Chapter 9

Randy chatted with his co-workers, knowing he couldn't just up and rush off, though it would have been better if Martina stuck around. She was supposed to be his wife, right? This meant not taking off after a quick round of hellos. Maybe. How the hell was he supposed to know? He'd never been married before!

Martina wondered if she should've stayed by Randy's side, chewing her bottom lip, though honestly it was a bit overwhelming. She hoped he wasn't angry with her as she walked inside the room, looking around, seeing there was a couch and walked over to sit down on it. She was going to go out of her mind with boredom, but at least she wasn't getting abused or raped.

Ted was wondering the same thing considering Randy and Martina were supposed to be newlyweds. This was all new to her though, so it was natural for her to shy away from strangers. Granted, they were strangers too, but not as much as their co-workers. Cody wondered briefly if it would be better for Martina to stay at the hotels from now on.

Randy finally pulled himself away from everyone, making excuses, half agreeing to meet up for drinks without setting a time or place to do so. Man, that was a pain in the ass. It didn't help he had a million and one questions thrown at him about his 'wife', like where they had met, what kind of wedding, why hadn't he invited any of them. This was going to become nerve-wracking very soon.

Martina took one look at Randy when he walked in and immediately lowered her gaze to her lap, twisting the ring on her finger, sighing heavily. She should've stayed, knowing he was probably bombarded with questions she could've helped answer. Then again, it was nobody's business; though she would never say that.

"Alright, what happened?" Cody demanded, seeing Randy was lighting up a smoke, screwing the rules for the moment, the air vent in the bathroom on. He raised an eyebrow and cringed, knowing Martina should've been there with Randy when those questions were asked. "You two need to sit down and talk about everything you possibly can."

"Look, this is all new to Jess, she needs time to adjust." Ted was defending her, as always, not able to begin thinking what she was feeling at the moment. Overwhelmed was an understatement; that much was certain. "Now back off Coddles."

"Hello! What about Randy? No offense to Jessie, but she's not the only one that was crammed into an awkward situation. I mean, I know it was OUR idea for the marriage and shit, but they gotta do this stuff together. Else wise nobody is going to believe a damn thing and-"

"And you two need to stop it and settle this when we're NOT at work." Randy shot a pointed look towards the door, wondering if they'd lost their goddamn minds.

"From now on, I'll stay by your side, Randy." Martina said softly, finally speaking, and raked a hand through her hair. If she was nervous before, she was downright petrified now, knowing both Cody and Ted made valid, solid points. "You're both right." Her voice remained quiet, crossing one leg over the other, hands remaining folded in her lap. "I'm sorry." She whispered, feeling terrible and felt Randy's hand lift her chin, eyes meeting. "I'll do better next time, I promise. I just got scared; it won't happen again." She couldn't blow this cover that he'd worked so hard to give her.

"Hey, we just have to get used to each other, that's all." Randy said softly, knowing she was just as new to this as he was. But they could do this. At least he had acting skills -somewhat- on his side, right? That was an advantage. "Maybe we should scout other married couples and see what they do."

"Paul and Stephanie."

"Paul kisses her ass, no way."

The last thing Martina wanted to do was have Randy kiss her ass, somehow knowing the man wouldn't do it even if his life depended on it. Cracking a smile, Martina nodded and felt him pull her up from the couch, swallowing hard. "We can do this." She murmured, staring back into his blue eyes, and suddenly wondered what it would be like to kiss him. Oh man, that thought made her overheat and felt those soft lips brush against her knuckles, flushing. "If you keep doing that, I'm going to burst into flames."

Ted chuckled; knowing Martina probably hadn't been romanced in awhile, and knew Randy was the perfect candidate to play the husband role out of all three of them. "We have a match tonight against Carlito and Primo, non-title." Cody grunted, trying to get his mind off of the chemistry between Randy and Martina, and onto business for the night. He had a girlfriend in Beth; he had to keep reminding himself of that.

"Really?"

Randy's blue eyes sparkled with mischief, wondering when the last time her worthless, cocksucking ex-boyfriend had romanced her. Made her feel like the beautiful, wonderful woman she was. Now that was a thought...Suddenly, being 'married' to Martina didn't seem like such a bad idea after all.

