Okay, y'all kick serious ass! You guys are so amazing! I heart you all! I want to give a big shout out to everyone that has read the story so far. I want to send a special 'Thank You' to AngelsDestiny22, KimmieCena, angelshavetheirwickedschemes, psion53, Randy4rkocenahardy, lookitsria, xDarlingNikki, xMyHeartShine, Xandman216, and AmyFazz. You guys rock! \m/ (^.^) \m/ Here's chapter 12. Enjoy!

A Month Later:

Caroline Harper headed up the stairs with a basket of freshly laundered clothes. Her first stop was Emery's room. She sighed sadly at the thought of her.

Emery had come home about six months ago. Something had happened to make her come home but she wasn't sharing. Actually, she wasn't doing much talking at all. She had changed. Yeah, Caroline expected Emery to grow up more and mature while she had been away and living with Fallon. But this was different. Her little girl wasn't herself anymore. She wanted to find out who hurt her and personally ring their necks.

She nudged the door open with her hip and walked into the room. As she made her way into the room to lay Emery's clothes on the foot of her bed, she felt her hip catch on something hanging off the edge of Emery's desk. She heard it hit the floor. She set the clothes on the foot of the bed and turned to pick it up. It seemed to be some type of notebook. It had fallen open to a page with a picture stuck in the page.

Caroline retrieved the notebook off the floor, noticing that the picture was cut out of some magazine. She flipped it over and instantly recognized the two men on the opposite side.

Caroline and Nathan watched RAW faithfully every week. Even though the two of them didn't agree with Fallon's decision at the time she left to join the company, they still supported their oldest daughter. They were her biggest fans. One half of their office downstairs was dedicated to her career. Because of that, she recognized Ted DiBiase and Cody Rhodes. Why would Emery have a picture of them in her journal?

She glanced at the journal entry that the picture was with. It was dated for about two months ago. She didn't want to read it. She really didn't but couldn't seem to help herself.

Hi Baby,

It's Mommy again. Sorry I haven't written in a while. It's not that I haven't thought about you, I have. It's just...I saw Daddy today. Not him physically. It was just his picture but it still felt the same. It hurt so bad to see him Baby. I miss him so much. More than I ever thought I would. Thinking about how I lost you both, I feel almost dead inside. My heart doesn't beat the same as it used to.

I wish I could have seen you, or held you. I wish I had known you were there before you were gone. I would have loved to see you in your Daddy's arms.

I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I let you and Daddy down. I wish I could have been the Mom you deserved.

Love Always,

Mommy

Caroline read the letter three times before it finally dawned on her that Emery was writing this letter to her baby. A baby that she lost. And it seemed that either Ted DiBiase or Cody Rhodes was the father.

She glanced at the clock. Emery had told her that she would be home around 7pm tonight. And Nathan had meetings till about the same time. It was just after 5pm. She pulled out the chair from the desk and sat down. Flipping to the front of the journal and began to read. Caroline stared to cry softly as she started to get the whole story of what happened.

Emery had been pregnant and didn't know until she had lost it during an emergency surgery. She had been so distraught, that in her mind, the father of the baby would have never forgiven her for having the miscarriage. So she wrote a letter, packed her things and left either Ted or Cody.

It was also quiet obvious that she had been and more than likely was still head over heels, ridiculously in love with which ever one it was. Her little girl was hurting and it was obvious that she needed to be with the man she loved and not here with her and Nathan.

With the sole intent to help her own baby, Caroline started to search the desk to see if she could find out who 'Daddy' was. She couldn't find anything. She slid the journal back on the desk, bumping the cordless mouse for Emery's laptop, bringing up her screen. The picture on the background was one that she had clearly taken herself. It was of the surf at some beach but in the foreground, it was two sets of feet. One was Emery's, she recognized the small star tattoo on the inside of her ankle, and the other set was definitely male, more than likely her boyfriend's. That gave Caroline an idea.

Knowing Emery like she thought she did, she knew that Emery probably had a bunch of pictures saved on her computer. Sure enough, she found a file marked 'Pics&Stuff' in the upper left hand corner. She took a deep breath and clicked on the file. The file held hundreds of pictures and a few videos. The pictures were of either them together or just him. She clicked on one picture that seemed to go with her beach background.

