Chapter 12 of "The Last Step"

Disclaimer: I own no one…..these people hopefully own themselves.

Author Note: Don't know when my next update is going to be. So I apologize before hand.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hospital in New Jersey: 8:30am:

If it hadn't been for his good friend's misfortune….maybe he wouldn't have recovered so quickly. Ric stared at the ceiling as thoughts raced through his head. Today was to be the last day he was supposed to be in the damn hospital and after that, he was home free. The nurse came in shortly after he awoke, just to check up on him.

"How you feeling today, Mr. Flair?" The blonde haired woman asked gently as she checked on his monitor and IVs. Ric couldn't help but smile at the sight of her; she was so easy on the eyes, he just couldn't help himself.

"Ok, how about you, gorgeous! How's your day been?" She smiled and slightly blushed; and Ric knew it was because of his attitude toward her.

"Fine….very fine, thank you." She picked up some medicine she had on the table right beside him. "Take two of these, please." Damn it! The sweet talk hadn't worked yet again! He hated taking that medication…..it made him so drowsy. He rolled his eyes as he took the pills out of her hand.

"Don't you think that maybe we can just skip out on this part…..and get to the fun stuff?" He asked, jokingly. The nurse laughed out loud at the comment.

"No…..it's my job….sorry…..now come on….." She beckoned as he hesitantly tossed the pills down with a small glass of water. "Now that wasn't so bad, now was it?"

"No….but seeing you is even better." They both couldn't help it, they laughed for a few minutes, almost forgetting that Ric was scheduled to leave that very same day. Not thinking twice, he asked the woman for her name.

"Oh, my name is Brittany. You can call me Brit though." She said. He lifted his hand and shook hers readily.

"Well, how nice it is to meet you, personally. Now how about you give a slight kiss on the cheek?" She laughed once again-because she knew he was just joking; he had done that with all the female nurses, and strangely enough, none of them seemed to mind. She kissed him gently on the forehead, and prepared to leave the room. "See you around, sweetie…." He smiled and winked in her direction.

"See you around, Mr. Flair….and sleep well. You have a long day ahead of you, I hear…." She left the room, closing the door quietly behind her on the way out. Ric sat there stunned for a moment, and rethought her last words in his mind. A long day ahead of me? He thought. What was that supposed to mean? He couldn't come up with an answer for that one, so quietly, he lay his head back down and was fast asleep.

----------------------------------

Hotel in Georgia: 9:00am:

Kurt opened his eyes as he heard his cell phone ring for the third time that morning. It had only been around 9am, but god how it felt like it was only 6am in the morning! What had he taken before he had gone to bed? Sleeping pills? He felt so damn sleepy he didn't know what to think. Slowly he reached over to his bag and pulled out his phone to read its ID. The number obviously belonged to that of Hunter. Oh gosh….not this again! He thought.

"Hello?" Kurt asked.

"Hello sleepy head! Rise and shine! Boy do I have a surprise for you!" Hunter exclaimed into the speaker.

"What? What do you have for me? A baby from Steph?" Everyone knew how the two of them had a romantic relationship, so it was not a second thought to think that HHH had gotten his own wife pregnant.

"No, not yet, but I will tell you one thing…..Shawn is learning the hard way about what it feels like to lose what you cherish….." Kurt could almost hear Hunter smiling on the other end…..did they actually do it?

"Don't tell me, you actually did it? You have to be out of your mind! You took down his wife! Where is she?"

"She is nowhere! If anywhere she is down in the ground with the ground worms and maggots! She is done for!" Kurt couldn't believe what he was hearing! He had heard Vince talk B.S about taking 'care' of Shawn's wife by hurting and taunting her a little bit via the incident at the mall, but not actually killing her! Oh god! Kurt didn't want for this to happen, what had caused Vince to go off of the deep end? Was it something that he had screwed up on? Oh man, he only hoped that Hunter was just kidding.

"What do you mean, done for? Don't tell me she is actually dead….."

"I think you can figure that one out for yourself, Kurt. Now it's on to phase three….." Kurt's eyes widened; he wasn't joking! He just couldn't believe it. Not to throw Hunter into suspicion of how he was really feeling, he decided to play it cool and listen in.

"Ok, then tell me," Kurt summoned while looking out the sun filled window in his hotel room, "what exactly is phase 3?" He waited as Hunter finished laughing on the other end. Suddenly, something about this plan thing was making the Olympic medalist sick to his stomach.

"Well, that is for me to know and for you to find out, now isn't it? All I am going to tell you is this, Ric is scheduled to get out of the hospital today, and Vince has told me to let you know, you mess up again and you're done for, mister! You understand?"

"Ok," Kurt swallowed his pride hard, "I understand. Is he still in the New Jersey hospital?"

