasize about my own."

"And you think Dwayne's the one?"

"Absolutely." Candice said without hesitation.

"Oh Candice," Haley smiled brightly, hitting the button for the elevators. "That makes me so happy that you found each other. My best friend and my oldest friend, it's perfect!"

"But here's the hard part," Candice grinned. "If we do get married, are you the Maid of Honor or the Best Man?"

"Yeesh, that is hard." Haley teased. "Guess we'll just cross that bridge when we get to it."

"Smartass!"

A/N: We needed a light, fluffy, fun chapter to break up a little of this drama. Hope you guys enjoyed!