The picture was of them curled up on a towel, her pressed against his side with his arm around her shoulder, holding her close. It was one of those pictures that you could tell they had taken themselves.

Emery looked so happy wrapped up in Cody Rhodes' arms. Their body language and the happiness on their faces proved what she already suspected. The two of them were completely and utterly in love with each other.

Caroline clicked through a few more pictures. In each one, they looked just as happy and in love than the last one. She clicked on the first video.

The inside of some bedroom came into view. This wasn't a hotel room. This room looked lived in. It must have been their bedroom in their home. The camera panned to the bed where Cody was propped up against the headboard with some kind of controller in his lap. He was shirtless, in some longer nylon shorts and his hair was damp. He must have just gotten out of the shower. He looked up as Emery spoke to him.

"Cody." She said in a sing songy voice. "Wave to the camera, sugar."

"Awe, come on Em. Why don't you go film the neighbors or something?" Cody set his controller to the side as Emery walked closer.

"But the neighbors aren't as yummy as you are, sugar." She said in a pouty voice. He grinned at the camera and crooked a finger at her. She walked closer and he grabbed her, making her laugh. The video shook as he pulled her into the bed with him. A few seconds later, Cody's face came back into focus. He laughed with her softly.

"I knew getting you this camera for your birthday was a bad idea." Emery laughed again.

"Yes it was."

"Come on, princess. Put it away." Emery giggled.

"Nope." The camera jostled a little bit and then flew to the foot of the bed. The shot now showed Cody pulling Emery close and kissing her. As he started to kiss down the side of her neck, she pushed at him.

"Code, wait." She smiled up at him. "I think the camera's still on." The video ended with Cody crawling to the end of the bed and clicking it off.

Caroline closed the file and sat back in the chair, again wiping the tears from her eyes. That video just cinched it. She knew what she had to do. It may make Emery mad at first but she would take the chance. She knew she had to find Cody and bring him back to Emery.

Caroline first called WWE Headquarters thinking by some slim chance they might tell her how to get in touch with Cody. The girl who answered the phone just laughed at her until she hung up on her.

She racked her brain, trying to think of anyway to reach Cody. She contemplated figuring out where RAW was tonight and calling the arena and see if they would get him on the phone. That failed when the call went directly to an answering service.

She got up and paced the office, hoping something would come to her. Her gaze landed on a framed picture on Nathan's side of the desk. It was a picture of him and Emery. It made her think, had she met Cody's parents? Did they like her? How did they feel about Emery and Cody's relationship?

Caroline stopped mid-step. Cody's parents. She knew that Cody's father was the legendary Dusty Rhodes. She remembered reading somewhere that Dusty helped with talent scouting and training at WWE's 'minor league' FCW and stayed in Flordia part time. She sat back down at her computer and pulled up their website. It took her all of two minutes to find an office number for a 'D. Runnels'. She quickly dialed the number, praying that he might be in the office, that this might fall into his part time, knowing the odds were slim to none.

She jumped when the line clicked, connecting the call.

"Yeah?"

"Mr. Runnels?"

"Yes. Who is this?"

"You don't know me but my name is Caroline Harper."

"Okay..."

"Emery Harper is my daughter." Dusty was quiet on his end.

"Is she okay?" He asked after a few seconds.

"Yeah. For the most part. She's here with me and her father." Dusty sighed deeply.

"I should be angry. I want to be angry at her. She destroyed my son when she left. Cody hasn't been the same. But all I can do is wonder if Emery's okay. Do you know why she did it? Do you know why she left?"

"Em didn't tell me but I found out." Caroline debated with herself as to whether to tell him but she figured he deserved to know. She spilled everything she had found out in Emery's journal.

"Oh hell."

"I know. She thinks it was the right thing to do." They were both quiet for a minute. "Emery needs him. No matter what she says, she needs him."

"He needs her too. Boy does he need her."

"I don't think that we should be the ones to tell him what happened." Dusty agreed with her. "But I would like to be the one to call him. Does he have a cell number that I can call him at?"

"Yeah. You got a pen?" He rattled off the number. The ended the call with a promise to speak to each other again soon.

