Sorry for such the delay in this chapter.. Every time I would sit down to write, I would get interrupted by something or someone and have to go somewhere.. lol
Chapter 30- Magic in the Water
"Odie! Lunch time!" I called through the backdoor of my childhood home. Randy and I got talked into baby-sitting while my mom and sister went shopping for groceries. And we didn't have anything else to do, but stay cooped up in the hotel all day, so I didn't have a problem with it. And from Randy's action, I didn't think he did either. The soft patter of feet met my ears, along with a louder, heavier sound of running feet. I smiled to myself, remembering the image of Randy and Odera playing with the water hose in the back yard.
I turned around and saw Odera, in her "The Little Mermaid" bathing suit climbing into a wooden chair at the dining room table. Her blond ponytail was matted her to her with water, with a few stray hairs sticking to her face. I walked her peanut butter and grape jelly sandwich over to her, and sat in a chair next to her. Then a noise at the archway of the kitchen caught my eye. I turned and gasped, and immediately had to stifle my laughter. Randy was standing in the kitchen, his shirt completely soaked in water, clinging to his skin. Water beaded up, and dripped down his face, and even his shorts seemed to be drenched. I hadn't realized I was covering my mouth with my hand.
"What… happened to you?" I asked, biting the inside of my cheek to hold my smile. I noticed that Odera had forgotten her sandwich, and was watching him between the bars of the chair. Randy raised an eyebrow at me and turned his eyes towards the little girl. Things clicked instantly for me.
"Odera got control of the water hose," Randy said. And the way he said, I knew he was trying to scare Odie to thinking he was mad, but I heard the waver in his voice. I knew that he wasn't long from cracking up himself. I turned my attention towards my niece, and the look on her face was priceless. She looked frightened but proud all at the same time. I almost lost my cool then.
"Odie," I said in a stern voice, "You should be ashamed." And I watched as she pulled her little legs up to her body and ducked her head away, and onto her knees. A move she always does when she thinks she is in trouble. I took my glass to the sink and watched as Randy moved closer to me. I turned the sink on full power and subtly reached for the sink hose. "You see Odie, you missed a spot."
And I turned around, hose in hand, and began showering Randy with water. I heard the delightful squeals of laughter coming from Odera from the table, and the shocked grunts coming from Randy. If there was a dry spot on his shirt after Odie, there wasn't now. I knew that I was getting water all over the floor, but I would mop it up later. I couldn't pass up an opportunity like that. But Randy soon turned the tables on me, slipping past me, and shut the sink off. I dropped the hose, and tried to make my escape, but Randy's hand closed around my wrist, spinning me around. His face was expressionless. I hated that he could do that, and I couldn't tell what he was thinking. While I, on the other hand, was fighting the laughter and smile with all I had.
"I'm sorry Randy," I said, making my voice low. I pushed my bottom lip out, knowing it would distract him. However, it didn't this time. His eyes never left mine. Randy stared at me with that stony blank expression so long, that I was beginning to think that I had actually made him mad, until he broke into a smile. And I could breathe freely.
"Forgiven. How about a hug?" And before my eyes grew wide, before I could register his drenched clothes, he pulled me flush against him. Both of his arms wrapped tight around my body, and he spread them apart, so he could push more of me against his wet clothes. My whole front was instantly saturated with water from contact with his clothes. I gasped in shock and tried to escape his embrace, but I couldn't. I wiggled and squirmed and finally, Randy let go of me. I shot him a glare before looking at the damage. My pink bra was clearly showing through my white tank top, and my pink shorts were no better. I huffed.
"Odie, if you are finished with your lunch, let's go upstairs and find you some clothes for your nap. I'm going to get some of Moma's clothes until I can get these dry. I'll see if I can find you something of Daddy's you can wear while our clothes are drying," I spoke to Randy, as I tried to usher a wet, cold and shivering Odera out of the kitchen. He just smiled at me and leaned against the kitchen counter. He was obviously proud of what he accomplished.
