Chapter 28—An Unexpected Guest

A/N: Special thanks to –ghost303- for being the only person to review the last chapter.

[days later]

As Liz laid in Randy's arms, she breathed in the silence of her home. For the first time since Friday, no one was making any noise; everybody in the house was asleep. On top of that, her family was leaving later that day. They felt like they were intruding on Liz's family; they had expected her to be living alone.

Randy smiled down at her. "What are you smiling about?" he asked.

Liz sighed happily. "It's so quiet," she whispered.

Randy smirked. "Not for long," he said seductively. He kissed up Liz's neck and jawline. Liz giggled and moaned at his touch.

As quietly as they could without waking up the sleeping children and guests, Randy and Liz made love for what was the 4th time in the last 4 days. After being terrified of any kind of sexual contact for so long, Liz looked forward to the alone time she had with Randy.

As Randy and Liz came down from their highs, they panted to catch their breaths.

"Can that get any better?" Liz asked breathlessly.

Randy chuckled. "We can try," he said. "Not today, though. You wore me out," he said.

Liz smirked. "So," she took a deep breath. "What are you doing for the rest of the day?" she asked as she laid on top of him.

He sighed. "Actually, I was thinking that we could drive down to Biloxi for Raw tonight," he said cautiously.

Liz gasped. "That's a great idea! I was asking because I wanted us to spend the day with the kids. I don't have anything to get done at work today and kids are out of school for the summer," she said.

Randy wrapped his strong arms around her curvy frame. "You'd really be okay with going?" Randy asked.

Liz pecked his lips. "Of course, babe. Some of my best friends still work there. It'd be great to see them all again," she said.

Randy smiled. "Awesome. I'll give Hunter a call and set it up," he said as he reached for his phone. He scrolled through his least of most recent calls until he found the contact he was looking for.

Hello?

Hey, Hunter. It's Randy. How are you?

I'm pretty good; just work as usual. How are you?

Randy smiled at Liz. I'm great, actually. Listen, I'm calling because I was thinking about driving down to Biloxi for Raw tonight. Would that be okay?

You know you're always welcome here. You don't have to call for permission.

I know, but I just wanted to give you a heads up. I'll have three extra bodies with me.

What do you mean?

Liz and the kids are coming, too. That's fine, right?

Oh. Um, yeah. Sure.

Awesome! Thank you so much. We'll see you later.

Alright. See ya.

Randy ended the call and tossed the phone aside. "All set," he said as he looked up at Liz with a smile.

"I'm so excited!" Liz squealed. "I hope I have something to wear!" she said as she hopped out of bed. Randy chuckled as Liz ran naked into the bathroom; she closed the door behind her.

Randy scrolled through his phone; looking at tweets and emails while Liz showered. He smiled to himself when he heard Liz singing in the shower; he was glad that she was happy. When all of his email notifications disappeared, Randy put his phone away and sat up.

Before Randy got out of bed, Michael barged into the bedroom. Randy was thankful that his lower body was covered.

"Daddy! I'm hungry!" Michael said as he climbed onto the bed.

Randy laughed and hugged the five year old; he ruffled his raven hair, too. "Okay. How about you go back to your room and make up your bed? Then I'll come help you with your bath and you can help me make breakfast for your mommy and sister," Randy said.

Michael smiled and nodded. Randy sighed when he saw Wade's smile on Michael's face. Every day, Liz or Randy found something new that reminded them of Wade; it was inevitable.

"Can we make smiley face pancakes?" Michael asked.

Randy smiled. "Sure thing, buddy," he said. "But we can't make them until you make up your bed and get your bath. The sooner you do that, the sooner we can make smiley face pancakes," he said.

Michael nodded and carefully climbed down from the bed. When Michael was gone, Randy stretched and got out of bed; he pulled on the basketball shorts he had next to the bed and went to the closet to find something to wear to Raw while Liz finished up her shower. Minutes later, the water shut off.

"I was wondering," Liz said when she walked into the closet after her shower. She was only dressed in a bra and panties. Randy licked his lips when he saw how the pink lace hugged her curves. "Would Hunter and Steph be okay with me doing an interview or two tonight?" she asked.

Randy smiled. Liz had always enjoyed her short-lived work in WWE. She was happiest when she was in front of a camera. Randy was actually surprised that Liz only designed clothes instead of modeled them. "I think they'd be okay with that. Just talk to them when we get there," he suggested. Liz nodded and looked at the dresses she had in the closet.

She plucked one off the rack and turned to Randy; she held the dress up to her body. "Would you be okay with me wearing this?"

