Stripped

A/N: So this is really more of a blurb than a chapter, but it's setting up some stuff that will happen later. Maybe I'll get really lucky and give you another, longer chapter later tonight. Who know? I don't own 'em - Enjoy! (and thanks for the AWESOME reviews.)

"Well, then why did you even fuckin' call, Jack?" Olivia slumped further into her seat and let out a frustrated groan. "You're just gonna do whatever the hell you want anyway."

Trish sat in the front seat of the van, nestled comfortably between Randy and Adam. All three had their eyes trained on the road before them. Stacy and Christy Hemme sat in the next row of seats, both growing incredibly interested with their fingernails at the moment. And John was crouched next to the window in the back, doing his best to pretend that he couldn't hear every word of Olivia's conversation.

For the most part, she had adjusted well to the life of a WWE diva. She was doing exactly what she was told, getting over fairly well with the fans, and making some new friends. Or acquaintances, at least. But then Jack, her ex, had called. And everything she had been trying to project, the cool, confident professional, went flying out the window.

"I didn't call for your permission, Liv," Jack's irritated voice came through the cell line with perfect clarity. "I called to tell you not to bother trying to get ahold of him this weekend."

The mom inside of Olivia roared to life in an instant. Bolting up in her seat, she turned toward the window – as though that would somehow block her from the rest of the vehicle. "You listen to me, you self-righteous son of a bitch. I am his mother. And in case you have forgotten, I'm the one who had to pick him up from the school when those kids you're letting him go camping with gave him drugs and got him expelled."

She couldn't tell which was worse – the tension between herself and Jack, or that which was about to suffocate her from inside the vehicle. Randy cleared his throat and shifted in the driver's seat, reaching for the radio. Trish smacked his hand and shot him a glare that said to watch the road and stop moving. And Jack was laughing in her ear.

"Don't even start," Jack sighed. "Don't give me that 'I'm such a great mom' bull shit, Liv. If you were half the mom you think you are, our son wouldn't be nearly as fucked up as he is."

The term 'seeing red' finally made sense to her. Punching the back of Christy's seat, she stared at the floor and imagined her first love's face. "And what did you do that was so fuckin' great, Jack? Huh?" She paused for a moment. "Oh, that's right – you fuckin' left before he was born! I'm sure your 'Dad of the Year' plaque is in the mail."

"At least he's not ashamed of me."

The words hit her in the gut and sank to her toes. Fighting the urge to throw up, she recycled the pain into fierce anger. "I did what I had to do to make sure that our son has a good life and future. You did what? Nothing. I'm sure he's real proud that you're a coward, and a quitter."

"I was 20 years old, Liv. What the fuck was I supposed to do with a kid?" he tried to defend.

Those in the car may have wondered how Olivia had gone from ranting about her son going on a camping trip, to fighting about her break up with the boy's father, in less than five minutes. But Olivia knew. She knew because it was the same fight they always had – who was the better parent? Who was justified in the choices they had made? Who was better for Brandon?

"And I was sixteen!" she shouted, seeing John flinch out of the corner of her eye. Had she taken a moment to think about what was going on, she would have been embarrassed. But Jack was so far inside her head, she couldn't focus on any of the rest of them. "You think I wanted this life? I didn't get a fuckin' choice!"

He laughed and she could tell he was rolling his eyes. "I gave you a choice, Olivia. I gave you five hundred dollars and a chance to stop this madness before it started. And you bought a fuckin' bus ticket and ran away."

She huffed and started to stand, only to remember that she was still in the back of a moving vehicle. "Ya know what? I'm not doing this with you again. I told you how I feel – I don't want Brandon going camping with those kids this weekend." Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and leaned back in the seat again. "He's not even eleven yet, and I don't think he should be out in the woods with no parental supervision."

"Devon's brothers are going to be there," Jack interrupted, pissing her off again.

Through clenched teeth, she stared out the window to her left. "Devon's brothers are in high school. They're not adults. They're pot-heads, and they're trouble." Throwing her hands up in the air, she sighed. "But he's your responsibility now, so the call is yours."

With that, she hung up the phone and closed her eyes, fighting tears and wishing someone would just say something.

Randy, who was never at a loss for words, cleared his throat again. "You know what I think we all need?" Trish shot him a look, but he just pointed out the window.

Adam smiled and rubbed his hands together. "Oh, yeah baby! Chili cheese fries and corndogs." Licking his lips, he turned and raised his eyebrows at the rest of their traveling companions. "What do you say? Truck stop food sound good?"

They all nodded, including Olivia, who had turned to look at the man in the seat beside her. "Sorry," she whispered when the rest of them had gone back to chatting.

He shook his head and reached across the seat to put a hand on her shoulder. "How do you feel about milkshakes?"

With a small smile, she shrugged and tried to push the rest of her life out of her mind. Over the last three weeks, her entire existence had become a delicate balancing act. She would always be a high school drop-out, forced to grow up too early, living a life she had always dreaded in order to provide for a child who, much like herself, had never asked to be born into his circumstances.

But every time she looked at, or talked to, John, she could feel the carefree twenty-seven-year-old begging to come out and play. A part of her wanted to fully experience life without the responsibilities of a juvenile delinquent and a mortgage. She had a good job, at least for a little while longer, and some fun people to spend her time with. She could never pretend that Brandon didn't exist, nor did she want to. But it wasn't every day that someone like her got a vacation from reality for awhile.

For the first time since signing her WWE contract, Olivia decided that she would embrace it. After nearly eleven years of just trying to survive, she was ready for something more. In two and a half months, it would all be over. And she wanted to make sure that she could look back at some period in her life without any regrets or doubts. And this was going to be her time.