Alright, sorry guys. Both for the lateness of this post and the typos that I'm sure I'm not going to catch. Summer has come early to Texas (we've managed to skip spring altogether) which means that, with my sinuses, I'm living in hell. Between the sore throat, double ear infection and sinus infection I'm living off of soup and cough meds with codeine in it so please bear with me. Thankfully I wrote this chapter before it all settled in but now I'm typing it out so….yeah. Sorry if there are typos and stuff in it. Also, I'm really having fun with people guessing who the madman is. Although, even if you get it right, wouldn't it ruin the story if I told you? LOL. And who could be Callie's creepy secret admirer? Is it the same person as the madman? Hmmmm. Oh, and I really do live in Texas and have actually spent a few years living around the arena in Dallas and all. I did change a few of the details about it to better suit my story but, for the record, all the street names and places I put in here from Dallas are real.

Chapter 4

Callie laughed as Jeff pulled the straws from his mouth. He had actually done the whole "I'm a walrus" but with the straws many times before but it never failed to amuse her. And since it didn't count in their whole "prank" game she could laugh at it without having to feel the need to get him back for it. Those were the best times. Cal had spent time with both Matt and Jeff in North Carolina. Hell, she'd spent pretty much her entire high school career there. Afterwards she'd made her way back to Texas. Mostly because it was the only place that had ever really felt like home. Even with John's house in Land O' Lakes, Florida and his family home in West Newbury, which she didn't even know about until a little while ago, she made moved all over the United States, mostly in the south. Her foster homes had sent her pretty much everywhere and anywhere that someone was willing to take her. The three years she had spent in Dallas, Texas had been her favorite. It had been a mix between the music, art and social life that she had found there that had made it feel more like home than anywhere else. That's why she had moved back after her high school graduation (and after she had been sent out of her foster home for turning of age).

"Well, hey, I'm sure John's awake by now, probably hogging the bathroom again," Callie stood up and took one last swig of her drink before ruffling Jeff's hair because she knew she was one of the few people that could get away with it. "We've got to start packing for the drive to Dallas."

"Speaking of the Big D," Jeff looked at her with a hint of concern in his eyes. "You okay with going back there? I mean," he looked down at his empty plate. "I know even though you loved living there you had some rough times when you went back. I know the arena we're going to be working in was right around your street territory."

"I think I'll be okay. I mean, I know I've pretty much avoided that part of downtown since I finally got back on my feet but I think I'll make it." She gave Jeff one of her thousand-watt grins. "Besides, I'll have all of you guys there with me."

Jeff smiled back and hugged her bye before watching her leave the hotel restaurant. Even though she had tried to be light-hearted about it and reassure her, he still had his doubts.

Across the hotel, Mike was pacing nervously around his hotel room. Why had he put that note on her door? Stupid, stupid. He mentally chastised himself. He had gone back to try and remove it before she had woken up and found it but it was already gone. Well, maybe she wouldn't know it was him. Maybe she wouldn't think about it at all and just throw it away. Damn, one night of having a few too many beers and he had lost all common sense by letting a little crush get the best of him. But once the alcohol had hit his system he just had to let her know how he felt. The problem was that he had gotten so drunk that he couldn't even remember what he'd written in it! Figuring that he'd better do something with his nervous energy other than wear a groove into the plush carpeting of his room, he decided to head down to the hotel gym and work off some steam. Thankfully he was headed home later tonight anyway since he wasn't scheduled for the Dallas show so he wouldn't have to be around if someone brought it up. But damn, he couldn't get it out of his mind. Hell, what would Dave do if she told him? Even though they weren't likely to be getting married anytime soon, Dave would not take it too lightly if he thought someone was trying to move in on Callie. If he couldn't only remember what he had written in that damned note!

He'd been concentrating so hard on trying to jog his memory he didn't see her coming from the other end of the hallway, headed back to her room. Mike nearly ran right into her. "Hey Miz!" He was startled out of his thoughts by her surprised voice. "Trying to run me down today?"

"Oh hell, Cal, so sorry. Didn't see you there," he was stammering.

"Ha, well being backstage with all of you giants had taught me a thing or two about not getting squished!" She was joking with him. Although all of the wrestlers backstage had almost run her down on more than one occasion. She was always speeding around so fast backstage that she was usually just a blur of dyed red hair and paperwork and being barely 5 feet tall, they were all a little wary of stepping on her anyway. "You alright? You seemed like you were off in la la land."

