My apologies about how long it took to post chapter 12. Diathawwedevil, I'm sorry!!! I was sick with a baaaad cough and I had oodles of homework…my apologies. I promise I'll update at least a chapter per week now. I love you guys who comment all the time, I promise I'm not going to abandon this story!! DON'T LEAVE!!! XO!!
Welcome to my little circle of commenting readers kochou-sensei, Kiharu Aroukii and Milady2222!!!! Thank you so much for your messages! Brirey, I'm so happy I clarified things for you with Chapter 12!! Shocky-Weirdomness, I hope this chapter right here makes you happy! SoldiersOfTheNight what do you think of how it's going with the story? You likey? Yes? No? Esha Napoleon, keep your steady comments coming! Please tell me if I need to improve on anything, peoples! Much love!
Chapter 13: A Thousand Apologies
Day Five at the Haunted House
Rey ate dinner in silence and went out to sit on the porch again afterwards to watch the darkness roll in.
He blinked peacefully up into the sky.
Batista stood up quietly and walked out to him.
"Can I talk to you?" Dave asked gently as he stood in the doorway.
Rey appreciated that Batista was at least asking permission now.
He shrugged, but didn't turn around.
Batista sat down beside Rey again.
Neither spoke for a minute. Dave knew now to choose his words carefully.
"Do you like it out here?" he asked.
Rey blinked his big brown eyes at the landscape and nodded a little hesitantly.
Yes! A response!
Batista gathered his thoughts and his courage and waited another moment before talking further.
"Rey, I would like to apologize to you."
Rey's face fell and he looked at the ground, at his feet. It was a far more depressed gesture than his staring into the sky or the environment.
"Rey, you are anything but a coward. You have way better judgment than I do. What I meant to tell you is that you are way smarter and a way better strategist. You have the brains to not stay and try to duke it out with a kidnapping ghost. And you are a fantastic wrestler, and I know that it's just part of your style to be that quick. And you're naturally fast; it's nothing you should ever be ashamed of. I'm sorry I…I didn't mean to hint that I thought you were a coward. What I meant to say earlier is that you're faster than me. You're more flexible, too, and you know it."
Rey smiled subtly. The thought of big, beefy Batista trying to do gymnastics was pretty funny.
"You're quick on your feet, and you're so, so balanced. Hell, we found that out earlier when he managed to pull yourself out of that collapsing floor. If that were me, my ass would have plummeted right away. It would have looked like this."
Rey turned his head to watch Dave. Batista held up his hand vertically. "This is me."
"This is the floor," he said, holding his opposite hand flat. He put that hand perpendicular to the other.
He smacked his vertical hand against the edge of the flat hand and then hit his thigh with it.
Rey smiled broadly and stifled a laugh.
"I would have hit my head on the edge of that floor, been knocked out, and hit the basement floor in like a second flat," Dave explained, chuckling.
"So I'm sorry that I accidentally called you a coward," Batista apologized.
Rey nodded acceptingly.
"And I'm sorry that I said you were…that you're…that you're small," Batista managed to get out.
"You're not that small, Rey, you're-"
"Yes, I am," Rey admitted painfully.
Batista stared at him.
He was speaking now.
Rey continued.
"I am small. I know that. I don't need to be reminded of that, like it's something horrible. I'm not a serial killer; I'm just five foot six. Deal with it. You guys act like my size is some horrible thing like that either makes me someone you should never ever talk to, or like it's fucking cancer or something. I don't have a birth defect, I'm perfectly healthy, I'm not a raging psychopath, and so what on earth is wrong with being my height?"
Dave shrugged. He couldn't think of any reasons why size could possibly impair Rey.
The luchador sighed exasperatedly. "I've had to give that speech so many times, I've lost count. I think I probably already gave it to you once."
Batista chuckled. "You probably did."
"I don't understand Americans' obsession with size; nobody was this height-obsessed when I lived in Mexico," Rey said.
His height probably wasn't an issue in Asia, either, or anywhere else where people are normal sizes. In America people consider each other strange unless they have to duck under a seven-foot doorframe.
"Still. I'm sorry that I insulted your size. There's nothing wrong with your height or your weight. And if it is a flaw to be short, Rey, then you know what?"
"What?"
"That's the only physical flaw you have," Batista said honestly.
