Sorry it took me so long to post this last chapter, but it's actually three chapters rolled into one, so it's super duper long. I had to edit all of them separately and then edit the whole thing put together. Sorry if the length bothers you, but I got the feeling from recent reviews that you wanted me to wrap the story up within one last chapter. It took me a while to post because of that, but I'm very happy with how it turned out.
As far as new fics for me are gonna go, I'm in the process of writing two right now. One is a fic called "Behind the Scenes" that will go through the entire length of Rey and Batista's 2009-2010 feud. It's a humorous look at how Dave's love for Rey is making him reluctant to be in a feud with Rey and how he's secretly very upset backstage. It's in the same story arc I began with "A Certain Something" and continued in "Afraid of the Dark". It takes place after "Afraid of the Dark".
I love it so far, but I can't finish it until the actual feud is resolved because I want to cover every step of it.
The other fic I'm working on isn't named right now but it's THE fic people have been waiting for from me. You got it. THE REYTISTA ONE is COMING SOON.
Lots of "love scenes" so if you're ten years old don't read that one, I'm not responsible for ruining your innocence. Seriously. I would like some name suggestions for the title of that Rey X Batista fic. It's going to be very romantic and sweet but it's also really, really sad and realistic.... so much angst you won't know what to do with yourself. My friend calls it "the sad fic" so that gives you an idea of how tragic the beginning is.
I'd like the title to be something to do with an aftermath of a tragedy or whatever. Maybe "New Beginnings" or something. Please give me your input on titles and on the ending for Afraid of the Dark.
Here's the last chapter now! Love ya!
Chapter 23: Aftermath
Day Seven at the Haunted House
Everyone had moved back into a bedroom now that the ghosts were gone. Rey and Batista didn't move back into theirs because that's where Rey had found Sylvia's body.
They picked a different one. It was considerably less creepy.
After a shower Rey came out of the bathroom in nothing but his boxers and, humming softly, went to his bedroom. He was showing that his own body had sustained thorough bruising all over his torso. Rey seemed to want Batista to see how bad the damage was. He seemed proud of his wounds, like they were battle scars.
Rey's chest was slightly discolored, but his abdominals were horrific. Black and blue was all over his stomach like paint splashed on a caramel canvas. His legs were bruised on the back of his calves and at his shins and the arm that wasn't bandaged was banged up surrounding his elbow. His thighs were hurt on the sides. His back was atrocious, but it was less obvious there because the ink of his tattoo concealed some of it.
"You're gonna be bruised as hell for at least a week," Batista informed him, shaking his head disappointedly at the mistreatment of Rey's beautiful body.
"It was sooooo worth it, though," Rey said with a sugary grin. "So worth it."
Batista held his tongue. He wasn't talking about the injuries he'd gotten from the fight with Shawn. He doubted there was any more than two of the bruises from that. He was thinking about that ghost and how it had thrown Rey down the stairs. If Dave hadn't been a heavy sleeper- if he'd trusted people enough to let people wake him up from his sleep Rey wouldn't have gotten hurt so badly.
He made a mental note to never let that happen to Rey again.
Rey put on pajama pants now that he'd gotten the response he'd wanted from Dave about his damage-ridden body.
"Worth it? Whatever you say," Batista said, pretending to be intimidated by Rey now.
He lay down and hugged his covers up around his chin in mock fearfulness.
He grinned and teased, "Don't you dare try to kill me in my sleep, you crazy Mexican."
Rey rolled his eyes. "My killing days are over."
"You had killing days?"
"Not really."
There was a pause as Rey pulled back his covers.
"Hey, Rey?"
"Ow," Rey muttered as he lay down on his bruised back. "Yeah, Dave?"
"Well, uh, thanks for sticking up for me, man. I didn't know Shawn was messing with my head like that. Thanks for getting him back for me."
Rey sighed. "You're welcome. I just wish I'd figured that out sooner that he was pitting you and Cena and me against each other. You and I have been fighting all week 'cause of Shawn, haven't we?"
"No, not all week, come on. We had some fun times. We worked well together with...well, you know who."
"Sylvia," Rey murmured. "Yeah. We did do well together helping her."
"I can't believe I thought you liked Cena more than me…" Batista groaned.
"I can't, either," Rey said dryly.
Batista exhaled. "Sorry, Rey."
"Don't mention it, Dave. Don't worry about it." Rey yawned. "Night, Grande Animal."
"Night, Little Animal."
Rey snorted. "I'd rather be called that in Spanish. 'Poco Animal'."
Batista chuckled. "That sounds great on you. You should change your ring name to it."
Rey laughed lightly. "No, I don't think so. Would I call you 'Grande Mysterio'?"
Batista laughed at that. "That sounds hysterical! I should try it!"
"Aw, hell no!" Rey protested, smiling. "Besides, you'd have to get a mask first!"
"Can't I just borrow one of yours?"
"No! Your head's probably watermelon-sized!"
"It is not! What is your head, then, grapefruit-sized?"
Rey couldn't stop himself from laughing at that. "I don't think any grown person is that small, Dave, oh, that's funny."
Batista grinned.
"Would I have to come up with my own design for the mask, too?"
"Only if I had to wear your microscopic tights in the ring," Rey said.
Batista blushed. It was true; those things he wrestled in were small as hell.
"Would you unmask for me?"
Rey shook his head. "No, I couldn't ever do that for real again."
"Not even to become the ferocious Poco Animal?"
Rey chuckled. "No. Not even then, Dave."
"I'd mask up for you. Could I wear gloves and full pants?"
"Your lady fans might get mad at you about the pants, but yeah. Hey, how much bigger are your hands than mine?" Rey said curiously.
"I don't know."
Rey stretched out his hand. "Show me."
Batista reached out from his side and held his palm outward, fingers up.
Rey touched palms with him and grinned at the size difference.
"Gorilla," Rey taunted playfully. "You're a gorilla."
"Mouse," Batista taunted back.
"Rhino."
"Cat."
"I don't know about that, Dave, I've seen some pretty big cats," Rey argued.
Batista chuckled. "Kitten, then."
"Uh…elephant."
"Guppy."
"I'm aquatic now? Hippo!" Rey said excitedly. Whale was next on his list.
"Shrimp."
Rey rolled his eyes. "Come on, that's too obvious. Whale."
"That's obvious, too. Be more specific. What kind of whale?"
Rey thought about that for a minute. "Not a Beluga whale, those things are lumpy and ugly and way whiter than you are."
