Disclaimer: Wherefore art thou, Randy?
Leigh awoke at 7:15 the next morning to bright sunshine and a banging in her head; however, there was no leisurely getting out of bed. No long, languid stretch as she contemplated the day that lay ahead. There was only the shrill ringing coming from the nightstand as she heard Randy curse from under the covers and wrap his arms more firmly around her waist. Leigh fumbled for the ringing phone, trying not to open her eyes.
"I hate you," she stated in lieu of hello, hoping it wasn't Vince or, worse yet, her mother.
"I'm not running today, Leigh; you can't make me," a deep voice replied, not caring.
"Dave, my head is pounding and the room is still spinning and you expect me to run?"
"You know, there's a McDonald's around the corner… Would walking there count as exercise?"
"Bacon, egg and cheese?" She asked hopefully
"Meet me in the lobby in ten."
Leigh hung up the phone and sighed, lying back against her pillows. Randy had rolled over onto his back and his breathing was deep and regular; he had fallen back asleep. She got out of bed and went into the bathroom, washed her face, brushed her teeth and pulled her hair back again. Throwing on some clean clothes, she walked back into the bedroom and took in the sight. It had been well over a year since she'd awoken with a man in her bed and, while she loved Jim dearly, he was nothing like Randy Orton. The sheets had been pulled down since Leigh got out of bed and now hung loosely around his waist; the stark whiteness contrasting against Randy's tan skin. One leg was thrown on top of the covers, bent slightly at the knee, giving the allusion of nakedness. His perfectly sculpted abdominal muscles rose up and down as he breathed his deep slumber and fumbled for someone on Leigh's empty side of the bed. Realizing that he hadn't moved to the center of the mattress when she got up, she understood that Randy was unaccustomed to sleeping alone. She sighed again and, picking up her wallet and room key, left as silently as she could.
The hallways and elevator were deserted at this hour of the morning, all members of the roster still trying to sleep off their hangovers. Walking into the lobby, she collapsed on a frilly sofa that was too uncomfortable to be practical and waited for Dave. He strolled in a few minutes later in a pair of black track pants and a gray Redskins t-shirt. His short hair was mussed and he had dark circles under his eyes.
"You look like you had a rough night," Leigh said as she stood up and linked her arm with his own tree-like arm.
"You didn't sound too happy yourself a few minutes ago. What happened to you last night?" He chuckled as they stepped out onto the bustling streets of Toronto's downtown district. People in suits carrying briefcases with cell phones attached to their ears surrounded them in every direction, trying desperately to get to their offices before the 8am bell rang. Just as she had suspected, it was an entirely different city from this time yesterday morning. Dave and Leigh were jostled as they strolled in the bright morning sunlight, their eyes hidden behind sunglasses and their heads hanging low.
"Met up with an old friend I hadn't seen in a long time. Jose's a great guy, but he leaves me feeling like shit the next day; it's really not any way to treat a lady," she smiled as they turned the corner.
"Cuervo, huh? I didn't think you drank that stuff…"
"I don't; now I remember why," she grinned. They walked in silence the remainder of the way; the cool morning air doing as much to rid Leigh of her hangover as the thought of a greasy bacon, egg and cheese biscuit. "What did you guys do last night?"
"Something really stupid," Dave said glumly as he opened the door to the fast food chain and ushered her inside. He removed his sunglasses as they went up to the counter and ordered, Leigh casting sideways glances at him the entire time. Picking up their orders, they decided on a seat outside on the playground overlooking the city; Dave put his sunglasses back on and kept them there for the remainder of breakfast. "I took a girl back to the room with me last night," he said finally.
Leigh was silent as she looked at her good friend, not knowing how she was supposed to respond to that or even if she should. She took a sip of her Coke, wincing slightly as it burned down her throat, and waited for him to continue. "I'm such an ass. After the match, I called home and talked to Angie and the girls, told them I loved them. Not three hours later I'm hooking up with some random in the back of the limo and telling her to come back to my room."
"Did you—"
"Yeah, a couple times. Until somebody knocked on my door around 3; scared the shit out of me. I realized what I was doing and called her a cab and sent her home." Dave picked at his food, not able to look Leigh in the eyes. "What do I do?"
"I can't answer that, Dave. You did it, it can't be undone. Are you going to tell her?" Leigh answered as she took a bite of her biscuit and moaned in ecstasy. "Sorry," she mumbled.
"I don't know; I have to, I guess. I should suck it up and tell her, at least let her know how much of an ass I am, right? Jesus, what have I done?" He propped his elbows on the table and held his head in his hands, utter defeat weighing heavily on his massive shoulders. "The three of them are the best thing I've got going right now; we've been doing so well these past couple years and I go and screw it up again."
"Is it okay if I'm totally nosy and ask you questions that are absolutely none of my business? Feel free to say no," Leigh said as she wiped her mouth with a napkin, her pension for grease having been completely absolved on hearing Dave's confession.
"Shoot," he answered.
"Why were you guys having problems in the first place, before she was diagnosed?"
