CJ and The Shield went their separate ways after the SmackDown taping in Buffalo. Seth had to see his dogs, Roman wanted to see family, and Dean needed time to himself to get over not having his championship. CJ welcomed the time to herself, since she had to think about what she would do about the possibility of being pregnant. She still had to talk to Dean about Sunday night at the bar and hoped that didn't turn into a huge fight. But she and Dean had two highly confrontational personalities, so that conversation would be unpredictable.
CJ was basically alone in Syracuse. Beth took Lyric and the dogs up to Nova Scotia to be with Adam for a while, and she didn't know what to do now. She had no animal companion, no human companions, and after she was done considering the possibilities of what would happen to her if she was pregnant, she was bored. Had she been working, she'd probably be on the Exotic Express having a good time. But she wasn't, so she was on the Empty Express and not having that great of a time. As much as she didn't want to admit it, she missed Dean. She had slept in Seth's bed Monday and Tuesday night to punish Dean, and she was regretting not hugging him goodbye since she probably wouldn't see him before he left for the European tour.
"CJ, you stupid, stupid bitch." She laughed at herself as she flopped onto the her couch, covering her eyes with her hand. Half her focus was trying to decide where she'd go to be pregnant and suffer the single mother life, and the other half was on moving to a bigger apartment in Syracuse. Maybe I should get a bus and stay on the move forever. Kill two birds with one stone. "Maybe I should call Adam for advice."
A couple seconds passed, almost as if she was waiting for somebody to give her an answer.
"I should definitely stop talking to myself."
Dean paced his living room, bored out of his mind but not willing to do anything that didn't involve hopping a flight to New York. Drinking didn't seem appealing and his bag was already packed for the European tour. He didn't want to go out and he definitely didn't want to feel trapped in his apartment. He was going insane.
Not having his title was only making it worse. He knew that when Seth and Roman lost the tag titles, Roman called his dad for a three hour long pep talk and Seth was in bed with CJ all night. Both gave the two a confidence boost, but Dean didn't have a hall of fame daddy nor was he in a good spot with CJ at the moment, so they weren't options for him. When CJ had to vacate her title she had more on her mind to worry about than not having the ugliest belt in the history of the company around her waist anymore, but he knew the fact that she was forced to vacate it had her in a mood while she was away from him. Dean wasn't forced to vacate, so he wasn't in the same position, but being kicked in the face two nights in a row sucked ass.
"Fuck it. I'm going to go see her."
After what felt like a disturbingly long time in physical therapy, when it was just the usual four hours, CJ stopped by the grocery store on her way home. Traveling with the guys had done wonders when it came to her knee strength so walking around the store wasn't too bad. She just wanted to curl up with a pint of ice cream and pretend she didn't exist for a while, but she needed food since Beth wasn't around to feed her on a daily basis.
"Mom, look, it's CJ Jericho." Some little girl called as CJ was investigating cereals and she couldn't help but smile to herself as she picked up a box of Frosted Flakes, which was Dean's favorite cereal. She skimmed over the nutrition facts before tossing the box into the cart and then grabbed a box of Fruit Loops and tossed them in to join the granola clusters, granola bars, protein bars, blender, set of pots and pans, paper plates, pregnancy tests, solo cups, and plastic utensils that were already in the cart. She knew that eventually she would have to buy actually dinnerware, but she wasn't ever in the mood to wash things. I need garbage bags.
"You ask her yourself, Caitie. You're seven years old and I'm sure she's a really nice person." Her mother tried goading her into something related to the second generation star, and CJ just smiled as she started to walk by.
How do I break it to this mother that I'm actually the biggest bitch she'll ever meet?
"Excuse me, CJ?" The kid sounded so meek and CJ couldn't help but smile. She was so cute with her big brown eyes that were still so innocent and full of wonder, CJ was almost jealous. But she'd rather live he life knowing that the world was a fucked up place than relive the day she learned that the world was a fucked up place. That was a shitty tenth birthday.
"Hi there, starshine." CJ greeted with a smile, squatting down and balancing her weight on the balls of her feet so she was at eye level with the little girl. "What's your name?"
"Caitie. Can my mom take a picture of us?"
"Sure thing." It wasn't a trip to the store without somebody taking a picture of her or with her. It wasn't long before she was on her way again, heading to the freezer section for TV dinners because god only knew that she couldn't cook to save her life. And Seth thinks I'm wife material. Poor misled soul. I could probably burn breast milk as it came out of my tits.
Before heading to the check stand, CJ put on her sunglasses so that way she wouldn't be identified while buying six early response pregnancy tests among other things. The media would have a field day if that information got out, and she wasn't sure what to say about it just yet. She knew that she'd have to have a public relationship with either Dean or Seth before information about her possible pregnancy leaked, and she wasn't ready for that. Not yet.
CJ was thankful that she parked near the cart return, since her knee was starting to flare up and she didn't feel like walking her cart across the parking lot to put the cart back.