Caroline looked at the number in her hand. She had the key to help her baby girl. Now, she just needed to know if she cared about Cody the way she thought she still did.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

I came home a lot later than I expected. I didn't have anything to do on Mondays so I decided to go for a drive. Halfway across town, I decided to go to DC. Hoping to take in a museum or two. Which I did. I was driving through the city about to leave when I got stuck in traffic. It seemed as though one of the lanes was blocked. I came up on the reason and forgot to breathe. I was right near the arena in the center of the city and the lane was blocked by a WWE truck. I hadn't realized that they were in town. I noticed a couple of crew guys I knew taking some equipment out of the truck. They were the RAW crew.

That meant that Cody was close by. He was maybe a block or two away from where I was sitting. The urge to park my car, find a way into the arena, find Cody and beg his forgiveness was overwhelming. But I was sure that I was no longer something he thought about. I knew in my heart that he had moved on to someone better for him. As soon as I could, I shot through traffic and hit the highway, putting as many miles as I could between us.

I didn't want to do anything but take a shower and curl up in bed. But my wonderful mother had other plans. She met me at the door.

"Have you eaten yet, sweetheart?" There was a weird tone to her voice. The tone she used to use to soothe me and Fallon when we were upset.

"No, Momma but I'm not hungry."

"You have to eat. Come on." She started to steer me towards the den. "The pizza will be here any second." She pretty much pushed me into the sofa. Right on cue, the doorbell rang. Dad looked up from the papers he was sorting through in his lap.

"How was your day, kitten?" He asked. I'd never really tell him the truth. I'd never tell him that I nearly broke into the arena in DC, hunted Cody down and threw myself at his feet.

"Fine Daddy. How about you?"

"Good kitten. It was good." Mom walked back in with the pizza and some paper plates.

"Switch it over, Nathan. The show is getting ready to start." She slid a slice on a plate and plate and handed it to me. I looked up quickly as I recognized the beginning stands of the theme song I knew very well. RAW was getting ready to start.

"Your sister has a title match tonight." Mom told me.

"That's good." As the show started and superstars came out, she asked about them. About how I liked them. I gave her short little answers like, 'they're nice', 'she's very sweet'. Not wanting to be in the room at all, I tried to leave numerous times but she kept talking to me to keep me there. Then, the moment I had hoped I'd be long gone before happened. Randy's music hit.

"Wow, Fallon looks wonderful tonight doesn't she, Em?" She nudged me with her elbow till I looked up at the TV. I sucked in a silent breath as I not only saw Randy and Fallon, but Ted and Cody were following behind them.

"Yeah, she does." Fallon was looking at Randy with such love in her eyes. I was instantly jealous. Damn them, but they didn't have to hide their love.

"Is he good to her?" Dad asked, nodding to the screen showing Fal and Randy.

"He's an amazing guy, Daddy. He treats her like a queen. You'd really like him."

"What about that Ted?" Mom asked. I smiled softly.

"Teddy's one of my best friends."

"Did you ever date him? He's quiet the cutie."

"No, Momma, I pretty sure his wife wouldn't like that. Especially since Rebecca is my best friend outside of the company." She just nodded. I had to fight back tears as I saw Cody take the mic. Call me weird if you want to but I love the sound of his voice. I found his lisp quiet adorable. I also knew for a fact that when Cody was nervous or worked up over something, the lisp became more pronounced and obvious. When he was relaxed and confidant in what he was doing, it was barely noticeable. Well, at least to me anyway. I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn't realize Mom had been asking me a question.

"Emery?" I shook myself out of my thoughts.

"Yes?" She smiled at me.

"What about that Cody Rhodes? I've read things that say he's incredibly sweet despite the character he portrays." I looked down at my plate of half eaten pizza, again, fighting back the tears. I placed the plate on the table and stood up. I couldn't take it anymore.

"He was perfect, Momma. He was perfect in every way." With one last look at Cody on the screen, I excused myself so I could have my breakdown alone.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

The Next Night:

I didn't want to be here tonight. My mood was terribly foul and I didn't want to be around anyone. I just wanted to wallow in it alone. Tonight was exactly six months since Emery left. This day couldn't be over fast enough.

