Disclaimer: Anyone you recognize, I do not own. I only own the names of Dave's daughters, as I don't know what they really are. Heather owns Gavin as well as herself. Meagan owns Jamie, and Rae owns herself. Also, I'm not real sure of Tyson's age, so he'll be somewhere roughly in his mid 20's now.

Chapter 26

Rae and Dave

"Are the girls still sleeping?" Rae asked, when Dave walked back into their room.

"Well, Nicole is, Kaitlynn is awake, but she's not talking. You have no idea how bad I want to go to Angie's, and beat the holy hell out of her husband." Dave growled, as memories of the conversation they had with his girls the night before, filled his mind.

Flashback

"Do you girls want to talk about what happened now?" Dave asked, once everyone was finished eating their dinners.

"Not much to talk about, Michael got mad at us, said Nicole was making too much noise. I saw him about to hit her, and I blocked him. Then he got mad at me for getting in his way. Mom never did anything to stop him, just sat there and watched it happen." Kaitlynn answered, almost as if it was nothing.

"He hit us Daddy. He bruised Kaitlynn's cheek, and I've got a bruise on my shoulder and his fingerprints on my arm from where he grabbed me." Nicole said, tears immediately falling down her cheeks, as she launched herself into Dave's arms.

"I want you both to listen to me. What happened to you girls' was not your fault. Michael had no right, whatsoever to lay a hand on either of you at all. I am promising you both, that this will never happen again. I'm just so sorry it happened in the first place." Dave said feeling his own eyes tearing up, seeing the pain on his little girls' faces and knowing he could have prevented it somehow.

"Okay Dad. Well I'm going to go to bed now. I'm pretty tired from everything today. Night Rae, night Dad." Kaitlynn said, standing up and walking over to Dave, to give him a hug and kiss goodnight.

"Night princess. Are you sure you're okay? Don't feel like you can't talk to me about any of this. I promise you, I'm not going to go flying off the handle like you think I will." Dave said, knowing that Kaitlynn wasn't being totally honest with him, or quite possibly herself.

"I know Dad. I'm just really tired, and want to go to bed now. I'll see you guys in the morning." She said, before walking off into the adjoining room she was sharing with Nicole.

"Angel, you want me to tuck you in?" Dave asked, looking down at Nicole, who had yet to leave her spot from his arms.

"Daddy, I'm too scared to sleep. He'll get mad if you make him go to jail, and Mom will be mad too." Nicole cried, hugging herself tighter to Dave.

"Nicole, sweetie. You have nothing to be scared of. Your Dad will not let anything happen to you, or to Kaitlynn. Why don't you let him put you to bed, and he'll stay in there with you until you fall asleep?" Rae suggested, placing a reassuring hand on the young girls shoulder. When Nicole nodded her head, Dave picked her up like she was a small child again, and carried her into her room.

"Angel, why don't you go ahead and get your pajamas on, and when you come back out, we'll find a movie or something to watch." Dave said, looking over at his youngest daughter.

"Okay Daddy. Um, Daddy, could I wear one of your shirts?" Nicole asked quietly, not wanting to wake her sister, but also not wanting Dave to see the bruises on her arms.

"Sure sweetie, I'll go grab you one. Why don't you see if you can find us a movie to watch, and then you can change clothes?" Dave said, the uneasiness from Nicole, not going unnoticed by him. When Dave came back, he found that Nicole had settled on watching Napoleon Dynamite, and inwardly groaned. Once she had changed, and they both had gotten settled, and were half way through the movie, Dave looked down and noticed she had fallen asleep in his arms. Turning off the movie, he laid there watching both his daughters sleeping, and wondering just how much hell they had to endure.

End Flashback

"Hon, I know you're worried about them, I am too. You just need to believe that they'll pull through this. Don't let them see you get angry. It won't help them at all, because if they're feeling like they deserved what happened to them, then you getting pissed won't make them think any different." Rae said, kneeling down in front of Dave.