She didn't miss that mischievous look and swallowed hard, cheeks burning by now, hoping the foundation hid it. Judging by the sudden smirk spreading across his handsome face, that was a no. "I think what you suggested is the best thing, surveying other married couples. Though we should get our story down on where we met and how we ended up married."

Those were the two questions most people would ask. Martina tried getting her mind on something other than thinking about the affectionate part of this dance. She would have to kiss him, touch him, play the part and Martina felt her stomach twisting nervously.

"We met at a strip club, I was hooking and you bought me." Randy did have a completely goofy side, though it rarely came through. With Martina, it was different; he just wanted to see her laugh, studying her face thoughtfully for a sign of a smile, anything. "No?"

"Hope she kept the receipt."

"You can't be serious." She replied almost incredulously, placing her hands on her hips, shaking her head as she cracked another smile. "That image is just wrong in every aspect. Let's just say we met in a coffee shop or something like that." Randy was out of his mind to want people to think that, but she couldn't stop laughing, along with Ted and Cody. "You don't actually do that, right?"

"He wishes."

"He was joking, Jessie." Cody said, groaning when Randy swayed his hips. "Man, I HATE it when you do that shit."

"Come on, I'm not allowed to be-"

"Leave being a jackass to the professionals." Cody passed Martina a dollar. "Just...slide it in his waistband so he'll stop."

Her green eyes widened as she stared at the dollar Cody was handing her, wondering if he was serious. When she saw the look in his eyes, Martina felt her cheeks flush red again as she took it from him, trying so hard not to laugh. "Umm..."

Ted was cracking up, slapping his knees, holding his stomach, trying to stop, but it wasn't happening. "He's gotta Viper in there, watch it."

"What?" She was going to kill Ted and lowered her head to hide her flaming cheeks, finally sticking the dollar bill in Randy's waistband, and took a step back to try to calm her racing heart down.

"There we go." Randy instantly stopped, back to being his normal, serious self though his blue eyes were still twinkling with humor. Very rarely did he show off his jokester side to people, but he figured if anyone could use a laugh, it was Martina. "Sorry, didn't mean to embarrass you." He apologized, taking note of her flushed cheeks.

"That's okay." She murmured, shoulders shaking, and suddenly started laughing when Ted walked over to show her a picture he snapped of Randy. "Oh my god..."

Ted dodged out of Randy's grasp, laughing harder, his blue eyes sparkling wickedly. "Now I have blackmail on you."

Cody was snapping pictures since the dollar bill was hanging out of Randy's shorts in a strategic position.

Randy sighed melodramatically, shaking his head. "Fine, be that way. I'm going to go talk to Stephanie about putting you in a match against Show, whatcha think about that?"

"Hmmmm..."

"That depends, can I win?"

Randy face palmed himself.

Martina laughed harder at the look on Randy's face, holding her stomach because her ribs were killing her, waving her hand back at them frantically. "No more..." She was having a hard time breathing, a smile lighting her face, though pain was obvious in it as well.

"Oh shit!"

"Damn, are you okay?" Cody asked, remembering her injured ribs, cringing at the dark look that came over Randy's face. "Uh..."

"RUN!"

Both of them zoomed out the door before Randy had a chance to breathe.

"How about we go have Larry take a look?" Randy suggested, after he had calmed himself down. Honestly, he was angrier with himself then his friends. They all should have remembered she was still healing. "Come on, Jessie." He held out a hand, smiling awkwardly at her. "I don't bite."

"I don't need to be checked out, Randy." She conceded gently but firmly, slipping her hand into his, and slowly stood up from the couch. "I'm fine, really. Why don't we go venture about and look at some of the married couples like you suggested?" The more research and experience they had, the easier this would become as she smiled back at him. "I want to make this work, Randy. You went through a lot of trouble for me to get this new identity and I don't want to ruin it. Come on, lead the way, husband."

He wondered briefly if he got the same perks other husbands did, legally married or not, like sharing a bed. Then he instantly discarded the idea. Martina was only doing this to save her ass; she didn't have a choice and she sure as hell didn't want to jump into bed with him.