"Kane might be a Beluga whale," Batista noted.
Rey sputtered. "Oh, God, maybe like a giant one."
He sighed. "I don't know. You look kind of like an orca whale to me. A Killer Whale."
"Not a Blue Whale?"
"That would be Big Show," Rey said, trying to keep a straight face.
Batista laughed and nodded. "Oh, for sure."
"What am I now?" Rey asked him.
"Uh…I'm not very good with fish. A sardine?"
"Great white shark."
"How come you're saying I'm all these scary things?"
Rey stuck out his tongue. "You are a scary thing, or don't you know that?"
Batista shook his head. "Let's switch back to land animals. You're a squirrel."
"A squirrel?" Rey thought about that.
"The high-fliers of nature," Batista reminded him.
Rey grinned. He liked that. "You're a cougar, then."
"Finch."
"Come again?"
"Those little cheepy birdies that hop around and have those triangular beaks? Peep peep peep! Come on, you know," Batista urged.
"Oh, those things! Those birds are cute, I love those. You're a huge, freaky, California condor then."
"What? That's the thanks I get for making you into a cute cheepy bird? I have to be that fat, wrinkly thing that eats road kill?" Batista asked, pretending to be offended.
"Oh, stop your whining. An eagle, then. You can be an eagle," Rey conceded.
"That's much better."
"What can I be?" Rey asked him, yawning. It was getting late and they were both running out of ideas.
"A bedbug."
Rey laughed. That was pretty clever of Dave. Now, were there any large, sleep-related animals?
"You're a bear, Dave," Rey said sleepily. "A big, fat, hibernating bear."
Batista yawned too.
"Night, Rey."
"Night, Dave."
Rey fell asleep pretty easily, considering how battered he was now. When he drifted off there was still a smile on his face.
Day Eight at the Haunted House
Snowball fight!!!
"What the hell do you use those big arms for if you can't throw?" Rey demanded, diving behind the wall his team had constructed with snow.
They were all having a massive snowball fight to pass the time while they waited for their bus to come pick them up. They knew it would be later than expected because of the snow, so they might as well enjoy the stuff while they could.
"What in the name of Hulk Hogan are you doing?" Rey asked, looking at the massive stash of snowballs that Batista was manufacturing.
"I have the weapons stockpiled for you, fearless leader," Batista said, trying unsuccessfully to imitate a Soviet Russian accent.
Rey laughed at him. "Are you Comrade Batista now?"
Batista shrugged. "Sure."
Rey popped up behind their snow wall to survey his enemies, thinking he was safe and that he could dodge any projectiles before he could ever be hit by them.
He was wrong and he got nailed in the forehead with a snowball, causing him to fall flat on his back.
"Oh my God, a sniper! I got hit right between the eyes!" Rey said breathlessly, grinning. "Jeff, was that you?"
"Yeah!" Jeff shouted back.
"Randy, get him back for me!" Rey ordered.
Randy peeked up and narrowly ducked a massive clod of snow about the size of four or five basketballs packed together.
"What the fuck was that?" Batista blurted as the snow chunk hit the one defenseless tree in the yard.
"Who managed to pick that up?" Rey called.
"That would be me, Rey-Rey!" Cena called back.
"Figures," Rey and Batista said at the same time as they looked at each other. Cena would go for overkill no matter what the medium of fighting was. And he would often miss.
"More ammo, Comrade Batista!" Rey ordered. Batista packed together a particularly tight and icy snowball.
"This has Edge's name all over it," Dave said with a devilish grin. "Fire away, sir!"
Rey grinned and peeked up over the wall, quickly finding Edge and bulleted the snowball, ducking down again. They heard someone hit the ground.
"Ha! Success!" Rey cried.
"Rated R snowball, motherfucker!" Cena screamed and lobbed a snowball with spiky sticks in it at Punk, who was promptly tackled to safety by Randy.
"Hey, that was mine to throw, I made it!" Edge complained from the ground.
"How about a Lucha Libre snowball?" Batista asked Rey. "How do you want me to make it?"
"Fill it with tequila and put a little mask on it," Rey joked.
Batista shook his head. "No, really," he said through his laughter.
"Can you find any rocks around here?" Rey said, his eyes glowing mischievously.
"Rocks it is," Batista complied, sticking some into a ball.
"Ready?" Rey sought out his target. "I'm going for Cena."
Batista stuck a bigger rock into the snowball. "There you go then. But you might need a boulder, not a rock."
Rey narrowed his eyes and then threw the thing, getting hit in the shoulder with an R-rated snowball in the process.
"Oh, the pain!" Rey yelped dramatically.
Cena collapsed into the snow only to get up almost immediately.
"Hey, stop street-fightin' Rey-Rey! That thing had pebbles in it!" Cena shouted.
Batista looked at Rey. "How the hell did he get hit in the head with that and not get knocked out?"
"Because his skull is thicker than God-knows-what," Rey sighed.
"That was a Tijuana ball!" Rey shouted proudly. "Hand-delivered to you by a real Mexican, too!"
"What, did it have some tacos in it?" Cena teased.
Rey rolled around laughing at that. He thought it was hilarious.
"Make me another one, comrade!" Rey blurted from his back in the snow, sticking his finger up authoritatively despite his position.
Batista smiled at him. "But of course, fearless leader."
Rey lobbed it hard, but it hit Cena square in the chest.
"Aw, damn it," Rey said disappointedly.
"I want to make a Legend Killer Ball!" Randy said, scrambling for ingredients. He cleared away the snow down to the grass and stuffed some onto the edges of a snowball.
Batista raised an eyebrow at him. "What do you call that? A landball?"
"No! Triple H hates grass stains!" Randy said excitedly and chucked it at his former mentor.
"Oh, HELL NO! I'll never get this out!" Triple H screamed. His sweater was white.
Batista gasped for air in between his laughs. "Oh, man, that was great, Randy."
"What can I put in a Straight Edge Ball?" Punk asked thoughtfully, sticking out his lower pierced lip in thought as he often did.
Rey chuckled. "You can't put any foreign substances in your snow, Punk. It has to be straight-up organic, drug-free, stick, grass, and rock free snow."
Punk rolled his eyes. "All right, all right."
He rolled up a plain old snowball. "You throw it, Rey."
"Why?"
"You throw better than me."
Rey mashed Punk's stocking cap down over his eyes affectionately.
"I'll toss this for you, then."
