4: A Finished Puzzle

"HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND?"

She might have. Fallon hadn't moved from her spot as he taunted her with memories of a night she had no recollection of. She had stood there and listened, her face contorting with fury, as he threatened Luna, Hunter, and Shawn. When he mentioned the divorce papers again, she had snapped and lunged for him. She had brought both her fists down, right between his legs. As he had been lying down on the bed, she hadn't missed her mark, though his retaliation had been swift.

She had been making a mad scramble for the door when he bellowed that, equal parts pain and rage lacing his tone. She hadn't made it very far before she was crushed, tackled, and that was something she never wanted to experience ever again. She was pretty sure something was broken.

Rolling her over, 'Taker backhanded her right across her face, tempted to do it a second time, just to see her cheekbone collapse under his heavy blows. He could not stop the tears from showing, pain coursing through him and he simply collapsed on her, trying to block the pain in his balls.

Fallon couldn't breathe. Her face felt like it was on fire, and she was crying, her nose clogging up. Add his weight and drawing breath was near impossible.

When he felt like he might be able to stand up, he pushed himself off of her, glaring down at this… bitch. "You want to play rough, Fallon?" He demanded, his voice coming out a bit higher than usual, bending down to grab a handful of her curly black hair. He ignored her shrieks of pain as he jerked her upright, not caring if he yanked her tresses out of her skull. "Here, let me… show you…" She was struggling against him as he tried taking her hand. "Rough."

Fallon's screams echoed throughout the house.

Luna looked up from her spot in the corner of the basement when she heard the door unlock and open. Drawing her knees up to her chest, she listened to the cursing, cringing. That was 'Taker. A second later, she was up and trying to get to her friend when Fallon came flying down the steps, crashing in a heap on the unforgiving floor. "Fallon!"

Fallon lay there, breathing heavily. "Yeah…" She finally groaned, moving slowly until she was on her knees, every inch of her hurting after that tumble. Her broken hand, broken fingers, those hurt the worse. Her wedding ring finger, middle finger, and pointer finger, all broken. He had not taken her love tap to the gems well. "Please… give me a moment…" She was struggling not to black out.

Luna gave her several moments, watching with baited breath as Fallon slowly inched herself over to the corner, finally collapsing in Luna's lap. She couldn't move from this corner, she was tethered to the wall by chains on her ankles. "What'd he do to you?" She whispered, stroking Fallon's hair gently.

"Beat the hell out of me… Gertie, my fingers… can you set them?" Fallon managed to extend her hand.

"Please Fal… don't… don't ask me."

"Please? I can't have them setting this way…"

Luna finally nodded, taking a deep breath. "You know this is going to hurt." She cautioned, gingerly taking Fallon's hand, examining the damage done. "And I can't promise… they'll come out right, we don't have anything to splint them."

"We can use my shirt."

"You might pass out."

"Please?"

Luna nodded, mentally bracing herself and began setting them. She screamed right along with Fallon, struggling not to let tears blur her vision. "One more, Fal."

"God, it hurts! FUCK!"

"One more…" Luna buried her face in Fallon's hair after setting the final finger, her entire body wracking with her sobs. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" She didn't even know what she was apologizing for. She hadn't done this, that evil son of a bitch had. "God, Fallon, I'm sorry!"

Fallon couldn't even reassure her friend, she was too busy trying not to scream anymore, knowing splinting came next. "F-finish it!" She gasped finally, her throat raw.

He stood upstairs in the open doorway and listened to them. Perhaps he had taken things a bit too far, breaking her fingers the way he had, but the woman needed to learn. If she was going to dish it out, she was going to get it right back. In spades, it seemed, because he hadn't been able to reign in his temper.

He didn't even know if it was her he was angry with anymore. Maybe it was himself, for not being able to let this all go. He knew he was borderline insane at this point, wanting to hurt both her and Shawn in any way possible. The fact that they were still married… disgusted him, pissed him off… by all rights, Shawn Michaels should have crashed and burned long before now.

But he hadn't. Even after his accident at the Royal Rumble the year before, with his injury, he had still managed to work, eventually slowing down to a role that didn't require him to wrestle. The fans had still adored him, Fallon had still loved him, even with everything wrong with that man, and there was plenty wrong.

"I'll sign the papers, Gertie, I will."

He was brought out of his musings at Fallon's broken whisper.

"Fal, don't give him what he wants."

"I have too… it's only, only a matter of time…." She inhaled raggedly, letting out a mewl of pain. "Before he hurts you."

He had no intention of harming Luna. She had merely been a convenient means to an end. The fact that Fallon assumed he would hurt her friend… that had been his goal, and she had just given him what he wanted.

"Well Fallon… it seems like your husband has jumped the gun."

Fallon didn't want to know what 'Taker meant by that, keeping her eyes firmly on the floor. She had been brought out of the basement this morning, after what she was assuming was a weekend of starvation and sipping water from a half-filled gallon jug. What was doubly humiliating was the cooking pot and box of diaper wipes that had been left in their lovely little corner. Fallon would never, ever take her life for granted again, especially her porcelain toilet.

Because she had stank, again, he had made her shower before speaking to her. She was glad for the shower, even if it had been more for his comfort then hers. It made her feel slightly human. Her fingers were swollen, bruised, just like her face and other parts of her that had been injured in her flight down the stairs, she just wanted drugs. Lots of drugs. And something to eat, her stomach was trying to kill her from within, and she was no longer embarrassed by the noises it kept making.

"Here you go."

He had dropped some papers right into her line of vision and it took her a few minutes to realize what she was seeing. "What is this?"

"Your husband has beaten us to the punch. He's filed for divorce." That had been quite the surprise. "It was originally delivered to your home in Maine. You'll have to excuse my opening it, I was curious."

He sounded nearly apologetic, and any other time, Fallon may have found it morbidly amusing. As it was, she was too focused on the paperwork she had picked up, sorting through it. It was petition for a divorce, based on the grounds of irreconcilable differences and abandonment. She hadn't abandoned him, she had been kidnapped! She began flipping through the document, tears blurring her vision as she took in the Michael Shawn Hickenbottom, Michael Shawn Hickenbottom, on every page in his looping scrawl.

She curled into herself on 'Taker's bed, trying to keep her tears to herself but…

He waited for it, pleased when he heard a heart-wrenching sob escaping her. He sat at the foot of the bed, waiting patiently as she cried her heart out. Eventually, she ran out of steam and simply lay there, curled into a tight ball, her face buried in her knees. "The puzzle is done, Fallon." He announced, standing up and mockingly bowed to her when she raised her head. "You are nothing but a weak-willed woman who is desperately in love with a drug addict. Shawn is gone and will never wrestle again. I've broken his back and your heart. I am… satisfied."