Aw, all of these reviews. You guys make me feel special! -blushes- Okay on with this. Sorry this took a while to churn out but I've got real life to deal with which sucks, so review if you like or whatever. I'm not sure of this chapter, it's sort of a transition piece and I just want to send a special thank you to lucyzigg who mentioned me in a note on one of her stories, which I highly enjoyed, story, not the note, I mean the note was great too. Okay stopping babbling! Anyway, How kind is that? Man, thanks. All of you, go check out her stories. They're all very good. Anyway, on with it...
---
"I'm staying."
The alcohol had wore off a bit but he still had a buzz going, a nice soothing buzz but that didn't mean he didn't feel awful about even considering drinking something good, he let her get to him, he let Trish just dig into him like she had done with Lita. And he felt like a fool.
"What?" Jeff rubbed his eyes, looking around the room and searching for his digital watch, his voice was still a bit rough from all the vomiting that Marisino had made him do but he didn't feel as horrible as he once had.
"I'm going to stay, she won't tell me why she left but I'll figure it out, somehow."
Jeff finally found his watch and grabbed the base of the phone, pulling it along as he reached for it. He read the face and sighed at the time : 4:15
"Bubba, we'll have to fix the plane tickets and where will we stay, motels get expensive..."
"I'm not staying at a hotel." He interrupted.
"What? Where are you going to stay then?"
"At Trish's place."
Jeff felt a twinge of jealousy go off inside him, she was going to let someone she didn't even know stay with her?!
"She's letting..."
"No, I'm forcing her to let me stay here." He interjected, he looked up the stairs and listened for any trace of movement but Jeff's screech filled his ear, distracting him for a moment.
"What!?" Jeff immediately regretted yelling when a shooting pain went through his head and he clutched it with his other arm. "Oh god."
"You don't deserve this headache, Jeff, but you let her get to you."
"I know, I know but Bubba..." He stopped as he finally let her words soak in, a junkie. Just a lousy junkie, not her best friend, not her former kissing partner but a junkie.
"Jeff?"
Bubba heard a sob on the other end of the phone and sighed. At the beginning of this whole search, Lita was the only person who could get him but ever since he saw the sight of a sad Jeff, he couldn't help but give him the manly hug, just letting it linger a bit more than usual for guys. Jeff reminded him a lot of his brother, Spike. Tough on the outside but so soft on the inside.
"I'm a junkie and she's right, she's right, Bubba. I'll never be a wrestler again and I'm worthless to..."
"Hey, don't you say that. Ever again, you hear me? I'm serious, Jeff. You made a mistake, lots of people do. Maybe I'm making a mistake trying to stay here but I have to try." He harshly whispered.
He sniffled, brushing away the tears with the back of his hand. "What am I going to tell Lita? That she's alive and doesn't care about us and that one of her only friends is going to stay behind and just forget about her?"
"Jeff, I'm not forgetting her, okay? Don't ever accuse me of that."
"Why are you staying then? To get dumped on? Have her call you a fat loser?" He yelled, getting frustrated.
"Jeff, I have to help." He said, moving away from the stairs and into the kitchen, taking a look around this room as well, his eyes drifted from tiny roosters sitting on top of a cabinet.
"Help at home, come back. Let her be, Bubba. She doesn't want help." Jeff pleaded, he could feel the tears rising up again and tried to hold them back.
"I've got to try."
Jeff sighed. Why the hell should he care? He should care about Lita, damn it. Not someone who treated his best friends like garbage.
"Fine." He spat, venom filling his voice. "Stay there, become best friends with her, braid her stupid hair. I don't care but Bubba Ray Dudley, I am not going to tell Lita that you're staying. You are. I'm not going to break her heart like that."
Bubba frowned, never in the past few hours had he thought that this would break Lita's heart or hurt her in any way, sure, she would miss him but her heart broken?
"Jeff..."
"I'm going now. Be sure to cancel your plane ticket and bring in the van so you won't be charged extra. Goodbye." He replied curtly, before slamming the phone down onto the receiver.
Bubba growled when he heard that telltale click on the other end. He flipped his phone closed and settled against the counter. Would this just drive a wedge between the friends who had become some of his best in a couple of months? Would Trish really admit to what happened that made her run so far?
There were so many more questions and so many possible answers that it made Bubba's head hurt so.
He glanced out the kitchen window above her sink and sighed, he watched the sky in wonder, he had never seen so many stars in the sky before. He smiled at the sight but inside he wondered if he was doing the right thing. Only time would tell.
Jeff glanced at the phone in his hand and let out a cry as he hurled it out into the dark, he winced when the sound of plastic breaking hit his ears.
Why the hell did he go and say those things? Was he afraid of Bubba getting hurt or something else?
Maybe it was because he wasn't the one that was going to help. After all, he was just a junkie.
---
Her head was throbbing and her body ached as she slowly woke, the cold tile floor chilled her skin so much that she was shivering as she sat up, half of her body was tangled in the rug and the rest had slept on the white tile, she still felt so tired, so worn out.
