**You guys are SO wonderful! HUGE thank you to msgemgem, RKOsgirl92, babygurl1944, Christina89, emma217, KimmieCena, Xandman216, Kinley Orton and Enigmatic Lotus Leaf! Thanks for sticking around and still caring about this story, I'm SO moved! Please continuing to read and review, I take all of your opinions and ideas into heart as I'm writing. Thanks!**
Sophie called to check on Hunter. When Hunter was done talking, her mom got on the phone, she told Sophie that Hunter was having a lot of fun, but that when they dropped him off, she wanted to talk to Sophie alone.
Sophie looked concerned, "Why? Is everything ok?"
Carol took a deep breath, "I just need to talk to you about Hunter. Nothing's wrong, he's healthy, he's fine, but he has some concerns that I want to talk to you about."
"Just tell me now." Sophie replied almost sternly. She hated beating around the bush.
Carol sighed, "Fine. Hunter seemed kind of bummed out when he first got here, so I asked him what was wrong. And he told me that he was busy thinking. So when I asked him about what, he told me that was trying to remember what he did to make Randy not love him anymore."
Sophie's eyes filled with tears instantly. "He said that?"
"Yes, so I asked him why he would think such a thing and he said that Randy hasn't hardly talked to him or played with him and he won't go to his games, so he must be doing something to disappoint him." Carol replied.
Sophie covered her mouth and tried not to sob out loud. "Oh my god."
"Now Sophie, I know that you and Randy have been having issues, but you have to make sure that Hunter is not in the middle of them. I know you're pregnant with this new baby, but you can't forget about Hunter." Carol said sternly.
"I'm not forgetting about him." Sophie shot back.
"Well then maybe you should remind him of that. His actions are detrimental to Hunter too. You know how attached he is to Randy and maybe if you guys wouldn't have moved so fast, Hunter wouldn't be feeling left behind." Carol replied sternly. "We'll see you around 6pm." And her mom hung up.
John was trying to keep an eye on what was going on. He was rubbing Sophie's knee to let her know that he was there for her.
Sophie hung up and started to sob.
John pulled over on the shoulder, "What's going on Sophie? What's wrong?"
Sophie leaned on John's shoulder and sobbed. She tried to speak a few times, but John couldn't make out the words. Finally Sophie caught her breath, "Hunter thinks he's done something to make Randy mad at him because Randy hasn't hardly paid any attention to him."
"Oh my God." John said hugging Sophie tight.
"You know, he wants to play his bullshit games with me, that's one thing. But I can't let him do this to Hunter. This is exactly why I never dated. I didn't want Hunter to get attached and then have his heart broken. Hunter wants a dad SO bad, and I thought he finally had one with Randy. I guess I was wrong." Sophie said as she tried to stop crying. But once Sophie started venting, she couldn't get herself to stop.
"You know, I can't even get Randy to talk to me about baby stuff. I have picked out a few names that I like, but he's too hungover or too exhausted or just doesn't want to be bothered with that stuff. He won't go baby shopping, so I've done most of it on my own." Then Sophie recounted her fears about how if she wasn't perfect, he'd cheat on her again. It was something she never admitted outloud…only to herself.
John couldn't believe it. His temper was boiling. What the hell was Randy doing? He hugged Sophie again. "I'm so sorry. I know I can't change him and I can't change the past, but I'm going to put a smile on your face, and we can put one on Hunter's too. Should we go pick him up and include him on our trip to the Mall? I want today to be one of the best days ever, and it sounds like Hunter could use one too."
Sophie sniffled, "Really? You wouldn't mind? Promise?"
John kissed Sophie's forehead, "God no. Hunter's a great kid! Let's go pick him up."
Sophie left her head resting on John's shoulder as she worked on calming herself down. First she called her mom and told her to have Hunter ready, then she sat up abruptly, "I'm taking your advice John." And she grabbed her phone and started dialing.
John watched as Sophie left him another voicemail. That's all she had been able to do lately is leave him voicemails.
She hung up and sniffled. John freestyled a bit to make her laugh. They pulled up in front of her parents house.
Sophie laughed, "So, you wanna meet my parents?"
John smiled, "I'd love to." He squeezed her hand and looked into her eyes, "And I promise, today is going to be great. We'll get you caught up on baby shopping, we'll do some Hunter shopping, I'll take him on some rides, and at lunch we'll play around with baby names."