He frowned; his heart was heavy for Liz. He never even thought about the fact that Liz was still in the mindset of Wade's controlling nature. Before he could even say anything, Liz nodded somberly and put the dress back. She pulled out a longer dress. "How about this one? Is this one okay?" she asked.

Randy gently took the dress from Liz and hugged her tightly. Silently, he held her with hopes of his love filling her soul. He kissed the top of her head as he hugged her. "Talk to me," he said.

Liz pulled away from the hug; she frowned. "About what?" she asked, confused.

"Why do you need my permission to wear a dress?" he asked.

She shrugged. "I don't know. I officially belong to you now; I need to make sure I look presentable with you, right," she said.

Randy shook his head. "No. You can wear whatever you want, Elizabeth. You're your own person. What makes you think you 'belong' to me, now?" he asked using air quotes.

"We had sex…" she said quietly.

Even though Wade was already dead, Randy felt like killing him all over again. He realized that Wade had instilled ownership in Liz. He made her think that he owned her after he did what he did to her.

"Please don't be mad," fear laced Liz's tone when she spoke.

It was then that Randy realized his fists were clenched and his breathing was heavy. "I'm not mad, Elizabeth—"

"Then why do you keep calling me that?" she asked referring to her full name. Randy only called her Elizabeth when it was serious.

Randy sighed. "Because I love you. You don't need my permission to wear what you want Liz. I'm not like Wade. If you want to walk around naked, I don't care," he said.

Liz smiled. "Really?" she asked.

He nodded. "Really. But if you really want my opinion, I think you'll look great in anything," he said with a kiss to her cheek. With that, Randy slipped out of the closet and into the bathroom for a shower.

Liz smiled softly and held a dress close to her body. She had been wrapped up in Wade's ways that she didn't realize how different her life could be with Randy. She had even started to rethink Randy's suggestion of marriage.

She hung the dress back up and pulled on some sweatpants and a tank top.

"Daddy!" Michael called as he waddled into Liz's bedroom. Liz heard him and quickly put on a robe.

She stepped out of the closet and saw Michael in the bed. "Daddy's in the shower, baby. What's wrong?" she asked.

Michael started jumping on the bed. "I made up my bed," he said.

Liz smiled and caught him from the air. "Good. Now let's get your bath!" she said excitedly.

oOo

When Randy was finally dressed for the day, he opened the bedroom door to meet everybody downstairs, but he was greeted by Cort who was about to knock.

"Oh. Um, hey, Randy," he said.

Randy forced a smile. "Hey, Cort. What's up?" he asked.

Cort sighed. "I was wondering if I could talk to you for a minute?" he asked nervously.

"Yeah, sure. Come on in," he said as he stepped aside to let Cort inside. He gestured to the small sofa at the foot of the bed. "What's going on?" he asked once and Cort were seated.

"I'm just concerned about Liz," Cort said.

Randy frowned. "What about?" he asked.

"She hasn't been the same person she was back in Missouri. She seems really detached and lonely. I know you've known her since she was a kid, so I guess I'm just asking if everything has been okay with her?" Cort explained.

Randy sighed. "I think it would be best you talked to Liz yourself. But I think the fact that she has a couple of kids and a business to run may have something to do with the change. Plus, she was only 19 the last time you saw her. I mean, that's 7 whole years of change. She lost both her parents ad had two kids since then," he said.

Cort frowned. "So… is everything okay?" he asked again; he notice that Randy tried to dodge the question.

"Look," Randy stood. "I don't know what to tell you, man. I'm sure if you sit down and talk to Liz, she'll be able to tell you more," he said.

"Wait… do you love her?" Cort asked.

Randy stopped in his tracks and turned to Cort. "Yeah. Yeah, I do," he said.

Cort smiled. "Good. Don't hurt her, man. She's been through a lot, you know. Taylor's adoptive parents are basically giving her away and DHS doesn't want to put her foster care so the next best thing is to bring her here. So, I understand Liz being a little out of it; but not like this," he said.

The older man frowned. "Um. You lost me at Taylor… who is that?" Randy asked.

Cort's eyes widened; he had said too much. The man assumed that Liz would have told Randy about Taylor, but he was so very wrong. "Liz hasn't said anything at all about Taylor? About who she is?" he asked.

Randy shook his head. "No. Who is she?" Randy asked.

"Hold on. Liz didn't tell you she was coming today?" Cort asked; not answering Randy's question.

"No! Now will you just tell me who this Taylor person is?!" Randy demanded.

"She's—" Cort started, but he was interrupted when the doorbell rang. "Well, I guess she's here," Cort said with a shrug.

A/N: The first person to guess who Taylor is will get to have some input on the end of the story; so please review and post your guesses.

Sorry this chapter is so short, but I promise the next few chapters will make up for it. 7 chapters to go!