Chapter 15- This
Got a baby girl sleepin in my bedroom
And her momma laughing in my arms
There's the sound of rain on the rooftop
And the games about to start
Home, my favorite place in the world to be. Especially on nights like this when I don't have to work. Tonight is one of those nights. My daughter Alanna asleep on the couch, the love of my life Nolee sitting in the floor and looking through a book full of wedding dresses, and myself sitting on the couch getting ready to watch the Cardinals game and drinking a beer. I take a long drink of said beer before looking over at Nolee. She looks so serene sitting there, her blonde hair falling onto her bare shoulders and covering the black straps of her nightie. And yet, I can't help thinking about all the things that led me to where I am now: from the friendships, to the enemies, to the relationships.
I don't really know how I got here
But I'm sure glad that I did
And it's crazy to think that one little thing
Could've changed all of it
~December 14th 2003: Evolution locker room after the Randy Orton's title match at Armageddon~
"Great job out there tonight Randy!" Dave Batista, one of my closest friends , smiled at me as I made my way back to the Evolution locker room. I had successfully managed to defeat Rob Van Damm for the Intercontinental title.
"Yeah, you did good. We're proud of you," Hunter replied, not looking up from the paper he was reading.
"You're going to be a good champ one day," Ric smiled, patting me on the shoulder. I saw Hunter put the paper down out of the corner of my eye and he looked at Ric and Dave.
"Can I get a moment alone with the new IC champ?" Hunter asked.
Ric nodded, "Sure thing champ." He and Dave left the room and I turned to Hunter.
"You're not proud of me are you?"
"Why the hell would you ask that? Of course I'm proud of you!" Hunter said, "I just want you to understand one thing."
"And that is?" I asked, crossing my arms cockily over my chest. Back then, even some now, I had a bad attitude problem when it came to authority and my elders. Ric was about the only one that I didn't act out towards and that's because he helped to train me.
"I'm still the World Heavyweight champion. I will always have the lead in this team," Hunter replied. I knew how much the title meant to him.
"I don't want the lead Hunter," I replied coldly, my gaze not wavering from his.
Hunter looks at me, "Good. But one day…one day you'll get the reigns of this company you understand. "
I look at him, "What?"
"I'll have to pass down the perfect heel legacy to someone. Who better to pass that down to than one of my protegies?" Hunter smiled.
"Why not Dave?" I asked, looking at him incredously.
"You know as well as I do that Dave doesn't have what it takes to stay a heel his whole career, or even as much a time as I have spent as a heel which is half of my career." Hunter smirks, "But enough about the future. We've gotta celebrate this win. Get yourself cleaned up and we'll go to a club. You know Flairs gonna wanna style and profile."
~end of flashback~
I didn't know it then, and I didn't realize it until after I had made an ass out of myself by attacking Hunter and the McMahons, but all he ever tried to do was help me to become a better wrestler and a better person. Sure, Evolution betrayed me. Sure, I got my revenge by messing with the McMahons. But Hunter had always been the one who if I truly, truly needed help I could go to. He was the legend who paved my way for me. Hunter and I are good friends now, he brings the kids and Steph over sometimes for dinner. But perhaps one of the major things I ever got from Hunter was when we were enemies. He helped me meet a woman who ended up being one of the major factors in my life.
Maybe it didn't turn out like I planned
Maybe that's why I'm such such a lucky man
For every stoplight I didn't make
Every chance I did or I didn't take
February 21st 2005: a club in New York City~
The feud with my former friends had taken a lot out of me. Dave, Hunter, and Ric loved nothing more than beating the hell out of me these days and I knew it. I knew that I may have been the new face of Raw but I was certainly paying the toll for it. I downed another beer as a young, leggy blonde walked over to me with a smile on her face. "Hey." She looked at me.
"Hey," I looked at her out of the corner of my eye. I thought I had seen her somewhere before. I usually didn't forget a face, especially not one as beautiful as hers. But the fact that I was on my fourth beer of the night might have had something to do with it.
"You don't remember me do you?" she smiled kindly and ordered a drink.
"Um…you look familiar but I can't say that I can put a name to your beautiful face."
"I'm Stacy Kiebler. You saved me from Hunter, Dave, and Ric tonight," she replied looking at me. I suddenly remembered where I had seen her. Earlier tonight, Hunter and my old stablemates had been picking on her and Hunter was going to give her the Pedigree before I showed up to stop him. I had caught her but I had been so focused on revenge that I didn't take a good look at her. Now I wish I had.
