Uncommon Sense

by batistafan

Can a plan by Triple H aimed at destroying Batista's life and career be stopped before it's too late? And will a hot romance with Batista help a shattered woman regain her life or put her right back in harm's way. Sequel in progress.

32. Chapter 31

Uncommon Sense Chapter 31
By Batistafan
Rating - NC-17 for violence
Distribution: If you would like to add this story to
your site that's fine, just let me know.
Main Characters include: Batista, Triple H, Chris Jericho, Christy
Hemme, Nancy Adams (Original Character).

Disclaimer: This is a mature fanfiction intended for mature readers.
This story contains violence, coarse language, as well as mature
sexual situations (some may consider explicit), and these would not
be deemed appropriate for all readers.
I do not own nor claim to have any affiliation with the WWE, its
characters, wrestlers, staff or other affiliates. I do own any
original characters that I have created, as well as scenarios that
ensue throughout the course of this fiction. However, since both my
characters and scenarios are inexorably intertwined with those of
the WWE, my ownership of them is not autonomous.
I do not endorse nor do I discourage the use of any brand-name
products that might be referenced in the fiction and have no claim
to them as they are property of their respective companies of
license. Thank you kindly for not suing.

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It's not foresight or hindsight we need. We need sight, plain and simple. We need to see what is right in front of us.

Real Live Preacher, Weblog, April 22, 2003
Anonymous author of

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He wheeled the Ferrari into the driveway, ignoring the slight scrape of the undercarriage as it went over the slope. Not bothering with removing his luggage, Dave Batista stepped out of the car and shut the door, having already deduced that Nancy had neglected to answer his calls, either because she was not there or because she was teasing him for leaving her there by herself. And even though deep down he knew it was the former rather than the latter, he still held the hope that she would be somewhere inside waiting for him when he opened the door.

His key slid into the lock met with the nondescript sound of metal on metal and then he swung the heavy wooden door inward, speaking her name once and being rewarded with the echo of his own voice. And somehow he knew there would be no answer…knew that she wouldn't be there. The house held a decidedly different feel than it had for the past week. It was cold, forbidding the same way it had been before her. A glance toward the mail slot, did nothing but confirm for him what he already knew, a pile of junk mail and bills, scattered about the concrete floor. It was further evidence of her absence because he knew that she would have at least picked it up had she been there to do so.

A heavy sigh couldn't expel the thick and heated weight in his chest, and lifting the scattered envelopes from the floor, he came upon the key. It scraped the ground as he lifted it with two fingers and turned it over in his hand, and what had started as disappointment, boiled over into the pre-stages of an adult temper-fit.

"Dammit." He grumbled, stuffing the key into his pocket. Hadn't he done everything he knew to reassure her that she was what he wanted? Hadn't he been clear? Had she been lying when she told him she loved him? She'd not left a note…nor had she left a message, he realized after checking the machine and finding only his messages neatly stored in the main box, where they had only just now been retrieved. She hadn't been answering his calls because she hadn't been here, he was certain she'd probably left shortly after he had…and he would bet his right arm that he knew exactly where she was. And in his blind aggravation, he had half a mind to fly straight to that ranch, spank her ass and drag her back kicking and screaming. But there were two reasons why he couldn't…one was the sheer realization that he didn't know why in the hell she'd left to begin with…whether he'd done something or whether she was just running scared. And the other was that his daughter's 6th Birthday celebration was slated to start in less than a half hour.

Mumbling curses that would have sent his mother into a frenzy, he tossed the junk mail down angrily on the entryway table and stepped outside He was preparing to lock the door that he had just slammed with wall crumbling force, but a glimmer in the sunshine, just below the threshold caught his eye. Bending down, next to the mail slot, he determined the source of the twinkle. It was her diamond…on the ground, the slender broken chain still attached. He might have missed it had it not been so unusually sunny outside. He sighed, the heaviness in his chest becoming evermore cumbersome, and lifted the tiny diamond and broken chain up between two fingers, eyeing it closely. He really should give it back to her, he told himself…but she wasn't answering his calls, so he would keep it safe for her and if she wanted it, well then she could just come ask for it.

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"Oh no…" Nancy muttered, shuffling through her make-up bag and then checking her neck for the thousandth time for her diamond. But it was gone and there was no way of determining where or when she had actually lost it. She silently reprimanded herself for having bought the slender chain when she'd had the tiny diamond placed in the setting, knowing that it would put her at risk for losing the treasured keepsake. The diamond had come from her father's tie-tack, the one she'd managed to steal from her mother's jewelry box and hide. She could remember the discussion between Eddie and her mother about the price it would fetch if they pawned it…how much it might be worth. Nancy hadn't been able to bear the thought of another one of her father's things being lost, stolen or sold for drug money and so she'd slipped out of her bedroom window with a roll of toilet paper and some matches, and quickly stuffed the roll in between the fence posts and set it on fire. The fence had gone up into flames, dragging her mother and Eddie outside, creating a long enough distraction for Nancy to slip back through her window and steal the tie-tack from the jewelry box, hiding it by tossing it into the bushes below her window for retrieval the next day. Now the diamond was gone…and all she had left of her father were the pictures.

Nancy could hear Jean calling for her from downstairs, her musical voice floating up from the lower level and she snatched up her purse to go along, unaware of the conspiracy that the old woman and her friends had conjured up. In a fitted pale cream sundress and blue sweater, Nancy appeared to be completely pulled together…a perfect picture on the outside even if the inside appeared to have been hit with a wrecking ball. Her hair was upswept, with the rebellious tendrils that would never have stayed in line falling in ringlets around her face, and only the slight puffiness under eyes betrayed her silent attempt to appear poised.

