Chapter 37

Tahlia wasn't crazy…much. She had her crazy moments, such as attacking Dennis, but the dickhead had it coming! Same with Sable and Chyna screwing her over and trying to take HER title! It was all defense and the only reason she was targeting Shane was because he'd forced her to infiltrate the Corporation by getting close to Vince's prodigal son. Did she have to sleep with Shane? No, she didn't. At the time, however, she was running out of options on how to get Shane to trust her faster and the boy had fallen in love with her. He'd even mentioned marriage to her for Christ sakes! It wasn't a surprise when Taker grabbed her upper arm and dragged her upstairs to his room, slamming the door shut with authority.

"I know what this is really about. I left you last night – technically the night before – and you're pissed about it." She folded her arms tightly in front of her chest, amber eyes narrowed along with acidic green. "Didn't think you'd care if I left and went back to my own room. Didn't think you cared at all." Again, a pointless argument. "I'm going home in a couple hours, Taker, so please deal with it and accept it. I'm tired, I'll stay here until I have to go to the airport if that'll make you happy."

"You haven't been the same since you came back, Tahlia, since your return from the Corporation." He stated flatly, not bothering to be indignant with her assumptions.

Arguing with her was pointless, he had learned that lesson. Anyone else, he would've smacked them into silence. Her… he usually let her go. Maybe after all that time of her being subservient to him, this was refreshing, if not disconcerting.

"You are… different. And since that night…" Where he had basically fumbled over his own words and probably made her think he viewed her as a tool, which he had and, to an extent, she was. However, she had made herself that way for him. "We need to speak." Something had to change.

"No, it's the other way around. YOU haven't been the same since I returned…and I'm not sure why. I've done everything you've asked, I've been loyal and followed your orders. Dennis attacked me, so I destroyed him. He had it coming. Same with Chyna and Sable. Now you want to do this dark wedding…black wedding…whatever the hell you wanna call it and I'M DOING IT." Tahlia tossed her hands up in the air in frustration and shut her eyes, knowing what she had to do. "If you don't want me to go home by myself, then you're coming with me. I HAVE to go though. If you insist on being my protector, then you have to come with me. Book your flight – hope you like coach." Yawning, Tahlia kicked her shoes off and sat on the bed, groaning at her head. Maybe taking painkillers wasn't such a bad idea after all.

It was almost like she thought he had been born wealthy or something. Just because he preferred to fly first class… that was a leg room issue since he was a large man. To be honest, he hated other people as a matter of policy. They were rude. Disgusting. And most insisted on trying to make conversation. He hadn't come from money; he had earned it and had done a lot of cost saving things, like flying coach.

"Coach is fine." He said, almost sweetly, watching her intently. "You don't want to do this wedding thing." Taker had kind of figured that out a while ago. He just didn't understand why. "You do know, it's not real, right?"

"Yeah, I'm not that stupid." She tried to inject snark into her tone, but all that came out was exhaustion. "I don't mind doing it…if it benefits the Ministry. I'm just pissed at myself right now and I wanted a couple days alone to get my head on straight. To get back on track. Those assholes attacked me from behind and I'll never live it down. I should be punished for what happened, Taker." Putting her head in her hands, Tahlia was mindful of her head injury and heaved a sigh of disappointment. "I'm sorry, Taker. I'm so sorry I let this happen and I swear, it won't happen again. Just please don't tag me like a dog. That's a little extreme, even for you."

"Like a dog?"

Taker hadn't considered that's what he was doing. He had even explicitly told Paul he wanted it to be 'pretty', like a piece of jewelry or something. A piece of high-tech jewelry that tracked her location, just in case something like this ever happened again. The fact that the Corporation had just literally snatched her out of a public location, not an arena… that said McMahon had officially lost the one hinge keeping him together. Granted, they were screwing around with the man's son.

"I won't." He said finally, frowning as he peered down into her saddened amber eyes.

"Thank you." Relief flooded her body as she looked back into his eyes, reaching up to caress his face with her hand. "I let you down and I promise it won't happen again." The Corporation was officially living on borrowed time.