Batista watched him as he narrowed his eyes and licked his lips, aiming very carefully. He nailed Jericho in the temple, who promptly fell over into the snow bank and called out, "Retreat!"
"You can't retreat from a snowball fight, motherfucker! What kind of man are you?" Cena demanded.
Jericho ran off back into the house shouting "I quit, then! I surrender! Nobody come in after me!"
To make up for their loss, Jeff Hardy went all out just then, firing snowballs almost as fast as a machine gun could spit bullets.
Rey ducked just barely fast enough and his hood got knocked off his head.
He exhaled in relief.
Randy and Punk weren't so lucky; they were pelted.
"Why don't you try to throw somethin' Batista? Or is the stronger half of the tag team doing all the work for you over there?" Cena taunted.
Rey grinned. "Go get him, Dave."
Batista stood up and unleashed a flurry of snowballs at Cena, mostly Tijuana balls. Cena collapsed into a snow bank.
"Damn it all to hell! You and your rocky snow!"
Rey cackled and held his sides.
Just then Triple H stood up and looked over towards the house. Everyone else turned to where he was staring.
Game (and The Game) was called on account of Shawn Michaels walking out the front door, bruised and battered and awkwardly sitting down onto the steps.
"You all right, Shawn?" Triple H asked awkwardly.
He nodded silently.
Batista started and a look of concern crossed his face as he saw Rey grab a bunch of snow in his hand, pack it together, and walk towards HBK.
Everyone watched silently, afraid of what might happen between the two men.
Rey was frowning. He came to a standstill in front of HBK and held up the hand holding the snow.
Batista held his breath.
Shawn winced as Rey moved.
He smacked the handful of snow against the swollen side of the other wrestler's face.
Everyone was stunned.
Shawn relaxed after a second. "Oh. That feels good."
Rey smiled teasingly. "Fooled you."
The snow felt like an ice pack against Shawn Michaels' swollen cheek and black eye.
Shawn opened his eye and smiled faintly at Rey.
Rey beamed back at him. "Truce?"
"Truce."
The guys chuckled, relieved, and went up to the porch.
Batista pulled Rey's hood back up over his head as he stood there.
"Hey. I-I'd like to talk to you alone for a minute, Rey," Shawn told him.
Rey moved the fingers holding the packed snow against HBK's face and it crumbled apart and dropped onto the step. Rey pulled back and patted his gloves clean of the snow.
"Sure."
"Don't be too long or you'll both freeze," Batista said, adjusting the edges of Rey's hood, tucking it in against his face better and pulling the strings tighter. Rey closed his eyes and looked like a little kid getting his scarf tied by his mother.
Rey sighed. "Be right in, Dave."
Batista nodded.
The guys were all covered in white, frosty marks of snow and felt their limbs freezing up from the cold, so they headed inside the house.
"Oh, my bones ache," Batista groaned.
"I hate the cold," Triple H agreed.
Jeff was covered in snow and shook himself off like a wet dog in the doorway.
After they shuffled inside Rey sat down on the porch steps beside HBK.
My ass is gonna freeze stuck to this thing, I just know it. With my luck lately, that's exactly what's gonna happen. Rey thought as he shifted around on the cold, frosted steps.
Rey put his hands in his jacket pockets and looked at Shawn Michaels for a second. The older wrestler messed with his mittens and spoke after a moment.
"You know my whole body feels like it got stuck in a meat grinder 'cause of you."
"I can't say I'm entirely sorry for that. You deserved it," Rey said firmly.
Shawn nodded. "I'm sorry."
Rey searched for his eyes. "I'm not very good at telling when people are lying. Maybe I should get Triple H out here to run a lie detection test for me."
Shawn met Rey's eyes. "No, that won't be necessary. I am sorry, Rey."
He smiled sadly.
He was telling the truth.
"You weren't going to let them starve in that basement, were you?" Rey asked.
Shawn shook his head. "Who do you think told Sylvia what everyone's favorite foods were? I handed her things to give to them."
Rey exhaled in relief. "Good. 'Cause I might've had to sock you again if you said were going to let skinny-assed Randy Orton go more than one whole day without food."
Shawn chuckled. "No, no. I was just trying to teach you a lesson."
"And what was that, exactly?"
"That the ones you love are sometimes unhealthy. And that you think they're there for you forever, but they're not. They might leave you some day."
Rey swallowed. "Maybe so. But I can't live life worrying about betrayals that haven't happened yet."
Shawn gulped.
Rey thought for a second. "I accept your apology."
Shawn gazed at him. "Do you know why I did it? Why I was trying to make you leave the ones you love? Why I was trying to teach you about all that stuff?"
Rey shook his head. "No. Tell me."
"Taker left me," Shawn said hoarsely, as though he were still stunned by the news himself.
Rey blinked. "But you two were- it was a secret that you were an item, right? You're both with someone else too, aren't you? I mean, you're married. And isn't Undertaker still with his wife?"
Shawn shrugged. "He could have left me for her, I don't know. Maybe there was another guy in the picture. Taker likes younger things now."
Rey frowned. "That's terrible. I mean, if he left you for his wife, I'm sorry Shawn, but that might be healthier for everybody if that's the case."
Shawn shook his head. "I have reason to believe it's not."
Rey looked concerned. "What do you mean?"
"I saw him kissing Cody Rhodes in the parking lot one night."
Rey pictured Undertaker, who was forty-four and looked older and gruffer than that, dating Cody, who was a somewhat cute twenty-four year old.
Rey narrowed his eyes and furrowed his brow like the thought gave him brain freeze.
"What?" Shawn asked him.
"They're twenty years apart."
Shawn snorted. "Don't I know it."
"How old are you again?"
"It's rude to ask a lady her age, Rey, you should know these things."
Rey stared him down, his mouth in a straight line, unamused.
Shawn sighed. "Fine, fine. I'm forty-four."
"So you're the same age as Taker."
Shawn nodded glumly. "We have a lot in common. We've both been in the industry for a good long time, Rey. I mean, Taker's definitely been wrestling since before Rhodes was born. I figured it out. Little sweet, dark-haired Cody was born in 1985, right?"
Rey shrugged. "I'll take your word for it; I don't know him too well."
Shawn sighed. "Undertaker started wrestling professionally in 1984."
Rey's eyes widened and then he gagged. "Oh, God, that's…that's sick. That is very sick."
