Disclaimer: I own nothing.

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Dave woke slowly to find himself alone in Kadence's room. He could hear water running in the bathroom, so he moved off the bed and stretched. He could hear Kadence humming in the shower, and he figured that whatever had been bothering her was no longer an issue. He headed back to his room so he could start unpacking some of his things. Before he got very far, he heard a knock on the connecting door and Kadence poked her head into the room.

"Hey partner, you up to anything?"

"Just putting some things away." Dave looked up from his suitcase. Kadence came into his room and flung herself on the bed. "Feel free to come in and make yourself at home." Dave said sarcastically causing Kadence to giggle. "It's good to hear you laugh. Want to talk about earlier?" Dave was hesitant to ask because he didn't want to send Kadence back into her blue mood.

"Actually, I was hoping you wouldn't mind listening to me." Kadence turned on her side, propping her head up with her hand so she could look at Dave. Dave put down the toiletry kit he had been rummaging through and came over to sit on the bed. Kadence moved to make room him before starting.

"I want to tell you about my family but before I can do that I must warn you what could happen if anyone else finds out what you know. If you were ever to impart anything I tell you here, you could very well ruin the lives of three people I hold very dear to me. You must promise that everything you learn about me and my family will go with you to your grave. You can't talk about any of this with anyone other than me and NEVER in a crowded room. I know that all this sounds a little dramatic but it's the only way I can make sure that the people I love stay safe." Dave looked at Kadence to see if she was really serious, before nodding that he understood.

Kadence took a deep breath and moved so she was sitting up with her back against the back board. Looking down at her hands she contemplated how to tell her story. After a long pause, she looked back up at Dave. "Okay, so probably the best place to start is with Dillon. Dillon is my twin brother."

Dave reacted with a look of disbelief. "Seriously? You don't look anything like him, plus isn't your last name Edwards?" Dave wasn't sure that he believed Kadence and he looked for signs that she was trying to pull a fast one on him.

"My real name is Stacey Kadence Edwards Blankenbiller. "Kadence looked back down at her hands, knowing that what she was telling Dave was hard to believe. "My father disowned me about six years ago, right after my 20th birthday. He had forbidden anyone in my family to contact me in any way, and if they did he would disown them as well. I hadn't seen or talked to any of my family until a couple of months ago when you first meet Dillon. While my father was out of town on business, Dillon, his wife Sara, and my mother, Cheryl, came to see me. They wanted to let me know that my mom's cancer was back. Since that time I have talked to my brother almost weekly and seen him a couple of times when he happened to be in the same town as us for business. Whenever we are together, we have to be extremely careful that no one gets a picture of us together. If my father ever found out that he was in contact with me…, well let's just say that things wouldn't be good for Dillon."

Kadence looked at Dave to see what he thought of everything she had just told him. The look on his face let her know that he believed her, so she continued with her story. "A couple of days ago, Dillon called to let me know that my mom had contacted a serious infection in her lungs but they thought she would pull through just fine. Then today, he called to let me know that things had gotten worse and they weren't sure if she was going to recover. That's when you came in and I cried all over you." As Kadence finished her story, she struggled to hold back the tears that were threatening to fall again. Dave quietly slipped his arm around her and held her until she was able to contain her emotions.

"That's a pretty intense story. Can I ask why your dad disowned you?" Dave asked after Kadence seemed to be feeling better.

Oh yeah, I guess I did forget that part." Kadence moved to sit up again, smiling sheepishly. "From the time I was a baby I had been promised to the son of my dad's business partner. Craig, that's the son's name, and I were really close but neither one of us wanted to marry the other. Craig was a couple of years older than me and he had fallen in love with a girl his freshman year in college and wanted to marry her but couldn't because of the agreement. We tried everything that we could think of to get out of the marriage but nothing worked. Craig wasn't going to throw away his life, so he was resigned to marrying me. I never wanted to marry Craig in the first place, but I really didn't want to marry him knowing that his heart would always belong to another woman. When I was 19 and a sophomore in college, I meet Christian. It was love at first sight and I finally understood the way that Craig felt. I decided that the only way to fix the problem was to elope with Christian. That way Craig would be free to marry his love and I would have Christian. I told my dad about Christian and my plan two days after my 20th birthday. He told me that the only reason why Christian wanted to marry me was because of my money. I, of course, wouldn't believe him. I was so sure that Christian loved me for me and my dad was just trying to break us up. I told him that he was wrong, packed my bags and left that night. The next morning, my dad broke the news that I was no longer a part of the Blankenbiller family. I found out by watching the press conference my dad had called that morning. In the end my father had been right, Christian split right after the news broke, leaving me alone. I considered crawling back to my dad but I have a very stubborn streak so I decided to make it on my own. For the first couple of months I was constantly hounded by the media. Finally, I had enough of being followed and questioned at every turn, so I started using my two middle names, got a job with the WWE so I could travel, and the rest, as they say, is history.

After Kadence stopped talking, Dave didn't say anything for awhile as he tried to absorb everything she had just told him.

"Wow." Was the only thing that Dave could say.

"I know, pretty crazy story, huh?" Kadence laughed at the shocked expression on Dave's face. "Well that's my life story in a nutshell."

"Thanks for tell me the story." Dave looked at Kadence, his heart breaking as he thought of all the pain she had been through the last couple of years. "I hope that you know I'm here for you and I swear I'll never speak of this to anyone."

Kadence leaned over and hugged Dave. "Thanks for always being there for me."

A/N: Okay, so I have posted my new story. It's titled Letting Go but no one is really reading it. Since this story tends to get quite a few readers, I'm begging you to go check out the new story. It can be found on my profile. Also, I'm having a hard time deciding whether or not I should continue the story. No one is reviewing so I don't know if anyone likes the story. Please read and review if you want me to continue with Letting Go. And since you are going to review my new story, leave me some good cheer on this one also. Please review!!!

Thanks to everyone that has been a faithful reviewer. You all make my day so bright and cheery. We are reaching the end of this story but don't worry I have a new one started and several great ideas. I hope to see you all reading my new stories. Again, thanks to everyone who's reading. You are my sunshine. :-)