Chapter 10

Dusty's massive figure was blocking the door, no escape, though he didn't see Layne's face so he had no idea who she was. "Hey son, I came to see you before the big event." He said with a grin.

Layne was going to kill her brother when this was all over with and walked over to sit down by her daughter, watching her play the game and kissed the top of her head, not saying a word. This wasn't good, especially since Mark Calaway was standing behind Dusty with a bemused expression on his face. Ted walked over and sat next to Layne, looking over at Randy worriedly while Layne kept her face buried in her daughter's hair.

"Mom, look what level I'm on!" Reed grinned, bright eyed and bushytailed.

"That's wonderful sweetheart." Layne quietly replied, glancing at the television while Cody talked with their father, her heart beating a furious tattoo against her chest.

"Well, who are these charming young ladies?" Dusty asked with a warm smile, staring at Reed and the woman who was currently hiding her face.

"Oh mom, it's Dusty Rhodes!" Reed shrieked, getting to her feet. "He's my-" She frowned when Ted shook his head. "What's going on?"

"He's one of your favorite wrestlers, we know that already, sweetheart." She said calmer than what she thought her voice would come out, swallowing hard as Ted tightened his hold around her shoulders. "Nothing is wrong, play your game."

She kissed the top of Reed's head before slowly standing up, keeping her back to Dusty and wrapped her arms around herself. She needed to be swallowed in a black hole or something, anything! She wasn't ready to face them, not yet! Layne felt sick to her stomach and hoped Legacy could find a way to stall Dusty or get him out of the room.

To say Dusty was confused would be an understatement. He wasn't stupid. He could see when someone was trying to pull one on him and Legacy was doing just that. His eyes narrowed when Randy cleared his throat.

"What's going on, boys?" He demanded gruffly.

Mark was beginning to piece it together. Now all he needed was a motive, deciding to keep his mouth shut for the moment, just to see how this was going to play out.

"Look Dad, she's just a little freaked out about the whole WrestleMania event." Cody said, begging Randy to say something, but the man was just staring at Layne with worry in his eyes. Some fucking help! 'Damn it why didn't I tell her sooner?' He thought, swallowing hard.

Slowly turning around, Layne's glistening blue eyes stared back at her father for the first time in ten years. "Hello father." She whispered and blinked, huge tears sliding down her face, not even caring if her makeup was ruined at the moment.

"M-Mommy, don't cry..." Reed didn't like it when her mother cried because she rarely did it, which meant something was wrong as she walked over. "Mom, what's wrong?"

Ted decided to take Reed down to the cafeteria for some food, not wanting her to see what was about to happen.

At first, Randy honestly thought Dusty was going to have a heart attack; watching as the man's face went from pale, to green, to red and then to this purple color that wasn't healthy at all.

"Layne?" Dusty whispered, he would have probably fallen down if Mark hadn't been behind him, a bracing hand on his shoulder and reached back to pat it, letting the other man know he was alright. "Baby girl...where you been all this time?" He had honestly thought she was dead, unable to say anything else at the moment.

She didn't move toward him, frozen to the spot as the tears just kept falling, lowering her head in shame. "I'm sorry father, I'm so sorry...I've been in Las Vegas..." She swallowed hard, her stomach twisting violently. This was NOT something she wanted to happen so close to Randy's match. Now how the hell was she supposed to focus? She was going to murder her little brother and looked pointedly at him with fire ridden blue eyes before turning sorrow filled ones to her father. "T-There's so much to tell you..." She whispered heartbrokenly.

Dusty knew right now wasn't the time. The show had to go on, but this was his daughter. His long lost, obviously not dead daughter. Inhaling deeply, he nodded. "After the show." He said, his voice weak sounding. "'Taker, I need-"

"Come on, Dream." Mark said in a slow, soothing voice. "How about we go get you somethin' to drink and maybe a quiet place to set?"

Cody felt like shit.

"I hope you're happy, Cody!" Layne snapped after her father was gone as she stormed into the bathroom and slammed the door shut so hard, the walls rattled. Layne slid down the door and buried her face in her hands, the sobs overtaking every part of her body. She honestly didn't care about WrestleMania at the time, her heart breaking, knowing her father was probably going to have a heart attack because of her. "I should've never come back." She whispered, pulling herself up and gripped the sink tightly with her hands, not able to stop the tears. "I should've stayed in Vegas and I let him think of me as a whore."