"Oh, uh, naw, I'm okay. Just tired. Lookin forward to getting home and getting some relaxation."

Callie looked skeptical but decided to let it go. If he'd really wanted to talk about it he would have and she was on a time limit if they wanted to get to Dallas before it got dark tonight. Thankfully it was only a 4 or 5 hour drive but she was supposed to meet with some prop dealers once they got there and Dave had had to change their plans once again and meet up with her and John in Dallas instead of seeing her this morning and driving with them there. "Alright, well, have a good time at home. We'll see you when you get back next week." She offered him a smile and gave a small wave as she continued on her way.

Mike watched her go and nearly fell over when he saw her use a key and head into a room just a few doors down from where he stood. The realization stunned him. That was NOT the door he had put the note on, and if she hadn't gotten it….well….who had?

Later that night….

Damn, she covered her tracks well, he thought to himself while typing in the address for a different search engine online. He had been searching online for what seemed like all night and was still coming up empty handed. Dallas was Callie's hometown, so to speak, the place where her house was. Why could he not find the address? Not even a hint at a cell phone number or magazine subscription in her name could be found. The easy way would be to hire a private eye and have her followed but then there would be a paper trail. Well, not that it would matter later anyway. What he had planned was going to be very public and very obvious that he had conspired it all beforehand. There would be no smooth-talking his way out of this one, once he had pulled it off. He was well aware that he would lose his job, never get his title back and most likely end up in jail. Well, he was aware of it in the back of his mind at least. The notion barely registered with him while he was deep into his scheming. All he cared about was getting his revenge. Cena was going to pay and Callie was going to learn that no one refused him. He couldn't follow her himself. Too many people knew his face and his name; he would be spotted anywhere they went. Well, it just looked like he was going to have to change up his plans. He grinned to himself at his flexibility. Good soldiers had to think on their feet and improvise when they had to. He could do it.

Finally deciding he needed a new game plan, he closed the lid on his laptop and pulled out his trusty notebook. Taking a black marker he scratched out a couple of pages and deftly turned to an empty page. It was time to put the finishing touches on his new strategy.

"Hey, man," John came up behind Ron Killings, better known as R-Truth, backstage at the American Airlines Center in Dallas. The arena was huge and whenever they had shows here, even some of the superstars, who had learned most of the arena's layouts from being there so many times, could sometimes get lost. "You seen Callie? She disappeared when we got here."

"Naw, but I heard some of the prop guys were dropping off some boxes earlier in the parking garage."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," Ron continued while pulling a bottled water out of his bag. "Some of the ring guys were bringing the boxes in earlier and were talking bout she was out there dealin with em. You might wanna check."

"Alright, thanks man. See you out in the ring later."

"Yeah, cool. And hey," Ron turned back around as John was about to head off towards the exit. "You lay a hurtin on Bennet tonight. He been runnin his mouth around here about how he's gonna be top dog here soon. Put that noob in his place." Killings was laughing as he said it.

"You know it man! Catch ya later." John laughed with him, although not quite as creepily as Ron had. Sometimes, John couldn't figure out if Ron's "Lil Jimmy" act was really an act or if the guy was losing it from one too many hits to the head. But he was right about Stu Bennet, known to his fans as Wade Barrett. That guy had thought he was God's gift to wrestling from the moment he walked into his first match in the WWE.

Coming through the exit doors to the parking garage John didn't see any trucks there that would have been dropping off boxes. He could always check the loading dock but Callie usually never had stuff delivered there. None of her boxes were ever really that large and it would be more hassle than it was worth to have to carry them all through the backstage corridors from the dock than from the garage. Just as he was about to turn and head back into the building a shadow caught his eye. All the way across the garage, he saw a silhouette sitting on the small stone wall that separated the parking area from the street. They were small and hunched over a little, with their back leaning up against one of the posts that ran along the wall. John was betting that it was her.

He cautiously made his way over, not wanting to startle her by coming up behind her. Once he had gotten close enough he cleared his throat. Callie turned her head towards him and, without saying a word, turned to look back out at the street like she had been doing before he showed up.

