Chapter 2

Randy ran up the steps of the apartment building and pushed buttons and pounded on the door. An old lady answered it with a stick in hand.

"Hi. I'm sorry to wake you but I'm looking for a woman who lives here. In 310." Randy said.

"310?" The old lady said. "No one lives there. You mean Maria Velasquez."

"Yes. Velasquez." Randy said.

"She moved out a couple of weeks ago." The old woman said. "She was such a sweet girl, said something about a new job or something or another."

"You don't know where?" Randy asked.

"No. Sorry lad." The woman said, closing the door.

Randy got back in the cab as disappointed as ever. He'd never felt so defeated. He was right here and she wasn't. Where the hell could she be? Randy gave up and went to the airport to go home. He needed rest. He was off for the next four months to try and finish recovery from his injuries and set up for the future storylines between himself and Hunter, he'd have to find another way to find Maria.

((Three and a half months Later))

Maria walked through the office happily, she'd given up going back to journalism for the moment, until the baby came. No one would hire her once she'd first started showing a few weeks earlier and her savings had run out. She'd gotten a job at a book store as a bookkeeper and she also did odd and end jobs around the store. She smiled at her new boss, Melissa Williams as she entered the store with a smile on her face.

"How are you feeling?" Melissa asked her with a smile.

Maria had filled Melissa in briefly about what had happened between her and the father, no names mentioned or anything about the plane crash or where she was, and so forth. Just that it was a one night fling and that Maria had fallen too hard to bring herself to say goodbye.

"I'm good." Maria smiled. "Why are you so happy today?"

"My brother's coming in to bring me lunch." Melissa laughed. "I'm going to tell him that John and I are going to have a baby. He'll be so happy, he's been begging me to make him an uncle for years. He loves babies."

"How sweet." Maria grinned. "When's he supposed to be here?"

"Anytime now." Melissa said, going to her office. "Send him back when he gets here."

"Sure." Maria said, turning her attention back to the paperwork on the counter in front of her.

Thirty minutes later the bell over the door rang and she looked up to welcome the customer who entered.

"Welcome to W & O Books…" Maria began, when she saw who entered. She found herself eye to eye with a very surprised Randy, an older lady and a young woman. "Can I help you?"

"I'm here to see my daughter." The older woman said. "I'm her mother, Jane Orton. You must be Maria, I've heard so much about you."

"Hi." Maria said, feeling herself start to get queezy.

"This is my son, Randy." The woman said, motioning toward Randy and before she could finish Maria jumped from the stool behind the counter, pulling her shirt out lightly.

"If you'll excuse me I need to visit the ladies room. Melissa is in her office." Maria said, practically running toward the restroom.

Randy stood there in the store staring at the empty bar stool. She was here all along, in St. Louis, working at his sister's book store. Had she known he was Melissa's brother? Surely not if she'd gone through the trouble of moving so he couldn't find her.

"Randy are you okay?" He heard Melissa asking.

"What?" Randy asked.

"She'd beautiful isn't she?" Melissa asked, smiling.

"Don't I know it." He replied.

"Is the poor dear okay?" His mother asked.

"Oh yes." Maria laughed. "Morning sickness. She doesn't like people to know, she's not married."

"Oh this is 2005 no one's married anymore." Her mother laughed.

"Did you say pregnant?" Randy stuttered.

"Yes Randy." Melissa laughed. "Which is why I brought all of you here actually. Me and John are going to have a baby."

Her mother congratulated her and she turned to her brother.

"Randy didn't you hear me?" Melissa asked.

"Yes." Randy said. "That's great."

"I expected a little more enthusiasm." Melissa said as Maria came back in the room.

"YOU!" Randy said, pointing at Maria. "Come here."

"Randy don't be rude." Melissa said.

"Stay out of this." Randy said, stepping up to the counter. "Pregnant? You're pregnant?"

"Yes." Maria said, holding her head high. "It's not your problem. Go home to your wife or girlfriend or whatever."

"Not my problem?" Randy yelled as she looked at him. "I've been searching all of the fucking world for you for months! It's not my problem?"

Maria felt the tears sting in her eyes and she stepped closer to the exit and Randy grabbed her arm.

"You're not running this time." Randy said.

"Randy stop man-handling my friend." Melissa said from behind him, his mother standing next to her.

"You're pregnant with MY baby and you're telling me it's NOT my problem?" Randy said angrily. "And what wife? Did you get that offline or what?"

"What are you talking about. Offline." Maria stuttered. "Your Randy Orton, girls fall at your feet every day. You must have a wife or girlfriend or something that was waiting at home for you. You found me, I'm fine, now can I disappear again please?"

"No." Randy said, grabbing her arm. "You saved my life and you left without even saying goodbye to me. I can't just forget about you. My boss even tried to help me find you because I couldn't think about work until I found you."

"I didn't save your life, I found you and I patched you up and now you look okay." Maria said. "I'm just another single woman who finds herself knocked up after a one night stand with some guy who probably has them all the time. My parents won't talk to me, they won't even look at me. Melissa was the only person who would hire me once I started showing. Do you know what's it's like to know that you are responsible for someone else's life? I have choices to make and they don't include my child having a father who is never there or a father who feels trapped because they got stuck with some kid."

"Trapped? Didn't you hear me, I've been searching for you for months. I hired a PI, I went to your old apartment and some old lady said you'd moved out." Randy said, grabbing her hand. "I love you. You saved me, not just from the plane but from myself. You're right until I met you I was like that guy you said but not now. You're all I could think of since I came back from Mexico."

"What?" Maria asked, smiling.

"What?" Randy said.

"Say that again." Maria said.

"I love you." Randy said, stroking her cheek.

"I love you too." Maria said, kissing him lightly.

"Excuse me." Melissa said. "What just happened here?"