"Is that her?" One elegant socialite asked in hushed tones.

Jean leaned in to whisper something to the woman, as another in the group, nodded and affirmed. "That's the one."

"Oh I see…" said another. "She's the one."

Nancy arched a brow as she stepped off of the final riser, toward the whispering women and finally held her arms out to her sides. "I'm 'the one'…what?" She asked and let her quizzical gaze travel from one woman to the next.

"Oh, nothing, Sweety." Jean remarked, but not before Nancy noticed the pitiable glance she gave to the women in the group, who all at present were staring regretfully in her direction. Jean twisted Nancy around, facing away from the group, but allowing her voice to be heard. "Are you sure you're up to this?"

"I'm fine…just hungry." Nancy was suspect of Jean's attitude around the group of females, and upon being pinned with the curious glances from the group she couldn't help wonder what Jean might have told them.

"Poor girl…I'm surprised she even has an appetite." Jean told the group as she wrapped one lean arm over Nancy's shoulders and gave a brief squeeze. She ushered Nancy ahead of herself toward Eva Rodebeck's garish French Pink Hummer. "Climb in, Nancy…we'll get you fed and then right back here and in bed."

All of the ladies murmured their agreement, and filed into the massive vehicle, prepared to take Aspen by storm, literally.

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Composing his demeanor, trying to divest himself of the anger and confusion before going into his daughter's party was harder than he might have thought. Visions of tracking Nancy down and handcuffing himself to her long enough to get her to talk to him trickled through his conscience, fueled by a constant dialogue from the inner animal, telling him that he had been foolish to trust her. He lifted the diamond again and his jaws clenched with conflict as he debated whether he should just mail it back to her or tell her he had it and hold it hostage the same way he had done with her clothing. Nancy would come for it if she knew he had it, of that he was sure…for she had worn it constantly save for when the nurse had handed it to him during her surgery and surely she was missing it. He slipped the diamond over the rearview mirror, affixing the broken chain so that it held and suspended, twirling and coaxing the sunlight into a dance across the dash. It only reminded him of how it caught the light when it lay in the hollow of her throat, and incited a sudden sharp pain in his heart mixed with a flash of anger…leaving it there as a reminder of her was torment…but he wouldn't take it down…not yet.

A dark-haired, well armored Audrey came bounding down the front steps and skidding around the front end of the car, determined to be the first to engage her father's attentions.

"Daddy! You have to hurry…there's a bunch of my friends here and there's this piñata that Mom got and I don't know what it's full of, and there's cake, only why did you tell her I like Nemo? Because he's on there and I hate him, just like I hate him on my swimsuit!" Audrey had her father pinned inside the vehicle, as she was currently trying to wriggle into the front seat with him. "Did you know that Vanessa got to invite some of her friends here even though she's not a birthday girl? How come she got to do that? I never got to like those big girls anyhow because they lock me out of her room when they spend the night and then I have to fix 'em when they do that." She was out of breath, tugging on his clothes, trying to extract answers from him at light speed, all the while with the both of them wedged like sardines in the front seat.

"We're never gonna get out of this car, if you don't hop down." He ruffled her hair and grinned as she scrambled back out of the car, affording him the opportunity to get out himself. He closed the door and turned in time for her to slam against his leg nearly putting him off balance, wrapping her arms around his muscular leg and standing on his foot.

Audrey commanded her father to walk and with one arm around her shoulders, her entire tiny body perched on his foot, he dragged her with a gimp toward the steps and then swept her up in his arms to carry her into the house.

"Talk to Mommy about Nemo, please…because I do hate him and every time I see that cake I wanna smash it." Audrey whispered wrapping her willowy arms around her father's thick neck.

"Be nice." Dave said softly and let her down in time for his oldest daughter to scoot up under his other arm for a hug of her own.

Hey Daddy." Vanessa smiled and then half a dozen of her starry eyed teenaged friends began to ogle him from a distance. "I wore my swimsuit to Amber Lawson's party…everyone loved it and Amber's mom asked if I could talk to Nancy about making one for Amber…Do you think she would?"

Dave breathed in…another reminder of her…and he was glad he hadn't told his daughters that she would come, because they might have been hurt by her no-show. He smiled down on Vanessa. "We'll see okay." His words were lackluster and devoid of promise…He didn't feel like delving into a discussion of a sensitive nature with his teenage daughter.

"Is she okay?" Vanessa whispered. "Because I was watching that match…Mom made Audrey leave the room the minute the match was over…but that looked real, Dad, and Mom said that you said her shoulder was hurt." He could gauge a measure of concern in Vanessa's eyes and tone.

"She's fine." He said politely trying to end the conversation…and she sure as hell had to be fine! Without a doubt she was in good enough shape to traipse across several states without even telling him. "Let's go see if your mom needs help."

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Nancy was wedged between Patricia Simmons, wife of the Mayor of Leadville and Dora Boyer the wife of a Colorado Springs entrepreneur, suffocating on a mix of Chanel no.5 and Yves St. Laurent. Had not these women ever heard the cardinal rule shared between females, that you either wore the same cologne or at least harbored the knowledge that colognes should not clash when in the company of one another? Her eyes were fairly watering before the pink Hummer full of chattering female socialites had even left the 400 acre ranch. And Nancy was certainly content to be left out of the unceasing conversation if it meant that she could at least try to occupy her mind with something that would divert the focus off of the fact that the heat had been turned up to such a stifling degree that a fine sheen of sweat was already forming on her upper lip.

