Chapter XI: News, News, and More News

Dave woke to the smells of bacon drifting up the stairs. Glancing over at the still empty side of bed to which she had never returned, he groaned at what he had to do today. After a quick shower, he found Cheryl in the kitchen, finishing up scrambled eggs. She beamed a smile and set a full plate a food in front of him at the bar. "Good mornin', honey," she said, pouring a glass of orange juice.

He felt guilty for eating breakfast with her and hiding what he had to say but he couldn't argue over a meal with the woman who cooked it for him. Clearing the bar for her, he started to approach the problem. "We need to talk," he said, realizing how ironic it was that she was wearing polar bear houseshoes and a robe with penguins on it, two animals that would never meet because they were on opposite ends of the world.

"About what, honey?" she asked, putting the used cooking utensils into the dishwasher.

"Last night," he bluntly stated.

"You were wonderful last night," she replied, sliding her arms around his waist and kissing his neck.

Memories of her soft body pressed against his hardly made it easy to push her away. "Not wonderful enough." When she furrowed her brow, he continued. "Cheryl, I love you but I'm fighting for your love with Pierce."

"Pierce is dead," she replied, knitting her brows together, completely missing his confession of love.

"And that's the problem. Cheryl, you have to let him go," Dave firmly remarked.

"But I have," she protested.

"No, you haven't. Remember Houston when you—we didn't—"

"I already told you why," she interrupted.

"And is that the same reason now—the same reason the two of us weren't the only ones in the room? Is that the way it's always going to be with us?" he asked, his voice beginning to grow intense.

"But I gave myself to you last night," Cheryl whimpered, completely astounded as to what was happening between them. "I never told you this but my husband was the only man I every made love to, well, not counting you."

"I made love to you last night. You had sex. There's a difference," he pointed out, more angrily than she thought necessary. Cheryl blustered for a moment, trying to find a reply. "Am I some kind of play to you? Are we—is our relationship some kind of stage that you're acting on to prove a point?"

"How dare you," she seethed. "I let you in on how I perform and you throw that up in my face!"

Dave sank down on the barstool and rubbed his hands over his face, deciding to finally make his point, no matter how hard it hurt. "The point is that he's still very much a part of you because you never had the chance to let him go, to say 'goodbye.' I know, because my dad went through the same thing with my mother. You may have been bodily present for the funeral but you weren't emotionally there…You still use your married name. You've not been married for over two years now and you're not even thirty yet but you still have his name, wear his ring. Do you not want to move on? You act like he's a martyr and you're giving him all this hero worship. He's just another man. Let him go." He ran a hand over his hair and tore his gaze from the slack-jawed woman. She wasn't sure she had just heard what had come out of his mouth. She was in such shock she couldn't think to correct him about the gold ring. After a couple of moments of intense silence, he finally looked back up at her, slipped from the barstool, and reached for her hand. "It comes down to this. Cheryl," he softly said, "I love you. Can you say that to me?"

"I-I…" she began but couldn't say it and pulled her hand away. His argument had her floored. She didn't think any of it was true. Her entire life and love was torn out from under her that one day and he was expecting her to act as if it never happened. She couldn't tell a man saying such things to her that she loved him. It would take more than a few months of dating and a roll in the hay to completely give her love to another. How dare he ask her to say that, especially after accusing her of faking their relationship?

"When you can move on, when you can love me, you know where I'm at," he softly said, reaching up to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear, and then gently kissed her forehead. When he walked away to retrieve his luggage, Cheryl rushed out onto the beach and collapsed onto the sand, wrapping her arms around her knees. She let the tears pour out as the drizzle of rain from the storm front began to soak into her clothes.

When she had cried the argument out, the redhead rose, brushed off the wet sand, and returned to the house. Calling Dave's name, she searched for him but found his luggage gone from the guest room. Tears threatened again but there was nothing left. All she could do was go about her normal routine and prepare to leave for the house show on the next day. He'll call when he's ready to apologize, Cheryl thought, wiping at her nose and peeling out of her wet robe to start the laundry.

"I just got off the phone with Nidia," Victoria announced, waving her cellphone as Cheryl dropped her gym bag in a cubbyhole.

