12

Taker dropped the subject completely. He knew when his own logic was outmatched – on occasion. So they finished eating, and kept the talking to shallow topics. They argued over who was paying what part of the bill, and on that he did win, since he was the one who suggested going out. Dallas covered the tip.

Back at the room they were sharing, Dallas ducked into the bathroom to change clothes while he tugged off his shirt and shoes to lounge on the bed. Since he didn't technically have to be at the arena until the "late" hour of 9-ish, he wasn't in any hurry to go to sleep.

Dallas came out of the bathroom after ten minutes. She'd put on a pair of shorts, a white tank top, and had pulled her hair up into a ponytail. Taker thought she looked like a teenager on her way to a slumber party, but he wasn't going to complain. Especially since she was flashing about eight miles of bare, smooth leg.

She sat on the bed next to him and eyed the TV. "Anything good on?"

"You wanna watch a movie?" Taker raised an eyebrow and used the remote to find the pay-per-view channels.

"Any good horror movies playing?" Dallas rearranged her pillows so she was sitting up. Taker was flipping through channels, stopped to read descriptions on occasion. "I can't believe I'm about to do this, but if we're going to watch movies, I'm gonna go down the hall and raid the snack machine."

"We just ate." Taker said with a chuckle.

"I know this." Dallas was up and digging through her bag for some change. She was out the door, leaving Taker to shake his head in her wake.

He settled on a movie and waited for her to come back to start it. Finally she came in, carrying an arm full of sodas and assorted junk food. "Really?" That was all he said when she dropped the food on the bed beside him. Dallas smirked.

"I like to be prepared. What are we watching?" She stretched out on the bed with her feet on her pillow and her head facing the TV, on her stomach. It made him think of slumber parties again. Taker smirked and started the movie instead of answering. He also stretched out next to her and took one of the cans of soda for himself.

Twenty minutes in, and it was all he could do to keep his eyes open. So much for not being sleepy. Dallas poked Taker in the side and brought his attention to the fact that he was still holding an unopened can of soda, he was squashing a candy bar, and his elbow had turned the volume on the TV down to zero with the remote. He grumbled at her, but did not really protest when she cleared the bed off and took the remote and soda from him. She turned off all the lights and finally got back on the bed to finish watching the movie.

Taker snuggled up against her side, saw maybe five more minutes of the flick, and that was it. He was sleeping. Dallas smirked and made herself comfortable.

The next morning, Taker was up way before Dallas. He extricated himself from her arms, noting that she still had quite a stack of snack food and soda left over, and that they hadn't bothered to get under the blankets. He went into the bathroom for a shower and came out fifteen minutes later with a towel wrapped around his hips. It was of course early – 8. But he knew when he was done sleeping.

Dallas had awakened while he was in the shower. She was still blinking sleepily at the clock by the bed when he walked into the room. She managed to lift an eyebrow at the sight of him standing there wearing a towel. "Good morning to you, too." She said, smiling a little, her voice thick with sleep. Taker chuckled and ran his fingers through his hair to get out the worst of the tangles.

"You can go back to sleep. Or you can come get some breakfast with me."

"Ooh…breakfast…" Dallas moaned out the word and pushed the blanket away. Taker just shook his head. She managed to make it sound like the thought of food was orgasmic.

If she hadn't disappeared into the bathroom, Taker would have been tempted to skip breakfast and spend what was left of the morning in bed. As fun as it would be, sleeping with Dallas now after their talk at the restaurant did not feel right. He didn't know why the hell it would make a difference. Dallas was offering him every guy's dream, and he was fidgety like a virgin on his wedding night. He pulled his clothes on and sat down in the room's only chair.

Dallas reappeared, dressed in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. She sat on the edge of the bed to tug her shoes on. "You're staring at me. Is my hair weird or something?" She had brushed her hair and pulled it into a ponytail again.

Taker smirked. "Nah. Just thinkin'." He didn't want to elaborate, and Dallas did not press him for details. Good thing, he supposed. She probably wouldn't like the direction they were going. "Ready?"

"I guess." Dallas stood up, stretched again, and followed him to the door. She looked at him from time to time. He had slipped into a morose, broody mood since the night before.

They found a diner between the hotel and arena, one that was apparently over their morning rush. It was empty except for a bored looking waitress and an older man at the counter. They took a booth in the back, and ordered coffee for Taker, soda for Dallas

"Ok. What's wrong with you?" Dallas finally asked, after the waitress dropped off their drinks and took their food order.

Taker raised an eyebrow. "Nothin'."

"Nothin'." Dallas imitated his drawl. "Something obviously has crawled into your bonnet. So spit it out."

"I said it's nothin'."

Dallas just looked at him, her expression completely unreadable. The waitress delivered their food. They ate in silence. Well. Taker ate. Dallas mostly just pushed her eggs around and picked at her toast. Her appetite had deserted her thanks to his suddenly surly attitude. She absolutely hated it when people acted like they were mad at her. Even if they were just generally being grumpy, it irked her when they took it out on everyone else.

They didn't speak until they were at the arena. Dallas asked if he wanted her to check to see if the fed medic could clear him. He said sure. She returned and told him they would fit him in. That was it.

Dallas spent the rest of the day finalizing the rest of his travel plans. Taker did mention the he had decided to go home the next day, if there was a flight that could get him there before dinner time. She found one. He'd be leaving at noon the next day and would join up with the fed in Florida on Monday around lunch time.