Knowing that her request for the heat to be turned down would never be heard above the loud prattle, Nancy simply sat back and prepared to endure the half hour ride from the expansive cattle ranch into the tiny tourist town for breakfast and shopping under the forced captivity of Jean Hadaway and her pals. The unwelcome recipient of several sharp, unintentional elbows to the rib, Nancy began to pray in earnest for God to rescue her. It was worse than any wrestling match could have ever been…it was like being sandwiched between two magazine cologne samples with no hope of escape.

By the time the vehicle full of babbling females pulled into the streets of Aspen and found a parking space in front of a small café, Nancy's ears were ringing, her nose and eyes were burning having not gotten used to the pungent, clashing perfumes, and she had half a mind to strip down to her skivvies and stand in the street just to cool off. Once Patricia had stepped from the truck, Nancy practically fell out behind her in her own hurry to get out. Immediately she stripped off the sweater and let the cool air rush over her heated, clammy skin.

"Good Lord." She mumbled breathing in deeply, thankful for the fresh mountain air…oblivious to the arched brows and conspiratorial grins exchanged between the women behind her back.

"Let's go gals!" Dora demanded without offering a respite, snatching hold of Nancy's arm and tugging her toward the door of the café.

"Hurry so we can get a table in the back." Jean chimed in, cheerily.

The women entered the café, already bustling with people. It held all the charm one might have expected of a small town café, with its crumbling plaster on the walls, left to expose the brick underneath. The cobblestone floors so closely matched the cobblestone of the street outside it appeared as though the small café had been erected directly on top of the street sometime in primeval days. Bulky wrought iron lanterns had been re-wired to light the café adequately and several of the rickety shutters on the front windows had been opened wide to let in the sun and weather.

Two tables in the back of the café had been pushed together upon Jean's last minute reservation so as to accommodate the wealthy socialites and their unsuspecting prey. Nancy was promptly seated in the middle on one long side, and surrounded once again by the two cologne clashers, who rapidly dragged their chairs so closely to Nancy that she found herself once again sandwiched. Jean rattled off a drink order for herself and Nancy, but when Nancy told the waiter to change her beverage to coffee, Jean objected and loudly reminded her that coffee was bad for her skin and hair and that she should stick with the tea. Nancy conceded, with a slight frown…wishing for the coffee if for no other reason than that she could have something strong enough to overpower the ghastly fragrance of the women beside her.

Before the drinks had a chance to arrive, Bella Hampstead a neurologist from Denver, was flagging someone down with eagerness. Hands waving wildly, diamonds and sapphires sparkling in the light, she stood, jarring the table in her enthusiasm.

"Todd!" She gushed warmly. "Ladies, you remember my son Todd?" She said standing to embrace the handsome blonde man among a chorus of fond accolades from the group of ladies. "Nancy, this is my son Todd, he's a Doctor in Denver…Todd this is Nancy, she's…uh…" A look of confusion crossed Bella's attractive face, as she tried to place a label on the young lady.

"Nancy." Todd smiled and extended his hand.

"Hi." Nancy shook it and without expounding on what title she currently did or didn't have, she simply asked. "Will you excuse me?"

The women parted, allowing her to pass and head for the bathroom, all of them smiling satisfactorily as the first portion of Jean's plan began to unfold like gangbusters.

Nancy's palm made contact with the heavy wooden door of the ladies room and she quickly stepped inside, closing the door behind her and wincing as it creaked on ancient hinges. "Oh, please God…whatever I did to be subjected to this, I repent for it." She whined as she splashed cool water on her face. She stared in the mirror, knowing that Dave was surely having a better time at Audrey's party than she was here…and she could have been there with him too if she hadn't been so selfish and stubborn.

Weaving between the tables, reluctantly headed back toward the gaggle of boisterous females, Nancy steeled herself for the prospect of being saddled with them for the entire day. She was pulled back down into the seat with delicate 'thump' by Patricia who informed her that she'd already taken the liberty of sweetening Nancy's tea with honey, and ordered her a whole-wheat bagel. Nancy politely thanked the woman, but secretly she wished she could be behind the business end of a ham and cheese omelet with all the accompaniments, rather than being forced to endure the lady-like consumption of a mere bagel.

Todd smiled as he regarded the clamor and then interjected a question.

"Nancy…so what is it you do?" He was trying to be polite, she was sure, and he was undeniably handsome, but there was nothing there that caught Nancy's interest.

She was preparing to respond, but as soon as she opened her mouth, Jean practically barked out the answer for her. "She's a wrestler...or was until this past week."

Nancy whipped her head around to object. "Well no, I--"

"Interesting." Todd nodded. "Do you wrestle men or, uh…women?" He fiddled with the fork in front of him.

"She's supposed to wrestle women, but I think things got terribly mixed up."

Dora began. "That's what Jean said anyhow, and she ended up being injured badly…she was attacked by a male wrestler…you know her boyfriend just practically left her for dead."

Nancy frowned. "Well Dora, that's not what happened--" She was once again bulldozed.

"Oh sure, honey…I know it's hard for you…especially since he did come to your aid so many times before, but let's just put the hard times behind us, shall we?" Dora said noting the sudden change in Nancy's expression.

