Begonias
Both Tom and Randy were taken to the same hospital; Tom for x-rays on his injured knee and Randy for a complete examination. For Tom, the news was not good. The lump he'd felt on the side of his knee was in fact his kneecap which had been totally dislocated by contact with the corner of the steel steps. That meant not only hours of surgery to remove the damaged bone, but a questionable future.
"Mr. Hardy." The surgeon entered Tom's room where Tom lay sprawled on his bed.
"Yeah?" Tom asked, finding the doctor's voice quite soothing. The morphine must be kicking in.
"I wish I had better news, but here it is." The x-rays were shown to Tom, the fluorescents in the room backlighting them. "Your kneecap is completely severed. We noticed what looked like a healed fracture which probably caused the total dislocation..."
"I cracked it a few months ago." Tom answered
This elicited a frown from the doctor. "I don't know who took care of it last time, but I'd suggest you check his medical license. You should not have been wrestling at all."
"What? Not wrestling? All he did was give me a brace and told me to ice it until the swelling went down. He said nothing about not wrestling... fuck..." Tom looked over at Jeff for comfort.
"You'll have more time to spend with me." Jeff gently brushed some loose hairs from Tom's forehead. The touch was soothing, but Tom was still pissed at Youngblood's latest screw-up. He knew he should've listened to Matt when he suggested that Tom get a second opinion but given their personal relationship at the time, he blew it off, and was now regretting that mistake.
"So where do we go from here?" Tom wanted some idea of what his future held before he passed out completely.
"Hopefully up. You see this white area." The doctor circled an area which encompassed the entire ball joint. "Arthritis."
"I'm only thirty-six. How the fuck can i have arthritis already?" Tom wished that the pain medication was causing his ears to malfunction but judging from Jeff's expression, that wasn't the case.
"Your career for one thing." Duh!
"Stupid question."
"We're sending you for pre-op labs tomorrow, and then surgery the day after. We could just shove your kneecap back into place, but either way, you're going to need a new knee. We can do it now, or we can wait ten years. If we do it now, you're out six months. If we wait, it could be a year or longer before the recovery is total."
"You askin' me or tellin' me?" Drowsiness was starting to overtake Tom.
"You're the boss. There will be a less painful recovery if we do it sooner than later."
"I guess I have no choice." I just signed a new contract with WWE. What the fuck will Linda say? What are we gonna do for money? I'm too old to..." While he was thinking, Tom fell asleep.
"I'll be back when we're ready to take him upstairs."
"Can I stay here?" Jeff asked
"I don't see why not. A nurse will check in every hour or so."
Outside the room, Mark paced nervously. He had heard nothing from Jack and Evan after his match, which did not concern him a whole lot given what he'd done to the two of them during his hell in a cell with Tom. Maybe the fuckers are still unconscious. At least since he'd injured Tom like they had asked even though it was accidental, or at least that's what Mark kept telling himself.
"How is he?" Mark asked the doctor when he emerged.
"You family?"
"No." Mark answered, knowing what the next words were going to be.
"I'll be right back." Jeff had also heard Mark and shimmied from Tom's side. He flung back the door and stared at Mark, hate spewing from his eyes.
"It's okay, doc, tell him. Tell him what he did to my Tommers? That his career is over and he needs reconstructive surgery because of what you did!" Having controlled his emotions long enough, the tears started flowing with his words.
"I can explain." Mark had prepared himself for a verbal raping, but the words still hurt.
"Shut up!" Jeff screamed "You think I give a shit about what you have to say? You're an asshole and I hateyouIhateyouIhateyou..." The words dissolved into harsh sobs.
Hoping this was the right thing to do, Mark took Jeff and held him against his chest, stroking his hair and rubbing the back of his neck. "I'm so fuckin' sorry." He whispered "You're right... I am an asshole. All I thought about was what I wanted..." Mark abruptly pushed Jeff aside and walked away. I've royally fucked myself this time.
...
On another floor, Matt and Randy were anxiously waiting for the results of the physical. Randy had claimed he was fine, other than exhaustion, but Matt wanted to be sure. It wasn't the doctor who entered that caused Matt to jump, it was Randy's father.
"Randy, my boy, what the hell is goin' on?" Matt was totally ignored by the Cowboy.
"Dad, everything is fine." Randy answered
"The hell it is, son. I wouldn't fly halfway across the continent if everything was fine. Now what is goin' on? I'm not leavin' until you tell me."
"It's nothing Dad, really. I got into a bit of trouble with a couple guys who hate Matt's family, that's all." Randy moaned, praying that Bob would understand without needing any more explanations. Matt and Randy hadn't told Randy's parents yet; they were waiting until the right time.