Sophie smiled and nodded, "I like the sounds of that." And this time she squeezed his hand back.
MEANWHILE….
Randy and Christy were living it up on their two week long overseas tour. Everyone was used to seeing them flirt around, so no one paid it any mind. Except for one person, this person was able to see that there was something just a bit different about them now compared to what was usually there. And they had certain ties, so they decided to carefully linger to see if there was any proof to their assumptions.
Christy woke Randy up, "Babe, I want to go shopping. Wanna join me?"
"I hate shopping, you know this. Why would I want to go with?" Randy asked groggily.
"Because if I do shopping for me, that means that there would be dressing rooms, and I know what you like to do in dressing rooms." She purred.
"Hmm…I think I could learn to like shopping. Let me get myself ready. Will you grab me some clothes out of my bag?" Randy asked climbing out of bed and heading to the shower.
Christy went to his bag and began to look through it for clothes. She found a picture that Hunter had colored him folded up and tucked in…almost as if Hunter had wanted it to be a surprise. Then she found a plastic bag. Christy pulled it out and opened it up. Inside was many different prescription bottles. She started reading the labels, some were to him, some were to a few of the other wrestlers, and most were either narcotic painkillers, or a form of steroid.
Randy walked out of the bathroom, and saw here looking through the bag. "What are you doing?" He asked angrily.
"Randy, what the hell are these?" Christy asked.
"None of your fucking concern is what those are." Randy said. He walked over and grabbed the bag out of her hand. "You didn't see anything."
"Randy, are you using?" She asked in a concerned tone. "You don't need that shit."
"My shoulder has been fucked up, so I got a steroid to help repair the muscle. It's not like I'm juicing. And the painkillers are for when the pain is bad." He shot back.
"Are those the pills you take all the time? You told me they were vitamins. You've been drinking and smoking weed while taking narcotic painkillers? Are you fucking crazy? You're going to kill yourself if you're not careful." Christy retorted.
"Dammit Christy, shut up. I'm fine." Randy said. He felt his chest get really tight, and his he just felt out of himself. "I don't want to argue about this anymore. Give me my shit and just leave it alone." And he snatched the bag out of Christy's hands.
Christy stormed back over to her stuff shaking her head.
"What are you so pissed about?" Randy yelled at her.
"Because I care about you Randy." Christy yelled back. "You're one of my best friends. I don't want to see you do something stupid."
Anyone in the hallways could hear the arguing, just not clearly. And the person in the room next door who was kept awake with their sexual antics could not only hear it, but could hear it word for word when they yelled.
"I'm not going to do anything stupid. Get that out of your head." Randy shouted. He pulled his clothes on. He was getting a little shaky and it was making him wonder what was going on.
When Randy sat down to put his shoes on, Christy went and sat on his lap. "Randy, I'm sorry. I just…I hate drugs and I don't want to see you throw everything away over them."
"Let's go." And he stood up and set her down.
They walked out and left the hotel holding hands. The person who was spying decided to trail behind and took a pic with their phone.
They got on the hotel shuttle that would take them to the downtown area. There were a few other wrestlers and divas on there also.
Randy and Christy took a seat in the back. Which just so happened to be right behind the person spying on them. And that person could hear every word that was quietly said.
Randy leaned over and went nose to nose with Christy and smiled, "You said you care about me."
Christy smiled, "I did. Do you care about me?"
"You know I do." Randy replied. He gave her a little kiss.
"So, are we done fighting?" Christy asked as she held his hand.
He nuzzled her nose with his, "Yes. Just let me deal with my own stuff."
"So, does that mean we'll have make-up sex?" She asked.
"However you'd like." Randy said patting her thigh.
"Show me you care about me." Christy said giving him a little kiss.
"You've got it." Randy said with a nod. "And don't go saying anything to anyone."
"I won't baby." Christy said sweetly. Then she leaned in and gave him a lingering French kiss.
Sophie walked into her parents' house with John walking behind her. She introduced him to Jim and Carol as her friend John. John was pretty surprised she didn't introduce him as Randy's friend, but appreciated it.
Hunter heard John's voice and came running, "John! What are you doing at MeMaws?"
"We're going to take you out for a fun day." John replied. He crouched down and gave Hunter a one-armed hug.
Hunter knew to be careful hugging John. "Sweet! Should I grab my stuff?"
"Yup, then we'll head out." John replied.
Jim smiled at John, "Hunter mentioned you've been taking care of Sophie and taking him to his sports."