"So you wrestle…do you do anything else, you know for fun?" His questions, though aimed at the innocent prospect of getting to know her better, did little more than give the women around her an excuse to insert their own assumptions.

"I'm not a wrestler, I'm a wardrobe consultant for a wrestling federation." Nancy spouted out before she could be outdone.

"So you must be on the road a lot?" Todd queried.

"Oh Todd, she's constantly on the road, never settles down…the only time I get to spend any time with her is when she has a few days break or an injury like the one she sustained trying to wrestle that 'Double D' fellow." Jean said sipping her tea.

"Triple H." She corrected ruefully. Nancy sat back in the chair incensed and confused, any word that she could have gotten in edgewise was twisted and mutilated to fit the women's tainted view of her situation.

"Where do you live when you aren't here with Jean." His eyes held an amused sparkle and he sipped his water.

"Well, I--" Nancy began and damned if it didn't happen once again, Jean butting right in and taking the helm of the conversation.

"She's sort of homeless, Todd…well up until a couple of days ago she had a wonderful living arrangement with a very handsome man, Max tells me…but she left him." The last part of the statement rolled out on a whisper interlaced with a distinct air of pity.

"Oh…I see you're in a relationship." Todd mused suddenly realizing that she might be in a delicate state.

"Well, I didn't exactly leave him the way she's trying to imply…and I really don't feel like talking abou--" Nancy inserted, hackles raised, trying desperately to mask the fury with a smile that didn't quite reach her lips.

"It must have been awful for you, sweety…is that what really happened to your shoulder?" Eva asked a sad pout on her lips.

"No!" Nancy answered in exasperation. "And it wasn't awful…I just…"

"Well of course it had to be terrible honey or else why would you have left him?" Bella asked with a dismissive laugh and twirled her water glass by the stem. "I mean if he wasn't mean to you, if he was so wonderful then you'd have been a fool to leave."

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A stream of giggling five and six year olds had already swung hopelessly at the piñata trying to be the one to break it open, but to no avail and now Audrey the birthday girl who'd already failed in her attempt to smash the 'Dora The Explorer' piñata, leaned against her father and pouted as they both watched Vanessa's teen friends have their turn.

"How come they get to do it?" Audrey asked with a huff. "We should get two tries cuz we're smaller than they are."

"Well, that's how the game goes, Audrey." Dave reminded his frustrated daughter. "Kids first, then teenagers, then Mom and then me." He smirked, secretly wishing that no one would break it so he could have a crack at it in order to vent his aggravation.

Audrey leaned against him, her fingers twined in his belt loop, until Vanessa went up to bat. "I hope she misses."

"Me too." Dave said grinning, but both were disappointed when the blindfolded laughing teenager nailed the piñata full-on with one swing, splitting it at the seams, giving way to a stream of prizes and toy store gift cards in all denominations. Angie never was big on candy for kids and had opted for things that that would last beyond the time it took for their parents to get them home.

Kids began converging on the pile but Angie held them at bay and put everything in a basket so that it could be dispersed equally. Vanessa the champion conceded properly with a smile and agreed that all of the prizes should go to the younger kids, much to the delight of her baby sister who had forsaken their father in lieu of the prizes.

Cake had been served, and the fiercely hated 'Nemo' had been switched with a Dora cake, after Angie had revealed to Audrey that 'Nemo' had merely been a joke, and presents had already been opened and set aside…now the group of heinously loud children were running in all directions through his ex-wife's house save for one somber boy who was tugging fiercely on the leg of Dave's khaki shorts.

He looked down to regard the red haired boy with thick glasses, attired in a suit coat over corduroy pants. He reminded him a little bit of a miniature lawyer with his serious gaze and professional demeanor, in contrast with the chocolate smear that his tugging hand had left on Dave's shorts.

"Can I help you?" Dave asked the boy, matching his serious gaze.

Both were locked in a lethal stare with one another…two similar humans, yet on opposite ends of the physical scope…it was all Dave could do not to laugh as he took note of the boy's intense adult manner. He bent down so that he could be near the boy's eye level and before he knew it a fierce and speedy verbal interaction began.

"You don't scare me" The boy informed bravely as his face never changed from the sober and intense observation, all the while Dave emulated the boy's behavior, both speaking in monotone.

"You don't scare me either." Dave informed him.

"You a cop?"

"Nope."

"Football player?"

"Nope."

"Basketball Player?"

"I wouldn't lower myself to that indignity."

"Bodybuilder?"

"Not anymore."

"You a wrestler?"

"I'm the best there is, kid."

"You famous?"

"Yes, I am." Dave's face was as serious and emotionless as was the boy's, but on the inside he was laughing his ass off.

"Audrey said you were, but I didn't believe her." He informed Dave, his voice still without the inflection common in most younger children. "I had to find out for myself."

"Smart kid." Dave remarked, still never cracking a smile, he pulled the starter cap off of his own head and extracted a sharpie from his ex-wife's phone table, swiping his autograph across the brim, he clapped it gently onto the boy's red head, watching as it sank down over the boy's brow. "Take care of that hat, kid. It was my favorite."

The boy's face split into a grin of approval, the only visible sign other than his size that would indicate that he was indeed a child. And in his most professional emotionless voice he announced "Thanks mister…I'm gonna go brag about this now."

Dave laughed and shook his head as the boy disappeared into the melee that was his daughter's party, and then realizing that he had been left by himself, he leaned against the back of the couch and watched the ruckus, while his mind traveled elsewhere.

