Chapter 60

When Tahlia woke up the following day and found out about going to Texas for her recovery, she immediately declined and shouted at Taker he was out of his mind. For that, she received a healthy dose of morphine that knocked her out. The next time she woke up was on a plane, a private jet, and her head was swimming heavily. The doctor had allowed Taker to take her out of the hospital dosed up because of the severity of her break. She had flipped out and was sedated, so he didn't argue with the giant that hadn't left her side for a second.

"W-Where am I?" Tahlia was extremely groggy, trying to clear her blurred vision and turned her head as Taker came into view, eyebrows furrowing in confusion. "Taker…what's going on?"

"On a jet, darlin'."

He had been reclining in a very comfortable seat, reading a book and dozing on and off. Considering they had been across the United States, the flight would take several hours. She hadn't been all that thrilled about his idea and had point blank refused in shouts.

"You weren't being very… agreeable about me taking you home and caring for you." He doubted she'd be able to move that well, not with the effects of the morphine. "How're you feeling? Need a drink?"

"Y-You took me…from the hospital…"

Tahlia wasn't in any pain due to the amount of morphine currently running through her system. However, she did narrow her eyes and took the bottled water he handed her, sucking it down like she was dying of thirst. In a way, she was. All she'd done for the past almost 3 days was sleep and kept being drugged out of her mind.

"Taker…this isn't…your responsibility…" Trying to wake up a little more, Tahlia managed to sit up in her seat and immediately lulled her head back, groaning. "I need to go home…I need...oh god my head…"

"You need to shut the hell up and let me take care of you is what you need." He remarked, rolling his eyes. Taker moved out of the chair and kneeled down beside the bed she was in, making sure she seen him do it. "Darlin', if you hadn't dived in and taken that blow, I'd be fucked." He would never wrestle again, that much was plain to him. She'd recover, it'd take time, but it wasn't a career ender. "You didn't have to save me, it wasn't your responsibility," Since Tahlia had just said that to him… she'd get the message. "But you still did. So, let me take care of you now, Tahlia." Hesitantly, he reached out to brush his knuckles down the side of her face.

Looking away from him to stare up at the ceiling, Tahlia shut her eyes as silent tears slid down her cheeks. She had no idea why she'd saved his career and risked her own life besides one simple fact: She still loved him. She loved this big brute and couldn't stomach watching his career end before her eyes, not if she could help it.

"So, this is guilt then." She finally spoke, her voice cracking because of how many emotions flowed through her and hastily wiped her tears away with her free hand. "You're doing this because you feel guilty for what I did for you. Y-You shouldn't be worried about me. You should be on the road destroying the Faction since I can't."

"Oh shut up, Tahlia."

He sighed, wondering why she felt the need to explain, to rationalize everything. Sometimes, a person just needed to let be what would be. Taker moved back to his chair, eyeing her broodingly. He'd go back for Raw, but that was about it and would manage other things from his home. He felt guilty, sure, but not like she was thinking. And he genuinely wanted to take care of her.

"You shut up." Tahlia shot back, refusing to take his attitude and looked away from him, scowling.

Drugging her up and dragging her to Texas…the place their relationship disintegrated because of his son. She couldn't wait to be healed up because then she was going back to New York for her physical therapy. Taker wouldn't have a say in it; right now, she was incapacitated and needed his help, unfortunately. She wouldn't forget what he said about her child though or what came out of her mouth about Gunner. There was no way to fix what was broken between them, so Tahlia hoped Taker enjoyed this torture he was inflicting on both of them. Whatever this did to him mentally and emotionally, he was willing to suffer. Obviously, she still cared for him to some extent and that was enough for him. They might not ever get back to being lovers, what they had been, but maybe, just maybe, he could start repairing the damage he had inflicted on her with his spiteful words.

The plane landed a few hours later with Tahlia falling back to sleep, the morphine still strong in her system. It had worn off considerably by the time they reached Houston. Tahlia was helped up from the bed by Taker and carried off the plane, much to her annoyance.

"My legs aren't broken, you know, just my shoulder blade." She reminded him, only to get an eye roll and a 'shut up' in return.

Tahlia would never admit it, but she enjoyed being taken care of by Taker and leaned her head on his shoulder while he carried her all the way through the airport. She pointed out a few wheelchairs they could've used, but he just shook his head and held her tighter against him. After she was seated in the huge Silverado and buckled in, without hurting her arm, Taker jogged back inside to grab their luggage. Once they were on the road, she finally spoke again.

"So, Amanda and Sam were okay with you bringing me back here after what happened last time?"

