Disclaimer: Anything related to TNA or anyone else clearly doesn't belong to the writers of this story. This is written purely for entertainment purposes. If TNA is willing, though, the writers of this story would very much love to own any of the TNA-owned people mentioned within this story. That is all.
A/N: Wow. Lizzie just sent me this chapter and told me it was the last one. I can't believe it's over already... well, for you guys anyway, since we did finish writing it a while ago. Anyway, this chapter kind of ties things up, starting straight where Chapter 17 left off – Kady facing The Naturals. (Cue cheesy 'dun dun dun' music). Read on and enjoy. Thanks. Phoenix
"Try the ring area. If they're not in the ring, they'll be around it." Chris offered.
Kady smiled, took a sip of Chris' Coke and then turned and left the catering area. She took a few deep breaths on the way, trying to calm herself down properly after her conversation with James. She was pretty sure her makeup was a mess but it didn't really matter at this point. She just needed to get the apologies over with so they could all move on.
Hopefully Andy and Chase wouldn't be as hard to convince as James was, although James had made her look at the situation differently. Walking out into the ring area, Kady spotted Austin Aries messing around in the ring with someone she hadn't met yet. Andy and Chase were sitting up in the stands watching the action in the ring. Taking another deep breath, she headed straight over to them.
"Hey, guys. Can I talk to you?" She asked hesitantly. Chase turned away from her and spoke to Andy.
"I'm outta here. Come by the locker room if Dixie calls us in, okay?"
"Dixie won't be calling you in... at least, not yet. My dad asked her to get you guys in here so I could try fixing things." Kady admitted.
"In that case, I'm going to the movies. The less I have to do with you right now, the better." Chase told her with a determined look on his face.
"Sit down, man. Let her talk all she wants, won't change a thing." Andy finally spoke up with a shrug. Chase glared at his tag partner but sat down again, folding his arms across his chest defiantly. Kady's heart sank. These two weren't about to make things easy for her, and why should they? After all, she did almost cost them their jobs when they had done nothing wrong.
"Look," she started, determined to not let them knock her confidence down. "I know you guys hate me for what I did, and I know I really, really, screwed things up for you... trust me, it's not like I was planning on any of this happening!"
"Well, you down at ringside dangling the handcuffs from your finger sure says to me you planned it!" Chase snapped at her, and he didn't care about the hostility he was showing to a kid.
Wrestling – professional wrestling – was a serious business and the dangers to wrestlers were universally known. For this punk kid to come out and undermine all that, and place them all in serious danger... she had a lot of nerve coming to them now with a sob story. Chase's eyes were practically glowing red from anger.
"You may be only a kid, but you acted more like a diva out there than any of the women on the roster," he scathed. "Don't tell me Harris let you off on this..."
"He didn't!" she stressed, with growing frustration. No one was believing her and she was ending up repeating herself. It was getting very annoying. "I'm grounded for a month, I don't even get to celebrate my birthday, and—"
"Whoa, slow down..." Andy cut in. "You honestly think that's enough? Kadence, you could've lost more than your birthday out there."
"I know! I know I shouldn't have put myself in danger like that and I'm sorry!" she said again, this time more desperately. Chase groaned.
"Oh great, man. We've made the little girl cry. Now here comes the waterworks and the 'I just wanted to make sure my daddy was okay' speech."
"What is wrong with you guys? I'm trying to do what's right here! None of you are making it easy..."
"And why should we, Kady?" Andy snapped. "You're making it seem like we can simply forget what happened last night and be on our merry way. You're dreaming, girl..."
Meanwhile, Chris had stepped out onto the stage to keep an eye on her. After what had happened with James, he wasn't sure Kady could take much more of this, and it was admirable how she was finally pushing her pride aside to do the right thing. Perhaps there was hope for her yet. He crossed his arms and stood next to the scaffolding, and though he couldn't hear what was being said, from how Kady was standing and the serious expression on her face he knew she was having a hard time keeping it together. Chris wanted nothing more than to go to her and he wouldn't hesitate to mess Andy and Chase up if Kady was made to feel worse than she does. None of them noticed him standing there, though.
"What is that you want, Kady?"
"I just wanted to do something good for my dad," she replied, her voice cracking with emotion. "I didn't know what else to do."
For reasons not really understood by Chase, Andy was more understanding and even sympathetic to her situation, but he remained silent. Kady decided to give up there and then - she had no strength left to fight this out with them - and she turned and began walking up the stage; her eyes focused directly on the floor in front of her. But then, two feet appeared in front of her and two strong, and familiar hands pressed on her shoulders making her look up. Chris was looking down at her, sternly, and Kady breathed a sigh of relief.
