Lilian yawned, glaring at the brace encasing her entire left knee from thigh to ankle. She threw the remote to the bed, thinking in frustration that there was nothing worth watching on television. Ellen was over with, the Golden Girls were not on for another hour, and she'd be damned if she was going to watch Jerry Springer.
The little blonde sighed, thinking back to what had put her in this position in the first place.
After the accident that occurred on Raw, Dave had rushed her to the emergency room when they found she couldn't move her knee without having pain shoot through her leg.
When she had an MRI done, the doctor had found that she had completely ripped her medial collateral ligament, also known as the MCL. The damage that had been done to her knee years ago had been worsened instantly, requiring immediate surgery to lessen the chance of her causing permanent damage.
Even though she was pregnant, the doctors still performed the surgery. There was no danger to the baby, and the most extreme precautions were used to ensure the health of the baby and Lilian would be okay.
And now, she was out of work for three to four months. Dave's mom had been a godsend, helping Lilian out at the house while Dave was traveling, but this was one of those rare slow weeks into the weekends where there were no house shows; therefore, Dave was home and currently doing Lord only knew what.
Her time off hadn't been fun, though. Lilian hated being laid up, hated having someone wait on her all the time. But that didn't compare to the worst thing of them all.
Lilian Batista was bored out of her skull.
With a sigh, she swung her legs over the bed, slowly inching herself down so her right foot was planted firmly on the ground. She grabbed her crutches resting against the wall and used the arm muscles that were certainly getting a workout the past two weeks to pull herself up carefully.
She slowly hobbled to the door, exiting and making her way into the kitchen where Dave was carefully adding spices to the spaghetti sauce he was preparing for dinner and Sophia was sitting in her high chair happily banging on a pot with a spoon and eating dry cheerios.
Lilian merely stood for a few moments, alternating between watching him cook and making silly faces at her daughter. It wasn't until the youngest Batista squealed, "Mama!" that Dave realized Lilian was there.
"Lilian!" he exclaimed, setting down the jar of thyme and walking over to her. "What are you doing out of bed?"
"I'm bored, Dave," she whined.
"Okay, okay, I know," he soothed. "Nothing good on TV?"
"Everything's over, not on yet, or trash."
"Did you read that book I bought you?"
"Yes."
"You could reread it… you know, catch the things you missed…"
"Dave. As much as I love Ric, I don't want to read his autobiography again."
Dave grinned sheepishly, guiding his wife to the kitchen table. He helped her sit and lifted her knee carefully to a chair before running back to the spaghetti, which was boiling in water that was threatening to spill over the sides of the pans.
"Have you tried writing lyrics?" Dave suggested, picking up a jar of oregano.
"Yeah… it's hard to concentrate, though."
Dave nodded sympathetically. "Well, if it makes you feel better, dinner is almost ready."
Lilian nodded, smiling at Sophia when her daughter beamed her in the head with a cheerio. "It smells delicious," she replied.
A few minutes later, dinner was ready and Dave served Lilian before settling down himself. They ate in silence fore several minutes before Dave sighed softly.
"What's wrong?" Lilian asked, setting her fork down on the edge of her plate.
"I… it's nothing, sweetie."
"Dave… please don't lie to me. I know when you're not telling the truth."
Dave chuckled wryly, putting his fork down too. "I just… I keep thinking of you and the baby. I just keep wondering what could have happened if you hadn't realized you were pregnant. Or… or if you didn't get out of the way in time. Or if… if something else would have happened."
"Hey," Lilian replied softly. "I realized it in time, I got out of the way in time, and nothing happened… well, besides this," she added on a second thought, glaring down at the braced knee. "And that's not your fault, either." Lilian cut him off before he could apologize for her leg yet again.
"But, Lil…"
"No 'but Lil's'," she answered. "It was inevitable. The surgeon told me before to get the damn thing operated on before but I ignored him. So don't go down that road."
"Okay," Dave said softly, staring down at the red sauce on his plate. "It was still my knee that hit yours, though…" he trailed off at her glare, falling silent again.
"What else are you thinking, baby?"
"I don't know, Sugar… just, your music career is taking off, you're getting ready to have our second child… I just want the best for you."
"I want what is best for you too, Dave."
"I know. And I appreciate that." Again, silence.
Lilian watched her husband push noodles around, obviously deep in thought. "So what do you suggest?" she finally pressed, reaching across the table to take his large hand in hers.
Dave looked up, smiling sheepishly at Lilian. "How do you know me so well?"
"I just do… besides, you have that 'I'm up to no good look' on your face."
Dave shook his head, then said, "Well, I've done a little bit of research."
"Oh, yeah?" Lilian asked, raising an eyebrow. "And what's that?"
