City of Angels

A/N: Thanks for the reviews, danneell14, I Play The Game, and pocketbabexmisanthropy10 . I really appreciate them as I love receiving feedback. And just so it's clear, the story is set in 2007 (although, Orton was actually suspended 2006. Oops. Let's just pretend he was suspended in 2007, Ok? Yay!). This chapter will be quite short but it will be really informative and it'll give some much needed background on Stacy and Randy's relationships and it'll clue you in on why Randy is the way he is. So Read, enjoy and review!


12:39

12:40

Stacy Keibler looked across the table to an empty chair. It was a nice day in the city. The sun was shining but the air was cool, and a lot of people had gotten the same idea. They all perched under the umbrellas in the patio of the restaurant. Across the street, there were a throng of photographers following the stars who frequented the L.A. locale. It was probably the wrong idea to pick The Ivy for her talk with Randy, but it was too late to change her mind and let him know. Besides, she didn't have his new phone number.

12:45

Stacy gave herself another five minutes before she would leave the restaurant. The waiter returned for the second time to ask if she was still expecting company. Stacy politely nodded and asked for a refill of her iced tea.

12:48

"Stacy,"

She glanced up to look at Randy Orton. Dressed in a simple white V-neck and faded jeans, Randy pulled the seat across the blonde and settled into the awkward atmosphere. Stacy forced a weak smile and flashed him the time on her Blackberry.

"I'm sorry. Traffic," muttered Randy. He almost didn't come, but he didn't want to stand her up. As fractured as their relationship was, Randy wouldn't admit just how much Stacy meant to him. He did promise her the day before that they would talk.

"It's ok,"

"Have you ordered?"

"Nope, just drinks," said Stacy, refusing to look him in the eye.

Randy took notice of her uneasiness and reached for her hand. He stroked it with his thumb until she finally looked to meet his gaze. "Hey, I said I was sorry,"

His smirk sent waves of memories through her brain. She knew Randy more than most people in the business and she knew the power of that particular smile. It got him out of a lot of trouble, but in the last year it was no longer working for him. Stacy pulled her hand away and rested it on her lap. Randy licked his lips and turned to a waitress that passed their table. He cued for the waitress and she turned back to the twosome.

"We're ready to order."

After the waitress took down their orders, Randy and Stacy forced small talk. He asked how Hollywood was working out for her. Her stint in Dancing with the Stars worked out in her favour for a while. She had landed quite a number of interviews and guest appearances on sitcoms, but the projects were dwindling. Randy talked about common friends in the business but made no mention of the details of his suspension.

"How's John?" asked Stacy.

Randy sneered.

"You've disowned him too?" she remarked coldly. When Stacy was still in the WWE, she knew John Cena and Randy Orton were an inseparable duo. Nothing was strong enough to cause that friendship to crumble - at least that's what she thought.

"More like, we went our separate ways," Randy replied ambiguously.

Stacy gave him a questioning look.

"He thought it was more important to compromise his principles and kiss Vince's ass to keep his position in the company. Basically, he sided with Vince."

"Randy, you know John was the face of the company even when you were still friends."

"But he wasn't playing golf and spending Thanksgiving with the McMahons."

"What?" Stacy replied incredulously, "but it can't be that bad."

He raised his eyebrows, "Really? How about when he told Paul I smoked pot in the locker room."

"It was John?"

"Well, no."

"What? I'm so confused. Didn't you get suspended because someone caught you smoking pot?"

Randy buried his face in his hands. He tried to avoid a conversation about his suspension, but they were already there. "It wasn't the first time, Stace. I'm not stupid enough to get caught the first time. John stopped by my locker room one time and smelled it. He told me off and the next thing I know, Paul's cornered me at the parking lot telling me to stop pissing away opportunities and get my head out of my ass."

Stacy nodded. Paul was known backstage for being in everyone's business but he always had the best intentions for his friends. Randy was one of them.

"How else would Paul have known? John told him. It was the same night. After that, I got all these random visits from people in the crew. I could've sworn they were investigating. I was careful after that, but one time I just needed a fix so bad and I didn't know the lock was broken. Some person from the crew saw me lighting one up and alerted Johnny who alerted Vince."

"What happened next?"

"Vince called me to Stamford the next day and he told me it was the straw that broke the camel's back. I had fucked up one too many times and the pot incident just did it for me. I mean, it's not like I can blame him –"

"That's right. You can't blame Vince," interrupted Stacy.

"What?"

"Come on, don't expect sympathy from me. You know well enough that you failed to comply with the rules. You deserve to be suspended," she said truthfully. The expression on his face turned sour. Suddenly, he wasn't in the mood to continue eating his steak.

"I don't expect you to sympathize with me, Stace, but I didn't do you the favour of coming here to be lectured. Believe me I've heard my fair share."

"And you need it!" Stacy raised her voice, "Ever since she died –"

"I fucked up," whispered Randy, "I know. I fucked up."

"And I don't get that. What does it have to do with you acting like such a jerk-off?"

"You have no idea," he muttered.

"Oh, please. You weren't the only person in her life, Randy. Sofia is my sister."

Randy released his hold of the utensils and clenched his fists tight. His jaw tensed and his eyes sealed to keep any sort of emotion. Any sign of humanity would reveal the fire and passion that burned inside him had ceased. There was no dislocated shoulder or broken collarbone that could match the ruin in his soul.

He pushed himself off the table and threw the napkin on top of his plate.

"But she didn't kill herself because of you."

How'd you find this chapter? Let me know. Much love, friends :)

P.S. I'm going to include a little teaser for Chapter 4. I think I'll do this after every chapter just to keep things interesting.

"Remember that guy last Friday,"

"Oh, the one responsible for this," he said while pointing to the bandage on his nose. Lucas grinned. He didn't really care for Stacy's wrestler friends, and he was glad Randy was dealt with by security.

"Yeah, I'm sorry he did that. I shouldn't have approached him in the first place."

"No," he reassured, "he's an old friend of yours. You probably weren't expecting him to have such a temper."

Stacy shook her head. She expected it. She had heard about all the stories from her friends in the WWE, about how Randy had changed, and they even asked her to come back because they felt like she knew how to get into his brain. They were wrong. She was just as confused as they were. "I should have been careful. He's at a really rough place right now –"

"I don't know, Stace. I don't think you can say anything to defend that guy's actions. I heard he got suspended. What does that tell you about him?"

"Randy..." she trailed off, "he's not like that."

"How do you know? You didn't date him, did you?"

"No."

He looked intently at her as he opened another bottle of Corona. Stacy could feel her eyes cloud over as she heard Randy's voice from earlier that day. It was constantly playing in her head. She had never heard it from him before, and she certainly didn't expect it.

"My younger sister...