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The women left little time for Nancy's verbal defense, Jean jumping right in for the kill.

"That's precisely why you and Todd should go see Aspen and have a fantastic time without us."

The entire group stood in unison, save for Nancy who was less than enthusiastic about being thrust into a date with someone she didn't even know.

"Oh I completely agree." Bella remarked with glee. "There's no one better to help you forget your relationship woes than Todd…he knows Aspen well, since we've been vacationing there since his childhood."

Nancy was rapidly ushered to her feet and into the forcible company of the young doctor before she could give a proper refusal. And Todd being the apparent gentleman pointed the way to the front door of the café.

Once out of earshot, the group of prattling women settled down, but not before laughing and critiquing one another's performances.

"Good Lord, she's fuming, isn't she?" Patricia remarked as they watched the two walk away. "Did you see her face, when Eva goaded her about her shoulder?"

"Yes I did." Jean laughed as she sipped her tea, a mischievous glimmer in her eyes. "That's why I'm apt to think it worked."

"Why is it every time we do this that I have to pretend to be the loud one?" Bella narrowed her eyes, biting into her toast.

"Because you're a much better actress than the rest of us are…" Patricia informed. "Doctor? Where in the world did you come up with that? He's an interior designer for Pete's sake! You change his occupation every time!"

The group fell into a round of raucous tittering that left Jean wiping the corners of her eyes. "I swear one day we're going to have to pay for our sins, ladies."

"Well, next Tuesday Eva's daughter Cindy is in town and she has no clue we know that she's planning on quitting college…so we'll be doing this all over again." Patricia announced, referring to the veritable club that the ladies had formed when their children were small. The women had been in cahoots and had been pulling these types of stunts for the benefit of their children for years, their mission being to exact enough torture on their victim until they realized that it wasn't half bad the way they'd had it as compared to how they were about to get it. They'd never failed to reform one of their intended, each one of the group's escapades having been a complete success.

"This was by far one of the easiest one's we've done…thanks to some crafty information gathering on my part." Jean smiled brightly, prepared to take a bow. "And a call from Max."

"I agree, but damn, Patty did you have to wear that cursed perfume from the 1800's? You do that every single time. Throw it out!...it's stale by now!" Eva laughed.

"We can just ride home with the windows open, Lord knows I thought we were gonna die on the way here, who in the hell's idea was it to turn up the heat so damned high? My bra is soaked!" Bella told the others, flapping the lapels of her blouse in order the funnel air into her cleavage.

"My God…" Jean laughed, "If you'd gotten that breast reduction like I advised your bra wouldn't soaked, it had nothing to do with the heater!"

The group of women finished their breakfast amongst the satisfied tinkle of their laughter.

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Outside of the café, Nancy halted abruptly and put her balled up sweater against her face, prepared to muffle her own frustrated scream. She stomped one foot twice, unaware of the amused glimmer in Todd's eye as he smiled in pity for the young woman who had just unwittingly been the victim of a motherly ambush.

"What just happened in there?" Nancy asked, pulling the sweater down, her lips a thin line and her eyes filling with angry tears. "I mean I know I don't know you and you probably don't even know what just happened, but I sure as hell would like to know!"

Todd held open the door of the Cadillac STS for her and she slipped reluctantly into the passenger seat. "I think that you were waylaid." He announced when he got behind the wheel. "By a bunch of well meaning women."

"I should be so lucky!" She observed wryly as she slumped in the seat.

"Actually you should consider yourself lucky…" He mused, twisting the key in the ignition. "They only do that to people they love."

"What? Expose me to a breakfast from hell and a one-sided third degree?" Nancy asked as he pulled away from the café and out onto the cobblestone street.

"You got off easy." He announced, laughing softly. "You should have seen what they did to me."

"I dare not ask." Nancy snapped, fiddling with the clasp of her handbag.

"Well imagine being dragged on a camping trip with five women, whose best concept of roughing it is when the Ritz Carlton doesn't provide a bathrobe." He elaborated with a laugh and a soft shake of his head.

"You mean they make a habit of this sort of thing?" She asked incredulously.

"Anytime they want you to see something from a different perspective, they do…and it's never failed." He announced, quirking an eyebrow. "Did you learn anything today?" He pulled in front of a textile store at the end of the row and shut the car off.

"Yep, not to take Jean up on her offer for breakfast ever again." Nancy smiled, despite her frustration.

"I have to be honest with you." Todd announced. "I'm not a doctor."

"I'm not a wrestler." She admitted with a strained laugh.

"I guessed as much and I'm betting you'd rather ride back for the ranch than go hang out with me." He grinned. "You wanna call him don't you?"

Todd's comment caught her off guard and she turned to face him. "I didn't bring my phone." She knew to whom he was referring, and yes, more than ever—she wanted to call him.

He handed her his phone and she thanked him, flipping up the receiver and dialing Dave's number by memory. Her heart thumped wildly in her chest in anticipation of hearing his low and silken voice as a thousand explanations for why she had been so stupid rattled around her cluttered mind. Unanswered, the ringing turned to the sound of his voice in the form of his voicemail box and after feeling her heart plummet, she flipped the phone shut without leaving a message, allowing Todd to give her a ride back to the ranch.

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The last child had been ushered out the door along with Vanessa's friends who had been whispering, smiling and staring at Dave for the past half hour. Vanessa had gone to a slumber party with the girls, leaving only after several verbal warnings for them to stop staring at her dad. Finally it was just him and Audrey, who shot out the back door like a lightening bolt to play with her new toys, telling her Daddy she would see him later.