"Always thinking ahead for self preservation." She mumbled to herself with a smirk as she loaded her bags into the trunk. "Maybe I should've bought a juicer..? Nah, I'd never use it."
"Detects the pregnancy six days before your missed period...yada yada yada...unsurpassed accuracy...yada yada yada..." CJ mumbled to herself as she read through the little paper in search of the pregnancy test instructions. "Here we go. 'Do not reuse'? Have people really tried reusing these? Okay... Step one..."
Needless to say, taking six of the twelve she had was a longer process than CJ would have liked to admit. But it was over and done with now, and she was feeling the anxiety kick in. The longest three minutes of her life and she didn't know what to do, so she called her only support with this current situation.
"Is everything okay, babe?"
"Do I really only call you when I'm in trouble?" She asked, making a face although Seth couldn't see it.
"No, but I worry about you. What's up?"
"I'm only thirty seconds into the longest three minutes of my life. Did you know that pregnancy test instructions tell you that they're single use only?"
"I never would have guessed. I always thought they were reusable so we could, like, help the environment and shit like that." CJ couldn't help but laugh at Seth's valley girl impersonation as she sat down on her bed, loving when Seth laughed as well. "Everything is going to be okay."
"What am I going to tell Dean? If Bray is right about this, then he's probably right about the twin thing and I don't know how to tell him that. He's not going to believe it."
"Lie to him." Seth stated simply after a moment of silence and CJ's eyes widened.
"What?"
"Don't tell him about the twin thing and one being mine. Just play dumb and I'll do the same for as long as we can. I'm always going to be here for you, regardless of Dean's reaction to this." He explained, and CJ could hear how badly he didn't want this to be the case.
"Seth, that wouldn't be fair to you."
"It's not about being fair to me, CJ. It never was. You and Dean were fucking meant for each other, and somehow I got tangled in the mix. It'll be a few months of suffering on my end but, if Dean wants to be a man about it, I'm not going to stop him."
"Sethie, I couldn't let you-"
"Yes you can, and you will. Does the pregnancy test have any other stupid warnings?"
"Why would you- you're trying to change the subject..."
"Yeah..." Seth mimicked her tone, and she swore she heard him sniffle.
"You're not supposed to freeze them, nor are they for internal use."
"I have a friend who actually thought that you had to stick it up your vagina for it to work right."
"Pee doesn't come out of the vagina, though." CJ mumbled, looking up from her shoes when she heard the beeping from the bathroom.
"I tried telling her that."
"They beeped. Should I go look at them?"
"The sooner the better."
"If Dean takes this the wrong way I'm moving to Winnipeg."
"Or you could move in with me, be my girlfriend, and we'll be happy." Seth suggested, and CJ nodded as she looked at the test.
"Fuck me." CJ breathed as she sat down on the edge of her bathtub.
"That's how you got pregnant in the first place." He chuckled and she couldn't stop her smile. Seth was too cute.
"Shut up."
Dean landed in Syracuse pretty late in the evening. CJ still didn't know that he was coming so he checked out a rental and picked up a bouquet of flowers he didn't recognize before leaving. He knew how to get to her apartment in the daylight, but driving in the dark was a totally different story and he was pretty sure that he was lost. But he kept on driving, certain that he'd find his destination soon enough.
After many U-turns, muttered curses, and finally asking somebody for directions because he remembered the name of her complex, he finally parked in her visitor's space. Since he wasn't sure if she was still totally pissed about Sunday night, he left his bags in the trunk and only brought the bouquet inside with him. Hopefully she likes flowers. That one thought circulated through his head on the elevator ride up to her floor, then while he waited at the door after knocking. His WWE tryout wasn't this nerve wracking.
"Dean?"
"CJ, hi. Uh- I wanted to properly apologize for Sunday night. Being drunk was no excuse for what I did and you didn't deserve that."
"Are those roses?"
"They make yellow ones?" Dean asked, looking closer at the bouquet. They definitely looked like roses now that he actually looked at them and wasn't in a rush to get to the object of his affections.
"There's a fucking rainbow of roses. Come in." CJ prompted, accepting the roses and leading him into her apartment.
"In addition to apologizing, I wanted to ask you something pretty serious."
"Sure."
"Can we be a serious thing? Like, labeled?"
"Like I'm your girlfriend, you're my boyfriend?" CJ asked, placing the flowers in a solo cup she had filled with water.
"Publicly." That one word changed the whole dynamic, an CJ had to think about the timeline. Publicly dating Dean, then announcing that she was pregnant. It was going to be a bit overwhelming.
"You go into my bathroom and decide if that's what you still want from me."
No good story is without a cliffhanger or two. Winners have been drawn and I'll be sending out the messages later on today.
Thank you to Dixiewinxwrites12, UntilNeverDawns, ChelleLew, ArtisticLullaby, angelsdee327, teshdiggins, TaijiaK, Britney-xx, Ubersassynova, and Sarcastic Nightmare for reviewing the last chapter!