"Why in God's name would someone use you to..." Bob had been looking from Matt to Randy back and forth. "Boy, tell me it ain't true what I been hearin'?"
Randy swallowed. The senior Orton's tone was one he knew well and feared.
"Mr. Orton, Sir, I don't know what you've heard, but let me..."
"Stay out of this." Orton turned his rage to Matt. "You've done enough, dontcha think? Corruptin' my boy. Now tell me the truth, son. Tell me you're not a faggot!"
Randy flinched and reached for Matt's hand. This was all the Cowboy needed to go off again.
"Well, fuck. I thought I raised you right, boy."
"You did..."
"I musta done somethin' wrong 'coz I didn't raise no ass-fucking faggot!" Orton bellowed "Just how long have you been carryin' on like this? Wait, I don't wanna know."
"Dad, I..."
"And you?" Orton faced Matt. "I shoulda known better, considering how sick the rest of your family is. Randy, what were you thinking, getting involved with someone like... like this?" He looked at Matt like he was an insect that needed to be exterminated immediately.
Matt shrugged. This was precisely the reason neither he nor Randy had been forthcoming about their relationship to Randy's father.
Bob took two deep breaths and Randy hoped that maybe he was going to calm down. But his words dashed that.
"I have no son." Just like that, Bob replaced his cowboy hat and walked out of his son's life.
"Dad, wait... Dad!" Randy shouted at him. Even though he heard his son call to him, Cowboy Bob Orton never looked back. He never looked back.
When it was obvious that Randy's father wasn't going to come back, grief overwhelmed the younger Orton.
"Shhh..." Matt hopped onto the side of the bed, pulling Randy in close. "It'll be okay, Ran. I'm sure that once he realizes that just because he doesn't understand our love, it is not gonna go away, he'll be back."
"But what if he doesn't?" Randy sobbed into Matt's neck.
"He will. I promise you." Matt held his lover close. "If he's not willing to accept you for the man you are, not the man he wants you to be, then it's his loss. He can't stop you from being happy with whomever you want... you are happy with me, right?"
"Yes." Randy looked up, eyes red-rimmed with tears. "I want to be with you forever."
Both their heads turned when the door opened again. For one brief flash, Randy hoped it was his dad, finally having a change of heart. Unfortunately, it was only the doctor, clutching a sheaf of papers. The results of Randy's battery of tests, Matt assumed.
"I have your results here, Mister Orton." The doctor pulled out a series of papers stapled together and began to read. "You have minor tendon damage in your left and right wrists and a fracture of the fifth metacarpal. Nothing that won't heal with rest and support. We're gonna keep you on a fluid drip overnight. You're still really dehydrated and if I may say so, you need to eat soon."
Randy nodded. He had been furiously trying to expunge the memories of his ordeal from his mind, but one thing stood out... they had hardly fed him the entire time he was captive.
"Other than that, you've survived remarkably well.. Except for, oh dear..." The doctor skimmed the last paragraph and frowned.
"What? What's wrong?" Randy asked, a scared look in his eyes. He clutched onto Matt.
"Uhm... Mr. Hardy, could I have a work with you?"
"Why? What's going on? Matt, talk to me, please?" Randy's eyes started watering again.
"I'll be right back, love."
"Don't leave me, please!" Randy begged
"I'm just going to talk to the doctor. I promise I will be right back. Just relax. Here." Matt reached into a bag of things he'd brought to the hospital and removed a familiar brown object.
"Cuddles?" Randy reached for the beloved bear.
"He's missed you almost as much as I have."
"Mr. Hardy... now?"
Matt left Randy to snuggle with his teddy and followed the doctor outside.
"You'd asked us to run a rape kit. I thought it best if I gave you the results first..."
"He was raped, wasn't he?" Matt sighed "Dammit."
"There was evidence of forcible penetration, with some tearing of the anal membranes. We found traces of semen and sent them off to the police labs for DNA analysis."
"Why are you telling me and not Randy?" The rationale of the doctor was a little confusing and Matt hoped it wasn't because he was expected to deliver the news.
"In situations like this, I have found that telling the family of the victim first helps the victim cope. That way it's not a complete shock to all parties and now that you know, you have an idea of how Mr. Orton will respond."
"Yeah. That's the part that worries me. Randy has a bit of a temper."
The two men returned. Randy was exactly as they'd left him, cuddled up with Cuddles. Immediately taking Randy's free hand in his own, Matt waited for the doctor to repeat what he'd just been told.