"Is she okay? I told you those flowers would work," Cheryl said and quickly sat down facing the senior diva. The four women had called Nidia for three days straight, leaving messages each time. After that, they decided to let Victoria try alone. When that didn't work, Cheryl suggested flowers, something Nidia couldn't ignore.

"Yeah, she's fine now, sort of. She sends her apologies for not returning our calls but, she was just so depressed, she didn't wanna talk to anyone. But," Victoria suddenly said the conjunction and glanced around at the other three women gathered to her what she had to say. "It's all good!"

"And exactly how is that?" Trish asked sarcastically.

"She and Eric are going to have a baby!" she excitedly proclaimed.

"Oh my gosh!"

"You're kidding!"

"Awesome!"

As the chorus of surprise and excitement died down, Victoria continued. "She's only six weeks along and just found out. So, she would've quit anyhow since she didn't want to do anything to put the baby in danger and y'all know how things can get around here."

"Can we call her?" Lita asked.

"Yeah, she's been at Eric's house since she was fired but she's back home now. So, she said she'd love to hear from us. Oh, Cheryl, she really wants to know what's up with you and Dave."

With such exciting news, Cheryl had no intention of saying a word about her and Dave's fight to put any kind of damper on Nidia's revelation. Besides, in her opinion, Dave only needed to think things over. When he was done attempting to prove his skewed point, he'd call and apologize. She was the one doing all the apologizing and now it was his turn. "I'll give her a call tomorrow," the redhead replied.

The house show went off without a hitch and Cheryl and Dave never crossed paths. Fortunately, Cheryl was the odd woman out again and had the hotel room to herself. No one bothered her, assuming that she and Dave were engaged otherwise. At least she wouldn't have to find other things to occupy her time to keep from having to tell them that she and Dave were on the rocks. The hard part would be pulling the wool over Nidia's eyes.

Now that Cheryl knew the brunette was taking calls, she was eager to put aside her problems and concentrate on her friend's.

"Cheryl!" Nidia pretty much shouted in answer.

She hated when people relied solely on callerID when answering their phones. What was so wrong with a simple 'hello?' "Hey, Nidia. Congratulations!"

"On what—losing my job or having a boy?"

"You already know what it is?" Cheryl asked in astonishment.

"My honey's all man. He couldn't father a girl if he wanted to." She couldn't help but laugh at Nidia's response. "How are you, chica?"

"I should be asking that of you."

"I'm gonna be fine. The worst is over…I think," the brunette replied, slightly trailing off.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"We're eloping at Thanksgiving and I'm so nervous. I'm not embarrassed that I'm pregnant, but I really wanna get married before I start showing. I mean, who wants pictures of them looking like a whale in a wedding dress but I don't want my baby born after I'm married."

"You're going to the courthouse to get married?" the redhead asked, surprised that Nidia wouldn't want a huge wedding.

"Isn't that what you do when you elope?"

"There's Las Vegas."

"Oooo…" the former wrestler replied in deep thought.

"Nidia, have you ever thought of getting married on the beach?"

"Oh, that would be so lovely!" she exclaimed.

"Do you wanna get married at my house Thanksgiving weekend? There's no house shows this coming weekend and I'm sure Cathy would do it on such short notice… Wait, are you any particular denomination?"

"I was christened in the Catholic Church," Nidia explained, "but Eric's not Catholic, so we can't get married in the Church anyhow."

"Good, Cathy's Episcopalian. She's a great friend. We'll need to borrow Sandra's gazebo…" Cheryl began but was interrupted.

"Won't it be too cold?"

"Nah, so you have to wear a long-sleeve gown—oh, we have to get you a dress!"

"Hold on, hold on," Nidia responded, trying to suppress her laughter but failing. "I have to make sure it's alright with Eric."

"So, you wanna do it?"

"Are you kidding, girl?" Nidia declared and Cheryl could just see her slapping her hand on her hip and cocking her head.

"Well, let's start planning now. Do you think your parents'll come? I could probably house just the wedding party at my beach house but I can get a great discount for everyone else at a hotel that's close."

"Slow down, chica," the brunette ordered, still chuckling. "I've talked enough about me. How are you doin'?"