"I know. Will you kind of listen out for them? I need to go find a gym somewhere and let off some steam. Plus, I need to call my attorney and see if he has anymore to tell me." Dave asked, pulling Rae onto his lap.

"Yeah, of course I will. Call me when you're done, and maybe me and the girls can meet you for breakfast or lunch." Rae said, leaning her head against Dave's.

"Alright, well I'm going to go change, and then head out. If Nicole wakes up before I get back, I don't think she'll freak out, but if she does, tell her she can call me. Kaitlynn, I don't know about. She's just staring blankly at the TV right now." Dave said, grabbing his gym clothes together, before giving Rae a quick kiss, looking in at his daughters once more and left for the gym.

John, Heather, and Gavin

Heather and John were sitting in the waiting room at the doctor's office, hoping that the results of this test, didn't change their lives forever.

"John, how are we going to keep Paul from taking Gavin from us? I mean, you keep saying you won't let him take Gav, but how can you make sure it doesn't happen?" Heather questioned, looking over at her boyfriend.

"Hon, you just have to trust me on this. There is no way Paul will get him permanently. Unfortunately, I don't think there is anything we can do, if he wants to share custody of him. Unless he turns out to be some sick perv, then the judge will probably grant him that much." John explained, hoping Heather would try to see the logic in this.

"Gavin doesn't even know him. He won't just go with him and stay the night somewhere he doesn't know, especially without you or me." Heather whispered, her gazing falling over to her little boy. The sound of the door opening shifted their attention, to the nurse who was about to call Gavin back. Noticing their attention, she just gave them a warm smile, and said they were ready for him. Gathering Gavin and their things, Heather and John walked back to face their future and what it may hold.

Tyson and Jamie

"Boo, I just don't understand why you never said you had a sister. I always just figured you were an only child." Jamie said, as they were getting settled into Tyson's apartment.

"Well, it's only been a couple years since her death. She was killed by a drunk driver, ironically 2 weeks after her 21st birthday. We had gotten into a fight when she was 18, and getting ready to move out on her own. I didn't think her boyfriend was right for her; there was just something about him that I didn't trust. Being a couple years older than her, I felt that she should listen to me but she never had. She was always the independent one out of us, and always getting into some kind of trouble. It was never anything really bad, just typical kid stuff, but that final day that I saw her, everything just boiled over. I don't even remember what all was said, but she told me that if I couldn't support her and her decisions, and treat her like the adult that she is, she never wanted to talk to me again." Tyson said, willing down any tears he may have had, before continuing. "We didn't talk for a year or so, until our Grandma died, and we were at the funeral. Things were definitely tense between us, but I didn't want to cause a scene by trying to talk to her, so I just figured if she wanted to talk to me, she could. We left that day, and I never got the chance to see her again, until her funeral." Tyson finished staring off into space, while Jamie ran a supportive hand up and down his back.

"Boo, it's not your fault you know. I'm sure she knew deep down that you were just doing what you thought was best. You can't keep beating yourself up over it, and think you are a bad person. You couldn't have known that something like that would happen, and that she'd be taken from you." Jamie said, wrapping her arms around Tyson's shoulders, and laying her chin on his shoulder. "What was her name?" She asked, looking at Tyson's face.

"Kayleigh Marie. She's the one I'm standing next to in that picture up there on the mantle. That was her graduation day, or as my mom calls it, 'the last real day we really talked.' wasn't too long after that we had the fight." Tyson said, looking up at the picture of him and Kayleigh the day of her high school graduation.

"Well, she was a very pretty girl. You two kinda looked alike, except she didn't have this goatee thing, you've got goin on here." Jamie joked, trying to lighten the mood a bit. Chuckling a bit, Tyson remembered the incident from a couple days prior with Gavin.