"I'm sorry to keep you waiting, but in addition to the physical tests we ran a check for sexual assault..."
A look at Matt was all it took for Randy to understand where this was going.
"We found evidence..." Randy tuned out the rest of the doctor's words, focusing instead on the sad eyes of his Cuddles.
Fuckers raped me? When? How?
"Randy? Are you okay?" Matt noticed the glazed look in Randy's eyes.
"Huh?" The sound of Matt's voice was all it took for the Legend Killer to be snapped back to the present.
"You zoned out on us."
"Oh... yeah, I'm fine."
"Stay as long as you like, but bed rest is definitely in order for Mr. Orton. I'll have a nurse check on you and I've scheduled an appointment with our on-staff counselor..."
"Counselor. I don't need to talk to anyone." Randy barked
"But you have just been through a traumatic experience..."
"I can handle it." Continually interrupting the doctor was giving Randy a cheap sense of accomplishment, but it was clearly frustrating the other two men in the room.
"Randy, we'll talk about this after you've rested a while." Matt rubbed Randy's arm, hoping the simple gesture would calm his lover down. It didn't quite work out that way as Randy glared at both of them and squeezed Cuddles to his chest.
"Nothin' to talk about, man. Nothin' to talk about." Randy leaned back in the bed and stared at the ceiling.
"Okay." At times like this, Matt knew it was better just to agree with Randy. "Since you got Cuddles, do you mind if I go upstairs to check on Tom?" He and Randy had left the arena before Tom's misfortune, but a phone call from a panicky Jeff had soon brought him up to date.
"He's here too?"
"Yeah. He blew out his knee in the match with Mark Jeff thinks it wasn't an accident."
"Mark did it on purpose? That doesn't sound like him." For a brief second, Randy locked eyes with Matt, but then returned to staring at the acoustic tile.
"I dunno the whole story, man. That's all Jeff told me. You don't mind?"
"Nah.. he's family. I'll still be here when you get back."
"Cool. Love ya." Matt noticed a slight cringe when he kissed Randy. "Be right back."
Three floors above, Matt got off the elevator. He followed the sound of Jeff's voice; he could not stay quiet no matter how hard he tried. The only person in history to be banned from the New York, Bangor, and Ronald Reagan Libraries in the same week, Jeff had never learned how to use his "indoor voice".
"...calm down." Tom was saying, and it sounded like Jeff was either ignoring his husband, or choosing not to understand English.
"Imma not calm down! Marky hurt you and Imma hate him!"
"That's fine, but can you hate him quietly? The pain in my knee is paling in comparison to the headache you're causing."
"I guess I don't hafta ask how things are going up here?" Matt stepped into view.
"Matty!" Jeff squealed, opening his arms for a hug.
"Jeffro!" Matt gladly returned the embrace. "I'd ask how you two are doing, but I think the whole hospital knows by now."
"Told ya." Tom smirked
"Marky hurt Tommy, see?" Jeff pointed to Tom's deformed joint.
"Ew." Matt grimaced "What the fuck happened?"
"Fucker pulled a spot. 'Taker still doesn't know how fuckin' strong he is. Threw me over the steps instead of into them... well, almost over them."
"Tommy needs surgery and doctors say he'll never wrestle again." Jeff sulked "I hate Marky."
"Jeff, it's not entirely Mark's fault and you know that. I'm as much to blame as anyone else in this equation." Briefly, Tom explained the entire situation to his brother.
"Wow!" Matt whistled. "You're finished, Jeff's finished, Randy's got a long road before he'll be ready to go back. I'm the last Ace standing."
"That's the quickest I've ever seen a stable disbanded in the history of the WWE." Tom added, trying to make the situation a little less grave. "Randy not doing so well, I gather?"
"Physically, he'll be fine. Emo-wise, he's a mess." Matt told his brothers about Cowboy Bob's blow-up, but left out the whole business of the rape.
"Emo-wise, we're all a mess." Tom agreed "But we'll get through it. We're Hardys."
...
The moment he closed his eyes, Randy returned to being flat on his back with Evan on top of him. He repeatedly tried to call out for help, but the gag over his mouth made any sound impossible. The ropes binding his hands and feet made struggle likewise impossible, but it didn't prevent Evan from slamming into him again and again and again.
"No! Stop! Please! It hurts!"
In seconds, Matt was at Randy's side. "Randy...?" He whispered, hoping the sound of his voice would be enough to bring him around.
Randy continued to claw at the air.
"Randy, wake up!" Matt said a little louder.
Orton's eyes flew open and Matt saw a look of fear paralyze his face. He shied away from Matt, knocking Cuddles onto the floor, biting down on his arm to stifle a scream that threatened to wake up the entire ward.
