Chapter 21

Randy made his way down to the ring where he found Trish, Beth, Nattie, Phil, and John working with chairs.

"Hey Randy! Are you joining in on the fun?" Nattie asked, handing him a chair as he entered.

John flashed Randy a look that screamed 'What the fuck', but Randy ignored him. "I promised Trish I'd help you ladies out, so here I am!"

Trish flashed Randy an irritated look. How stubborn can he be? Did I not make myself clear yesterday?

"Ok, since we have 6 people now, do you want to break out into smaller sessions? John, you can work with Beth, I'll work with Nattie, and Randy can work with Trish."

Everyone nodded and broke out into groups. Trish and Randy went down along side the ring. She ripped the chair out of his hands and violently whispered to him. "What the fuck Randy? I told you we needed a break! And check out the looks John is throwing us!"

He shrugged, "Do you honestly think I was going to listen to you? Besides, you're right."

Trish looked at him blankly. He had thrown her off guard with his comment, but she waited for him to continue.

"I thought about it a lot last night and I'm going to talk to Sam about David. We have a three day break after the house show next week. I'm going home to ask her then. I do believe your story…and you're not a home wrecker, regardless of what all the losers are saying online."

Trish smiled, as a slight moment of relief passed through her. It may not fix everything, but at least he believes her and doesn't think she's lying to him. And he was finally standing up for himself in his marriage. "What about John?"

Randy glanced in the ring and received another death look from John. "Don't you worry about him…I'll take care of him."

The six of them worked through taking chair shots, how to sell the hits, and different moves they could do with the chairs. Trish even figured out how to incorporate a chair shot into her Stratusphere move. They all worked together for another hour before quitting for the day.

Randy and Trish made their way backstage. "So, will I be waiting for you after the show tonight?"

Trish smiled, "I got my own rental."

"Yeah, so what…we'll return it."

Trish laughed, "Ok then, I guess…."

"Hey Randy can I talk to you for a sec?" John interrupted as he walked up to Trish and Randy."

Randy flashed him a dirty look. "Sure."

Trish looked down uncomfortably, "Randy, I'll catch up with you later." She walked away before he had a chance to respond.

"Before you say anything, I'm telling you right now, if you say anything bad about Trish, so help me God, I will punch you so hard all your teeth will fall out."

John chuckled, "Easy killer…I'm not saying anything. If you want to mess your life up, go for it. I can't stop you. But you know as well as I do, none of this is fair to Sam."

Randy sighed, "You have no idea what the hell is going on! I haven't had a chance to talk to you, but something is up with Sam. She's been acting weird and distant for a really long time now...I mean, we fight all the time. And on New Years, this guy David appears and Sam tells me that she has no idea who he is. Then Trish sees them outside talking like they've known each other for a long time. Do you think that's a coincidence? And I know Trish wouldn't make something like that up!"

John looked down, "No, Trish wouldn't make up something like that…it does seem kinda fishy. Man, why didn't you tell me about this sooner? I thought we were tight?"

Randy looked down, "We are…I don't know why I didn't. I guess mostly because I've been lying to myself that something's going on with her. And…partially because I didn't want to bother you with something that might not even be a problem."

"You know you can always bother me…We tell each other everything! And I'm sorry for being so damn hard on you. I'll lay off you about Trish. She's a good girl and I know she would never try to break up your marriage. And you're not the same guy you used to be…you would never intentionally hurt anyone. But, you really need to talk with Sam and figure out what's going on."

Trish made her way back to the trainer's room. She was watching backstage as Randy and Stu battled it out in the ring when the match ended earlier than intended. Randy had landed awkwardly after a bump he took. As he got up, she noticed he had a slight limp and was favoring his back more than he should have been. She couldn't predict the future, but what she could predict was that Randy was legitimately hurt.

As she entered the training room, she found him lying on the examining table. "Hey, are you ok? You look like you hit pretty hard."

Randy sat up as soon as he heard her voice. He smiled, though she could tell it was forced. "It's my back…they think it's a herniated disc. They just ran all the tests, I'm just waiting for the results.

"Yeah, I've had plenty of those in the past…yoga seemed to really help me though."

He nodded, "I hope it's nothing…the Rumble is less than two weeks away…I'm supposed to win back the belt. This can't be happening."

She shrugged, "They'll give you another title shot…I wouldn't worry about that. But, at least you'll have time to see Alanna…and you can work things out with Sam too."

He looked down, "Yeah, you're right…I just, I haven't had the title in over a year. I wanted it back so bad….and besides; who are you going to travel with?"

She smiled, "Don't you worry about me…Chris is back…I just haven't had a chance to catch up with him yet. I should be able to see him this Monday."

Randy frowned to himself, truth be told he didn't want Trish travelling with Chris or anyone else for that matter. He didn't want anyone to be able to break the bond that they had formed.

