Chapter 44

What turned out to be a decent plan was nixed almost instantly, due to the fact nobody could find Cena. He had disappeared off the face of the earth, refusing to acknowledge Stephanie's many phone calls, emails...nothing. He was in hiding, waiting, biding his time and choosing when to strike next. So everyone left the mansion and returned to their lives, refusing to go into hiding because John Cena was only one man and couldn't strike them all at once. It was impossible. Dwayne went back to Hollywood to do movies, Paul became the new boss in the WWE and Stephanie stayed in the shadows with the writing time in the back, raising their beautiful girls. Alex stayed on as her assistant, doing side jobs whenever he had a spare minute.

As for Rajani and Taker, they went back to Dallas, after Taker had his house completely redone, and demanded Rajani move in with him. He didn't want to be apart from her again, not after everything that happened and Rajani agreed almost instantly. So they moved her in and she took care of the divorce proceedings from Dallas with her lawyer, who was filing it under abandonment. 4 months had passed with no word on her divorce or John's whereabouts. Before they knew it, July rolled around and nothing had disturbed their peaceful lives - until Stephanie called begging Taker to make an appearance at Raw 1000. The 1000th episode of Monday Night Raw had finally arrived and it was a massive celebration, so of course Taker agreed, with the stipulation that Rajani accompany him on the road. She didn't want him missing out on the show and reluctantly agreed to return to the world of wrestling on Taker's arm, not wanting to be anywhere else in life.

"You sure about this, darlin'?" Taker asked as they packed their bags for the road.

While life had been as good as it could be, given the circumstances of a divorce going at the speed of a snail and no signs of John anywhere, he knew that going back on the road was likely to draw someone out of the woodwork. Especially since Rajani was going back on the road with him. When she just gave him an exasperated look and a nod, he shrugged.

"Just figured I'd make sure one more time."

"I know you're just worried about me and I appreciate the concern, you know that." Rajani smiled, zipping up her bag and then walked over on the other side of the king sized bed to help Taker pack up the rest of his things. "Did Stephanie tell you what you'd be doing on the show?" She wasn't surprised when Taker shook his head, feeling uneasy about it and pushed the feeling away, trusting Stephanie's judgment. "I'm sure whatever it is, you'll approve of." Little did they both know the surprise Stephanie had planned for Taker's segment on the show.

"No Jani, I probably won't because it's Stephanie. Love her like a little sister or somethin', but the woman is a McMahon." Not something he would ever forget or underestimate. While he trusted Stephanie with Rajani's life and his own, Taker wasn't usually keen on blind trust. McMahons were McMahons, period. "If not I'll just... suggest... something else." He rarely suggested, he told, but sometimes pretended to be somewhat modest. Not that Rajani would buy it, she knew him a bit too well. At her eye roll, he smirked and pulled her into his arms flush against his body.

"The day you suggest something is the day hell freezes over." Rajani remarked, laughing softly and accepted a soft passionate kiss from him, stroking his face tenderly with the back of her hand.

The past 4 months had been the happiest and most hectic because Rajani had tried finding a job to keep her mind off of things while Taker worked on his real estate company. He finally made her his secretary, though she refused to let the man she had sex with on a daily and nightly basis pay her. That was just wrong on so many levels.

"I almost forgot to tell you. Daniel called today and said he wants that house in Houston, so do you want me to make an appointment with him or wait until we return from the road?"

"Why don't you let Marian handle the sale? She can keep us posted on the road. She knows how to do a closing." Taker suggested, smirking slightly.

Rajani had refused to be paid, so he had simply opened an account for her and deposited the money there, along with a 401K plan. Forging her signature was easy since he already had it. If she didn't want to touch the money well fine, when she decided to retire, she would have plenty of money for it.

"Woman, stop worryin' about work." He ordered, capturing her wrists in his hands and nudging her down on the bed between their suitcases. He got why she had been Stephanie's assistant though, no detail left unnoticed.

She also applied that elsewhere... could there have been a more perfect woman for him?

"Sorry, but you know how I am when it comes to my job."

Her dark hair fanned all around her as his lips found hers again, her captured hands managing to press against his chest. Rajani sighed in contentment as Taker's mouth left hers to trail his lips down her jaw and neck, beginning the teasing. Just as Taker began sliding his hand up her spaghetti strapped tank top to fondle her breasts, Rajani's cell phone blared throughout the room, effectively disrupting their moment.

"I should get that..." She said breathlessly, opening her dark eyes to lock with smoldering forest green. "It could be Charles with an update..." Her divorce from Cena, which is what they'd both been waiting for impatiently.