Finally, after fifteen minutes of arguing, Odie was in her favorite monkey night gown, and me in a pair of my mother's sleep shorts and an over-sized shirt, we came back down stairs. I turned the TV on to her favorite cartoons, and she climbed up on the couch. I left the living room and headed back to the kitchen, to where Randy still stood against the counter. I grabbed him by the hand and took him back to the laundry room. Shutting the door behind us, I tossed him the only thing of my father's that I thought he could wear; some cotton sleep pants and raggedy T-shirt. I turned away from him, to the dryer, and threw my tank top and shorts in. A few moments later, Randy handed me his sopping shirt and shorts. I took them from him silently, and tossed them on top of my clothes, turning on the dryer.
I turned to Randy, standing almost too close. My breath caught in my throat as I stared into his blue eyes. I heard the pounding of my heart in my ears, and the urge to close the space between us rushed over me in a powerful wave. Randy lifted his hand and grazed his knuckles over my cheek. I closed my eyes, and leaned into his touch. The sound of the door creaking open brought me back to reality, and I jumped back from Randy, landing hard on the dryer. I looked down to see Odera staring up at us, between Randy and me.
"I can't sleep," she said, her little voice whimpering slightly. I guess the cartoons weren't going to be enough today. I was about to tell her to go lay on the couch, and I would be right there, but Randy spoke up.
"I'll go," he said, looking at me. I had to try to not gape at him. Randy had been really amazing about this situation, playing with Odera, and letting her feel like she had the run of the place. But I was beginning to think that it really was the fact that Odie had Randy wrapped around her little finger. And he shouldn't be ashamed; it would happen to the best of them. Odera was just that way. Randy caught me staring and raised an eyebrow. "What? Becky has two little kids. I'm good at nap time."
I smirked at him. "Okay, then. Why don't you take her up to my old room? More room than the couch."
Randy ran his fingers down my arm slowly, before turning his back on me. I shivered, thinking that little signs of his feelings like that could push me over the edge; it was dangerous really. He lifted Odie in his arms, and she laid her head on his shoulder. Odera could fight off her nap time better than any child I have ever seen. I couldn't help the smile that tugged at my lips as I watched the tiny face. They disappeared up the stairs, and I sighed, grabbing a towel from the dirty pile on the floor, and began to clean the wet mess in the kitchen.
An hour passed and Randy still hadn't come back down stairs. And I was afraid to go up, in case he was still trying to get Odera to sleep, I didn't want to mess that up. Instead, I helped Mom out around the house; I finished the dishes, swept the kitchen, picked up Odie's toys from the living room and few more loads of laundry. I heard the sound of a door slamming shut out front and soon the front door opened. Moma and Zoey walked in, carrying multiple bags of groceries. After several more silent minutes of bringing in bags, we sat down in the living room.
"Where's Odera?" Zoey asked, kicking her shoes off in a sigh of relief. I smirked at her actions. That's what she gets for wearing heels to go shopping, I thought.
"She's upstairs with Randy. She's supposed to be taking a nap, but Randy never came back down."
Zo groaned and ran her fingers through her hair. "Oh Lord, if she didn't her nap out, she's going to be such a handful this evening. I'm going to go check on her." And Mom and I watched she left the living room. We weren't able to even start up a conversation before I heard Zoey's voice from the top of the stairs. "Lo, come here. You have to see this."
Confused, I made my way out of the living room, up the stairs, and saw Zoey standing outside my old bedroom door. She put her finger to her lips, signaling me to remain quiet, and slowly, she turned the knob of the door and pushed it open. I peeked through the crack and smiled. Randy lay stretched out on his back, one arm on his stomach, and the other wrapped around the sleeping toddler that had her head lying on his chest. He was fast asleep. His words ran through my mind, "I'm good at nap time." I could certainly see that. I had to stifle my laughter. My eyes roamed to Odera, and her peaceful face. Her chubby cheek that laid against Randy's chest pushed open her mouth just the slightest bit, creating a perfect "o" shape. One of her small hands was resting on his shirt, next to her face. Zoey pulled me back, and gently shut the door. She looked at me, smiling. I let out a silent giggle, not able to get that image out of my head. It was by far the most innocent I had ever seen Randy.
