Disclaimer: See chapters 1-3. :)
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Chapter Eleven
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"Tess, we have your results." Dr. Williams said, entering Tess's room the next morning. Tess had been awake for at least an hour, and Mark had been most of the night. She looked at the doctor nervously.
"Alright." she replied in a soft voice. She was feeling much better than yesterday, but the tone of the doctor's voice worried her.
"The doctors at the pathology lab have confirmed that you have leukemia." Dr. Williams said solemnly. Tess could feel her eyes welling up with tears. The doctor didn't waste anytime, at least, and told her straight out. "But as I said yesterday, we have found this early, in its first stage. We can beat this." Tess sniffed and crawled into her father's lap. He wrapped his arms tightly around her waist and let her cry into his chest, just as he had the day before.
"Is she gonna have to go through chemo?" Mark asked. His voice was soft, one Tess had hardly ever heard him use.
"Yes, she is." the doctor replied. "She'll need to do chemotherapy treatments starting next week. We don't know yet how often she'll need them, it depends on how she responds to it."
"Do you need to keep her here longer? Or put her on any medicine right now?" Mark continued to rub Tess's back soothingly, even though she had stopped crying.
"She can go home today. I have a prescription for her that needs to be filled, just a pill she needs to take once a day to keep her fever down." Dr. Williams supplied.
"I'd like to take her home now, if that's okay. She needs to be home. She needs to rest." Mark told the doctor. He nodded and Mark helped Tess up. He handed her the pajamas she'd worn in the day before, allowing her to change back into them. She came out of the small connected bathroom a moment later, immediately returning to her father's side.
"I've called in her prescription to the pharmacy, they should have it ready when you stop by." Dr. Williams told them, before shaking Mark's hand and leaving the room. Tess sighed and followed the doctor out, Mark right behind her. He gently wrapped an arm around her waist as if to help her walk.
"Daddy, I can walk fine on my own. I'm not made of porcelain." Tess said, but leaned into her father. She liked the comfort. "How am I gonna tell everyone about this? It...it just came on so fast," she slowed her pace. "I knew there was a possibility I could develop it, but this young? I didn't even know it was a possibility with me being only eighteen."
"I know, baby. I never thought it would happen to you, never. I thought you would never have to go through the pain and sickness your mom went through." Mark told her. They walked out of the ER doors of the hospital, where they had come in the day before. Mark's car was parked near the front, and he opened the passenger side door for Tess before climbing in the driver's seat.
"How am I gonna tell them?" Tess asked again.
"I don't know, baby girl. That's one thing you'll have to decide for yourself." Mark replied. "But we're calling Vince right when we get home, I don't want you wrestling anymore. Not until you're in remission."
"If I go into remission." Tess mutterd, turning her head to glance out the window.
"Tess, don't talk like that. You will go into remission. We caught this early. You'll be fine." Mark told her, his voice strong again.
"Did you tell the same thing to Mom?" Tess snapped, looking at Mark with cold eyes. He sighed, and turned his head away.
"Why are you doing this to me, Tess? Don't you think it's hard enough for me? I already lost my wife to this shit. I won't lose my baby girl to it."
"Yeah...you're right." Tess told him. She smiled softly at Mark, who returned the smile. He then cranked the car and they pulled out of the parking lot. Tess turned on the radio and flipped it to a rock station, listening to it as they traveled down the road back towards their house. She felt her eyelids growing heavy as they pulled into the pharmacy. Her head rested against the back of her seat and she fell asleep.
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Dawn Marie sat back in the woman's locker room, thinking. She had no idea what that little bitch Tess had going through her mind, but Dawn Marie knew that she did not like her. She had just marched in here like she owned the place, then had taken away her Rob, the Rob she had known and loved for years. Dawn Marie knew, though, the perfect thing to pull Rob and Tess apart. She had heard Rob yelling at Tess for apparently ending her feud with Chris Jericho. Dawn Marie smirked. She had the perfect plan.
