CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

TRIXIE

She wasn't really sure what she was going to do, but she'd had to get out of that house. Seeing her mom broken and her mum unable to help her was too much. She felt like the walls were closing in and threatening to crush her. This was how she found herself walking aimlessly late at night.

"What, no mugger?" A voice asked.

Trixie jumped and spun around. Danny was smirking at her. "What's that supposed to mean?" She asked.

"Well, every time I run into you lately, another lunatic is messing with you. I just figured if you were walking around late at night by yourself, you were going to get mugged next," Danny said casually. "Or maybe an angry stray dog is going to bite your leg off."

"That's ridiculous," Trixie said. Then she grinned at him and added, "Dogs love me."

Danny studied her. "You're smiling, but your eyes aren't."

"What?" She asked.

"You're usually all sunshine and happiness like some manic pixie, but right now, you look… haunted." He hesitated before asking, "Are you okay?"

Trixie was surprised by his concern. "I… Yeah," she said quickly.

"Trixie, you're a shitty liar."

"I know." She sighed. "Okay, fine. I'm not okay. I'm trying to be, but… I'm not."

"You got shot at yesterday. It's okay not to be all happy all the time right now."

"Danny… What are you doing here?"

He seemed confused by the subject change. "Walking. Same as you."

"It's a big city. You ended up here, just like me."

He looked at her and shrugged. "Maybe I was worried you were gonna get in trouble again. You're awesome at attracting the attention of psychopaths."

She smiled sadly. "I appreciate you looking out for me… You're sweet."

He laughed. "Sweet? Did you seriously just call me sweet?"

"Yeah, because it's true. You've been really sweet to me the last few days."

"I don't think anyone has ever used that word to describe me. You're delusional. You know that, right?"

"I'm not delusional. Beneath that jerk façade is a really nice guy, Danny Huber."

He shook his head. "Keep telling yourself that."

"You're just stubborn. You may not see it, Danny, but I do. If you were the creep everyone thinks you are, you wouldn't have saved my life. Twice."

"Maybe I just have thrill issues. I like adrenaline."

"You like me." She grinned at him. "And I like you, too. You're not so bad, Tough Guy."

"Maybe I'm just trying to get into your pants. You're sort of cute, you know."

"You're not subtle. You would have hit on me by now."

"Wait, you mean I haven't yet? Man, I'm slacking. I usually hit on every single thing in a skirt. It was a problem when WWE went to Scotland."

Trixie looked at him to see if he was serious. He smirked at her. They both started laughing. Too soon, Trixie stopped as her thoughts wandered back to her home.

"Hey… Where'd you go?" Danny asked, snapping her back to attention.

"I…" She sighed. "Things are just hard right now."

He looked at her and frowned. "It's like the universe is even more fucked-up than usual when you're all upset… It's just wrong. One basic truth of this world is that you are annoyingly happy all of the time."

"You think I'm annoying?" Trixie asked.

"I used to," Danny admitted. "But don't feel bad. I hate pretty much everyone. I don't do shiny, happy people."

"Well, lucky for you, I'm not shiny or happy right now."

Danny looked genuinely bothered by this. He touched her arm gently. She looked at him and he said, "All sarcasm aside for a second… You can talk to me, Trixie. Really. I'm a jackass, but… Well, you're not so bad. And people like you deserve to have people they can talk to. I'm sure I'm really low on your list of candidates, but-"

Trixie hugged him. Just like the last time she'd done this, he stiffened before accepting it. It was almost like she shocked him every time she gave him a hug, but she'd always been a hugger.

"See?" She asked him sadly. "You are sweet."

"Lies."

Trixie paused before deciding she really did need someone to talk to. "I don't know how to deal with what happened," she admitted. "I know I'm a wrestler, but I hate pointless violence, and I've never seen anyone get shot before… And… Show was really close to my mom. He was like my surrogate grandfather. He always took care of my mom, and when I was born, he just doted on me like a grandparent would… He was such a great guy, you know? And now he's just… Gone. That lunatic was about to shoot my mom and Show saved her life… I watched him shoot him, Danny… I watched Show die, and I couldn't do anything, and I was so scared he was going to shoot my mom next, and he nearly shot me… He was after my aunt. He had a gun aimed at my uncle. He killed a guy who was barely older than I am… It's too much!" She was shaking.

She didn't even realize Danny had moved until she felt his arms around her. "I know," he said. "You have every right to freak out."

"I can't see the world as shiny and happy all the time anymore. It's… darker, Danny. It's tainted."

He nodded. "It's always been tainted, Trixie… You're just one of those rare pure souls who never saw it that way."

"And the worst part is my mom… She's not okay. She's not even close. Mum came home today and tried to get her to talk, but Mom wouldn't say anything… She spent all night holding me, but she didn't sleep… And she just stared off into space all day… She won't eat… She's not talking anymore… I… I'm scared for her."