"Princess, funny thing happened the other day, when we had that 'Guys Day' Gavin called me a goat boy, and he said he got it from Heather and Amanda, because they tell you that all the time. Care to explain anything to me?" Tyson asked, laughing at Jamie's expression.

"Well, they took what Jericho said to heart, and well, I tell them to shut up. Guess Gavin decided to listen in one day, I just never thought he'd call you, wait, I take that back. The kid loves to repeat things; you don't want him to repeat." Jamie answered her own laughter escaping.

"Speaking of, you think everything will go okay for John and Heather?" Tyson asked, wrapping an arm around Jamie's shoulders.

"I hope so, because I'm not sure how much more she could take if things don't." Jamie replied, the worry instantly showing in her voice. If there could only be one thing that Tyson can honestly say he loves about her, is her compassion for her friends, and that they're okay. While he was thinking about this, he continued to stare at Jamie, causing her to blush under his gaze. Noticing her blush, Tyson was quick to say something.

"I was just thinking about how much you care about others, without really thinking about yourself at times. I admire that about you." Tyson said, capturing her lips in a gentle kiss.

Amanda and Randy

Amanda pulled her 2004 Midnight Blue Mustang GT into her parents' driveway, and looked over at Randy. Hiding the smile she had, she gave his had a quick reassuring squeeze, before jumping out of the car, and going up the front steps.

"Come on slow poke. You act like you're terrified or something." Amanda taunted, while Randy walked a bit slower up the front steps.

"Well let's see here, I am meeting your parents for the first time. I'm willing to bet, they don't know about the week of Mania, and our 4 days locked in the hotel room together. So unless you have some brilliant answer for, "So when did you two start dating?" I'm just a bit baffled on how to answer that." Randy said, ignoring the look Amanda gave him, before she opened the door, and pulled him into the house behind her.

"Mom, Dad. Are you guys up yet?" Amanda yelled, walking through the dining room, towards the kitchen hoping to see her Mom making French toast.

"Well, if they weren't up before, I'm sure they are now." Randy joked, avoiding the hit Amanda aimed at him. He walked into the living room area behind her, and looked as he heard footsteps coming down the stairs.

"Hey Princess. What are you doing back home already? I thought you had a show tonight as well?" Steve asked, walking into the living room, where his daughter and her boyfriend were waiting.

"I have tonight off, so Randy and I decided to come down here and visit. Then next week, we're going up to St. Louis." When Amanda finished explaining this, she noticed her Dad eyeing Randy. "Oh that's right, you guys haven't really been introduced. Randy, this is my Dad Steve, Dad; this is my boyfriend Randy Orton." Amanda said, making the introductions.

"Nice to meet you sir." Randy said, extending his hand out to Steve to shake.

"Likewise. Why don't you two have a seat, and I'll go upstairs and see what is keeping your Mom." Steve said, heading back upstairs to find his wife.

"Well that went well." Randy said with a hint of sarcasm in his voice, as he and Amanda sat on the loveseat.

"Aww, honey. He's just being, well, a Dad. Trust me, anymore I think he gets like this, just to try and bug me." Amanda replied, leaning in to give Randy a kiss. The moment was broken up by Steve clearing his throat behind them.

"I bet you're going to tell me your Dad always walks in on you making out with boyfriends, huh?" Randy mumbled, but loud enough for Amanda to hear him.

"No, this would be the first time." She answered, before looking up at her Mom. "Hey Mom, glad to see you finally decided to join us down here. This is my boyfriend Randy. Randy, this is my mom Kim." Amanda said, once again making the introductions.

"So Randy, what may I ask, are your intentions with my daughter?" Steve asked bluntly, causing Amanda and Kim to roll their eyes, and Randy to wonder just what he had gotten himself into.

"Well, I want to make sure that she's happy, and that she has everything she ever needs. I care about her an awful lot, and I'd do absolutely anything for her." Randy answered honestly, looking over and seeing Amanda smiling at him. Kim however, was not fooled by her daughter's appearance. The motherly instinct was telling her that something was amiss with Amanda.

