Chapter 19

Jeff banged on Chase's door. So what he skipped out on a signing? If Vince was going to suspend him or fine him or even fire him, who cares? All he could think about was Chase's last words to him, I can't see you anymore. How could she just give up so easily? So what, he had taken a beating for it? It wasn't the first and probably wouldn't be the last. But she was worth it; all of it was worth it.

"Chase! I know you're in there, your car's out front." He banged on the door harder. He had been at it for 5 minutes and she still wouldn't open up. He slid down and sat in front of the door. If he had to sleep outside of her apartment he would. She had to know how serious he was about them; he wasn't going until she talked to him.

Chase and Cassie sat on the couch, while Sherry watched Jeff from the window. "I think he's going to camp out, Chasey." Sherry turned back to the window. "God, that's so romantic." It would have been if it didn't have that stalker-like symptom to it.

Chase wiped her eyes. She was so tired of crying. For the last two days, she had been listening to every message he left her, pleading with her not to end what they had. She thought if she didn't call him back or answer his emails, he would give up; the last thing she expected was for him to ditch work and fly to California to try to work this out. "What should I do?" She turned to Cassie who had been rubbing her head for the last five minutes.

Cassie put her arms around Chase. "He really loves you. I would give my right arm to have a guy feel like that about me." She looked at her friend. "I think you should talk to him."

Chase sighed and walked across the room. She opened the front door to find Jeff sitting there with his back turned. He couldn't turn around right away because she would have seen the smile on his face. It wasn't a cocky or arrogant smile; it was more like a smile of relief. He had won half of the battle, now all he had to do was explain it to her; she needed to know that they belonged together. He stood up, turned and looked at his Chase. Before he could get the words that he'd rehearsed the entire flight there out, he felt her arms fly around his neck and he was pulled into a slow soft kiss.

"I love you, Jeff." She cried once he let her go.

He lifted her head and kissed away her tears. "Then why are you breakin' my heart?" He heard himself ask with more emotion than he wanted to show; Chase hadn't been the only one crying about this.

She stepped back. She didn't want to have to do this; make a choice between her father and Jeff. She loved her dad, he was the best man she'd ever known, he would do anything for her, he had always been there for her. But on the other hand, she loved Jeff. He was the first man that showed her what real love felt like, he was the first man in her entire life that she was enough for; she never saw disappointment in his eyes, he let her be herself and that was good enough for him.

He walked into her living room behind her. Granted he didn't want to profess his love for her in front of her roommates, but at this point he didn't care if he had to broadcast it on the next episode of Raw.

"This can't work Jeff. My dad is going to hurt you... really hurt you." She touched his face in hopes that he would understand. "I'm doing this to protect you."

Did she really think that by breaking up with him would make Dave forgive and forget? It didn't work like that with men. This wasn't about her anymore; it was about pride, ego and proving whose arm was stronger. Even if Chase was out of the picture, Jeff knew this was far from over. He knew that Dave had his reasons for not wanting him around his daughter, but that was a long time ago. Hell, it was another life; he had changed so much since then.

He ran his fingers through her hair. "Do you love me?" He looked into her blue eyes. She said yes so softly, he felt his heart cry. "You love me...that's all the protection I need." He smiled taking her face in his hands. "This is true love, you think this happens everyday? I ain't scared of Dave, what I'm scared of is losin' you. As long as I know that you love me and you're right here with me, I can take whatever he comes at me with."

He wasn't making any sense to her. He was willing to risk it all for her, why? She was a child compared to him; he was the one with all of the experiences and a real life behind him. Why was she so important? "Jeff, I'm not worth it. This is your job, hell, your life we're talking about. My dad..."

He silenced her with a kiss. "Your dad ain't in this relationship. This is about you and me...and you are worth it. You're so worth it to me." Words couldn't describe how he felt about her, not that he couldn't think of any - literally there were none. "I don't give my heart to people easy. Since my mom died, I got this empty spot in me and I've tried to fill it with everythin' I could get my hands on. But you filled it. I don't know how, but you did. And, I ain't willin' to let you go...not that easy."

There was no more need for words. Sherry and Cassie were already holding each other crying at the sentiment of love before them. Chase kissed Jeff softly and held him.