Shawn pointed to Rey. "That would be like you-"
"I'm not that old, yet, Shawn. We don't have any teenagers in WWE, that's the only twenty-year age difference there would be with me if I ever hypothetically cheated on Angie with a younger person."
Shawn blinked. "Oh yeah. I forget. You're still young, Rey."
"I like to think so."
"When I or Taker date someone twenty years younger we get a college kid. You would get a high school kid who isn't even legal yet. God, what a difference that is."
Rey sighed and shook his head. "It's all hypothetical, Shawn, I'm not into that."
"Into what?"
"Into someone so freakishly younger than me that they could marry my own son in a couple of years." Rey shuddered. "It's creepy. What the hell would I talk about with someone that much younger?"
Shawn raised his eyebrows. "Who says you'd be talking?"
Rey blinked and gagged again. "Oh, Maria, Madre de Dios…God, no. No, I would never do that. And I'd never cheat on Angie. But especially not with someone who's still a child, ugh."
Shawn laughed. "You're pretty innocent, Rey, you know that?"
"Compared to you, yeah, I hope so."
HBK chuckled at that. "True, true."
They looked out at the snowy landscape for a minute.
"So that's why you were so angry?" Rey asked.
"Yeah."
"Did you…did you love him? If you don't mind me asking, I mean," Rey said awkwardly.
"I don't even really know, now that you say that," Shawn admitted. "I don't know, Rey."
Rey nodded.
"He made me feel special. Wanted. He was really possessive."
Rey blinked worriedly.
Shawn knew what he was thinking and shook his head. "No, he wasn't violent with me more than once. I made him get help or I threatened to leave him. Guys like that can't be left, Rey. They hate the idea. Deep down I think they're really lonely."
Rey thought of Dave. This sounded a lot like what Shawn had been trying to make him believe about the big man.
Rey touched the marks on his arm.
"I don't think it's anything like that between you and Batista, though."
Rey looked up at him. "Was that the abusive relationship you were telling me about? It was you and Undertaker, wasn't it? And me and Dave remind you of that somehow?"
Shawn bit his lip and nodded.
"So you wanted me and Dave to go separate ways because seeing us reminded you too much of when you were with Undertaker?"
Shawn nodded again.
"How did we remind you of that?"
Shawn exhaled. "The size difference, mostly. The way Dave looks after you. The way you baby Dave no matter how grumpy he is. Reminded me of me and Mark."
He took a breath.
"I didn't want you to end up like me. With Batista breaking your heart. You don't need these people, Rey. I didn't need Taker. Not really. I just wanted him so fucking much that it hurt…it still hurts."
Shawn cried softly, his shoulders shaking. Rey scooted over and wrapped his arm around HBK's shoulder.
"I'm sorry, Shawn."
Shawn shook his head and wiped his eyes. "That stupid gothic fuck can go rot in hell for all I care. Good riddance! He was a drama whore, anyway. And I'm the drama whore in any relationship, the last thing I need is someone too much like myself."
Rey smiled sadly. "Yeah."
Shawn quieted down after a minute or so and felt better. Rey patted his back.
"Sometimes you need to cry. It's been happening to me a lot lately, trust me."
Shawn chuckled. "Yeah. You've been through the wringer out here at this house, haven't you?"
Rey sighed. "Yeah."
"Hey, Rey?"
"Mmm?"
"What type of person do you like?"
Rey thought about how to respond to that.
"I just like Angie. No one else."
Shawn chuckled. "You're so pig-headed. Why do you like Angie's personality? Why does it suit you? Why can you relate to her?"
Rey considered that. "I like someone who doesn't need me."
Shawn looked at him funny.
"Your wife doesn't need you?"
Rey shook his head. "I mean, financially, she does. Physically...maybe. But, emotionally, she wants me. Angie wants to be with me. And I want to be with her. She doesn't need me in order to function. That…I think that's unhealthy when somebody lets another person take over their life so much that they can't live without them. Angie isn't like that. She's fine without me when I'm gone on tour with WWE. She has to be. If she couldn't function without me, God only knows what would've happened to Dominik and Aalyah by now. She has to take care of them without me a lot of the time. I'm gone so much."
"Well, you do call her like, every single day and talk to her for a long time."
Rey smiled softly. "I like to hear her voice."
"Your kids don't forget you as much as with the other guys. I see it when you're with them. They know who you are immediately. And what you like and how you act, and what you look like, and how your voice sounds. You just pick up right where you left off."
Rey nodded. "Yeah. Dave said when he was still married, his kids used to kind of forget who he was. I felt terrible for him. But…that's what happens in our line of work, isn't it? We get disconnected from people."
"That's why he likes you. You're in the business, so it's easy for you to understand the pain in the ass it can be sometimes."
Rey smiled. "Yeah, I guess so."
Shawn looked out into the snow and grinned.
"What? What do you see out there?" Rey asked him.
"Shh, watch."
Rey turned and stared silently.
A little white owl popped up out of the snow like a jack-in-the-box and skittered around, shaking the snow off of its fluffy little head. Rey started in surprise and then smiled brilliantly, his eyes shining.
Shawn watched him and the owl intermittently. Rey looked like a child sometimes, the way his expressions were so pure and full. When he felt joy, he radiated it outwards from himself and it wasn't long before someone else was smiling because of him.
The owl turned around and scraped with its little talons and feet to clear the snow away from its house. It tramped around in front of its burrow and patted the snow level with the entrance so it could go back in.
"I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it. Owls shoveling their own driveways," Shawn said.
Rey laughed. "They're amazing, aren't they?"
Shawn nodded, smiling.
"Really amazing."
Chapter 24: Cock Fight
Day Eight at the Haunted House
Rey and Shawn went back inside a few minutes later.
Batista rushed over to Rey and said, "You're not cold, are you?"
"Dave, you're being an abuela again. Calm down."
Batista fidgeted with his hands as Rey pulled down his hood and took off his gloves and shoes.
"Rey's ass is frozen," Shawn reported with a wink. "You better take care of that, Batista."
Batista looked at Rey awkwardly. He secretly hoped that was true.
Rey narrowed his eyes at HBK. "My ass is not frozen, your ass is frozen."
"You're the one that got stuck to the steps, cutie pie."
"Shut your face. I did not get stuck, you got stuck."
Batista sighed and looked up at the ceiling. From his height the two arguing smaller men looked like a couple of roosters in a cock fight.
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me, pendejo; I had to pry you up off the steps. I wish I'd had a crowbar. You were stuck."
