Chapter 2 – It's Called Being A Parent
"Oh my god Mom!" Heidi Orton burst into laughter as her jaw dropped "You did not!"
"Unfortuately we did," Lita laughed along with her daughter as the two ladies made their way through the backstage area.
The mother and daughter duo were currently heading in the direction of Randy Orton's locker room in search of the man himself. If the WWE was touring around the Louisville area of Kentucky, then you could be sure that Heidi and Lita would be at the arena for as many RAW taping as possible if not just to support Randy, but just to spend time with him. Randy was on the road 300 days out of the year and any opportunity that his wife and daughter got to spend any extra time with him was an opportunity they were going to take and they always did.
"That was by far the craziest thing that I ever got up to backstage with the divas in my day my dear," Lita continued, still laughing as her mind replaying the incident in her head "But those days were a very very long time ago."
"Despite what you think mother," Heidi said "You're not old."
"I am pretty old Heidi," Lita replied with a smile.
"44 is not old!" Heidi stated as she rigorously shook her head to emphasise her statement "You're not old mom."
"You don't think so?" Lita inquired as she turned to her daughter "I mean the fact that my daughter is graduating high school very soon makes me feel very old Heids."
"Shut up mom!" Heidi exclaimed playfully "You're not old alright?! You are young and hot!"
Lita just laughed as she turned to face her daughter. She couldn't believe that Heidi was about to be 18 years old and she was basically done with high school forever. The red head couldn't believe that it had already been 18 years since Heidi was born and that meant that it had already been 17 years since she and Randy had finally gotten married. Lita smiled as she looked her daughter up and down. For so long after her abortion of her and Randy's first unexpected child, Lita had spent so much time imagining what that child would have looked like. It wasn't so much the question of whether that child would have been a boy of a girl, but it had always been the question of what that child would have looked liked that had been in the back of Lita's mind before Heidi had been born. Heidi had pretty much answered that question and now Randy and Lita's beautiful baby daughter was all grown up.
Lita could see that Heidi clearly had Randy's height. The brunette was already a little taller than her mother and Lita was sure that she still had a little more growing left to do. The 17 year olds dark brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail and large gold hoop earrings hung down from her ears. Heidi was sporting a tight fitting black singlet matched with dark blue skinny leg jeans that were tucked into her favourite pair of knee high tan cowboy boots. Heidi had definitely got the style gene from Randy's side of the family because it was clear to Lita that her own daughter had loads more style than she ever did, but it definitely did help that Heidi was just one of those girls that was gorgeous enough to be able to pull off absolutely anything she wore.
"You actually stole all the divas underwear?" Heidi asked again, still not believing what her mother had told her moments before "You went through everybody's bags and stole their underwear? Really mom?"
Lita simply nodded.
"Me and Vikki were so drunk that night," Lita laughed as she readjusted her small long strapped black handbag on her shoulder "We stole as many pairs as we could find in the locker room, put them on and then ran around backstage making as much noise as we possibly could. I think Vikki had one of Lillian's thongs wrapped around her head like a bandana."
Heidi laughed as she looked closely at her mother. This was the absolute happiest that she'd seen Lita since RAW was in Atlanta a couple of months prior when Heidi and Lita spent the last part of Christmas vacation visiting Jeff and Dawn in their new home. I mean it wasn't like Lita had been miserable or anything, she was regularly happy at home, but it was nothing like how happy the red head got when she knew that she was going to see Randy. It was almost a little hard for Heidi to comprehend the love her parents shared and sure she was excited to see her Dad too, but she was still no where near as excited and happy as Lita.
Heidi knew that her mother had given up alot when she was born and she knew that it couldn't have been easy for her to retire from competing in the ring just so that Heidi could go to a regular school and live in her own home instead of living out of suitcase and learning all her school work with a tutor. Heidi knew that her mom didn't want that for her and so she retired from the WWE to stop all the travelling and raise her just like any other kid in their home in Louisville. It couldn't have been easy for Lita because she loved being in the ring and she loved wrestling, and especially because retiring from the WWE meant that she would have to be away from her husband 300 days out of the year. Heidi knew how hard it was for her mom to be away from her dad and that was a huge part in the decision that Heidi had settled on for once high school wrapped up for her at the beginning of this summer. She had decided to spend the year straight out of high school on the road travelling with her dad and the WWE. Not only did it meant that she got to spend more time with her dad, but it meant that for a whole year, her parents got to spend 300 more days together out of the year.