It was still dark outside as she pulled herself up from the floor, she clung to the sink as she tried to steady herself, she glanced up at her reflection in the mirror and sighed. She looked like crap, her hair was filled with little fuzz from the rug and her the dark circles under her eyes made her seem even more haggard than she felt.
It wasn't a dream, Bubba was here. She had dreamed a beautiful dream filled with friends filled with excitement over her baby with baskets filled with the essentials that a new mom would want.
She smiled at the picture in her head, she wanted it to be that way. A whole family involved with a tiny miracle, they would dress up in pink and parade around the world showing off how cute they were together but it wouldn't happen that way.
Trish remembered what happened when her cousin got pregnant at twenty, she was ushered off to a facility and forced to give her baby away. Even though she was an adult, there were some things that you had to do in the Stratus family. You had to live up to an ideal, marriage, children. Always in that order, no other way.
Otherwise, there were consequences to deal with.
Trish shook her head lightly and turned on the water, she splashed her face and took a giant breath. She didn't want to go downstairs, she didn't want to face this. Hiding was so much better, yes, she was a coward but being a coward meant she didn't have to face the truth.
She slowly opened her bathroom door and stepped out into her bedroom, it was quiet, the kind of quiet that always happened before the storm, she grabbed the robe from the top of her bed and made her way to the bedroom door, she poked her head out, the table that had been knocked over in a haste to get to her bathroom was back up against the wall.
She tiptoed down her staircase and sneered at his bags, they now sat against the couch, sitting there, being bags. She'd never thought she'd hate a pair of suitcases so much, hell, she'd never thought she'd ever hate an inanimate object so much but they represented something more.
The truth.
Pesky little truth. She continued to tip toe over to the couch, making sure she was quiet as possible, she was able to see with the help of the small night light off in the corner that there was a folded up blanket in the middle of the couch. She cursed as silently as she could, she didn't wanna face him so early, she wanted to have the upperhand.
She walked into her kitchen, trying to look as casual as she could, she didn't want another yesterday, she expected to find him sitting at the kitchen table, eating all her crap but she was surprised when she didn't find Bubba there either.
"Where the hell could he be?" She whispered.
And then she spotted him, outside on her deck, on her porch swing, just sitting there and staring out into space. She walked closer to the window, hoping that he wouldn't see her, she studied his face for a moment. She had never been close to Bubba, he had been very professional with her during their angles and matches. He was always so happy joking with Spike or Lita, making all the guys laugh. But now he just looked different.
Tired would be a good word, maybe even sad. She wondered what he was thinking about, usually she'd go right up to someone and ask but she knew the conversation would result in a barrage of questions directed at her so she kept quiet and continued to watch him from afar.
---
The view from her deck was really spectacular, past the property there was a small river and it seemed like it was something out a book, something so quiet, so beautiful, so delicate that it could only be real in the pages of a great American novel.
This really was Mayberry, it had been a joke, just a simple joke but after reading an old local paper that was sitting on her kitchen counter and glancing at the headline of the day, "Firefighters save kittens from tree."
He shook his head in disbelief, back in his town, murder number seventy five, a local rape would be plastered all over the newspaper but here, the local festival for the town founding was just around the corner made big news on page two.
He knew that this was a place Trish probably found and knew she couldn't leave because of the charm, the beauty but the cynical side of his brain also thought about the ideas that probably went through her mind. How she would never be found, how no one would ever be able to track her down with a fake name in a tiny piss ant town in the middle of one of the most populous state in the union.
He kept his eyes on the line of trees but he noticed movement off to the side, it was Trish. Watching him from the window in the door, he glanced over, making sure she didn't noticed him looking back at her.
Bubba moved his eyes away from her and back to the view but she was still there in his head, he didn't know why he took such a drastic step to get her to admit why she ran, he was just frustrated with her. All the things that had went down with Jeff and Lita, something had to be seriously wrong with Trish for her to push away her friends so violently.
He would need to make a few calls to Lita to handle his bills, make sure she informed Spike and D'Von of his move before he could talk to them in detail about what was happening, go back to the motel and check in on Jeff, make sure he was sober and smack him for even putting a drop of alcohol on his lips but he was staying, it wouldn't be an empty threat. He would follow this through.
He would make her fess up to what happened, if he had to be the most annoying man on the planet he would, if it meant he had to give everything he had to make her tell him. He would. What else could he do? Sit home and console a heartbroken Lita, try to pry a bottle out of Jeff Hardy's hand?
Staying with Trish would be a welcome distraction, no matter how much venom she spewed at him, it would still be the most amazing experience to see her alive, talking, walking. Doing all the things that they thought they'd ever see her do again.
His thoughts came to a halt when he noticed a lamp in her kitchen come to life, filling the room with a warm glow. She had finally let herself be known, he got up and grabbed the knob and twisted.
It was locked.
"Open the door, Trish." He yelled, banging his hand on the window. She turned and laughed, a smile crossing his features.
"Oh, who, me? Are you taking to me?" She asked, feigning innocence. God damn it, why did she have to be so angelic when she was being such a smart ass?