"I was not stuck! You're the one with frost on the seat of your jeans!"
"Of course I have frost on the seat of my pants! You made me sit down on a frost-covered step, you idiot!" Rey shouted.
Everyone looked at each other, afraid to laugh, but giggling under their breaths.
"I was not stuck."
"Yes. You. Were." Rey exhaled through his nose like a little bull.
Batista could almost see Rey as a rooster ruffling his feathers the way his shoulders were riding up and making the hood on his jacket puff up around his neck.
Shawn's rooster-ness came through in the way he puffed out his chest and the two glared at each other.
The "ba-kaw!!!" sound effects of squawking chickens was the only thing missing from the scene.
Dave set a huge hand on both of their chests and physically pushed them away from each other.
"If you two need to separate, then that can be arranged, okay?" Batista said, looking from one to the other.
Rey frowned at Shawn from around Batista's bulk.
"Stuck. Stuck. Stuck. You were stuck…" he sang. And he turned on his heel, jogging off to be near the fire.
Shawn limped after him. "You little tramp!"
"I'm not the tramp, puto, you are."
Rey plopped down cross-legged in front of the fireplace. Shawn struggled to follow suit, he was so injured.
"You're bruised as a banana," Shawn taunted. That was an ironic insult for you.
"You're the fruity one, so you should know," Rey shot back.
"I'm losing track of who's winning this fight, now," Triple H hissed to Cena. "Who do you think it is, John?"
"I don't got no clue, neither, man. But one thing's for sure. Them two are one step away from telling 'yo mama' insults. It's gettin' that serious."
Cena arched his hands and stuck his fingertips together conspiratorially.
Triple H observed sternly with him.
"Guys, come on, stop fighting," Batista said, sitting down on the edge of the couch closest to the fireplace.
"You're fat," Shawn growled to Rey.
Randy Orton covered his mouth. To him that was the worst insult of all time.
Rey narrowed his eyes. "Not as fat as your mother."
Cena threw up his arms. "The shit has hit the fan, people."
Rey frowned at Shawn. "Your ass was stuck to the steps, admit it."
"Unlike you, I know when something is a threat to my ass," Shawn retorted, motioning towards Batista, who blushed tomato red.
"I ought to shove you in the damn fireplace," Rey growled, embarrassed.
"Why don't you?" Shawn taunted.
"Because you wouldn't fit," Rey said, sticking out his tongue.
"Like you would?"
"I would. I could probably crawl up the chimney."
"You'd get stuck faster than a Mexican Santa Claus!"
"I would not!"
"Rey, don't jump into the fireplace just to prove a point," Batista pleaded anxiously.
"You're making your nanny anxious over there," Shawn teased.
Rey glared at Shawn. "That makes Triple H your babysitter."
Shawn pouted and Triple H and Batista exchanged looks.
"I can't believe they're dragging us into this," Batista groaned.
Triple H chuckled and shrugged. "Whatever, man. I'm not gonna get riled by them."
"You are such a puto," Rey said to Shawn.
"You keep calling me that. What the hell does 'puto' mean?"
"Man whore," everyone besides Shawn said at the same time.
Shawn glared at Rey.
Rey glared at Shawn.
They scrambled after each other. Rey couldn't use his injured arm and Shawn couldn't use a limb either, but they were frenetically smacking each other nonetheless.
They looked like a pair of injured kittens play-fighting.
Batista sighed and he and Triple H came over.
In tandem, they grabbed the smaller men and separated them.
Batista grabbed Rey's collar. "Easy, there."
"Shawn, knock it off," Triple H barked and did the same.
They unhooked the two smaller men and dragged them back across the floor, setting them down like luggage at their feet of their opposite couches.
Rey and Shawn narrowed their eyes at each other from the floor and stood up slowly, getting ready to pounce on each other again.
Batista grabbed Rey's waist and yanked him back down into his lap. Rey's expression was priceless; blank, startled.
"Da-ave! Stop grabbing me!"
"Down, boy," Triple H chuckled and squished Shawn Michaels' scalp and made him sit back down.
Batista reluctantly shifted Rey off his lap and sat him beside himself.
He twiddled his thumbs and kept an eye on Rey. "No more fights, okay?"
Rey pouted.
"I thought you two made up out there. You didn't?" Triple H inquired.
"Well…we kind of did," Shawn admitted.
"But then we started back up again because he got stuck to the steps and was too embarrassed about it to own up to it," Rey put in.
Shawn glared at him. "I wasn't stuck."
Batista groaned. "Well, how did you two make up in the first place?"
"Shawn told me what was going on with him this week."
He looked at HBK for permission to explain.
"Do you want to say it or should I?"
Batista looked between the two of them. "This sounds serious. What was it?"
Shawn sighed. "I'll tell them, Rey."
Rey nodded.
"Undertaker left me."
"I already knew that," Triple H reminded him and had to dodge an uppercut from Shawn.
"Of course you already knew that, you idiot! I was just telling everyone else what happened!"
Randy covered his mouth and C.M. Punk blinked, perplexed. Jeff bit his thumbnail just like always, staring vacantly at the news and promptly fell over onto Punk.
Edge shrugged. "Knew it."
"I did, too," Jericho admitted. "I thought he'd leave sooner."
Rey and Shawn joined forces temporarily and glared at Jericho, who was terrible at not being insulting towards people, he was so used to being a heel on TV.
"Take that back. Right now," Rey ordered.
Jericho gulped. "Sorry…"
Batista stared at Shawn Michaels. "He left you?"
Shawn crossed his arms and didn't meet Batista's look.
"Shawn, why didn't you tell me? I of all people- you could have talked to me about that!" Batista blurted and then looked at Rey a little awkwardly.
Rey gave a short sigh.
It was exhausting to be wanted by someone at all hours of the day and night like this.
"You want me to leave the room or something while you discuss the lack of boyfriends going on here?"
All the guys sighed forlornly at the same time.
"I ain't got no boyfriend, neither man. I miss him," John Cena said.
"You had a boyfriend?" Batista asked doubtfully.
Cena nodded. "His name was Stan and he worked at a WalMart in Wisconsin. But we hardly ever do shows in Wisconsin, so I never got to see him again."
"You mean you dated a fan for a few days when we went to Wisconsin?" Triple H asked him.
Cena nodded sadly. "I miss Stan."
Rey stared at him with his brow wrinkled, trying very hard to picture John Cena with another man at WalMart and then when he did, he shook his head and tried to get the image out.
