3.31.2010
THE NEST
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA
12:49 PM CENTRAL DAYLIGHT TIME
"Go wash your hands, Theresa, lunch is almost ready."
Terrence Thompson watched as his daughter bounded out of the room, then turned back to mixing the powdered cheese in with the macaroni. His daughter was hungry, and she needed to be fed.
Right now, he felt like that was the only certainty left in his life.
Everything else was just too much of a jumble. Ever since Wendy had stunned the world by announcing Victor Mandrake as her tag team partner, he had felt like he had been on autopilot. All he had known was that he had to get out of there. Just get away from the woman who had stabbed him in the back.
Wendy had begged him to stay, to listen, but what was there to listen to? What excuse could she possibly give for betraying her husband... in the middle of a natonwide press conference no less?
Especially after that brilliant facade of reconcilliation she had given Sunday Morning after their fight Saturday night.
And how long had this been planned? Was the real reason she hadn't told him about Victor because she had been planning this betrayal all along?
There were too many questions. And he wasn't sure he ever really wanted to know the answers.
As he had driven, he had wondered what he should do. Leave with Theresa? Kick Wendy out? File for divorce? Stay here? What?
He didn't know, so he made macaroni and cheese for his daughter.
Sooner or later, he was going to have to make a decision. With any luck, Wendy was halfway to Florida to be with her new partner, and his choice would be an easy one.
The sound of the front door being swung open told him luck wasn't on his side today.
Terrence put down the pot of macaroni and quickly walked into the hallway... and came face to face with his wife. He noticed her eyes were red, and the green satin dress she had worn to the press conference had become remarkably dirty. Behind her was Daniel Pollaski, the car keys still in his hand a dead giveaway of how she had ended up getting home. Terrence didn't even acknowledge his manager, so intent was his gaze on his wife.
Behind him, Theresa came running to greet her mother, but stopped as Terrence blocked the hallway, preventing her from getting through.
Wendy's green eyes stared back at him, and Terrence saw the determination in her eyes. If she came for a fight, she was going to get one, he decided.
Instead, she spoke quietly. "You left me behind."
The words were stated more as a fact than an accusation, but still he felt himself bristling. He forced himself to remain calm. "So did you." He finally said.
Wendy nodded her head, accepting the blow stoically.
"Hey, Theresa, what say you and I go get some McDonalds?" Pollaski asked. He had noticed Theresa, and saw that the girl was confused by the sudden tension in the room.
"But daddy made mack cheese!" Theresa protested.
"Yeah, well, mommy and daddy need to yell at each other, and you shouldn't have to hear it." Pollaski replied candidly.
"Go on, Theresa," Terrence said softly, moving aside so his daughter could get through. Theresa ran forward, and Dan took her hand in his, nodding at both Birdz in turn.
"Thank you," Wendy whispered. Dan nodded, and opened the door, he and Theresa leaving.
Terrence retreated back into the kitchen, sitting down at the table. Wendy followed him into the room.
"I almost didn't expect you to be here," she said, sitting down across from him.
Terrence shrugged. "I didn't actually expect to still be here myself."
The two stared at each other again for a long time. Wendy was the first to look away. "Go ahead," she finally said.
"What?" Terrence demanded.
"Go ahead, yell at me. Scream. Call me a horrible person. An awful mother. I can see that you want to."
Terrence scoffed. "And you honestly think that's going to solve anything?"
"I don't know." Wendy admitted. "But one of us needs to say something."
"Well, why don't you start by explaining to me why the fuck you just threw me under the bus? And don't tell me you're sorry, dammit."
Wendy paused. "I'm not going to apologize for that, because I'm not sorry for what I did. I'm only sorry that in my foolishness, I allowed myself to be placed in a situation where I had no choice. A girl's life is more important than your pride."
That caught Terrence completely off guard. "What in the hell are you talking about?"
For an answer, Wendy reached into her purse, and pulled out her phone. She quickly dialed her voicemail, then set the phone on speaker, so Terrence could hear the message.
"Wendy! Its Megan! Please... I have no one else... I... I'm at the theater... and he... oh God... Wendy, please... no... no... oh God... HELP ME!"
"Megan?" Terrence was stunned. "The girl from your theater?"
Wendy nodded. "She left that message for me at six o'clock this morning. As soon as I heard it, I drove to the theater. She was on stage, chained up."
Wendy looked her husband dead in the eye. "Victor somehow got ahold of her, and he used her as bait in a trap. To get me."
Terrence looked as if he was about to say something, bit Wendy cut him off. "He held a gun to her head, Terrence. I had no choice."
So it was blackmail, Terrence realized, adding another line to the list of crimes he would make Mandrake pay for when he finally got the chance. "Why didn't you tell me this before the conference?"
"It was part of the deal." Wendy replied. "I couldn't tell you or Pollaski beforehand. I think Victor wanted to see the expression on your face. He made me swear an oath, I couldn't go back on it."