Danny pulled away. Trixie looked into his eyes and saw something she didn't expect. She couldn't quite tell what it was, but she knew Danny understood what she was talking about. The pain in his face was clear.

"I get it," he said. "My mom…" He paused. He clearly wasn't used to talking about anything this personal. "Forget it. I'm sorry your mom is having issues."

"Hey, this friendship thing goes both ways, Danny. You can talk to me, too," Trixie said.

He looked like he didn't want to. It surprised her when he took a deep breath and said, "My mom had a lot of issues when I was growing up. She… She went through a lot, you know? Getting pregnant… Especially because it was apparently… I mean… What he did to her. It fucked her up."

Trixie's heart broke for him. Danny had just learned he was the result of a rape. That couldn't be easy for him to deal with. "It wasn't your fault, Danny," she said quickly.

"But she had to be reminded of it all the time because she decided to keep me. Anyway, she had some really bad days… She'd lay in bed staring off into space, refusing to move. She wouldn't answer me when I called her. She'd cry all day… She was practically catatonic. I remember she wouldn't cook or even eat, so I had to learn how…" He stared off into space. "When I was old enough to do more than stuff cereal into my mouth out of the box, I started figuring out how to cook. Mom had enough functional days that I got to see her do it sometimes, so I just sort of learned by watching… I'd make sandwiches or whatever… And eventually, when I was seven or so, I started watching these cooking shows so I could figure out how to make something more substantial… And I'd make sure she ate, even if she didn't want to."

"Danny…" Trixie whispered. "My God, that's so awful."

"It wasn't all the time… She had good days. She kept up the act as much as she could, but she was just so fucked up… I was five the first time she…" He stopped.

"The first time she what?" Trixie asked.

"I found her on the couch in the middle of the night… There was this bottle of pain killers on the floor, and she'd dropped her glass of water… I didn't understand why she wasn't waking up when I called for her, and when I shook her…"

"Oh my God…"

"I watched a lot of TV when Mom was having bad days. I knew that when someone was sick, you called 911… So I called. And they saved her life. I stayed with my father for a month while she got treatment…" He shook his head. "That sucked. I was pretty relieved when she came back and I didn't have to deal with him all the time anymore… And things were okay for a while. She had some bad days, but she didn't try to kill herself… But when I was eleven, it happened again. She claimed it was an accident, but she took an overdose of her anxiety meds…"

Trixie was stunned by this information. Her mom was close to Danielle, but she'd never told her any of this. She was also shocked to see Danny looking so vulnerable. "I'm so sorry, Danny," she said.

"It was three months that time. Three months of hell, living with my father while she got help… And she came back great. She was happy and everything was okay." He looked away from her as he said, "Until one day, when I was thirteen. I cut school. Mom was supposed to be out, so I headed home early… And I found her in the bathroom… She'd slit her wrists. There was so much blood, but she was still alive because I must have gotten home right after she did it… I had to stop the bleeding and call an ambulance at the same time… And she made it. That time, she got better treatment. Knowing what it did to me… Seeing how much I freaked out finding her like that… She realized she had to get better. And she did. She stayed in therapy instead of stopping, and she stayed on her medication, and ultimately, she was okay. She never tried to kill herself again."

Trixie made him look at her. He quickly wiped at his eyes and she knew he'd been crying, even though he hid it well. "Danny, you are so strong to have survived all of that!" She said. She hugged him. This time, he didn't stiffen. He just slumped slightly, like he'd given up fighting, and allowed her to comfort him.

"I didn't tell you so you'd tell me I was strong," Danny said finally. "I told you because I want you to know when I say I get it, I do. You aren't overreacting by freaking out about your mom. It could get worse. You need to make sure someone gets her the help she needs before it does."

"I'm so scared I'm going to lose her… I've never seen her so broken. She's had some issues over the years, but never like this…"

"I know how scary it is to watch your mother slip away from you… What it's like to have her right in front of you, but be unable to reach her. I don't want you to go through what I did, Trixie. You don't deserve that."

"Neither did you."

He shrugged. "I can't change the past. I'm just glad my mom is doing better now." He looked at her. "I never really told anyone about any of this. Keep it to yourself, okay?"

"I promise… Thank you for trusting me with it."

"You needed to know someone understood… You shouldn't have to deal with this alone."

"I wish you hadn't."

"Yeah, well… I'm used to being alone." He looked at her. "Are you hungry?"

"That was an abrupt subject change."

"It's not polite to point that out when I'm obviously trying to distract you from what I don't want to talk about." He gave her a small smile. "And that wasn't an answer."

"Yeah, I am. I haven't eaten since breakfast."

"Then you're in luck. I'm feeding you. Pick a place."