"But don't you even think about re-enacting my past actions my dear," Lita said raising a finger at Heidi.
"There is no way that I could ever be as crazy as you Mom," Heidi replied with a smile "I just don't think I have that kind of imagination."
"Well that's good then," Lita said with a nod "But you know that you're only 17 so I don't want to hear any stories...."
"Involving alcohol I know," Heidi finished off for her mom as she shook her head with a smile "You know Mom you're starting to sound like Dad more and more everything."
"No way!" Lita brush off as she broke out into a smile at her daughter "I'm the fun, cool parent!"
Heidi cocked an eyebrow at her mother before she just laughed.
"You are so weird mom," Heidi commented as the ladies finally stopped infront of the locker room they had been searching for.
The gold nameplate on the door reading 'Randy Orton'. Heidi knocked on the door immediately before turning to face her mother, who was absolutely beaming. Her hazel eyes sparkling in sheer happiness.
"Come in!" the deep voice of Randy Orton exclaimed from the otherside of the door.
Heidi and Lita's eyes fell upon the man himself as soon as the door was opened. He was sitting there on one of the locker room benches with one knee bent up next to him as he finished lacing his black wrestling boots. Clearly not realising who was standing there at the door, Randy continued with his lacing task, his eyes looking down and focussed solely on his boots. Not realising how excited she actually was to be able to see her father today until she actually saw him sitting there, Heidi couldn't stop the words tumbling straight out of her mouth. Grasping her father's attention immediately.
"Dad!" Heidi suddenly exclaimed causing Randy's head to shoot up immediately before a wide smile formed on his face.
"There are my girls!" Randy exclaimed as he stood up from his seat and took a couple of steps towards his wife and daughter before he was practically tackled by Heidi.
"Good to see you too sweetheart," Randy said with a small laugh as he hugged his daughter back, her arms wrapping tightly and surely around his neck.
"We missed you Dad," Heidi said, her voice barely audible as her face was almost completely buried in her dad's shoulder.
Randy couldn't help but smile as he tightened his grip around his daughter, before his eyes finally rose and caught those beautiful hazel eyes of his wife. The smile on the Legend Killer's face broadening as his wife stood still in her spot and smiled back at him.
"Well I mean mom missed you way more than I did," Heidi spoke again as she finally broke her father's embrace and distanced herself enough to look up into his eyes "But I still missed you."
Randy smiled down at Heidi as he looked her in the eyes. The Legend Killer taking a moment to look at his daughter closely enough to realise how grown up she was and how much time had passed since she was that little brown haired, blue eyed girl baby girl that had completely turned his world upside down.
"Did you now?" Randy inquired, cocking an eyebrow at his daughter.
"Well only a little," Heidi replied with a shrug before she smiled again and leaned in to give her father another hug.
"I miss you too sweetheart," Randy replied as he hugged his daughter back "You been helping your mom out at home?"
"Naturally," Heidi replied as she slipped her handbag off her shoulder and threw it across the room to land neatly on one of the black leather couches in the room.
"And your school work for the holidays?" Randy inquired.
"All done," Heidi replied nonchalantly as she pulled a tube of vanilla lipgloss out of her front jeans pocket and smeared some casually across her lips.
"Your valedictorian speech?" Randy inquired, not being able to help a smirk forming on his lips.
"Dad!" Heidi exclaimed, playfully punching her dad in the shoulder "Stop jinxing it!"
"I'm not jinxing it!" Randy exclaimed in his defence "I'm predicting it."
"Well you should stop that too," Heidi said raising a finger at her father "Because you might be disappointed."
"I won't be disappointed because I am never wrong my dear," Randy replied matter-of-factly.
"You're always right," Heidi continued on, rolling her eyes at her father "I know I know."
"Good girl," Randy replied, pulling his daughter towards him one last time as he placed a kiss on her forehead "And what about your mother Heidi?"
Both Randy and Heidi turned to face Lita, who was still standing in the same spot she'd been in since she entered the room with Heidi a couple of minutes prior. The red head was standing there with her arms folded across her chest, waiting for her daughter's reply to her husband's question.
"Well she's been good I guess," Heidi replied with a smile as she looked from her mother back to her father "I've had to straighten her out a couple of times."
"Oh I see," Randy replied "She hasn't been behaving herself?"
"You two are scary alike you know that," Lita finally interjected, her arms still folded across her chest as she shook her head at Heidi and Randy.
"That's because she's my daughter," Randy replied.