"Sweetie, why don't you come with me, and help me get breakfast ready. Gives your Dad a chance to talk more with Randy, and it gives us some time together as well." Kim said, standing up, and heading towards the kitchen.

"Alright, but I should warn ya, last time I tried to make breakfast, I burnt the hell out of my hand." Amanda said, ignoring the laughter from Randy.

"Honey, are you okay? You seem awfully tired." Kim asked, the concern showing immediately in her voice.

"Yeah Mom, I'm fine. Just a lot of stress at work, and I was worried with Randy's surgery and all." Amanda answered, walking over to the fridge to get some milk.

"Amanda Leigh, you know you can't lie worth a shit. Now tell me what is wrong with you?" Kim demanded, taking the milk carton out of her daughter's hand, and making her look her in the eye.

"Fine, remember when Kelsey blurted out that some creep attacked me at a club, the night before Wrestlemania?" Amanda started, when Kim nodded, she continued. "Well, I've just had some bad dreams about it, that's all. Like things ended up going differently then they did. I've talked about it to Randy, and he's helping me." Amanda answered honestly, looking her mom in the eye.

"Okay, as long as you're sure you're fine. I wish you hadn't gone through that though. I think you've got a great man in Randy. Don't let this one get away from you." Kim said, hugging her oldest daughter.

"I won't Mom, believe me I won't." Amanda replied, a small smile forming on her face at the thought of her boyfriend.

2 weeks later

Heather and John

"Why don't we have those stupid results yet? It's not like it's that hard to get them." Heather complained, pacing around John's living room.

"Sweetie, calm down. We've already talked to a lawyer, and once those results come in, we'll start working on getting Levesque out of our lives once and for all." John said, hugging Heather to him, as the doorbell rang. Turning Heather towards the couch, John went over to answer the door. When he came back into the living room, he was carrying two certified letters.

"Why are there two of them?" Heather asked, when she saw the letters in his hands.

"I don't know. This one isn't from the doctor's though." John said, holding out an envelope. Taking it from him, Heather quickly opened it to read...

Rae and Dave

It had been nearly 3 weeks since the girls had come to live with Dave. Rae had decided to move up to Arlington to help Dave with the girls, and the trauma they're going through thanks to Angie and Michael. They had gone to see a lawyer when they got home, and he had advised Dave to sue Angie for full custody of the girls. The police had gone and arrested Michael for child abuse, and had arrested Angie for neglect.

Today was the day when they'd be appearing in court, to see about Dave getting the full custody of Kaitlynn and Nicole. Both girls were nervous about seeing Angie and Michael again, but Dave had talked to them both, and helped them see that they did nothing wrong in any of this. They were waiting outside the judges chambers, while the judge was inside talking to Kaitlynn. Nicole was sitting outside with Dave and Rae, when Angie and Michael were brought in along with their lawyer.

"Nikki, baby. I've missed you so much." Angie said, trying to play the part of a dutiful mother, while in front of her attorney. "Come over here and give me a hug." She said, holding her arms out to Nicole.

"No." Nicole answered quietly from her spot next to Dave, and looked up at Angie with fearful eyes.

"You get over here and give your mother a hug, you little brat." Michael said moving to grab Nicole's arm, as Rae held Nicole to her, as Dave stood up and got in Michael's face.

"You have no business coming anywhere near my daughters. You're lucky I'm not breaking every bone in your body for what you have put them through. Angie, don't look so shocked that she wouldn't want to hug you. I mean after all, you were the one that allowed this asshole to put his hands on her, and then allowed him to hit Kaitlynn. Just get out of my sight before I completely lose my mind cause of you." Dave said, turning and walking back over to where Rae was comforting Nicole.