"How's it going, baby?" he asked, though was pretty sure of the answer already.
"Horrible. I was right all along, they're complete morons."
"No, I was the one that said that. You were the one that said Andy Douglas was an ass..." Chris replied, with a charming smile.
"Whatever," she muttered and wiped her eyes with the back of her sleeve. "Either way, they're assholes..."
"Hey now," Chris lifted her head up so he could see into her beautiful green eyes. "No tears. No more God damn tears, Kady... we've had enough of that shit."
"They don't believe a word I'm saying, dad, what am I supposed to do about it?" she figured, with a hopeless shrug. "It's their choice."
"Yeah? We'll see about that," he grabbed her hand and took her back down the stage to where Chase and Andy still remained, and stopped only feet from them. "Stevens. Douglas."
They looked up.
"Fuck. What now, Harris?" Chase responded, with disinterest.
"I hear you're not taking Kadence seriously."
"Oh, I'm taking her seriously. I just don't care."
Kady feared her dad would physically go after Chase but, instead, he simply stood there with his arm around her protectively.
"You might wanna rethink that, Stevens."
"Why should I?"
"Because she's just a kid. She made a mistake and she's sorry for it."
"And you let her off with just grounding her for a month," Andy mocked. "It's complete bullshit."
"No, what's bullshit, Douglas, is that you're willing to hold a grudge against a fourteen-year-old child," Chris replied, logically. "Don't you have better things to do? Come on, man, she's sorry. She's been beating herself up over it, she's gone through enough... just let it go."
"Easy for you to say. You're her dad, you're more willing to overlook this shit," Chase said. "She almost cost us our jobs for no reason."
"But you've still got your jobs," Chris pointed out. "And she's been crying herself to sleep over this, over what she's worried about with me and Lily. She just wants to make things right and move on. Are you both honestly so heartless that you're going to deny her that?"
Chris looked between Andy and Chase, watching his words sinking in. Beside him, Kady shook slightly, possibly from nerves and repressed sobs. He pulled his daughter closer to him and looked down at her, offering her a small wink as reassurance. She shook her head, taking the continued silence from The Naturals as a bad sign.
"You have the nerve to call us heartless? Funny, coming from the guy that walked out on his kid while she was in hospital and then put someone else in there too. Excuse me if I don't fall all over myself to make her feel better." Andy commented wryly.
"He only left me because he didn't know what else to do. He was scared. What he did to you was wrong, yeah, but he apologized for it just like I'm trying to for what I did. You took him at his word then, why can't you take me at mine now?" Kady implored, her eyes begging Andy and Chase to give her another chance. "Please?"
Andy hung his head, his hair falling down to cover his face. Chase leaned back in his seat and studied his tag partner carefully, just as Chris was doing to both of them. Chase could tell that Andy knew a whole lot more about the whole situation with Chris and his kid than he knew himself. The things that had happened in their past two matches against AMW told him enough to know that it was complicated and messy. He wasn't sure he wanted to know everything. For now, he'd had enough of the part of the situation that he knew about. He nudged Andy who looked up at him, his hair still blocking Chris and Kady's view of his face.
"Think the kid's made her point?" He wondered. Andy nodded slightly and Chase turned his attention to the father-daughter pair in front of them. "Fine, we accept your apology. Doesn't mean we have to be happy about what happened. I mean, I got suspended for being handcuffed to a guardrail. It's bullshit."
Kady nodded, knowing she couldn't disagree with what he'd said. His suspension was slightly pointless. But, then, she thought back to what had been said in Dixie's office earlier and figured she should relay it on.
"Jerry Jarrett told me that management view your suspension as more of... time out for you so that you can clear your head. Me being around has messed with your career a lot, even though I never meant for it to. View it as a holiday... I know that's what I thought of my suspension from the last school I was at." She shrugged, a sympathetic smile slowly curving her lips. Maybe things were going to be okay, after all.
"I don't want a holiday, I don't need a holiday. If Andy has to be suspended for what happened then why can't they just put me on the singles roster? Put me in some X-Division matches or something like that." Chase fumed, hating the fact that he was out of action for three weeks for no reason.
"Talk to them about it. Maybe they'll change their minds. I'll support you on it if you need me to – I've already told them that I think your suspension is a joke." Chris told the younger man.