Randy's normally passive temper was beginning to rear its ugly head, which wasn't good. He very rarely lost his temper, but when he did it was off the charts. "Cody, go get someone from makeup in here and try to keep your fucking mouth SHUT." He ordered coldly, watching Cody hop; skip and jump to it before walking over to the bathroom door, lightly knocking. "Layne? Can I come in, please?"

"Do whatever you want." Her muffled voice sounded in reply, causing the door to open and she was standing there, her knuckles white as she kept her head lowered. She looked up in the mirror, seeing Randy's face, and turned around to stare back at him. "What is it?" She asked, wiping her tears away, the black eyeliner going with it. Janet's work was ruined and it was all her fault, which made her cry harder. Everything was her fault, everything! "I'll be ready for your match, I just need...a minute..."

"Take as much time as you need, the show can wait." Randy said gently, grabbing her hands in his and squeezed softly. "Layne...you don't have to go out there if you're not feeling up to it. Nobody is going to say anything." He reached up to wipe away a streak of eyeliner she had missed, sighing at the expression on her face. "They all love you, give them a chance."

"I really want to kill Cody right now." She muttered, feeling him wipe more of her eyeliner away, and stared back into his blue eyes.

They were so kind and sweet. It did something to Layne's heart as she brought her hand up to caress his face, those blue eyes boring into hers. Without warning, Layne leaned forward and kissed him, wrapping her arms around his neck, needing to feel some kind of security and feeling. Her hands ran up his neck to his hair, gripping it since he'd let it grow out some for the event, moaning softly as she pressed herself against his strong body.

Randy kicked the door shut with his foot, knowing Cody would be back shortly with the makeup artist and pulled Layne against him, kissing her like he had been wanting too for all these weeks now. He had lifted her up onto the sink and was kissing her passionately, pouring everything he'd been trying to hide when Cody knocked on the door. "Damn it..." He groaned, resting his head against hers.

Layne could see the conflicting emotion run across Randy's face and lowered her head, sighing heavily while wiping more tears away. "I'm sorry." She whispered before sliding off of the counter and opened the door, staring back at her brother through narrowed eyes. "So help me god, Cody, if Dad has a heart attack because you couldn't find the TIME to tell me he was coming here, I will never forgive you." Her voice was pure ice as she pulled Janet inside the bathroom, Randy vacating, and slammed the door in both of their faces before flipping the lock on it.

Cody groaned, tempted to tell her if she hadn't run away and deceived her family, none of this would have happened to begin with, but...The look on Randy's face scared him to the point of weakening his knees. "I'm sorry?"

"Not yet you're not." Randy said in a low undertone. "She wasn't ready, Cody. What the hell were you thinking?"

"I wasn't..."

Twenty minutes later, Layne walked out of the bathroom with a fresh coat of makeup on, looking as if she didn't just cry her heart out. The show had to go on and she wasn't going to let anyone ruin it. This was Randy's shot at the title and she wanted to be there front and center when he defeated Paul. She walked past them and to the mirror, checking herself one more time before nodding.

"What time do we go out there, Randy?" She asked quietly, refusing to look at her brother. Layne was afraid if she did, she would end up tackling Cody and ruining her beautiful dress.

"In ten." Randy said, busy doing pushups, gearing himself up.

"You got this, man. You know the outcome, right?" Ted said, trying to be encouraging.

"Yeah, I know. You two boneheads are staying back here, just Layne is going."

Cody nodded, knowing this was supposed to be a personal bit between Randy and Paul.

"Mom, are you okay?" Reed asked almost hesitantly as she walked over, seeing her mother was no longer crying, sighing a breath of relief.

Layne smiled back at her, nodding, and kissed her forehead softly. "Yes sweetheart, momma's just fine. I'm sorry if I worried you."

"That's okay." She brightened right up, jade green eyes glittering. "Teddy Bear let me meet Stone Cold Steve Austin!" That was another one of Reed's all-time favorite wrestlers, along with the Undertaker. "He was awesome!"

