Chris and Brooke made it to the hospital at almost the same time, literally. Both of them entered the elevator in silence. Neither new what to say at a time like this. Merigold enters the elevator on the next floor with coffee in her hands. She smiled at them and remained silent too.
They enter the room to find RIch with his head on Michelle's bed. He had fallen asleep there the night before.
"Rich." Chris said, as she tapped Rich on the shoulder to wake him.
"No more tickle." Rich says, as he wakes and realizes where he is at. "Oh hi!" He says as he yawns. "Glad you guys finally got here. She's been asking for the both of you."
"How is she doing?" Beth asks, as she stands at the end of the bed and looks at her friend.
"Better." Rich says to Beth. "Where is Rach? I couldn't get ahold of her." Rich asks Chris.
"She's going home to Cameron." Chris said, as Rich's eyes widened.
"Home?? Cameron, Cameron?"He asks suprised.
Chris goes on to tell of what happened on this last trip. All the while Richs eyes seem to pop out of his head in shock.
"She loves him. Rach would never do anything to hurt Adam. All she does is talk about him when she isn't doing work." Rich says laughing. "This is awful. First Michelle, now Rachel. Will we ever have any peace around here?"
"I kept telling Adam the same thing. Rachel would probably take a bullet for him if she had to." Chris said, as he pulled out a small box. " He gave me his engagement ring he bought her not long ago. I told him to hold onto it, but he insisted I have it. Saying that I would probably get to that point before he would." Chris said, as he sat in a chair next to Michelle's bed.
"Ahh well, shit happens." Rich said, and stood up and stretched. " This will all blow over hopefully. I need some food. Anyone else hungry?"
"I am. Chris, you want some coffee when I come back?" Beth asks, as she starts to walk out the door. He nods yes to her.
"Hmm.. well, I am hungry too. I guess we will leave you alone for a little while. If she wakes up, tell her we will be back." Merigold said, as she closed the door behind her.
Chris stared at Michelle and pushed the hair off of her forehead. "I am so sorry I wasn't there to beat the crap out of him. If Fear wouldn't have finished him, I would have." Chris said, as he listened to her breath. A tear fell from his cheek, at the thought of losing Michelle. He heard the door open, and didn't even think to turn around.
"I was going to go eat, but I don't think I can. Has she even stirred?" Beth asked, standing on the other side of the bed.
Chris looked at her with a tear streaked face and shook his head no.
----------
Rachel stared out the airplane window as her and her brothers made the trip home. Matt held her hand, he knew her fear of flying was immense. Jeff sat across from them reading a magazine. Not even turbulence phased him.
"Rach, are you ok?" Matt asked, looking at his sister.
"What do you think?" Rachel says, looking back at him with tears in her eyes. " Adam shit on me, I have a bad hangover, my tongue hurts and I am going back to Cameron where I haven't been for almost 10 years.
"Thats all your fault." Matt responds, and puts down the shade in the window.
"That Adam shit on me?" Rachel asks, as she closes her eyes to keep from crying.
"No. Rach, he loves you.. He just misunderstood a few things. Baby, everything will work out. What I am talking about is the hangover and your tongue." Matt laughed, as he wipped away her tears. "As for going home, its about time you do."
"My tongue is still swollen." Rachel says laughing and shows it to her brother. Matt cringes and looks the other way. "I can't wait to see dad, maybe make up. And see moms grave." She said, and thought for a moment. She had never really mourned. And she always blamed her dad for their moms death. The last time she had seen him ten years ago, they had fought. She ran away, and hadn't been back since. She wondered if he would welcome her back with open arms?
"Christi will be waiting for me at the airport." Matt said, as he took a sip of his water.
"Christi? I haven't heard you say her name in awhile." Rachel said as she pushed back up the shade on the window.
"We are still together, but Amy thinks I should let her go." Matt said, as he pulled the shade back down. "Why do you do that if you are afraid to fly." He said of her pulling the shade back up.
Rachel smiled at him and shrugged. "Self torture." She laughs.
"Thats what the tongue piercing was." Matt laughs.
"What do you think you should do??" Rachel asks, bringing the conversation back to Christi. "Whatever it is you do, listen to your head." She says, and points to her head.
"I know. Don't string her along." Matt says, as Jeff taps him on the shoulder.
"Switch places." Jeff says, as Matt stands up. Jeff pulls up the shade on the window as soon as he sits down."Thats better. How are you doing?" He asks Rachel.
"Besides my tongue..I fell like crap." Rachel says laughing. She looks out the window, and then pulls the shade down so she can't look out.
"Adam loves you, you do know that don't you. Or else he wouldn't have reacted the way he did." Jeff said, as he held Rachel's hand. "He knows you wouldn't cheat."
"How do you know how he feels?" Rachel asked as she put her head on his shoulder.