"I'll talk to them. Don't need you fighting my battles for me." Chase brushed his offer aside.
"We feud in the ring, man. Why bring it to the outside?" Chris wondered before tapping Kady's shoulder and leading her away from them.
Chase watched them walk away and was very close to snapping. He never asked to be made part of any of this shit and he was being punished for it, and it sickened him! He would be talking to management alright, about what to do if that kid ever messed with his and Andy's careers again. He was willing to forgive her this one time but the anger didn't dissolve just because he'd accepted her apology. Andy could see his partner stewing, pacing madly back and forth.
"Chase, you gotta calm down…"
"We just let that kid off when we shouldn't have, man…"
"I know. But let it go, who cares anymore?"
"It's the fucking principle of it!"
"And what do you think you're gonna do about it?" Andy challenged. "Without getting her parents fired."
"I wouldn't mind seeing both of them gone," Chase countered thoughtfully and Andy hit him upside his head.
"Cut it out. Forget them. Don't make things worse for yourself, or anyone else," his partner warned. "Let. It. Go."
Chris led Kady backstage, and they didn't stop until they had passed through the curtain. But, then, Kady stopped and looked over her shoulder, worried.
"Somehow I doubt Chase is gonna let this go anytime soon," she sadly commented.
"Can you blame him? Don't stress yourself over it, Kady. He'll get over it," Chris assured her and squeezed her shoulder. It was something that would continue to bother her until she could fully resolve things with Chase but, taking her father's advice, Kady decided to let it go for now. "Come on. Let's find Lily and get the hell outta here. You've still got your sentence to serve."
Kady groaned and remembered the severity of her punishment, and what would happen if she messed up again.
Three weeks later, Kady bounded down the stairs and pulled open the front door of Chris' new house in Orlando, Florida. The house was situated around ten minutes away from Lily's so Kady could go between them as she pleased. Or, she'd be able to once her mother had finally had a sufficient break. For now, she was staying with her father and serving out her punishment.
"Freak boy!" Kady squealed as she saw who was on the other side of the door.
"Uh... Kady?" Danny wondered. This person slightly resembled his best friend but she was... happy. And she didn't look as dark as Kady used to.
"Yes, it's me. I know... weird, right?" Kady mused, tugging at her shirt slightly.
"Weird, yeah. But... I guess it's good. So, am I allowed in or did I suffer that bus ride for nothing?" Danny joked.
"You took the bus?" Kady wondered as she stepped aside to let him in. She couldn't believe he'd catch a bus all the way from Kentucky, just to attend her birthday.
"From the airport." Danny smiled. Kady laughed and smacked him on the arm as she led the way through the house and out the back door where Chris was setting up a table, surrounded by three giggling teenaged girls.
"Abby, Kristen, Maria... this is my best friend ever, Danny. Danny, that's Abby, Kris and Maria." Kady introduced. Danny nodded at the girls but they didn't seem to notice. They were following Chris' every move rather intently.
"Wow. Guess girls in Florida are just as weird as they are in Kentucky." Danny commented to Kady quietly.
"You guys, quit bugging my dad." Kady groaned. Chris laughed and disappeared into the house to organize food and drinks. While he was in there, there was a knock at the door. He abandoned his task and went to see who it was.
"Lil, hey." He smiled as he let his ex in.
"Hi. How's everything going?" Lily asked, looking around slightly.
"Kady's friends are all here - Danny was the last to arrive. They're out the back and, may I just say, I never knew teenaged girls could giggle so damn much." Chris smirked.
"Oh, come on. Think back, old man. Cheerleaders are the worst gigglers known to man and you used to hang out with them." Lily reminded.
"Damn it, I must be showing my age. Don't think the girls care, though." Chris winked, leading the way into the kitchen.
"Ego boosting, is it, Mr Harris?" Lily teased.
"I think I'm more enjoying the fact that it annoys Kady." Chris laughed as he pointed out the window.
Lily looked out and saw Kady, Danny and three of Kady's new friends from school. They seemed to be getting along okay, though Danny was still being given some sideways glances by one of the girls. Lily wasn't sure if the looks were based on a crush or feeling uncomfortable about how strange the boy looked. Kady had changed a lot in the last three weeks, having spent that time one on one with Chris, but Lily doubted that Danny would ever change – not with Jenna as a mother anyway.
"So, feeling refreshed yet?" Chris asked as he prepared some meat that he was going to be barbecuing.
"Are you asking if I want to take Kady back? If so, not yet." Lily smiled.
