Chapter 33: I Wanna Go Home, Let Me Go Home
John fidgeted at the breakfast table. He kept glancing from his scrambled eggs over to Ashley, who was sitting a few seats down. His eyes would linger on her for a few seconds before quickly returning to his plate. Randy watched this whole little scene with curious annoyance. Every time John looked up Randy would see it out of the corner of his left eye.
"So you excited about being able to sleep in your bed in your new apartment tonight?" Randy asked Ashley.
She didn't reply, she just kept looking at the same newspaper article she had been looking at for the past 10 minutes.
"Hello … earth to Ashley!"
"Sorry Rans what was your question" she turned her attention to her best friend.
"I asked if you were excited about sleeping in your new apartment tonight" he remarked.
"Meh I really don't care it's not the first time I moved and it probably won't be the last"
John had a sip of his coffee and Ashley caught his eyes. Ashley blushed a little before returning her attention to the paper. John pushed his food around his plate with his fork.
"Ok what the hell is wrong with you two?" Randy asked not being able to stand the weirdness any longer.
"Nothing …" they both answered at the same time.
Randy eyed both his best friends suspiciously he knew something had gone down but he wasn't sure what. He knew he'd have to grill Ashley about it later. He knew it would be a hell of a lot easier to get it out of her than it would be John. That man really knew how to keep a secret if he wanted to. This really pissed Randy off because he was a nosey mother fucker.
"Hey Ash how was sleeping with John the other night?" Randy asked.
"It was nice" she replied not paying attention.
John sat there with his mouth open he was going to have some of his eggs but stopped midway to his mouth in surprise. Ashley practically threw the news paper in shock. She looked at Randy in amazement.
"… how could you possibly know that?" she asked still reeling.
"I know you two better than you two know yourselves" he leaned back a little bit in his chair placing his palms flat against the back of his head "so the only thing that would have you two acting this weird is if you two slept together and since you two never managed to come home the night of that storm I just now put two and two together"
Neither adult had anything to say. Dean walked into the room with his little backpack slung over his little shoulders.
"Daddy why does Uncle John look so funny?" he asked. John still had his mouth open in shock.
"Dean, what have I told you about asking offensive questions … Uncle John can't help he was born looking like that" Randy pretended to scold his son. Ashley could be heard snickering from underneath her news paper which she had just picked back up.
"You guys are A holes" John retorted.
"Daddy, what's an A hole?" Dean asked.
"Nothing you need to worry about" Randy said "now come on before you are late for school"
he scooped the little boy up and threw him over his shoulder and ran with him like that out to his car.
"You know I'm really glad Randy proved me wrong" Ashley mused out loud.
"Maybe you are wrong a lot more than you think" he mumbled to himself.
She glanced at him taking into consideration everything he told her the other night. She wanted to stay, she really did but she was afraid they had tried to make it work in the past but things always seemed to get in their way. But this time if something like that happened again it wasn't just themselves they had to think about, there were two young children who needed both of their parents. It wouldn't be fair to them if their parents weren't able to be civil enough to at least think about their wellbeing. He knew why she was pushing him away but that didn't mean he agreed with it
"So are we gonna talk?" he asked.
"There really isn't anything to discuss John" she said rising to rid herself of her dirty breakfast dish "you told me how you feel and I told you how I feel and that should have been the end of it right there"
"You are a stubborn ass who doesn't realize how good she has it" he remarked.
"Go to hell John" she retorted.
A loud wail could be heard coming from the living room. Both adults forgot their persona feud for the time being. They raced to the living room, Phinnigan was lying on the ground writhing in pain.
"Phin baby what happened" Ashley kneeled down next to the fallen toddler.
"Arm … arm hurt" he wailed.
John picked the small boy up and he clung to his father still crying hysterically. His left arm was already starting to swell.
"He definitely broke it" John said. By this time in his life he had become an expert on things such as broken bones.
"Give me him … I'll take him to the hospital and you stay here with Faith" she told him.
"No, I want to go with you" he stated.
"Fine just go get the baby ready then" she relented rather than causing another argument.
"It's ok baby" she rocked Phinnigan a little in her arms. He whimpered into her shirt because that was all he could really do. He was too young to realize that falling from the arm of the couch and landing on it had broken his arm. All he knew was his arm really hurt him.
John returned with baby Faith a few minutes later. He didn't bother putting socks or shoes on her, to save time he had just put her in her carrier and was on his way.
They walked out of the house and Ashley got into the back seat of the car. She was still holding onto Phinnigan who refused to let go of her.
John flipped through a magazine while they waited for one of the ER doctors to come over and look at Phinnigan's arm. Although it had been extremely difficult they had gotten him to take an x-ray. Ashley still had Phinnigan in her arms, she was currently running her fingers through his hair and whispering words of comfort to him. Finally after what felt like hours but in reality was only about 20 minutes someone came over to talk to them.
"Looks like your son fractured his arm in two places" the tall male nurse told them.