"Well…" Dave began. "It goes like this…"
Dave held the door of the arena open for Lilian, who carefully maneuvered her way through the opening on her crutches, not wanting to jar her surgically repaired knee. She had done that once today and the yell she let out could probably be heard somewhere in Africa.
"You okay, Sugar?" Dave asked quietly.
"I'm fine," Lilian replied, hobbling slowly through the hallway. Dave kept pace with her, not wanting to walk ahead of her.
"Lil!" she heard Trish squeal, her friend walking up to the little blonde and hugging her awkwardly. "How are you doing? How's your knee? How's the baby? What are you doing here? Do you need a hand?"
"Whoa, one question at a time," Lilian laughed. "I'm good; my knee's getting better everyday; the baby is fine, just making me a little nauseous; I have something to take care of; and no: that's what Dave is for."
"What do you need to take care of?" Trish asked, narrowing her eyes. She hadn't missed the slight hesitation in Lilian's voice.
"I'll tell you later, Blondie," Lilian replied.
"Okay," Trish replied with a frown. "Where are you headed?"
"Vince's office," Lilian replied. "He asked for copies of my medical bills and since Raw is in DC today, I decided to visit a few friends while I was here."
"Okay," Trish replied. "Take care of yourself. Let me know if you need anything?"
"Of course," Lilian replied.
With another hug exchanged between the ladies, Dave and Lilian continued their slow trek towards Vince's office. When they finally got there, Lilian looked pained and winded, but Dave didn't dare baby Lilian… he had learned while she was pregnant with Sophia not to hound her. She often became irritated easily.
Dave knocked on the door, holding Lilian's and his bags in one hand.
"Come in," a tired voice called.
Dave opened the door, allowing Lilian to enter first. "Hi, Mr. McMahon," Lilian said shyly, smiling at her boss.
"Lilian!" he exclaimed, standing up. "I didn't realize that you were going to be here tonight! Aren't you out until mid December? Have a seat! Get off that injured leg of yours!"
"Yes, sir," Lilian replied, settling down in a plush chair of the makeshift office Vince had. Dave stood behind her, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. "And I am out until at least mid December, early January at the latest."
"Well, what are you going here, then?" Vince continued, sitting back down.
Lilian swallowed, avoiding his look as she murmured, "I brought the medical bills I have so far, and uh… We, uh… Dave and I needed to talk to you."
"What is it?" Vince asked warily, his demeanor changing with the hesitation in Lilian's voice.
Lilian glanced at Dave, who spoke up softly. "Mr. McMahon… as you learned, the other day, Lilian is pregnant with our second child."
"Yes," Vince replied, flushing slightly at the memory of the outburst that had left pretty much the entire locker room stunned.
"Well, the past few days we've done quite a bit of talking. We want the best for our children, and with Lilian's singing career taking off, we're going to need someone to care for Sophia and the baby. So, uh…"
Dave hesitated, reaching into his bag to pull out a letter. "Here, sir. This explains everything." He handed it to Vince, who accepted it with raised eyebrows. Vince put on his glasses, opening the long envelope and pulling out a single sheet of paper.
Vince read it quickly, his frown deepening as his eyes ran over the words. When he was finished, he looked over the top of the paper at Lilian and Dave for a long time.
"Is this a joke?" Vince finally asked his employees.
"No, sir," Lilian and Dave spoke at the same time.
"Are you sure?"
"Absolutely, sir. Never more sure in my-" Dave began, pausing as he glanced at Lilian, "-our life."
Vince fell silent and continued to stare at the letter, only lifting his eyes when Lilian spoke softly.
"So that's it, sir. Effective February 25th of next year, Dave and I will no longer be a part of the WWE."
End Part 6.4
End Where We Are Now
End Series
Wow… it's over. Instead of giving some long boring speech of what this fic has meant to me, I'd just like to say thank you to a few people.
Thank you to Katy, Kristen, Hanna, and xheavilybroken (I'm sorry, I don't know what your name is!). Katy, thank you for your ideas, reviews, support, and pushing. And no, I'm not talking about Mrs. Belding pushing here. K, thank you too for your support and reviews. We go back awhile, and your friendship means a lot to me. Thanks to Hanna, who gave me awesome reviews and made me so happy with her fun reviews. And thanks to xheavilybroken… your reviews were great too. Thank you to everyone else who reviewed… they mean a lot to me, like any other writer.
Thank you too to two people who are not with me anymore… Grandmom and Poppy. It seems really fitting that I finished this fic on Veteran's Day and the day that I found out Poppy wanted me to have my Grandmom's wedding ring… it just is really personal to me and makes me feel happy that their true love could be an inspiration to me and mah little storeh.
That's it…
This has been my longest written and most reviewed fic. Thanks again to all who read it and all who reviewed. And please, feel free to review still. My goal is to get the reviews over 100, so go ahead! I ain'ts stoppin' ya!
Take care, and God Bless.