"Who the hell else am I talking to?"
"Hm, you've got a point." She tapped her chin, looking thoughtful for a moment before ripping open the silver package in her hands.
"Open the door." He stated, trying to remain calm.
"No, I don't have to." She smiled as she took a bite of her cold pop tart.
"I will smash this window in and open the door." He warned, his fist poised to follow through.
"I have an alarm system, if you do, cops will come and take you away and then you'll meet a charming man down at the jail, also named Bubba, who will just love making you his wife."
"Okay first of all, you need to stop watching that prison show that Jeff kept talking about and secondly, the cops come, I've got proof that I know you, I'm not breaking in."
"Pft, what proof?" She dismissed him with a wave of the hand.
"Oh, well, besides the missing person's flyers. I've got this."
He pulled out the photo of Trish, Lita and Jeff, and slammed it against the window. Trish jumped at the noise that his hand made and her face fell at the image that was staring back at her. It was the same picture she had taken out of the frame, that last night in Toronto and laid onto her desk. She considered taking it, she spent a full minute deciding whether to take it or leave it behind. And now it was here, right in front of her, just like both of her friends had been.
And now they were gone.
Because of her.
She could feel the tears beginning to well up and he noticed as well, he pulled it away from the window and slipped it back into his pocket.
"Please, Trish."
Trish sniffled but held back the tears from falling, she made her way to the door, unlocking it and turning her back to him, going back to the kitchen counter and trying to find something to busy herself with.
"Trish..."
"Just leave me alone." She shot back, not turning to face him. She was rubbing furiously at a stain that had been there the day she got there.
"I can't."
She ignored him, focusing on the stain, she rubbed harder with the kitchen towel.
"Trish!" He yelled, grabbing her arm.
"Why? I asked it once before, Bubba. Why do you care?" She cried, pulling away from his reach and finally facing him, her eyes locked with his.
Bubba averted his gaze and considered her question for a moment and couldn't find the answer besides that feeling in the back of his head, telling him to do so. "I'll tell you when you answer why you left."
"Then I guess you'll be here for a while."
"I guess so."
---
Victoria watched as Trish sat on the edge of her couch, her body was shaking and she was gripping the edge of the cushion, her nails digging into the fabric.
"So, wait, that guy with the freaky colored hair and the big one that I saw pounding on your door, are your old friends?" She asked, watching Trish as she bounced her knee.
"Yes, oh god, Vic, he's not leaving. He's going to find out, he's going to go run and tell everything to everyone." She whispered, desperately trying to figure anything out, she was being thrown off her game and she was having a hard time finding her way back.
"You can't just run away, Patricia. You've already done it and they obviously cared enough about you to find you, halfway across the country. They'll do it again and again and again. You're getting bigger by the day, you can't hide it."
Trish glanced at her friend, god damn there was that truth again, popping up, always spoiling her plans.
"Why don't you just kick him out, call the police?"
Trish ran her hands through her hair, cursing as her ring got caught in one of the strands.
"Because, unh, they put out a missing person's alert on me. If I do go, then the cops will stop looking for me and every stupid internet reporter and fan will show up on my doorstep." She let out a grunt as she yanked her hand down, pulling a few hairs out of her head.
Victoria winced as she watched her drop a few strands of brown hair onto her carpet.
"You're going to have to calm down." She said.
"How can I stay calm? He's going to fuck everything up." Trish cried, burying her head in her hands.
"If you don't stay calm, it could hurt the baby."
Trish jerked her head up quickly, she hadn't thought of that. Victoria was right, all the worrying could hurt the baby. Worrying herself sick over this wouldn't make Bubba go away, it would just make her even more exhausted than she already was.
"But what am I going to do?"
Victoria shrugged slowly. "Maybe you'll have to tell him."
Trish shook her head slowly, there had to be a better option. Just had to be. "Maybe, I don't know. The doctor said I'll probably start really showing in a month so I guess I'll have to figure out what the hell I'm going to do in that time. "
"Why are you so afraid to tell, is it just because of your parents or is it..."
"No!" She snapped, quickly grimacing as she saw the look of shock on Vic's face.
"I'm sorry. When I tell him, everyone will find out, my family, my former coworkers and the baby's father. And he'll come back and just... I don't know what he'll do but it's bad, he's cocky and he's always trying to hurt people."
Victoria nodded and took this in. "Why don't you just ask him not to?"
"Not to what?"
"Not say anything about the baby. Your blue haired friend knows that you're alive and he can tell that girlfriend of yours and only you guys can know that you're found and only Bubba can know that you're pregnant, for now, at least. Do you think you can trust him?"
"I don't know. I don't think so, I think he would go running to his best friend and just blab to her."
Victoria sighed and leaned back against the couch cushions. "Well, I don't know what to tell you."
"I don't know either."
They settled into the silence until they heard a loud banging coming from outside, they heard a curse and then some more banging. Victoria walked over to the picture window and signaled for Trish to come over to.