"Danny, you don't have to-"

"No shit. I want to."

She smiled. "Okay… I know a great place. Come on." She led the way to her favorite burger place. Trixie had never been one of those girls who refused to eat out of fear of gaining weight. She worked out to balance out her occasionally poor eating habits.

Danny looked like he was in Heaven when he saw the burger in front of him. "You know the way to a man's heart," he told her.

They talked over their dinner before he walked her home. When Trixie walked back in the house, her mothers had moved to their bedroom. She hoped that meant her mom had gotten up and walked, but she was worried her mum had carried her. Saraya might be shorter than Cayla, but she was strong and Cayla was very thin. It wasn't impossible that she'd picked her up and carried her inside. She tried not to worry about that as she crawled into her bed. Within the hour, she woke up screaming.

Her mum ran into the room. "Oh, Luv," she whispered. She hugged her and comforted her.

"Mum…" Trixie whispered. "Can I sleep with you guys tonight?"

Saraya held her closer. "Of course you can."

Trixie spent the rest of the night between her mothers. Cayla wasn't saying much, but every time Trixie woke up from a nightmare, she immediately went into comforting mode. It was the only time her mom seemed to come back to life. Trixie wasn't sure what terrified her more, the nightmares or what was happening to her mom.

DEAN

It really sucked getting shot. Dean was not looking forward to the recovery process. His doctor was sitting with him now. Molly and Keith had gone to get some food, although he knew they weren't far. Molly was still refusing to leave his side for more than a few minutes at a time.

"Lay it on me, Doc. How long am I fucked for?" Dean asked.

The doctor gave him an indulgent smile. She's kind of hot, Dean noticed. "I know you're eager to get back in the ring, but you're not quite ready yet," she told him.

"I got back in the ring after someone tried to fucking scalp me, and you're telling me I'm not ready yet after a bullet hit me in a not-too-serious area?" He asked.

"Yes, I'm aware of your… colorful history, Mr. Good."

He cringed at the use of his birth name, one he hadn't used in two decades. "Ugh! If you were, you'd know no one fucking calls me that. It's Dean. Or, if you insist on being formal, Mr. Ambrose or even fucking Mr. Moxley, but there's no need to be so polite. I'm sure as fuck not."

"My apologies. I know your legal name is still Jonathan Good. I didn't realize you hated it so much."

"Well, I do. So just pick one of the other names, okay?"

She smiled. "Moxley does suit you. You've got plenty of it."

Is she flirting with me? He wondered. It certainly seemed that way. "Um… Thanks," he said. "So what do I call you?"

"I'm Doctor Klein… But you can call me Sherri."

"Sensational, Sherri," he said. Bad puns… These drugs they have me on are fucking with me, he thought.

She grinned. "Nice one, Moxley," she said.

He appreciated that she at least got the reference. "So, what do I have to do to get out of here?" He asked.

"Oh, you'll be ready to be discharged by tomorrow. You're healing nicely. We just want to monitor you for another day to make sure everything stays stable."

"Great. And then I can get back in the ring?"

"Nice try. No, you need to take time to heal. The bullet may have missed the important organs, but that doesn't mean it didn't do a number on you."

"Fuck that piece of shit bullet. I'm tougher."

"Of course you are… But you need to let the wound close up before you can get back in the ring. Give yourself at least a month. You may think you're fine, but your body disagrees."

"A fucking month? Ugh."

"It could have been a lot worse."

She was right about that. "Fine… And if I have any issues, can I call you?"

"If you have any issues, you should definitely call me."

"Great. What's your number?" He asked flirtatiously.

She laughed. "Smooth," she said. Then, to his surprise, she wrote it down and handed it to him.

Looks like I've still got it, he thought. He might never use it, but he needed a distraction, and flirting with his doctor seemed to be doing the trick for the moment.

Molly came back into the room then and Sherri the Hot Doctor left. He shifted so Molly could climb back into the bed with him. That was when he noticed how exhausted Keith looked.

"When's the last time you slept?" He asked Keith.

"Oh, you know… I took a nap while you were unconscious," Keith replied.

"Keith…" He shook his head. "I've got Molly. Go get some real rest, in a bed, okay?"

"I'd rather stay here and make sure you guys are okay."

He was kind of touched. Then again, Keith was Corri's son. The kid was family. "We're fine, but you won't be if you don't sleep." He paused. "We're safe here, Keith. Don't worry. We'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

Reluctantly, Keith nodded. "I'll be back first thing," he promised them.

Molly kissed him before he left. Dean saw the look in her eyes afterward and said, "He's a good kid."

"He's the best," Molly agreed. "I wouldn't have made it through all of this without him."

"I'm sorry, Offspring. I know I scared you."

"Sire… Why'd you do it?"