Rey blushed and looked away. "Oh, come on, I'm not…no, I'm not perfect."
Batista grinned. "We all disagree with you on that one."
Rey turned even redder. He secretly liked that compliment very much. So he didn't say anything to it. He swallowed. People thought he was really that handsome? Wow. Just…wow.
"And I'm sorry that I was on your case when I saw you worrying about Jeff and the other missing guys. You have a great heart, Rey. And I…I can't ever apologize enough to you for insulting your character," Batista said sadly.
Rey looked up at him. He shook his head. "I need to stop worrying so much. You're right about that, Dave. I know that's what you were trying to tell me."
Batista swallowed. "Everything I tried to say last night came out wrong."
Rey sighed. "Yes, it did."
Batista gazed pitifully at him.
"It happens to everybody," Rey stated wisely.
"You really think that it's your fault that they're lost, don't you?" Batista inquired suddenly. Something about Rey's expression made him ask that question.
"Why wouldn't it be? I spend my whole life picking up after you clowns," Rey said half-jokingly, trying to be funny and cheer them both up. "You guys hardly know how to tie your shoes without me."
"That's true," Batista admitted, smiling a little.
Rey chuckled.
They stared out at the landscape together for a minute.
"Everything looks blue out here in the dark," Batista noted deeply.
Rey smiled. "Yeah."
Unconsciously or subconsciously, to remind himself and maybe Dave too that it was there, Rey reached up and laid his fingers over the bruise on his right arm.
He swallowed mournfully.
Batista wished to God that he could just reach over and wipe off those marks. Or squeeze it again and have the opposite effect than the first time. He had inflicted so much pain and confusion on Rey with that one touch.
"Do you know what my favorite part about you is besides your heart, Rey?" Batista asked, his voice full of melancholy and regret.
Rey shook his head.
"Your skin," Batista confessed.
Rey looked up at him. He could see that Dave was telling the truth.
Batista had tears in his eyes. "I love your skin, Rey; I would never put a scratch on it. I was just trying to get you to safety, I didn't mean to hurt you. I didn't know how strong I was gripping you, I really didn't. I would never, ever touch you that way on purpose. I need help and I need to see Dr. Jimenez again when I get back home. I don't know why I gripped you that hard."
Rey blinked at him for a moment.
He looked at the floor, his eyes moving slightly in thought.
And it occurred to him that Shawn might have been wrong and that maybe Dave wasn't abusive.
He wouldn't hurt you. You know that.
Yeah. Besides, even if he would you would have found that out by now. He would have been rougher with you by now.
And…he may not think about the others. He may never care about them. But…he cares about you. Isn't there something to be said for that? Isn't he nice, at least to you?
He gazed back up at Dave again. "You like my skin?"
Dave smiled sadly. "Yeah."
Rey returned his smile finally.
And that quiet gesture was so beautiful to Dave Batista; it was like music, it was like the first rays of sunlight peeking through a storm cloud.
"Thank you," Rey said.
Batista nearly started crying.
He sniffed and laughed, wiping his eyes. "Jesus Christ, Rey, you don't say a word to me all day and then you go and say something like that."
Rey grinned. "Can't help it. I think that it's nice that you like my skin."
Batista gave a long exhale, trying to keep his heart from fluttering out of his chest.
Rey laughed. "Easy, tiger. I'm not proposing to you or anything."
Batista laughed, too. "Wait a minute, who would be the husband in that situation?"
They both paused and funny looks crossed their faces.
Rey exploded into hysterical laughter. "Oh, God, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I actually don't know…"
Batista had trouble stopping his own laughter at Rey's response. "Well, I'm the more controlling one obviously…" he admitted, gasping for air.
"Yeah, but I'm the one who knows what he's doing the majority of the time!" Rey argued between breaths.
"So, which is that, the husband, or the wife?" Batista asked.
They exploded again.
Rey laughed even harder a moment later.
"Oh, Jesus, look, we just scared off another owl…" he pointed out.
Batista grinned when he saw the little fluffy bird high-tail it out of there and run as far away as it could from the two crazy humans it saw on the porch.
After their laughter had died down, Rey looked at Batista and exhaled.
"Dave."
"Yeah, Rey?"
"Do you miss them?"