"No, that's not what I meant. I'm actually enjoying having her around. Just wondering if you were missing her yet."
"Every day. You know, I sometimes find myself going into her room in the mornings to get her up for school. Then I remember she's here and feel like a fool. But, this has been good for all of us. Kady's doing well in school, she's happy. That's all that matters." Lily reasoned.
"Are you happy?" Chris asked suddenly, stopping what he was doing to look Lily in the eye. She smiled as she thought over the question and how she was going to answer it.
"Um... that's a very loaded question. On one hand, I miss Kady something chronic. But, on the other, I've been enjoying being on my own and sorting through things in my own way. So, yeah... I guess I'm happier than I've been for a while. What about you?" Lily turned the question around.
"I've got my baby girl back, she's improving more every day, I've got time off to spend with her... I'm fucking ecstatic." Chris grinned seriously.
"Chase starts back this week, as a singles competitor." Lily put in.
She'd been in contact with Jeff Jarrett on an almost daily basis about the suspensions of herself and the wrestlers that had been involved in the messy situation weeks ago. She was hoping that if she showed that she was keeping up with everything, she'd still have her job with TNA once the suspension was up.
"Yeah? Good for him. Andy will be going crazy. James... he'd be drunk off his nut right now, I'm sure. And you and I get to be here, celebrating our kid's fifteenth birthday. See how everything works out?" Chris laughed.
"Oh, yeah, everything's working out fine... for us. I don't think Andy, Chase and James have been handling their suspensions as well as we have." Lily mused, remembering what Jeff had told her about the three other men.
"Oh? James been bugging management or something?" Chris asked, worry lines creasing his face suddenly.
"Not just James. Chase was at them for his whole suspension about getting a singles run. Andy wanted to know when his suspension would be over and what other punishment he'd be facing. James... well, James wants to know why they want him to enroll in rehab as well as serve the suspension." Lily explained.
"Rehab? No shit. Guess management's sick of him messing up promos and stuff. I'll call him tomorrow and see how he is." Chris decided.
"Mom! Hey, when did you get here?" Kady asked, hugging her mother after coming into the kitchen.
"Hey, sweetie. I haven't been here long. How are you?" Lily wondered, returning the embrace.
"I'm good. Got an A on my science project this week." Kady smiled, handing her mother the assignment sheet that had been stuck to the fridge. Lily read the grade and teacher's comments quickly before handing it back.
"Excellent. I'm so proud of you, baby." She told her daughter seriously.
"Thanks. Hey, dad, Maria wants to know if we can hit the pool yet." Kady inquired, turning her attention towards her father.
"Sure. I'll be cooking shortly, though. Good old Kentucky barbecue." Chris told her, holding up the raw meat.
"Ew. That is so incredibly gross. I think I just lost my appetite." Kady balked.
"Aw. You won't want any cake then, huh?" Chris teased.
"There's gonna be cake?" The girl asked, perking up at the thought.
"Of course. What kind of birthday celebration would it be without cake?"
"Awesome. Yell out when the food's ready. Danny and I are challenging Maria and Abby to a chicken fight in the pool. Kris is going to be referee." Kady informed her parents before disappearing back outside.
"I put money on Danny and Kady. Abby and Maria don't work well together. Plus, I think Kristen has a crush on Danny-boy so, she may end up being a biased ref." Chris joked to Lily as they each grabbed a plate of stuff to take outside to the barbecue.
"Plus, you have to factor in Danny and Kady's almost psychic connection. The other two will be busy calling out instructions to each other and Danny and Kady will be busy attacking, no words needed." Lily agreed.
"You should go do play-by-play commentating, keep me up to speed with what's happening." Chris laughed.
Lily shoved him slightly and headed over to the pool to watch the chicken fight as Chris got down to barbecuing. Once the food was ready, he yelled out to the others to eat fast or be last. The mass evacuation of the pool area had to be one of the funniest sights he'd seen since the last time he'd watched James fall over himself in a drunken stupor. The kids traded gossip as they ate and Chris and Lily listened in, trying to keep up with the he-said, she-said cattiness of the high schoolers lives.
Danny feigned interest but Chris could see he felt a little left out. There was no way for him to know who, or what, the girls were talking about. Chris nudged Kady's foot under the table to get her attention and then motioned towards Danny slightly, trying to convey the point to his daughter. Kady nodded, understanding completely, before trying to think of some way to include her best friend in the conversation.
