4
They stopped at a nearby Denny's. Colby held the door open for them and then followed them in. Fergal had his hand on Dottie's lower back as they waited to be seated.
"Four today?" The hostess asked.
"Yes, ma'am." Cait said.
Colby's hand mimicked what Fergal was doing with Dottie, his firmly planted on her lower back as they were escorted to a booth at the back of the restaurant.
"Your waiter will be here in a minute. Take your time." The woman smiled.
Dottie, still quiet from the visit with their mother, sat on one side of the booth with Fergal while Cait and Colby occupied the other side. Fergal spread out a menu for him and Dottie to share, his arm around her shoulders. Colby did the same with Cait.
"We need to make this a good day." Colby said. "I want to see Dottie smile again."
"I agree." Fergal said.
"We have to get to the house shows." Dottie said as her finger tapped on a picture. "This one."
"Anything you want, Lovely."
"Maybe you shouldn't call her something like that, Ferg." Cait said. "Is it confusing you, Dottie, when he calls you that?"
"Sometimes I don't know if it's a nickname for a friend or not." She responded, not looking at Fergal. "But I like it. I hear Joe Anoa'i call his wife honey, Baby and stuff, but that's just normal. I'm not normal."
"No. You're not normal. But that's what I like about ya, Dottie." Fergal said. "We may be going through some issues right now but it doesn't mean I don't care about you."
"But we're still friends, right? Just friends?"
"Yeah, we are." He nodded, though he didn't have as much emotion behind it as Cait would have thought.
Was he going through personal issues of his own? Wasn't he still with that Cathy chick?
"I didn't like going back to the facility but it was different from when I was there." Dottie said in an attempt to change the subject. "I liked Ms. Perkins being there."
"Did you go to school before then?" Fergal asked.
"Yeah, I did. But I was not good with it."
"She was great at anything to do with animals, insects or stuff like that. She hated math." Cait said. "I don't blame her, I was better at designing clothing than doing schoolwork."
"What about Mitchell?" Her sister asked.
"Who's Mitchell?" Colby asked.
"Cait's boyfriend who came over a lot before I was sent away. He had a car and he'd take us places, like the park or the zoo. He liked the zoo."
Cait sighed, pushed her menu away.
"He was my first friend before I went mute." Dottie said. "He was funny, and caring. He went out of his way to help me when I was confused."
The heated tears gathered at the edge of Cait's eye.
"Oh no, I did it again. Cait, I'm sorry." Dottie moved her hand across the table and grabbed Cait's hand. "I didn't mean to. I'm sorry."
Cait smiled. "No, it's okay. Fergal may have been the first to get you out of that dark place, but Mitchell was the one that kept both of us sane when Mom was being a bitch." She wiped at her eye. "He died in a driving accident, well, road rage. Someone rammed him off the side of the road and Mom barely cared. Dottie was able to come to his funeral even if she was in that Facility."
"I liked Mitchell. He was on the football team, he was my first friend and he'd watch out of me when I needed it. Kind of like Fergal and Colby," Dottie looked at Fergal. "He was good looking, too."
"Oh?" Fergal asked.
"Blondish hair, kind of tall like Dean Ambrose." Cait said. "He was a good guy with a good heart even if he was built like Roman Reigns."
Fergal laughed. "At least he was a good guy."
Dottie looked at Fergal. "I'm sorry for the stuff I said. I was confused. I don't really hate you. I was mad." She said all of that in a single rushed breath.
"I know, Dottie. I know. You don't have to explain it. I can't begin to understand the stuff that you go through on a daily basis, but I have a feeling that you'll get passed it and we'll work on it together. I still care for you, Dottie."
His thumb rubbed her shoulder, at which Cait felt a hand on her thigh. Colby smiled at her when she looked at him and nodded.
Their waiter came by to take their orders. Dottie had the same thing she was used to, chicken fingers and ranch dressing with onion rings. Fergal got the largest burger that they offered. Colby and Cait decided to share a slider sampler plate.
While they ate, Fergal seemed to wear his food more than eat it. Colby squeezed Cait's thigh to get her attention and when she looked up from her phone she saw Dottie wiping ketchup from the side of Fergal's mouth. Hiding that smile was the hardest thing to do but Fergal laughed it off. Dottie smiled again, at Fergal no less.
Whether they were still "Just Friends" or something more at that point, Cait didn't know. For as far as she was concerned Fergal was still dating that Cathy woman.
"Hey, Ferg, mind hanging out with Dottie this Thursday before the House Show?" Colby asked.
"I don't mind." The Irishman said.
"Cait, would you like to go out to breakfast with me?" Colby asked. "In a date?"
Dottie looked at Cait, her eyes wide and her mouth open. Fergal bumped her shoulder to get her attention and when she looked at him he smiled.
"Yeah, that sounds good." Cait answered.
