AN: Woo-hoo, chapter 3 already! Reason I'm happy about it? I'm proud that I'm keeping up with updating instead of waiting it out or something. :D I actually have an alternative version to this chapter, but figured I'd just post this version instead. If anyone's interested in reading it, let me know and I'll post it. :)

Once again, thank you very much for the reviews. You guys are great. 3

About the pairing, I'm still debating it but I'm not even sure that romance will take place in the fic. At least not yet, so I have plenty of time to think about it. ;) And, TCO, I hadn't even done it with that purpose (of Amy being Lita), but now I can't stop thinking about it that way...! LOL, I guess it could work... I love a Rock/Lita pairing more than all the other Rock pairings, but that's another story for a different time. I don't want to bore you before starting to read this. :/

Little Angel 19

Chapter 3

Even though the television was on, Dwayne wasn't paying attention to it. He wasn't even aware of what was on but, knowing Mick, it would most likely be some sort of cartoon. Even though it felt as if he was alone, Mick was sitting on a couch in the small living room of the room while he was supposed to be eating something.

As he stared down at the food in front of him, though, Dwayne couldn't bring himself to actually eat anything. It had been a week and a half since he had woken up, and since then he had made very little improvement. The doctors kept telling him that he needed to try to start getting better; start physical therapy because he was still far too weak to even hold himself up, getting out of bed at least on a wheelchair so he could go outside for fresh air, anything that would get him better, but he refused to. There really was no point.

Letting out a sigh, Dwayne put down his fork on the plate and leaned back against the bed. The nurses had helped to get him set up sitting up comfortably on the bed and with some sort of table on his lap, but even like that he wasn't happy nor calm.

"Not hungry?"

Mick walked inside, carrying a magazine in his hand. The television had been on, but he had mostly been reading in order to get caught up with a few wrestling things that he had missed the past couple of months. No matter how long he had been away from the business, he still tried to keep up with the business; it would never let him go. While he had been reading, though, he had noticed that Dwayne hadn't even taken a bite out of his food; that he had just been poking the food with his fork instead of actually scooping up anything to eat.

At Mick's question, Dwayne turned to him and shook his head slightly as he rested his hands on his lap. "No."

"Dwayne, you've got to eat something..."

With a simple shrug, Dwayne brushed away the remark before he nodded towards the television. "What were you watching?"

Chuckling, Mick sat down on the chair next to Dwayne's bed. "Raw. It's actually pretty good tonight, if you want to watch it...?"

"No, that's ok. I've probably missed a lot already, after being 'asleep' for so long." He stayed silent, looking down at the food, before turning to him. "What exactly has been going on in there?"

"Oh, not that much. The rookies that were there when you last watched it? They're great wrestlers right now." Chuckling, he shook his head. "When we go back to a show they're going to see us as veterans already."

"'We'?"

"Well, yeah," Mick answered as he leaned back against the chair. "Don't you want to go back some time?"

Frowning, Dwayne asked, "To what? I won't be able to wrestle again."

"Come on, Dwayne, don't talk like that. The doctor already talked with you, and-"

"And he said that I had a chance, but he never said that I would actually get better completely. Too much time has passed, Mick; I'm not going to be the same person I was years ago. I mean, seriously, how long has it been since I've been out of this room? Or just actually sit up on my own, or walk, or be...me? Too long, Mick. Way, way too long. So why don't you do me a favor and stop with the fake possibilities? It won't happen, so please just let it go."

As Dwayne talked, Mick simply stayed silent, not bothering to stop him. In a way he was glad that he was doing that, because he was letting out some of the emotions that he was determined to keep inside, but he didn't like the fact that he was being so hard on himself. The doctor had reassured them that, with enough care and support, he would be able to go back to normal; or at least as much as possible.

"Look," Mick started saying after a while, leaning slightly towards him. "I know that it's hard. And I know that you are very discouraged because of everything that has happened, but you can't give up."

"Bullshit."

"... What?"

"You don't know what it's like. You don't know what it's like to feel this, to live this, ok? You don't know."

"Ok, so I don't know!" Mick stood up as he raised his voice, getting fed up with Dwayne's attitude. "I'm sorry, Dwayne, but damn it, you're better than this. You are so much better than this; you're a lot stronger than what you're giving yourself credit for. You've survived a fall that people usually don't. You woke up from a coma that people thought was going to eat you up; that you were not even going to wake up. But look at you! You woke up, you have all the chances to get better, to just live!

"Do you know how many people would want to be in your position? Do you know how many people would want to be able to just wake up one more day so that they could see what they left behind?"

At that, Dwayne frowned deeply and turned to him, upset. "Well woo-hoo for me: I woke up to find my wife married to someone else! I found my life turned upside down, and for what? Huh, Mick?"

"I don't know why this happened, but there has got to be a reason why you're still here, don't you think?"

"Yeah, whatever," Dwayne said as he looked towards the window.