"That's great, sweetheart!" Layne replied, sounding enthusiastic and walked over to sit on the couch while Reed joined her, listening to her chattering about Austin. "Really now?" It amazed Layne how fast her daughter was growing up, causing a twinge of sadness to erupt inside of her. But she kept that smile on for her daughter, refusing to cry in front of her again.

"Okay, it's time." Randy said suddenly, snapping to his feet, his blue eyes focused. He looked down at Reed and grinned briefly. "Wish me luck?" He asked, dropping to a knee in front of her and tapped his cheek, laughing when she planted a loud, smacking kiss on it.

"Just don't be asking me for one." Ted teased, batting his eyelashes when Randy looked at him. "Good luck, man."

"Be good for Teddy Bear and...your uncle." She had to force those last two words out before hugging her daughter close and tapped her nose gently.

Standing up, Layne took a deep breath and followed Randy out of the door; her head held high, midnight orbs focused on one task and one task only. She pushed everything out of her mind at the moment, needing to be there for Randy. Paul was already waiting at the entrance, though he was going out last being champion and all. She didn't say a word to him while Stephanie was rubbing his shoulders, just stood beside Randy.

When their music hit, Layne walked through the black curtain and up the stairs before meeting the huge crowd before them, her eyes widening for a fraction of a second before standing on the top stage. She looked at Randy, who took her hand and twirled her around once before they headed down the long aisle. It was WrestleMania and it was Randy's time to shine.

Randy took his time walking her down the aisle, his heart thudding in his chest. This wasn't his first WrestleMania, but damn if he didn't feel like a nervous child every time he took stage when this time of year rolled around. He helped Layne into the ring, glancing at her before climbing a turnbuckle, posing. Taking his time, he did this in each corner, finally hopping down and moved to stand next to her, hearing Paul's own music starting, his eyes turning too ice.

Layne's eyes narrowed at the sight of Paul with Stephanie, who was wearing a pair of black dress pants with a deep hunter green dress top, her hair down in curls. Layne looked over at Randy and nodded once when he pointed to the ropes, slipping through the bottom, and hopped down with ease. She watched as Stephanie stood on the opposite side while Paul got in the ring, posing, and placed her hands on the apron, eyes focused. She didn't even hear the bell when it sounded, starting the match, just kept her gaze on Randy.

Keeping character, Randy engaged in a stare down with Paul, finally breaking it to slowly look at Stephanie; a smirk on his easily cruel lips before closing his eyes as if savoring a memory. This was when Paul 'snapped' and they went at it. Running on adrenaline, Randy forgot all about the problems that they had had backstage and the problems sure to be arising when they were finished. It was WrestleMania; everything, but his time to shine was forgotten.

Every time Randy hit a move, Layne clapped and cheered, only to wince and cringe whenever Paul retaliated. The match went on for what seemed like forever, both combatants sweating profusely. Layne's eyes narrowed when she seen Stephanie get on the apron and walked over, yanking her feet from under her and forced Stephanie to smack her jaw against the apron, glaring daggers down at the McMahon Princess. Smirking wickedly, Layne watched as Randy took the distraction of Paul witnessing his wife being pulled off the ring apron and whipped the man around, hitting the RKO. Layne's eyes lit up when Randy pinned him for the victory and clapped furiously, proud for her man as she watched him accept the championship belt.

Randy stared down at the gold in his hands, blinking sweat from his eyes. Too be honest, the end of the script had left it to where he had no idea if he would win or not. He was going to have to thank Paul later for this. He held the belt up, closing his eyes, and cherished the moment. When he opened them, he looked down at Layne, who had slid in the ring after the bell rang, signaling the end of the match. A second later, he was pulling her to him with his free arm, kissing her passionately in the heat of the moment.

Layne wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, kissing him back with an equal amount of passion while the fireworks and confetti exploded; showering the arena and them full of it. Layne was aware they were in front of seventy thousand people and this was WrestleMania, that Cody and everyone backstage was probably watching, but none of that mattered.

She wanted Randy and knew now more than ever he wanted her. Layne felt him break the kiss and stared into those beautiful blue eyes before raising his hand in victory, the biggest smile on her face, which was flushed at the moment. She allowed Randy to guide her to the ropes and slid out of them before taking his hand as they walked up the ramp way with the gold. It was truly a moment Layne would never forget as long as she lived.