"Well, I like him," Zo exclaimed softly. I raised an eyebrow at her. She had already told me that on the first day we arrived back home. Zoey must have read my expression and shook her head, "Not that way. Well, yes in that way, but also in a different way. He just seems… right for you, you know? Right for this family. Because how many people do you know that Odera will warm up to that fast? She got her shyness from her father. And she just loves Randy." Zo pointed at the closed door, as if to prove her point.
I was soaring at her words. This week at my old home had been nothing to what I feared it might have been. Not only had my mother and sister welcomed my boyfriend with open arms, they accepted and approved of him. Almost immediately. And Randy can say what he wanted to about my opinion being the only one that mattered to him, but that was before, when he didn't know how open my family was going to be towards him. I could tell that he was grateful and immensely happy that he was considered a part of the family.
oo
Being back on the road kind of held mixed feelings for me. While I loved being around my family, and having Randy in that element was absolutely amazing, I also missed traveling around with Randy, and the rest of my friends. I missed my work. It wasn't like I woke up everyday dreading my job. I loved everything about what I did; the people, the atmosphere and the actual work. And there wasn't one day, unless I was at odds with someone, that I didn't enjoy my day. And today was no exception. It was Monday, the Raw in Nashville, Tennessee. I had already finished my pre-work before the show began, and we still had thirty minutes before the show actually began.
So, I was killing some time in John's locker room, with Randy, Casie, Edoin, Matt and Adam. I sat on the floor, leaning back to prop myself on Randy's already bare legs. There was a big confrontation between the Nexus and several of the Raw superstars at the forefront of the show. Though, his knees pads provided excellent cushion for my shoulder blades. The four hour drive from Roswell, Georgia to Nashville was hell on my back.
"Okay," Adam said loudly, gaining everyone's attention, "you know that one fan that has been sending me all the cool gifts and stuff?" he paused and looked around at all of us for signs of recognition. I remembered a time where he got a gift delivered to my titantron room.
"Like that studded bracelet?" I asked him. He nodded and I felt Randy move behind me.
"And that sweatband you're always wearing?" I looked from Randy to Adam, to his wrist. And there was an arm sweatband that I had never paid any attention too. I waved Adam on, the curiosity getting to me.
"Well, anyways, this morning, she sent me another package," he said, pulling out a small box and tossed it to Matt. The secrecy of Adam's voice put us all on the edge as we watched Matt gingerly opened the package. His first mistake was to blindly reach into the box. The next several actions happened very fast, I had to take a moment to soak it all in. Matt had picked up something slinky and black, which caused him to yell in disgust. Then he involuntary threw the object away from him; in my direction. What ever it was, hit me softly in the chest and fell in my lap. I blinked several times before slowly reaching down and fingering up the object in the lap.
"You have got to be kidding me?" I said, humor and disbelief lacing my voice. With the tips of my thumb and first finger on each hand and held up the pair of lacy, see-through panties. An outburst of laughter rippled through the room when they caught sight of the garment in my hands.
"Oh, Matt," Edoin said, rolling her eyes in amusement, "it's not like you haven't seen or held a pair of woman's underwear before."
Matt shivered and turned towards Edoin, "Edie, you know how I am. If I don't know where it came from, I'm not touching it." Edoin rolled her eyes again, and covered her mouth with her hand to hide her laughter.
"This is why you think it's a 'she'?" Randy asked, plucking the panties from my hands. I involuntary rubbed my hands against the sides of my pants; I didn't know where they had come from or who had worn them. The urge to wash my hands was very tempting. Randy let the panties dangle from his index finger, motioning toward Adam. "Don't be so quick to judge, my friend. It still could very well be 'he'."
John sniggered behind his hand, "A very small 'he'," and the room collapsed into laughter once more. Even Adam laughed at his own misfortune a little, before sobering up to say.
"Yeah, laugh it up John. You too, Randy. I'm going to enjoy watching the fire burn when either the two of you receive this lovely gift one day. And I can't wait to see the reaction from Casie and Lora when that time comes."
