Title: Promises
Author: Empress
Email: Empress@thewaysideinn.net
Distribution:
Empress' Private Library and
The Wayside Inn All others ask
first.
Category: A-day-in-the-life-type of Romance
Rating: R for implied violence and language
that'll singe your nose hairs.
Content: Re-cap of RAW 06/15/04 from Nan's
perspective (sorta) and the aftermath of the night's events.
Characters: Triple H/Nan;
HBK/Becky (implied); Al Snow; JR; Ric Flair
Spoilers: RAW
06/15/04
Warnings: None
Summary: Ugh….I suck at summaries!! But here goes….Badd
Blood is over and Shawn gets broken. Hunter doesn't seem to care.
Obviously Nan's not pleased about this.
Author’s Notes: I'm taking poetic
license with Shawn's injuries. If ya don't like it…I got two words for
ya…….. SUCK IT!!! Okay, who here didn't see that coming,
raise your hands. Uh-huh. I thought so. I've spent several
weeks trying to convince you people that Hunter's not necessarily the
evil bastard that everyone thinks he is. Well, sometimes he is.
But…have you ever stopped to what kind of woman would live with a
bastard like that?? She may not be all she seems to be, ya know.
Feedback: Always.
Disclaimer: Not mine - theirs. Some are mine and I'm
keeping those. No money made. Sue me and you can have my 15 year old
car. That's about the extent of what I own. So just relax your sphincter
and read.
Nan stood comfortably in the curl of Hunter's big arm, his large fingers idly teasing the very ends of her hair where it brushed her waist. Every so often, she'd feel the muscles under his skin tense when he'd shift his hand to cup her hip, and then he'd relax again, going back to playing with her hair or stroking the soft cinnamon colored suede jacket she wore.
He was such a sensualist, the big bruiser, she thought with a sly smile. She'd noticed a pattern to his seemingly random motions tonight. And it was amusing the hell out of her.
She and Hunter were standing back stage near the Titon-Tron entrance, talking to Ric Flair, while waiting for JR to call Hunter down to the ring for something the older man had planned. Well, she amended silently, Hunter was talking to Ric. She was trying to politely ignore the wrestling veteran without letting her animosity for the man show on her face.
Instead, she was watching the talent come and go as they went past them. She'd waive or smile at the people she knew and Hunter's hand would squeeze her hip whenever someone went past that he had an issue with. Which was more often than not, it seemed. But she still thought it was funny as hell.
Between that and the almost constant look of confusion on Ric's face at her lack of blatant hostility towards him, it was almost all she could do not to burst out laughing. Her relief was so great over Hunter and Shawn both being out of the hospital and here in Dayton, Ohio tonight that she was damn near giddy with it.
Granted, she was more relieved over Hunter's presence than Shawn's. After all, there had been a moment there - though brief - when her imagination ran away with her in the waiting room and she was convinced Hunter wasn't going to make it. But he had. And he was here. And heaven knew he looked like hammered shit.
No less than three different bandages covered up the stitches on his forehead. His left eye was black and swollen. The bridge of his nose was still taped and he walked with a distinct limp. He was stiff, sore, and more ill tempered than a grizzly with an ass full of buckshot, as her daddy would have said. But he was standing on his own. The bruises and abrasions would fade.
She felt like crying, tears of relief mostly, but she refused to do so in front of Flair. Instead she squeezed Hunter's waist and leaned her head to the side, pressing her forehead against his shoulder.
In return, Hunter cupped her side, running his fingers up and down her waist and hip. Almost absently, Hunter leaned over and pressed a gentle kiss to the top of her head, while still listening to whatever it was Ric was blathering on about.
Ric suddenly looked like he'd swallowed a mouthful of vinegar. Try as she might, she was unable to suppress her giggle over Ric's expression. And when Ric's eyes bugged out at her unexpected laughter, Nan couldn't help herself and she "pulled a Becky." She stuck her tongue out at him.
"Behave," Hunter chuckled, having seen what she'd done.
"Now will you look at that," a new voice called from behind them. "I warned you, Nan. You hang around the wrestlers long enough and eventually you were bound to catch something you couldn't scrub off with Ajax. And from the looks of that growth at your side, I'd say the condition was terminal too."