"Do you wanna tell me why you're in a bad mood?" Angie asked as she pulled a trash bag out from beneath the sink.

"I'm not in a bad mood." He defended a little more stiffly than usual, leaning back casually against the dining table's edge.

"Oh." She nodded knowingly. "Then why are you sulking?"

"I'm not sulking." He informed her frowning.

"Pouting?" She prodded.

"Angie." He warned eyes wide, one hand in the air as if to make her stop. "I'm not pouting!" He insisted evermore irritated when he saw her grin.

"I hear she's nice." Angie smiled through a hooded expression as she popped the trash bag open. "I love the swimsuit she made for Vanessa, and if she's up for it she may have a stack of orders from other mothers before summer kicks in."

"I don't know if she'll be around come summertime, but I'll pass along your request." His sarcasm wasn't missed and he was ready to roar his fury, when Angie tilted back her head and gave way to a peal of bemused laughter.

"Here stop pouting and make yourself useful." She smiled, shoved the bag into his hands instructing him to hold it open as she dumped cups and plates into it. "So, she was here and now she's not, huh?"

"I don't wanna talk about it." Dave grumbled, furrowing a brow—then finally. "And yes, she's gone." He tried in vain to hold in his frustration, but he knew that Angie would be truthful and brutal even, in her advice and that was something he could dearly use right about now. He shared his dilemma with Angie, giving some of Nancy's background, relieved that Angie didn't seem to be bothered by the fact that he was seeing someone.

"Okay…so you told her yesterday about the roster switch, right?" Angie affirmed. "And you told her that you wanted her to come with you? Tell me how it was presented to her…exactly." Angie had some idea of what might have happened and it was important that he see his actions in a different light.

"I told her I thought she should quit her job on Raw and come with me." He said it hesitantly, wondering suddenly why it suddenly sounded so harsh in his own mouth.

"Oh, wow." Angie grimaced, laughed a little and continued to toss plates in the trash.

"Not that one." Dave said eyeballing Audrey's leftover cake slice and putting it in his mouth, whole as the plate passed. "I told her that I didn't want to have to worry about her." He announced through a mouthful of cake.

"Let me get this straight, then…" Angie began, attempting a recap. "You didn't ask her if she wanted to quit her job…you told her she should because you thought it was a good idea?"

"Sort of."

"And you said that she should stay here until her shoulder's better and then hop onto trains, planes and automobiles with you."

"Well I didn't exactly say that."

"You may as well have said it." Angie lifted one brow, slinging the stiff observation right into his chest.

"Well, it's pretty cut and dried, how else should I have said it?" He was prepared to be offended but the impatient vibration of the phone on his hip caught his attention. Tilting the phone so that he could see the screen revealed an unfamiliar number and he decided against answering it so that he could finish his conversation.

"Well for starters, you shouldn't have had a conversation of that magnitude minutes before you left town…that was a killer in our relationship, remember?" Angie reminded him.

"Well evidently it was a killer in this one too, because she left without even telling me." Dave was half tempted to pout.

"It's your own fault." Angie announced, rounding the dining table and wadding up the stained paper tablecloth as she went.

"How's it my fault?" He blasted, much louder than he had intended. "I did everything I thought was right and it's still not good enough for her."

Angie was about to respond when her youngest daughter caught her eye from the dining room window. "Audrey, come down off of the doghouse!" She opened the casement window and hollered to Audrey who waved obligingly and hopped down. Shutting the window, she turned to her ex-husband and lifted her arms out to the sides as she spoke. "Dave, by your own admission, she spent the better part of her young life being dragged from place to place under the whim of someone else without any foresight of the possibility that she might have a chance to slow down and sink her roots, right?"

"She's doing that now, Angie…she's been traveling with RAW for awhile…who in the hell has roots in wrestling…there's no roots!" He insisted, defending his position.

"She may have no roots, but she has a paycheck." Angie informed. "She has some independence, control…"

"I never bossed her around…I never told her she couldn't work." He maintained, pointing his finger for emphasis. "I told her there were tons of firms in Seattle if she wanted to get a job."

"Oh, ho! That makes everything all right then." Angie tossed her hand up in the air. "Did it ever occur to you that she might be scared?"

"The whole damned thing's scary Angie!" He smashed a paper cup trying to stack it inside of another.

"Maybe she thinks that you'll get tired of her and she'll be left to try to piece her career back together along with her life." She watched her ill-tempered ex husband brood over his misfortune.

"I wouldn't do that." He said softly.

"Did you tell her that?" She asked, parting the curtain so she could keep an eye on Audrey.

"I didn't get a chance, she took off, remember?" He snapped, glaring at her.

"Then you need to tell her." Angie pointed her finger at him and fixing him with a serious stare. "And none of that caveman action where you go club her over the head and drag her back by the ankle either, because she'll just resent you for asserting yourself."

"I wasn't planning on that." He insisted, glowering at her…and he had been thinking that very thing, more than once today, but he'd never tell her that. "And she's not answering her phone anyway so I'm out of luck."

"Well it's not going to be easy…because you can't exactly call her and ask her the same question now, because she'll never go for it."

"Huh?" He was suddenly confused.

"I'm a woman, trust me I know a thing or two." Angie said, passing him another half eaten slice of cake, which he declined. "If you ask her now, then she's just gonna think that you're only padding the proposition so she'll go along with it…you have to hit it from a whole different angle now…because of your stubbornness." She added.

