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The Way to Eden	By : Esquirella Category: WWF/WWE > General Views: 3514 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. I do not know the celebrities of WWE/WWF. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

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“So that’s when I left the club the second time.”

“The last time?” Tony queried.

“Well, it was supposed to be,” Tara shrugged. “But I have a friend in trouble, so I’m going to a different one. And this should be the last time.”

Tony chewed on his coffee stirrer quietly as he digested all of the information he’d just heard and he couldn’t believe what the poor woman had gone through after Ben died. Like the stalker after the attack in the hospital for one, and then the cabin with the weird man. She was holding something back about that, he was sure of it. She’d ghosted over that part quickly, as if she was trying to convince him it wasn’t important, but it was. And then there were the two men who’d ‘adopted’ her even though she was past legal age to be on her own. And the horrific fight clubs. Tony knew Ben would have freaked out if he were still alive. Of course, Ben’s death triggered all of the events she’d described. Then there was Shannon, her new husband

“So, you ‘fathers’ are okay with this?” he finally asked. He was still trying to assimilate the fact that two strangers she never met before barged in and took over her life, though she seemed to be fine with it.

“Not especially,” she admitted looking down and letting her straight red hair fall around her face. “But they know we don’t really have much of a choice now. It probably won’t even really be a fight,” she shrugged. “I’m pretty well known in that area and people are used to seeing me fight men. I’m sure the fight club owner will stop it once he sees me.”

“But if he doesn’t . . .” Tony asked uneasily.

“If he doesn’t,” Tara sighed, “I guess it will still be a short fight.”

She looked guilty and the event hadn’t even taken place yet. Tony could only guess at what was troubling her, though. He hadn’t had time to get to know her well when she and Ben got together, a fact that bothered him a lot over the years since Ben had died. He was his best friend, and Tony knew that if Ben had been coherent at all in his final days, he would have asked him to take care of Tara and the baby. He had already decided he would do just that when Tara was attacked and lost the baby. It had been a girl, Tony found out later on. Being that she was in her eighth month of pregnancy and the baby was nearly fully formed, Tara had made sure she was buried in the grave beside her daddy so that he would always be nearby.

It had broken Tony’s heart to see the wasted, emaciated figure Tara had become after that. He’d tried calling her several times over the few months after Ben’s death to see if he could get her to see a doctor, but she never answered the phone. He had guessed that Ben’s mother was somehow responsible for the call screening. But he also knew Tara had gone back to work, afraid she would lose the last thing that connected her to her husband: their house. Tony had made sure the insurance forms were all filled out and had offered to help her with the payments, but she always politely refused, feeling as if she was a burden to him for some reason. Only the fates and Ben knew what that reason was, though. He remembered seeing her once in the mall with a Japanese girl she’d introduced as Seka. A transfer student she’d taken in, she’d told him. He was glad she wasn’t living alone at least.

Before he could go back and make another attempt to get to her, he found her house locked securely. A call to her answering machine revealed a terse message in a male monotone voice announcing that Tara could be reached through a local attorney. When he called that number, Tony was told that she was staying with relatives out west. He could address correspondence to her through them and they would forward it. Not wanting to disrupt her life, he’d waited two months before sending a letter asking if she was okay, but it went unanswered.

Now she was back, albeit temporarily from the sound of things. Tony sighed inwardly, knowing he’d failed his best friend. He guessed he had the two men to thank for her survival though.

“I’m sorry,” Tara finally broke the silence.

“For what?”

“For never answering your letter,” she looked up guiltily at him. “I did receive it. I’m sorry I never replied.”

“You don’t have to apologize.”

“Don’t I?” she laughed. “It was terrible of me.”

“You probably needed time to collect yourself.”

“Yeah, but it’s no excuse,” she sighed. “I know you held no real responsibility toward me, but you were only asking how I was.”

“I felt responsible,” he smiled sadly. “He was my best friend and I knew he would have wanted me to look out for you.”

“But that’s just it,” she smirked ruefully. “I didn’t want anyone to look out for me. Not even myself.”

“I guessed that.”

“I know you did.”

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“I would like to talk to you,” Justin said as Eden and Jeff walked in. They both began to follow him when Justin stopped and looked at Eden.

“You need to see your brother,” he said implacably.

“But?” she began.

“There you are,” Todd called as he and Nora bounded into her path. “We’ve been looking for you.”

“You have?” Eden asked uncertainly.

“Yeah,” Nora grinned. “Justin gave us a bag of cash to take you shopping!”

“Uh, okay,” Eden replied. “In a sec.”

“Now,” Justin piped in. “You need decent clothes before we leave, and that is soon.”

“But?”

“I’ll be fine, baby,” Jeff sighed, knowing he wasn’t getting out this no matter what Eden said or did to avoid it. “Justin an’ I are ovadue fo’ a talk.”

“Are you sure?”

“He is positive,” Justin answered for her forcing a benign smile.

“Okay,” she replied as he allowed Todd and Nora to lead her out the door. She glanced back at Jeff before she walked out.

“Okay, ya got me cornahed,” Jeff sighed turning to the tall dark haired man and following him into the kitchen. “I ‘ope ya not gonna kill me, tho’.”

“Why would I do that?”

“Oh, come on,” Jeff smiled. “I kno’ ya kno’ what I did wit’ Eden. Tha’s wha’s this’s about, right?”

Justin sighed as he sank down into a chair. “Jeff, I do not know what to think anymore,” he finally said honestly. “Here. I thought you and Eden just met, and now Sven tells me you are in a sexually active relationship. Can you explain to me how that happened?”