He looked at her. "It was a reflex. I saw a gun. I reacted."

"His Royal Dickface owes you a life debt now, Sire."

"He's giving me the title."

Molly laughed. "Leave it to Dickface to think that's the answer…"

"Well, you know, they give it to me so rarely…"

"I would have been sad if he died… He's a pain in my ass, but he's like family… But you? That… That would have been impossible."

"I'm sorry… I know I traumatized the hell out of you."

"You saved his life, Sire. I'm not mad that you're a hero. I already knew that. Well, maybe an antihero, at least. But you're the bravest man I know. Of course you saved his life."

He held her a little closer. "I'm not that brave, Molly. I'm just impulsive."

"No… You're brave. You just don't realize it." She kissed his cheek. "However, if you ever almost die on me again, I'll have to kill you, Sire."

"Noted. I'll do my best." He felt Molly relax against him. Together, they drifted off to sleep.

RANDY

It had been a rough day. Corri had been kidnapped by the Young Bucks and Kenny Omega. Randy didn't mind that so much. It wasn't the first time the Bucks had shown up and kidnapped Corri, and considering they'd saved her life, he knew they'd take care of her. He also knew she needed them right now. He just hated being alone.

He'd checked on Keith and Nicky. Keith had spent all day with Molly, and that was exactly where he needed to be. The poor girl was completely traumatized and he couldn't blame her. He was proud of Keith for taking care of her, and even more proud that he'd helped keep so many people safe the day before. He'd been worried about Nicky until Nicky sent him a video of him training with AJ. He had to admit, Nicky pulled off the Styles Clash even better than AJ did. It made him smile.

But now, it was late, and he was exhausted. Randy tried to get some sleep. That had probably been a mistake.

He was back at the party. The shooter was pointing the gun at Cayla. Show got shot. Randy had no idea where his wife and sons were, but he knew Trixie was still in the room and Cayla was about to be killed.

You have to protect her, he thought. Cayla was more than just some in-law to him. She was his sister. He loved her as family, and he'd do anything to keep her safe. She meant the world to Corri and he couldn't let anyone hurt her.

He looked around the room. Trixie was safe. Somehow, she'd gotten to Fred and Thaddeus. He knew they'd protect her. Ginny was there, too. He looked behind him and saw Cody and Brandi in another corner. They looked terrified, but they were safe. Paul was in shock and trying to keep a low profile so the shooter didn't turn that gun back on him. Dean lay on the floor bleeding. Randy couldn't tell if he was alive or dead.

"Answer me, Cayla!" The shooter shouted. He was demanding to know where Corri was. This lunatic had tried to kill Paul, a man Randy considered to be family, and now he was aiming a gun at Cayla because he wanted to kill Randy's wife. He had to do something, and he needed to do it quickly.

"She's not here!" Randy said. A quick assessment told him how he needed to handle this kid. He had to draw his attention away from Cayla somehow or she'd be killed. "You wanna threaten someone with your big gun because you think that makes you a big man? Threaten me. Let's see who's tougher, Kid."

The shooter wasn't happy being challenged. He turned on Randy, which meant Cayla was safe. Randy had been in this situation before. He'd been shot at. He'd been a Marine… He could handle this.

The dream shifted.

Randy was in his Marine uniform. The enemy was firing on them. He could feel terror threatening to consume him as he watched people getting shot and falling to the ground around him. His heart was racing. He couldn't breathe. He was going to die.

He turned around as someone cried his name. It was Corri. She was standing behind him, reaching for him, when a bullet hit her and she fell down dead at his feet.

Randy woke up screaming. He couldn't catch his breath. His heart felt like it was trying to escape from his chest. He stared at the empty spot on the bed. Corri wasn't there. He started to panic, but then he remembered she was with the Bucks and Kenny. It only helped slightly. He knew Corri was safe. He'd seen her after the shooting at the party. She'd been in his arms that night. She certainly hadn't been in the Marines with him. His mind was playing tricks on him. Rationally, he understood that, but he couldn't shake the panic at seeing her dead in his dream.

He pulled out his cell phone and dialed her number. Corri picked up on the second ring. "What's wrong?" She asked. "It's late… Randy, what happened?"

He felt bad for scaring her. "I just needed to hear your voice," he said. "I'm sorry… I didn't mean to worry you."

Corri's tone softened. "Bad dreams?" She asked.

"Yeah… I just needed to know you're alright."

"I'm fine. The guys are taking good care of me… I can come home if you need me."

"No… No, I'm okay now. Just stay with them. I know it helps when you're freaked out." He took a deep breath, calming down slightly now that his body seemed to comprehend that she really was still alive. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

They hung up and Randy took several more deep breaths. His heartrate was slowing down. He tried to relax, but he knew he wouldn't be able to fall back asleep until she was safe in his arms again.