"Fine, just fine."

"It doesn't sound fine," Nidia replied in her best motherly voice. It wasn't too soon to start practicing.

"I'm really tired and with the shake-up backstage…" As if on cue, Cheryl emitted a yawn.

"Dave keeping you up?"

The redhead laughed over the irony. Yeah, Dave was keeping her up alright, but it wasn't in the way she would have preferred. "You could say that."

"How's everybody with all the cuts?"

"Morale's down but what can you expect? Everybody's praying they're not the next one. I almost was," Cheryl said with a slight chuckle.

"What did you do?" Nidia gasped.

"I gave Triple H an earful."

"You better start talking now…"

"You and Dave are getting married!" Victoria screeched upon entering the lockerroom. Cheryl stared up blankly through her wire rims at the other woman from where she was seated in a folding chair she had turned around backwards and was using the backrest as a prop for her chin. "Let me see the ring!"

"Oh, no, no, no," Cheryl managed to get out, realizing what Victoria must be thinking. She had three thick brides' magazines spread out on the bench and was making notes for Nidia and Eric's wedding on a yellow legal pad. She had less than a week to pull it off. "Th-this is for Nidia."

Victoria's mouth fell open. "Come again?"

As Cheryl began to explain her conversation with the bride-to-be, Lita entered the room and she had to begin again.

"This is so exciting!" Victoria exclaimed.

"What do you want us to do?" Lita asked, glancing over Cheryl's notes.

"I am so glad you wanna help," the other redhead replied and began explaining where she was at in the process. While Nidia wanted something small because of budget, Cheryl decided that, if a few other people pitched in, they could easily surprise her. The other ladies were quickly on board.

The rest of RAW was just as easy as the past house show, thankfully, except for the reworking of storylines. With the firing of two of their major female heels, the creative team had to quickly rework feuds to cover their asses for the mistake. The promise Cheryl was made by Creative about her turning heel in the distant future was broken. The feud with Trish was nixed and now she and Lita were officially feuding, which would lead to her official turn. From there, she and Trish would make up and then be the bitches of wrestling against Lita, Victoria, and Stacy.

Cheryl only shrugged her shoulders at this news. There was nothing she could do about it, so why get riled up over it? Anyhow, she preferred playing the bad girl but wanted to get established with the hopes of a fan following before she turned, hoping that following wouldn't go away. It hardly mattered now if she wanted to keep her job. So, she found herself face to face with Lita, who was expressing her anger at costing her the first match and daring to interfere again.

"That's the thanks I get for winning the belt for you?" Cherry Leigh demanded.

"You only did that to get back at Trish. Do you think I'm that stupid?" Lita replied, pointing a finger in the other woman's red jacket.

"If the shoe fits…"

"If the shoe fits…" the women's champ echoed and snorted. "You're just like your brother, using other people to get what you want. Just go play with Triple H and stay out of my business."

"Leave Hunter out of this," Cherry Leigh shouted and jerked Lita back around as she tried to walk off. The camera faded to commercial as the two redheads began to scuffle.

"Y'all going to Matt's for Thanksgiving?" Cheryl asked, helping Lita up from where she had landed during the fight.

"No, this year it's with my family. How 'bout you? You and Dave gotten to the point of introducing each other to your family?"

"Not yet," Cheryl replied nonchalantly. "With my brother's track record of girlfriends, I'd rather wait until we're more serious."

"Oh," Lita replied, "and when is that?"

"You sound like Nidia."

"Only in the way of being nosy and not in the family way?" Lita asked facetiously.

"C'mon. When are you and Matt gonna settle down?" the other woman asked, holding the lockerroom door open for her.

She sighed in reply. "I don't know but I'm not ready to take a break from wrestling to have children."

Dave's cellphone rang as he rolled the dice for his turn. Pulling it out and counting spaces on the Monopoly board at the same time, he disappointedly noticed that the call was from Edge and stuffed the phone back in his pocket to ignore him. "You landed on Community Chest! Ha, ha!" one of his cousins exclaimed. "Better hope it ain't bad!" Zach continued in a sing song voice.