"I would think you could figure that out, since you are so smart after all, right? All I know is that he is flying down to Georgia later on today and should be getting to the hotel by tonight. You do your part in this plan, and you will become new Heavy Weight Champion of Smack down. You don't, however, and you can kiss your dreams of jumping over good-bye! Get to me when you finish off the job." Kurt then heard the phone click off as his heart began racing. He looked at the clock once again; it was only 9:35 in the morning….he only had less than 12 hours to get the job done or he was done for. Forget about going back to sleep, he thought to himself, because he was now wide awake…..

--------------------------------------------------

On the Highway toward Georgia: 9:36 am:

Shawn heard the soft snoring of his only son as he turned out of another exit ramp heading toward Georgia….five more minutes, and they would be entering the state. He had figured out the directions from the gas station for himself, all he had to do was ask a waitress he had bumped into while eating at a restaurant. It was a flying J he had found while on the way out of town and since Cameron had begged him to stop, he did. The food was alright, but the people there had been so nosey. "Can we have your autograph?" was the most common question he had heard while trying to eat his dinner. Another question he had heard, and this one really irritated him was: "Hey, is this storyline thing between Vince and you for real?" Darn right it was real! It was as real as they come, hell; his wife had been murdered for crying out loud! But don't expect for the fans to know that. While trying to swallow his pride, as Vince had so plainly put it, he signed some autographs and before he knew it, he and his son were out of there. And no later, he had found the highway exit out of town. His son had fallen asleep some time later in the night, and it was then that Shawn had realized what he really had to be thankful for. His son was the only one left for him to hold on to. And if Vince or anyone else did anything to take him away…..they were going to be deadly sorry, that was all he could say about that! His mind began to race with thoughts once again, when his phone began to ring.

"Hello?" Shawn questioned while trying to keep his voice low enough so his son could sleep.

"Hey Shawn," said an old familiar voice on the other end, "I heard what had happened to your wife….I am so sorry. Is there anything I or anyone else can do to help you?" Shawn sighed with relief, why it was none other than Marty!

"Marty? Marty Jennety? NO WAY! Oh man, it is so good to hear from you once again! Finally, someone who actually isn't after me! How have you been?" He cringed as his son began to stir in the seat right beside him. But wow was it a good thing to hear his old pal's voice once again.

"Hi, are you ok? I am so sorry for your loss Shawn. How is everyone else fairing?"

"We're hanging in there," he responded as he glanced down at his peaceful son's face, "yea….I know…I miss her so damn much! Whoever has done this to her, is going to be paying for it so badly….you can only imagine! I want whoever has done this, if the lord forgives me, to be punished for all eternity! I'm sorry, Marty….hopefully you can understand."

"Yea, and apparently, I don't blame you. Listen, you're on your way down to Georgia right?"

"Yea…..that's where I am heading. Why?"

"I was just wondering. Darn it," he heard Marty say over the phone, "I'm sorry, I have to go, my wife needs me to mow the lawn." Shawn sighed…..it was so good to be talking to his friend again.

"Ok….you forget to do it again?"

"Yea….and she still holds a grudge against me for the time I forgot to go shopping for her, isn't that a kicker?"

"It is….alright; I'll let you go…..hopefully we can meet again sometime."

"Hopefully that will be sooner rather than later! Ok, talk to you later. And Shawn…."

"Yea?"

"If you need to talk or if you need anything, anything at all-you know where to call, ok?"

"Ok," Shawn managed to say as he felt his throat tighten once more, "will do. Later." He hung up the phone and put it back in his pocket; he looked back up out the windshield, just in time to see the Georgia state sign cross over his car's roof.

---------------------------------------------

Orlando, Florida: State Arena: 10:00am:

Stephanie stood right beside her husband as she looked around the main arena. The ring was set, the lights had been put up, and the seating arrangement was already being placed, and they still had seven more days to go before the Royal Rumble. The company was making progress, and so were she and Hunter.

"So, I take it we're all set." She stated as she watched one of the technicians tighten the ring ropes a little more.

"Yea…..except for one thing….."

"And what is that?"

"Can you absolutely be sure that we finished what we had to….if you catch my drift?" Stephanie smiled at that question, how could her husband be second guessing her father's genius plan?

"Of course we finished it, honey. Why? Something wrong?" She wrapped her arm around his waist as she continued to gaze up at the men working away on the ring posts.

"No," Hunter forced a smile as he answered her question, "nothing is wrong at all…" He kept his eyes glued to hers as she touched his embrace. Although she couldn't read his thoughts, he knew that if she could, she wouldn't be as happy as she was then. He just hoped that their plan was working just as it should be.

If they thought their plan was going accordingly, they were unfortunately terribly mistaken……

A/N: I know this is a short chapter, but please forgive me; I have not had much time as of recent to write. Please read and review…..so therefore I can improve my writing. Thanks! And for those of you who can't wait…here is what is to come:

Chapter 13: Raw before the Royal Rumble happens and someone unexpected turns a favor

Chapter 14: The Royal Rumble!

Chapter 15: some surprises are in store for the Show Stopper and Vince discovers that not all is well with his plan.

------Hope you're enjoying the story so far! More updates coming soon! ------