Now that left him a little confused. "Why wouldn't they be, darlin'?" He asked curiously, glancing at her briefly before turning his gaze back to the road. "They know it wasn't… it wasn't you, they knew about Gunner being an ass and sabotaging you at every turn." They knew about how she had tried those months, how she had dealt with it and how Taker had kind of blown it by letting her leave. Amanda was all on board for round two, simply because Gunner had mended his evil ways. "Mandy already has the guest room ready for you."

Apparently, bell included, just so Tahlia could ring for him at every turn. He had told Sam and Amanda to take off when he got there, but Amanda had insisted they would stay on a few extra days, just to help. And so he could see his little beautiful goddaughter.

Calling her darlin' just made her heart ache for him, but Tahlia had to be strong. Steadfast. She couldn't let this situation break her down into nothing nor could she fall back into his arms. Amanda and Sam were on board with her coming back after she'd shattered their friend. That made her extremely paranoid. The bottom line was she still walked out on Taker and broke both of their hearts simply because she couldn't hack it with his son.

"I probably shouldn't bring him up, but…what did your son have to say about this?" She asked quietly, not looking forward to spending the next 3 months around that problem child. He was the devil incarnate, evil and Tahlia knew exactly where he got those traits from.

They hadn't actually spoken about Gunner, not outside of hurtful words and he inhaled deeply, wondering if it was too late. "He's on board too." He said after a moment, eyes straight ahead. "He's not… he's not the same little brat you remember, Tahlia. He's grown up a bit." Seeing his Dad in a funk, how badly it had hurt him after Tahlia had left, had shifted something in Gunner. "He knows you're hurt bad and how you were hurt. He's ready for you to come back."

Tahlia frowned, not sure what that meant and nodded, not sure what else to say. The brat wanted her to come back? She didn't believe that, or Taker, for a SECOND. That little troll wanted her gone from the moment he first laid eyes on her and did everything in his power to make her life miserable, which resulted in her leaving his father. It didn't matter, Taker would never see her as anything more than a pathetic woman who was selfish and gave up her only child. That was the harsh reality. Turning her head to stare out the window at the beautiful country, Tahlia had no idea how these next 3 months would go and closed her eyes, hoping they flew by.

When they reached the house, Tahlia was asleep and he got out of the truck, running a hand down his face with a ragged sigh. She hadn't said anything, but the emotions playing across her face had told him volumes. He wasn't surprised to find Sam and Gunner waiting by the door. They had his time home from that airport memorized and he was like clockwork. Taker caught his son when Gunner came running into his arms, frowning as Gunner then scrambled up his legs to get a peek at Tahlia.

"Really?" He grunted, steadying the boy.

"She looks… bad." Gunner murmured worriedly, taking in the white face, the circles under her eyes. Then he focused on her sling. "You got her meds?"

"The box that got here earlier was them." He had them shipped from the pharmacy. Pain killers, that weren't morphine. A couple day supply of Norco's, and then Ibuprofen 800s. He already knew she wouldn't want to be dependent on them for long.

"Oh Mark…" Amanda's heart broke at the sight of Tahlia once he opened the passenger door and immediately plastered on a smile when her eyes slowly fluttered open.

The morphine had left her system, so she was in a great deal of pain and took a deep shaky breath, glossy amber eyes landing on Amanda, Sam, Gunner and finally Taker.

"Hello again, Tahlia." Amanda greeted softly, nodding as Sam took off in the house to check on their baby girl.

"H-Hi…"

It was hard to breathe again as Tahlia managed to reach across, gritting her teeth and unbuckled the seatbelt retraining her. This was going to hurt getting out of this truck, even if Taker did carry her. Everything hurt, especially her chest. How was it her chest hurt more than her shoulder blade, which was the actual broken bone?

"G-Give me a m-minute…"

"Dad…" Gunner's voice held fear, concern etched on his face and swirling through his emerald eyes that mirrored his father's. "Is she gonna be okay?"

Amanda pulled Gunner away from the truck while Mark tended to Tahlia, her hands on the boy's shoulders. Ignoring his son's question, Taker carried her inside, heading straight for the guest room that connected to that shared bathroom, next to his room. He wanted her where he could get to her if she needed help, at any hour.

"Tahlia… I have a little bit more morphine and then some Norco's; resting comfortably is the best thing for you right now." He said once she had been settled in the bed, aware of Samuel was bringing in a pitcher of ice water. "Which one do you want?"

Gunner came trailing in, carrying Abrianna on his hip. She basically was his little sister, or niece. "Hi." He said shyly, casting his eyes down. "Are you hungry? Mandy and me, we made a light lunch for you."

"N-Norco…"

Tahlia was tired of being drugged out of her mind, taking the pill and swallowed it down, finally looking at the boy with the baby. She'd almost forgotten Amanda had given birth nearly a year ago. Had it really been that long already? She could see the apprehension on the boy's face and sighed, slowly nodding.