"Oh," I smiled, "Well it was nothing."
"It was something. You saved me from those jerks and I wanted to thank you properly," Stacy replied. So she leaned forward and kissed me right below the ear near my cheek. I remember turning pretty red at the feeling of a beautiful woman who I hardly knew kissing my cheek. I wasn't a prude but I sure as hell wasn't use to this. It had always been Dave who got the girls while in Evolution.
"Um…you didn't have to do that," I replied.
"But I did. You saved me tonight," Stacy giggled, putting a hand on my chest. "Why don't you come on up to my hotel room and I can make it up to you?"
I paused, downing the rest of the beer that was in the bottle before looking at her. "Let's go then."
~end of flashback~
That was one of the longest relationships that I had ever had. Stacy seemed to understand everything about me, even the fact of my I.E.D. However, the first time I ever had an I.E.D attack she proceeded to tell me that I was a horrible person, to tell me that she didn't need me. That was the beginning of a long and winding road for me. A road that was filled with women and championships, but none I wanted. There were two that I was sure I wanted though: Samantha and Nolee. Sam and I were married and I spent some of my happiest days with her. My life wasn't all bad. In fact, the day that Alanna was born has to be one of the happiest days of my life.
All the nights I went too far
All the girls that broke my heart
All the doors that I had to close
All the things I knew but I didn't know
~July 12th 2007: a hospital lobby in St. Louis Missouri~
One of the most nervewrecking places that I have ever been is in a hospital. I had been in lots of hospitals and for lots of reasons: a concussion and broken bones just being a few of them. But this time, I didn't even have a reason to be nervous. I wasn't the one in the hospital. Samantha was. Just a few hours ago, Samantha had gone into labor and they were currently trying to deliever my son or daughter into the world. I was nervous, worried for both my wife and my baby. I wasn't sure what I would do if I lost either one but I had it playing in my mind a thousand times. Finally, after what seemed like forever, a nurse walked into the lobby and walked over to me. "Mister Randy Orton?" she smiled.
"Yes," I looked at her intently.
"Your wifes asking for you," she smiled.
I about sprinted down the hall to Samantha's room. I had wanted to be there for her in the room when she was giving birth but since I was late getting to the hospital from a live event, I had to deal with it. Samantha was laying there on the bed, looking very tired but at the same time very pleased with herself. "Randy," she smiled as I walked over to her and hugged her.
"How…our baby did it…"
The sight of the doctor walking into the room holding a little pink bundle answered my question. Now, I'll be honest. I had hoped for a son. I had hoped for a son that I could take fishing and hunting and teach to play football. But it seemed that now that I knew that I had a daughter, everything was different. I looked at Samantha who nodded in the direction of the doctor, meaning for me to hold my girl. And when I did, the tears in my eyes wouldn't stop coming. She was gorgeous. She had her mothers facial features but those eyes.
It was like looking back in a mirror with those eyes.
~end of flashback~
I take a glance over at Alanna who is holding her favorite stuffed teddy bear and sucking on her thumb as she sleeps. She fell asleep watching Phineas and Ferb with Nolee and I because we promised that she could watch it before she went to bed. The game, long forgotten due to my memories is on and I try to focus on it until Reggie Abercrombie, a pitcher for the Houston Astros, steps to the plate. They say he's from Georgia and I see Nolee look up at the screen. Georgia isn't a good memory for us. Especially since what happened while we were broken up.
Thank God for all I missed
Cause it led me here to this
Like the girl that I loved in high school
Who said she could do better
~February 15th 2010: hotel room in Marietta, Georgia~
I had heard the sounds of a happy couple next door enjoying a night of "extracurricular activities" and couldn't help but wonder who it was. Recently, Nolee had left me and was currently single on Raw so the thought of anyone else enjoying the carnal pleasures that I use to enjoy with her kind of made me see red. I stormed out of my room and tried to open the door to the room next to me. It was locked but the simple usage of the credit card I kept in my pocket was enough to fix that. I entered the room, the sounds of a familiar giggle mixing with the sounds of pleased appraisal coming from the bed. That's when it hit me. There, lying with one of my protégé's Cody Rhodes on top of her, was Nolee. I say her name as soft as I can, hoping that neither one hears me. It's too late. Cody
Cody rolled off the top of her, balling his hands into fists with the sheet over his lower half. Nolee, who is to his left, has the sheet over her completely so I can only see her face.
"How did you get in here?" Cody asked, breaking the silence of the room.