Decisions, decisions - Keep going with what would undoubtedly be more of the best sex Taker ever had or let her answer her cell? It was more than likely not Charles, but Stephanie or Alex, who seemed to call a dozen times a day just to verify that they really were coming back on the road. Sighing, he got off of her and let her get the phone. If it were Stephanie or Alex, he was going to have to harm them a little bit. Given that so far, they hadn't heard a damn thing about her divorce other than 'we can't find Cena' and 'we're trying on grounds of abandonment', Taker wasn't going to hold his breath. Brushing her lips against his neck quickly, Rajani winked and answered the phone, flipping it open without looking at the caller ID.

"This better be important." She stated, somewhat annoyed they'd been disturbed and felt her eyes widen at the sound of Charles on the other end.

"Well I would hope your divorce would be important enough, Rajani." Charles remarked, looking over the paperwork and smiled, deciding to stretch this out a bit. "So how are you?"

Feeling her body go numb, Rajani could only hold the phone and felt a lump suddenly form in her throat. "Charles, you didn't call to make small talk." She said somewhat hoarsely, looking up at Taker with wide eyes. "What's wrong?"

"For once I can say absolutely nothing, just have a little information I know you've been waiting to hear."

Closing her eyes, Rajani sagged back against the headboard as tears surfaced, trying not to let hope overtake her. "Charles, are you telling me what I think you are?"

He beamed proudly, nodding. "You are officially Rajani Johnson again. It's finally over."

Tears instantly ran down her face as soon as those words came out of Charles's mouth and Rajani let out the biggest squeal, jumping up to stand on the bed. "YES! THANK YOU CHARLES!"

She began jumping up and down on the bed, tossing her phone up in the air as the biggest wave of relief crashed over her. She was no longer married to John Felix-Anthony Cena and no longer had to carry his filthy last name. Now, she could finally be with Taker fully, every part of her erupting with emotion and jumped right into Taker's arms, planting an explosive kiss on his lips. From what he heard of the conversation from her side and the way she had just exploded, Taker gathered she had finally gotten the news they had both been waiting for. He caught her when she leapt at him, holding her up while returning the emotionally charged kiss. Good. She was divorced from that prick Cena and, if she ever decided to take that walk down the aisle again, he knew damn well it would be with him.

"I guess those abandonment charges finally came through." He rumbled when she pulled away finally, pressing his forehead against hers tenderly.

Nodding, Rajani couldn't speak at the moment because she didn't trust her voice, every part of her body shaking against him. It wasn't out of fear, she was so relieved that it was almost too powerful for her to handle. Rajani did want to be married, just not to a scumbag like John Cena. She wanted to be married to someone who loved and protected her, that caught her whenever she began falling. The man holding her was who she wanted to spend the rest of her life with and nothing could hold them back now.

"Marry me." She whispered, her dark eyes locking with bewildered emerald green. "I love you and I want to be your wife, Taker. I want to have your babies and watch them have babies and grow old with you watching our grandchildren. So marry me and make me yours completely."

Rajani had never been so sure of anything in her life and hoped Taker felt the same way she did, cupping his rugged face in her soft hands. Considering he had just mentally envisioned her next husband, him of course, he probably shouldn't have been shocked, but he was. She had just been told she was a free woman and was now proposing to him?!

Taker wasn't necessarily a traditionalist, but... "Where's my ring?" He finally managed to get out, really hoping his voice had stayed level, his heart was thudding in his ears so he wasn't sure if it had.

Rajani grinned, kissing him again and squirmed out of his arms so she could walk over to the nightstand. "I bought this a few months ago and I've just been waiting for that phone call." Her voice was also shaky and, if Rajani noticed Taker's trembling tone, she didn't point it out.

Pulling out a black velvet box, Rajani turned and handed it over to him, flipping the top up to reveal his ring. It was a simple white gold band with indentations in the middle. A small onyx diamond sat right in the middle to separate the indentations in the band.

"So, will you marry me? If you don't like the ring, we can always take it back and get something else, but I instantly thought of you when I saw this one."

Oh my god, he actually thought it, sounding just like a 14 year old girl in his head. She actually had a ring. Taker DID feel like such a girl right now, wasn't this the man's thing? If she got down on one knee, he was checking himself into the hospital for a cat-scan.

"Darlin'..." He cleared his throat, trying to get past how surreal this moment was. When it looked like she was bracing herself for a no, he took the box. "Yes."

Smacking him on the arm, Rajani took the ring out of the box and placed it on his left ring finger, the biggest smile on her face. "Jerk, you had me worried there for a minute!" She chastised, kissing him tenderly and was pleased that the ring was a perfect fit. "Dwayne is going to kill me when he finds out the same day I get divorced I end up engaged again." She laughed, loving the irony and rubbed her nose against Taker's. "Are you okay? I know this was unexpected..."

"Yeah, I'm fine Jani, just processin' the fact that I'm the girl right now." Taker admitted with a snort, earning himself another smack on the arm and snatched her pert ass up, this time kissing her explosively. When he set her down, he studied the ring she had picked out for him. She definitely knew him well because it was something he would have picked out for himself, providing he had gone engagement ring shopping. "And Dwayne is going to mind his manners or I won't invite him to the weddin' shower." He teased with a playful growl.

