A/N: Here it is the final chapter…. I'm pretty nervous about it… Hope you all enjoy it.
Disclaimer: I do not own any names, brands, logos, titles, concepts etc associated with WWE all rights go to World Wrestling Entertainment.

Tainted Heart | New Path

Brie leaned over Ted's limp figure as she worked. She tried to keep her hands from shaking. She had grown fond of the sweet Southern Gentleman, who just happened to be a bank-robber, over the last few months. His eyelids had already taken over his blue eyes. She thanked God for that, she wouldn't have been able to stand the pain etched on his face as she tried to repair the gunshot wound.

Randy stood at her side, his blue eyes focused on his friend. She heard Cody and Kelly fighting outside. Everything had gone wrong today. She had told Cody she wasn't ready to go in there, she wasn't as strong as Kelly. She had hoped she would only be the nurse… but he had forced her, much to Randy's distaste, to participate in the robbery that afternoon.

"It's not your fault Brianna." Randy assured her, noticing the gleam in her brown eyes. "You need to stay strong, for Ted, you are the only one who can help him."

She nodded; she knew he was right. She pushed away the guilt and began to work diligently as Michelle re-entered the room. Her blue eyes were glassy from the tears she let fall for her husband, and a bottle of Iodine, a box of butterfly stitches, and a roll of gauze laid in her outstretched, shaking hand.

"He'll be okay Chelle." Brie said as she took the items from the distraught blonde. "I promise. He's going to be just fine."

"Chelle, we need to talk…" Randy wrapped an arm around the blonde's slender waist and guided him into the adjoining room, Brie and Randy's room… Once the door was shut Brie began stitching the gunshot wound in Ted's chest.

The hours ticked away as Michelle waited for Ted's eyes to open. Brie had said he was stable… and he would wake up soon. Michelle believed the young brunette. She held her husband's hand in her own. She could hear Randy's voice as he let Brie in on the plan. Her heart sank a little. She knew it was wrong…they were just as guilty as Cody and Kelly but Michelle knew that everything about this was Cody's idea. After Ted lost his job they were going to lose everything, their house, their car, they would have been homeless. Then Cody approached them with the idea of robbing a bank…just to have enough to make their loan payments and their mortgage payments.

That was three years ago.

Michelle missed her home, she missed her family. They had been pulled into a dark and dangerous web of deceit and she wanted out. She knew her husband would feel the same way…if he didn't already.

They had made a promise, when they started this, that they would never, ever, harm someone. Cody had broken that promise. He had shot back.

Michelle's heart skipped a beat as her husband let out a low groan, obviously in pain. His eyelids flickered and soon his blue eyes were visible. She smiled as the tears streamed down her face. He was okay, he was really okay. "Ted."

"Chelle." His lips curved into a pained smile. "What happened?"

"Brie is a miracle worker." She laughed a little and moved closer to her husband. "You were shot; Brie says you're going to be okay."

"Thank God Randy found her." Ted smiled. "She's brilliant."

Michelle nodded and squeezed his hand. "Baby we need to talk."

"About what?" Ted asked, his eyebrows furrowed as he frowned.

"Randy and I decided we are going to do it, tonight…"

"You mean…"

"That's exactly what I mean…"

"Is that a good idea?"

"It's the only choice we have… we can't stay, next time he might kill someone Ted."

The brown haired man nodded and sighed, wincing in pain. "Yea Chelle, I guess you're right."

Brie held the payphone with shaking hands. "Randy are you sure about this?"

"Brie we have to do this, for us, for Ted, for Michelle." He urged. "Don't be scared, I won't let anything happen to you, I love you." He gently rubbed her back.

"I love you too." She nodded; the brunette slid the coins into the slot, the quarters slipping from the latex gloves on her fingers. She pressed the three digits on the number pad and held the receiver close to her ear, making sure it never touched.

"Hello, 9-1-1, what's your emergency?" a female voice asked.

"It's about that bank robbery this afternoon" Brie began; she looked at Randy, who nodded at her encouragingly. "I saw two of them go into a hotel room… at the Parkway Motel…no one else was with them. One was blonde and carrying two large bags, she didn't have a mask on…but I couldn't see her face… The other one was a guy…he was carrying a gun…he had blood on him and he was still wearing the mask." She said. I saw them go into a room on the first floor, by the pool."

"And No one else was with them?" the operator asked.

"No ma'am. It was only the two of them."

"Can we have your name and location ma'am?"

Brie returned the phone to the receiver and looked at Randy. "It's done, let's go before we get caught." She said.

He nodded and guided her back to the van where she slipped into the back, taking a seat, Indian style, next to Ted's sleeping figure. Her back came to rest against the wheel well as she took his wrist in her hand, checking his pulse.

Randy climbed into the passenger seat, "It's done, go quickly." He shot the command at the blonde who quickly put the car in gear and pulled away from the edge of the road.

"How is he doing Brie?" Michelle asked.

"His pulse is steady…he's going to be fine." Brie said a genuine smile formed on her pink lips for the first time that day. She saw the relief and joy in Michelle's eyes and her heart leaped for the married couple. She turned her eyes to Randy who was looking back at them from the passenger seat.

"We have a lot of reason's to be happy." Randy said. "Ted is going to be okay, we're free…and Cody and Kelly are officially gone from our lives."

Randy nodded to the numerous cop cars parked in the hotel parking lot as they drove by. Brie watched as several officers escorted the young couple and helped them into the back of two squad cars.

"It's really all over, isn't it?" Michelle said, a tear rolling down her cheek.

"It is." Brie said. She was just now realizing how much her three companions had suffered over the last few years. None of them were tainted; they were all good people, who had lost their way.

But now they were free, and they were on their way to creating a new life, every day from now on was one step down a new path.

A/N: Okay well that's it for this story…. I really hope you guys enjoyed it. I know the story is a bit open ended… and there is a reason for that. I now have a poll on my page…where you can vote whether you want me to write a sequel to this story or not.

So make sure you vote, and please review…I want to know what everyone thinks. Thanks for sticking with me on this story! Hope it was worth it, I know I had fun with it : ) ~Danie.