"I know Adam, Rach." Jeff said as he put his head on hers.
"I thought I knew him too." Rachel said with a sigh.
"Hmmm good point." Jeff said, as he pushed the shade back up and watched the clouds go by.
-----------
Adam lay in bed, with the cats laying on him, thinking about his explosion a few nights before. He had let her walk out the door with her brothers in tow to go back home. Thomas started to purr and lick Adams tears off of his face.
The phone started to ring, and he contemplated on just letting it ring. The phone quit ringing, only to start up again a few minutes later.
"Hey man, it's Chris. How are you doing? Were you coming to visit Michelle?" Chris said, as he heard Adams voice.
"Yeah, I was going to go up there, but i guess I lost track of time. I've been laying here thinking about Rachel and Albert." Adam says, as he pushes the cats off of him.
"Have you talked to her?" Chris asked, as he held Michelle's hand.
"No." Adam said, as he put on his shoes.
"Man, she loves you." Chris replied.
"If she loves me, then why did she walk out that door. She could have stayed and talked. She went home to a place she hasn't been in ten years." Adam said, starting to get choked up again.
"Sometimes its better to leave things alone, and then come back fresh. As for going home, maybe she needed to go. She needs to mend things there, as well as here. She has a lot going on now. Just give her some space. You did think she was cheating, right. That hurts being accused of something you didn't do, I should know how she feels." Chris said, hoping Adam got the message.
"Yeah.. I guess I fucked up." Adam replied. "She'll probably really hook up with Albert now. Who all did she go with??"
"Just her brothers. Adam, Albert hasn't been in the picture at all. He even was upset that you didn't go after he when she ran down the tracks. He found her on the beach drunk." Chris said as he stood up to go to the window.
"Drunk...damn." Was all Adam could say.
"She loves you more than anything." Chris says, and then decides to change the subject. " Dude, there is still time to come up here and visit."
"Yeah, I will see you in a few. I just gotta find something." Adam says, as he hangs up. He goes in search of the Hardys phone number in Cameron . He calls the number, but no one answers.
---------------
Their dad had not been there to greet them, but Christi had. Rachel walked into the house and heard the phone ringing. She stood in front of the phone and watched it ring. After the fifth ring, it quit ringing. She hoped it wasn't an important phone call.
The house felt almost alien to her. She wondered if her room was like she had left it ten years before. Matt walked up the stairs with her, leaving their luggage at the bottom. There was time to bring it up later, she thought. Rachel stood at her old bedroom door afraid to open it.
"What's behind door number three?" Jeff says, as he opens her door and walks off.
To Rachel's amazement, everything is the same. Her dad hadn't moved a thing. All the stuffed animals in place, the brush she used to use, the make up she used to wear. Nothing had been moved. The only thing not there, was dust.
She sat on the edge of her bed and looked around the room. She suddenly felt ashamed for blaming her dad for her mothers death. There was nothing he could have done to save her from her cancer. They had argued, and she had taken all her money and some of her clothes and ran off to Canada. She lived on the streets for some of those years.
Jeff stood in the door way watching her. Tears fell down his face, as he watched his sister. He was so happy she finally made it home.
"Rachel." A voice said from behind Jeff.
"Dad?" Rachel said, as her dad walked into the room. She ran to him and threw her arms around him and started to cry.
-----------------
Merigold sat at her desk, in the almost peopleless office. Rachel had told her to call her in Cameron, or fax her things she needed. She would work from there for a little while, until she decided to come back. She would be happy when Michelle was finally able to come back.
Beth left after staying two days. She couldn't miss anymore school, or else she would be kicked out. Michelle was upset, but she knew she would see her again in the future.
Chris brought Michelle home to a happy Fear. Chris set her up in her house, and then left only to return with some of his things. He would stay with her for awhile to take care of her. She had two extra rooms.
"Rich... these people want Rachel to interview them, and only her." Meri says to Rich as he walks past her.
"Call her then." Rich says and turns the phone towards her.
"I'm not going to call her, you call her." Meri says, and turns the phone back towards him.
"Where are the numbers?" He asks her.
"At home." Meri says and giggles.
He looks at her and sighs. If she only had a brain, he thought. He dialed Adams number, hoping that he was home.
"Adam?" Rich asked, as someone answered.
"No, this is Jay." Jay replies.
"Oh, is Adam there, I need to ask him a question." Rich says to Jay.
"He's here, boy is he here. Moping. I keep telling him to go to Cameron and get her back, but he is stubborn." Jay says trying to be quiet so Adam can't hear him.
"Stubborn as a jackass on a hot tin roof." Rich says laughing.
"Huh? Wha...nevermind. Do you think she cheated on him?" Jay asks.
"Thats not even a question in my vocabulary about Rachel." Rich replies in honesty.
"I don't think she did either. Hold on." Jay says, as he puts down the phone.