Rajani giggled, picturing Taker in full wedding attire with the big poufy dress and long veil. That was a very disturbing image! She couldn't stop laughing though, knowing that image of him would be forever burned in her memory.

"So I guess this means I get a bachelorette party then since you're having the shower. Hmm maybe I'll invite strippers..."

She squealed when Taker nipped her neck, loving how playful they were even after all this time. Rajani could remember back when she started traveling with Taker full-time in the WWE and all their playful antics. Never could she have imagined they'd end up together and were now engaged to be married.

"Darlin', there's a party for both the bachelor and bachelorette, so we can both have strippers, but if yer going to get female strippers, do me a favor and tape it." He teased, knowing damn well neither of them were big on 'sharing', especially each other. Not to mention, if Rajani had been serious and some guy in a thong decided to give her a lap dance... "We could elope."

"No, if I elope again, Dwayne is going to kill me and my wife." She smirked when Taker growled at her, giggling and shrugged, tossing her hands up in defense. "Hey, you're the one who said you were the girl right now, so I'm just picturing how beautiful you'll look in your wedding dress...with your garter and veil. We'll have to find the right shade of gloss for you too and you need to grow your hair out, baldy."

"Sure, and we'll find some glass slippers to support my large ass and slap a 'Hi, my name is Cinderella' label on me." Taker growled, trying not to find this as amusing as she obviously was.

HIM? In a DRESS? In a GARTER? Being giddy over her divorce and new engagement had caused Rajani to lose her mind apparently.

"Jani, you'll be the one in the dress with the garter..." And he was going to be the one kneeling in front of her to remove it with his teeth, preferably.

"Number one, I'm not going to be a Cinderella knockoff." Rajani informed him, shifting to sit on her knees in front of him, dark eyes shimmering with newfound happiness and life. "I already have an idea on what my dress will look like and it's not going to be a poufy ball gown like I just imagined you in." She smiled sweetly, gasping when he yanked her to straddle his lap, and draped her arms loosely on his shoulders. "I want to do this right, Taker. I want my brother to give me away to you and I want to say our vows in front of our friends and family, people that care most about us. I want the reception, the whole shebang. And if you smash cake in my face, I will find a way to hurt you."

"So you want the whole shebang minus the cake smashing part? Isn't that tradition, darlin'?" Taker teased, trapping her wrists behind her back when she went to smack him on the arm. "Play nicely or else..." He rumbled, bending down to kiss the side of her throat, his mustache and goatee tickling her skin. Of course, in the back of his mind, Taker knew they would have to make sure everything was settled on all fronts or there was a good chance a wedding would draw some insects out of the wood.

"This engagement is anything but traditional, considering the woman proposed to the man and even had a ring for him."

She smirked, proud of herself and giggled at the small hairs from his goatee tickling her, squirming on his lap. They could start planning the wedding, but wouldn't have it until she knew for certain that John Cena was fully out of their lives. The last thing she wanted was for that dick to interrupt the most important and happiest day of their lives.

"You're not playing nice right now holding my hands. Very cruel, dear fiancé."

"You were imaginin' me in a poufy, gay dress, darlin', that was cruel. This... this is just foreplay..." He breathed, hot breath hitting her neck and smirked when Rajani tried to hide a shiver.

Moving slowly to her other side, Taker brushed his lips against her earlobe, knowing it drove her crazy. They would definitely be waiting until Cena had been caught and was dealt with. There was no way he would be having a Lorna Doone moment at his wedding and he wouldn't put it past Cena to interrupt to try killing someone.

"Thank the stars we don't have to be at the airport until tomorrow." Rajani murmured softly, her heart rate picking up in speed at Taker's administrations, knowing he wanted her in the worst way. They hadn't ate dinner, but that definitely could wait, both wanting dessert first. Rajani moved her head until their lips connected, feeling Taker bury his free hand in her dark tresses. "Mmm let go so I can pull my top off." She requested in a throaty moan, her whole body ignited in flames that only Taker could start and extinguish.

Rajani smiled when he obliged, removing her tank top, along with her bra, tossing both to the side and quickly removed his sleeveless shirt, kissing him again. Lifting her only to deposit her right back on the bed, Taker halted long enough to shut off both their cell phones and move the luggage to the floor. With them going back on the road again, he'd be lucky to get at least one day with her undisturbed. It was going to be hectic, that was just a given. Taker shed his jeans, aware her eyes were roaming him and smirked, bending down to discard the rest of her clothes.

"See somethin' you like, darlin'?"

"More than you know."

Loving how Taker hovered over her to show his dominance, he was very gentle with her whenever they made love. Also, it always felt like the first time whenever they came together, their bodies molding as one in perfect rhythm. Only when both were completely spent and could barely move did they finally fall asleep, tangled in each other's arms.