Title: Like We Never Loved at All
Author: Adrian Jade
Summary: You never looked so good as you did last night underneath the city lights. There walking with your friends, laughing at the moon. I swear you looked right through me.
A black Lincoln town car pulled up in front of the Hilton. John Cena as the bright sunlight hit his eyes. He shook off his disoriented feeling as he went to the trunk to get his bags. He then moved to the back seat to grab his daughter's carrier. Skylar Jailynn Cena was sleeping peacefully oblivious to everything going on around her. Skylar was finally starting to get to normal size which John was glad for. Skylar had been born 4 months premature with her tiny lungs not fully developed. She still had very dangerous coughing spells which scared the hell out of John but they had been less recent as of late. John couldn't help but smile at his daughter but it was a sad smile. As much as he loved Skylar he couldn't forget what she had cost him. He knew it was wrong but part of him resented her for costing him his wife and other children, but he knew it wasn't Skylar's fault, she was the only innocent person in all of this.
"Well baby girl welcome to Nashville, Tennessee" John said to the sleeping baby "your brothers and sister live somewhere near here but chances are you'll never meet them because your dad is a coward who couldn't fight for what he wanted"
Eve took the kids and moved to Nashville where she filed for divorce. She got custody of the kids but John could see them whenever he wanted but he hadn't seen them since Eve left 6 months earlier. It wasn't that he just didn't care about his children, it was just too hard to see his kids knowing that Eve hated him. He walked into the hotel lobby, got his room key and went to his room where he could be alone with his thoughts. Once he got to his room he set up Skylar's porter crib before putting her in it and eventually collapsing face down on the bed. He was lying there enjoying the peaceful silence for about 10 minutes until there was this annoying knocking on the door.
"I can't even feel sorry for myself in peace" he grumbled as he got up to answer the door.
Rory was standing on the other side of the door when he opened it. She was grinning happily at him, it almost made him sick that she could possibly so happy when his life was hell.
"Ugh! What the hell do you want"
"Nice to see you too cousin, I'm here to take Skylar because you and Randy are having a boys night out" she informed him.
"Rory I don't want to go out" John said trying to shut the door.
She put her arm out to stop him from closing the door. He did stop and she slipped into the room. John just rolled his eyes, he was really starting to hate her.
"Fine then you can sit here and brood by yourself because I'm still taking the baby ... it's not healthy for her to spend all her time in dark, depressing rooms"
"Rory please ..." he just wanted her to leave him alone was that too much to ask.
"John one day you'll thank me for this" Rory said picking up Skylar and slinging the baby's diaper bag over her shoulder. "Eve has moved on so should you"
"You still talking to her?" he asked trying to sound like he didn't care.
"Yeah, she lives about 30 minutes from here with her boyfriend Chase" Rory purposely told him about Chase because she was trying to get him jealous enough to do something about getting his life back.
"I just saw Eve and the kids not too long ago, the boys are so big now and they are even starting to talk ... just little words like mama, nana, ... dada"
"Dada?" John asked trying very hard to keep all emotion out of his voice.
"Yeah they call Chase dada" Rory said very nonchalantly.
Rory could see the vein in John's neck begin to emerge the way it always did when he was mad. She smiled a small smile to herself. Maybe he did care after all.
"Even Zoey calls Chase daddy. I don't know it's a toss up if they decide to get married" she lied "not that I blame her he is such a hottie"
"Leave already" John snapped irritably.
"I'm going ... I'm going" she said beginning to leave "I'll send Randy over in a little while to pick up Skylar's play pen"
"Yeah whatever" John remarked "I'm going in the shower so take my key card"
"Ok"
Rory left and John dragged himself into the shower. He rested his head against the cool tile wall as he let the hot water relax his tired muscles. He sighed, part of him wanted to spend the rest of his life in the calmness of the shower. But after 15 minutes the water started to get cold. He got out and wrapped a towel around his muscular waist. Randy was just disassembling Skylar's play pen as John emerged from the bathroom.
"Hurry up and get dressed so we can go" Randy told him.
"Yeah ... yeah" John replied making no point to hurry.
"I will be back in 10 minutes be ready"
John didn't reply, instead he slipped a shirt over his head and continued to get dressed. He was just putting his shoes on as the younger man entered the room again.
"Dude you need to lighten up" Randy said.
"Why don't you try loosing your family and then we'll see if you need to lighten up" John growled.
"The only one you lost was Eve and that was your own stupid fault ... you are the one who cheated ... and you were also the one who chose not to tell Eve ... you are the one who chooses not to see his kids, so don't give that I lost my family crap you selfish prick" Randy yelled.
John glared at Randy but didn't say anything. He knew Randy was right but it didn't make him feel any better hearing the truth. The moment was silent as each man waited for the other to make the first move.
"You fucked up man and you have no one to blame but yourself, Eve is like a little sister to me now and I won't let you hurt yourself or Eve or those children any more than you already have ... you may not be coming with me tonight but you are coming with me tomorrow to see your kids"
"I'm going out alone" John said as he walked past his best friend.
"You know I am right" Randy called to him just before he slammed his hotel room door.
"Idiot leaving without his key card" Randy muttered to himself before returning to his own room to spend some quality time with his girlfriend and her infant cousin.
John got into his rental car and took off in no specific direction. He needed to clear his head, he knew no one could help him until he helped himself. All the pressure he was feeling seemed to have tripled in the past few minutes. He just wanted all the pain to go away. He wanted to be happy again, he wanted his wife and children back. He stopped at the little bar that was right on the beach. The building itself was small but it had an amazing view of the beach from this little bridge you could look out to what seemed like forever.
He walked into the bar like he had done what seemed like so many years before.
"What can I get ya?" a tall blonde man in his mid 20's asked John.
"I'll take a beer" John said but then he thought about it "make it a coke"
"One coke coming right up"
John had been attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings since Eve had left him and hadn't had a drop of liquor in 5 months. It wasn't easy but he wanted to become a better person, someone his kids could look up to.
The bartender handed John his coke and John exited the building and found himself on the bar's outdoor patio. He ventured a little further until he was standing in the middle of the bridge looking out into the ocean. The cool ocean air hit his face as he took a sip of his coke. This was the first time he had really felt anything in quite some time. He closed his eyes and just listened to the sounds of the waves hitting the shore. The sounds seemed to have a calming effect on him, for the first time in a while he almost felt peaceful. A woman's laughter caused him to open his eyes. A group of about 5 people were walking along the beach. Three men and two women, the first woman was a medium sized woman with ebony hair. The other woman was taller with strawberry blonde hair. The woman with strawberry blonde hair jumped onto the back of one of her male companions. She reminded him of Zoey. The man spun around in circles and John could hear the sweet sound of the woman laughing. She hopped off his back and fell backwards into the soft sand. The man moved some of the hair out of his face. John could clearly make him out, he knew him as a TNA wrestler named Chase Stevens. He could make all of them out now. The ebony haired woman was Traci and the two other guys were Chase's tag team partner Andy Douglas and the X Division champion Chris Sabin. Chase extended his hand to the still unidentified woman. She stood up and wiped the sand off of her camouflage capris. She glanced up at him for a brief second. Their eyes met for a solitary second but it was like she looked right through him. They continued walking shortly after that. Chase wrapped his arm around the woman's waist.
"So it's true she has moved on" John said sadly to himself. A single tear slid down his cheek.
How could she just walk on by without one tear in her eyes. Didn't she have the slightest feelings left for him? The strawberry blonde woman had been his ex wife Eve, and she was now in the arms of another man.
Maybe that's just your way of dealing with the pain. Forgetting everything between our rise and fall ... like we never loved at all.