"Unfortunately," Heidi muttered under her breath, causing Randy to look at her with his famous pouty face.
"Whose side are you on?" Randy asked as he raised his eyebrows at his daughter.
"My side," Heidi replied with a smile.
"Just like her father," Lita replied as she took a couple of steps forward, Randy copying her actions until the pair were now face to face in the centre of the room "Just like her father."
"And her father is pretty awesome," Randy replied, stepping closer to the red head, his arms wrapping loosely around her small waist.
"So he thinks," Lita replied, her arms coming around Randy's body to settle around his neck.
"Just ask his amazing wife," Randy replied with a smirk as he bowed his head so that his face was mere millimetres from Lita's "She knows just how awesome he really is."
"Which is very," Lita replied, her eyes locking dead with Randy's.
"Which is why he loves her," Randy replied.
"And she loves him back that much more," Lita replied.
The pair exchanged a smile before the Legend Killer finally bowed his head and captured the red head's lips with his. Lita's arms wrapped more tightly around Randy's neck to attempt to bring him closer to her as their kiss continued. Just on instinct, the Legend Killer let out a low groan at the feeling of the red head's body against his, something he had missed so much, which caused the pair's daughter to exclaim a comment.
"Oh gross guys!" Heidi winced as she tried to cover her eyes with her hands "I know it's been like 2 months now but could you at least wait until I get out of the room! Geeze!"
Randy and Lita slowly broke apart, both smiling like absolute idiots, before they both turned in the direction of Heidi.
"Could you hurry it up then sweetheart?" Lita inquired with a cheeky smile on her face.
"You two are gross," Heidi groaned as she faked throwing up before she turned the door knob and opened the door behind her "No one wants to see their parents doing that!"
"It's just cause your parents just happen to be so good looking," Randy commented, not being able to chuckle a little at his daughter's reaction.
"Duh!" Heidi exclaimed as she pointed a finger towards herself "How else do you think I was born so damn gorgeous?"
"Oh and modest!" Lita exclaimed with a laugh as she turned to look up at Randy "Just like her father."
"Hey," Randy said throwing his hands up in defeat as he turned to face Lita "I just gave her the blue eyes and same god like body I have, the attitude is definitely yours my dear."
"God like body?" Lita inquired as she cocked an eyebrow at her husband.
"I know it's been awhile so would you like a refresher baby?" Randy inquired cockily as he started to pull up the bottom of his T-shirt.
"Oh my god guys!" Heidi exclaimed, drawing Randy and Lita's attention and eyes once more "I'm still here! Seriously are you that horny?"
"Heidi!" Lita exclaimed at her daughter, yet not being able to prevent a small laugh escape her lips.
"You guys go and be nasty and do whatever it is that you do on reunion night," Heidi said, her face still scrunched up as the visuals were still clearly invading her mind "I'm going to be with Brooke and Penny if you want to find me, alright?"
"Just hurry up and go daughter," Randy huffed as he rolled his eyes at Heidi before a smirk worked its way across his way "You talk too much.. just like your mother."
"I resent that," Lita pouted as she turned to face her husband.
"I know you do," Randy replied with a smile as he pulled the red head closer to him so that there was no clear space between the two of them.
"I'm going!" Heidi exclaimed as she walked through the door, her eyes still locked on Randy and Lita.
"Goodbye then!" Lita and Randy exclaimed in unison in reply, their eyes not even averting for a second from each other.
"Leaving right now!" Heidi exclaimed as she reached for the door handle to the locker room door.
"We'll miss you," Lita replied, not taking her eyes off Randy.
"Yeah, whatever you will," Heidi said rolling her eyes before she slammed the locker room door shut.
"Goodbye!" Heidi yelled from the otherside of the door in the hallway before the room was finally silent.
"I didn't think she was ever gonna leave," Lita sighed as she and Randy were finally left by themselves.
"I missed you so much Bella," Randy blurted out as he quickly captured the red head's lips in his.
Lita smiled against his lips as she tightened her arms around the Legend Killer's neck as Randy lifted her feet off the ground. She felt his tongue slowly enter her mouth before she returned the same favour. Her small hands soon releasing Randy's neck so she could run her fingers through his short brown hair and so she could caress the side of his face. The pads of her fingers running over the fine stubble on either side of his face indicating that someone was being a little lazy on the shaving front. The need to breath soon arose and the red head placed her hands on either side of Randy's face, creating some distance between them as their eyes locked. Matching smiles working their way across both faces.