"S-Some food w-would be n-nice." She heard them all vacate the room except Taker and stopped him, her amber eyes full of fury. "I-I'm gonna k-kill him. W-when I'm h-healed…h-he's d-dead…" Leaning back against the pillow, Tahlia closed her eyes and waited for the pain pill to take effect.

Nodding, Gunner held Abrianna out when Tahlia stopped his Dad from leaving, his Dad taking her before turning to go get a tray of the food. Amanda had homemade soup, homemade biscuits and lemonade, figuring Tahlia wouldn't want to eat anything too heavy with the painkillers. They didn't know if she would vomit. Bouncing Abrianna on his knee as he took a seat beside the bed, Taker stared at Tahlia. He doubted Hunter was going to live much longer… the boys were not pleased at their mother hen getting the hell knocked out of her.

"Next time darlin', let me take the hit." He said softly, preferring to be put out of commission then see her this way.

"No." Tahlia whispered, looking away from his hypnotic green pools to look around the room, familiarizing herself with it again. Then her eyes landed back on the adorable Abrianna, a half-smile spreading across her face. The Norco had kicked in, the pain temporarily ceasing to where she didn't stammer like an idiot when she spoke. "She's gotten so big."

It was hard to believe a year had passed since she walked out on him and away from this environment. Now her heroic act had brought her back to where it had all fallen apart between her and Taker. She had to remember to call him Mark in front of his people and son, making a mental note.

"Yeah." He chuckled, then winced when Abrianna grabbed a handful of his hair, remembering now why he always had it pulled back at home. The kid loved his hair. "She's a moose." Taker let her have it, though if she even thought about chewing on his locks, he was going to have to hand her off to Mommy. When Tahlia smiled at Abrianna, the little one made a grimace and looked away. "Sorry darlin', she's at the phase where she doesn't trust faces she don't know. Give her about 10 minutes and she'll be trying to chew on your sling."

"Not the first kid who didn't like me." Tahlia muttered, immediately lowering her eyes and turned her head to stare out the window.

There was a television set up in the room for her, but she wasn't interested. Silence reigned between them as Taker played with the baby while she laid there, completely helpless. That's how she felt at the moment and Taker was forcing himself to take care of her. Tahlia didn't feel welcomed here back when they were together and she sure as hell didn't feel it now.

"Food's here." Gunner announced, walking in with the tray expertly and hesitantly walked up to the bed as Tahlia turned her head to stare back at him. "I hope you feel better soon. Mandy's soup always makes me feel better."

She bit her tongue, not about to tell the boy, who had grown at least a foot since the last time she seen him, or so it seemed, a break wasn't the same as having the flu. "Thank you, Gunner." She murmured, sitting up a little more in bed and groaned, a shot of pain zipping through her chest. "N-Not a smart move…Fuck – I mean frack!" Tahlia was going to have to watch her sailor mouth around the kids while she was here, which was another annoyance.

"Dad says worse." Gunner smiled slightly as she tried to correct her mouth mistake.

"I'm a saint. I do no such- Abri, not my goddamn hair, girl!"

"You were sayin', pops?"

"Here." He handed Abrianna over to Gunner, not missing the way the girl's eyes had strayed to the food or the hand gestures. "Get her to Mandy, she's hungry." He watched his son carry out the baby, shaking his head and leaned back in his chair, knowing those Norco's would take a bit more time to kick in, unlike that morphine. "You're gonna need a sponge bath, darlin'," Tahlia hadn't had one at the hospital, mostly because she had been out of it most of the time and nobody seemed to want to ask him if it was alright.

Could this get anymore humiliating?

Tahlia felt like crawling in a hole and never coming out again, groaning. She couldn't take a shower, not until the sling came off and that wouldn't be for a month. She felt Taker hold her hand again and sighed heavily. Amanda would be busy with the baby and she absolutely REFUSED to let Sam see her naked.

"Fine, let me eat and then…we can do it. You can do it, I mean." Her cheeks had turned crimson, through her pale complexion and Tahlia sighed, trying to get used to using her left hand to do everything since it was her right side that was injured. Her stronger side. "Mmm…" Her eyes closed at the first taste of food; living off of water for the past 3 days had sucked.

Considering he had seen Tahlia naked on numerous occasions, Taker didn't think it would be so bad. Awkward for sure… and he inwardly sighed, wondering just how well conditioned his 'lack of sex and impending naked woman' ability to keep it in his pants was. He hadn't even looked at another woman since Tahlia and had grown tired of jacking himself off.

"I'll go gather up some stuff." He informed her, pushing himself up and out of the chair. Maybe a very quick shower was in order first just to prevent any weirdness.