Mick stayed silent, watching him. "That's the best you can do? The best you can say? 'Whatever'? What, are you thirteen years old?" When Dwayne didn't answer and kept pretending he wasn't listening, Mick sighed and shook his head slightly before starting to talk in a low voice. "It's going to be hard, I think we all know that, but you've still got your friends. We're all here, and we want you to be ok. Don't you think that if we wouldn't have wanted to see you or keep being your friends, we would have left long ago? Damn, man, wake up once and for all and realize that you're not alone, that you've got all of us here."

Instead keeping up with pretending not to be listening, Dwayne had to give up his front and turned towards him. Mick had always had a knack for that; making him realize just how messed up he was in some decisions that he would make. How was it that he was always the goofiest guy, the guy that never seemed to be serious or take anything seriously, was the one that was making the most sense? Both Steve and Kurt hadn't yelled at him the way that Mick had, mainly because they felt sorry for him. Steve had been extremely close to raising hell one time the week before when all he had done throughout the day was look out the window, but he hadn't because he had been stopped by both Mick and Kurt.

And it wouldn't surprise Dwayne that Steve would be pissed off at Mick; not because he had yelled at him, but because he hadn't let him do it himself.

"So," Mick continued, calmer now that he had seen that Dwayne wasn't ignoring what was being said, how he had done since he had woken up. "What do you say? Are you going to give it a shot, or do you want to keep living in this hospital for the rest of your life?"

For the first time in weeks - in years, actually, a small smile started to grow on Dwayne's lips. What was most surprising was not only that he was smiling, but the fact that he wasn't forcing it. "Wow, you guys had made me start to wonder when I'd get you tired of how I was acting..."

"Oh, believe me," Mick said with a chuckle, "that happened about three days after you woke up. If you wouldn't have changed we would have probably strapped you onto a wheelchair and drive your candyass out of this place."

Something choked out of Dwayne's throat and, because it had been so long since he had heard it and since he had made that sound, at first it sounded weird to hear it. It didn't even sound like him.

It was a laugh. He had managed to laugh. "Nice to know, Mick." Smiling, Dwayne shook his head before chuckling and rubbing the back of his neck. "Thank you, though. It means a lot, everything that you said..."

Mick smiled and shook his head. "It's no problem. Now, about eating-"

At that, Dwayne made a face. "I'm just not hungry; don't push it, Mick."

Before he could say anything else, the phone suddenly started ringing and Mick stood up to go answer it. Dwayne watched him leave, shaking his head slightly, before turning back towards the food in front of him. He couldn't understand how the doctors and nurses, and even his friends, expected him to get better when the food looked the way that it did. Ever since his first hospital stay he had hated hospital food, and at the moment just thinking about bringing the fork up to his mouth and eat the food in front of him made his stomach churn even more.

But Mick was right; he couldn't just stay depressed all the time. He had a right to, sure, but it wasn't him. That wasn't the way that The Rock was. The Rock would take on any challange and rise above it. The Rock would say "Just bring it" before gladly proving people wrong, so why should this be any different?

Right?

Taking a small deep breath, he scooped up some vegetables into his fork and raised it up to eye-level, as if making sure that the vegetables seemed ok to eat. And also to get his mind and body ready to get ready to eat. For far too long he had depended on anything but solid food, and now his body had to get used to it again. The idea of putting food in his mouth, chewing it, and then swallowing it made him want to be sick, but he had to do it. It was just another challenge.

Without another thought, Dwayne brought the fork to his mouth and ate the vegetables, glad that Mick wasn't watching; he would probably think that he was eating because of what he had said. And, even though it was true, he wasn't ready to tell him just how right he was.

What Dwayne hadn't been counting on, though, and hadn't noticed, was the fact that Mick was standing by the door and had seen him eat. In fact, it wasn't until Dwayne was about to get more vegetables that he saw Mick chuckling under his breath.

"Ok, so I'm eating," Dwayne said in a sigh of defeat.

"I can see that. But it's good."

"Who was it on the phone?"

"Actually...that was Shane."

"McMahon?"

"Yeah," he answered as he went back to sit down. "He's managing most of the WWE now. He wanted you to travel along with us once you get out of here. He's offering you a job, you both just have to talk out what your position will be."

At the news, Dwayne was so surprised that the fork slipped off of his hand. His muscles had already been weak enough, but with the surprise he couldn't keep holding the fork. "He-... Work in the WWE again?" When Mick nodded, he didn't know how to react. How was he supposed to react? No one even knew how he would actually end up, but he wanted him to get back to work? "Wow, um... I actually don't know what to say."

Chuckling, Mick shook his head slightly. "You don't have to decide right now."

"Are you with the company still?"

"On and off. You know, our sort of retirement where we show up at the most random times. But I got offered a position too. Desperate for something old that could be considered new, I guess." Mick stayed silent, how Dwayne was, both of them thinking about what they would decide. It's not like they needed to make a decision right away, but just the possibility of going back was making something inside wake up.

Something to look forward to.