Chapter 23 – Epilogue

Lita: Once Upon A Time, She Had It All

The rain pours down as she stares out to the empty driveway that is the entrance to her house.. the house that she had once upon a time shared with him.

He had gone now.. finally gone for good.. out of her house.. out of her life.. and she didn't know how to feel..

Relief.. sadness.. desperation.. happiness.. ? She felt all those emotions and she felt more, yet at that same time she felt.. absolutely nothing.. could that be right.. ? Could it be true that she didn't even feel anything for him anymore.. ? The mere thought of that sent cold shivers through her body, causing the fine hairs on her arm to stand on end and causing small goose bumps to form all over her body.. but she wasn't concerned about what was happening to her body, so much as she was concerned with the one question that intrigued her more than anything at the current time.. Were the sparks finally gone?

He had taken the last of his things as she stood there watching; frozen to her spot, big hazel eyes filled with unshed tears.

"But.. if I have enough love.." she paused, the tears dripping from her eyes, "for the both of us.." she said, her voice almost questioning, almost apologetic.. after all.. the way that she saw it, her desperation.. her neediness, her clinginess.. had driven him away, driven him so far away.. right into the arms of another woman.. the other woman the best friend that she had only just mended fences with.. and by driving him to her very own best friend, she had lost her appeal.. or so she had thought.

He shook his head almost apologetically at her. She could have sworn that she heard him mutter an accompanying apology, but it was so soft, that she wasn't even sure that she had heard it in the first place. She sighed, sadly. "It's the little things that get us in the end." She said, another small sigh escaping her lips, a smile almost forming on her lips, "always the little things," she said, almost assuring.. trying to assure him.. trying even harderto assure herself.

"A part of me will always be in love with you." She stated, voice full with nothing but raw emotion. "I love you baby. I always will. I don't care about who you pretended to be; I love you, not who everybody thinks you are." She said; her voice cracking as he gently laid a hand against her soft cheek.

"I always used to think that we were something special." She said sadly, emitting a small sigh. "But I guess that I was wrong, but that doesn't mean that I won't love you." She promised, smiling sadly, looking up at him with big hazel eyes.

Gently, he pulled her into his large arms and kissed her with all his might. Tears stream down her face, even though she's kissing back, because it still hurts. It always hurts. The pain will always be there. Even though they've been to this scenario and back a million times before this time it hits them both hard because this time, they know that they wont come back from it.

The finality hits them like a ton of bricks and the redhead realizes that this pain will never stop.

All conscious thoughts in her mind stop as the kiss continues and for her, there is only that instant.

And as he walks out she whispers when she thinks that he can't hear her anymore.. "We were in love once.. do you remember?"

.. and he leaves her, so she doesn't tell him that it's positive.

And all she does now – all that she can do now – is cry, because once upon a time, she had it all.

John: Destiny

3 weeks after I left her she sent me the divorce papers. After all we were still legally married to each other, still legally bound to each other.

She sent me a letter too; it came with the divorce papers. She told that she still thought about me sometimes, and how I would be the one that got away.. always the one that got away.. She still loves me – or so she says.

And I still love her too. I'll love her for eternity and beyond, but it's finally time for me to be happy and to let her go.. but.. it's also hard to accept.. realizing that you've fallen in love with the wrong person.. knowing that you will always be in love with the wrong person.

It's hard to believe that after so long and so much denial that I've actually finally fallen in love with Trish Stratus.. or maybe it's just that I've finally realized that I've been in love with her for this whole time. I'm starting to think now that maybe.. just maybe.. Trish and I were meant to be together from the start; meant to be from the very beginning. Or maybe we're like Romeo and Juliet – meant to be in that twisted kind of way.. a beautiful disaster.. will I ever know?

Maybe. I can't see the future, but then again, where would that fun in knowing what's about to happen be?

Until I do eventually find out – and I really hope that I do.. I'm tempted to say that it was destiny.

All it took was a glance.. a moment in time.. maybe even a momentary lapse in judgment.. and I realized that I loved her.. I loved Trish Stratus.

And I leave it that.. as my relationship with Amy crumbles.

Trish: Beyond Destiny

Trish Stratus eyed the dark-haired man in front of her.. she wasn't quite sure what to call him.. she was mighty unsure if the word "man" applied to him at this point in time. He was a mere shadow of a man.. and that was evenbeing generous.

The man – John Cena – had been an opinionated person, which was what had initially drawn the blonde to him.. the fact that he'd shit things out.. just like that.. and to her it was one of his most appealing qualities. To others it was somewhat of an annoyance, but she liked the fact that he wasn't scared of people and voiced his opinions.. to her, it had made him just all that much more appealing and irresistible.. but now.. he was nothing.. he was less than nothing.. he wasn't even a person.. he wasn't living his life.

He looked down in her doe-brown eyes, in the way that only he could, which – had he not been so forlorn – would have made her whole heart and entire being melt and turn into putty in his safe arms.

"I love you.." he said, one of his hands pushing her chin up so that he could bend down for a passionate kiss. His lips touched hers.. but she felt no sparks, so instead she pressed her lips shut and literally turned the other cheek.

"It doesn't matter what you do, what you love, or who you love, our train never left the station." She assured him, nonchalantly, removing his hands from her face. "Besides," she added, her eyes downcast, glaring daggers at the fluffy white carpeting of her own bedroom, "you didn't love me before.. even though you said you did.. said you'd never leave me and left me pregnant, scared and alone. You left me by myself and claimed that you loved me.. who's to say that you're not gonna do that again, or that this isn't just some.. some ploy.. just to get back into my pants?" she asked, a questioning eyebrow raised in his direction.

"But I'm not like that anymore.." his voice was only slightly above a hushed whisper, the look on his face nothing short of the most pitiful look that the blonde had ever seen. She almost felt sorry for him right then.. he had, after all, lost almost all that meant something to him and now.. well, now.. he was losing her too.. or so he thought.. because.. he had lost her a long time ago.

Trish stared at him for what felt like forever, the pitiful look never leaving his face. She emitted a small sigh, her hands settling on her bare hips as she looked up into his big baby blue eyes. One of her hands raked through her long blonde hair, stopping when it got knotted down by her shoulders. "I don't love you John.. not anymore.. I don't even thin that it was love in the first place, with us. I loved you once.. you loved my best friend.. and.. it was hard.. but I got on with life and I dealt with it.. Time passes by and some things.. some people.. well.. they.. they don't always stay the same.. I've learnt that the one thing that stays constant is love.. and mine has stayed constant.. but not my love to you.. if you could even call it that.. my love for Jay hasn't changed since the day I met him.. in a world full of hurt and change, he was my constant.. he was my rock.. he was what kept me grounded no matter what I was going through.. no matter what was wrong." She finished letting out another small sigh, one of her small hands touching his cheek. "I'm so sorry," she said as he turned away, shaking her hand away from him.

"I thought that we were meant to be.. fate, kismet.." he paused for a moment, looking deep into her eyes, trying to read her emotions. "Destiny.." he whispered, his gaze penetrating to her very being.. she couldn't stop the shivers that went all the way down her spine.

"Well, John.." she paused for a moment, sucking in a deep breath. "Some things are just.. beyond destiny.." she closed her big brown eyes as he left.. it was true, some things were beyond destiny.. and this was just one of them..

…Some things are better left to fate…