'Bad idea man, bad idea.' He mentally scolded himself, leading the way out of the room.

They walked down the hallway together, making small chatter, keeping their voices down when it had to do with finding out a fact about the other. The first married couple they came across was Paul and Stephanie Levesque with their two little girls. Martina felt more at ease this time around as she shook their hands, smiling down at the little girls when Stephanie introduced them, feeling a sadness engulf her inwardly.

She couldn't have children. Too many miscarriages thanks to Roger's brutal rape sessions he often loved inflicting on her. Martina kept that smile on her face though, shoving that thought aside for the moment, knowing no man would ever want her again; so there really was no point in worrying about motherhood.

"Well, now that you're married, you can help us create the next generation of entertainers." Stephanie teased gently, not the big shrew she portrayed on television, voice a tad bit softer.

"Let us enjoy being newlyweds first." Randy laughed, planting a kiss on the side of Martina's head.

Martina laughed right along with them, hiding the pain within her heart, knowing she would never experience what Stephanie did. For the moment, she could pretend though, leaning against Randy's side and snuggled gently. "We're happy being just us for the time being." She replied smoothly, winking at Stephanie who fully understood.

"So how did you two meet?" Paul asked with a smile of his own, wrapping an arm around his wife's shoulders.

"A coffee shop." Martina answered, before Randy could, beaming up at him before glancing back at the married couple. "He accidentally got my order and vise versa. We met, had a few dates, and he asked me to marry him on a whim."

"Wow, I never pegged you for the marrying kind, man, no offense."

"Obviously you're not good at judging people, honey."

"Jeez, kill my feelings, Paul." Randy pouted, winking at Stephanie, who just rolled eyes at him good naturedly. "I AM the marrying kind, well, I was. Now I'm married." He was going to start babbling in a minute; they were going to ask every question in the book and, if he knew Stephanie, she was going to invite them out somewhere.

"Why don't you two join us after the show for drinks and a late supper? Then we can get to know Jessica."

Randy mentally groaned.

"Why don't we talk it over and we'll let you know by the end of the night?" Martina suggested smoothly, smiling when Stephanie nodded, before her and Paul walked off with their little girls, turning to face Randy. She blushed, when he nodded in approval, knowing she had pulled it off and leaned against him as they walked further down the hallway. Martina took in the surroundings, pumps clicking against the flooring below softly with every step. "So who else do you know of that's married?" She asked quietly to where only he could hear her.

"Hmmm...Good question. A lot of the guys are, but they don't bring their wives on the road. Let's go bother Shane and see what he has to say on the subject, he's married. He married his high school sweetheart; they've been together for YEARS. He'll have you SICK by the time he's done gushing about her, trust me."

Randy wasn't lying or exaggerating as Shane went on and on about his wife, Marissa, wondering how two people could be so sickeningly happy. Randy finally excused them as he had a match to prepare for, guiding Martina out of the door, promising to meet up later. It was a broken promise, obviously, as Martina walked hand in hand down the hallway with Randy. He had yet to do anything that normal newlywed couples did, though he was also respectful and maintaining his distance.

"You were right." She murmured when they were out of earshot from Shane, shaking her head. "That's not normal how happy they are."

"Cody, Ted and I have a theory. It involves drugs; the Kama Sutra and a helium machine." Randy said, sounding completely serious.

Shane was awesome, as much as a boss could be anyway, but there had to be something going on behind closed doors. Either Marissa had a pussy made of solid gold or Shane was mentally challenged. Being THAT happy was simply not possible.

Martina couldn't stop laughing, especially with how serious Randy looked, and held her side. It felt both good and bad to laugh, due to her injury, but the feeling of happiness coursing through her was enough to make her smile through the pain. "Do I dare ask what this theory involves?" She asked, not sure if she even wanted to know and immediately blushed when Randy just shot her a pointed look, before clearing her throat. "Never mind, change of topic."

"Let me guess, you told her about the helium theory." Cody said, seeing they were coming from Shane's direction, which most people avoided unless it was business related. "Ah yes, Ted and I have added onto that. We also decided fur is involved."

"Don't want to know."

"You two have fun, I'm hunting down Beth." Cody nodded to Martina, flashing her a grin as he passed by.