Author's Note: Almost to 50 chapters! Everybody cheer! Please review! BTW, I'm saying that Shawn returned to the WWE after 2000 and was off then, I'm not real sure if that's right or not! And I made up Cameron's age!
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Dangerous Business
Chapter XL
Chris Jericho's head snapped up as he heard the front door slam. His body stiffened slightly, the only noise coming to him the stifled sobs from Liz and the small, almost inaudible call of static from the television. He gritted his teeth, straining his ears to hear anything.
Footsteps. His eyes flashed open, hearing the small clacks of shoes against cement. His body relaxed, but only slightly. 'Outside. They're outside.' The blonde Canadian glanced down at Liz, internally debating. 'Whoever did this is out there, making their getaway,' the thought rebounded around his head. 'I should go and get them, before it's too late.'
But one look at the shaking woman in his arms and the phrase was diminished. He would never catch the person who did this, even if he left now. He couldn't leave Liz here, not now when she was so vulnerable…so heartbroken. "Liz?" he asked gently. There was no response. He looked down, gently shaking her, his heart lurching when he saw her head loll to the side like a broken puppet. Quickly, Chris untangled her from his arms, laying her out on the carpet. As he did so, he saw the thick blood left on his clothes, and the small pool already forming on the carpet. Hurriedly searching for a pulse, he pulled out his cell phone, dialing 9-1-1 as fast as his fingers would permit.
"Police, fire or medical?" the dispatcher asked quickly.
"Police and medical," Chris said quickly, his two fingers resting on Liz's neck. He let out a small sight of relief as he felt a pulse; slow, and barely there, but a pulse nonetheless. The Canadian glanced back at the horrific TV screen as he hung up his phone. 'What has she done to deserve this? Paul Heyman makes Rob and Dominique betray her, then Evolution kidnaps Dominique, puts her in a coma, she breaks up with Brock after he nearly kills Kurt and then he's out for revenge, then there's the match with Evolution, then Big Show and Brock attack her, and now this!'
Chris bit his lip, eyeing Liz worriedly. Even if she made it through this okay… How much could one person take? She was already testing her emotional limits as it was… Would the death of her sister push her over the edge?
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"I guess we remodeled," Shawn Michaels said quietly to himself as he stepped in his house. Beside him, Rebecca nodded.
"Yeah," she said, vague smile coming to her face. "You and I spent three weeks redoing everything before…" she stopped, her face tightening.
"Before what?" Shawn stopped, turning to face her. His wife tried to avoid his eyes by bowing her head. "'Becca?" he asked inquisitively.
"Before you left to go back," she whispered, looking up at him. 'This is too easy,' she thought inwardly with a smile, 'Just play the part of a wife so saddened by his loss of presence before, and how she dreads him going back again…and you'll have your way. I'm getting mine…' She fought to hide a smile, and instead sat down on a couch, staring at the wide-screen TV ahead of her.
Shawn slowly made his way over to her, setting a duffel bag on the floor as he did so. "What are you talking about?" he asked, sitting beside her, his arm going around her shoulders in habit. He paused slightly, and bowed his head. 'She's talking about the truth, dimwit,' he told himself. 'She's talking about what you don't remember.' Rebecca laid her head on his chest, sighing heavily.
"I don't want you to go back again," she confessed quietly, looking up at him. "It was like losing you for months at a time, and phone calls just don't cut a relationship… Cameron didn't—" she paused, swallowing tightly.
"Cameron didn't what?" Shawn paused, looking around quickly. "Speaking of him, where is he?" There was silence as a response. Shawn turned, staring at Rebecca, whose composure seemed to crumble.
"He-he isn't here," she whispered almost inaudibly.
"What do you mean?" Shawn responded, silently going through the places where his son could be. "Where is-"
"Shawn!" her outburst silenced him. She took a breath, her eyes locking with his, tears forming in her eyes. "He…" she bit down on her tongue, and then spoke after a small silence. He committed suicide two years ago." Her eyes fell on a slip of paper sitting among various pictures on their mantle. She stood; not looking back at Shawn's shocked expression.
"Tell me… Tell me you're kidding," Shawn whispered, his voice holding a pleading note to it. Rebecca smiled, reaching for a small sheet of paper she'd set on the mantle a day ago. 'Of course I'm not telling the truth,' she replied silently, 'If you knew that he was in boarding school in Sweden, where would the fun be?' She reached out, making her hand shake as she brought out the paper from beneath a picture frame. Forcing tears out of her eyes, Rebecca walked forward, sitting down beside Shawn.
"This is his note," she choked out, watching as Shawn's face turned pale. Shawn lifted the letter, and began to read, tears blurring his eyes.
"Dear Mom and Dad,
You always told me that you would be there for me. You always said that if I had problems, you would be there to comfort me, to help me through it all. You guys always said I came first, over your jobs. Well, you lied. Everyday I come home it's the same. Mom, you always leave a dinner out for when I get home and you are at your job, along with anything else I need. Almost everything. I need a Mom, not a warm meal everyday. But at least you come home at nights, and talk to me every once in a while. Dad, you can't take the time out of your schedule for me. I haven't talked to you in five months. The only time you ever come home is for a couple days, and even if you get an injury, all you're concerned about is returning to the ring. I guess I'm second to a lot of things after all, including your guys' love. Consider this a lesson to any future kids you may have—family should come first, not second to anything. Then again, you wouldn't want to deal with such a bother again, would you? Such a crimp in your jobs? This is goodbye. A final goodbye. If, by some chance, I'm alive when you get here, don't try and change this. I want to die. There's nothing to live for. Good riddance. Wish I could say I love you, but I can't. Goodbye.
Cameron"
Shawn froze, staring at the letter, not noticing that his tears were blotting the ink pen used to write those incriminating words. 'No… That's not Cameron…' he pleaded with himself desperately, 'that isn't my 9-year-old son, it can't be!' but the facts were there, staring him in the face. Cameron had killed himself, and the way it was told, it was because of him; because he wasn't a good parent… Hell, he hadn't been a parent at all! Shawn dropped the letter, unable to watch as it floated to the ground. 'How did he do it? Did he stand, looking out across the street from the window, thinking of all the things he didn't have? Did he sit down on his bed, tears running down his face, deciding that he didn't have anything to live for?' Shawn trembled, putting his head in his hands as he sobbed quietly, ignoring Rebecca's one tired sniffles and small tears of a memory awakened.
Rebecca gently hugged him. As he returned the hug, he spotted a black ink blotch on the side of her hand. The fact remained in his mind, but then he hardly noticed the resemblance between that and the ink on the paper.
Over Shawn's shoulder, Rebecca smiled. Everything was going according to plan. The little blonde wrench was dead, Liz was probably a broken mess, and Shawn—Shawn was hers. All that remained was for her partner to finish the job on Liz, and for Shawn to bring her back where she belonged—in the spotlight, casting her shadow upon others. And then, and only then, would she get her dream.
The only ones who could stop it were Shawn and Liz, and they weren't talking.
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Author's Note: Ugh. Gay ending. Anyway, a late Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays to everyone! Sorry it's been so long w/out updating! Hopefully this will get my story back on track! I've missed you guys! And I've got 100 reviews! Okay 101, but YES! Thank everyone who reviewed!! *gives everyone who reviewed a huge teddy bear*! I love you guys so much!! Please keep reviewing!! Chapter 50 is coming up soon! Wow… Anyway, please continue to review! Have a happy winter break! I'll try and update as often as possible! If you're bored, check out "So I Need You", it's what made this story so delayed! Well, goodnight!! Please review!