Author's Note: I replaced all the chapters so that there is a double space between
the dialoge, hopefully it'll be better to read. I also added a bit more to Ch. 4 when
Steve confronted Rock. I think if might help explain the emotion a little better.
Anyway, please review and let me know what you think. Thanks



Addiction: The Conclusion

Dwayne drove down the familiar drive and he just now realized how much he
missed it. Usually he didn't think twice about any of the little landmarks along the way but
they were sort of symbolic now, he couldn't quite explain it. Although the rain was still
hard, it had slacked up a little bit. The whipers were slowly going across the windshield,
giving off a slight squeak as they passed over the slick surface. The loud clashing thunder
could still be heard quite well and the lighting flashed every few minutes, illuminating the
street signs. He finally reached the drive about fifteen minutes later. He pulled into the
drive and cut the engine. He sat in silence for a few seconds before gathering up the roses
and the stuffed animal. He opened the door and got out, feeling the cold rain immediately
start to roll down his face. As he was walking towards the door, he wondered how Dany
would greet him. He wouldn't be surprised if she slapped him right then and there. He
probably deserved it. Once he reached the small patio he paused to give a quick prayer
and rang the doorbell. A few moments later he heard the locks inside unlock and the door
slowly open. Dany stood there beautiful as ever. They stood silent for a while, neither
knowing exactly what to say.

"Uh, I brought you something." He said handing her the flowers. She took the flowers,
smiled, and wrapped her arms around his neck. Dwayne returned the hug, wrapping his
arms tightly around her waist. Dany missed the feeling of his strong arms around her, she
suddenly felt very safe.

"I'm sorry." He said softly, pulling away to look into her eyes. She simply smiled, and
shook her head, indicating all was forgiven.

"I brought the baby something." He said awkwardly, showing her the gift. She smiled and
looked at the bear in his hands.

"Your son will love it." She said, loving the way his face brightened when she emphasized
'your'. It finally clicked that he was out in the rain. "Well, come in. Your soaked." Dany
said, leading him into the house. Once inside, Dwayne removed his wet outer shirt and
placed it on the rack and tried to smooth out some of the water in his hair. He looked
around the familiar surroundings. She hadn't changed a thing. The large opening with the
kitchen and living room on opposite sides were just as they were last time he'd seen them.
Suddenly there was a loud thunder followed by sharp cries upstairs. Dwayne knew
immediately where it was coming from and surpassed a small smile. He walked past Dany,
who was smiling brightly as she followed, and made his way up the stairs. The cries were
coming from the guest bedroom and when Dwayne walked in, he saw that it had been
decorated with bright colors and baby toys. He wished he could have been here to help
decorate but figured there was no use wallowing in it now. A small nightlight had
illuminated the room with a soft yellow glow. Dany walked up behind him and turned on
the lights. The room was beautiful. Light blue wall paper with trim designed with baby
animals. Another sharp cry and Dwayne saw the baby crib in the corner. Dany walked past
him and approached the crib, leaning over it and carefully picking the baby up.

"There's someone here that wants to meet you." Dany said, carrying the baby over to her
husband and gently placing him in his arms. Dwayne was smiling proudly as he took his
son for the first time. "Make sure you hold his head." Dany whispered, a grin on her face.
The baby cries stopped as he reached up towards his daddy and began to giggle.

"I think he likes you." Dany replied happily. Dwayne nodded and began to gently rock his
son. He looked just like him- with his lightly dark skin with short, fine brown hair. When
he laughed you could clearly see his little baby dimples and toothless grin. Dany wrapped
her arms around them, encircling the baby between its parents. Dwayne gave a small smile
when his son wrapped his tiny hand around his index finger.

"What's his name?" He asked quietly, not taking his eyes off the baby.

"Dominic." She said with a smile.

Dwayne smiled and nodded his approval. "Nice to meet you, Dominic."

"How old is he now? A few months?"

"Going on six months."

Dwayne was shocked. He's been gone over six months? It seemed like a lot longer. He's
going to have to make up for lost time. He looked down at his son and couldn't wait to
start. Dominic was examining his fathers finger with intense curiosity before sticking it in
his mouth and gnawing on it. He yawned, his eyes drooping.

"He's going to be a daddy's baby. You can tell."

"Poor kid." Dwayne laughed softly, not wanting to wake the baby that had slowly begun
to fall back asleep in his arms. He looked so innocent, so fragile.

"Oh, yeah? Your going to be the one responsible for toilet training." Dany teased.