Pulling out of Hunter's grasp, Nan whirled around, instantly recognizing the voice. "Al!"
"Hiya, Rapunzel," he replied, grinning widely before throwing his arms around her, hugging her tightly, and spinning her around in a circle. "Good to see you, Nan."
Nan stepped back and punched him in the arm, laughing at his over exaggerated grimace of pain. "Where in the hell have you been?!"
Al Snow clutched at his chest melodramatically, his eyes going wide and his mouth dropping open. "I'm wounded! A poisoned barb hath flown from thy honeyed lips and struck true, causing my very soul to bleed! Are you telling me you don't watch Stevie Night Heat?"
"You know I do. I just haven't…"
The sound of a throat being cleared insistently effective preempted whatever else she was going to say.
Al looked over her head and grinned. "Looks like Gamezilla's getting cranky. I thought he didn't try and tell you who you could be friends with."
"Normally, he doesn't. But he's in pain." Nan shrugged. "I'm humoring him. Come say hello."
As she tugged him over to where Hunter and Ric still stood, she heard Al say, "He's in pain or he is a pain?"
"I heard that."
"I meant for you to."
Almost instantly upon getting within arm's reach of him, Nan found herself once again pulled up snuggly against Hunter's side, his arm curled like a steel band around her waist. Hunter's possessive motion wasn't lost on Al, and he briefly entertained the notion of razzing Hunter a bit. But then he caught the glint in the big man's eyes.
Hunter had his "Game" face on. Ice cold and ready to kill, fold, spindle and mutilate. The fact that he was in no condition to do battle with anyone tonight apparently didn't register to him, because he stared down Al like he was a hair's breadth away from turning the dark haired man wrong side out.
And he was actually growling; Al could hear the low rumbling from where he stood only a pace or two away. He had no idea why Hunter should suddenly consider him a threat after all of this time and if he were quite honest with himself, he really didn't want to find out either.
So instead of antagonizing the man, he simply extended his hand. "Hell of a match last night, Hunter. Good job."
For a moment, Hunter just continued to stare through him. Just as Al was ready to pull back his hand, Hunter took it. "Thanks, Snow."
Hunter released him, but continued the bristled stare until Nan put her hand on Hunter's arm, and squeezed lightly, a questioning look in her eyes. Hunter pulled his icy gaze from Al with obvious reluctance, and turned his face to reassure the woman at his side with a half-smile that didn't quiet reach his eyes. But before she could say anything, JR and Shawn walked past them.
"We're on in two, gentlemen." He went up the steps and through the curtain. Hunter and Shawn just stared at each other until Nan wanted to start screaming at both of them. Shawn's gaze flicked to her once, and she could see the same heaviness in his eyes as she had the night before.
As the silence between them lengthened, the tension mounted. For once even Ric kept his yap shut, waiting to follow Hunter's lead. But before anyone could say a word, Shawn's music cut in. Moving stiffly, he walked up the steps and through the curtain.
Hunter looked over at Ric. "Take Nan to the visitor's area, would you?"
"I can take her," Al spoke up, knowing all too well how the redhead felt about the Nature Boy.
Hunter fixed him with a frigid glare. "I'd rather she go with Ric."
"No problem, Champ. I'll be glad to take her," Ric chortled with a too wide smile.
"Hello??" Nan looked at them all with fire in her eyes. "Grown woman here. I can take myself."
Hunter turned so that he faced her and held each of her hands in his. "Just go with Ric. Okay, baby?"
Seeing the serious look in his whiskey gaze, she sensed that he had his reasons for asking her to go with a man he knew she despised. "Okay," she nodded. "I'll go with Ric."
His face cleared for a moment, and he smiled. Then his music cut in and he winked at her, before letting go of her hands and clenching his fists by his sides, signifying his metamorphosis from Hunter into Triple H - The Game. His mouth turned down into a black scowl; his eyes went flat and lifeless. With calculated, measured movements, he plucked a rectangular pair of black sunglasses from his breast pocket and gingerly slipped them over his eyes. Still limping he climbed the stairs, his back ram-rod straight, and disappeared through the curtain.