His eyes flashed darkly, "No wonder you guys are so damned hard to figure out…you make no sense!" He let go of the plastic trash bag, stalked the length of the dining room and whipped the back door open to holler a command at his youngest daughter, who at present was standing on top of the picnic table swinging a plastic bat with all of her might at a stuffed animal suspended by a garden hose from the pergola, overhead.

"How in the hell did she get that up there?" He asked to no one in particular as he observed her wildly whipping bat swings.

"How does she ever figure out how to do half of the stuff she does?" Angie added, peeking around him. "What in the world does she have hanging from her ears?"

"I'm not sure." Dave answered noncommittally, following his summation with an earsplitting whistle, to which Audrey did not respond. "Those look like flip-flops…Angie, tell me that's not what I think it is." He shook his head.

"You know what? Those are her flip-flops." Angie laughed. "I wonder how she got those to stay on her ears?" She contemplated as she watched her daughter, who had suspended the thong strap of her sandals over the tops of her ears for whatever reason, her parents had no clue. But they were holding nicely despite her furious swinging, which was now causing the table beneath her to shake. "I think she was dipped a little too long in your gene pool." Angie laughed, as Dave stepped out onto the porch and hollered for her to come down again.

Audrey didn't even turn in response to his shout and so he stomped off of the porch headed straight for the picnic area. She'd never just been blatantly disobedient before and he was in no mood to deal with it. All the while crossing the lawn he hollered out to her to stop and get down and the entire time she ignored his commands. Within a few feet of her, with her back turned, he stopped to address her, she swirled wildly with the plastic bat, missing the mock piñata and striking her father directly on the hairline, where his recent chair shot had left him needing stitches.

The blow took him completely by surprise and he let out a frustrated growl and a curse, putting both hands up to his head, touching a tiny trickle of blood.

Audrey who hadn't intended to make contact with anything other than the stuffed animal immediately panicked, tugging the flip-flops off of her ears, followed by her headphones…revealing to her headache ridden father why it was she hadn't answered him in the first place. "Daddy…" She whined noticing the blood, and suddenly remorseful tears sprang to her eyes. "I'm sorry!" She scrambled down off of the picnic table and up into her father's lap, where he sat on the edge of the bench. "I didn't mean to!"

"I know." He said with a measure of frustration holding one hand to his head and hugging her with the other.

"Audrey, inside." Angie said softly as she crossed the lawn.

"I didn't mean to." Audrey cried, her face falling.

"I know you didn't mean to." Angie reassured her. "But I also know you're not supposed to be climbing on lawn furniture either. Go in and put your toys up so we can go for dinner after Daddy leaves."

"Daddy, I'm sorry." Audrey blubbered. "I just wanted to practice for the piñata next year." Her tears fell in sheets.

"It's okay, Audrey." He told his tearful daughter and stifled a wince when the wind send a fine spray of sand into his face and the recent wound. "I'm fine…and with a hit like that you're sure to break it next year." This comment evoked a bright smile despite the tears and she scrambled off of her father's lap picking up her headphones and heading into the house.

"You'll live." Angie told him after a short appraisal of the cut which was still intact under the unbroken stitches. Then sitting down beside him on the bench, she spoke. "Dave you need to create an opportunity for choice in this relationship if you ever intend for it to work, and you can't hold anything back if this is what you really want…throw yourself into it headlong or it's doomed to fail already."

Dave touched his fingers to the gash which had quickly clotted and let out a puff of air. "I'm a master of failed endeavors…that's for sure." He said feeling sorrow for himself.

"You think because we didn't work out that it won't work out with her?" Angie laughed.

"How can I make it work when I don't even know how I ruined the first relationship?" He asked, brushing a leaf off of the bench.

"You don't have to base your success with her off of our failure, you just have to make sure you don't repeat it." Angie remarked. "Seems to me, like the whole thing with the two of you stems from a communication setback…you have trouble talking and she has a hearing problem."

Dave laughed…that was something he couldn't deny. "I think you're right."

Angie squeezed his shoulder reassuringly. "Dave, if you love her, and I believe you do, then you need to do whatever is necessary to show her that you're willing to make it work…and if that means making a commitment, then swallow your pride and do it."

"She's not gonna come back to me if I just call her, Angie…you said so yourself. She won't even answer my calls." He admitted, suddenly wondering if he could rope Vanessa into calling her from a different phone, just so she would pick up.

"Then go to her." Angie said. "And don't do something tricky like trying to get the girls to call her or else you'll look like a manipulator."

"I know that!" He said irritably and though he had been thinking along those very lines, he would never admit it to Angie and so he dashed the thought altogether.

"Give her an opportunity to make a choice and then you'll know if she loves you the way you love her." Angie smiled, satisfied with her advice.

"How do you know I love her?" He asked, wondering if his ex-wife was merely intuitive or if he reeked of it.

"I watched that match, Dave…and the camera panned on you for a split second after she got your belt…cameras don't lie…it's in your eyes." She admitted softly. "And besides that, I was married to you for almost 15 years…I know you better than you think I do."

He laughed again and stood up stretching. "Thanks…" He told her giving her a hug. "I'm glad we can be friends, like this."

"Me too." Angie said brightly, "Especially since I don't have Triple A…I may need you to come to my rescue and change a tire one day…now go in there and assure your daughter that she didn't give you brain damage and then go get your girl."

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Nancy hugged the sweater around her shoulders as she stepped over a pile of hay and ventured into the expansive stables toward the gelding in the middle row of stalls.