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* Later that day n catering at the UTC McKenzie Arena in Chattanooga, Tennessee*
"Hey, Rob!" the brown-headed woman said, walking up to her old friend. Rob turned around and smiled at the familiar voice.
"Hey, Dawn Marie. What's going on?" he asked.
"Oh, not much..." Dawn Marie trailied off, twirling a piece of brown hair around her index finger. She flashed a flirty smile at Rob and took a seat near where he was standing. He returned the smile and took a seat next to her. "I have a secret..." she trailed off in a singsong voice. Rob grinned at her.
"What's your secret?" he asked her. She sent him another flirty smile and pressed her body against his, leaning her head in so that is was close to his ear.
"Tess fucked Jericho." she whispered. She could feel Rob tense up around her.
"What?" he asked. His voice had gone icy. Dawn Marie smirked to herself; her plan was working.
"She did...the night after you two fought...she went to Jericho's room, and lets just say he came out a happy man the next morning." Dawn Marie's voice was a low purr. Rob got up and stormed out of catering, apparently angry. Dawn Marie stood up too, and followed him out. She found him leaning against a wall, rubbing his temples.
"Rob, honey, you were too good for her, anyway." Dawn Marie said in a seductive voice as she ran her fingers down his muscular chest. "What you need is a real woman."
Rob looked over at Dawn Marie and she sent him a flirty smile. She knew that she was winning. Rob wrapped his arms around her waist and crushed his lips to hers, roughly turning her around and shoving her against the wall behind him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and returned the kiss passionately, opening her mouth. Rob ran a hand underneath her shirt as their tongues danced, and Dawn Marie finally broke the kiss.
"Come on...lets go to the woman's locker room. No one will be there for hours..." Dawn Marie said. Rob nodded and she grabbed his hand, leading him to the locker room. She opened the door and they walked inside. Dawn Marie then locked the door, and Rob began to eagerly kiss her again.
'Tess is history.' Dawn Marie thought, smirking inwardly.
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When Tess woke up, she was in her bed with her comforter pulled up to her chin. She reached a hand up and rubbed her eyes, before tossing her comforter back and sitting up. She stretched, then looked to her clock. It was already nearly nine at night. She threw her legs over the side of her bed and slid her house shoes on, before walking over to her door. She made her way downstairs and into the kitchen, where she saw her father sitting at the kitchen table.
"Hey, Daddy." she said, taking the seat next to him. He glanced up and offered a small smile to Tess.
"Hey, baby girl. Did you have a nice nap?" he asked. Tess nodded.
"Yeah. I feel okay, no fever or anything." she replied.
"You got a few calls while you were asleep." Mark told her. She quirked a brow at him.
"Who called?" she asked, confusion apparent in her voice.
"Amy, Glenn, and Chris."
"Which Chris?"
"Irvine." Tess blinked. Chris was calling her? She was a bit suprised, considering it had been just a few days since they had stopped their bickering.
"Vince told the roster you were sick," Mark continued. "He didn't tell them with what, exactly, but they're all worried. It would probably make them feel better to call."
"I believe I will." Tess said, flashing a smile at Mark before grabbing her cell phone and walking into the living room. She sat down on the large leather couch that was in the middle of the room and flipped the phone open, searching first for Glenn's number in her memory. He answered after two rings.
"Hello?" she heard his voice travel through her ear piece.
"Hey Glenn." she said, smiling, even though he couldn't see her.
"Tess! How are you, girl?" he asked. Tess noticed that his voice sounded a bit more relieved than when he had picked up.
"I'm doing alright," she replied. "Feeling a lot better."
"That's good." Glenn said. "What was wrong, anyways? Flu?"
"Well..." Tess started. Her voice was somewhat hesitant. "That's something that I want to tell all the people I want to tell together." Immediately after saying that, she knew that she had made it sound bad. She flinched inwardly. "It'll be the best for me."
"Alright, I respect that." Glenn replied. "And I'm really sorry to cut this short, but I gotta go. I need to go over my match with Paul tonight."