"Oh, damn. Poor poor kid." Dwayne replied jokingly. Dany smiled and rested her head
against Dwayne's strong shoulder, while he rested his head atop of hers. They stayed like
that for several minutes, just taking in the joy of finally being a family. A few moments
later, when the baby was asleep, Dwayne reluctantly broke the hold and gently laid his son
on the bed, not removing his finger from his grasp.

"It's all still hard to believe." He said, looking down at his son, while gently stoking the
back of his tiny hand with his thumb.

"We've all been through a lot." Dany said, smiling down at her son. "Having a family
really makes you realize how important it is to have responsibilities."

"I'm talking about being on the bottom of the barrel on minute and getting everything
back and more the next. It's overwhelming."

"You mean hitting rock bottom?" She said, smiling.

"I'll tell you one thing. If all this is a result of hitting rock bottom, then I wouldn't change
a thing."

A few more minutes passed before Dany tugged at his arm. "Come on, I got something I
want to show you." Dwayne gave a confused look but allowed her to lead him across the
hall to the bedroom. She went to the closet and pulled out a small shoe box. She sat on the
bed and opened the lid, Dwayne took the seat next to her

"What is it?" He asked.

"Pictures." She said, removing the lid and reviling hundreds of photo's inside the box.
Dwayne smiled when he noticed that they were baby pictures. "I thought you might like
some catching up."

They spent the next few minutes looking through the shoebox. Dwayne couldn't believe
that she could have taken so many pictures in what seemed like a relatively short time. All
the pictures were basically the same, Dominic either sleeping, crying, or just staring off
into space. Only one picture stood out from the rest. In one picture Dominic was looking
straight into the camera, a crooked smile on his face, and one of his little eyebrows were
slightly higher then the other.

"That's my boy!" Dwayne said, laughing.

"I thought you might like that one." Dany said.

Just then the door bell rang. "Oh, I'll get it. Here." She said, handing him the shoebox and
heading downstairs to answer the door. Dwayne stayed in the bedroom looking at the
picture. He took out his wallet and gently placed the photo in the front window, leaving it
open to look at it. God, things were happening so fast. It seemed like just yesterday he
was struggling with another confrontation and now he's sitting at home, with his wife and
son as if nothing has ever happened. No drugs, no fighting, no fake delusions, all this was
real. He remembered thinking how nice the high felt. But sitting there, at home, he'd take
this over anything.

A sharp scream downstairs quickly brought his attention back. He jerked up, straining to
listen. Another scream. He took off downstairs, his wallet falling to the floor. He raced
down the stairs, troubled as to what was happening. He bolted into the foyer, frantically
looking around. The screaming had stopped.

"Dany!?" He yelled, straining to hear anything but only silence greeted him. "Dany!" He
repeated, receiving the same response. He heard laughter somewhere behind him. He spun
around just in time to see Bic turning on the living room lights, grinning sinister from ear
to ear. Dwayne's heart began to pound in his chest, the fear and surprise showing all over
his face. Three men were standing behind Bic, one roughly holding his wife. She
screamed and fought against the man's strength, his hand firmly covering her mouth,
muffling her screams. Bic laughed at the scene he created. The gun he held was pointed
right at Dwayne's heart. He jerked the gun up, indicating for Dwayne to raise his hands.
He did, his eyes darting from Bic to his wife.

"Very nicely done." Bic said, taking a deep breath. As always, he was high and capable of
doing anything.

"What the hell do you want?" Dwayne asked, suddenly filled with anger. He noticed the
look on his wife's face, a small glint of confusion being mixed in with the fear when she
realized her husband knew this man. Dwayne realized she didn't know anything about his
dealer.

"The money you owe me." Bic said casually.

"I owe you nothing. We had a deal."

"Oh, yeah. The money for the drugs. Did you like them? I noticed how eager you were to
get them." He grinned. Dwayne knew full well he was trying to start something. He had to
keep his cool. Dany was silent, not wanting to believe what she was hearing. "No. I know
we had a deal. But I'm fresh out of money and I have debts to pay."

"I'm not going to keep up your habit. Go find another supplier."

"Oh, resistance. I see. Okay, that's cool. I understand. Oh, how's your baby by the way?
Asleep upstairs in his crib?" Bic smiled, enjoying the reaction he got. Dwayne clinched his
fist and tightened his jaw, fighting to restrain himself. Bic knew he struck a nerve. "That
resistance don't seem so vital now, does it?" He said straight face.

