*******
"So judging from the smile on your face right now, I would say you had a good time last night?" Amanda asked as she scooped another bowl of cereal into her mouth.
"Do you have to talk with your mouth crammed full? Are we cavewomen now?" Hayley laughed and sat down with her journal and her herbal tea. There was no way she could start any day without this herbal concoction.
"No we aren't cavewomen, I'm just hungry man. What would you rather me do?"
"Wait until you're done eating and then ask how my night was, is that such a hard thing to grasp?"
Amanda laughed and put down her spoon. Finishing with the food in her mouth she turned her face serious and gave Hayley the look of death.
"So did you have a good night with our resident superhero?"
"No, he wasn't available for a date, but there was his better half. The date with Shane was wonderful, one of the best I think I've ever been on. I can't wait to do it again."
"So did you tell him about.?"
"No I didn't tell him anything Amanda. It's to soon right now to tell him anything, and at this point its just going to add an element of stress and worry that I don't want there."
"You need to tell him babe, otherwise he's going to get hurt, and then you're going to hurt."
"Okay can we change the subject here? I will tell him about it when the time is right. The time isn't right at this moment, so lets just leave it be."
"Okay whatever you say girl. I just think you should be up front with him. I mean you do want this to go somewhere right?"
"At the moment, I don't know where any of this is going to go. So let's just enjoy the ride alright?"
"Sure Hayley, you know what you're doing. So tell me about the date girl!"
Hayley sat back in the chair and sighed. Amanda was right about one thing. She had to tell Shane eventually. This wasn't something that was better hidden. But right now she was enjoying the time she had with Shane and didn't want anything to ruin it. Their date had been the sweetest time of her life, and if she told Shane now, it would ruin things for sure.
"He took me to the shoreline, and we just walked and talked."
"That's it? You went to the shoreline and watched the sun go down and you're telling me that all you did was talk to the guy? Has it been that long since you've been on a date girl?"
"No it hasn't, and we kissed too. Twice if you want to know how much we did do. It was just wonderful. There was no stress to be something we aren't and it was like the club, but without the noise."
"Did you feel sparks?"
"Yes I did, and heat and the whole bit. I kind of figured I would though, after everything I felt at the club and the whole thinking about him day in and day out. It was natural. I haven't had that with anyone before. Although he thought I was going to go after Jeff or Jay."
"He didn't??"
"He did. He was concerned about me doing that because his last girlfriend did it, and I had to spend most of my time explaining to him that I didn't want Jeff or Jay and that I wanted him. It was pretty heavy."
"Seems like it. So are you going out again today?"
"He said we might, but he also said he'd call me and we would do something different this time around."
At that moment the phone started ringing off the wall where it was hung. Hayley and Amanda both jumped out of their chairs at the exact same moment, but Amanda hit the phone first.
"Yeah Shane, she's right here, give me a second."
Passing the phone to her friend Amanda winked and went back to her cereal. Now she could eat in peace without Hayley making a big scene out of it.
"Hey Shane what's up?"
"I've got some bad news babe."
"Oh what's wrong?"
"There's something happening in New York tonight, a house show, and I'm now booked on it as a replacement, so I wont be able to be with you tonight. I'm really sorry Hayley."
"That's alright; you'll be on Raw tomorrow night right?"
"Yes of course I will. You're there too still right?"
"Yeah, so we'll just make up for it on Monday night alright? Don't worry about me babe. I've got all the time in the world to see you."
Amanda coughed on her cereal and went back to reading the paper. She knew Hayley had to tell him what was going on, before something serious happened and she couldn't. She just wished her friend would realize it.
"What was that in the background?"
"Just my silly roommate, ignore her, she's losing her mind."
"Just call Mike to come over, he should help her right?"
Hayley laughed and looked over at Amanda. She knew Mike wouldn't help this because Amanda losing her mind right at that moment was all about her, and not about Mike.
"He should be able too. So I'll see you tomorrow night?"
"Yes you will, but right now, if it's possible and if you're dressed, could you open your front door? I'm totally freezing my ass off out here."
"You're outside my door?"
"Yes, and its way to early to be doing this."
Running over to her front door she opened it and saw Shane standing there in shorts and a t-shirt. She didn't want to admit it but he looked like he had just gotten out of bed. She had to admit the thought appealed to her too.
"Come in here this minute Shane Helms! Why would you stand outside and call me?"
Shane smirked a little and stepped into her house. He'd been here the night before but hadn't gotten a chance to look around and see everything. Her house looked like it had her type of touch on everything. It looked homey.
"I wanted to surprise you with these, but the whole effect is lost now, I mean it's like cold out there."