"How are you?" Lita asked as she ran her hands around Randy's shoulders before they settled on his chest.
"So much better now that you and Heidi are here," Randy replied honestly.
"Are you on the card tonight?" Lita asked.
Randy simply nodded in reply.
"I'm in the main event tagging with Christian against Rhodes and DiBiase," Randy explained.
"Are they still having Christian turn babyface before Wrestlemania?" Lita inquired.
"I think so," Randy replied "Me and him have got a meeting with Stephanie just before RAW goes on the air so I'm assuming that it will be about tonight and then the build up towards Wrestlemania, especially the Rumble."
"If they're going to have Christian feud with you he'll have to win the Rumble right?" Lita inquired.
"I guess that is pretty true if they want to feud to be there for Wrestlemania," Randy nodded "Unless I lose the Championship, but that'll never happen."
Lita rolled her eyes at her husband.
"Why are we talking work anyway?" Randy suddenly asked "I spend 300 days at work a year, one of the only nights of the year when my wife and daughter come visit me I don't want to talk about work at all! Except maybe with Stephanie later, but only cause I have to."
Lita
let out a small laugh.
"Gosh you think you're funny don't
you?" Lita replied with a wide smile.
"You don't think I'm funny?" Randy questioned, his eyes growing wide like he was about to cry.
"God no," Lita replied flat out.
"Whatever Mrs Orton," Randy brushed off with a smile "So, how's Heidi been at home? Still absolutely going nuts over the lead up to graduation?"
"I don't know why she stresses," Lita said shaking her head "She's brilliant and she works hard so there is absolutely no need for her to stress, especially because it just makes me stress and then we both can't sleep and we're drinking 25 cups of coffee a day between us to keep us running!"
"Oh my god!" Randy said pretending to be absolutely horrified.
"But apart from that she's been good," Lita added "She heads back to school next Monday and then after Spring Break she's on the home stretch."
"God I can't believe she's going to be 18 in April," Randy sighed as he ran his fingers through his short brown hair.
"Doesn't it make you feel old?" Lita questioned.
"Really old," Randy replied with a small laugh.
"I can't believe how fast these years have gone by," Lita added "It seems like just yesterday that she was starting to talk and walk."
"And her first day of school," Randy added.
"And the first tooth she lost," Lita added.
"And now we're going to be watching her graduate," Randy summed out "Wow."
"Wow is right," Lita sighed "I don't think I want her to go straight to college after the summer."
"Why not?" Randy inquired, confused by his wife's words.
"Because I'm going to be so lonely in that house by myself!" Lita pouted causing Randy to burst into laugher "I'm going to absolutely hate our house if I have to live in it 300 days a year by myself!"
"I'll buy you a couple of live in friends, OK baby?" Randy teased.
"Maybe I'll just hire some strippers then, OK baby?" Lita mockingly replied.
"I think you've been spending too much time with that daughter of ours," Randy replied "Your comebacks are getting alot better."
"Bite me Orton," Lita said.
"Don't tempt me babe," Randy replied with a cocky smirk.
"17 years later and he's still calling me the little pig name," Lita sighed as she rolled her eyes as her husband, her arms coming back to wrap around his neck "I have clearly taught him nothing."
"Not a thing," Randy replied as he bent down and placed a few short sweet kisses on the red head's lips "So how are we ditching the daughter tonight after dinner?"
"I got us separate rooms in the hotel," Lita replied with a cheeky smile plastered on her face.
"Adjacent rooms?" Randy winced, hoping the answer to that question wasn't yes.
"5 doors apart," Lita replied, maintaining her smile "On opposite sides of the corridor."
"Have I told you how amazing you are?" Randy inquired, reaching out to tuck a lose strand of red hair behind Lita's ear.
"Everyday baby," Lita replied, standing up on her tiptoes to capture Randy's lips with hers once more.
"Good," Randy replied "But anyway I have to go and find Dave and let him know that he can take the rental because I will be driving my car with you and Heids back to the hotel, and then I have to go to my meeting with Christian and Steph so I'll meet you back here just before RAW starts?"
"Sounds like a plan Da Vinci," Lita replied, standing on her tiptoes once more to plant a kiss on Randy's cheek.
"Da Vinci had a code, not a plan Einstein," Randy stated matter-of-factly.
"Well actually Da Vinci was an artist and he painted the Mona Lisa," Lita retaliated straight away "And Einstein was E=MC2, remember?"