John nodded, "Yes sir. I love watching Hunter at his practices and games. Sophie is a really great mom and shows."
Carol looked over at Sophie, "Could you help me get Hunter's snacks and juice from the kitchen. He wants to bring some home."
Sophie looked at John, "I'll be right back."
Sophie walked into the kitchen with her mom. Carol didn't waste anytime, "Ok, I don't get it. First you refuse to date, then you rush into a relationship with Randy, and now, what's the deal with John? I mean, yes he seems a lot more sincere then Randy ever has, but all of these random guys is NOT good for Hunter."
"Mom, relax. John is just a friend. He's stepping up and helping me out where Randy can't right now. John is SO good with Hunter. He makes him breakfast, takes him to school, not just to the bus stop. Then he waits at his bus stop for him in the afternoon and takes him to practice. On the weekends, he gets Hunter up and they go and play or if the weather is crappy they'll go find something to do or just play. John makes me breakfast and lunch, he cleans up, he keeps me on bedrest even though all I want to do is take care of the house. He has a great sense of humor, he's always doing something that puts a smile on my face."
Carol sat back and listened to Sophie go on and on about John. She smiled; it was the way Sophie used to talk about Randy. She knew there were issues with Randy, but Sophie refused to open up about them.
Stacie walked into the kitchen "Sounds like someone is in love."
"No, I'm just telling mom about how wonderful John has been." Sophie replied. "And with that, I'm going to head out. We have a full day planned and I need this day."
"I didn't mean you. I was listening to John telling dad about how truly great his daughter is." Stacie replied with a laugh.
"Whatever!" Sophie said standing up and blushing. She grabbed the extra juice boxes and snacks. "Man you spoil this kid rotten."
"Have fun on your family day out." Stacie teased.
"Shut up sis." Sophie said walking out of the kitchen.
Instantly John jumped up to help. "C'mon Hunter, let's go."
Hunter hugged and kissed his grandparents and so did Sophie. Then they piled into the SUV and headed out.
Hunter talked a mile a minute about the Mall of America. Once they arrived there, they did some baby shopping and some Hunter shopping. Then they took Hunter to Nickelodeon Universe and let him go on rides. John rode them with him and Sophie got wonderful pictures.
Then they headed to the food court for lunch. They all sat down at the table. "So, tell me about your baby name ideas." John said to Sophie.
"Carly or Tori" Hunter replied with a smile.
"Hon, we're not naming the baby off of iCarly or Victorious." Sophie said ruffling his hair. Nice try." Then she turned to John and together the three of them started to throw around different names.
Sophie ran her hand through her hair, "I think I'd like her middle name to be Faith, because it's taking pure faith to get me through this."
John leaned over and gave her a half hug. "Which one is your favorite first name?"
"Well, Hunter was kind of onto something, I guess I kind of like Carly Faith and I also like Elizabeth Faith because then I could call her Ellie."
"Then there you go. Use those as your top two, and when she comes, see which one fits her best." John replied with a smile. He rubbed her tummy, "Or do you know which name you like? What do you think of Carly?"
The baby didn't move. They all laughed. Then John rubbed her tummy again, "What do you think of Ellie?"
The baby stirred around a bit and then kicked a small kick. "She kicked!" Sophie said happily.
"Elizabeth Faith is your first choice officially now." John replied.
They left the food court and did some more shopping. John sat back and watched her and Hunter shop. He was realizing just how much he loved her personality, he loved how excited she got over the little things, and especially what a great mom she was. Sophie was a down-to-Earth, really normal woman. And she was very frugal. A lot of women would be out there spending whatever on whatever because their significant other had money, but not Sophie. She watched for sales and clearance racks. She refused to pay full price on anything.
They finally left the mall when Sophie was looking tired and Hunter was also getting tired. Hunter was happy because he was able to go on rides with John and he had gotten some new clothes and toys. Not to mention a couple new video games.
Sophie climbed in the SUV and Hunter helped John put the bags in the back. When they finished, Hunter gave John a big hug. "I love you John, thanks for the best day ever. And thanks for making my mom smile again."
John hugged Hunter close, "You're so welcome Hunter. And I love you too." And he kissed the top of Hunter's head. John was stunned. Randy had really fucked things up this time.
**Hmm….what's going to happen if Randy ever answers his phone? What if John's temper gets the best of him and he calls Randy? And what's going on with this mystery person? Hmm….please read and review!**