Shane pulled the flowers from behind his back and passed them gently to her. Hayley looked and saw the tulips and the roses and smiled. Taking one small smell, she pulled Shane with her into the kitchen and searched for a vase.
"Amanda, meet Shane, and Shane meet Amanda, my oddball roommate."
"Nice to meet you Amanda." Shane said shaking her hand.
"Same here man, I've been hearing so much about you, and I wondered when you would show up."
Hayley rolled her eyes as she put the flowers in the vase. It was nice having Shane here with her in the house, and even better having Amanda be so cool with him. Even when she was borderline embarrassing.
"So you like the flowers?"
"I love them Shane, thank you. You didn't have to do it though."
"Well I wanted to make sure you didn't forget about me while I'm off wrestling tonight. You know I would rather be here with you."
Amanda almost choked on her cereal again and smiled. Putting down the spoon, she picked up the newspaper and headed out of the kitchen. She wanted to leave these two alone. It was getting to mushy in here. Now she knew what Hayley felt like when Mike was over.
"I'd rather you be here too to be perfectly honest but it's your job. Not to mention we will see each other on Raw tomorrow night."
"We will. I just wanted to say goodbye before I go home and finish packing for the flight. I'll miss you, but you know me, I'll call you a hundred times over the night."
"I'll miss you too Shane. You'd better call me."
"I will. So I better get going. I just wanted to make sure you got the flowers."
"Well thank you."
Shane pulled her close to him and kissed her gently. He'd been thinking about that all night long. He didn't have that much sleep because of it. He didn't know what it was about this girl, but she just made him want to get as close as he could to her. He could really see himself falling in love with her.
'Well there goes the not getting serious rules I set down' he thought to himself. Pulling away from the kiss, he gently took her hand in his and kissed it. He better get going before he totally forgot about the flight and the show.
"I'll call you okay?"
"I'll be here."
*********
********
"Amanda I have an appointment that I forgot about, so if Shane calls can you tell him I will talk to him later?" Hayley asked flashing her friend a small smile.
"What appointment? I didn't think you would be going out today... your flight leaves in like four hours, and you need to be there."
"I still will be I just need to go to the doctor."
"Have they found out what exactly is the matter yet?"
"The doctor thinks she might know what it is, but she doesn't want to say for sure until all the testing is complete."
"Are you going to tell Shane?"
"Eventually, when I find out for sure what the problem is."
"If it's serious like we've talked about before, you need to tell him. It affects him in a lot of ways..."
"Yes mom I know and I will tell him the minute I know for sure what the heck it is."
"Let me know what happens alright? I worry about you, you know."
"I will, I'll call you later okay?
************
"Any pain or discomfort since the last time I saw you?"
Hayley really didn't want to be here. She knew there was a chance of this happening since it had happened with her mother years before, but she just didn't want to face that she might have the same thing. She had so much happening, and she couldn't picture dying before she got to do it all.
"You want the honest truth?"
"That's what I like to work with, when I see my patients yes, it might help me diagnose this easier, or catch whatever it is before it hits head on."
"I'm in a lot of pain in my stomach, and it's so bad sometimes I can't even move to get out of bed. I've been doing really well at hiding it from the people close to me, but its getting worse."
"Any abnormal bleeding?"
"Yes, not a whole lot, but its coming at times I don't really expect it too."
"Are you having intercourse with anyone at the moment, and if not, when was the last time you did?"
"No, I have a boyfriend, sort of, at the moment, but we haven't progressed that far in our relationship yet, that I want to be having sex with him. The last time I slept with someone was, god, like two years ago, when you first saw me about this."
"So since then, there has been no bleeding because of sex correct?"
"That's about it in a nutshell."
"Anything else that's throwing you off a little? I still want to do some tests to make sure what I'm getting here is accurate, but I want to know everything your feeling as of right now."
"Aside from the immense pain in my abdomen, and the occasional bleeding, can things get any worse? I would think all of this is bad enough as it is."
"It's bad but if we catch whatever it is right away, it wont progress to anything life threatening."
"You're telling me this could be life threatening?"
"Nothing is for certain Hayley, but you have to keep your mind open to the possibility that it could. Nothing in medicine is written in stone, there are constantly things changing, so about other symptoms?"
Hayley sighed. She really didn't want to tell the doctor about the rest of it. She was living fine with the pain right now; it couldn't possibly get any worse, could it?
"No. there is nothing else at the moment."