"It's just me." Matt picked up the stuffed bear and dusted it off before holding it out to Randy like a peace offering to show that he wasn't gonna do anything to hurt him.
"Matt?" In the dim light, Matt's face wasn't readily visible. "What's going on?"
"You were having a bad dream. Again."
Randy snatched away the bear and held it tightly against his body again. Three days and three nights had passed since Randy was first admitted to the hospital and this was not the first time that he'd awakened from the same nightmare. Matt had not left his side for no longer that ten minutes, and only when he needed to eat or go to the bathroom. One of the charge nurses had quickly caught on how devoted Matt was and had arranged for a meal to be brought for Matt as well as Randy at meal times.
"Matty?" Randy was shivering, but the room itself wasn't that cold. "I'm cold."
Matt could tell. He wrapped his arms around Randy to warm him up, but that didn't seem to help. If anything, Randy only started to shake worse.
"Fuck." Matt reached for the nurse's call button and pushed it. It seemed like forever until a nurse arrived.
"I'll get some warming blankets." She realized the situation immediately. Matt tried to keep Randy warm until she returned, but his shaking increased with each passing moment.
" Here we go." The nurse lowered the head of the bed, then draped several warm blankets over Randy's body. "These are for you." She handed a thick comforter and a pillow to Matt. "That chair isn't all that comfortable. I hope these will help."
"Thanks, ma'am. You didn't have to go to all this trouble for me."
"No trouble. Lunch will be in about an hour." She smiled at both of them.
Matt watched the shakes slowly taper off.
"Try to get some sleep, Randy." Matt whispered, gently kissing his forehead. "You need to rest."
"I can't." Randy's voice cracked. "Every time I close my eyes, I see them. They keep doing it..."
"Maybe the doctor will give you something to help you sleep." Matt suggested "This can't continue."
But it did. Like the previous three nights, Matt was awakened to a nightmare and, like every other night, he crawled into Randy's bed and held him until he fell back asleep.
I dunno about Randy, but I can't take much more of this. If only he'd see the counselor...
Knowing it wouldn't last nearly long enough, Matt finally closed his eyes and dozed.
...
"Fuck!" Tom screamed "Double and triple fuck with fuck on top!"
"I told you this was a bad idea." Jeff held out his arms to Tommy.
"I am not staying in that bed another minute. " Tom gritted his teeth against the pain, taking a step with his good leg, then gingerly transferring the weight to his recently reconstructed right one. "Fuck!" He hissed
"Let's go back." Jeff suggested "You've done enough for today."
"If Adam can do flights of stairs the day after his surgery, I can do one lap of this floor." Tom took another step and winced.
"Addy had neck surgery, not his knee rebuilt, silly." Jeff replied "Don't make me carry you back to bed."
"Minor... fucking... detail." Tom took another two steps, then collapsed against a wall, sweat pouring off his face. "Okay, let's go back. But I am going to do this before I leave."
"Lemme at least take some of the weight." Jeff hung Tom's arm across his shoulders and, without having to put all his body weight on his bad wheel, the pair got back to Tom's room without too much trouble.
"Here." Jeff gave Tom a washcloth and he mopped the sweat from his face and neck.
"Thanks. I'm sorry I'm so stubborn, but I gotta do this. I refuse to be dependent on anyone."
"Gee, thanks." Jeff said thickly.
"I didn't mean it like that, honey. I just meant that I am going to beat this. I don't mind you helping me, but I'm going to get back on my feet and quickly." Tom crawled back into his bed and exhaled loudly. "Have you heard when I'm gettin' outta here?"
"Nah. Doc's won't tell me nothin'." Jeff answered
"Damn!" Tom looked at the room, filled with flowers and cards from fans and co-workers alike. There were at least twelve teddy bears in one corner of the room, and that didn't count the two dozen or so that Tom had given to be distributed to the pediatric ward. He wondered what he was going to do when he got home. Lizard tended to be very territorial about Tom and it had taken a long time for him to get used to sharing. Even Bunny had been viewed as a potential threat.
"Any of the boys been around?"
"Yeah... Matt's been by, Jay, Addy, even Zack Ryder stopped in." Jeff answered
"Ryder? You're kidding!" Tom exclaimed
"Who do you think left you that?" Jeff pointed to one of the floral displays. Red and white roses spelled out the words "woo woo woo" and "you know it" and were held by the paws of a cute pink elephant.
"Cute." Tom sighed "If you were outta the picture, he wouldn't make my top ten so I wish he'd stop tryin'." Zack's infatuation went back to the days when Tom was General Manager of ECW. "I thought he was with T-Reks anyway?"