He sat for a minute as everyone squabbled around Shawn, giving him their condolences and some relationship advice.
"Why don't you and Triple H ever just stick together? Why do you need anybody else in the picture, Shawn?" Punk asked.
That was a good point. Triple H and Shawn had known each other for so long it was almost like they were a married couple. But Shawn always broke it off and said they needed to see other people. And Triple H didn't mind because he didn't like all the crazy things Shawn ordered him to do when they were together.
"We do better in an 'on again off again' relationship," Shawn insisted stubbornly.
Triple H rolled his eyes. "With Shawn here everything can be fun and sexy and all that for the first few days but then he gets super jealous and I get sick of him and we break up again. It's better to only stay together the first few days and then make a run for it."
Rey rubbed his eyelids. Everyone had too many issues and he didn't want to know about all the gory details.
"I'm gonna go take a nap while you guys discuss boys…men…people," Rey said awkwardly and sighed. "I'm going upstairs."
He stepped gingerly, his compact, broken body looking so vulnerable.
**
After they had all gossiped sufficiently enough, Batista went upstairs and saw Rey sound asleep on his sleeping bag, a blanket tucked over him. He was tired after all he'd been through.
And they were going to be late tonight heading back to civilization on a bus, followed by an airplane ride to another state and then another bus ride back to the WWE arena. And then finally to a hotel tomorrow night.
Batista tucked the blanket up around Rey's shoulders and Rey stirred slightly, mumbling something in Spanish.
Rey had told him once that his dreams were bilingual but were primarily in Spanish.
But the ones with you guys in them have mostly English because you guys don't know any Spanish. Rey had said, laughing.
You dream about us, Rey? Batista had asked him, surprised.
Rey had looked at him funny. What? You don't dream about people?
Batista had chuckled embarrassedly. Rey hadn't known about Batista's feelings for him back then.
No, not much. He'd answered.
But what he'd really wanted to say to Rey was "Only about you. I only dream about you."
Rey woke himself up a few minutes after Batista arrived in the room. Whether he heard the larger man rustling around or it had been a dream to wake him, neither of them knew.
"Dave…?" Rey asked sleepily, sitting up as his eyes focused. "What's up?"
Batista came and sat down beside Rey. "Just checking on you, buddy, that's all."
Rey yawned. "I'm still alive."
Batista smiled. "Yeah, I can see that."
Rey observed his friend for a minute. He knew that that conversation downstairs had gotten to Dave about male on male love interests.
"Do you want to talk about your feelings or would I be offended?" Rey asked him.
Batista shrugged. "No, I…well, I would like to talk to you."
Rey looked at him and Batista met his eyes hesitantly.
"I'm supposed to be honest with you more often about what I'm feeling towards you," Dave admitted, fiddling with his hands, embarrassed.
"That's what Dr. Jimenez says, anyway. She says it'll make both of us feel less stressed. And like we can communicate better."
"What am I supposed to do?" Rey asked. He wasn't being sarcastic.
Batista shrugged. "Just…just hear me out, Rey, that's all I ask."
Rey nodded. "Okay. I'll listen. What do you want to tell me?"
"Well, when you…when you were cold the other night…when I brought you in out of the rain…"
Rey blushed intensely. He seemed to know where this was going.
"I…I just wanted to say to you that all I want from you right now is just some sort of slight return of affection. You hug me all the time, you leap into almost anybody's arms all the time, and you shake hands with people. But you always kiss the ones you love. After being with you, sleeping beside you, the thing I wanted most was…was a kiss."
Rey blinked. "A kiss from me?"
"Yeah…"
"To you?"
"Yeah," Batista said, looking into Rey's eyes.
Rey opened his mouth and thought better of what he was going to say. He covered it in thought.
"I don't expect anything else from you, Rey, I promise."
Rey looked up at his friend, knowing that that wasn't true. He knew that Dave longed for Rey to love him and for him to become sexually involved with the other man.
But Rey didn't know how to do that.
He even doubted his own emotional connections with Batista.
Rey had never felt more dependent on Batista than he had this past week. And that confused him. He had been taught to believe that being male; he had to be the protector in a relationship. He wasn't supposed to be the one to receive protection.
So he was either a failure according to that logic, or that logic was wrong. He didn't know which it was.
With Angie things made much more sense. With Dave he was emotionally frustrated and confused the majority of the time spent with his friend.
Rey was actually not consciously attracted to Dave, believe it or not. One of the facets of Rey's personality was that he was very physical with everyone he knew.
It made him feel cold and distant if he couldn't give or receive hugs. It had nothing to do with romance sometimes, but it had everything to do with his affections.
And partially because of his religion, and partially because of how he was raised, Rey didn't even really know that it was a possibility that he could be attracted to another man. He didn't know if he could be. He knew he wasn't supposed to be, but he didn't know that he still could be.
But deep down, maybe Rey was attracted to Dave. Why else would he have been so incredibly comfortable with Dave massaging him when he was half-naked?
But if there were any feelings in Rey's heart of love for Batista then they were all in his subconscious. He would never know they were there.
But maybe Rey had uncovered something in himself over the course of that week. And maybe now he at least understood how Batista could be in love with him.
Rey took Batista's much larger hands in his and smoothed over the knuckles with his thumbs. He squeezed Batista's hands together and lifted them towards his mouth, pressing his lips against them very gently. The soft, warm curves of his lips folded in against Batista's hands and embraced them intimately.
Rey couldn't bring himself to kiss Dave on the lips, so a kiss on the hands was still safely a sign of friendship. But the way he'd done it made Batista feel as though it were a romantic gesture. Like a man kissing a woman's hand when they first met. In a way, it felt even more romantic to Batista than a kiss on the mouth because that would have made Rey feel uncomfortable, and that would've ruined it for Batista.
"That's the best that I can do for you," Rey said, smiling sadly up at his friend and lowering their hands to waist height. He didn't drop them, though.
"Rey?"
"Yeah?" Rey asked, afraid that he had hurt Dave's feelings.
"Don't knock the little things."
Rey smiled ethereally.
He yawned again in spite of himself. He was so tired.
"Go back to sleep, Rey-Rey, I'll wake you up when it's time to go," Batista assured him softly.
Rey smiled gratefully and lay down again. Batista tucked him in.
Rey was out cold in a matter of two minutes, his little body wrapped up warmly and breathing soundly.