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Dave Batista grew more irritated as the days progressed. He still hadn't been able to get a hold of Chase, although he called her enough. If his schedule hadn't been so hectic, he would have gone to LA, just to find out what in the hell was going on with her and Jeff. But since his return to Raw, they had him lined up for his new intro footage shoot, an interview for WWE magazine, two signings and a shit load of other promo crap that he really wasn't in the mood for.

He had even gone so far as to enlist his youngest daughter in the quest to get to the bottom of things. He had tried Maddy, but she was no help. That child lied so much, he wouldn't have believed her; even if she had been telling the truth. So far all Alli could tell him was that Chase had a boyfriend, but that's all she knew.

"When did this happen?" He asked her casually. Even though Alli and Chase weren't really that close, he knew if he made it seem like Chase were in trouble, Alli would never tell. His girls had a way of protecting each other no matter who they were up against.

"I don't know. When she came back from seeing you, she was all whispering with Maddy about some guy she met. All I know is she talks to him on her web-cam all the time and her cell phone." Alli really didn't see anything wrong with giving up that information. If her dad really wanted to know who Chase was talking to all he had to do was look at the cell phone bill; he paid it after all.

He was getting no where, fast. He wanted answers, NOW! Tomorrow, he would have all the answers he could handle, but for now, he had to let his imagination run wild.

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Britain and X got to the hotel only to find that Dave wasn't there yet. He was still tied up at some signing. After they dropped her bags off in Dave's room, they made their way down to Christina's. When Britain heard music loud enough to shake the pictures off the wall, she knew immediately that John was near by.

She banged on the door, loud enough for him to hear it. John opened it, clad only in a pair of shorts and white ankle socks. "Why the hell is your music so loud?" Britain asked walking past him. She found his boombox and turned it off.

Randy looked up from the bed he was asleep on. "I've been trying to get him to turn that shit down for an hour." He said yawning before putting the pillow over his head.

Britain turned to find John eyeing Christina, who was eyeing him right back. It was like they shared part of the same brain or something. Oh, X was definitely time enough for John. "X this John, John this is X. I think you two met last year at Dave's birthday party." Britain stood by John's bed and smiled at how intensely they looked at each other.

John leaned up against the door, which he hadn't closed yet. "So, why they call you X?"

She smiled and leaned her head to the side. Oh no, she's giving him the do me baby eyes Britain thought while trying to control her laughter. "Because I'm X-rated." Christina replied.

This was too much. If she didn't stop them now, she was sure they would have jumped each other right there in the threshold of the door. "We call her that, because her name is Xaviera."

John smiled and nodded, then he looked confused. "Wait. I thought your name was Christina." He looked at Britain, who laughed.

"Xaviera Christina." X smiled moving closer to him.

John was bold enough to touch the St. Christopher charm that hung on her necklace. "So uh, you don't like Xaviera?" If Britain had to listen to that phony giggle anymore, she was going to throw up.

X batted her long eyelashes at him and shook her head, while biting her lip. "People always say it wrong, they pronounce it with an X not the H sound; so it was just easier to go by X or Christina; whichever." John was really digging her. She was definitely his type; maybe a little short for his taste, but she was cute, well built and definitely a little slutty.

Britain got up and grabbed X by the hand. "¡Maldición él es atractivo ¿Me pregunto si todos sus músculos son ése grande? " 'Damn he's fine! I wonder if all of his muscles are that big.' X said turning to Britain.

"Calm down." Britain said almost pushing her out the door.

John smiled, stepping out in the hallway with them. "So you speak Spanish too, huh?" This was getting better and better. Not only was she sexy, but she was bi-lingual; maybe he could make her tri-lingual, have her speaking in tongues...

"Latina and proud." X said before Britain gave him an apologetic look and pushed her down the hall. She was going to have to keep a serious eye on her, if not she was going to turn John out!

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Jeff laid with his head on Chase's chest, listening to her heart beat. Just the feel of her hand stroking his hair made everything go away. Obviously Dave didn't know what he was up against; nothing would ever be able to take the feeling of having her arms around him away.

"Jeff?" She asked quietly, not sure if he was asleep. He looked up at her with lazy green eyes. "This isn't like my dad. Usually when he gets his mind made up about something, he's determined, but not violent. I just wish he'd get to know you better...then he'd see you like I do."