By the time she got all that wrapped up, Taker was at the ring for his second run-through with Glen. Dallas walked out and watched them from the floor, standing out of the way. It didn't take them long. Taker came over and glanced at all the papers in her hands.

"Next week?"

"Yup. You are gonna be busy." Dallas smiled.

"Good. Better than the alternative." He was talking but he still had a strange edge to his voice. As if he was annoyed. Dallas handed him the newly printed schedule and smiled again as Glen joined them

"Hey, Dal. Where have you been hiding?"He slung a towel over his shoulder.

"The usual places." She took the paper back from Taker. "Did you need to add anything else?"

"Hell no. Am I not busy enough?" At least he sounded like he was joking that time.

"There's always room to squeeze in more." Dallas tucked the paper into the folder. "I'll go turn this in, if it's all clear with you."

"It's fine." Taker started picking at the tape on his wrists.

"Hold up, I'll go with you." Glen smacked Taker on the shoulder. "See ya at the curtain."

"Yeah." Taker shot him a look that Glen did not see. Dallas didn't catch it either. She walked away, shaking her head at something Glen said. He told himself it was not jealousy. He muttered a curse under his breath and finally got the tape loose, still glaring at Glen's back.

Even though he'd just spent over an hour running the ropes and throwing another guy around, Taker tossed the ruined tape onto the ground and headed for the makeshift gym to punch the hell out of a stationary bag for a while. He was aggravated and did not want to admit why.

He spent an hour repeatedly beating his fists against a bag, clearing his mind. When he was done, Taker went into his locker room for a shower. Dallas was in the hallway, in deep conversation with one of the trainers. He gave her a look, and saw her raise an eyebrow. He had no clue what expression it was she was seeing, but it couldn't have been good.

Taker didn't care. He slammed the door behind him and went into the shower. He didn't hear her come in over the pounding water. He turned to wet his hair and jumped when he saw her standing in the doorway.

"And what is wrong with you now?" She didn't beat around the bush.

"Does something have to be wrong?"

"Don't answer a question with a question." Dallas frowned when he went back to washing off like she wasn't there. "Spill it. Now."

Taker rubbed shampoo into his hair. "I'm tired. Blame it on that."

"You are not tired. You were fine last night. You woke up and boom. Mood. Do you have PMS?"

From the tone of her voice, Taker thought she was asking that question seriously. "You're hilarious."

"Wasn't meant to be funny."

"Unless you're plannin' on joinin' me in here, I would suggest you get outta here and find something to do."

"Gosh. You just make it sound so inviting." Dallas's voice was dripping sarcasm. Before he could say anything else she had turned and disappeared through the doorway.

Taker heaved a frustrated sigh and rinsed the soap out of his hair quickly. He snatched a towel and shut off the water. He stepped out of the small shower room, wrapping the towel around his waist. "Dallas, I didn't…"

That was as far as he got. Dallas wasn't there. Neither was her bag. Taker stood there for a moment before grabbing his clothes from his bag. He turned to get dressed and remembered. His match. It was less than an hour away. It wasn't like he had time to go running around the arena, trying to find a pissed off woman. He picked up his cell phone and called her…and was utterly unsurprised when it went straight to voice mail.

He tried again a few minutes later. Same result. Taker heaved a sigh and got his ring gear together. He dressed quickly and finished getting ready with about an hour to spare. He wandered the hallways, trying to get into character, finding it harder with every circuit of the backstage area. Three times around, and not sign of Dallas. He saw Glen exiting his locker room, and knew that he would need to head to his position.

Taker caught up to the other man. Glen smirked at him. With that contact in, it gave him a freaky, sort of demonic look. Very subtle, but nifty nonetheless. "You ready?"

"I guess." Taker rolled his shoulders, and stretched as they neared the curtain. "You seen Dallas around?"

Glen shrugged. "A while ago. She said she had a couple of errands to run."

Taker nodded as if that had been what he was expecting to hear. He barely acknowledged Glen when he gave him a whack on the shoulder and headed to the ring. Taker heard his music start and closed his eyes for a moment, trying to pull himself into the character.

And it worked. He ignored the crowd, and got into the ring. He and Glen had practiced, and their match went off pretty simply with both of them getting counted out. Taker spent a few minutes after Glen stumbled to the back soaking up the atmosphere. It was always nice to get cheered on by fans.

He went toward the back and through the curtain, getting a pat on the back from their road manager. He felt marginally better. Ready. It was also nice to really get back into the swing of things.

Taker went into his locker room for yet another shower. He heard his phone beeping, and looked at the screen to see he had a voice mail.

"Hey." It was Dallas. "Don't bother waiting on me. I got a ride. Have a good match." If her tone were any colder he might have gotten frost bite on his ear. Taker punched the button and redialed her number. Once again, it went to voice mail.

He got changed and made sure he had everything before heading to the hotel. Taker realized he was going to have to be honest about what was bothering him. She could get mad at him, and get over it, instead of thinking that he thought she was a convenient target for some mindless anger. He'd wake her up, if she was sleeping, and they would have it out.

That was easier said than done, of course. Dallas was no longer in the room with him either.

Taker looked around, noting that her bigger bag, with her actual clothes, was gone. So was anything else that said she'd been there. Her keycard was sitting on the dresser, along with an envelope. He peered inside. It was his plane ticket for the next day, and the ticket that would get him back to the fed on Monday.

He tossed them down and ran a hand through his hair. Ok. So she was making a point. He got that. He dug his cell phone out once again and dialed her number, now prepared to leave a message. When the beep came, he wondered if maybe he had lost his mind.