Chapter 2

"Hot! Hot!"

Shawn quickly placed a pan of cookies on the counter and shook his hand from the heat off the pan. Once he finished doing that, he walked over to the sink and turned the handle, watching the water come out of the pipe and placing his hand under it. As soon as the cold water trickled over his hand, he sighed and grabbed a nearby towel. He turned the handle again and wiped the soft towel on his hand.

He looked over and saw that the cookies were okay, then gripped the towel in his hand and grabbed the hot pan, quickly moving it over so it wouldn't fall off the counter top. The cookies were filled with chocolate chips and covered over with sprinkles and decorations made from filling.

"Are you okay?" A voice asked.

Shawn looked over and saw Rebecca looking over at him with a cake topper in her hand. "Yeah. I'm fine."

"You should've worn an oven mit."

"I did, but-"

"But you want to, right?"

Shawn smiled a little and watched as his wife placed the cake topper down easily on the chocolate cake laying in the middle of the table. It was a yearly tradition to eat cake on Christmas Eve and Christmas day. But since Christmas wasn't but two days away, Shawn decided to make some cookies for his kids and let them decorate the cookies with anything they want. As soon as she heard the snaps of the cake holder, Rebecca quickly walked over to Shawn and kissed him on the lips.

"Is your hand okay?"

"Yeah."

Shawn kissed his wife back and watched as she grabbed a red oven mit and gripped the pan of cookies, still warm inside, and walked over towards the table and set the pan down gently. She slowly removed the oven mit from her arm and smiled.

"Now was that so hard?" She asked.

"No," Shawn said, walking over towards her. "I guess not."

Rebecca slowly sighed and said, "Where are Cheyenne and Cameron?"

"I think they're outside."

Shawn walked over towards the window and looked outside it, but decided to look down towards the sink and began to wash dishes. Rebecca had been cooking a lot of food for the big day.

Rebecca watched her husband and slowly put her arms around his chest, kissing his cheek as Shawn grabbed her hands with his own and smiled.

"Remember when we first met?"

"Yeah," Shawn said, slowly rubbing his wife's arm. "Of course I remember."

"You had cowboy boots on, your shirt was brown, and you had blue jeans on."

"Why did you metion the jeans last?"

"They made you look like a southern gentleman."

"Seems fair," Shawn said, smiling a little, wondering why he even chose to wear those tight jeans to begin with. "I think you wore a black shirt and...and..."

"Blue jeans and blue heels."

"Yes," Shawn began to sweat a little. "That's what you wore, I think."

"Sure."

Rebecca unwrapped her arms around her husband and quickly walked back over towards the kitchen table, grabbing a cookie, and biting a piece off of it.

She giggled a little when she looked up and saw the Christmas tree over in the corner of the living room with ornaments dangling off the branches. On top of the tree was the angel that remained the tree topper for as long as she could remember.

Shawn continued to wash dishes, feeling the water turn hot every now and then, and started to think about all the things he had left to do before Christmas arrived. First he had to think of a way to get the presents in the house so the kids wouldn't see them, then he had to adjust the angel on the tree since she now began to lean over towards the floor. Not to mention sending his gift to Hunter this year, which was already wrapped under the Christmas tree.

Soon, as he quickly washed a cup, he realized something wasn't quite right about the conversation with his wife. Why did she bring up the moment, the day, rather, when they first met?

Shawn looked over his shoulder and saw his wife looking over at the Christmas tree, then smiled and continued to wash the dishes.

"You were wearing a white shirt and blue jeans with brown heels." He said.

Rebecca turned around and looked at her husband, smiling. "Good save, Shawn."

Later that night, Shawn slowly opened the mailbox and gripped the present in his hand, slowly placing it inside and sealing the handle on the mailbox shut. He shivered as he felt the cold air around him, quickly walking up the sidewalk and opening the front door. Once he made it inside, feeling warm air at last, he slowly turned around and closed the door, then locked it and made sure the outside light was on. He grabbed his coat and took it off, then walked over towards the coat rack and placed it on the handle.

Shawn walked over towards the kitchen and grabbed a cookie off the table, since he let his wife and children have the first few cookies, and liked the taste of it. He waited for his chance to eat some of them before they all could eat the cake tomorrow afternoon. The house seemed quiet despite the ringing of the clocks echoing throughout the living room. When Shawn approached the living room, he sighed and hoped Hunter would like his present.

They mostly gave each other Christmas cards every year, but since their friendship lasted nearly twenty years, Shawn thought he would do something nice for his friend this year. After all, the two had been through a lot together. Whether it was laughing about the new jokes they planned for the night, helping each other in the gym, or trying to put on a show for the fans every night, they always found ways to make their friendship work. Vince always said it was hard to make friends when your on the road with them all the time, thinking you could snap every bone on a weekly basis or get caught up with your personal life you forget about your Wrestling life.

Most of the time, it wasn't personal for Shawn at all. At least not at first.

2002. Christmas Eve.

Shawn looked down at the plate in front of him, sighing as he began to think about all he heard from Hunter. That one sentence was all he needed to hear. All he wanted Hunter to say and everything would be fine between them.

"Shawn is my past."

But it also hurt Shawn to hear those words. All that time Shawn had thought Hunter would've been joking, but he knew Hunter better than anyone else. He wasn't going to say something if he didn't mean it.