"Same shit. I was on the road all the time, leaving Angie to take care of the girls and work and all the house stuff. She said she hadn't signed on for that when we got married. I got pissed at having her nag me all the time, so I was signing up for extra shows whenever they needed me and picking up girls in every city. When she got cancer, though, it all changed; I realized how close I was to losing her and nothing else interested me anymore." He trailed off and fumbled with the lid on his coffee cup, apparently having lost his appetite as well. "As a woman, would you want to know if your husband cheated on you?"
Leigh pondered this momentarily. "Yeah, but I'm masochistic that way. Cheating's always been a deal breaker for me in any relationship, but I've never gone through with anyone what you and Angie have been through together. Why the sudden change, though? If you had been thinking you'd lose her and devoted yourself to being with her, why all of the sudden do you go back to doing what got you in trouble in the first place?"
"Hell if I know. I'd been drinking and the girl was just there. I guess I wanted attention and she was more than willing to give it to me. I never intended it to go as far as it did."
"Twice."
"You're not helping, Leigh," Dave growled at her.
She sighed and cleared her throat, pushing the food away and leaned forward on the table, taking his hand in hers. "I know, I'm sorry; this really isn't my area of expertise. Sweetheart, you know I love you and would do anything for you, even if it is just listening to you vent, but somebody like Ric might be better able to give you advice on how best to handle this."
"I was already thinking about talking to him, but just wanted to… I don't know, get your opinion and see what a woman's take would be on the whole thing."
"Honestly, you're going to have to assume Angie finds out; no matter what you do, something stupid will come along and she'll find out. Absolutely worst case scenario—God forbid—the girl winds up pregnant and shows up at your doorstep when Angie's home. Do you want your pregnant one-night-stand to tell your wife what happened or would you rather have her already know about it?"
"That's an ugly possibility that I can't think about right now."
"Are you willing to give up your job to save your marriage?"
"I don't know. I'm finally getting to where I've worked for the past 10 years to be. I've wanted to be a wrestler longer than I've loved Ange…"
"Marriages can get past a lot worse than what happened last night, but both people have to be willing to work at it and be able to trust one another. If you tell her and she's willing to forgive you, it's going to take a lot of effort on your part to win back her trust. You'll probably need to go to couples counseling and she might ask you to stay off the road; you'll need to figure out if you can do that for her. I'm sorry, Dave, I know this sucks and if I could do anything to help you out I would…"
"No, there's nothing you can do, but I appreciate it. Sorry to have dragged you down in all this anyway; I probably shouldn't have told you."
"I'm glad you did. I know I wasn't really any help, but… I definitely think you should talk to Ric, at least, before you do anything. He'll be able to give you a more balanced opinion." She looked at her watch and realized they'd been sitting at the table, neither one eating, for over an hour. Their remnants from breakfast were scattered around the table and the wind rustled the empty wrappers.
Dave sighed as he, too, looked at the time and realized they needed to get back to the hotel to make the drive to London. Gathering up their trash and throwing it away, he walked back to Leigh and enveloped the small woman in a hug that nearly crushed her. "I really appreciate you listening to all this bullshit. I know it's not a great way to start the day, but… thanks." She squeezed her arms around his waist and rubbed at the large man's back, not envying his position in his personal life. She knew Dave loved his family and wanted to keep them together, but she couldn't fathom why he had risked it all last night. She only wished Randy had knocked her into Dave's door earlier in the night so maybe it would have prevented anything from happening.
"Shit, Randy…" she mumbled aloud.
"I'm Dave, but people get us confused a lot. I think it's the tattoos," he mumbled into her hair. She laughed, greatful that he was trying to lighten the mood.
"Thanks for clearing that up, but I left him in my room. I should probably pick something up for him before we head back."
"Randy stayed with you last night?" Dave asked incredulously. There was an obvious attraction between the two, but he never thought anything would happen so soon. He pulled away from her to look her in the eyes, but Leigh blushed and looked down.
"It was completely innocent. Honestly. We drank a lot and watched tv and then passed out. End of story," she answered with an air of finality. She didn't want anyone to know anything that happened; even as innocent as the kiss was—wasn't it?—Leigh knew it would get twisted around courtesy of backstage gossip. She headed back inside to pick up some food to go, then rejoined Dave and they walked back to the hotel.
"No matter what happens with Angie and the girls, you're going to be okay. You know that, right?" She asked after they had walked halfway in silence.
"As corny as it sounds, this business really is a cruel mistress; it takes time away from your family, your home, your friends. But when you try to give it up, it grabs hold of you: you miss everything about it. The fans, the adrenaline, the excitement…"
"Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!" Leigh automatically paraphrased the great Michael Corleone from The Godfather, complete with hand motions. Dave looked at her questioningly, not sure whether to laugh at her or be insulted that she was joking during one of his very rare philosophical moments. Leigh noticed his silence.
"Bad time?"
"Very."
"I thought all answers to life's questions were in The Godfather?"
"True, but how the hell is that the answer to my question of whether or not I should tell my wife I slept with another woman?"
"Ah, little grasshopper, you may interpret as you wish; the answer will come to you," she smiled at the big man as he held the door of the hotel open for her and they walked inside.
A/N: Sorry this has taken so long everybody. It's been done for a while, but I wasn't sure if I liked it or not and so delayed posting. I'm going to have to do nothing but write to get caught up to where RAW is now. Preview for Ch. 12: Evolution attacks Randy! Wow, I'm behind.