She and Jeff had spent the better part of the afternoon and most of the evening, proving to each other why they should be together; how much they loved each other. But even in the afterglow, Chase couldn't shake the idea that her dad had it out for Jeff personally. This had so much more to do with her having a boyfriend. He didn't flip out like this when she went to the prom, and that was the night that everyone was expected to get laid.

Jeff closed his eyes against the sound of her breathing. "He does know me. He just doesn't like me." There was too much history behind it all. Dave had meet Matt through D-Von, years ago, Jeff knew him by proxy. It's not like Matt and Dave hung out or anything, but occasionally they would work out together and they even ended up at a few parties together. But Jeff was so busy hanging with Shannon and Shane that he really didn't pay the older guys much attention, besides, during that time Jeff had other things on his mind.

"But why wouldn't he? You're such a great guy." This didn't make sense. Everyone else around them could see how happy they were, why wouldn't he? So what Jeff was 10 years older, that's about the same as he and Britain's. And it shouldn't be the experience thing. Just because Britain wasn't a virgin when they met didn't mean that she and her dad had the same experiences. Besides, Jeff was teaching her everything she needed to know about love and she was a very apt pupil.

Jeff rolled onto his side and pulled the covers over Chase's breasts. "I told you before that I was addicted to pain pills, right." Chase nodded. "Well...that's not all I've ever done." It shouldn't have been this hard to tell her. But the idea of the disappointment in her eyes scared him. "A few years ago, I use to get wasted...all the time. It started out as smokin' weed with my friends, but it was never enough...I started tryin' other stuff, just to see what it was like." Jeff took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "Pretty soon, I was tryin' everythin'; I's gettin' high almost everyday."

Chase looked at him confused. She remembered Matt telling her that Jeff's problem with drugs was more serious, but she thought it was just the pills. "What kind of drugs?" She asked quietly.

Jeff shook his head and let out a laugh. "What kind didn't I do? I did everythin', 'shrooms, XTC, Special K, meth, coke, I even sniffed heroine once." He opened his eyes only to see tears forming in hers. He touched her face, "But that was a long time ago. I went to rehab and I got better." His voice was just above a whisper.

"When did you start taking Vicodin?" If there was a timeline for all this, she needed to know about it.

He thought back, God, that was so long ago. "I left that rehab place early. I'd already got fired from the WWF for failin' the piss test, but I ain't really care. Shit just wasn't right, you know? I's clean for about six months and I got signed by TNA. Then I got hurt. I had to have surgery on my back, and they gave me pills for the pain...at first they helped, but then I had to take more of 'em to make the pain stop." His voice was almost in a trance. He could remember it so clearly, his mouth even started to water, just thinking about the way everything ceased to exist when he was high. "Pretty soon, I had to take them, just to get out the bed. Before I knew it, I couldn't do anythin' without 'em. I mean, like we're talkin' now, I'd have to be high first to do that."

Chase's voice was so faint that he barely heard her. "I don't wanna know about this, Jeff." It was too much, too different from the Jeff she knew now. Her Jeff, wasn't a junky, her Jeff was the funniest, sweetest guy in the world; not like those people she had seen on that A&E show Intervention.

"But you need to know...when I use to get high, I was like another person. I was a lot of fun, but I wasn't a very good person. I did some stuff that I'm not proud of and sometimes people got hurt because of my choices...I think that's why your dad doesn't like me. He remembers..."

"But all he has to see is that you're not like that now. If we just talk to him, I know he'll understand." Chase knew that she was giving her father entirely too much credit. Dave didn't change his mind about things, especially when his girls were involved.

"You're his daughter. He don't care that I got clean. Hell, I got clean before and ended up right back were I was...he's afraid for you, Chase. So am I."

She sat up to meet his eyes. "How long has it been?" No matter what his answer was, it wouldn't change how she felt about him. She loved him, even this part of him.

"I've been clean for 18 months now and I haven't really thought about gettin' high in about a year." He chuckled, "...some days are harder then others. But since I met you, everyday's been a good day."

Chase looked over at her night table, at the bottle of Advil she had left out. Should she put it away, out his sight? What do you do when your boyfriend has a drug habit that you didn't know was as bad as it was?

Jeff turned her head back to him. "You don't gotta worry about that. I ain't so much as taken an aspirin in 18 months." He ran his thumb over her dimpled cheek. "If I get high, I know I'll loose you and it ain't worth it to me to do that. I actually like myself like this...it's hard, but I like it. I ain't gonna fuck it up this time."