"Danny, remember that girl Monica at our school in Kentucky? I swear she must have a twin here. The chick is almost identical, acts the same way and everything." Kady told him before turning to the girls. "Louise is so messed up, right?"
"Absolutely! Last week, she told me that she forgot her lunch but she didn't want to eat the cafeteria food because she said it was poisoned." Maria put in.
"Sounds exactly like Monica." Danny nodded, no trace of emotion showing through. Chris noted that everyone had finished eating so he began to get to his feet.
"Danny, help me with the plates?" He asked, giving the teen a way out of the girlish nightmare.
"Sure." Danny agreed quickly, getting up and grabbing Kady and Lily's plates from them. Chris noticed this and smirked. He'd deliberately left Chris to get the plates from Kady's friends.
"Thanks, kid."
Once they'd taken the plates inside, Chris put his lot on the bench and looked at Danny seriously. He felt he'd gotten to know Danny quite well after everything that had happened and kind of thought of him as a surrogate son... well, maybe not that much. But he did respect that the boy was Kady's dearest friend.
"She'll always have a place for you, you know that, right?"
"Huh? What? Oh, sure." Danny nodded, not really knowing what he was agreeing to.
"Danny. You're practically her brother, for God's sake. Just because she's made some... slightly flaky friends, doesn't mean she won't want you in her life anymore. She's just working out who she is now, trying to find her place at the new school and everything." Chris pushed. Danny leaned back against the stove and looked at Chris seriously.
"She's changed, that's for sure. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, quite the opposite. It's just... weird. Like, once she's figured out who she is now, I'm gonna need to figure out the same thing and work out where I fit in. I get it, no big deal." He shrugged.
"It is a big deal. You guys have been there for each other for years and, now, things are different. I'm just trying to let you know that she'll always have a place in her heart for you. And, you're welcome here any time – provided that it's school holidays and your mother knows." Chris warned.
"Thanks, I appreciate it." Danny nodded, feeling a little better. It was strange for him to have someone other than his mother and Kady understand him and how his mind was working.
Seeing that Danny was feeling slightly better, Chris went over to the fridge and pulled something from it. As he turned around, Danny caught sight of a birthday cake, complete with chocolate frosting and purple and blue decorations. Chris lowered the cake slightly and Danny read the words that were written across the top.
"Happy birthday, Kady. Make a wish." He recited before looking up and seeing the candles in Chris' hand.
"Dude, she'll freak." He smiled.
Chris nodded and motioned for Danny to head back outside in front of him, so they could hide the cake between the two of them. As Danny walked towards the group of people at the table, Chris started singing 'Happy Birthday'. The other people joined in as Kady tried to hide by putting her arms over her head. How embarrassing could they get?
Chris stopped at the table and Danny moved aside. Chris had placed the candles into the top of the cake as he'd walked so he lit them after placing the cake in front of Kady on the table. He smiled down at his daughter and motioned to the the words written on top of the cake.
"You want me to make a wish?" Kady wondered after reading the cake.
Chris agreed, Danny cheered and Lily and the three girls clapped in encouragement. Kady looked around at the group of people she was with and then down at the flames on the candles. She was trying to think of something, anything, that she could possibly wish for. Getting an idea, she got to her feet and held her hands out dramatically to silence everyone.
"Well, I could try to make a wish but it would probably end up being really corny, really cheesy. Basically, it wouldn't mean a damn thing because there's nothing in the world that I can wish for that would be better than this moment. I've got everything I ever wanted, right here – my mom, my dad and friends. What more could a girl want?" She told the group before leaning over and blowing out the candles quickly.
END
A/N2: Sobbing is heard as Phoenix wanders back in, clutching a tissue. So, there we have it, the conclusion of Fractured Reality. After reading through it again before posting it, I've realized just how cheesy the end bit (the birthday scene) is... which is totally my fault. Oh, well. It's done now. So, for the final author's note, I'd just like to say thanks to everyone that has read this and bigger thanks to all those who reviewed it – the feedback was truly appreciated.
And, I'm going to send an even bigger thank you out to Lizzie – dude, without you, this never would've been written. You're a talented and inspiring writer and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for agreeing to co-author this with me. You're a real star and I'm a better writer for knowing you. HUGS!
Now, I'm going to retreat back into my cave and help Lizzie think up ideas for the sequel. If you guys want to see anything happen, let us know in a review. Much appreciated. The final words from Lizzie are: LOVE TO ALL MY CHICKENS. Decipher that as you will... lol. Phoenix