He watched Hunter stumbling across the floor, his face stern, angry. If only there was a better way to calm his emotions.

Who was he kidding?

Shawn sighed and realized he was thinking about himself. All those times he accused Hunter of not being there for him, even though he was, and never apologized for any mistakes he made towards his former friend, it really hurt to even mention his past. The pills. The drinking. It hurt.

Shawn slowly glanced his eyes towards Hunter, who almost got kicked out, and sighed. Looking at his friend suffering like this all because of him.

"Hey, Hunter." He said, his voice raspy.

He watched as Hunter slowly turned around, his eyes glazed upon him. He stumbled around before finding his balance and quickly said, "Yeah, what?"

"I wanted to say thank you."

"F-For what?"

"Just thank you," Shawn could tell Hunter's legs were about to give out on him, trying to find their balance again. "Sit down."

"No thanks," Hunter said, smiling a little. "I wouldn't sit next to you if you were the only guy left to talk to in one-hundred years."

"Fine." Shawn whispered.

Shawn's hands trembled, but he remained calm as he watched his former friend stumble across the room and trying to find the exit. He felt angred by Hunter's remarks, but what could he expect. He diserved this after everything he put Hunter through.

"And you know what, Shawn? It doesn't matter how many times you crawl back. I will never forgive you."

"Okay."

"Okay? Is that all you gonna say, Shawn? Huh? Is that all? Nothing will ever be okay between us."

Shawn lowered his eyes. "I understand."

Hearing Hunter's footsteps across the floor made something inside Shawn snap.

"At least I can drive home."

"What?"

Shawn looked up and saw Hunter's confused face looking at his. "You heard me."

"Well," Hunter smiled. "At least I didn't go to the trouble of coming here knowing my past would've been."

"I'm not your past, Hunter. I'm your friend."

"No friend of mine would turn their back on me, Shawn. No friend of mine."

"Not Kevin? Not Scott or Kid? They don't even talk to me much anymore."

"Good."

Shawn sighed. "Please sit down."

"Oh, sure, I'll take orders from a pill addict."

Shawn watched as Hunter began to turn back around and stumble some more across the tables, Shawn quickly came to the conclusion that Hunter didn't care much anymore.

"All I wanted was to set things right with you."

Hunter looked over his shoulder. "Where's your pill bottle, Shawn? Maybe you could spare a few for me."

Shawn's blood boiled and, out of anger, quickly stood up and grabbed Hunter's arm, pulling him down into a seat nearby.

"Ow. What the...?"

Shawn sat down on the other side and breathed heavily as he stared at Hunter's face.

"All I ever did was blame you for everything. The matches, the injuries, everything. I couldn't help myself because I thought everything was my fault. So I blamed you and I felt bad about that every single time I laid down at night. Ever since then I've found something better than pills. Something better than guilt. But you don't care about how I turned my life around because you're dwelling on the past."

Shawn's heart raced in his chest, the words pouring out of him. He could see the tension on Hunter's face. The anger. As if something about his words seemed strange, surprisingly even to himself.

"So...that's all you have to say?" Hunter asked, his eyes weary.

Shawn tensed up, but quickly released his tension and said, "Yes, and I hope you and I become friends again."

Hunter looked at Shawn, seeing his eyes staring down at him, and slowly sighed. "It's not that easy, Shawn. What was I

supposed to believe? That you were all better from some miracle?"

The two men looked at each other, one angry, the other understanding.

"You believe I'm better?" Shawn said.

Hunter took a deep breath, looking over Shawn. His face seemed better, smarter even. His hands didn't tremble like they used to, nor did his body look sick. He had to come to terms with his past, but not the past he wanted to forget. He wanted to remember something special from his past...and it was right in front of him all along.

"Yes, I think you look better than ever."

Shawn smiled to himself as he looked at the Christmas tree, remembering all the times he helped his children but the decorations and angel on it. He quickly realized the angel was slightly crooked and walked over towards the tree, grabbing the angel, and fixing her a little.

He looked at the angel's face and body, its gold dress and white halo glowing in the dim light. Shawn twisted the angel to look at the angel's feet, thinking it could be the ends that cause the angel to lean over. When he looked over the feet carefully, he noticed something engraved on the bottom of the left foot.

It read:

I love you, Rebecca, and I always will.

Shawn smiled brightly, reading over the words. He gave the angel to Rebecca on their first Christmas together. As soon as he finished reading the words over and over, he placed the angel back on top of the tree, this time making sure it didn't lean over.

He walked over towards the kitchen counter and checked a few things before gazing upon a envelope. He looked over at it and picked it up, reading the front. It was addressed to him. He opened the envelope and pulled out a small card. He looked at the front, which had a picture of a Snowman waving at the people passing by him with a scarf around its neck sitting in the snow. Shawn smiled and opened the card, which read:

Dear Shawn, You still look better than ever. Thanks for making me realize all those years ago you weren't my past, but my best friend. I will sit with you for many years to come. Merry Christmas.

Shawn smiled and read the words closely, feeling a warmth all over his body. Then, he realized something about the card. Something strange that made him chuckle under his breath.

"We picked the same cards again."

The End. Merry Christmas.