He kissed away all of doubts. Chase knew that Jeff's past was in the past and she was in his future. If her dad didn't understand that, well, that was just too damn bad.

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Dave crawled into the bed, as quietly as he could. He nuzzled next to Britain, just feeling her warmth before he let his eyes close. He let a smile cross his lips as he felt her hand touch his neck. She settled her head up next him taking the time to rub her cheek against his shoulder. He kissed her forehead, just before she raised her head to kiss his lips.

"Hey." She said in between short kisses, still not fully awake yet. She would have been content to continue sleeping, but he smelled so good. If she didn't know better, she would have thought that he just dabbed on a little Drakkar, just before getting in bed; just because he knew how much she loved it on him. "You smell good." She said sniffing his neck.

"It's called, I'm too tired to shower." He said finally settling down enough to go to sleep.

She opened her eyes and looked at him through the darkness. "What are you tired from? All you did was sign your name all day."

He laughed. If that's all it took to do a signing, he wouldn't mind it so much. It's not like he didn't enjoy meeting the fans, but really, how many pictures was one person expected to take in a day? His eyes hurt from all the thousands of flashes he was forced to look at, he had a crick in his neck from the uncomfortable poses he had to stand in with fans who were much shorter. They all wanted the same pose, him with his arm around their shoulder. Just once he wished one of the moms would have let him pick the kid up or let him bend down to meet their height; but no, he looked more intimidating at his full height with his arm drapped around a 4'1" kid. Multiple that by what seemed like half of the West Coast and that's what a day of signing was like.

Britain kissed his shoulder and started to move her way up his neck. She listened to him sigh; not a sigh of expectation, but more like one of frustration. "Are you going to tell me what's wrong, or do I have to guess?" She asked stopping at his chin.

He already knew how she was going to respond to it, so really, what was the point? But despite his better judgment, he told her. "Chase is still seeing Jeff Hardy."

Britain rolled over on her back and looked at the ceiling. Why was it every time they were together, he had to bring them up? For all she knew right now Chase and Jeff were having sex, lots of it; the kind that they would've been having, if he wasn't obsessing. "Not this again." She said, mostly to herself, but loud enough for him to hear. "What's your problem with him?" She asked annoyed.

Why would she even have to ask? He had made it clear that Chase wasn't to see him, end of story. There were no explanations needed. "Did you know he had a drug problem?" He tried his best to sound like he was talking to her rationally instead of being accusatory.

"Did you know that I once blew a guy to get backstage at a concert?" She asked matter-of-factly. "Davey...we've all done shit in the past that we're not proud of. Get over it."

How dare she just say 'get over it' as if it were that easy? If he could get over it, he'd of done it by now. Obviously, he hadn't made his point clear, so he proceeded to tell her all of the millions of reasons that Chase should not be seeing Jeff. Britain felt herself get more and more pissed with him by the second.

"You know, you really should spend less time concentrating on your daughter's relationship and spend a little bit more time worrying about ours." She wasn't going to do this; she refused to have an argument. But he wouldn't shut up about Chase. Oh, Chase this and Chase that; it's a wonder Chase hadn't humped the entire UCLA football team by now, with the amount of pressure he put on her.

Dave looked at her confused. "What's wrong with our relationship? We're fine." What was that suppose to mean? If she had something to say, she needed to come out and say it. He was too tired to try to figure out her subliminal messages tonight.

"Dave. I haven't seen you in a week, I've talked to you a total of 20 minutes in 7 days, I'm really horny and all you want to do is talk about Chase and her boyfriend? You don't see anything wrong with that?" Hell Stevie Wonder could've seen what was wrong with this picture; but brainiac didn't seem to get it.

"The only thing I see that's wrong is that you don't seem to understand why I'm still pissed about it. When do you get have my back, be on my side for a change?"

That remark was a little too snippy for her liking. "Whatever, Dave. I'm going to sleep." She said rolling over.

He looked at the back of her head. God, she could be frustrating; but he knew that she would rather end a conversation instead of argue. Arguing had never really been her thing. "Babe. I didn't mean it like that." He said touching her shoulder. The last thing he wanted was to let this, them, come between he and Britain, but here it was again.

"Good night David." She said closing her eyes.

He knew he was definitely in the dog house now. She only called him David when he was.