"Come on, Nan. Let's go," Ric said stiffly.
Without a word, Nan fell into step beside the older man. She may have promised to go with him, but she never said anything about speaking to him. Ric stopped at the door to the visitor's area and opened it, allowing her to walk in.
Throwing his arm out he blocked Al's entrance, not noticing he'd followed them. "And just where do you think you're going?"
"In the visitor's area. I'm meeting someone, not that it's any of your business."
Ric nodded. "Sure you are." He put a hand on Al's shoulder, in an attempt to bar him entry.
"Unhand me, sir!" Al bellowed, affronted, his dark eyes dancing with an unholy mischief.
Reaching up, he clamped his fingers down on the fleshy part of Ric's hand, between Ric's thumb and index finger, digging in with his nails. In a sharp motion, he twisted Ric's arm away from his body and up against his shoulder blades before pushing him away. With a quick bouncing step, Al jumped into the room and shut the door in Ric's face. But not before smiling brightly and waggling all five fingers at the now cursing and spitting Nature Boy.
When Al turned around, he spied Nan standing shoulder to shoulder with Becky, their eyes glued to the monitor. JR was standing in the ring with Shawn and Hunter, praising them for the previous night's match.
"Oh, Nan," Becky whispered. "I had no idea! Is he okay?"
"Yeah," Nan nodded, her eyes never straying from the man on the screen. "It's mostly cosmetic damage. He'll be okay with a couple of days down time."
Neither of them even noticed when Al joined them as he too watched the monitor, paying close attention to what JR was saying.
"…but Shawn, Triple H, it's time for this to end. I am respectfully…respectfully…asking you two men to shake hands. To officially signify the end of the most storied rivalry in the WWE so that you both can get on with your lives."
As the two of them stared at each other, Shawn extended his hand towards Hunter. And Hunter, did the same, then hesitated.
Becky reached out latching onto Nan's hand. "He's gonna do it!"
"I don't know, maybe…." Nan whispered. Hunter moved forward again, and then again hesitated. "Oh, Hunter…please…"
Nan held her breath, not really daring to believe it was actually, finally, going to be over. She should have known better.
I'm back, and better than ever…
"Shit!!"
"Goddamnit!!"
"I hate that sonofabitch! Hate him!"
Then the ring lit up with pyrotechnics and that hauntingly familiar music started up…Kane.
The wonder of the world is gone, I know for sure…
"Holy fuck!"
"Shawn!"
"Oh, God, Hunter!"
"No…no…no…NO!!"
"Oh, Jesus! Please no!"
"ohgodohgodohgodohgod"
Without warning, the door to the visitor's area burst open, startling all of them out of their skin. Ric Flair ran in with Hunter limping in behind him as fast as he could considering his injuries, breathing heavily. Nan turned to him, her face stark white with fear, her eyes huge, her hands reaching out to him.
Hunter practically jerked her off her feet, he pulled her against him so fast. "Are you okay? He came right past where we were standing."
"I'm fine…I'm fine…but…but Shawn…"
"You left him out there to face that monster alone! How could you?!" Becky screamed at him, tears already streaming down her face.
"Guys…look." Al pointed at the screen, his voice a horrified whisper.
"Oh, my God," Ric murmured, unbelieving what he was seeing.
With Shawn's neck pinned by the steel chair, Kane climbed up on the turnbuckle and jumped.
"Shawn!"
Three voices cried out as one, among the five of them alone in the room. But even later when she stopped to really think about it, she wasn't sure who the other two voices had been. For the horror and heartache in each voice had mirrored the others, rendering them indistinguishable in her mind.
~<>~
Crown Plaza Hotel, Room 217
Dayton, Ohio - 1:15 a.m.
She was late. And he was starting to worry. She'd called forty-five minutes ago to tell him she was on her way. But she wasn't here yet and the hospital was only fifteen minutes from the hotel. Just as he was about to reach for the phone to call her cell, he heard the card reader being swiped and the door unlatched.
She came in slowly, wearily, looking defeated and incredibly tired. He noticed she was carrying her high heels dangling from one finger by the ankle straps, her bare feet scuffing on the carpet. She dropped the shoes in the corner and crossed in front of the dresser where she stopped and removed her suede jacket, tossing it haphazardly onto a chair. When she began taking off her earrings and watch, he finally spoke up.