"Okay. Good luck, and be careful." Tess said.
"I will. Be sure to watch tonight!" Glenn laughed.
"You know it." Tess replied, before hanging up. After that, she called Amy and they chatted for about fifteen minutes, before Amy had to go too. Tess took a deep breath before opening her phone for the third time and searching for Chris's number. She hit the 'send' button after selecting the number and waited. It rang once, twice, three times, and Tess was about to hang up when she heard Chris's rushed voice answer from the other end.
"Hello?" he said. He sounded a bit out of breath.
"Hey, Chris. It's Tess." Tess replied.
"Are you okay?" he asked almost instantly after he heard her voice. She couldn't help by smile at his concern.
"I'm doing better," she replied. "But I'm missing everyone."
"When are you coming back?"
"I dunno," Tess offered. "Probably not for a while." her voice had dropped to barely above a whisper.
"What's wrong?" Chris asked, and Tess could tell he was truly concerned about her. She sighed, taking a quick moment to think about what she should do.
"When are you off next?" she said quickly.
"I have to work tomorrow, but after that I'm free for a week." Chris replied.
"Come to Houston." Tess asked. "I need to talk to someone about this."
"About what, Tess? What's wrong?" she could tell that Chris was getting very suspicious.
"Please...just...just come here and I'll tell you then." Tess finished. "It needs to be in person."
"Alright, tell your dad and I'll be there the day after tomorrow."
"Thank you so much," Tess said. "It means a lot to me."
"Anytime." Chris replied. They said their goodbyes and hung up. Chris sighed and rubbed a hand over his face, before putting his phone down and walking out of the locker room. He leaned back against the wall and tried to think of some reason that Tess was acting so distant. He sighed again and made his way down the hallway towards catering, but stopped abruptly when he heard a noise behind him. He turned his head and saw Dawn Marie, with Rob pressing her up against the women's locker room door. She giggled and ran her hands through his loose hair before he planted a steamy kiss on her, right in the middle of the hallway.
'Oh shit,' Chris thought. 'Rob's cheating on her.'
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Chapter Eleven
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"Tess, we have your results." Dr. Williams said, entering Tess's room the next morning. Tess had been awake for at least an hour, and Mark had been most of the night. She looked at the doctor nervously.
"Alright." she replied in a soft voice. She was feeling much better than yesterday, but the tone of the doctor's voice worried her.
"The doctors at the pathology lab have confirmed that you have leukemia." Dr. Williams said solemnly. Tess could feel her eyes welling up with tears. The doctor didn't waste anytime, at least, and told her straight out. "But as I said yesterday, we have found this early, in its first stage. We can beat this." Tess sniffed and crawled into her father's lap. He wrapped his arms tightly around her waist and let her cry into his chest, just as he had the day before.
"Is she gonna have to go through chemo?" Mark asked. His voice was soft, one Tess had hardly ever heard him use.
"Yes, she is." the doctor replied. "She'll need to do chemotherapy treatments starting next week. We don't know yet how often she'll need them, it depends on how she responds to it."
"Do you need to keep her here longer? Or put her on any medicine right now?" Mark continued to rub Tess's back soothingly, even though she had stopped crying.
"She can go home today. I have a prescription for her that needs to be filled, just a pill she needs to take once a day to keep her fever down." Dr. Williams supplied.
"I'd like to take her home now, if that's okay. She needs to be home. She needs to rest." Mark told the doctor. He nodded and Mark helped Tess up. He handed her the pajamas she'd worn in the day before, allowing her to change back into them. She came out of the small connected bathroom a moment later, immediately returning to her father's side.
"I've called in her prescription to the pharmacy, they should have it ready when you stop by." Dr. Williams told them, before shaking Mark's hand and leaving the room. Tess sighed and followed the doctor out, Mark right behind her. He gently wrapped an arm around her waist as if to help her walk.
"Daddy, I can walk fine on my own. I'm not made of porcelain." Tess said, but leaned into her father. She liked the comfort. "How am I gonna tell everyone about this? It...it just came on so fast," she slowed her pace. "I knew there was a possibility I could develop it, but this young? I didn't even know it was a possibility with me being only eighteen."
