Chapter 2: What I've Done

In this farewell

There's no blood, there's no alibi

'Cause I've drawn regret

From the truth of a thousand lies

So let mercy come and wash away

What I've done

I'll face myself

To cross out what I've become

Erase myself

And let go of what I've done

Max realizes that he's sort of walked right into a lion's den by coming here. But instead of the expected lion, he's sitting across a card table from Cody, who's handed him a deck of cards to shuffle. Max's ADHD has always been better managed when he had something to do with his hands, and Cody's known that since their early days working together. He used to keep lots of fidgets around when he needed to talk to Max, because it was the best way to get his brain to stop running amok. Max guesses those fidgets haven't been needed since he turned on Cody, and sold him out. Everything in this room, in this house, in this state, even, reminds Max of how much he fucked up by hurting his mentor… and he realizes it's probably shitty that it took going through the same thing to get him to the point of understanding just how fucked up his own actions really were in the past.

Cody's bright blue eyes are filled with concern, and somehow, that just makes Max feel worse. How can Cody still give a fuck about him after everything that's happened? How can anyone forgive the kind of hurt that someone you care about betraying you leaves in its wake. And yet, here's Cody. A better man than Max has any chance of ever being. "Talk to me, Max," he says, leaning back in his chair just a bit… balancing it on the two back legs in a precarious position that would've made anyone else nervous, but for someone who does what they do for a living, knowing exactly where your body is turns out to pretty much be a requirement at all times. And balancing in wild positions? Also required.

It's easier to focus on what Cody's doing rather than what Max wants and needs to say to him… rather than the reason why he wants and needs to say these things to him. In fact, just about anything is easier than thinking about what it felt like when those lights came up, and the first person he'd ever completely trusted was smirking at him, Devil mask in hand, basking in the glory of having both literally and figuratively brought the self-important Maxwell Jacob Friedman to his knees. But he hasn't come all the way to Atlanta to watch himself shuffle cards and ignore Cody. So he might as well get to the point.

"Cody, you… How did you not punch me in the face the minute you saw me?" he asks, deep brown eyes showing the confusion that he feels down to his bones. "I did nothing but fuck you over and hurt you after you did so much for me, and now I show up because I get exactly what I deserved, and you're just… Letting me into your fucking house like I'm not the dude who fucked you over?"

Cody shrugs. "Maybe it's because I know how you feel, Max. How you feel now… After what Adam did. And I think everybody deserves a second chance. People change every day. And they shouldn't spend the rest of their lives paying for the mistakes they've made. Besides… I saw how you changed with Adam around. Even a fool could see he meant the world to you."

Max doesn't want to cry again, but when Cody speaks the truth, it's so fucking painful to hear. It had been bad enough to experience it… to see his best friend revealed as his enemy. But to relive it through the eyes of the man he'd done the same thing to – albeit with more of a mentor-to-student than a best friends-to-lovers kind of thing – is beyond painful. He sets the cards aside and shakes his head. "Don't… I don't… I need to…" What it is he needs, Max isn't even sure. But he's going to try. And he does… Thinking for just a moment before he starts again, he gets his thoughts in order. "Cody, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for the fucked up shit I did to you. I should've apologized to you a long time ago."

Cody shakes his head. "I appreciate the apology, Max. It happens. Our business is tough in a lot of ways, and we've all done shit we weren't proud of."

He's about to continue when he hears Libby's little voice calling out, "Papa!" followed by Brandi's, "Cody? Babe?"

"In the game room!" Cody calls back, and Max cringes. This is the real moment of reckoning, and he knows it.

Brandi is standing in the doorway of the room, and her face says it all… and even if it hadn't, her voice does more than enough making it clear. "What the hell is THAT doing in my house?" she demands of her husband. "And who told you that you could show your face here? You think this is some kind of magic world where we just forget the shit you pulled? What the hell?"

Cody's already on his feet and giving Brandi a very meaningful look. "Hon, can I see you in the kitchen?" he asks in a very-much-not-asking way, but Brandi's still locked in on Max.

"Cody, I know you did not just let this punk walk up here into my house!"

"Kitchen. Brandi… Please."

Max watches the two of them and is relieved when Brandi gives him a look that could kill him, but follows Cody out and into the kitchen. Well… that's about as well as he could've hoped that would go.

It's only after Cody and Brandi have disappeared to the kitchen that Cody's giant Siberian Husky, Pharaoh, walks into the game room, with little Libby right behind him. Max can't believe what a perfect little combo of Cody and Brandi the little girl is, and he can't help feeling a sense of loss that he ruined his chance to be around and get to know this very tiny, very adorable human. "Hi," he says to Libby. "I'm Max."

"Brandi," Cody says, keeping his voice down. "I know. Trust me, I know. And I'm sorry I didn't talk to you about it first, but he didn't exactly give me warning. I just opened the door and he was standing there. I couldn't just tell him to kick rocks. The kid's been through it."

"You absolutely could've just told him to kick rocks," Brandi counters, not at all backing down. "And of course he's been through it. You can't live your life the way he does and not have it blow up in your face eventually."

"I know," he says, giving her a sheepish look. "It wasn't the best plan I ever had, but he apologized to me, and he's… I think he's feeling worse about what happened than we are right now. If he's a jerk again, then by all means, rip him to shreds, but can we please give him the benefit of the doubt? Just for a little while?"

Brandi's face tells on her, and Cody knows she's hating everything about this, but in everything else, the Rhodeses present a united front, and Brandi isn't going to start leaving her husband hanging now. So she nods. "Okay. Because I love you. But I don't like it."

"Thank you," Cody says, hugging her and kissing her forehead. "I love you."

"Yeah, yeah, keep it moving," she teases, walking behind him as they head back to the game room.

In the few minutes of their absence, Max has ended up sitting on the floor, legs straight out in front of him, with Libby and Pharaoh. He doesn't even notice the presence of the other adults when they come back in, because he's fully engaged in Libby's explanation of all the good stuff about Pharaoh. So far, Max has gotten, "He's white, and he's fluffy, and he loves me and he's a good boy."

Happy for the distraction, and strangely, also happy for the presence of the cutest kid he's ever seen, Max has taken out his phone to show Libby pictures of Piper. "I don't have a doggy," he tells her, holding up his phone. "But see? That's my kitty. Her name is Piper. Can you say 'Piper'?"

Cody shoots Brandi a small smile, and she's still mad that Max is in her house, but the truth is… seeing big, muscle-bound men with her tiny daughter being gentle as lambs is rather disarming. Even when the big muscle-bound man happens to be one she actively hates.

Libby comes over to Max and sits on his lap (thank god, on the side that's not pretty much a beacon of pain at the moment), and the wrestler can't help smiling. Everything hurts… in his body and in his heart… but Libby is pure and innocent and sweet, and Max really needs a presence like that in his life. "Show Kitty!" she says, grabbing for Max's phone. And if Libby wants to see more photos of Piper? Max has a whole folder of them. And he's content for the moment to share pics of one adorable little girl (the one with fur) to another adorable little girl (the one with Cody's whole entire face).

There will be more conversations to be had, no doubt about it. Brandi isn't buying the whole Max-is-cute-with-Libby thing just yet, and Cody can tell. But neither one of them is going to be the one to keep their little girl from seeing more of the kitty cat she wants to see. The rest of the discussion isn't over – but Libby has always, and will always, come first. So both Cody and Brandi join the other two on the floor and Libby excitedly points at Max's phone for her parents to see the kitty, too.

When the really cute kid tells you to look at the kitty? It doesn't matter how pissed off you are. You look at the damn kitty.