"You are definitely spending too much time with Heidi," Randy replied with a laugh as he pulled Lita towards him for one last tight hug "I will be right back after the meeting alright?"
"I will be right here waiting Rand," Lita replied as she hugged Randy back.
Pulling away from his wife, the Legend Killer took her small hand in his, raised it to his lips and kissed in softly.
"Get out of here you cheesy bastard," Lita replied as she rolled her eyes at him.
"Going and gone," Randy replied as she jogged to the door, opening it and then stopping in his tracks before he closed the door behind him "I love you so much Bella."
Lita couldn't help but smile and blush a little at the same time.
"I love you too," Lita replied.
And with that Randy disappeared into the hallway, letting the locker room door slam shut.
15 minutes later...
Lita looked down at her watch as she averted her eyes away from the WWE magazine she currently held in her hands. That was the problem with WWE locker rooms, the lack of a variety of good reading material. I mean, there were only so many times that she could read the same magazine before she could pretty much recite the entire script word for word, cover to cover. There was also only so much time that a meeting with Stephanie McMahon could take. Where on Earth was Randy?
"I can't believe you just did that!" Heidi yelled as she flung open the locker room door and stormed into the Orton locker room with Randy hot on her heels.
"What is going on?!" Lita immediately questioned, completely caught off guard by her yelling daughter who was wearing a very pissed off facial expression at the present.
"That was so embarrassing!" Heidi continued to yell "I can't believe you did that! Gosh Dad! You're so embarrassing you know that?!"
"I'll tell you what is going on," Randy started, his voice harsh and angry as he stared at the back of his daughter, completely ignoring the words that were coming out of her mouth.
The 17 year old had her arms folded across her chest and seemingly didn't want to even look at her father as she defiantly stood facing the opposite direction.
"I thought you said you were going to be with Brooke and Penny if we needed you," Randy addressed his daughter, despite the fact she refused to even look at him right now "I didn't see Brooke and Penny anywhere. Just you and those two muscle bound knuckleheads that probably just learnt their multiplication tables. Where exactly were Brooke and Penny? Or was that just the lie that you told your parents?"
"What knuckleheads?" Lita questioned, completely lost and curious as to what exactly was going on.
"Penny and Brooke have a match tonight father," Heidi replied coldly "They left to get ready for their match which was why they weren't there, alright? They were the ones that introduced me to those knuckleheads, Rod and Tod, who happen to be very nice guys thank you very much."
"You just met them!" Randy exclaimed, not believing what he was hearing "You know nothing about them!"
"That's because you practically dragged me away from them!" Heidi started yelling again as she finally turned around to look her father dead in the eyes "I was having an innocent, pleasant conversation with two harmless guys and you had to overreact and drag me away from them without even so much as a word to them or me!"
"That's because the only girls that hang around knuckleheads like that are ring rats and that's exactly what they thought you were!" Randy exclaimed in his defence.
"Randy!" Lita exclaimed "You did not just call Heidi a ring rat!"
"No I didn't," Randy replied immediately, not even bothering to further justify himself because he knew exactly what he had meant "But that's exactly what they thought you were. That's why they were talking to you and looking at you like that! They thought you were probably just some dumb ring rat – which you're not – but still that's exactly what they thought you were. I could see the looks on their faces. You shouldn't be alone talking to guys backstage that you don't know. This is why I don't like you walking around backstage at RAW and the pay per views because you don't know the type of people that are walking around backstage, especially the rookies who we don't know anything about."
"Chill out dad!" Heidi exclaimed as her father started rambling again "You're making absolutely no sense at all! It's seriously not a big deal, OK?! Whatever!"
"Not a big deal?!" Randy exclaimed back at his daughter "I just saw two 26 year old guys chatting you up! They were chatting you up and looking you up and down like you were a common ring rat! May I remind you that you are only 17 years old Heidi Maree!"
"Dad don't start with the full names!" Heidi whined as she rolled her eyes at her father.
"Do you think Rod and Tod knew that you were only 17 years old?" Randy asked "You're only 17 years old Heidi!"
"Randy, honey, she's fully aware of that, I'm sure," Lita added, trying to calm her husband down.
"Do you know what guys that age want?!" Randy interrogated his daughter "They're only after one thing! 26 year old guys only want one thing from beautiful girls, even girls they don't know!"
"Dad, c'mon," Heidi continued to whine as she refused to meet eyes with her father.
"Randy, stop..." Lita interjected again, trying to settle the dispute.
