Chapter Nine

How and Why

Peyton hugged her jacket around herself, staring at the large closed door before her. Hospital sounds filled the background, but that's all it was. Background noise. Truthfully, she could care about the monitors beeping or the sounds of rambunctious children trying to amuse themselves. The vending machines purr was of no interest to her, and the nurses station gossip was just something she didn't care about right now. But for some reason, she couldn't figure out why she couldn't move. She stared at the door, knowing well what was on the other side. Randy.

Thinking about it was just making her confusion worse. He had just gotten out of surgery, the bullets were removed, and he was still heavily sedated. He probably wasn't even awake. So why were her legs shaking at the thought of seeing him?

"This is ridiculous," She sighed, pushing the door open with her shoulder and carrying flowers into the room.

He looked so peaceful, laying under all those white sheets. His entire left arm was bandaged from the wrist all the way around his chest. She now cared about the monitor beeping, seeing as how his stats were the ones shown on the screen. She had no idea what the numbers and squiggly lines meant, but they seemed important to her, somehow.

She sat down next to him, pulling the chair closer to his bedside and slipping her hand in his good one. It felt good to touch him, even if it was only holding hands. It made her feel like he was still there, although lolling through a intravenous induced sleep. The doctor had said everything went fine. They were able to get all the bullet fragments out and that he would be asleep for a little while longer. She hoped he would wake soon, because she just wanted to see his face.

Still, looking at him was bringing back hard memories that she had been trying to suppress in the last two days. Blurred images ran through her memory.

Standing over Todd, Peyton found herself conflicted about what to do. Shoot him? Not shoot him? Was she capable of taking a human life, no matter how sick and twisted the person? What would happen if she didn't? Would something happen and, somehow, give Todd to the opportunity to take more lives? What would be the repercussions of her actions?

She looked over to Randy, seeing him laying there. He wasn't moving, not even the movement of his lungs taking in air. She wanted to cry, but she found herself out of tears. Then, she saw a twitch. She wasn't sure if it was just her mind playing hopeful tricks on her or if she really saw it. Then she saw his foot move, it not ever so slightly. His breathing was pained, but his stomach started to inflate and flatten over and over, again, if not ever so slightly. He was holding on.

Then she heard it. "Pey...ton...?"

He was asking for her. He was fighting for her. It made her choices seem clearer, and in the end she made a decision. Mickie was at her side, looking over the site with wide eyes. Peyton could tell she had no idea what to do, so she gave her orders.

"Find the girls, get the electricity back on and find the nearest phone."

Mickie took off faster than she ever thought she could.

Peyton was knocked from her thoughts by a gentle hand running over her back. It was Matt Fields, the investigating officer of the case. He had been a good guy to have around in the last few days, and Peyton was happy with his work. He was professional, but at the same time compassionate. She whispered a hello, and watched as he sat in a chair on the other side of the room.

"I thought you'd be here," He gave a little smile then proceeded to pull out a notebook from his pocket.

"Not more questions, Matt." She grunted, feeling a need to be even closer to Randy. She got up from her chair and sat next to him on the bed, his whole arm in her lap.

"No. No more questions. I just thought you'd like to know that we got Halphaway to sing like a canary. I thought I heard you mention something about wanting to know why?"

True, Peyton had wanted to know why. But what she ready to know? She nodded, finding a loss for words.

"Now, I'm not supposed to be telling you any of this. But, considering what he told us, I think you have a right to know." He shifted uncomfortably in his seat, "Peyton, he was after you."

"Me? I hardly knew the man... I ..."

He held up a hand, signaling her to keep al questions until the end. "Yes. We, as in me and the District Attorney, found out everything we could about the guy. We pulled everything we had, including family medical records. That told us that he had a long family line of mental breakdowns." He paused, turning a few pages in his notebook then looked back at her. "Apparently the most recent was his brother, who went insane after his fiancé left him at the alter. She ran off with some other guy."

"What does that have to do with me?"

He let that question slide, "Peyton, you were leaving Randy. Right? Candice probably told him, and he snapped. He blamed it all on you."

She didn't have anything to say to that. Other than another question that is, "Then why kill those other people? Why not just shoot me?"

"He said he was trying to push you two back together."

"But why? Why John? Why Vince? Hell! He shot his own girlfriend!"

Matt stood, making her feel like she had crossed a line. She calmed herself down, her hands rubbing her temples in frustration. "I'm sorry, Matt."

"I know this is hard. Maybe I shouldn't have..."

"No! No... please. I want to know."

He let out a deep breath, clearly thinking of whether this was a good idea or not. "Okay. But no more from you until I'm done. Got it?" She nodded in agreement. "Good. Look, Todd had this all planned out. Since he was the head of security, he knew the lay-out of the entire area. He knew where the backup generator's were. Now, it's technically against security code to turn off the generators, but I don't think he really cared about his job at this point. He set them on a timer, so he knew when he had his opportunity. After the show, he made sure everyone left, then turned off the electricity when he knew that his victims were still inside. He knew that you all where going to be in Vince's office, so that's when he decided to make his strike. He knew, because he was watching you all from the security room. He was watching the feedback from the security cameras the whole time.

His victims were something we had to put together on our own, though. I talked to the referees, and everyone else that was there that night, and I found out that Vince was planning on giving you the Woman's Title shot after what happened. That would mean that your storyline and Randy's storyline would split. So he killed Vince.

John Cena was a bit easier. He was watching you two, I saw on the tapes, on the staircase. You kissed him, and that was getting in the way of you and Randy.

And Candice... well, that was just an accident. Todd was with the group when he saw you run away. He saw Candice run after you. Then Randy. Then Mickie. He was going to cut you off, but you ditched Candice by hiding behind those storage bins. He thought Candice was you."

Peyton squeaked, now feeling like this was all her fault. She knew it wasn't, but it felt like it was. "So what's going to happen to him? Todd?"

"You don't have to worry about him. He's looking at life now, and there's no way he could get out on a plea of insanity. We had a doctor evaluate him, and he's a menace to society."

Again she nodded. It was good news to hear. Matt nodded back, then placed one more hand on her shoulder before leaving.

Just as the door clicked closed, Randy began to stir. He moaned at first, probably because he was still experiencing pain, then opened his eyes. His vision flooded back to him all at once, and her face was all he saw. It brought a smile to his lips.

She smiled back, "Hey, you."

He mumbled back a "hi", but it was barely inaudible. The sedative was still taking it's toll. He lolled in and out for the next few minutes before fully waking up. It was painful to watch, but she still sat contently. When he finally fully woke, he squeezed her hand back, still managing a pained grin.

"Sleeping beauty is awake. And okay."

It was weird, being with him like this. After all, they were still technically broken up. But she still loved him, and he still loved her. She still wanted to be with him forever. And she was going to.

"So...I was thinking about calling a caterer sometime in the future..."

Randy laughed, squeezing her hand even tighter while pulling her towards him. Soon, they were laying in the bed together. "As long as they have some really kick ass chicken."

alright, so really corny. but cute, right? i was going for cute. anyway, i guess that this is the last chapter. i'm not sure. i might do an epilogue. maybe. maybe even a sequel. i dunno.

stay tuned in case there is more.

thanks to all of you who reviewed and added this story to your favorites. i appreciate it!

Ruby