"I know, baby. I never thought it would happen to you, never. I thought you would never have to go through the pain and sickness your mom went through." Mark told her. They walked out of the ER doors of the hospital, where they had come in the day before. Mark's car was parked near the front, and he opened the passenger side door for Tess before climbing in the driver's seat.
"How am I gonna tell them?" Tess asked again.
"I don't know, baby girl. That's one thing you'll have to decide for yourself." Mark replied. "But we're calling Vince right when we get home, I don't want you wrestling anymore. Not until you're in remission."
"If I go into remission." Tess mutterd, turning her head to glance out the window.
"Tess, don't talk like that. You will go into remission. We caught this early. You'll be fine." Mark told her, his voice strong again.
"Did you tell the same thing to Mom?" Tess snapped, looking at Mark with cold eyes. He sighed, and turned his head away.
"Why are you doing this to me, Tess? Don't you think it's hard enough for me? I already lost my wife to this shit. I won't lose my baby girl to it."
"Yeah...you're right." Tess told him. She smiled softly at Mark, who returned the smile. He then cranked the car and they pulled out of the parking lot. Tess turned on the radio and flipped it to a rock station, listening to it as they traveled down the road back towards their house. She felt her eyelids growing heavy as they pulled into the pharmacy. Her head rested against the back of her seat and she fell asleep.
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Dawn Marie sat back in the woman's locker room, thinking. She had no idea what that little bitch Tess had going through her mind, but Dawn Marie knew that she did not like her. She had just marched in here like she owned the place, then had taken away her Rob, the Rob she had known and loved for years. Dawn Marie knew, though, the perfect thing to pull Rob and Tess apart. She had heard Rob yelling at Tess for apparently ending her feud with Chris Jericho. Dawn Marie smirked. She had the perfect plan.
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* Later that day n catering at the UTC McKenzie Arena in Chattanooga, Tennessee*
"Hey, Rob!" the brown-headed woman said, walking up to her old friend. Rob turned around and smiled at the familiar voice.
"Hey, Dawn Marie. What's going on?" he asked.
"Oh, not much..." Dawn Marie trailied off, twirling a piece of brown hair around her index finger. She flashed a flirty smile at Rob and took a seat near where he was standing. He returned the smile and took a seat next to her. "I have a secret..." she trailed off in a singsong voice. Rob grinned at her.
"What's your secret?" he asked her. She sent him another flirty smile and pressed her body against his, leaning her head in so that is was close to his ear.
"Tess fucked Jericho." she whispered. She could feel Rob tense up around her.
"What?" he asked. His voice had gone icy. Dawn Marie smirked to herself; her plan was working.
"She did...the night after you two fought...she went to Jericho's room, and lets just say he came out a happy man the next morning." Dawn Marie's voice was a low purr. Rob got up and stormed out of catering, apparently angry. Dawn Marie stood up too, and followed him out. She found him leaning against a wall, rubbing his temples.
"Rob, honey, you were too good for her, anyway." Dawn Marie said in a seductive voice as she ran her fingers down his muscular chest. "What you need is a real woman."
Rob looked over at Dawn Marie and she sent him a flirty smile. She knew that she was winning. Rob wrapped his arms around her waist and crushed his lips to hers, roughly turning her around and shoving her against the wall behind him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and returned the kiss passionately, opening her mouth. Rob ran a hand underneath her shirt as their tongues danced, and Dawn Marie finally broke the kiss.
"Come on...lets go to the woman's locker room. No one will be there for hours..." Dawn Marie said. Rob nodded and she grabbed his hand, leading him to the locker room. She opened the door and they walked inside. Dawn Marie then locked the door, and Rob began to eagerly kiss her again.
'Tess is history.' Dawn Marie thought, smirking inwardly.