“’OW?” Jeff teased, then took on a serious look. “We been talkin’ for a long time, Justin. An’ I knew Eden befo’ anyone else.”

“I am aware of that.”

“If yaw worried ‘bout my intentions, don’ be,” Jeff added emphatically. “We’re gonna git married.”

“What?!?!” Justin barked. “She is barely 18, Jeff.”

“Ya kno’ ‘er age fo’ sure?” Jeff asked curiously. “’Cause if ya do, she’d like ta kno’, I’m sure. Tha’ Samuel guy probally lied a lot ta ‘er.”

“I am aware of that,” the man sighed wearily. “I do not know for sure, but Sven gives fairly accurate estimates and he places her in her late teens.”

“Well, she said she neva been allowed ta ‘ave frien’s o’ company ‘round when she was growin’ up, so she couldn’ gauge it.”

“About this marriage business.”

“Justin, stop worryin’,” Jeff smiled. “I said ‘gonna’ git married, bu’ I neva said when. She calls the shots.”

“Excuse me?”

“I ain’ all THAT much like Shannon, am I?” the wrestler asked. “She calls the shots. ‘Er traina neva let ‘er. I aim ta change that. We are gittin’ married,” Jeff said with certainty, “bu’ she says when.”

“And you are fine with that arrangement?”

“Oh, I guess I got no one ta blame fo’ that reputation bu’ myself,” Jeff laughed. “I was ‘ard on Ri, wasn’ I?”

Justin nodded gravely.

“I mean it,” Jeff said sincerely. “I’m fine wit’ it. I tol’ ‘er this mornin’ myself. She needs ta git some control ova ‘er own life, Justin. ‘An I aim ta see tha’ she does.”

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“Shannon,” Sven greeted amiably into the phone. “I trust you are well.”

“As well as I can be,” Shannon muttered as he packed for his trip to Florida. “’Ow’s ma girl?”

“That is what I wanted to talk to you about, interestingly enough.”

“She okay?”

“Physically?” the Scandinavian asked. “She is well. Emotionally, I am not so sure.”

“What ‘appened?” he asked with concern. “She didn’ say anythin’ ta me las’ night.”

“Did she not?”

“Whattaya mean?”

“Did she not say anything last night?”

“Look, Sven, I ain’ got time fo’ yo’ riddles,” Shannon sighed. “I’m gittin’ ready ya go see ‘er now.”

“Fine, then I will spell it out for you,” Sven sighed. “Did you give her a chance to say anything to you last night, Shannon? Or did you spend all of your time barking orders at her, as you have been known to do in the past?”

Shannon had felt a little guilty about how he’d left the conversation with Tara the previous evening, but he was trying to keep her out of that world and doing it the only way he knew how.

“Look, I didn’ say anythin’ I ‘aven’ said befo’.”

“That is what I thought,” Sven groaned. “I knew something was wrong this morning and suspected it was the phone call.”

“What was wrong?”

“Shannon, Tara never went into ‘Rio mode’ after she got together with you unless she had to, and even then she waited until just before the fight to do so.”

“Yeah. An’?”

“And this morning she was completely Rio after we asked her what was wrong. She had been sitting at the table sulking when we did so. Then she went out for a walk, and I have a strong feeling she went to see Ben.”

Jealousy flared up inside of Shannon again, and it was stronger than he’d ever felt it before. Jeff had been a pain in the ass when he was pursuing Tara, but Ben was another matter altogether. He was her first love, her first husband, her first everything. And Shannon only met her after Ben was dead. How could he fight a ghost?

“She did not go to see him because she regrets being with you,” Sven said softly, deftly reading Shannon’s mind through the phone. “She did so because he was the first one who brought her out of her childhood nightmare. She was little more than a child when he met her. It is natural for her to seek comfort from him even now when he is gone.”

“’Ow dya kno’?”

“Who do you think she turned to when we left Boston the first time?”

“She neva talks ‘bout tha’,” the wrestler mumbled. “I git th’ feelin’ somethin’ horrible ‘appened, tho’.”

“More horrible than you can imagine.”

“Tell me.”

“I cannot.”

“I cain’ fight a ghost,” Shannon sighed.

“No one is asking you to. But you cannot be so heavy handed either. We can tell you from experience that it will eventually backfire. We almost lost her over it.”

“You an’ Justin?”

“Yes.”

“Bu’ i’s th’ only way I got. It worked ta git ‘er outta th’ Series.”

“Yes, but she went into the Series willingly,” Sven pointed out. “This time, she feels responsible for Shane’s life.”

“Matt tol’ me ‘bout it.”

“I gather you did not let her speak beyond telling you she was going back.”

“Yeah.”

“And you blame Eden as well.”

How the hell did he KNOW that, Shannon groused inwardly.

“Maybe,” he replied evasively.

Sven wasn’t fooled.

“Eden is no more at fault than Tara.”

“Sven.”

“Shannon,” Sven raised his voice an octave, something Shannon never heard before. “Do not contradict me on my children.”

“Sorry.”

“You do not know the whole story. Eden was a victim of her own upbringing as well. I am sure Tara would have told you if she could have last night,” Sven took a breath. “And she is no older than Tara was when Ben met her,” he added. “You tell me how one so young could have learned to become so dangerous.”

“’Er traina?” Shannon asked suddenly nervous.

“Exactly,” Sven softened his voice. “Tara sees herself in Eden. Tara sees that she is upsetting you with going back. Tara blames herself for Shane’s disappearance, indirectly though it is. These things add up to one very unstable warrior, would you not say?”

Shannon sighed again. Shit, he screwed up this time.
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The Way to Eden