"Hey."
"Hey yourself."
"Rough night?"
"You can say that."
"Mom called."
"Mine or yours."
"Yours."
"You talk to her?"
"Yeah…she was worried after she saw me walk out. Said you didn't tell her I looked that bad."
"Didn't want to worry her. Dixie okay?"
"Yeah."
She still hadn't looked at him. He tried to read her body language, to see if she were mad at him, but all he could see on her from behind was a bone deep exhaustion. And a coiled tension, just waiting to be sprung on someone, or something. This was going to get ugly. He could feel it.
What the hell. May as well get it over with. "Did you manage to catch any of the show?"
She grabbed up her brush and began working out tangles in her hair, brushing it until it crackled with static electricity. "Hospital waiting rooms do have cable televisions now, Hunter."
"Yeah, I think I'd read that somewhere."
Finally she set her brush down and turned and looked at him. For a split second she almost felt sorry for him. Half-lying in the middle of the huge, hard hotel bed, he still wore the powder blue dress shirt, completely unbuttoned, exposing his chest and stomach. He'd taken his hair down out of the ponytail, so it lay loose around his face and on his shoulders. A pair of light blue running shorts, her favorite pair to be precise, rode low on his hips, and high on his thighs. And she knew from experience that there was nothing underneath them. His left leg was cocked up, resting on an extra pillow just under the knee, with an icepack on his ankle. And to confirm her 'no-underwear' theory, he shifted his right leg wider, and raised it so his foot was flat on the mattress. He had one hand behind his head and the other lay relaxed on his leg, with the TV remote clutched in it like a life-line.
Nan hopped up on the dresser, right beside the television, crossed one leg over the other and folded her arms over her chest. He was a handsome devil, no doubt about it. He knew it, and wasn't above using it against her to his own advantage if necessary. But even the devil was afraid of someone and if this one knew what was good for him, he'd have a healthy dose of it for her right now.
"You're not even gonna ask, are you?"
"Ask what?"
She lifted one eyebrow at him, daring him to make her think he was really that stupid.
"Nan, I'm too tired and too sore to play fuckin' guessing games tonight," he said with a heavy breath, and changed the channel on the television.
Narrowing her eyes at him, she reached out and shut it off.
With a challenging tilt to his chin, he clicked it back on.
She leaned over the side of the dresser and yanked the cord from the wall.
When he made a move to get up, her low cold words stopped him, "Push me on this one, Hunter, and so help me God, I'll pick up that fuckin' TV and pitch it right over the fuckin' balcony."
"You wouldn't!" He barked at her, half laughing.
"Try me," she hissed.
"What the fuck is your problem?!"
"I'll say it again, since evidently you didn't understand me the first time."
"No need," he growled. "I understood you."
"Oh!" Her eyebrows rose sarcastically. "You understood me, but you just didn't give a shit, is that it?"
"Boy you really are spoiling for a fight tonight, aren't you," he rumbled warningly at her.
"You bet your sweet ass I am," she growled right back.
"Then go fight with one of your…friends…'cause I'm not in the mood."
"Oh hell no! I'm not gonna kitchen-sink this argument. If you've got a problem with who I'm friends with, then make a note of it and we'll fight about that later! I'm mad at you about tonight and you're the one who I'm gonna deal with! Do you even know why?"
Feeling his temper rise, Hunter glared at her. "No, but I'm pretty fuckin' positive you're gonna tell me whether I wanna hear it or not."
"Damn skippy, I am." She refolded her arms across her chest, her dark eyes snapping with hell-fire. "I'm pissed off because of sitting in a hospital waiting room, with one of my dearest friends hovering between life and death, while another of my friends is crying her eyes out. The same two friends, I might add, that just last night spent the better part of the morning waiting with me in another hospital waiting room doing exactly the same thing while I was the one whose nerves were being shredded while wondering if I needed to be picking out your goddamn tombstone!"
"I wasn't dying!"