Batista watched over him, guarding him.
Chapter 25: Resolutions
Day Eight at the Haunted House
At seven PM the bus finally pulled up and dusk was settling on Sassafras, Massachusetts.
Batista shook Rey's shoulder gently.
Rey yawned and sat up slowly. "Are we going home now?"
"Yeah, buddy. Come on. Let's get your sleeping bag rolled up."
They loaded their luggage under the bus and Rey stuffed his blanket and pillow onto his seat, thinking he'd nap the whole drive to the airport. He was drained from the week and it was finally catching up with him. He wanted to see the house one last time before he left and so he descended the steps of the bus.
Rey stood in the snow, gazing around as the light dimmed in the sky.
He saw a little owl staring at him a little ways away and he waved goodbye to it.
It cocked its head to the side and fluffed its wings out and then back against its body, looking almost as though it was returning the wave.
Rey chuckled at it.
Batista came to stand beside him, his huge footfalls crunching through the snow. He was completely graceless in it, whereas Rey could tread lightly and if the snow had a layer of ice, he could walk over it without leaving much of an indentation.
In the dusk, the forest was gorgeous and so were the soft, glowy, snow-covered fields surrounding the house.
"What do you think is going to happen to this place now?" Rey asked, gazing back up at the old house.
Batista looked at it too. "I don't know. What do you think they should do?"
Rey remembered all of the things in the attic, the beautiful, ancient wallpaper peeling slowly away, the family portrait still hanging on the wall.
"I'd like to see somebody preserve it. It's already up here, and it doesn't seem to take away too much space from the owls. I mean…they've got miles and miles of preserve other than the grounds of this house, right?"
He looked at Batista, who nodded thoughtfully.
"How are you going to convince people it isn't haunted anymore?"
Rey shrugged. "I could show up and sit on the stairs to show that no one will get pushed down them."
Batista chuckled. "Who's going to finance maintaining this place though? And pay for it to be preserved or restored or whatever? That stuff isn't cheap, Rey, and this is a huge house."
"The brochure said an association of house museums was interested about it. They just wanted the whole mess of the ghost business to be cleaned up. After Sylvia's mother gets buried, it won't be long before they come around and ask if the house is finally safe to take over."
"What about Sylvia's father?"
Rey snorted. "I could care less what they do with that pendejo's corpse. They can chuck him out into the ocean for all I care."
Batista sighed. "Maybe he should be buried in a criminal's prison. Or Potter's Field."
"As long as he's not next to his wife and daughter, that's okay with me."
Batista nodded.
"You did good here, Rey. I think it turned out for the best that you decided to come here."
Rey stared at the attic window where he had first glimpsed Sylvia.
"I think so too, Dave," he whispered.
They turned to go and set foot back on the bus.
**
When they came back to the WWE stadium facility, Rey felt like he was arriving in another world.
Mr. McMahon had heard about the fiasco with the cameras and how the special was lost. So had the Divas.
Rey was rushed in the hallway by an overexcited Kelly Kelly, who jumped on him, much to the annoyance of Batista, who refused to leave Rey's side.
"Easy! Girl, you'll break me in half if you keep pullin' on my neck like that!" Rey said with a laugh, patting Kelly's back with his one good hand.
"Oh my God, Rey, what happened to your arm?"
"It's a long story…" he said with an awkward smile. "I don't know if you'd believe it."
The other Divas all crowded around and started chattering at him.
Batista groaned, feeling like all this talking sounded similar to a bunch of chickens scrambling around for bird seed. But it wasn't: it was just a few shameless grown women scraping desperately for gossip.
Batista looked up at the ceiling, exasperated.
"Did the ghosts do that to you?" Melina asked finally, and all the Divas stopped talking.
The elephant in the room had been addressed. Now it was up to Rey to see how it would be dealt with.
"One of them hurt my arm, yeah."
Suddenly a certain blonde Diva pushed through the crowd and stopped in front of Rey.
"Hi, Michelle. I told you I'd come back," Rey said with a sad smile.
Michelle had tears in her eyes. She threw her arms around Rey and hugged him close.
Rey set his head on her shoulder, holding her with his good arm.
"Did you meet Sylvia…?" Michelle whispered in his ear.
Rey smiled. "She's at peace, now, Michelle. All of their family is."
Michelle closed her eyes, suppressing tears of joy. She squeezed him tight.
"Thank you so much, Rey."
Rey patted her hair. "You don't need to thank me. I was happy I could help her."
Michelle breathed a sigh of relief.
"Do you need to smack me around now to maintain your reputation?" he whispered to her. "'Cause I'm already pretty beat up, I don't know what other parts I can give you to break."
Michelle grinned. "No, Rey, I'm not gonna put you through anything else too painful. But brace yourself."
"Brace myself for what?" Rey hissed.
She leaned back from him finally, her eyes dry.
She smacked him possessively on his ass.
Rey started in surprise.
She glared at Batista right in the eye. "What are you lookin' at? He's mine."
Rey blushed intensely.
Michelle turned on her heel and walked off as all the other Divas chattered and followed her, impressed.
"That girl is a piece of work," Batista growled. "Putting her hands on you like that with me right here. The nerve of some people."
Rey chuckled. Michelle's ruse had worked. She still looked tough in the eyes of everyone else but him.
"I'm ready to go to the hotel now," Rey told Batista, looking up at his friend with a sweet smile.
"Oh no you don't. You're going right to a doctor. I don't want you taking any chances with those injuries. I'm not going anywhere until I see you set foot into a check-up with my own two eyes."
Rey sighed. "Okay, let's go to a hospital, then."
Other than the cut, the bruising and the sleep deprivation, Rey had nothing to be treated for. He didn't have a fever or hypothermia, as it turned out. And what he secretly thought had been a concussion from his unfortunate trip down the stairs was just a bump on the back of his head. Miraculously, none of his bones were broken or fractured and none of his muscles were pulled.
Batista stood in the examination room with his arms crossed, listening to the diagnosis.
"Uh…sir, are you his relative, or…?" the doctor asked hesitantly.
"Cousin," Rey and Batista said at the same time.
"We're cousins."
The doctor nodded, not sure he believed that, but didn't want to be the one to tell Batista that he couldn't listen in on his friend's diagnosis.
Rey and Batista went back to the hotel with Rey's newly bandaged arm. Rey stopped in his tracks in the lobby, seeing Michelle McCool sitting at a table near the breakfast area. Rey's face lit up and he looked to Batista to see if his escort would allow him to talk to her.