Dwayne took a slow deep breath. He had to think. He couldn't let this man get to him.
"How do you plan on getting out of here. The murder of a famous wrestler and his family
will cause quite an uproar. You sure you can handle it?"

Bic shrugged. He had no plan. He never needed a plan. Everything always worked out for
him.

"They'll find you in a matter of days." Dwayne continued. "You didn't think about the
cameras, did you?" Bic gave him a surprised look. "What? You didn't know? Someone of
my stature always have cameras."

"Your lying."

Inward, Dwayne smiled. He was winning. He knew how incoherent people under the
influence were and how easy they were to manipulate. "You never know. You took no
precautions, did you? They already picked up on your car's license plate." He paused.
"And your identities."

Bic seemed to get real nervous. He can't go to jail. He knew Dwayne could be lying, but
could he really risk it? The men around him grew antsy, seemingly to just now realize
what danger they put themselves in. They kept looking over at Bic, impatiently waiting for
their next orders. The room fell into an erie silence. The only thing that could be heard was
the rain as if beat down on the windows.

Suddenly the phone rang, causing everyone to jump and freeze. Dwayne knew that if he
was going to get help, he had to answer it. He started towards the phone but Bic tightened
his hold on the gun.

"If I don't answer that, they'll know something's wrong." Dwayne said, making sure he
spoke slow and clear and keeping his hands where Bic could see them. Bic seemed to
think about it, an uneasy look creeping on his face. He nodded, just a slight tilt of his head.
Dwayne slowly walked up to the phone and answered it.

"Hello?" He said as calmly as possible, keeping his eyes on Bic.

"Hey, just wanted to make sure you made it home okay. Storms a real killer." It was
Steve! Dwayne tried to hide the relief on his face. He quickly started to come up with a
plan.

"Oh, um, yeah, I know all about tomorrow's show." There was a pause on the other end.

"What?" Steve asked utterly confused.

"I'm a little *busy* right now so I'll have to call you later." Dwayne said, hoping to
emphasize.

Another, longer pause on Steve's end. Bic was getting suspicious and a little more
nervous. Dwayne prayed that Steve could catch on.

"What's going on?" Now Steve was suspicious.

"Just some friends stopped by we're a -" Bic quickly grabbed the phone and hung it up.
That's just what Dwayne wanted. You just don't hang up in the middle of a sentence.

~~~~~
"What the hell?" Steve said, staring at the phone in his hand. Friends? He doesn't have
anymore friends. Who else-? Wait, could it-? No way. He did it once before. How could
he get there? Dwayne has his truck....He quickly dialed a different number.

"Hello?"

"Paul! I think something's wrong..."

~~~~~~~

"No way, man. You are not going to ruin this! You don't know how bad I need this
money!" Bic yelled, carelessly jerking the gun in Dwayne's direction.

"Christ! Get a job! You don't have to do this!" There was no reply. Bic was getting
nervous. He didn't have a plan, he didn't know what he should do now. All he wanted was
the money. "Fine. Take me. Don't hurt anyone else. I'll give you however much you
need." Dwayne said quietly, trying anything to get this man to leave. Still no reply. "This is
murder! You know what they do to people in prison who hurt babies? They'll kill you,
man. You don't want that!" He must have gotten through because Bic was shaking,
almost crying.

"You don't get it! I'll be dead anyway. I have nothing to loose."

"Damnit! I said I'll give you the money!"

Bic was shaking his head, not knowing what to do. He had trouble thinking straight. He
got in over his head. Just then there was a loud crashing thunder followed by lighting. The
entire house went pitch black.

There was a brief pause before Dwayne's reflexes kicked in and he lunged at Bic,
knocking the man down. His cohorts couldn't see anything and didn't know who was
hitting who. All you could hear were the punches as the men fought. Dany was
screaming, trying to free herself from the man's grasp. Suddenly, a shot rang out.
Everything suddenly went quiet. Bic's gang didn't know what to do.

"Oh, God! Let's get out of here!" One screamed, running out the door, the others fearfully
following suit. Dany felt herself being thrown to the floor and heard the loud thumps of
the man running outside. Once again, things were silent. There was still no movement
between the men involved in the struggle. Dany could hardly breathe as she felt around the
floor.

"Dwayne! Oh, my God! Please be okay!" She cried. Her fear increased when she didn't
get any response. She quickly got up and raced in the kitchen. Fumbling for the drawer
containing the flashlight. She turned it on and quickly turned around only to run into a
huge figure. She screamed, startled.

