Chapter 72:

One Month Later

"Haley, I'm not trying to be a jerk or anything, but you've lost weight and not in a good way. You're looking rundown." Michelle McCool clucked her tongue in disapproval. "You really should eat more, you know."

"When's Randy getting here?" Haley asked dully, not even bothering to respond to Michelle's observation.

For the past month since Dave had made out with Eve Torres, Haley Mariano was the zombie version of who she used to be. The brunette used to be full of energy and was always smiling, but these days, the only time she seemed even remotely happy was when the Legend Killer was in town. Sure, Haley functioned. She got out of bed every morning, showered, ate her meals, well most of her meals, and tolerated the hovering of her friends, but she was the shadow of herself.

The only time she had even a hint of her old fire had been when she faced Dave a week after his indiscretion. She barely let him speak, she had raged at him, hurled his betrayal back at him and told him they were finished, that she could never trust him again and for him to do her one favor and leave her alone. The Animal had been completely dejected when he left Boston, but he'd kept his promise and stayed away, which Michelle had a feeling was more on the advice of Triple H than Dave's actual doing.

Michelle had a feeling that Haley's healing process was also slower because she had not spoken to Hunter in a month either. When asked, Haley would get somewhat defensive, stating that if Hunter was going to side with Dave over her, then she didn't need him. Hunter had stayed away as well, not trying to get back into Haley's good graces, but he wasn't just sitting around idly these days. The Game was up to something and Jeff Hardy told her that he thought it had to do with Haley.

"Randy will be here in two hours." Michelle answered her friend's question, dropping the subject of Haley's weight and making a mental note to tell Randy to make sure she ate more when he got here.

"Oh." Was all Haley said in response.

Michelle sighed. She had practically been living in Boston on her off days and was no closer to finding a way to break through to Haley. Candice, who was here on the days Michelle was not, was having the same problem. Haley wasn't opening up to her two closest girlfriends; instead she seemed to be closing herself off more and more as time went on. This was Hunter's area of expertise, and the two them weren't even on speaking terms.

"Jeff and Maria are trying to come up and visit for a couple days, they're thinking Thursday." Michelle told Haley, hoping to see some kind of positive reaction. "You and Jeff haven't talked in ages."

Haley merely shrugged. "Should be fun." She said in a tone that relayed the exact opposite of her statement.

Michelle grit her teeth in frustration, but kept trying. "Kennedy's coming in tomorrow too, since I have to head home before I go back to SmackDown for some family stuff. He'll keep you company while Randy's working with Dwayne."

"I don't need to be kept company." Haley scratched at an imaginary piece of lint on her pants. "You don't have to spend all your free time here, Michelle, I'm fine."

Sure you are, the All American Girl thought sarcastically, you've only been borderline catatonic for the past month.

Instead, the Diva's Champion forced a smile. "I want to be here, Haley. You're going through a tough time right now and you need your friends."

"I'm fine." Haley repeated, though Michelle was far from convinced.

She was saved from replying by the arrival of Dwayne, who was just coming in from his run. "Ladies." He flashed a grin at both of them before heading for the refrigerator and pulling out a bottle of water. "You two had breakfast yet?"

"I'm trying to convince Haley to eat more." Michelle told him, suppressing a frown. "She's a little underweight." She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but something about the Rock seemed off lately. He acted completely unbothered by Haley's current state and reminded Michelle that Haley perked up when Randy was around so she just needs more time.

"For the last time, Michelle," Haley said with a touch of impatience. "I'm fine."

Dwayne chuckled, twisting the cap of the clear liquid and taking a quick sip. "There, see McCool, she's fine. She'll eat when she's hungry. Now, is Orton here yet?"

"He'll be here in two hours." Michelle nearly snapped, but bit her cheek to keep her tone mockingly pleasant. "Then you two can pal around like prepubescent little boys."

Dwayne snorted and raised a signature eyebrow. "Orton and I just happen to be on the same wavelength, McCool. Besides, he's here to see Haley more than he's here to see me."

Ass, Michelle thought darkly, I don't know what Candice sees in you. All you care about is pairing Haley up with Randy so that all is right in your little world.

"I'm going upstairs." Haley announced, getting to her feet. "I'm going to read or something." She added before Michelle could speak.

Once she left the room, she glared at Dwayne. "She's not getting any better. We need to do something."

"She got her heart broken, McCool." Dwayne rolled his eyes. "Randy gets through to her. It's just going to take time. Once she realizes that she's in love with Randy, she'll be herself again. He loves her so much he'd do anything for her. That says a lot about a man's character. He's exactly the type of man I'd want for Haley, someone who'd risk it all just for a shot with her."

"Don't you think she should be herself before she falls for Randy?" Michelle snapped. "She's hurting Dwayne and you leaving the job in Randy's hands only shows that you don't really care about her anymore."

"Watch it, McCool, I care about Haley more than you know. She's my girl." Dwayne's expression narrowed. "I've known her longer than you, I know how she ticks. She just needs more time, let it go."

She needs Hunter, Michelle thought. He knows how she ticks and he'd know how to get through to her. Maybe she was your girl once, but damn it she's Hunter's now. Just you wait Rocky, I'm going to talk to him once I'm back on SmackDown, then we'll see how smart you think you are.

~Legacy~

Dave Batista was not himself. It had been a month, one whole month since he seen Haley, spoken to her, smelled her scent, felt the softness of her hair, kissed her breathless. And, he was slowly going insane because of it. Haley wanted nothing to do with him right now and after watching the footage, he couldn't exactly blame her, it looked very bad, though Dave knew he'd never consciously do anything like that to Haley.

Still, Hunter needed to find a way to prove that Dave had been slipped the aphrodisiac they'd found in his blood that night. And to keep things calm, Hunter told Dave to let Haley be until they figured things out.

"Aggravating her is only going to make things worse right now." The Game had said. "Candice and Michelle McCool are taking care of her and Kennedy will go up when he can. We can trust them."

Meanwhile, Randy Orton was practically living in Boston when he wasn't on tour with RAW. Jealousy was an uncomfortable sensation that sat in him every time he thought about it. It should be Dave that was spending all that time with her, not Randy. On the other side, Eve Torres was becoming more and more aggressive in her pursuit of him and Dave was getting close to throttling Mike Adamle until he removed Eve as his valet.

The Latina seemed to think that with Haley and him broken up, she had a shot now and was adamant about taking it. Through sheer luck and avoidance, Dave had managed to hold her off. Well, that and the help of Candice Michelle and Kelly Kelly who would physically attack Eve when she tried to make a move. This wasn't done for Dave's benefit, since both women treated him like garbage these days, but he appreciated them handling Eve on those occasions.

The only good thing about this whole situation was that his complex emotions were doing wonders for his career. In one week, Dave would meet Chris Jericho at Cyber Sunday with the World Heavyweight title on the line and the momentum was in the Animal's favor. Not only did Dave owe Chris for how he treated Haley, regardless of whether or not they were together at this point, in the ring was the only time Dave got to release his frustrations, which got him on a roll to be the number one contender.

Still, he'd give it all up, the title shot, his whole career, just to have Haley with him again. He missed her something fierce. He physically ached just thinking about her and not being able to call her, or see her when he wanted too. His patience was being stretched to the limit and he could only pray that Hunter had some type of plan that would come through for him.

Otherwise, he might just go crazy.