Batista looked deeply at the luchador. "Of course I do, Rey."
Rey cocked his head to the side a little, as if questioning this.
He shook his head and thought better of whatever he was going to say.
Batista swallowed. "Rey, it's…it's not that I hate them. I just-"
"You do hate them, Dave," Rey said quietly.
He looked up at the Animal, his mouth in a straight line and his eyes still and determined.
"Don't you?"
Batista didn't know what to say. "I…Rey, no, I…" he contradicted lamely.
Rey dropped his eyes. "I know you don't get along with many of the guys. I know that. But for you to be focusing so much on me when they could be…"
He shook his head again and crossed himself.
Batista reached out and set his hand on the luchador's shoulder, smoothing his fingers warmly over the collarbone.
Rey sniffed.
"Rey-Rey…I'm worried about you. I'm not focusing on them, I admit that. But it's not because I don't like them or don't hope they're okay. Of course I hope they're okay. I wouldn't want my worst enemies to die in a house like this."
Rey looked up at Batista with his huge dark eyes. He snatched Batista's cheeks into his hands and gazed at him urgently.
"Dave, look at me."
Batista blinked a couple of times, taken by surprise. "I am, Rey."
Rey swallowed. "Do you really think I was mad at you about all of that stuff you accidentally said? You know me. Do you really think that was it?"
Batista searched his eyes and shook his head. "No."
"What was it, then?"
Batista wanted to break Rey's gaze but he couldn't bring himself to. That would hurt the luchador, and he never wanted to hurt Rey.
"You're mad at me because you wish that I liked them as much as you."
Rey blinked. That hadn't been the answer he'd expected, but it was true.
He loosened his fingers and was about to relinquish Batista when the larger man grabbed onto him and steadied his hands where they were against the heavyweight's face.
"Rey…"
Now it was the luchador who couldn't break the gaze. "What?"
"I can't help it. I can't help but think about you all the time. You're the only one of all the guys here who's ever cared about me."
"Dave, that's not true, they-"
"Rey, you may think I hate them. But I don't hate them any more than they hate me."
Rey's lips parted in surprise. His eyes were so dark and pretty.
Batista squeezed his fingers. "I care about you. And so I focus on you. I'm sorry if that upsets you."
Rey shook his head.
He couldn't be angry at Batista for loving him. He ached for his friend that he didn't share Dave's feelings. He wouldn't deny Batista the right to pine after him if that was all he had.
"I'm sorry too, Dave. For not speaking to you…I'm sorry…"
Batista smiled softly.
"It's okay. You don't see the guys the same way I do. The same way they are to me."
Rey's eyes were so big and full of pity, his mouth strained with words he didn't know how to say. He rubbed Batista's cheekbones with his thumbs.
Batista bent forward and set his lips against Rey's forehead, still holding his hands against the sides of his face.
Rey leaned into the touch, closing his eyes.
He and Eddie used to kiss each other on the cheek whenever they saw each other. Batista remembered he raised his eyebrow at Eddie the first time he saw him kissing Rey and the tiny luchador had beamed and wandered off.
Eddie had grinned and said with his jester-like smile, "Can you blame me? Isn't he the cutest thing?"
Batista's eyes had widened in shock and Eddie had howled with laughter.
"Just kidding, esse! Kissing doesn't mean that for me and Rey-Rey! It's a Mexican thing. We like to show love to friends."
Batista had nodded a little awkwardly. "Jesus, way to nearly give me a heart attack."
And Eddie had given that mischievous, wise smile.
Now Batista wondered if Eddie would have understood his infatuation with the little guy. Or if he even foresaw it. Eddie had adored Rey and used to hug him for no good reason. Rey was just as physical, if not more so.
And the closer Batista had gotten to Rey the easier it became for him to accept the luchador's big hugs and his affectionate nature.
And he became like Eddie, wrapping his arms around the masked wrestler often and scooping him up. Rey would laugh brilliantly and muss up Batista's hair.
He was so handsome and soft and strong, Batista couldn't resist him. And he started to kiss him like Eddie did.
The luchador leaned into Dave's chest, breaking their hold on each other only to establish another one. And he bear-hugged the life out of Dave. Rey used hugs to express every feeling on the planet, everything from apologies to "you're welcome" to "thank you" to love and sorrow and joy and friendship.