"It's okay! It's me! Calm down!"

Dany cried with relief and threw her arms tightly around her husband. She could feel his
heavy breathing and noticed something wet was pressing against her. She looked down
and in the light of the flashlight saw the dark red liquid all over the front of his shirt.

"Oh, God! You've been shot!!" She screamed frantically, looking at all the blood covering
her husband, shaking her hands that was covered in it. Dwayne meanwhile was frantically
trying to calm her down.

"I'm okay! It's not my blood! Look, I'm okay." He yelled, grabbing her hands and looking
into her eyes. She looked at him and slowly began relax. "See, I'm okay." He whispered.
She started crying and walked into his embrace. After a few moments of her crying, and
Dwayne's soothing words, she stepped back and slapped him full on his face.

"Don't you EVER scare me like that again!! That was so stupid! You could have been
killed!" She yelled, her eyes still bright with fear. She whipped away her tears and made
her way over to sit in the kitchen chair. She put her face in her hands and cried silently.
Dwayne was afraid she might go in shock. He gingerly took the flashlight from her and
made his way back into the living room.
He shinned the light on the floor, finally spotting the dead body of Bic. Dwayne knelt
down and checked for a pulse with shaking fingers. The feel of his cold blue skin already
telling him the answer that there was no life. God, what now? Dwayne thought. A murder
has just occurred in his home. A dead body was bleeding on his floor. Just then the lights
came back on, slightly startling him. The details of the dead body on the floor becoming
more visible. Dwayne slowly stood up, not able to take his eyes off the body. He slowly
began to hear the cries upstairs. There's no telling how long he could have been crying.
He looked back in time to see Dany slowly make her way up the stairs. Just then the front
door burst open, causing Dwayne to jump back, dropping the flashlight and nearly falling
over. The first thing in his mind was that they're back to finish the job. But once he made
out the two figures in the doorway, he nearly passed out from relief.

"What took you so long?" He asked, leaning over, his hands on his knees trying to calm
down. Steve and Paul just stood frozen, staring at the body on the floor.

=The Next Day=

"Here." Dwayne said, handing his wife her coffee before sitting next to her on the couch.
The reporter on the television was talking about the damage from the storm.

"And in other news, a body of an unidentified man was found along the shore of the
Miami Canal. The cause of death was from a bullet womb to the chest. No ID has been
determined and an autopsy found traces of several narcotics in his system. Local Police
have reported it as being another drug trade gone wrong. And now to weather with
metero...."

"See? I told you everything would be okay." Dwayne said.

"I still feel wrong about it. I know you do too."

Dwayne sighed. Yes, he did feel bad about what he and the guys did. He had to just keep
telling himself that he never did anything wrong and reporting it to the police would just
cause more trouble than what was needed right now.

"Things will eventually get back to normal." He whispered, although knowing full well
that things will never be as they were before.

=One Week Later=

It's been nearly a week since that night and there was no sign of any trouble. Dwayne and
a sleeping Dominic were laying outside on the blanket Dwayne had laid out so the baby
could play. It was a beautiful day and not a cloud in sight. Dominic had started to crawl
and had fun chasing the landing butterflies, getting the knees of his pants dirty. Dany had
returned to work so it was just the guys. They were having a manly conversation, although
most of it was one sided, with only the occasional diaper change and bottle feedings.
Dominic had fallen asleep a few moments earlier and was now curled up next to his daddy,
who was watching him sleep. His cellular phone rang. He quickly reached for it, not
wanting to wake the baby.

"Hello?"

"Dwayne, it's Vince. I think it's time we meet."

Dwayne sighed, looked down at his sleeping son and smiled. Yes, everything was going to
be just fine.


==Prologue==
Dwayne Johnson returned to work a month later. He was given as much time as he
needed to train and get back in shape. With the urging of his wife and friends, Dwayne
managed to find the time to attend regular NA meetings on the Internet. The worse of the
withdrawals soon dissipated, but the casual earning still managed to creep their way up.
Dwayne held fast and remains clean from drugs to this day. He and Dany are currently
making plans on giving Dominic a baby sister.

End of Addiction


~~~~~~~~~

Authors Note: I want to thank everyone who read this fiction and a special thank you to
those who reviewed it. I hope you enjoyed it just as much as I enjoyed writing it. If it
didn't live up to your expectations, I am sorry. I tried and I am very proud of it. Reviews
are greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Rawstin@aol.com