"You better hope it ain't, little man," Dave replied and flipped over the card as the phone rang again. "I just won second place in a beauty pageant," he announced and slyly checked the callerID…Edge, again.

"I think it should be first," his six-year-old niece, Alexandra, shyly remarked and leaned up against his shoulder.

"Thank you, baby," he said, ruffling her fluffy black hair. "You can play my turn until I get back, okay?" She nodded and plopped down in his place as he answered the phone.

"What?" Dave growled as he stepped out on the deck. "Man, I told you she said she had a great time. She said some things about you I never wanted to know…For god's sake, yes, call the woman…Do you not have family? I do and I've held up my end of the bargain, so hold up yours and leave me alone…You have a great butt, supersoft hair, and you are the best kisser out of anyone she's ever kissed. Now, leave me alone!"

Iris Batista only heard Dave's side of the call as she stepped outside to hand her stepson a cup of coffee. He looked like he was fading fast as he played the boardgame with the kids. Leave it up to children to attach to the biggest, scariest man in the room, ala Mr. T. "I think that's a conversation I'm not sure I wanted to hear—great butt and supersoft hair?"

"Funny thing to say about the guy you attacked because he was dating the girl you wanted, huh?"

"Cheryl?" Dave nodded and she continued, "She's not called?"

"No," he sighed. "I just assumed that once she thought about what I said, it'd all sink in and she'd call by now."

"Isn't she putting together her friend's wedding this weekend? It's hard to concentrate on anything else with something so big."

Dave's mouth fell open and then he replied, "I mentioned that?"

"There's not a thing you haven't mentioned about her. But I am wondering—am I the only one you've told about the break-up? That's about all you've not said about her to everyone else."

"It's not a break-up but, to answer your question, yeah…Should I call her?"

"Dave, I think you did the right thing. You know I know that with your father. Yeah, you could have kept some of those comments to yourself but she's got to be the one to realize what's going on inside of her." She paused to take a sip of her coffee. "Honey, there's not much more you can say. Time will heal her wounds…and you'll be the first thing she'll want."

"Time? How much time?"

Iris shook her head. "I don't know, honey. A week, a month, who knows?"

"It's been a week! It's killing me. I'll be a wreck in a month!"

His stepmother soothingly rubbed a hand up and down his back. "If she's the woman you say she is, she'll come around soon."

"I hope so," he replied, downing the rest of the drink and handing the mug back to Iris. "Thanks for the coffee."

"You're welcome, honey. You did get some of that pecan pie, didn't you? Daphne made it especially for you."

"Tell me she knows that we're third cousins," he said with a roll of his eyes.

"Do you think that would stop her from trying to feed you pie?" Iris asked with a smirk, very aware of the double entendre.

"It apparently hasn't stopped you from trying," he said with a grin, pretending that his stepmother wasn't up to snuff on such lingo. "I had some already—that is the pecan pie," he added, seeing the mock look of shock on her face.

With a laugh, Iris propelled him toward the doors and then followed him back in to watch the scene with her family unfold.

"Where'd my money go?" Dave asked, settling back in the floor with the kids. His niece jumped into his lap before anyone else could beat her there.

"You landed on Park Place and Board Walk," Zach answered.

"What did you do with my turn, Alex? Wait, when did those hotels get there?" Zach shrugged his shoulders and the rest followed suit.

"Psst, Uncle Dave," Alexandra said, tugging at his sleeve, and then whispered in his ear what had happened. He glared at the kids gathered around the boardgame but they all disintegrated into giggles and piled on Dave to tickle him. For a while, his family was once again the focus of his attention.

TBC…

Author's Notes: Just so y'all know, I'm staying completely away from the whole Lita/Edge situation. I have my opinions about it but it's not my place to comment on their personal lives. Ergo, I'm sticking with my original storyline of Lita and Matt together, especially since the majority of this was written before I started posting it and I had no idea what was going on with them then.

Also, I received a reply back from Admin regarding the use of song lyrics even if we give the writers/singers credit and/or use the lyrics as a backdrop. I have had to take Beyond the Nights down and I'm asking around about anybody having a website they would want to host it on. Just checking into things right now. E-mail me since we can't post website addresses in chapters or reviews.