I had a feeling that nothing good was going to come from this day. I knew I was being short and pissy with people, alienating my friends and co-workers, but I couldn't seem to find it in myself to give a fuck. I was just here to do my job and then go back to my cold quiet hotel room alone and repeat the same shit the next day. That was all I had left in my life.

I was begrudgingly following behind Ted, Randy and Fallon on our way to a very busy catering. It was a Smackdown tonight but both shows were in attendance. That meant everyone and their brother was in catering. I didn't have to look around to know that people were staring at me.

By now, because of my blow up at Barbie a few months ago, everyone knew that Emery and I had been together and that she left me. They all assumed it was something I had done to her. God how I wish that were true. Then maybe I could fix it and get her back. Yeah, well, I kinda had to know where she was first to do that.

I was brought out of my thoughts by a hand on my arm. I stared at it for a second before I looked up and found that the hand belonged to Mike. Of all people. I didn't want to see him much less talk to him. Like he seemed to want.

"What?" I asked, my shitty attitude oozing from that one word.

"Look Rhodes, I heard what happened with Emery. I'm really sorry. I'm sorry things went down the way they did. I wish I could go back and change things, but...yeah...I miss her, man. She was such a good friend." He leaned in closer to me. "I wish she was here too." I don't know how I was supposed to take that comment but I'm pretty sure, looking back, my reaction wasn't the right one.

I slapped his hand off my arm and drew back and punched him right in the face. It threw him off balance and I used his own momentum to tackle him to the ground. He didn't defend himself as I dropped hit after hit. He just put his arms up, blocking.

"Fuck you, Mike. Fuck you for saying her name like you have the right. For thinking about her." I didn't stop. I wouldn't have stopped if Ted, Randy and Cena hadn't pulled me off. I fought them. I fought them all the way to Stephanie's office. I stopped when they forced me into the chair across from her. I silently fumed as the three of them defended Mike. According to them, Mike had been sincere in his apology. I severely overreacted and went off unnecessarily. Stephanie just nodded and made them leave. As they filtered out it hit me, this was my Strike Three. I was about to be out.

"Cody." She just shook her head. "No more. I can't let this go on anymore. You got 10 days. Go home. Get you head and heart back into this, Cody. I can't have you here when you're like this. I'm sorry. Go home, Cody."

Two hours later, I paced across my hotel room again. Was I angry? You're fuckin' right I was angry! How could they do that to me? They knew what Emery meant to me. They knew what my job meant to me. Now...I had nothing.

I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. I pulled it out and looked at the number. 804? Where the hell was the area code 804? I almost didn't answer it. But something told me to.

"What?" I knew I didn't sound friendly.

"Is this Cody Runnels?" It was a woman's voice. She kinda sounded like my Mom.

"Yeah. Who is this? How did you get this number?"

"This is Caroline Harper." That name triggered something in my brain but I didn't connect it to anything.

"Okay, so why are you calling me?"

"Cody, I'm Emery's Mom." I felt the blood rush out of my head as I dropped to sit on the foot of the bed, my knees giving out on me. I couldn't speak as the worst possible thoughts slammed into me. Oh Jesus. Had something happened..."Cody, honey? Are you still there?"

"Ah..." I had to try three times before I could speak. "Yeah. Emery, is she...where..." She took pity on my inability to speak.

"She's here, in Virginia, with me and her father. She's been here with us the whole time." That was a huge weight off my shoulders. At least she had been safe and with people who loved her.

"Is she okay?" I asked softly. I could hear her start to sniffle like she was crying.

"Physically, yes, she's fine. But in her heart...Cody, she needs you. Can you come here to her?" I didn't hesitate.

"Yes. Where are you?" She told me and I quickly wrote it down.

"Please Cody. My little girl needs the man she loves." I stood up and started packing my stuff.

"I'm on my way, Mrs. Harper. I'm on my way."

I would really appreciate if you keep the reviews coming. Please take a couple of seconds and let me know how I'm doing. Since you guys are awesome, as soon as I get my 10th review for this chapter, I'll post the next one. You all seem to like that so I'll keep it up for the last few chapters. Thanks! =^.^=