"They're only after sex, Heidi!" Randy continued "All 26 year old guys want is sex and they are certainly not getting that from my daughter!"
"Jesus Christ!" Heidi finally exclaimed, staring her father right in the eyes, finally fed up with what she was hearing "You need to understand that it's me who's living my life, not you! Can't you understand that, dad?!"
Randy narrowed his eyes at his daughter as he watched her very carefully.
"Watch your tone with me young lady!" Randy warned as he raised an eyebrow at his daughter.
"I don't care anymore!" Heidi practically screamed at her father "You have no idea how controlling and overbearing you are! It's not fair that I never get to make any of my own decisions! I never get a say in what's going on in my life! It's my life dad, so stop trying to control me like I'm some sort of toy! I have feelings and emotions too and I'm 17 years old and capable of making my own decisions! Stop trying to control me! YOU'RE RUINING MY LIFE!"
And with that Heidi stormed out of the Orton locker room, slamming the door loudly shut behind her.
"HEIDI MAREE ORTON!" Randy yelled out behind her "YOU COME BACK HERE THIS INSTANT OR..."
"For heaven's sake Randy stop it!" Lita finally exclaimed, drawing her husband's attention as he finally stopped yelling.
Randy opened his mouth to speak before his red headed wife cut him off.
"No, Randy, here me out, OK?" Lita started.
"You're just going to let our daughter talk to us like that?!" Randy exclaimed at the red head, still completely shocked at what had just taken place "You're just going to let her get away with the disrespect she just showed us?! We can't let her off that easy, Li, otherwise she's going to think she can tread all over us, and then you'll see...."
"RANDY!" Lita exclaimed, cutting her husband off again "Listen to yourself!"
"What?" Randy inquired innocently "I'm not going to let her off that easy, Li. No, I don't think so."
"I think you should this time because she's right," Lita stated back as she folded her arms across her chest and raised an eyebrow at her husband.
"What exactly do you mean by that?" Randy asked confused.
The red head sighed as she leant back and took a seat on the black leather couch in the centre of the room. Her head fell back to meet the leather exterior of the couch.
"You are a fantastic father Randy, and Heidi loves you," Lita started "But you need to start seeing things her way once in awhile."
"I'm a guy," Randy said more calmly as he took a seat next to his wife "It's alot harder for me than it is for you."
"Then you need to accept that," Lita said, turning to face the blue eyed man next to her "You need to accept the fact that Heidi is a young woman and things like this are going to be happening alot now. She's gorgeous and we both can easily see that, as can the rest of the male population out there. She hardly looks any younger than 25, which is precisely why she's also going to be attracting the attention of older guys, like the 26 year olds you obviously found her talking to."
"But I know what 26 year old guys are like, Li," Randy replied "I used to be one. They think with their anatomy rather than their brain, and anything in a skirt is a conquest for them."
"Trust me, I know that too, baby," Lita commented "And yes, I'm scared that someone like that could hurt our daughter, but that doesn't mean I have the right to control her so she doesn't have the opportunity to get hurt. That doesn't give you the right to either."
"I just don't want her to get hurt Li," Randy explained.
"Neither do I," Lita replied as she placed a small hand on her husband's arm.
Randy Orton sighed as he nodded and looked into the hazel eyes of his wife.
"But she's a big girl," Lita continued "She is capable of looking after herself and she is capable of knowing what is best for her. She knows what she wants and she knows what decisions to make in life that will be best for her. You need to accept that Randy. You need to accept that she's old enough now and she doesn't need you for as many things as she used too."
Randy ran his fingers through his short brown hair as he sighed. Lita was right. Heidi was right. He was too controlling at times and hardly gave his daughter any room to breath, let alone room for error. He wanted her to be perfect. He wanted to protect her. He wanted her to stay his little girl forever, but she couldn't. She was growing into a beautiful young woman and Randy could clearly see that. He needed to give her room to grow.
"I guess I should go and find her then, shouldn't I?" Randy said softly as he turned to face his wife.
"I think you should," Lita replied as she leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on Randy's cheek before he turned face enough around that she could place the second kiss on his lips.
"17 year old girls I tell you," Randy mumbled to himself as he ran both his hands through his short brown hair "That daughter of yours is the reason that I'm going grey already!"
"It's called being a parent Rand," Lita replied, smiling at her husband as she stroked his arm nearest to her with the back of her hand "And you've done an amazing job as Heidi's parent so far."