"They split." Jeff answered "Don't you read Twitter?"
"Not recently. I prolly should since I seem to be missin' all the gossip." Tom answered, inhaling sharply. "Fuck this hurts."
"I told ya you overdid it. You should be thankful you weren't crippled."
"I am." Tom answered "Every morning I look in the mirror and say thank God I'm alive and that I'm not Zack Ryder!"
Jeff laughed aloud.
"I may use that as my new catch phrase if I ever get back into the ring." Tom chuckled "Every morning I look in the mirror and say thank God I'm alive and that I'm not Zack Ryder." He repeated "I like the sound o' that."
"What if you're wrestlin' Mark Henry?" Jeff asked "It won't work."
"I can change the name. It sounds a lot better than 'the Future is now'." Tom chewed on his bottom lip, a sign that he was thinking hard about something.
"Tommers, what's wrong?" Jeff knew the habit. It was one he used quite often and probably where Tom had picked it up in the first place.
"Mark hasn't been by, has he?"
"Uhhhhh..." Jeff stuttered
"Jeff..."
"He did, but you was sleeping."
"What did he want?" Tom queried
"I dunno. I told him to come back later." Jeff shrugged "I didn't want to wake you. The pain pills had just kicked in."
"Oh. He hasn't been back?" Wanting to clear the air with Mark was a priority on his list.
"No." Jeff lied. Mark had been back, twice, but both times Jeff had sent him away before he even got a chance to see Tom.
"Dammit." Tom wriggled down into a more comfortable position, although there weren't that many positions that would qualify as that.
...
At that very moment, Mark was pulling into the driveway of the place he now called home. Feeling a combination of anger, irritation, and being sorry for himself, he did what he usually did when he felt like this. He bought himself a new toy. A two hundred thirty-thousand dollar 1931 Crocker 61 motorcycle to be exact. Parking it next to the other bikes belonging to himself and James, he kicked open the door leading from the garage.
"Honey, I'm home." He yelled
"It's about fuckin' time." A deep voice boomed from the kitchen. "You were s'posed to be home days ago."
Mark walked into the kitchen. James was at the table, drinking a beer and throwing his knife at the wall. It wasn't the holes in the wall that bothered Mark. Hell, it was James' house and if the fucker wanted to trash it, who was he to argue. It was the piles of empty beer bottles that concerned him. Mark stopped counting when he reached three digits, and that barely covered the mess on the counters.
"Ran into a fuckin' problem." Mark looked around. Maybe James had left him one or two.
"More in the fridge." James sensed what Mark was lookin' at. "Don't worry. I didn't drink 'em all today."
"Kids around?" Mark asked
"Fuck no. The little buggers are showin' off Connor's new dog around the neighborhood."
"Snoopy? I thought everybody had seen it already."
"Little bastard wouldn't shut up about wanting another pet so Cooper bought him another dog. Named it Thor. Pass me 'nother fuckin' beer, Marky."
"Sounds like you had a better fuckin' time than I did."
"Yeah, right. At least you got to put someone in the fuckin' hospital." James took the beer and drank it quickly.
Mark finished his beer, looking sullenly around the kitchen at the empties, the holes in the wall, the man responsible for both... was it all worth it?
"Marky... ya gonna tell me what the hell's eatin' ya before I take you upstairs and fuck it outta ya?"
Mark looked into his lover's eyes.
"I'll never understand you." When he wasn't being psychopathic, James could be borderline compassionate. Especially after he'd spent the better part of a week drinkin' beer. "You did what you had to do. Eventually."
"Eventually. You saw what I did to those guys, right?"
"Fuck yeah. They were fortunate that I'm banned from the shows or shit would've really hit the fan. Instead of one guy in the hospital, two guys would've gone to the morgue." James laughed at what he considered a joke.
"You're a real fuckin' help Lawson."
"Now you want my help?" James gasped "Usually my help is about as welcome as lube when we're fucking."
"James, please. I dunno what to do." Mark begged
The sight of his man, the Big, Bad Deadman, actually begging was starting to turn James on in a huge way.
"Make your peace with this Hardy jerk..." James got up from the table and walked over to Mark. He kissed Mark viciously, biting at his lips until they bled and licking the blood up like a feral animal.
The beer bottle that was in Mark's hand fell to the tile floor, shattering, as he returned the kiss with just as much force. Mark was immediately flung over James' shoulder, then carried up the stairs to their bedroom.
"...and leave the rest to me." Those were the last words James said before he claimed Mark as his own.