Terrence stared long and hard at his wife. His initial temptation was to call her a liar. She'd been doing more lying in the past month than she probably had the entire rest of her life. But deep down, some gut feeling told him she was being honest with him. But he was still irked to holy hell that his wife would keep her word to a monster after lying point blank to her husband.
Wendy seemed to read Terrence's mind. "You know how Mandrake works, Terrence. If I reneged, he would have known somehow. And gone after Megan. Or me. Or you. Or Ther-"
"Don't say it!" Terrence snapped, unable to even bear the thought of Theresa in Mandrake's clutches. "Goddammit, Wendy! Had you told me all this earlier, we could have taken measures to prevent something like this! And now you're joined to this bastard at the hip!"
There was a pause. "And you know what really gets me, Wendy? The fact that you told me Saturday night the reason you hid all this from me is that you didn't have enough faith in me to handle the situation correctly."
Wendy bowed her head in shame. She had absolutely nothing to say in her defense there.
"Now before we figure out how to proceed from here, any other fun little tidbits of info you're keeping from me?"
Wendy nodded, and Terrence rolled his eyes. "Well, go on."
"First... the donation check didn't bounce. I was fired from the theater because I punched Simon after hearing Mandrake was the donor."
"Okay, that's fairly inconsequential now," Terrence said, although the realization of how far Mandrake was going to torture Wendy alarmed him.
"Second... Cassie knew all along, and didn't tell you on my orders. She wanted to though."
"She fucking should have..." Terrence muttered. "Okay, anything else?"
Wendy paused for just a second. "Mandrake says I'm the reason Rick committed suicide."
"And you believe that bullshit?" Terrence demanded, suddenly realizing why Wendy had that nightmare a month ago.
Wendy nodded. "To an extent. I think I was one of the stabilizing forces in his life, and when we left wrestling, its like a part of the foundation was kicked away."
"And Victor blames you? Look, hon. Its not your fault Rick was a co-dependant paranoid schizo nutbask..."
"Have a care how you talk, Terry," Wendy snapped, showing anger for the first time all afternoon. "He was still a friend."
Terrence looked at his wife, then nodded. "Sorry, I went too far there. But I don't care what Mandrake says, Rick's death was NOT your fault, and until you realize that, you're NEVER going to get from under his thumb."
Wendy nodded uncertainly. Silence reigned over the kitchen for some time.
"So, where do we go from here?" Wendy finally asked.
"You tell me. You're the one who's gotten herself attached to a homicidal maniac who wants to kill you."
"I know," Wendy admitted, and for the first time all afternoon, her resolution began to waver. "I... I'm scared Terrence. Victor needs me... he needs me to do something. I just keep thinking about what's going to happen when he decides he no longer needs me."
"Christ..." Terrence had a sudden horrid vision of his wife and Mandrake in a match, with Victor telling Wendy to climb a turnbuckle, then catching her in mid air and breaking her neck with the Killing Fields.
"Fuck it, Wendy... get out of it. We have enough problems in our lives to worry about your own tag partner murdering you. We can get protection for Megan. We can protect ourselves and Theresa. He won't..."
"No." Wendy stated firmly. "I gave my word."
"Oh, so you'll keep your word to him, but not to me?" Terrence felt his anger returning.
"No!" Wendy replied fiercely. "I didn't keep my word to you, and look where its gotten me! I nearly lost my husband today. What will I lose by breaking my oath to Victor?"
Terrence slowly nodded, his anger subsiding as he saw his wife's logic. "What goes around comes around."
"I know that all too well, now." Wendy said bitterly. "But I also know I can't back away anymore. I let Victor take my job away from me. I let him take my pride and my freedom. I almost lost you and Megan because I kept running away. I don't know if I'm able to fight back against Victor yet, but I need to stand firm."
Terrence nodded, and stared at his wife for a long time. There was still a part of him that was furious with her, and likely would be for a long time. But she had meant well, and was trying to survive a situation no one should have been put in. He had no choice but to forgive her. Finally, he smiled. "Well, when you have to... I'll be standing right by your side."
"Thank you, Terry." Wendy said, returning the smile. "As will I when you have to stand firm. And that is one oath I will NEVER go back on."
Terrence chuckled, but then suddenly turned serious again. "This isn't over between us Wendy. I forgive you for what happened today, but there is obviously some serious trust issues between us now. Mine's still shaken, even though I know you were trying to do the right thing. And I can tell you don't have complete faith in me either. Wrestling nearly broke us up twice, because we didn't trust each other enough. We can't let that happen again."
Wendy nodded, then got up from her chair. "We'll make it through this." She smiled, as Terrence got up as well. "I'm sorry... for everything" she said, embracing him.
"Its okay, hon," Terrence returning the embrace.
They were still holding each other when Pollaski and Theresa returned home, which, considering Dan's appetite, was a very, very long time.
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