"It's called being completely white on top like Flair by the time I'm 50, Li," Randy retorted, causing himself to let out a small laugh "I'm going to find her so if Christian comes looking for me to spot our match for tonight...."
"I'll sort it out," Lita finished off with smile as Randy got up onto his feet "Don't worry baby, I'll sort it out, you just go and sort out things with Heidi."
"Thanks sweetheart," Randy replied with a smile before he immediately headed for the door and walked straight through and into the backstage hallways.
Surprisingly enough, it didn't take Randy at all as long as he expected to find his 17 year old daughter. Heidi Orton was just past the guerrilla area in a secluded corner perched ontop of a couple of crates. Her head in her hands. From this part of the arena Randy could clearly hear the hustling and bustling of the crowd now taking their seats in the stands for tonight's live episode of Monday Night RAW. He could hear some voices really clearly and he wondered if the people whose voices they were knew exactly how close they were to the superstars backstage. Randy stopped in his tracks as he just looked at Heidi for a moment. She hadn't realised his presence at all so her head was still in her hands. Her eyes on the concrete ground infront of her. Lita was absolutely right, Heidi was an absolutely gorgeous young woman and Randy didn't know if he just hadn't noticed how truly beautiful his daughter was before or he had noticed it and had refused to acknowledge the fact. Maybe it was a little bit of both. Randy took a deep breath before deciding to finally approach his daughter. Not knowing exactly what he was going to say, he was pretty much chucking himself into the deep end.
Heidi's head shot up in his direction as she heard something drag across the concrete floor near her. It had been Randy's boot as he made his way over to her. The Legend Killer saw the look in her eyes and he knew that meant she was going to run.
"Heids please don't go," Randy immediately spoke, sensing his daughters' intentions immediately "Please can I talk to you?"
Heidi was fully surprised that her father had known she was just about to bolt in a direction away from him and because of that surprise she remained seated where she was. The brunette relaxed back into the crate she was sitting on and stared at the concrete infront of her as her father took a seat next to her on a similar crate. Father and daughter sat in complete silence for a moment before Randy drew Heidi's eyes towards him as he cleared his throat.
"I'm sorry," Randy blurted out, his voice now completely calm and quite soft "I'm so sorry for everything back there sweetheart."
The anger that was inside Heidi completely washed away as she looked at her father and listened to him. His words and voice were so calm and sincere she knew that he meant them. The look on his face was one that she didn't see very often. He looked almost vulnerable and almost small, nothing like the big bad Randy Orton he was on screen and nothing like the playfully arrogant Randy Orton Heidi always seemed to meet at home.
"You are my daughter Heidi," Randy continued, snapping Heidi out of her thoughts "You're my daughter and I love you so much. I just want to protect you. I don't want to see you get hurt."
"I know Dad," Heidi replied as Randy's eyes flickered to meet hers "You're just a little too full on sometimes you know."
"I know," Randy replied, nodding his head in agreeance as he smiled down at his daughter "And I'm sorry for that. You're my little girl and I want to be able to keep you safe from everything in the world forever, but now I see that if I keep stopping you from doing little things like talk to boys I'm going to lose you."
"You'll never lose me Dad," Heidi immediately replied, her hand reaching out to rest on her father's arm "You'll never lose me. You're my Dad and I love you."
"I've just got to accept the fact that you're growing up," Randy added, his hand coming out to rest ontop of Heidi's "I mean, hell, you're already pretty much all grown up, and I've got to give you a little more freedom."
"That would be nice," Heidi replied with a smile "But that doesn't mean that cause you've given me more freedom that you can freak out more at me."
Randy let a small laugh escape his lips.
"OK OK," Randy admitted in defeat "I'll try OK? If you promise me that you'll look after yourself and you'll never do anything you don't want to do or anything you know isn't safe or right, even if people are forcing you to do it."
"I promise Dad," Heidi nodded as she smiled at her father "And I'm sorry for the way I yelled at you before and for the things I said. I kind of overreacted and I shouldn't have spoken to you like that."
Randy simply nodded.
"Apology accepted my dear," Randy replied with a smile.
Heidi smiled back at her father and the two shared a silent moment before Randy went to speak as he stood up from his crate.
"Dad," Heidi quickly interrupted, causing her father to stop mid-motion "Can I talk to you about something?"
"Sure," Randy immediately replied as he resumed his seat on the crate next to his daughter "Go ahead."
"I.... uh," Heidi started, nibbling on her bottom lip as she tried to find the best words to say to her father what she needed and wanted to say to him.