Ashley looked the man over. He wasn't bad looking, he had short dark brown hair and brown eyes. He was wearing hospital scrubs but Ashley could tell from his well toned arms he more
than likely worked out. She read his name badge to find out that his name was Fran. She had to stop herself from letting out a laugh. She was sure the man's name was Francis of course but it was still very amusing to her that people called him Fran. John caught her staring at the man and his blood boiled. How dare she have the nerve to check out another man while he was sitting right there in the room … while their son was suffering from a broken arm no less.
"We'll put a cast on him and the hospital's case worker will need to talk to you" Fran said.
'Why?" Ashley asked.
"It's policy with children, they want to make sure there was no abuse" he replied.
"Makes sense I guess"
"I'll go grab the stuff for his cast" Fran excused himself.
"Keep your legs closed now Ash I mean it is a hospital and all" John remarked rather nastily.
"You are a pig" she spat at him.
"It's not my fault you were eye fucking the male nurse" he defended his statement.
"I was not eye fucking him" she furiously whispered "besides what I do is my own business and I don't see why it bothers you"
John wanted to explode "You know perfectly well why it bothers me" his teeth were clenched.
"I'm not having this argument with you again"
"I don't know why I even bother" he rolled his eyes in disgust.
"Well that makes two of us hun"
Fran came back and plastered Phinnigan's arm all up. He then let Phin pick out the color he wanted his cast to be. The toddler debated for a few minutes before pointing his tiny finger to the dark blue colored wrapping.
"Good choice buddy" Fran smiled before putting the finishing touches on his cast. John nearly saw red when the man used his nickname for Phinnigan. He clenched and unclenched his fists in an annoyed manner.
Phinnigan was too interested in what Fran was doing to really pay attention to the pain in his arm anymore. His green eyes watched in wonder as Fran began to wrap his arm. By the time he was all finished Phinnigan was all smiles. Fran left and the case worker came in to talk to them. After explaining to the woman in her mid 50's that Phinnigan had simply fallen off of their couch and being lightly reprimanded for not keeping a better eye on their son they were allowed to take him home.
Phinnigan ran into his home and looked around for his Uncle Randy. He found him just coming out of the shower. He was towel clad and feeling refreshed.
"Ranny!" Phinnigan exclaimed running towards the third generation superstar.
"Hey buddy what happened to your arm?" Randy asked leaning down to inspect the cast.
"Boo boo … me arm" the small boy replied.
"Aww poor little guy" Randy patted the top of his head before standing back up.
An idea crossed Phinnigan's mind. A huge grin plastered over his face as he brought his broken arm back as far as it could go. He swung his arm as hard as he could and connected with Randy's shin. Randy jumped backwards a little which caused him to drop his towel. Phinnigan laughed satisfied with his mischief.
"Phinnigan what are you … WOW FULL FRONTAL RANDAL" Ashley turned the corner and covered her eyes quickly.
The mortified superstar snatched his towel from the floor and hastily wrapped it around his waist. He stood there crimson faced and annoyed.
"Damn Randy is it cold in here?" Ashley asked chuckling.
"Screw you" he grumbled "your delinquent son just assaulted me with his cast"
"Phinnigan William Joshua tell Randy you are sorry" Ashley ordered the toddler.
"Sorry Ranny" Phinnigan did as he was told.
"Yeah sure you are" Randy said sarcastically.
"Go play now and if I hear you hit anyone else with that cast you will be in time out till you grow facial hair understand"
Phinnigan ran off to play with his toys. Ashley leaned against the wall with her hands crossed over her chest.
"I think he senses that me and John aren't getting along too well right now" Ashley said.
"Can't say I blame the little guy" Randy replied.
"John wants me to stay here but I can't it's too hard living here"
"Yeah but are you really leaving for the right reasons because you are taking your kids from a home that they have become used to"
"You make it sound like they are never going to be here every again they still get to spend time here when you and John are home"
"Did you take into consideration how this is going to affect John once you leave?" Randy asked.
"It's not like he is going to be alone … you and Dean are still here" Ashley weakly reasoned.
"You know perfectly well that is not what I meant, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that John is head over heels for you"
"Rans, me and John just don't work"
It was later that evening and Ashley had just gotten the last few things she was taking into her 2010 Dodge Durango. The kids were all strapped into their car seats and she had just shut the back door to the truck. It was raining hard and even though she wore a sweatshirt with a hood she was still soaken wet. John stood by the front door of his home watching the mother of his children.
"So this is how is gonna be then" his voice carried over the sound of the rain.
"Please don't start" she pleaded with him.
"I don't want you to go" he tired one more time to reason with her.
"John no matter how much you want it to work you know in your heart that we just don't work together"
"Fine then just walk away and pretend like what we had didn't matter"
"I'm sorry I have to go" she said getting into her already running truck.
She began to drive away. Phinnigan waved at his father from the backseat. John put on a smile for his son and waved back. He was grateful for the rain now because that way no one would notice his tears. With a broken heart he entered his home and felt a loneliness that he hadn't felt in some time.