Right now was his "I forgive you" hug and it was accompanied by the words.
Batista couldn't be happier.
"And I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings, Dave," Rey added softly.
"No, Rey-Rey. No. I'm all right."
Rey looked up at him. "The guys…what types of things do they do to you?"
Batista shrugged. "It's not a big deal, man. It's not."
Rey didn't believe him. "Is it stupid rumors or something?"
Batista shrugged. "It doesn't bother me much, Rey-Rey."
Rey straightened up and set his hands on his hips with that authoritative father look he had sometimes. He put it on once when Dominik was following him around backstage and he thought his son was ogling the Divas a bit too much.
He'd narrowed his eyes and delivered a startlingly deadpanned line.
"Pretend your mother's here with us."
That had made Dominik start looking in the girls' eyes instead of elsewhere.
Rey had that same stern look plastered on his face now.
"Dave, tell me what the hell people are saying to you."
Batista sighed. "Rey, it's not what they're saying. It's…I don't know. It's hard to explain. They don't talk to me when you're not in the room. It's tense and they do this death-glare thing…"
Rey bit his lip.
He dropped his arms to his sides.
He wondered if the guys were all jealous of Dave because they perceived Batista to be his favorite. He thought that might be it. But part of it was also Batista's chronic bad attitude when Rey was any further than two feet away from his friend.
Rey thought that might be more likely of a reason for them to hate him.
And he'd tried every trick in the book to try to convince Batista to be friendlier towards all the other guys. Nothing had worked. Batista had too bad of a temper and too much pride to care what other people thought of him.
It wouldn't do any good for Rey to tell him to apologize for whatever he'd done wrong or accept anyone else's apology or even to compromise and forgive just one of the guys. Dave would try, but between his pigheadedness and the others' resentment for him, the heavyweight never could work it out between him and the others.
But Rey had another solution in mind since negotiating wasn't working for Dave.
He clenched his fists and looked determinedly up at Batista. "Leave the room with me."
Batista's eyes widened. "What?"
"When I go out of the locker room, you go. Then people aren't going to start snickering at you or whatever. Leave the room with me. Stick with me."
Rey smiled mischievously and cocked his head to the side. "I'll protect you."
Batista chuckled. "Oh, you'll save me?"
Rey grinned. "That's right."
"Carry me to safety?"
Rey laughed. "You know I can't manage that."
Batista chuckled.
Rey stood up. He held out his hand. "But maybe I can pull you up."
Batista shook his head. "Naw, man. I'd tear your arm off by accident."
Rey rolled his eyes playfully. "I doubt that."
Batista stood up on his own and gave Rey an affectionate squeeze.
"Are you ready to go back in and face the guys if I stay with you?" the smaller man asked.
Batista nodded and chuckled. "My knight in shining armor."
Rey grinned. "You bet your ass."
The two friends returned inside and Shawn smiled at Rey, who was not only talking now, but looked light as a feather. Batista looked as though a huge weight had been lifted off his chest as well.
"I'm glad you two made up," Punk said honestly as the pair sat down.
Rey beamed at him. "Me too."
Triple H had figured out how to make a fire in the fireplace and it was dancing its glorious lights along the walls.
"I was gonna have to chuck you in there if you hadn't apologized," the dirty blonde wrestler admitted to Batista.
Rey blinked at him, his eyes wide. "Dios, that would have been a bit much, don't you think?"
Triple H shrugged. "Maybe. Maybe not."
Batista laughed it off. "I don't blame you, man; I was being a dick earlier."
Rey smiled.
He thought that was a very down-to-earth thing to say, and it made him further doubt Shawn's theory that Batista could be dangerous to him.
Rey didn't tell anyone because they were all starting to bed down for the night, but at 11:30 he made the decision to try to meet Sylvia again tonight at their usual time. The previous night he thought she'd disappeared.
Whether he was thinking of getting his pajamas on or thinking of grabbing another flashlight or some fresh batteries out of his economy-sized pack of them, he didn't remember later.
All he remembered was walking into the bedroom he had shared with Dave for the week, and was met with the terrifying realization that it had once been a murder scene. Sylvia's body was lying on the floor in a pool of blood and Rey's brain ceased to function correctly.
He bolted from the house.