Nan jumped off the dresser and began to pace. "But I didn't know that! Just like Becky doesn't know that. Just like…just like…Shawn doesn't know that. Not yet." She swallowed hard.
That hit him hard. All the wind driven from his lungs. That wasn't something he'd even considered. Shawn…seriously hurt….maybe even…no. He wasn't going to go there. "Shawn…was in the waiting room last night?"
She immediately stopped pacing. "Yeah. Didn't Edge tell you? He was supposed to give you a message from Shawn. Did you not talk to him?"
"Other than to pull him face down into the mat by his feet? No."
"God." She ran both hands over her face and through her hair. "He was supposed to tell you that Shawn came to make sure you were going to be all right. In spite of everything, he had to make sure you were going to be okay."
Hunter hadn't been expecting that. "Why?"
Nan saw the legitimate incredulity, and confusion on his face, and just that quickly her anger was spent. Flash-fire temper, just like her father's. A quick explosion and then it was gone, leaving behind an empty ache in her middle. She crossed over to the bed, climbed up between his legs, and lay down on her stomach, wrapping her arms around his middle, and laying her cheek against his chest.
"I suppose," she began. "Because somewhere deep under all that anger, hurt, and endless rivalry you two've got going on, that he still cares about you. You dickhead."
After a moment, he tossed the remote on the floor, and wrapped his arms around her, returning her embrace. They lay silently that way for a moment, before he chuckled.
"What?"
"For a minute there, I thought you were ticked at me over the Eugene situation."
She leaned up to look in his eyes. "Why would I be mad about that?"
"Because you like him."
"Well yeah, I do." She shrugged. "He's a likable fellow."
"Wait a sec. Lemme get this straight. It doesn't bother you that I'm gonna squash him next week?" His brows narrowed together.
"Why should it? He's gotta get beaten sooner or later. May as well be by you."
Hunter leaned his head back and laughed, genuinely pleased. "Now that's not what I was expecting at all. I figured I'd get a lecture or something."
"Nope, no lecture. Although," she traced a pattern on his chest with her finger before he captured it.
"Quit it. Tickles. Although, what?"
"I think…" she leaned up even further. "You've got a golden opportunity here. One I'm not sure you may even see yet yourself."
His eyes narrowed again. "Go on."
"You convinced him that you're his best buddy tonight. And what better informant could you possibly have than Eugene? He's the eyes and ears of the locker room. Everyone talks in front of him, and he thinks you're the next best thing since sliced white bread. Keeping him firmly in pocket, Hunter, would be nothing short of brilliant." She pressed an open mouthed kiss to his throat.
Hunter rumbled deep in his chest, his eyes rolling back in his head, as he felt her tongue dip into the little divot of flesh over his vocal cords. "Christ woman, stop that. I can't think when you do that, and you know it."
"Yes, I do. But I'll stop anyway." She leaned back, a sultry smug look on her face. "Just remember one thing."
"And that would be?"
"Next week we're in Miami. Rock's hometown. And he likes Eugene. He may show up."
"Humph." Hunter laughed nonplussed. "You leave Rock to me. I can handle him. And I get what you're saying about Eugene. But what about Bishcoff and my number one contender spot?"
She shrugged. "By all means, beat him. But keep him as your friend. And then Bischoff's in your pocket, too."
Hunter digested what she'd said. She'd certainly given him something to think about. He began to laugh. "Woman, you truly have a wicked mind. I may be an undisputed asshole, but you…you're…you're deliciously twisted."
"And you prefer me twisted, so what does that say about you, hmmm?"
"Brat."
"Bully," she choked on the word, remembering when they'd said those same words the previous night.
"Hey, what's with the tears?"
"I hate hospitals." She buried her face again in his chest. "Promise me something, Hunter. Even if it's a lie, promise it to me anyway."
He tightened his hold on her. "What, baby?
"If I ever get really sick, and they tell you that I'm not going to get well, don't put me in a hospital. Just take me home and let Daddy shoot me."
"I promise, baby. I promise."
She fell silent again, and he just held on, pondering everything she'd said. Eugene. Bischoff. Shawn. Why had Shawn come to the hospital to see him? And more importantly, why had he not gone tonight after the show?
He didn't have an answer.
<End>
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