There was Bubba, in the mid-afternoon sun trying to fix her fence with a hammer and an angry look on his face. They both winced as he sent the hammer flying towards the board and he screamed in frustration, throwing both the broken piece of fence and the hammer to the ground.
"Okay, now I understand the dilemma. I'd be afraid too." Victoria said, laughing weakly while Trish kept her eyes on the man in her yard.
"Yeah. I'll be back, probably."
Victoria nodded, watching Bubba pick up the fence again. "Oh hey, give me a call for anything, you know I'm here for whatever."
"Thanks" Trish smiled and slipped out her front door, closing it behind her. She straightened her baggy shirt and walked down her friend's steps, slowly, trying to drag it out before having to face him again. She had locked herself in her room after their encounter in the kitchen, she reminded herself to stay calm as she walked over to her fence.
"What are you doing?" She asked, her voice quiet as she leaned over the fence to look at what he was hammering.
"Trying to fix your fence." He said, his voice wasn't cold or angry, it just had nothing in it, something that Trish always hated, no matter who it was, be it a man who was barging in on her home, trying to find out her greatest secrets or her best friend.
"I think Victoria has a drill..."
"Is that her name?"
"Huh?" She asked, her brow knitting in confusion.
"Your new best friend." He grunted as he swung the hammer down, trying to knock the nail down into place on the hinge but the nail fell out of the hinge and the metal came slamming down onto the wood. She winced as Bubba cursed again.
"She's not my best friend, she's just been there for me. You're doing this all wrong, you know."
He rolled his eyes and dropped his materials, standing up and placing his hands on his hips while he raised his eyebrow.
"How do you suggest I do this?"
"You could use a drill."
"I don't want her drill."
He grabbed the fence again and snatched the hammer out of Trish's hand as she was bringing it to him.
"Stop acting like you're five, Bubba." She snapped, he sneered at her which made her angrier. "And where the hell do you get off touching my things?"
"Oh, wow, look who's acting five." He snarked, kneeling back down. "It's not like I went into your panty drawer and rifled through your things. I just went into the toolbox in your kitchen and oh, lo and behold, tools!"
He shoved the nails and hammer in her direction, letting them fall at her feet, she jumped back and moved out of his way, as he walked past her and next to the red van. "I just tried to help but I see that you don't want me to so I'm going to go for a few hours, I have business to attend to."
"Business?" She whispered to herself as he got into the drivers seat.
"Hopefully, you'll still be here when I get back."
And with that, he drove off, heading back down the lane again. She frowned as she picked up the nails and hammer from the sidewalk, she'd call Hank to fix it, he had already been so kind to fix a broken porch rail and a leaking sink.
Trish set the broken fence off to the side and headed up the stairs. She slowly walked back into the living room, giving Bubba's bags a good look before walking past them again, she could still see the van in the distance, getting smaller and smaller with every second.
When she couldn't make it out anymore, she closed the door shut and made a dash for his bags, she dropped to her knees and zipped open the smaller of the bags, it was filled with missing persons papers, different photos, same header, same info, so many different photos.
She set them carefully over to the side and looked through the rest of it, toiletries met her fingers, she made a mental note in her head about their placement and dug deeper her fingers met a smoothness that only reminded her of one thing. Photos.
She pulled them out slowly and gasped when she stared back at the one on top of the small pile.
It was almost identical to the one that she had considered taking in Toronto except Bubba had replaced her. She flipped through the others, a few of a smiling Lita. She was thinner, a lot thinner actually and even though she was smiling, she was definitely tired.
There were some of Jeff, one of him flashing an old Hardy Boyz hand signal that made her smile and one of him, sitting in front of what seemed to be a half a dozen or so phones. Phone bank. She frowned when she got to the final picture, another of them, sitting together in Lita's yard, out in the garden.
Had Bubba taken her place? It seemed so in these photos. Could two months really change everything so?
She whipped her head around to the door when she heard the slam of a car door, she shoved everything as carefully as she could back into the bag and by the time Bubba was up by the door, she had hopped up and was steady on her feet when she noticed something. As did he.
She was still holding his bag.
"What are you doing?" He asked, shutting the door behind him, not taking his eye of her.
"I..." She searched for words to come but couldn't find anything besides useful grunts like "Uh" "Gah" and "Bah"
And then it came to her, she didn't know why or how it even got past her lips but it did.
"I was taking them up to your room." NO!
"My room?" He asked, skeptical, waiting for her to smart something off about throwing his stuff out of a second story window.
"Guest room, got a small bed in it." What the hell is wrong with you!? She couldn't stop, her mouth kept moving while her brain screamed for her to push him out, do anything but offer up a room.
"Where is it?"
"Second door on the left." She quietly said.
He smiled at her, it was something genuine, something she hadn't seen in a long while and she gave him a polite smile. He watched her for a second, hoping that there would be a flash of the old Trish there. Unfortunately, there wasn't, he gently took the bag from her and grabbed the heavier and larger of the door and descended up the stairs but stopped halfway and turned back to her.
"I'm only here to help, honestly, Trish. I don't mean any harm."