"Yeah?" Adam says in a gruff voice.
"Um...do you know the phone number in Cameron?" Rich asks, almost afraid that Adam will reach out and hit him through the phone.
"You won't reach her, I've tried. They must have caller id." Adam says, as he plays with one of the cats.
"You've tried calling? I would have figured....hmmm....nevermind. Can I have it anyways?" Rich says, as Adam starts to recite the phone number quickly.
----------
Maybe Rich would have better luck, Adam thought. Her not answering the phone just added to his frustration. He could still imagine her with Albert, even when his friends said she would never cheat on him. He already knew who he had to wrestle on the next Raw... Boy was he going to have fun, he thought.
-----------
Rachel stood in front of the refridgerator looking for something for dinner. Finding nothing, she walks over to the pantry and looks in there. Jeff walks into the kitchen and goes to the refridgerator, then walks over to the pantry with Rachel. "We have olives." Rachel says, as she holds up a year old can of olives.
"I'll pass." Jeff says laughing.
Matt walks in and walks to the refridgerator. " Ahh gross, this cheese is all moldy." He looks at Rachel and Jeff, and Rachel holds up the can of olives.
"Does dad shop?" Rachel asks. "Lets go out."
"McDonalds." Jeff yells.
"Outback!" Matt responds.
"A grocery store!!" Rachel says laughing. "We need to buy this place some groceries."
Matt opened the fridge againe, and threw away the stinking cheese.
The phone rings.
"I got it!" Matt yells, and races Jeff to the phone. Jeff answers, and Matt snatches it away from him. Rachel watches them laughing.
"Is Rach around?" Rich asks Matt.
"She should have answered it." Matt says laughing, and points the phone in Rachel's direction. "It's Rich."
"Hello?" Rachel says as she takes the phone.
"Hi...we here have a request for you to do an interview..and only you." Rich says in a Dracula like voice.
"Really." Rachel said laughing.
"I don't know if you will like this magazines request thought." he said in a more serious tone.
"Well, what is it?" Rachel asked, as Jeff whispered to her where they were going to eat. "NO JEFF!! Not McDonalds." She says laughing. "Continue." She says to RIch.
"Well, this magazine said, if you don't do this, you can forget about them. They want to know more about you, the Sister of the Hardyz. They want pictures of you guys in the ring. They will not take no for an answer. It's either do or die. And they want it all done by the next Smackdown. They figured it would be "cool" to use the Raw set up." HE said, and could hear her sigh.
"That means I would have to go to an arena where Adam is. It's too soon. I don't want to face him just now. But if I don't do this, I loose a customer. This is so unfair." Rachel says, as Matt plays with her ear with a feather. She swats at him and he falls to the ground laughing. " I have such wierd brothers." She tells Rich as she starts to laugh.
"So, do you want me to hook it all up?" Rich asks her, knowing how hard it was for her to do this.
"I guess so." Rachel responds.
"Rach, Adam said he has tried to call there, but no one answered. He tried to call." Rich said, as he wrote on a piece of paper.
Really? Shocker." Was all Rachel said in return.
"Can I ask you something?" Rich asked, as he quit writing.
"Go for it." Rachel said, as she helped Matt off the floor.
"Why are you talking so funny." Rich asked.
"I got my tongue pierced." Rachel replied.
"Did it hurt??" Rich asked.
"I was drunk, I didn't feel a thing." Rachel says laughing.
"We're leaving!!" Matt yells from the front door.
"Ah I gotta run. We are going out to eat tonight." Rachel says laughing.
--
Rachel walks to the door and looks at Matt. "Rich says Adam tried to call." She says, as she walks past him so he can shut the door. Matt smiles, hoping Adam has finally come to his senses.
--------------
Michelle lays in her bed unable to sleep. House noises disturbed her, and she was suddenly afraid of the dark. She got up finally to see if she could find Fear. He had started sleeping at the front door. Michelle walked around the house checking doors and windows, to make sure they were locked.
She reaches the front door, and Fear growls at her at first. Then realizing who it is, he nuzzles her hand and licks her. Feeling a tiny bit safer, she continues her rounds of the house with Fear at her side. She finally goes back to her room and stands at her door, but faces Chris'.
She opens his door, and watches him sleep for a minute. Fear hops into bed with Chris, and she decides to do the same. She hoped he didn't mind. Being with him was the safest she had felt in a long time. She fell asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow.
-----------
Fear had woken Chris as he had jumped on the bed. He had felt Michelle lay down next to him, but when he went to speak to her, he realized she had fallen asleep. He really did have feelings for her, he thought. Was it at their first meeting that he started liking her, he wondered. He was so confused. He wanted Jess back, but being with Michelle. It was just...different.
She lay her cast arm across him. It was heavy, but he didn't mind. He let her sleep, as he put his arm around her and held her close.