Now was as good a time as ever. He would understand. He would.
"What is it sweetheart?" Randy asked again when he got no response from Heidi.
"I don't want to go to college straight after graduation," Heidi suddenly blurted out "I mean I don't want to go straight from high school to college."
"You don't?" Randy inquired, still completely calm and attentive as he listened carefully to what his daughter was trying to tell him.
Heidi simply shook her head as she looked her father dead in the eyes.
"What do you want to do then Heids?" Randy asked, almost trying to coax the real answer out of her.
"I want to travel on the road with you and Mom," Heidi finally spilled out, before immediately returning to biting on her bottom lip as she awaited her father's reaction.
"Do you really?" Randy asked, not quite believing what he was hearing.
"Yeah," Heidi replied "I miss you so much when you're on the road Dad and I know that mom misses you loads more than I do. It'd be something different and something new. I mean for at least a year we could all be together as a family all the time."
"I would love more than anything in the world to have you and mother with me on the road," Randy admitted with a smile "Especially if that's what you really want to do after graduation."
"Well for next year yeah," Heidi immediately replied with a sigh as she leant herself back to rest against the cold concrete wall behind her "For the rest of my life, I honestly don't know Dad. I don't know."
Randy sighed as he looked down at his hands before looking straight back at his daughter.
"I didn't know what I wanted to do right out of high school either, you know," Randy finally admitted causing Heidi to immediately turn her face to look her father dead in the eyes.
"Really?" Heidi asked, completely surprised at Randy's confession.
"Yeah," Randy simply nodded "And that's why the whole military thing turned out brilliant for me."
Randy let out a small laugh but he only managed a small smile out of his daughter. The Legend Killer reached an arm around behind his daughter and shuffle over in the crate he was sitting on in her direction.
"I would rather you take a couple of years to decide exactly what you really want to do rather than jump into something you're not ready for," Randy spoke again.
"You would?" Heidi asked, sounding utterly surprised.
"Why does that surprise you?" Randy inquired, confused by his daughter's reaction.
"I don't know," Heidi replied honestly as she wrapped her arms around herself and stared down at the concrete floor infront of her "I guess I just expected you to really want me to go to college straight away. I know you want me to really use my mind and be a doctor or surgeon or something."
"I don't want you to do it if it won't make you happy," Randy quickly corrected her "Do you think I'd be wrestling still if it didn't make me happy?"
Heidi turned her eyes to her father and looked at him for a moment before she gently shook her head in reply.
"I knew your grandfather and your great grandfather wanted me to be a professional wrestler just like they were in the WWE, but I wouldn't have done it if it didn't make me happy and they didn't want me to do it either if it wasn't something I really wanted to do," Randy explained "Like you said, this is your life sweetheart, it's all up to you."
Heidi forced a small smile before she spoke again.
"I just want you to be proud of me," Heidi admitted with a sigh as her bright blue eyes stared into her father's.
"I'm always so proud of you," Randy replied, smiling down at her before he used his arm around her to pull her closer to him "Me and your mother are so incredibly proud of you and we'll support you in anything you want to do, unless it's stripping because then we need to have a serious talk about...."
"Dad," Heidi whined with a smile as she rolled her eyes at her Dad.
"I got you to smile!" Randy exclaimed happily, pointing at Heidi's face.
The brunette let out a small laugh as she rolled her eyes at her father before she let her head fall to rest on his shoulder.
"I love you Heidi," Randy said softly "And if you're happy then I'm happy. I couldn't ask for anything more."
Heidi sighed as she smiled at her father as she wrapped her arms around him sideways. The Legend Killer smiled as he hugged his daughter in return.
"I love you too Dad," Heidi replied as she closed her eyes and rested her head against her father's chest.
A/N: Awwww! OMG that was such a long chapter! Hope you like it... it's been really hard for me to update because I'm in a summer camp in your country of the US of A so I've been pretty full on during the days with pre-season but I am really glad that I got that chapter out of the way! I really hope you guys like it so tell me PLEASE READ AND REVIEW! Thanks so much for all the people that have reviewed chapter 1 of My Daughter and especially to all those that have crossed over from One Secret – I still can't believe I finished that fanfic! WOW! That makes me so excited! I hope that I can make My Daughter as amazing as One Secret – I'll try! Lol. Well thanks to all my loyal readers... in any spare time I will definitely try to get a new chapter done and posted! Until next time, god bless, Mrs Bridget Orton xoxo