The doctor gave her a once over to make sure she wasn't trying to hide anything. As much as Hayley wanted to tell the doctor about the other pain she was feeling, she couldn't do it, if she wanted to keep this thing from getting serious and out of hand. She didn't want anyone knowing about this and it was bad enough that Amanda already knew. She had to make sure the doctor thought there was nothing else wrong.
"I want you to go downstairs for some x-rays alright? That might give me a better view of what I'm dealing with. If there are any other symptoms you need to tell me about, feel free to call my office or make another appointment to see me. I want to work with you here Hayley, and fix whatever this is head on."
"I know, and I will get the x-rays done when I come back home tomorrow, I've got a flight leaving in a few hours for Georgia, and I can't miss it."
"Okay, here's the form for the lab when you come back, so you can get in right away without them having to call me. When I get the results I will call you in and we can go over everything. Sound alright with you?"
"Yes, and thank you for seeing me on such short notice Dr. Abrams. Do you have any idea what it might be at this stage?"
"At this moment, I still think it might be a case of Ovarian Cancer, but as I said, nothing in medicine is one hundred percent accurate, so we will wait on the x-rays and see what happens. But until then, please take care of yourself and do not overdo it."
"I won't, and I'll see you when the results come back."
*********
Stepping off the plane, Hayley thought about what the doctor had said. She might have Ovarian Cancer, the same as her mother did. She remembered all of the pain her mother had gone through, first being diagnosed with breast cancer and then having it slowly spread through her entire body and finally resulting in her death. She didn't want the same thing to happen to her. It just couldn't, there was too much to live for. Grabbing her bag she made her way through to the customs desk. She had to put this out of her mind and live in the moment. She had a career she was beginning to love, and a potential boyfriend that was waiting for her at the arena. All of this illness stuff could wait, for now she just wanted to see Shane.
*******
"There's my girl! Gosh girl, you look wonderful!" Summer exclaimed as Hayley made her way to the girl's locker room.
"You show up here an awful lot lately Summer, are you sure you don't want your old job back? I can talk to Jim for you."
Summer laughed and ran her fingers through her hair. She did miss the ring a little bit, but being home with Jeff had its advantages, she never had a lonely bed at the end of the day.
"No, but thanks for the offer girl. So I haven't had a chance to see you since you were at my house for the get together. Come to think of it, I haven't seen Shane either, have you?"
"Yeah, we've hung out a couple of times."
"Is that all? You've just hung out?"
"Well, now that you mention it."
"Oh my gosh, come on now, I feel like I've known you for years, you have to tell me what's been happening since my party. What did you and Shane talk about upstairs in my room?"
"Well Summer, he asked me out on a date, that's what he did. I'm the girl he met at the club that night that him and Shannon and Matt went out, and after some thought, and pushing by his friends, he decided to ask me out. So what he's been doing since then is hanging out with me."
"So do you like him?"
"Oh you have no idea, its wonderful being with him. There isn't anything we can't say to one another." As Hayley said those words she realized there was something she couldn't say to him.
"Oh that's so cute! We have to have you over again, plus I want to see you more too. You seem like you could really fit in with our group girl!"
"Well you have my number, so you can just call, and I'll come running."
"How about a shopping trip on Wednesday? Are you free for that?"
"Sure, I was going to rest up when I got home, but this works well too. I'd love too."
"Cool, I better go find my husband, but you have a good night and good luck with Shane. He's a real keeper."
"I'll keep that in mind Summer. Nice seeing you again!"
With a quick wave, Summer rushed off down the hallway and Hayley made her way to Shane's locker room. She wanted to go over the nights events with him before he got a hold of the script.
********
**********
"So Shane was alright with you coming out with me shopping?" Summer asked with a smile. She was happy that this girl was making Shane happy. Summer knew that since her and Jeff had gotten married, Shane felt more out of the group then he ever had before.
"Oh yeah, he was kind of happy about it actually. I think he wanted to hang with the guys. We've been talking so much lately, and being together, he hasn't had much of a chance. So this gives him time to do what he needs to do, and then I get to hang out with you."
"I'm glad because I want to get to know you; I think we could be good friends. Not to mention I totally need some new clothes and I can't shop with a man for them anymore, it's not the same."
"How's Trish doing?"
"She's well. I have to fly out to Toronto next week to check on my studio and the record label. It's been awhile since I went out there to check on things."
"Does it ever get hard, running from city to city like you do?" Hayley asked. She had figured it must be hard being based in two different places that weren't all that close to one another. She didn't know if she could do it. Just flying out every Monday was taking its toll on her.
"It has its moments, I'll grant you that, but the end result is what keeps me going."
"Do you miss being in the ring and wrestling ever?"
"You won't tell Jeff?"
