A/N: This may be last update because next week I have exams. I'll be back to writing and posting again in two weeks. Please keep the reviews going and enjoy the next chapter! Thanks to pinkXXpunkXXprincess, xAttitudex, TorriexJohn, JClvr, and Jorrieprincess for the reviews. You guys rock and happy reading!

Chapter 13 – The Revival of Friendship

The ring was in the middle of being set up by the crew members in preparation to start another episode of Raw for that Monday evening. As she sat among the thousands of empty red seats, the brunette diva was watching the crew members doing their work for a while until she went deep in thought about the night ahead of her. Maria knew that all the attention would be on her especially after what had happened on the last episode of Raw. She had collapsed before the match could official begun and because of this, the women's championship match had to be cancelled.

She let out a weary sigh and wondered if things couldn't get any worse that it already was? Now that paparazzi princess had taken her place and Maria could just imagine her mouth running like motor in the women's locker room.

Maria knew the reason why Shane had called Melina to his office earlier on but she chose to ignore the truth when the fact of matter was that the title opportunity wasn't meant for Melina, it was supposed to be hers. Maria won the diva's battle royal fair and square and she didn't take her training sessions almost every single day for nothing. Now her chance was taken away from her and as frustrated as she was now, she knew that there was nothing that she could do about it.

And she knew that she couldn't step into the ring again until the baby was born. The more she had thought about it, the more depressing it sounded and it all took her back to why she was being in this state as she was now. The warm tears were fighting to get out of her emerald green eyes and she had no choice but to let them flow away. Maria had stop crying and held her breath when someone said her name and turned to look up at the look of concern on his face.

Her best friend was standing right there before her and she knew he would always be there for her when she needed him even if it meant giving her a shoulder to cry on, he would be there and she took that chance when she stood up from her seat and looked at the person who was everything that she had ever needed.

As he stood there, confused about what had just happened, Randy held Maria in his arms and he never hesitated to let go, let alone back away. She had her face dug into his chest and he stroked her bangs gingerly. They were like this for a few minutes and soon the silence was broken when he began to spoke to her softly.

"Maria, look at me."

She pulled her body away from him and then looking at his muscle shirt, she saw a grayish black stain that was formed by the mascara. So she took out a small bottle of stain remover from her back pocket of her jeans and was just about to unscrew the cover of it when his hand had prevented her from doing so.

"Just leave it. That's not the problem now."

"But I just-"

"Will you quit it?" Randy asked with a laugh. "You always want to argue over little stains like these. You never seem to change a bit, have you?"

Maria laughed but with her throat turning sore from crying, it sounded like it was a laugh out of force.

"I guess not."

Randy smiled at her as he took her hand and sat her back to her seat and he took his as well, next to her. At that point Maria felt guilty and most of all stupid for running into his arms in the first place. She could have just walked away but instead she felt the need to be held and to be told that everything was going to be okay, even though in her mind, it wasn't going to be.

She looked down on her lap as she tried to avoid eye contact but that proved to be pointless when his finger on her chin guided her face to turn to look at him.

"I know there's something bothering you and you can't tell me it's nothing otherwise you wouldn't have run into me like that."

Maria said nothing as she leaned her head down in shame while Randy made a sigh in defeat when she didn't make a direct answer. The two of them were now alone once again since that night at the hospital. It had seemed that they were friends again but why was there an awkward atmosphere around them?

"Look…what happened back in Chicago…" Randy trailed off at this sentence and then stopped at the word 'Chicago'. Maria was still quiet and then closed her eyes at the thought of a nightmare coming back to strike. Randy cleared his throat and went to start back at the beginning.

"What happened back in Chicago was a mistake. We were both drunk and we got a little carried away. Just as much as I want to take all of the blame for the situation, I know now that this whole 'blaming game' idea isn't going to get us anywhere let alone fix this whole mess."

"I know," said Maria without looking back at him. "I just wish it never happened."