"Hey CC, you okay?" John asked her, concerned. She rarely didn't verbally acknowledge him and there was a hint of sadness in her eyes. It didn't look like she had been crying but there was something despondent about her. John closed the small distance that was left between them and put his hand on her arm. "Did someone say something to you?"

"No. Just in a mood I guess." She never looked away from the street. John followed her gaze out across Houston Street and really didn't see much of anything that would be interesting enough to hold her concentration like that.

"Hey, Cal, you know you can talk to me right? About anything."

"I know, John. It's just weird talking about it to anyone, not just you. I just…..I haven't been back in this part of town in quite a while. It's not like I can't handle it or anything it's just….well…..weird."

"You never really talked about all the time you spent living on the street here before. I'm sure there would have been a lot of stuff that I wouldn't want to know anyway." John's jaw clenched just thinking about it. It would be nice to think that there was a decent place to go for a girl who needed help and safe place to sleep but truth of the matter was, Dallas' homeless problem was just as bad as every other large city and it's crime rate could rival some cities even larger than it was. John had never wanted to think about what an 18 year old girl would have had to do to survive.

"Usually just things I would rather be able to forget. Spent a lot of time around this arena though. Some very interesting times." She almost seemed to smile a little at that. Although Callie would probably never divulge everything that had happened to her while living on the streets, both good and bad, she had come to terms with the fact that he would probably ask one day. So far, today wasn't turning out to be that day and she was grateful for it. "You see that spot over there?" Cal pointed across the street to a small patch of grass that was mostly hidden behind some bushes.

John's eyes followed her cue and he nodded.

"I used to sleep there some nights. Not on the weekends of course," she stole a small glance at him, still a little too ashamed of her past to make eye contact. "When the arena was having an event there was too much security around. But on other days, cops pretty much stayed away from over here. Get behind those bushes, no one could see you. No one would mess with you."

"Callie, you never said any of this before. I mean, I knew it had all happened but," John trailed off. He really wasn't too sure what to say. He hadn't been prepared for this when he came out here but, then again, Cal's moods could change at the drop of a hat. It didn't happen to often but when it did, it was a complete 180 and you never even saw it coming.

Callie shrugged slightly. "Never thought it would help anything." She turned her back to the street, dangling her legs over the side of the wall she was perched on. She made a large effort to study her pedicure in the peep-toe heels she was wearing that night. "Came out here to take an order for some of the Wrestlemania plans and just saw it out there. Well, not like it would have gone anywhere."

John snickered slightly at her lame attempt at a joke, knowing that if she was at least trying then she wasn't as depressed about it as he thought. He stood directly in front of her and brought her into his arms in a hug, resting his chin on the top of her head. "Well, if you want to talk about it, we can head back to my dressing room. I'm all ears if you need to."

"Naw, I'm okay. Just came over and ended up staring at it longer than I realized. Yeah, it is a little depressing but, as amazing as it may seem, I had some pretty good times living out there too. I made some friends and had some adventure." Cal smiled into his chest, remembering Weasel and Lo, her partners in crime. Not that they had ever committed any real crimes other than stealing the odd can of food from a grocery store whenever they needed to eat but they definitely had some adventures.

John pulled away and looked into her eyes. "You sure you're okay?"

"Absolutely. Just took a small side trip down memory lane." She grinned up at him and made sure it reached her eyes, telling him she really was okay.

"Even so…..let's head to catering and see if Tony will make us a huge sundae, extra bananas, just the way you like it. Ice cream makes the world go round!"

"Yeah right," the playfully punched him in the chest. "Like you need to be eating that before a match. You'll puke all over the mat!" In response, Cena began playfully making retching sounds at her. "You dorkus!" She dumped down from the wall and let him take her hand to lead her back into the building.

"Yeah well, I'm not gonna get to torture you in the hotel tonight since you'll be with Dave so I figure if I stuff you with enough ice cream to make you sick, I can ruin his night too!" John grinned.

Cal laughed and followed him across the parking area. She stole one last look over her shoulder back at the spot across the street, silently thanking whatever god was out there that she no longer had to sleep there at night. It was only coincidence that if she had looked over her other shoulder, she might had seen the eyes watching her and John head off to stuff themselves, peering out from his car window with hatred radiating from them. But she hadn't. And she didn't.