Trish watched him as he turned back and disappeared upstairs. She couldn't believe what she had just pulled out of her ass, what the hell was she thinking, why didn't she just yell and scream and pout? But now she offered him a room and a smile.
All she could think of over and over again, was the same question he had asked her. Why?
---
"I'm staying."
The alcohol had wore off a bit but he still had a buzz going, a nice soothing buzz but that didn't mean he didn't feel awful about even considering drinking something good, he let her get to him, he let Trish just dig into him like she had done with Lita. And he felt like a fool.
"What?" Jeff rubbed his eyes, looking around the room and searching for his digital watch, his voice was still a bit rough from all the vomiting that Marisino had made him do but he didn't feel as horrible as he once had.
"I'm going to stay, she won't tell me why she left but I'll figure it out, somehow."
Jeff finally found his watch and grabbed the base of the phone, pulling it along as he reached for it. He read the face and sighed at the time : 4:15
"Bubba, we'll have to fix the plane tickets and where will we stay, motels get expensive..."
"I'm not staying at a hotel." He interrupted.
"What? Where are you going to stay then?"
"At Trish's place."
Jeff felt a twinge of jealousy go off inside him, she was going to let someone she didn't even know stay with her?!
"She's letting..."
"No, I'm forcing her to let me stay here." He interjected, he looked up the stairs and listened for any trace of movement but Jeff's screech filled his ear, distracting him for a moment.
"What!?" Jeff immediately regretted yelling when a shooting pain went through his head and he clutched it with his other arm. "Oh god."
"You don't deserve this headache, Jeff, but you let her get to you."
"I know, I know but Bubba..." He stopped as he finally let her words soak in, a junkie. Just a lousy junkie, not her best friend, not her former kissing partner but a junkie.
"Jeff?"
Bubba heard a sob on the other end of the phone and sighed. At the beginning of this whole search, Lita was the only person who could get him but ever since he saw the sight of a sad Jeff, he couldn't help but give him the manly hug, just letting it linger a bit more than usual for guys. Jeff reminded him a lot of his brother, Spike. Tough on the outside but so soft on the inside.
"I'm a junkie and she's right, she's right, Bubba. I'll never be a wrestler again and I'm worthless to..."
"Hey, don't you say that. Ever again, you hear me? I'm serious, Jeff. You made a mistake, lots of people do. Maybe I'm making a mistake trying to stay here but I have to try." He harshly whispered.
He sniffled, brushing away the tears with the back of his hand. "What am I going to tell Lita? That she's alive and doesn't care about us and that one of her only friends is going to stay behind and just forget about her?"
"Jeff, I'm not forgetting her, okay? Don't ever accuse me of that."
"Why are you staying then? To get dumped on? Have her call you a fat loser?" He yelled, getting frustrated.
"Jeff, I have to help." He said, moving away from the stairs and into the kitchen, taking a look around this room as well, his eyes drifted from tiny roosters sitting on top of a cabinet.
"Help at home, come back. Let her be, Bubba. She doesn't want help." Jeff pleaded, he could feel the tears rising up again and tried to hold them back.
"I've got to try."
Jeff sighed. Why the hell should he care? He should care about Lita, damn it. Not someone who treated his best friends like garbage.
"Fine." He spat, venom filling his voice. "Stay there, become best friends with her, braid her stupid hair. I don't care but Bubba Ray Dudley, I am not going to tell Lita that you're staying. You are. I'm not going to break her heart like that."
Bubba frowned, never in the past few hours had he thought that this would break Lita's heart or hurt her in any way, sure, she would miss him but her heart broken?
"Jeff..."
"I'm going now. Be sure to cancel your plane ticket and bring in the van so you won't be charged extra. Goodbye." He replied curtly, before slamming the phone down onto the receiver.
Bubba growled when he heard that telltale click on the other end. He flipped his phone closed and settled against the counter. Would this just drive a wedge between the friends who had become some of his best in a couple of months? Would Trish really admit to what happened that made her run so far?
There were so many more questions and so many possible answers that it made Bubba's head hurt so.
He glanced out the kitchen window above her sink and sighed, he watched the sky in wonder, he had never seen so many stars in the sky before. He smiled at the sight but inside he wondered if he was doing the right thing. Only time would tell.
Jeff glanced at the phone in his hand and let out a cry as he hurled it out into the dark, he winced when the sound of plastic breaking hit his ears.
Why the hell did he go and say those things? Was he afraid of Bubba getting hurt or something else?
Maybe it was because he wasn't the one that was going to help. After all, he was just a junkie.
---
Her head was throbbing and her body ached as she slowly woke, the cold tile floor chilled her skin so much that she was shivering as she sat up, half of her body was tangled in the rug and the rest had slept on the white tile, she still felt so tired, so worn out.
It was still dark outside as she pulled herself up from the floor, she clung to the sink as she tried to steady herself, she glanced up at her reflection in the mirror and sighed. She looked like crap, her hair was filled with little fuzz from the rug and her the dark circles under her eyes made her seem even more haggard than she felt.