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When Tess woke up, she was in her bed with her comforter pulled up to her chin. She reached a hand up and rubbed her eyes, before tossing her comforter back and sitting up. She stretched, then looked to her clock. It was already nearly nine at night. She threw her legs over the side of her bed and slid her house shoes on, before walking over to her door. She made her way downstairs and into the kitchen, where she saw her father sitting at the kitchen table.
"Hey, Daddy." she said, taking the seat next to him. He glanced up and offered a small smile to Tess.
"Hey, baby girl. Did you have a nice nap?" he asked. Tess nodded.
"Yeah. I feel okay, no fever or anything." she replied.
"You got a few calls while you were asleep." Mark told her. She quirked a brow at him.
"Who called?" she asked, confusion apparent in her voice.
"Amy, Glenn, and Chris."
"Which Chris?"
"Irvine." Tess blinked. Chris was calling her? She was a bit suprised, considering it had been just a few days since they had stopped their bickering.
"Vince told the roster you were sick," Mark continued. "He didn't tell them with what, exactly, but they're all worried. It would probably make them feel better to call."
"I believe I will." Tess said, flashing a smile at Mark before grabbing her cell phone and walking into the living room. She sat down on the large leather couch that was in the middle of the room and flipped the phone open, searching first for Glenn's number in her memory. He answered after two rings.
"Hello?" she heard his voice travel through her ear piece.
"Hey Glenn." she said, smiling, even though he couldn't see her.
"Tess! How are you, girl?" he asked. Tess noticed that his voice sounded a bit more relieved than when he had picked up.
"I'm doing alright," she replied. "Feeling a lot better."
"That's good." Glenn said. "What was wrong, anyways? Flu?"
"Well..." Tess started. Her voice was somewhat hesitant. "That's something that I want to tell all the people I want to tell together." Immediately after saying that, she knew that she had made it sound bad. She flinched inwardly. "It'll be the best for me."
"Alright, I respect that." Glenn replied. "And I'm really sorry to cut this short, but I gotta go. I need to go over my match with Paul tonight."
"Okay. Good luck, and be careful." Tess said.
"I will. Be sure to watch tonight!" Glenn laughed.
"You know it." Tess replied, before hanging up. After that, she called Amy and they chatted for about fifteen minutes, before Amy had to go too. Tess took a deep breath before opening her phone for the third time and searching for Chris's number. She hit the 'send' button after selecting the number and waited. It rang once, twice, three times, and Tess was about to hang up when she heard Chris's rushed voice answer from the other end.
"Hello?" he said. He sounded a bit out of breath.
"Hey, Chris. It's Tess." Tess replied.
"Are you okay?" he asked almost instantly after he heard her voice. She couldn't help by smile at his concern.
"I'm doing better," she replied. "But I'm missing everyone."
"When are you coming back?"
"I dunno," Tess offered. "Probably not for a while." her voice had dropped to barely above a whisper.
"What's wrong?" Chris asked, and Tess could tell he was truly concerned about her. She sighed, taking a quick moment to think about what she should do.
"When are you off next?" she said quickly.
"I have to work tomorrow, but after that I'm free for a week." Chris replied.
"Come to Houston." Tess asked. "I need to talk to someone about this."
"About what, Tess? What's wrong?" she could tell that Chris was getting very suspicious.
"Please...just...just come here and I'll tell you then." Tess finished. "It needs to be in person."
"Alright, tell your dad and I'll be there the day after tomorrow."
"Thank you so much," Tess said. "It means a lot to me."
"Anytime." Chris replied. They said their goodbyes and hung up. Chris sighed and rubbed a hand over his face, before putting his phone down and walking out of the locker room. He leaned back against the wall and tried to think of some reason that Tess was acting so distant. He sighed again and made his way down the hallway towards catering, but stopped abruptly when he heard a noise behind him. He turned his head and saw Dawn Marie, with Rob pressing her up against the women's locker room door. She giggled and ran her hands through his loose hair before he planted a steamy kiss on her, right in the middle of the hallway.
'Oh shit,' Chris thought. 'Rob's cheating on her.'
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