Three Chords and the Truth
A/N: Yet another response to Candle's challenge. This is the third song on the album Girl's Night Out. It's sung by Sara Evans and I don't have any claim to it or the characters.
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On a highway bound for nowhere
She'd been driving for days, or weeks. She didn't know. She wasn't looking for anywhere special, just someplace where she could escape the past. It had been a long time since she'd cared; longer since she'd left.
She thought she was in Louisiana somewhere. She knew she'd passed New Orleans about three days before.
I ran my fingers through my tangled hair
As I pulled in for another tank of freedom
With a hundred miles behind me
And a million more to go
I was tryin' to put some distance between us
She yawned as she filled up the gas tank. She used to love the night. Of course, that was a long time ago. Lots of things had changed since then.
"Hey, lady," the person speaking was scruffy looking; "can I have a ride?"
She smirked. "No, but you can have this." She tossed the stake with deadly accuracy.
As the stake found its target, the vampire stammered. "Who you think you are? The Slayer?"
As the dust fell, she sighed. "That's exactly who I am."
I turned on the radio
And a voice came over sweet and low
And I didn't know the tears were gonna start
But what amazed me even more
Is I'd never heard that song before
But somehow I knew each word by heart
She'd become great at blocking her emotions ever since she'd left. But as that song poured over her, the tears she'd held back started to drip. Within seconds, they had turned into a full-fledged storm.
And in the background, the radio played on. The D.J. would never know the part he'd played in turning a beat up car around. He'd never know that if Blake Shelton's 'Austin' hadn't been playing, she would have continued moving away from her family.
And I don't know why, I don't know how
But with his song he turned my life and
This old car around
Just when I thought I was over you
He changed my life with three chords and the truth
Found a pay phone at a truck stop
Said a prayer as the quarter dropped
She pulled back into the gas station, causing the attendant to do a classic double take. She had to laugh; it was just too damn funny.
She got out of her car and made her way to the pay phone. The quarter dropped into the phone and she dialed the number. It wasn't that she hadn't done that exact thing a billion times, but she had learned the hard way that she missed her husband and her son.
She just hoped she'd be allowed to come back home.
Oh, please be home, I know that I was wrong
Honey, don't talk, just listen
I think I found what I was missin'
In a song I heard tonight on a radio
She bit her lip. She was getting more anxious the longer the phone rang. Maybe he wasn't there or maybe his cell phone was dead. What if he didn't want to speak to her?
"Hello?" The voice itself nearly tore her apart; it had been so long since she'd heard it.
"Hey, baby. Can I please come home?"
He groaned. "It isn't that I don't love you, but couldn't this have waited for a more reasonable hour?"
She paused. "What time is it?"
"Well, here in L.A., it's three in the morning."
"The show's there this week?" It wasn't really a question, but more of a statement.
"Yeah. Are you coming back to that too?" Her husband had known about all of the things that went bump in the night from the first. He'd grown up ignorant, of course, but she'd given him a crash course after a vampire had cornered him in a back alleyway.
And I don't know why, I don't know how
But with his song he turned my life and
This old car around
Just when I thought I was over you
He changed my life with three chords and the truth
"Yes. Yes," she said with a grin, "I am."
"I love you dearly," Shawn groaned, "but Cameron's going to be waking up in about two hours to tell me that he needs me to change the channel on the T.V. I will then be dragged around the mall that's next to our hotel to find the perfect place to eat. All before I've had my first cup of coffee."
"Then I'll let you get sleep and I'll be in L.A. before the show tapes later today, okay?"
"Okay." As soon as he heard the dial tone, he hung up the phone and called Stephanie.
"Hey Steph?"
"Do you have any idea how damn early it is?" The GM of the two shows growled. "I am not a person who does well before coffee, so start talking."
He chuckled. "I just thought that you would want to know that you'll soon be a co-GM again."
Steph allowed a grin to creep over her face. "Tell me your wife is coming back. Tell me my cousin's coming home."
"Buffy's definitely coming home."
Just when I thought I was over you
He changed my mind with three chords and the truth
Her family was gathered outside of the hotel. It would have been impossible to miss them. It looked like every wrestler in the company had turned out. Stephanie, Shane, Shawn, and Cameron were standing in front of all of them.
The moment her car door shut, her six year old son launched himself at her. "MOM!!!!!!"
Hotel patrons felt compelled to look over at the reunion. It would have been impossible to miss the group even if the majority of them hadn't been famous.
The blonde woman and the man were engaging in an impressive display of tongue wrestling. The little boy was making comments like, "Ewww, gross."
The others crowded in the moment that the husband and wife let go of each other.
They were a whole family again. Life was good.
REVIEW! REVIEW! Don't ask me why she left; I don't know.