After a few meetings with her realtor and signing documents, Tahlia and Taker made their way to her new home. It was a condo on the upper East side of New York. Much classier than the previous place she'd been in. Tahlia had saved every dime she'd made from the WWF and finally felt comfortable enough to get an actual home that didn't have holes in the walls or people gunning each other down on a nightly basis. This was actually a dream of hers that finally came true. She just didn't realize she wanted something this posh until Taker had judged her previous apartment. Holding the key in her hand, Tahlia took a deep breath and slipped it into the slot before opening the door, the biggest smile crossing her face.

"Oh wow…"

Anita had taken the liberty of furnishing the place for her; they were close friends and she was one of the only women Tahlia actually trusted. Tahlia had emailed her pictures of what she wanted the apartment to look like, what kind of furniture to get amongst other things. The condo was two-bedroom, open floor and all carpet besides the two bathrooms and kitchen. She'd made sure to make special accommodations for Taker, so there was plenty of room for him to move around comfortably. Such as the stand-up shower in the master bathroom along with a jacuzzi tub that could fit 5 of him. Her other bathroom was standard with a tub, toilet and sink. The bed she picked out was king-sized and had the best mattress New York City provided.

Taker simply followed her around the condo, hands clasped loosely behind his back and he took everything in. He was taking her in as well, the delight on her face as she surveyed her new home. Remembering all too well that previous place of hers; it hadn't been much better than a jail cell and even then… that might've been unfair to jail cells. It had even had a bed that folded into the wall, which was horrible. He did note the extra-large furnishings, trying his best not to assume it was for him, but… who else did she know who would require what was obviously a custom order?

"It suits you." He complimented, when she had finished her tour.

"Thanks, Judgy." Tahlia winked at him, feeling more like herself now that she was home away from the road and chaos. "I made sure it was big enough…for you. Since you like surprising me with visits and…we're sleeping together currently." She didn't bother hiding the fact the bigger accommodations were for him and went to grab something, immediately grabbing his arm as a dizzy spell came over her. "Oh fuck…" Blinking, Tahlia knew it was her concussion and touched her head, nodding when Taker demanded if she was alright. "I need to sit down…maybe you coming with was a blessing in disguise." If it wasn't for him being here to hold onto, she would've fallen flat on her face and injured herself further.

When Tahlia went to take a tentative step and stumbled sideways, he surmised the same thing she had. Her concussion. Taker knew it could be days before the effects went away, but it was also a blessing that the concussion had appeared so soon. It could take a few weeks before it became known someone had one; she'd been lucky. He vowed, once more, the Corporation was going to pay for this. They were playing even dirtier than he was and that was saying something. At least he hadn't abducted one of theirs and beat the piss out of them, not that he wasn't considering it. Shane McMahon did seem like a likely candidate since Wonder Boy was currently Vince's number one priority. He scooped Tahlia into his arms, cradling her so her head was against his shoulder.

"Why don't you try out that new bed of ours?" He was acknowledging her words.

"Ours…I like the sound of that." Tahlia admitted softly, snuggling against him and didn't let him go when he tried planting her in the bed. "Stay with me, Taker."

She didn't want to be alone right now, waiting for him to get into the huge bed with her and sealed to his side. There was a television on the wall, 55 inches, and pointed to the nightstand where the remote was located. She smiled as his lips lightly brushed across her bandage and draped a leg over his while he flipped idly through the channels. Is this what their life would be like if they lived together? If they were in an actual relationship? Did he care about her or was he here to make sure she didn't keel over dead? Tahlia just wished she knew how Taker felt about her and closed her eyes, falling asleep almost instantly.

He wasn't much for television, only liked watching certain sports such as boxing, MMA mostly, or the occasional cooking show, which he would never let another person ever find out. Never. That was his personal guilty little indulgence. Finally, Taker just left it on some local news station. New York was a cesspool of violence, he imagined there would be something entertaining on soon enough.

"You should eat, Tahlia." He said, tilting his head down to survey her.

His beautiful warrior queen, who had taken a serious beating and was still up and going. Except for right now, she was sound asleep and he had been talking to himself. Smiling slightly, he kissed her forehead before settling in for the long haul. She needed rest a lot more than food apparently.

"Oh that bitch is going to pay for this." Tahlia hissed out, cleaning her wound in the master bathroom while Taker took a call from Paul to check on things.