"Of course not, me and him aren't that close anyways, remember?"
"Yeah I know, and truth is, I want to get back in the ring, eventually. I mean right now I've got everything I ever wanted, and I couldn't see myself doing it, but there are times where its like, when can I get back there and do what I love? The wrestling business used to be my dream, and I miss it a lot of the time. I won't lie to you there."
"So why not talk to Jeff and come back? If its something you love, I can't see him standing in your way, he doesn't seem the type."
"He's not the type, but I don't want to do that to him. When he comes back to wrestling, if ever, he wants to do it together, and I can't really blame him, we did leave together."
Hayley watched the way Summer talked about wrestling and about Jeff, and she could easily tell that this woman wanted to do everything. She had so many dreams and things she wanted to accomplish, and not doing it seemed to be weighing on her.
"Well I've never actually seen you in the ring, so I'd like to eventually before my job ends, but it has to be with your entire heart. That's something I've learned by being here, and if Jeff is a part of that heart, then you have to wait until its right for the both of you."
"You pretty much nailed it there Hayley."
They continued walking through the mall and suddenly Hayley got a stabbing pain in her abdomen. She had never had these pains in public before, so she wasn't sure how she could hide it. She stopped at a bench and sat down, as Summer gave her a questioning look.
"Are you alright Hayley?"
"No not really, god this pain has got to stop!"
"What pain, and when did it start?"
"Oh its nothing Summer, it started months ago, maybe even years, but it's getting worse on me. Usually it only happens at home at night."
"It's not anything Hayley, you're sitting here clutching your stomach and your sides, so do you want to tell me the truth here?"
"Its nothing, believe me, just let it go, it will pass."
Even as she said the words she knew it wasn't going to pass as easily this time. It seemed to keep stabbing away at her, to the point where she couldn't move even if she forced herself too. Maybe it was better that she tell someone, Amanda was right, she couldn't do this on her own anymore, it didn't seem to be getting any better.
"It doesn't look like its passing away very fast, so tell me what's wrong so I can help you out here Hayley."
"I don't even know where to start with telling you Summer, so maybe we should just let it drop alright? We've got a lot of stuff to get done here today, and I don't want to ruin it."
"I'm not going anywhere and it's obvious you aren't either, so just suck it up and tell me." Summer sat down on the bench beside Hayley so if she did want to tell her, she wouldn't have to yell it across the mall. She had never seen someone in this much pain who didn't wrestle, so she was a little curious about what was going on.
"I might be sick, like very sick, they haven't gotten any answers yet, but they think they know what it is."
"Who are they?"
"My doctor and the hospital."
"Oh my god, it's that serious?"
"Yeah, I might have cancer, they don't know yet though."
"Jesus Christ, does Shane know about this?"
"He doesn't know about anything, and at the moment I don't want to tell him. We are just getting together; this would be too much for him right now."
"Hayley, not telling him is what's going to be hard on him. Not you telling him. He's going to want to help you."
"That's the reason I'm not telling him. Look there's a good chance this is Ovarian, which means if I get it treated now, it will go away and I'll be fine, and I don't want to worry him for nothing."
"You like him a lot don't you?"
"More then anything and anyone ever."
"Then sweetheart, take it from someone who has had things kept from her, just tell him the truth. Let him be there for you and help you through this. Even if it is nothing serious and can be dealt with right away, he obviously likes you a lot too, and he's going to want to help in whatever way he can."
"I just can't do that right now Summer, can you respect that?"
"I can respect your wishes, if that's what you mean, but I think you should tell him. I just want to lay that out there for you too. How did this happen?"
"It's genetic actually. My mother had it, well breast cancer anyway, and it ended up spreading to her entire body and she died from it. I don't want the same thing to happen to me, which is why I'm getting it checked out, but they don't know for sure where it came from, and if it is indeed Ovarian Cancer, it's the hardest cancer to pinpoint."
"You've been sick for awhile then huh?"
"Yeah, on and off for a couple of years, but I'm good at hiding it and not focusing on it."
"Well sweetheart, I consider you a friend here, a close one, and from one friend to another, I say your doing the right thing getting it checked on, but you need to stop hiding it. It won't make anyone think any less of you; I'm still here aren't I?"
"Yes you are, and its passing now Summer, so can we please get on with our shopping trip and pretend this didn't happen?"
"We can do whatever you like, but for the record, if you get more pain, don't hide it from me this time. I'm here to help you."
"You won't tell Shane?"
"No, I won't tell Shane, that's entirely your place, just do it soon before something serious does happen. I don't want to see either one of you get hurt here."
***************