Amanda and Randy

Randy had gone back to St. Louis over the weekend for his physical therapy, and was arriving back in San Antonio that afternoon, to be with Amanda. She had gone to her first therapy appointment the week before, and had seemed to be doing a little better. He wasn't sure when her next appointment was, but he was hoping to be able to go with her this time. His flight had been laid over in St. Louis cause of a storm last weekend, preventing him from being there for her morning appointment. Pulling his rental car into the parking lot of the apartment complex, Randy grabbed his bags, and headed for the door.

Amanda had been busying herself around her apartment all day. Randy was supposed to be arriving any minute, to spend a few days with her, before she went back out on the road again. After spending much of her time, cleaning the kitchen, vacuuming the living room, finishing the laundry, and tidying up her bedroom, she decided to have a bit of fun and dance around the apartment while the sounds of Simple Plan's Welcome To My Life blasted from her stereo's speakers. Singing along with the first verse, she felt like she was singing about her own life.

Do you ever feel like breaking down?
Do you ever feel out of place?
Like somehow you just don't belong
and no one understands you

Do you ever wanna run away?
Do you lock yourself in your room?
With the radio on turned up so loud
That no one hears you screaming

No you don't know what it's like
When nothing feels alright
You don't know what it's like to be like me

To be hurt
To feel lost
To be left out in the dark
To be kicked
When you're down
To feel like you've been pushed around
To be on the edge of breaking down
And no one's there to save you
No you don't know what it's like

Welcome to my life

Right after that verse, Amanda heard the buzzer indicating that Randy had finally arrived. Turning off her stereo, she went over and buzzed him up. Opening the door, she stood and watched him walk up the two flights of stairs to her apartment. Leaning over the railing, she called down to him.

"Hey handsome, who are you here to see? If you were my man, I wouldn't let you walk around this building by yourself. Afraid you might find yourself another girl." Amanda called down, in a soft, yet sexy voice.

"Well, I was on my way to see my hot and sexy girlfriend, but she doesn't appear to be home yet. So how about I come up to your place?" Randy answered back, reaching the landing of her floor. Placing his bags down beside him, the couple stood there in a comfortable silence, before Randy slowly walked towards Amanda, his arms wrapping around her waist, he pulled her into a hug. Pulling back from the hug, Amanda leaned up and kissed Randy, pouring every emotion she felt into that one kiss. They stood, wrapped in each others arms, and locked in a passionate embrace, outside her apartment for a couple of minutes. Finally breaking apart for some air, Randy grabbed Amanda's hand, walked over and grabbed his bags, before they headed back into the apartment.

Tyson and Jamie

Jamie was getting ready to take Tyson to get his cast removed, when she started thinking about how far she had come in the last 2 months or so. Finding out that Adam and Amy were having an affair, almost getting hit by a car, and then coming to terms with her feelings for Tyson. 'Wonder if Mary J. Blige had this much drama in her life, when she wrote that song?' Jamie thought to herself, shaking her head in almost a doubtful manner.

"Babe, you ready to go yet?" Tyson asked walking into the bedroom, and shaking Jamie from her thoughts.

"Yeah, I just need to grab my jacket, and I'm ready to go." She replied, walking out ahead of Tyson and over to the closet to grab her denim jacket.

"Have I mentioned lately how sexy I think you are?" Tyson asked grabbing Jamie around the waist, nipping at her neck lightly.

"Not in the last, mmm, 2 hours or so." Jamie replied playfully, looking at her invisible watch.

"Well you are so damn sexy, I'm almost tempted to say the hell with wrestling, and we can just lock ourselves up here." He said, turning her around in his arms, to give her a proper kiss. When they finally broke apart, Jamie was almost lightheaded from the feelings she had coursing through her.

"Let's go get that cast off of you, and do exactly that. We can forget the rest of the world even exists." Jamie replied quietly, still in a love struck trance.