She was informed upon waking up, 12 hours later, she had the rest of the week off and didn't have to return to the road until Monday. Taker was staying with her…so they had another opportunity to play house. Tahlia didn't know how to feel about it and moved her hair out the way to place the bandage over the staples. Her stomach growled, telling her it was definitely time to eat and walked out, drying her hands on a towel just as Taker walked into the bedroom.

"Everything okay?" She asked, having changed clothes and felt a little more awake. "By the way, that's your dresser for whenever you stay here." She jabbed a thumb over her shoulder and sat down on the bed, seeing the shocked expression on his face. It wasn't often this man was caught off guard. "What? You shouldn't have to live out of your bags when you're here. Now what's for dinner?"

"What?"

It was rare someone caught him off guard the way she just had. She had a designated set of drawers for him… like she was assuming he was going to be staying frequently or something. Actually, the layout of the place and some of the accommodations indicated that as well, not that Taker overly had a problem with the idea. Now she wanted him to do the dinner thing.

"I am…" He stopped, blinked and cleared his throat, wondering if she was serious. "What do you want?" He had, on instinct and arrogance, been about to tell her he wasn't her house mouse, he was the Undertaker. However… he swallowed all that down. "I can… cook." He could, quite well.

It was Tahlia's turn to raise a brow in confusion and disbelief. "You're going to cook? I wasn't asking for dinner for you to cook. You don't have to wait on me, Taker." If anything, it should've been the other way around. He was her master after all. "Why don't we just order out and have something delivered? Unless you want to cook?"

Hopefully, Anita had stocked the kitchen with everything she'd need. She claimed to have it under control, but…Tahlia had nearly fallen over and hadn't gotten the chance to look over the kitchen area. He looked…lost and Tahlia frowned, taking his hand in hers to lace their fingers together.

"My home is your home, whenever you want to stay here. That's why I made sure the apartment was comfortable for both of us. I'm not going anywhere and I hope you're not either. You don't have to use it, if it makes you uncomfortable, okay?"

"Oh Jesus Christ!" She thought he was having a panic attack, or maybe feeling like a lost little kid. While he might've been having both those issues, that did not mean he needed her noticing then acknowledging it. "What do you want to eat?" He demanded, a bit more gruff than usual as he sidestepped into her kitchen, taking a good look at the layout and setup. Whoever had done this place had done it right. Taker opened the cupboards and the refrigerator, taking note of what was stocked. All of it brand new, unopened. "Your friend was very good to you." He commented, eyeballing the bottle of something he was assuming was alcohol and the bow on it.

"Make whatever you want, grumpy. I'm going to sit my ass on the couch and watch something so I'm not in your way."

Tahlia had tried comforting him and it backfired naturally. She couldn't do anything right lately, it seemed. Plopping on the couch, Tahlia flipped the channels on and then tossed the remote on the table when she found Roseanne. It was one of her favorite shows. There was something about this woman that connected with her. Feeling a presence looming over her, Tahlia looked up to where she was staring at Taker upside down and smiled.

"What do you need, master?"

"Don't call me that. It's just us." 'Taker could have sworn they had this discussion before. "Any allergies? And raw, medium, or well done?" Because he had seen steak in there, not frozen yet, and they were the good kind. Not the charred, chewy things they usually got on the road. "And call me grumpy again, woman, and I'll cook you." He smirked down at her, trying to imagine her on a skewering stick and began laughing.

Tahlia could only imagine what he was laughing about and decided not to ask. He had a twisted sense of humor. "Admit it, you like it when I call you master…master." She retorted cheekily, sitting up on the couch to get more comfortable.

She had slept long enough for the time being and surprisingly, her head wasn't bothering her either. When Taker lowered himself in front of her and slid his hands up her sides to yank her gently towards him, Tahlia bit her bottom lip to keep from laughing. He was trying to intimidate her and it wasn't working.

"Medium rare…grumpy." She couldn't resist.

That's what happened when you slept with someone; she no longer feared him. "Medium rare, huh?" He purposefully looked her over, like she was a piece of meat he was contemplating eating. "Yeah, seems about right." He could be a playful ass too. In private, away from others and cameras. "Call me grumpy one more time and I'll tattoo it on your ass."

"Sure you will. And I'll tattoo grumpy across your forehead." Tahlia shot back audaciously, blowing a kiss at him for good measure.

She was in a playful mood and he'd have to get over it.