It wasn't a dream, Bubba was here. She had dreamed a beautiful dream filled with friends filled with excitement over her baby with baskets filled with the essentials that a new mom would want.
She smiled at the picture in her head, she wanted it to be that way. A whole family involved with a tiny miracle, they would dress up in pink and parade around the world showing off how cute they were together but it wouldn't happen that way.
Trish remembered what happened when her cousin got pregnant at twenty, she was ushered off to a facility and forced to give her baby away. Even though she was an adult, there were some things that you had to do in the Stratus family. You had to live up to an ideal, marriage, children. Always in that order, no other way.
Otherwise, there were consequences to deal with.
Trish shook her head lightly and turned on the water, she splashed her face and took a giant breath. She didn't want to go downstairs, she didn't want to face this. Hiding was so much better, yes, she was a coward but being a coward meant she didn't have to face the truth.
She slowly opened her bathroom door and stepped out into her bedroom, it was quiet, the kind of quiet that always happened before the storm, she grabbed the robe from the top of her bed and made her way to the bedroom door, she poked her head out, the table that had been knocked over in a haste to get to her bathroom was back up against the wall.
She tiptoed down her staircase and sneered at his bags, they now sat against the couch, sitting there, being bags. She'd never thought she'd hate a pair of suitcases so much, hell, she'd never thought she'd ever hate an inanimate object so much but they represented something more.
The truth.
Pesky little truth. She continued to tip toe over to the couch, making sure she was quiet as possible, she was able to see with the help of the small night light off in the corner that there was a folded up blanket in the middle of the couch. She cursed as silently as she could, she didn't wanna face him so early, she wanted to have the upperhand.
She walked into her kitchen, trying to look as casual as she could, she didn't want another yesterday, she expected to find him sitting at the kitchen table, eating all her crap but she was surprised when she didn't find Bubba there either.
"Where the hell could he be?" She whispered.
And then she spotted him, outside on her deck, on her porch swing, just sitting there and staring out into space. She walked closer to the window, hoping that he wouldn't see her, she studied his face for a moment. She had never been close to Bubba, he had been very professional with her during their angles and matches. He was always so happy joking with Spike or Lita, making all the guys laugh. But now he just looked different.
Tired would be a good word, maybe even sad. She wondered what he was thinking about, usually she'd go right up to someone and ask but she knew the conversation would result in a barrage of questions directed at her so she kept quiet and continued to watch him from afar.
---
The view from her deck was really spectacular, past the property there was a small river and it seemed like it was something out a book, something so quiet, so beautiful, so delicate that it could only be real in the pages of a great American novel.
This really was Mayberry, it had been a joke, just a simple joke but after reading an old local paper that was sitting on her kitchen counter and glancing at the headline of the day, "Firefighters save kittens from tree."
He shook his head in disbelief, back in his town, murder number seventy five, a local rape would be plastered all over the newspaper but here, the local festival for the town founding was just around the corner made big news on page two.
He knew that this was a place Trish probably found and knew she couldn't leave because of the charm, the beauty but the cynical side of his brain also thought about the ideas that probably went through her mind. How she would never be found, how no one would ever be able to track her down with a fake name in a tiny piss ant town in the middle of one of the most populous state in the union.
He kept his eyes on the line of trees but he noticed movement off to the side, it was Trish. Watching him from the window in the door, he glanced over, making sure she didn't noticed him looking back at her.
Bubba moved his eyes away from her and back to the view but she was still there in his head, he didn't know why he took such a drastic step to get her to admit why she ran, he was just frustrated with her. All the things that had went down with Jeff and Lita, something had to be seriously wrong with Trish for her to push away her friends so violently.
He would need to make a few calls to Lita to handle his bills, make sure she informed Spike and D'Von of his move before he could talk to them in detail about what was happening, go back to the motel and check in on Jeff, make sure he was sober and smack him for even putting a drop of alcohol on his lips but he was staying, it wouldn't be an empty threat. He would follow this through.
He would make her fess up to what happened, if he had to be the most annoying man on the planet he would, if it meant he had to give everything he had to make her tell him. He would. What else could he do? Sit home and console a heartbroken Lita, try to pry a bottle out of Jeff Hardy's hand?
Staying with Trish would be a welcome distraction, no matter how much venom she spewed at him, it would still be the most amazing experience to see her alive, talking, walking. Doing all the things that they thought they'd ever see her do again.
His thoughts came to a halt when he noticed a lamp in her kitchen come to life, filling the room with a warm glow. She had finally let herself be known, he got up and grabbed the knob and twisted.
It was locked.
"Open the door, Trish." He yelled, banging his hand on the window. She turned and laughed, a smile crossing his features.
"Oh, who, me? Are you taking to me?" She asked, feigning innocence. God damn it, why did she have to be so angelic when she was being such a smart ass?
"Who the hell else am I talking to?"
"Hm, you've got a point." She tapped her chin, looking thoughtful for a moment before ripping open the silver package in her hands.
"Open the door." He stated, trying to remain calm.