Dave nodded. "Go ahead. You two have a lot to catch up on. I'll take your stuff upstairs o our room for you."
It was eleven o'clock and dusk had settled a long time ago. It seemed like only seconds ago had been yesterday and they had been standing in the snow, gazing up at Sylvia's house.
Batista went and set their luggage in their room. He checked back on the tall blonde and the compact Latino a minute later and watched from an upstairs balcony at the two of them sitting at a little table across from each other, drinking tea.
Rey's lips were moving and Michelle was looking at him thoughtfully, listening intently. Rey took out the two photographs to show Michelle.
Michelle teared up again, wiping her eyes and Batista saw her nod as Rey talked and pointed between the two pictures, no doubt mentioning that they'd noticed what the bond was between her and Sylvia.
Rey slid both photographs across the table to her. Batista blinked in surprise.
Rey was giving Sylvia's picture to Michelle? But he'd been so close to her…
Rey was smiling.
And Batista stared at the Diva, holding his breath and hoping that she knew better than to take Rey's generosity at face value.
The Diva shook her head and slid the old photograph back in front of the luchador.
Rey looked at it and smiled gratefully up at Michelle as he took it up so carefully into his fingers.
He hugged the picture of Sylvia and her mother to his chest.
Michelle took the photograph of her and the Divas held it up to her heart, mirroring him. They smiled at each other silently and Batista wiped his eyes from up at his perch.
He went back to his room and Rey came in a few hours later.
"So you told her the whole story?"
"Oh, yeah. Everything," Rey said his voice tired, but so relieved and so happy.
"Did she tell you what happened when she was there?"
Rey nodded. "Yeah. I'll fill you in about the Divas' trip tomorrow, Dave. Is that okay? I'm exhausted already."
Batista nodded. "It is one o'clock."
Rey looked at his watch. "Really? Wow…time flies, doesn't it?"
Batista nodded again. "Yeah."
"Sorry I took so long with Michelle."
"Don't worry about it. I'm glad you two could finally talk together."
"You could have come down and talked with us, you know," Rey said.
Batista shook his head. "No. You two needed to be alone together. It wasn't my place to be sitting in on that conversation."
Rey nodded gratefully.
"So what happened with the photographs? Did Michelle take both?"
"She let me keep Sylvia's. She kept the one with her in it," Rey smiled softly and handed the old picture to Dave.
He took the photograph and was reminded of Rey confessing Jeff Hardy's secret to him. Yet again, Rey honestly believed that Batista hadn't eavesdropped on him.
"Sylvia's mother and Michelle are both really beautiful, aren't they?" Batista said, fingering the edges of it.
"Yeah, they really are," Rey agreed.
"They do look so much alike, it's…you have to wonder. Maybe Michelle was Sylvia's mother in another life."
Rey shrugged.
"I see you're already showered and everything, so I'm gonna go ahead and get ready for bed, too," Rey said.
"'Kay. See you when you get out, Rey."
Batista looked at the photo for a while when Rey was in the shower and then he set it gently onto their bedside table.
"Night, Sylvia," he whispered to it.
Rey came out of the bathroom with his pajama pants on, shirtless. "Could you help me re-bandage my arm, Dave?" he requested.
"Sure, buddy. Come on over here," Batista said, resituating so that he was cross-legged and patted his bed.
Rey grabbed the bandages and medication he'd been given and sat down with his side turned toward his friend while Batista took his arm and carefully treated it.
"Thanks, Dave."
"Sure thing."
"You want to sleep in separate beds tonight since the room has two?" Batista asked him.
"Yeah, if that's okay with you, I'd like to sleep by myself."
Batista nodded. "If you get cold again though, you know to crawl over here, right?"
Rey smiled embarrasedly and nodded. "Yeah."
They lay down in their separate beds.
They were both silent for a few minutes. Batista assumed Rey was asleep.
"Hey, Dave?" Rey whispered as they both stared up at the ceiling.
"What, Rey?" Batista responded quietly.
"Did you hear what Jeff whispered to me after he got out of the basement?"
"No. What did he say?" Batista asked curiously.
Rey smiled. "He said he wasn't afraid of the dark anymore."
Batista smiled too. "That's great."
"Yeah."
There was comfortable silence between the two of them. They felt closer, now. Batista felt like it didn't matter to him anymore (at least for the time being) about his physical proximity to Rey. He knew how close he was to Rey's heart and he didn't need physical confirmation.
"I never was afraid of the dark," Rey said conversationally.
"I was," Batista admitted. "You never were? Even when you were like six or younger?"
"A little bit then, but not really."
"Why do you think it didn't scare you as much as heights do?" Batista asked.
"I found out after a while that everything's exactly the same with the lights off as it is with them on."
Batista chuckled. "I don't know about that. Everything has shadows upon shadows in the dark."
"Do you think that house made you more afraid of the dark, though, Dave?'
Dave thought about it. "If Sylvia's in the dark then no. But if it's her father, we might have a problem."
Rey smiled to himself. "Yeah."
"You, Rey?"
He thought about it silently. That was a hard question to answer now.
"Rey?" Batista whispered. "You fall asleep over there?"
"I'm awake Dave, I'm awake."
"So what do you think?"
"I think anybody would have been scared by that place in the dark. The ghosts just made it that way. And because it was so old…" Rey said, his voice trailing off.
"But now? Like, are you afraid of this dark room now? I can get you a nightlight if you want."
Rey laughed. "No. Not here. After being in the dark in that place, the dark everywhere else feels less…"
"Muy mal?" Batista offered.
"Yeah. It feels less 'very bad', Dave, great job with the Spanish," Rey said.
Batista chuckled. "I had to try."
Rey stared up at the ceiling.
"I know what you mean, though. This darkness isn't as dark as nighttime at Sylvia's house," Batista whispered.
"Yeah," Rey murmured. "So I don't think I could be scared by any place less threatening than that now."
"I don't think any house was as threatening to you as that one. You had quite a few close calls there, buddy."
"Yeah, I did."
"I'm glad you're safe, Rey," Batista said quietly.
"Glad to be safe. And I'm glad you made it out with me," Rey responded. "I'm glad we all made it out of there."
"I'm glad Sylvia made it out of there," Batista whispered.
"Me too," Rey yawned, sleep beginning to edge in on him.
"Good night, bedbug," Batista murmured.
"Sweet dreams, grande oso."