That sobered both Randy and John up immediately. Adam didn't have anyone, at the moment, to answer to for the fan-sent panties, but Randy and John would. And I have to admit, that being honest, my true reaction to something like this would be laughter. I wasn't a jealous person. Never have been. Which was a good thing, if your boyfriend was a WWE Superstar. And the thoughts of some woman sending Randy a pair of panties was just hilarious. But I wouldn't let him know that. It amused me that he was sweating at the thought that I would be upset over something like that. If it ever was to happen, I'd let him worry a little bit, but I would let him know soon that it didn't bother me. And from the look on Casie's face, she had about the same idea as me.
There was a knock at the door, and whoever it was didn't even wait for a response before pushing it open and letting themselves in. And I knew why in an instant. It was Stephanie McMahon. Everyone seemed to sit up straighter when she walked in. Her black button-down shirt hid some of her pregnant belly, but it was still very prominent. She smiled at all of us softly before she pulled a set of papers out of her bag.
"Casie, I have looked over your doctors' notes that you got last week while on vacation," Stephanie said, thumbing the papers in her hand, before smiling and handing Casie the small stack of papers. "Here's your corrected script for tonight's Raw, along with your match against Edoin."
I gaped at Stephanie for a moment, before turning wide eyes to Casie. She was staring, shocked, at the papers in her hands. John smiled softly at her, putting an arm around her shoulder. I leaned back in between Randy's legs, and watched as Casie smiled up at Stephanie, and practically ran to her, engulfing her in a hug.
"Okay, and I still need to speak with Lora alone," Stephanie said, and I tensed up. "So, if you don't mind, could you follow me out in the hallway?"
I nodded, and stood up from my spot on the floor. Randy grabbed my hand, and gave it a little squeeze of encouragement. "I'll see you after the show?" I asked, and he nodded, and waved good-bye to everyone else, and followed behind Stephanie. I had a feeling I knew what she was going to talk about. We stopped shortly outside the locker room, in a secluded corner. She turned to face me.
"Did you have a nice time away from work?" she asked. I had a feeling she was trying hard to make small talk. I nodded.
"I did, but I did miss my work. It's not like I hate coming to work," I smiled. Stephanie laughed, openly, for the first time. A natural sound.
"I know what you mean. I love being around my family, but this business, these people, they're my family as well. I can never stay away for too long," she said, and I noticed her spinning the enormous diamond on her left hand ring finger absent-mindedly. This definitely was her family, in the most literal sense, at least. "But the thing I really need to talk to you about it the case about the assault and battery, and the attempted kidnapping you have going on towards Erik Gilbert."
Ah. I knew it. My teeth clenched at the sound of his name, and my heart hurt. I sighed, "What's wrong?"
Stephanie looked confused. "Why would there be anything wrong? I was just going to let you know that the trail date is set for next Wednesday. But it has to be in North Carolina; because that was the state the incident occurred in. But things work out, because next Monday's Raw will be in Lexington, Kentucky, which isn't that far from North Carolina."
I was very fortunate to work for such a company that looks out for their employees the way they have done me. I couldn't think of any other story that I have heard where the boss has gone to such great lengths to protect an employee. "Will Randy be able to fly down with me?"
"Of course," Stephanie said, "I wouldn't send you there alone. I'll give you more details as the date gets closer, but for now, this is all that matters, alright?"
I nodded and she smiled, and said her good-byes, and I watched she walked off, back to her office. I let go of the breath I had been holding and looked down at my watch, and nearly panicked. It was ten minutes until the show began, and I was across the arena from the titantron room. I turned in the opposite direction and ran, praying like hell I would make it.
A/N
Thanks for reading! Please review! 'Cause I want to know what you think! And that's the bottom line, cause the GM said so…. Er, wait.. lol JK.. was I the only one that screamed when Cole read that? Though I know it's not really Stone Cold, but that would be AWESOME! Eisac Namhort, Duchan Mandic, Christina89, JoolR, Dreamin'BIG, AshleyBabe86, SuperStar89, Viper-Desi, KimmieCena, Xandman216, Thiala, Barnsley Gal 09, roknpstergrl, miamitravel, and southern. dreamz, southerncharm21, Cecilyyy, undermyumbrella, babyxbxgurl, hardycenagrl, Krista Hardy, xLou26, littleone999, rkolover2, rauts, Kezzstar and alana2awesome are my support system! Love you guys!