"Hey Viktor…" She spoke to the gelding as she ran her fingers down his head, between his ears and down to his nose. The horse's ears flicked its recognition and he breathed sharply. "I tried to call him and he wasn't there." She admitted to the horse. "I think I messed up the whole thing." The horse shifted his feet and turned his head, eyeballing Nancy as if he were listening.

"Maybe you could fix it." The Texas bred voice from behind her startled her and she jumped.

"God, Don…you scared the crap out of me." Nancy said placing her hand on her chest.

The handsome gray-haired man laughed, a piece of straw hanging from his mouth as he stood in front of another stall, foot propped on the stringer.

"You know, when I first married Jean, she used to drive me nuts…did I ever tell you that?" He asked, reaching over the stall to pat the rump of the grey mare.

"No sir."

"By God, that woman had me so frustrated the first year of our marriage, because we never could see eye to eye with what we were trying to tell each other, that I had my doubts if it would even work." He chuckled softly at the memory. "Look around you…this stable was built out of sheer frustration. I came out and worked on it every time she made me mad. Damn strong structure if I do say so myself…I spent enough time out here that I could have built two of 'em."

Nancy watched the man twirl the straw between two fingers as he spoke. "I never could understand why she wouldn't just come out and say somethin' when she wanted it." He looked sidelong toward Nancy, "Men are simpler…I would have gotten the point easier if she'd just said 'please take out the trash', but no, she had to go and flower up the request by saying somethin' like, 'I'm buried under trash in the kitchen' or 'I sure hope that trash sprouts legs and walks to the burn pile'…" He shook his head. "Women and men think, talk and act differently, that's why God made it so we'd get married, even if he did cheat us out of an instruction manual."

He turned to face Nancy, his eyes bright and full of wisdom. "Sometimes men don't say things right." He pulled the straw out of his mouth and tilted his head to the side. "We just spit things out without thinkin' and we don't mean for it to sound like a command, but it just does…we expect that when we say something that you'll get it just like we meant it…even if it did come out wrong…do you see what I mean?"

Nancy nodded, as the gelding nickered softly over her shoulder, its warm breath rushing against her face. "Yeah I do."

"I think you had a good thing goin' with that ol' boy and maybe you just got scared." He assumed, and Nancy nodded as the gelding nickered again.

"I think I ruined it by running away." Nancy admitted as a lump formed in her throat. "I always run…" She whispered, swallowing.

Don nodded his understanding, staring at his worn boot. "Supposin' you just voiced your concerns to that fella, told him why you were scared and apologized for takin' off without tellin' him…if he's worth a plug nickel he'd listen and give you a second chance."

"And what if he doesn't?" Nancy asked, scratching the horse's mane.

"Then you'd be no worse off than you are now." Don told her.

The gelding seemed to agree, whinnying and nudging Nancy's head firmly with his nose. "And besides, if you head out tomorrow, you won't end up being bullied into another breakfast with Jean and her crew." Don informed with a look of pity on his face.

Nancy's shoulders slumped in relief as she laughed. "Oh man! You knew about that?"

"Lord Almighty, you got railroaded into that one and you didn't even see it coming, girl." He grinned showing perfect white teeth. "By God that perfume hung around here thick as thieves in the danged livin' room all mornin'! I thought I would have to fumigate the house, and Eva with her blasted bright pink Hummer! Might as well have been a Sherman Tank run through a Pepto Bismol factory…thing's a hell of an unsightly embarrassment…I cringe every time she pulls up in that darned thing, because I know what their plannin' to do…only darned Mary Kay consultant on the continent that drives something that big…and she didn't even win it with sales, she had it made, so people wouldn't be able to miss it…would you believe that?" Don shook his head.

"Well, no one missed it today, that's for sure." Nancy grinned.

"Let's go inside, and you get packed up…I'll make a pot of coffee and you can make your flight arrangements." He looped an arm over Nancy's shoulder and the two walked back toward the ranch as Don told her all about the ladies with whom she had shared breakfast.

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He sat in the dark, on the bed with his thick back pressed against the headboard, mulling over his ideas. Not so much worried about the words anymore…this last two days difficulty having proved that actions were his only option now. Dave could follow Angie's advice, it wouldn't be hard…he could go to Nancy, he could talk to her…it was just the risk of being rejected that struck fear in his heart. But if he loved her he had to be willing to hang himself out for her even at the risk of her rejection…and if she loved him she would do the same. Dave knew from his own dealings with Vince that Nancy was required back on RAW, resuming her duties in only two days, so going to the ranch for her was out of the question. He knew that if he called Max, that he could find out where the ranch was, but he also knew that he had to approach things from a different angle as Angie had suggested. And he would rather do it on neutral territory.

He fiddled with the pillow behind his head, knowing what he had to do...doing it was the hard part…but he had to, and fast before she decided she could live without him.

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Nancy stuffed the last of her things into her bag and placed it by the door of the bedroom, except for his shirt, which she held in her hands. She pulled it on over her tank top and pajama pants and flopped down on the bed. She hoped that the unanswered phone call this afternoon was not a harbinger of his decision to write her off, likely he was busy with Audrey's party and unwilling to let a call interrupt it…at least that's what she hoped. She snapped the lamp off and pulled the covers over her body, knowing that sleep would not come. Tomorrow would be the day of reckoning for her…she would go to the house show and do what she knew she had to and then pray in earnest for a second chance.