"Yeah, I do too."

"I can't help but to…"

"What? You can tell me. What is it?"

Maria looked at him and the tears were still on her cheeks. "Well I can't help but to think that it's my fault."

"Maria, don't-"

But she stopped him at his sentence before he could go further.

"That's the truth isn't it? It was my idea to have a celebration of our own."

"Yeah but it was just a simply night at the bar. That's it."

"But it shouldn't have happened anyway. If it wasn't for…"

"Maria, stop it right now. I'm tired of hearing you blaming yourself for this. You and I both know that it takes two to tango."

"But whose idea was it that we should go out?"

"It was just a night of fun! We were both happy that I've made my dream come true when I won the championship and you thought that we should celebrate by taking the night out! What's the harm in that?"

Her eyes grew wide in disbelief. How could he have not see things the way she did?

"What's the harm?" We became two irresponsible individuals!"

"You don't have to tell me that!" said Randy with a yell. "Don't you think that I know that already?!"

The brunette diva was taken aback by his anger and her heart began to leap faster at the thought of looking at the same expression if he ever found out her secret. After realizing what he had just done, his frown melted away and buried his face into his hands.

"I'm sorry," he said before he looked down at the ring when he was actually into deep thought about something. "I'm not mad at you, I'm just angry at myself. You had no idea what I'm going through. I have to keep a secret like this from Isabelle and it tears me to shreds that I'm keeping her in the dark about it. Can you imagine being with someone you love so much that you just refuse to give up on them?"

Maria had a clear idea of what he was talking about. She felt the exact same way when she had a secret of her own that Randy didn't know….

"I know. You just can't let her go because you love her too much."

"Exactly," Randy said with a nod.

With that being clear, Maria thought it was hopeless to confess to Randy that she was bearing feelings for him. It was only meant to be kept in the dark and not to be revealed out in the open. But then he caught her by surprise when he looked at her again and took her hand and had his other hand resting on top on hers.

"And you know what else that hurts?"

Maria shook her head for she didn't know the answer to his question so she waited for Randy to tell her his answer.

"What hurts is that I haven't talked to my best friend for months because our guilt created a barrier between us. I missed all our times together but most importantly, I missed you and I still do."

She felt a tear running down on her face as his words had touched her deeply that she ever imagined. She had missed him and from what had just come out of his mouth, he felt the exact same way.

"I missed you too," Maria said candidly. "I always have."

Randy made a small smile and had his thumb on her cheek to wipe a fresh tear away. "That's what I want to hear."

"I felt so stupid to be sitting here crying because I…"

Maria stopped at her sentence. She closed her eyes and shook her head as if to refuse to continue. She couldn't bring herself to tell the reason why she was in his state.

"What is it? Maria, please tell me. I'm right here. You know that you can tell me anything."

Maria said nothing for a while and Randy waited for her to speak again. Maria gathered her courage and turned to the one person who understood her better than anyone.

"The reason you saw me here crying was because I missed you."

It wasn't a lie. That was the truth. Well it was part of it anyway.

"I missed talking to you and sharing jokes with you….I missed the kind of friendship we had before and I want it back. I want our friendship back and I want it back the way it was."

"I want that too," said Randy. "Well since you and I both want the same thing, I don't see a reason why we can't do something about it. I mean it's up to us if we want to rebuild back our friendship. So if that's what we want, then why not start now?"

Maria made a smile at him and she knew that he meant what he said. She stood up from her seat and Randy did the same with the hopes of hearing the answer that he wanted to hear.

But she felt that it didn't have to be verbal so instead her non-verbal answer was made in a form of a hug. As they stood like this for a while and with smiles on their faces, their friendship had returned.

Next chapter: Maria starts to consider telling Randy her secret and finds herself in a confrontation with Melina. Meanwhile Shane has a 'special surprise' for the certain legend killer…and calls him out to the ring….