"No, I don't have to." She smiled as she took a bite of her cold pop tart.
"I will smash this window in and open the door." He warned, his fist poised to follow through.
"I have an alarm system, if you do, cops will come and take you away and then you'll meet a charming man down at the jail, also named Bubba, who will just love making you his wife."
"Okay first of all, you need to stop watching that prison show that Jeff kept talking about and secondly, the cops come, I've got proof that I know you, I'm not breaking in."
"Pft, what proof?" She dismissed him with a wave of the hand.
"Oh, well, besides the missing person's flyers. I've got this."
He pulled out the photo of Trish, Lita and Jeff, and slammed it against the window. Trish jumped at the noise that his hand made and her face fell at the image that was staring back at her. It was the same picture she had taken out of the frame, that last night in Toronto and laid onto her desk. She considered taking it, she spent a full minute deciding whether to take it or leave it behind. And now it was here, right in front of her, just like both of her friends had been.
And now they were gone.
Because of her.
She could feel the tears beginning to well up and he noticed as well, he pulled it away from the window and slipped it back into his pocket.
"Please, Trish."
Trish sniffled but held back the tears from falling, she made her way to the door, unlocking it and turning her back to him, going back to the kitchen counter and trying to find something to busy herself with.
"Trish..."
"Just leave me alone." She shot back, not turning to face him. She was rubbing furiously at a stain that had been there the day she got there.
"I can't."
She ignored him, focusing on the stain, she rubbed harder with the kitchen towel.
"Trish!" He yelled, grabbing her arm.
"Why? I asked it once before, Bubba. Why do you care?" She cried, pulling away from his reach and finally facing him, her eyes locked with his.
Bubba averted his gaze and considered her question for a moment and couldn't find the answer besides that feeling in the back of his head, telling him to do so. "I'll tell you when you answer why you left."
"Then I guess you'll be here for a while."
"I guess so."
---
Victoria watched as Trish sat on the edge of her couch, her body was shaking and she was gripping the edge of the cushion, her nails digging into the fabric.
"So, wait, that guy with the freaky colored hair and the big one that I saw pounding on your door, are your old friends?" She asked, watching Trish as she bounced her knee.
"Yes, oh god, Vic, he's not leaving. He's going to find out, he's going to go run and tell everything to everyone." She whispered, desperately trying to figure anything out, she was being thrown off her game and she was having a hard time finding her way back.
"You can't just run away, Patricia. You've already done it and they obviously cared enough about you to find you, halfway across the country. They'll do it again and again and again. You're getting bigger by the day, you can't hide it."
Trish glanced at her friend, god damn there was that truth again, popping up, always spoiling her plans.
"Why don't you just kick him out, call the police?"
Trish ran her hands through her hair, cursing as her ring got caught in one of the strands.
"Because, unh, they put out a missing person's alert on me. If I do go, then the cops will stop looking for me and every stupid internet reporter and fan will show up on my doorstep." She let out a grunt as she yanked her hand down, pulling a few hairs out of her head.
Victoria winced as she watched her drop a few strands of brown hair onto her carpet.
"You're going to have to calm down." She said.
"How can I stay calm? He's going to fuck everything up." Trish cried, burying her head in her hands.
"If you don't stay calm, it could hurt the baby."
Trish jerked her head up quickly, she hadn't thought of that. Victoria was right, all the worrying could hurt the baby. Worrying herself sick over this wouldn't make Bubba go away, it would just make her even more exhausted than she already was.
"But what am I going to do?"
Victoria shrugged slowly. "Maybe you'll have to tell him."
Trish shook her head slowly, there had to be a better option. Just had to be. "Maybe, I don't know. The doctor said I'll probably start really showing in a month so I guess I'll have to figure out what the hell I'm going to do in that time. "
"Why are you so afraid to tell, is it just because of your parents or is it..."
"No!" She snapped, quickly grimacing as she saw the look of shock on Vic's face.
"I'm sorry. When I tell him, everyone will find out, my family, my former coworkers and the baby's father. And he'll come back and just... I don't know what he'll do but it's bad, he's cocky and he's always trying to hurt people."
Victoria nodded and took this in. "Why don't you just ask him not to?"
"Not to what?"
"Not say anything about the baby. Your blue haired friend knows that you're alive and he can tell that girlfriend of yours and only you guys can know that you're found and only Bubba can know that you're pregnant, for now, at least. Do you think you can trust him?"
"I don't know. I don't think so, I think he would go running to his best friend and just blab to her."
Victoria sighed and leaned back against the couch cushions. "Well, I don't know what to tell you."
"I don't know either."
They settled into the silence until they heard a loud banging coming from outside, they heard a curse and then some more banging. Victoria walked over to the picture window and signaled for Trish to come over to.
There was Bubba, in the mid-afternoon sun trying to fix her fence with a hammer and an angry look on his face. They both winced as he sent the hammer flying towards the board and he screamed in frustration, throwing both the broken piece of fence and the hammer to the ground.
"Okay, now I understand the dilemma. I'd be afraid too." Victoria said, laughing weakly while Trish kept her eyes on the man in her yard.