"Babe, I got to be honest with you right now. I do know who it was that hit me, and tried to hit you. The only reason I'm not saying anything to the police, is because I want to take care of this person myself." Tyson said, knowing that Jamie would be crushed finding out he had been hiding this from her, and even more so that it's been since he woke up from his coma.

"It was Adam, wasn't it?" Jamie asked simply, looking down at the ground.

"Yeah Princess, it was. I'm so sorry I didn't tell you. I just didn't want you to worry that I was going to do something stupid, while I was recovering. I want him to realize he can't do what he did to you, and get away with it." Tyson tried to explain, hoping that he didn't just push Jamie away.

"Alright, well let's go." She said, walking out to the car, as Tyson gave a small sigh as he locked up the house and followed her.

Amanda and Randy

Amanda was lying on the couch with her head on Randy's lap. He was running his fingers through her hair, while they were watching Sleepless in Seattle, which is one of her favorites. When the movie was over, Amanda sat up stretching her now relaxed muscles. Looking over at Randy, she noticed a lazy grin playing at his lips.

"What's with that look?" She asked quietly. The feeling of the intense gaze he had on her, almost paralyzing her.

"Just realizing how incredibly sexy you are, and how lucky I am to have you as my girl." Randy said, pulling Amanda to him and capturing her lips with his in an intense kiss. Wrapping her arms around his neck, Amanda broke the kiss, and laid her head on Randy's chest.

"Wow! That was um, wow!" She said, blown away by the intensity of the kiss. Getting her thoughts back, she started talking again. "Um, I'm going to go order some Chinese for dinner. What do you like?" Amanda asked standing up, and looking down at Randy's contented face.

"Whatever you get will be fine with me. I'm not picky." Randy answered, smiling up at his girlfriend.

"Okay, we'll just see about this." Amanda told him, a smile of her own crossing her features. Heading into the kitchen where the take out menus were, Amanda leaned down to get the Chinese menu out of the bottom drawer, when she suddenly felt dizzy. Before she could call Randy to help her, her world was engulfed in darkness.

Heather and John

"What's it say Heather?" John asked impatiently, the worry building up in him for the last 10 minutes, since Heather had not uttered a word since opening the letter.

"It's a letter from Paul's lawyer. Apparently the bastard is more money hungry than either of us ever realized. He signed over all his rights to Gavin, having received the paternity test results yesterday. Due to threatening legal action, and the fact that Steph would divorce him and he'd be without anything, he gave up Gavin." Heather answered quietly, a small smile forming as she realized that her life with her family could finally go back to normal again. "It's over John. It's finally over, all of this. The threat of him finding out, and the threat of him taking away our son. I never thought this day would come." She said, jumping up into his arms and hugging the life out of him.

"It's just like I told you. Everything would work itself out; and we would not lose our son to that son of a bitch." John replied, leaning down and placing a small kiss on Heather's lips. "Now I think it's time to make things official with Gavin, and with us." He said, picking Heather up and swinging her around the room, as they both breathed a sigh of relief, and felt the weight of the world removed from their shoulders.

Rae and Dave

"How'd it go in there Angel?" Dave asked, when Nicole made her way out of the room.

"It went okay. He asked me if I felt the same as Kaity, and what all happened in Mom's house." Nicole answered, going over and sitting on Dave's lap. Kaitlynn had taken Nicole's seat when she was in with the judge, and the only other available seat was next to Angie and Michael.

"What you girls did was very brave. I know it had to be hard for you both to do this." Rae said reassuringly, turning slightly to look at Kaitlynn and Nicole.

"Then why do I feel so lousy?" Kaitlynn asked, tears coming to her eyes.

"Princess, I know you feel like you betrayed your Mom and all, but what Michael did to you girls was wrong. I don't think I'd be able to go on with my life, if something ever happened to either of you. You both are my world, and I love you both so very much." Dave said, wrapping his free arm around Kaitlynn, and hugging both girls to him, when both lawyers came out of the judge's room.