Trish noticed him deep in thoughts, "Don't worry, no one could ever replace you as my travel buddy. Besides, they are obviously going to pair him up against Phil, which means he won't be doing Smackdown shows for a while."

Just then the trainers entered the room with the doctor. "Randy, I'm sorry to say, but the test results confirm it. You have a herniated disc between the L4 and L5 levels in the left side of your back. You'll need to take some time off to mend and strengthen the muscles. I'm sorry for the bad news.

Randy nodded, confirming his fears. "Thank's Doc. I know the drill." He exchanged handshakes and watched the doctor leave the room.

He sighed and gave Trish a broken look. Her heart ached for him…he'd taken a side seat in the company to let other superstars grow, he's put them over more so than any other superstar, and the second the company starts to put him back in main events, he gets injured.

"Looks like you get to go home tomorrow."

"Nah, I'm leaving tonight. It's still early…It's only about a four hour drive from Memphis. That'll put me home around midnight. I'm actually excited to get to sleep in my own bed."

"Are you sure you should be driving with the pain killers they gave you? I'm just worried about you…"

"I refused them. I had a feeling I'd be driving home tonight. Trish, you don't have to worry about me. I'll be fine. I'll even text you when I get home if it'll make you feel better."

She nodded, "Ok, you better! And if you get tired on drive, call my cell. I'll be up and I'll keep you awake!"

He smiled at her and pulled her into a hug. She smelled amazing. He didn't know if it was a perfume that she was wearing, or maybe her shampoo or conditioner, or it could have just been her natural smell, but whatever it was, it made him think thoughts that he should not be thinking.

Randy arrived home slightly after midnight. He would've made better time if it wasn't for the ice storm moving in. He noticed the house was completely dark and assumed Sam must've gone to sleep early. He walked in the house and quietly made his way upstairs to the bedroom. As he walked into the room, he found the bed empty. He flicked on the lights and looked around confused. He then made his way down the hall to Alanna's room. As he peaked in, he noticed her bed was empty as well.

Panic overcame him as he dialed Sam's cell. After about 5 rings, it went to voicemail. He hung up and quickly called his parents.

"Hey Mom, sorry for calling so late, but do you happen to know where Sam and Al are?"

"Yes, honey, Al is spending the night here with us. Sam is out with the girls…she said the 8 PM movie was sold out so they got tickets to the 10:30 show instead. I told her we'd just keep Al overnight. What are you doing home? Please tell me you're not injured."

"I am, but it's only a herniated disc. Do you care if I come over and bring Al home? I just really want to see her."

"It's fine sweetie. I'm still up, so come on over. Just be careful…the roads look like they are getting really icy."

"I will. I'll see you in a bit."

He ran into the kitchen quickly to grab a bottle of water before heading out the door. His heart dropped as he saw the same questionable phone from Christmas sitting on the kitchen table. Anger slowly started to boil over in him which quickly turned to rage. His suspicions on Sam had brought him full circle. He had no doubt in his mind that she was cheating on him. He picked up the phone and threw it as hard as he could against the wall, watching it shatter into a million pieces.

He stormed out the house seconds later, wanting to kick himself for breaking the cell phone before he could gather numbers and evidence. He drove as quickly as he could to his parents' house. All he wanted at this point was to hold his daughter. It was only a ten minute drive to his parents' house, though it felt like a lifetime by the time he pulled into the driveway.

He put on a cool face before walking in the door. He didn't want to worry his mother or father until he had concrete evidence that Sam was cheating on him.

"Hey honey!" His mom gave him a huge hug and kiss when he walked in.

He smiled and returned the hug. "Where's Dad?"

"Oh, he fell asleep on the couch as usual. Come on, Al is back in her room." Randy followed his mother back to the spare room that was converted into Al's room for nights when she got to stay with Grandma and Grandpa.

He walked into the room and found her sound asleep. He gave her a kiss on the forehead before standing back up and grabbing her bag. He gently picked her up and wrapped her in her blanket before carrying her out to the car.

Within minutes he had her secure in her car seat and walked back into the house. She didn't even stir.

"Ok Mom, I'm going to get her home and wait for Sam to get in."

"Ok sweetie, please be careful. I'll give you a call tomorrow." She hugged him once more and gave him a kiss.

Randy took his time driving home. The roads had gotten extremely bad at this point and even though his Hummer had four wheel drive, it was useless when driving on ice.

He clicked the windshield wipers up to a higher level. Most of the cars on the road were taking their time. There was a considerable amount of traffic on the road for a Wednesday night at 12:30 AM. Suddenly, a driver in the on-coming lane lost control of their vehicle.

Randy swerved and missed the on coming car; however, the Hummer began fishtailing on the road. Randy tried to straighten it out, but lost control and began spinning. He felt the Hummer make one full rotation before he heard skid marks and felt the impact as a car hit them. The airbags quickly deployed and everything went black.