"Yeah. I'll be back, probably."
Victoria nodded, watching Bubba pick up the fence again. "Oh hey, give me a call for anything, you know I'm here for whatever."
"Thanks" Trish smiled and slipped out her front door, closing it behind her. She straightened her baggy shirt and walked down her friend's steps, slowly, trying to drag it out before having to face him again. She had locked herself in her room after their encounter in the kitchen, she reminded herself to stay calm as she walked over to her fence.
"What are you doing?" She asked, her voice quiet as she leaned over the fence to look at what he was hammering.
"Trying to fix your fence." He said, his voice wasn't cold or angry, it just had nothing in it, something that Trish always hated, no matter who it was, be it a man who was barging in on her home, trying to find out her greatest secrets or her best friend.
"I think Victoria has a drill..."
"Is that her name?"
"Huh?" She asked, her brow knitting in confusion.
"Your new best friend." He grunted as he swung the hammer down, trying to knock the nail down into place on the hinge but the nail fell out of the hinge and the metal came slamming down onto the wood. She winced as Bubba cursed again.
"She's not my best friend, she's just been there for me. You're doing this all wrong, you know."
He rolled his eyes and dropped his materials, standing up and placing his hands on his hips while he raised his eyebrow.
"How do you suggest I do this?"
"You could use a drill."
"I don't want her drill."
He grabbed the fence again and snatched the hammer out of Trish's hand as she was bringing it to him.
"Stop acting like you're five, Bubba." She snapped, he sneered at her which made her angrier. "And where the hell do you get off touching my things?"
"Oh, wow, look who's acting five." He snarked, kneeling back down. "It's not like I went into your panty drawer and rifled through your things. I just went into the toolbox in your kitchen and oh, lo and behold, tools!"
He shoved the nails and hammer in her direction, letting them fall at her feet, she jumped back and moved out of his way, as he walked past her and next to the red van. "I just tried to help but I see that you don't want me to so I'm going to go for a few hours, I have business to attend to."
"Business?" She whispered to herself as he got into the drivers seat.
"Hopefully, you'll still be here when I get back."
And with that, he drove off, heading back down the lane again. She frowned as she picked up the nails and hammer from the sidewalk, she'd call Hank to fix it, he had already been so kind to fix a broken porch rail and a leaking sink.
Trish set the broken fence off to the side and headed up the stairs. She slowly walked back into the living room, giving Bubba's bags a good look before walking past them again, she could still see the van in the distance, getting smaller and smaller with every second.
When she couldn't make it out anymore, she closed the door shut and made a dash for his bags, she dropped to her knees and zipped open the smaller of the bags, it was filled with missing persons papers, different photos, same header, same info, so many different photos.
She set them carefully over to the side and looked through the rest of it, toiletries met her fingers, she made a mental note in her head about their placement and dug deeper her fingers met a smoothness that only reminded her of one thing. Photos.
She pulled them out slowly and gasped when she stared back at the one on top of the small pile.
It was almost identical to the one that she had considered taking in Toronto except Bubba had replaced her. She flipped through the others, a few of a smiling Lita. She was thinner, a lot thinner actually and even though she was smiling, she was definitely tired.
There were some of Jeff, one of him flashing an old Hardy Boyz hand signal that made her smile and one of him, sitting in front of what seemed to be a half a dozen or so phones. Phone bank. She frowned when she got to the final picture, another of them, sitting together in Lita's yard, out in the garden.
Had Bubba taken her place? It seemed so in these photos. Could two months really change everything so?
She whipped her head around to the door when she heard the slam of a car door, she shoved everything as carefully as she could back into the bag and by the time Bubba was up by the door, she had hopped up and was steady on her feet when she noticed something. As did he.
She was still holding his bag.
"What are you doing?" He asked, shutting the door behind him, not taking his eye of her.
"I..." She searched for words to come but couldn't find anything besides useful grunts like "Uh" "Gah" and "Bah"
And then it came to her, she didn't know why or how it even got past her lips but it did.
"I was taking them up to your room." NO!
"My room?" He asked, skeptical, waiting for her to smart something off about throwing his stuff out of a second story window.
"Guest room, got a small bed in it." What the hell is wrong with you!? She couldn't stop, her mouth kept moving while her brain screamed for her to push him out, do anything but offer up a room.
"Where is it?"
"Second door on the left." She quietly said.
He smiled at her, it was something genuine, something she hadn't seen in a long while and she gave him a polite smile. He watched her for a second, hoping that there would be a flash of the old Trish there. Unfortunately, there wasn't, he gently took the bag from her and grabbed the heavier and larger of the door and descended up the stairs but stopped halfway and turned back to her.
"I'm only here to help, honestly, Trish. I don't mean any harm."
Trish watched him as he turned back and disappeared upstairs. She couldn't believe what she had just pulled out of her ass, what the hell was she thinking, why didn't she just yell and scream and pout? But now she offered him a room and a smile.
All she could think of over and over again, was the same question he had asked her. Why?