Dottie on the other hand looked down at her plate of food. She was an open book, she was disappointed. Cait knew it was because Dottie saw her as a normal person and could do normal things. Dottie always felt different and often found herself in that dark part of her mind.
"Then I guess I'll have to do something special with Dottie." Fergal said. "I think there is a zoo there."
"A zoo?" Dottie looked at him.
"What, you've never been to a zoo?"
"No, I have. But...not without Cait."
"So you'll get to go with me instead. Unless you wouldn't mind Drew tagging along."
"The national animal of Scotland is the Unicorn." Dottie said offhandedly. "But, okay. I can text him and see if he wants to go. Okay? You're fine with that?"
"I wouldn't have asked if you were unsure, Lovely."
She smiled. Cait couldn't keep the smile off any longer.
They had left soon after eating their meals. After getting a fill up on gas and heading back to pick up Cait's and Dottie's things, they were on the road heading towards the house show venues.
Cait looked in the backseat and hummed. Fergal's face was basically buried in the top of Dottie's head as she leaned against his shoulder in sleep. She had one hand resting on his thigh and one of his was on hers as well.
Colby's hand snuck over and rested on her knee.
"You know I care for you and your sister, right?" Colby asked.
"It's not hard to see that." She looked over at him. "How did you find out that I had a thing for you?"
"Fergal."
"Figures." She huffed. "When she had that freak out on him?"
"Yeah, he talked to me about it. It almost sounded like he broke up with a girlfriend when that happened." Colby shook his head.
"So, what are we going to do?"
"We're going to go out on a few dates and see where all of this leads us." He said as he merged over into the carpool lane.
"And Dottie?"
"She'll be fine. She's got Ferg and Drew, and with Jon Good coming back just before SummerSlam she'll get to meet him."
"I was not around when he got his injury. Is he as good as his last name implies?"
"Jon can be a big potty mouth, he has no filter sometimes. But, he's been up to date on you and Dottie from Renee."
Renee Young was a nice woman. She'd stop by to ask for some mendings a few times. Renee being Dean Ambrose's wife was traveling with Joe Anoa'i and Colby sometimes. Ever since the Shield days those three men had been almost inseparable and from what Cait could see of Jon Good, he had a sense of humor that was cut and dry.
Maybe it wouldn't be all that bad.
Cait fell into an easy sleep, holding Colby's hand as she rested her head back. When she opened her eyes again they were in the next city and the two in the backseat were just waking up. Fergal stretched his hands over his head, Dottie yawned and Cait caught Colby doing the same thing.
"You need to let someone else drive, big guy." Cait said as they pulled into the hotel they would be staying at.
"Yeah, maybe I will." He arched his back and then yawned harder.
As they were getting out of the car, with the sun setting, there was a few of the house show performers showing up.
"Little Red." Cait rolled her eyes at the nickname Ziggler seemed to throw out there. "There you are. Come on, you own me a dinner."
"I," Dottie took a deep breath. "I, uh," it was the suddenness of the man being there that had thrown her for a loop.
"Come on, Dorothy, can't you give me some of your time." He reached out and grabbed her hand. "There's a great place nearby. I'm sure your sister will get your things."
"I don't know. I just got in."
"Just change it up a little. Live a little, Little Red."
Fergal's face had taken on as much red as Cait's hair as Nick practically pulled her away from the car.
"You better let her go." Cait walked around to the side where they were at. "I swear, I will nail you in the nuts if you pull shit like that again."
"Dot," Drew stepped in. "How about in ten minutes I'll come get you for supper. The hotel has a cafe in it."
"Ten minutes?" She asked.
"Yes. Or just meet me in the lobby when you're done. Don't rush, take your time."
"Okay." She smiled at him. "Can Fergal come along if he wants to?"
"Actually I have some things to take care of. But we're all set for the Zoo trip tomorrow, right?" Fergal asked, glancing at the Scotsman.
"Sure am. Kaitlin, my wife, wants to see pictures of us together for once, Dottie."
Fergal walked back to the car and grabbed Dottie's luggage for her. Colby was getting Cait's out without her asking him to. Not that she cared, she was focused on a conceited looking Ziggler.
He'd let his blonde hair fall to his shoulders as his eyes took in her sister. What was his issue? Was this his way of getting back at her, Cait, for something by screwing with her sister? She felt her face hardened as Nick leaned down and pressed a kiss to the side of Dottie head, which she didn't pull away from. She did wipe at her temple, so maybe that was good.
"I'll take care of her, Cait. You should go an enjoy some time to yourself." Drew said.
Colby draped his arm around her. "Everything going to be fine, Cait. You'll see."
Just hearing that affirmation from Colby eased Cait as she followed her sister into the hotel.
I wanted to get this out to you guys, finish up this chapter of my Dottie series. I hope you enjoyed it. I'll be back when I can get something down for the next installment. I'm liking where this series is going, so I hope you guys do too.