Instead of being upset and angry, a cold smirk crossed my lips and I plopped down in one of the chairs, "Used my credit card to pick the lock. I couldn't sleep due to the fact that somebody was having so much fun in the room next to me. I had to peek my head in and observe."
"It's no right of yours to barge into my hotel room!" Nolee shouted as she stood up the sheet falling away from her body. I remembered her vivacious curves. Obviously she saw that I was looking her over and heard the small noises of approval I was making because she instantly threw on Cody's tank top.
"Aw, c'mon Nol, you look much cuter with it off," I tried to charm. In my head, it sounded a lot less creepy then it actually was.
"You have no right to be in here!" she said as she finished dressing.
"Really now?" I growled, my anger starting to rise, "And which one of you two is going to stop me? Will it be you, a little girl who can barely manage to defeat Beth Pheonix? Or Cody who can't think for himself, let alone come up with a good enough defensive plan."
Cody got dressed and looked at me. "I'm smarter than you think I am. If I wasn't then I wouldn't know the only reason that you have Legacy. You don't give a damn about what we think, say, or do. You want us at your side because you're afraid that if you don't have us, that you'll have no one to stand by you. You know that men despise you and women fear you. You promise Ted and I the world but you can't give it to us. We get dragged down into the darkness due to your schemes and you get the luxury of knowing you have friends."
Those words hurt me. Truth was I did look at them as lower entities but I did look at them as friends. After all, they were the only friends I had at this point. Everyone else had abandoned me because of my actions. The actions that were controlled by my I.E.D. "You make it sound all bad but if it truly is then why haven't you or Ted quit yet?" I retorted. My anger was rising so I put a good distance between Cody, Nolee, and myself.
It was silent again before Nolee said, "Cody…don't even listen to him. He's wrong."
I laughed. God helped me I laughed. "Cody wouldn't listen if I was wrong. If I'm a bad person then Cody would condemn me. He wouldn't think twice about what I said. But he isn't sure Nolee. Somewhere in his heart, he isn't sure of himself, let alone anyone else." I started to approach her and she backed up.
"Get away…." She trailed, looking at me like I was a freak. I just wanted to hold her again.
Coldly, I replied, "Shhh…you have a lot to think about too y'know. I mean, after all I did while I was dating you and you feebly let me do it because of my disease. Does a disease really make it okay for me to hurt people? Or did you really not care and you just wanted to be mine? I mean, even after I hurt Stephanie you were in my bed." I lifted her head to look at me by putting my hand underneath my chin. I didn't want to hurt her. I wanted the answer. Why did she ever find me attractive?
"Don't…"
"I hurt you so much and you stayed with me," I continued, "I made you feel so much pain and you rejected it as if I was just a man giving you what you deserved. Did you love the pain?"
She shook her head, just giving me this heartbreaking look as Cody stepped forward. "Get out."
I laughed again, this time more in irony that little Cody had stood up to me before leaving. I went back next door to my room. I sat there for four hours, in the dark coldness of the bathroom, crying so no one would hear me.
~end of flashback~
That was one of the worst moment in my life and I still don't know how Nolee can just simply forgive me for everything that I said and did that night. I was an asshole to her and yet here she is, my fiancé going to marry me and start the fairy tale chapter of our lives. I look over at her and she's looking up at me. I know that she's thinking about something.
Or the college I wanted to go to
Til I got that letter
All the fights and the tears and the heartache
I thought I'd never get through
Nolee looks at me and closes the book, crawling onto the couch and cuddling close. "Watcha thinking about baby?"
"Oh nothing." I laugh.
"You're lying to me," she nods knowingly.
"Just everything that's led me to you," I reply, kissing her forehead.
"Anything bad?" she frowns.
Omitting that last memory, I shake my head, "No. Life, it's been pretty fair to me. After all I got you didn't I?"
And the moment I almost gave up
All led me here to you
I didn't understand t way back when
But sitting here right now it all makes perfect sense
For every stop light I didn't make
Every chance I did or I didn't take
All the nights I went too far
All the girls that broke my heart
All the doors that I had to close
All the things I knew but I didn't know
Thank God for all I missed
Cause it led me here to this
How I cried when my momma passed away
But now I've got an angel
Looking out for me today
So nothings a mistake
For every stoplight I didn't make
Every chance I did or I didn't take
All the nights I went too far
All the girls that broke my heart
All the doors that I had to close
All the things I knew but I didn't know
Thank God for all I missed
Cause it led me here to this
Led me here to this