Brooke's eyes shot open with the suddenness of a lightning strike.  The ceiling above looked ugly for some reason.  The paint was not peeling nor were there any cracks in the plain coating, but it just looked so damn ugly to her right then.  Maybe it was the color, striking her as a piss yellow.  She hated yellow, always had.  Even as a little girl and her father giving her a new set of crayons for her books, she immediately discarded anything in the remote shade of yellow.  In high school when she had to highlight pages, she used a hot pink one instead of the generic yellow.  There was just something about the color that had always irked her, twisting a knot into the pit of her stomach.  Why the hell did I wake up?

She wiped absent-mindedly at her forehead, feeling the cold sweat wipe against the palm of her hand.  The noon day light piercing around the outside edges of the curtain glistened as she took a good look at her hand.  Peeling off the bed sheet from her body, she felt the same moisture all over her body.  Her t-shirt and Cole's boxers she was wearing were soaked straight through with her own sweat.  She sat straight up in the bed, swinging her legs off the bed as she got up.  Her side of the bed along with the half of the sheet she had were drenched at well.  Great.  I'll be hearing it from Cole later that I wet the bed or some shit.

It had been forever since she woke up like that, and it had always been after that dream, the same one as since she was a little girl.  Did she have it again?  And if so, what caused it after so long of being free of the haunting memory?  She could not remember and it was starting to piss her off.  If it was just the nightmare then fine, she could deal with it as she always did, but she wanted to be sure.  Waking up with that feeling of dread is one thing, but not knowing why was a real bitch.  If that was it, it had to be some recent change in her life that sparked the memory back to life.

Her eyes drifted to the small diamond crowning the golden band around her finger, then to Cole's slumbering face halfway smothered into the pillow.  Until that sight, she never imagined watching someone drool in their sleep could be so damned sexy.  There was the engagement to Cole, but that wouldn't bring up something as hurtful as that part of her life.  Anything connected with him was nothing but pure gold to her.  No, there had to be some other trigger but for now, she had to get out the soak and wet clothes.

Her luggage bag sat on the floor at the foot of their bed, Brooke zipped it open to rifle through it in search of a change of clothes.  Christ.  Gonna have to do some laundry soon.  Her ring gear, boots, tights, etc, sat nestled inside.  That might have been it, someone recent and fucked up enough to weight heavily on her mind.  Her shoulder still hurt like a son of a bitch, but that was nowhere near the worst part of the night.  Handcuffed to the ring and left to watch the love of her life being beaten and whipped with a chain was something she would not wish on her most bitter of enemies.  Maybe that was it.  The nightmare that caused her to wake the way she had might not have been about her about her father, but someone more vicious, more sadistic.  Malignant.  That would be the word she was trying to figure out what would best describe Curt.  Some in the business of wrestling issue a challenge to someone because they want to prove themselves better than that person, make a name for themselves from the victory.  For Brooke, however, this match was personal.  She wanted something with more heat than just glory, climbing up the ladder of success amongst the roster.  She wanted nothing more than to make Curt Evans pay for what he did at Open Season.  If the history of her family, the trend that Xavier and Melissa had already set before she even imagined she would be wrestling as they had, she would eventually take her quest for vengeance to the ultimate extreme.

The buzzing hum of her vibrating phone snapped her back from her thoughts and plotting of revenge.  Her phone bounced around slightly over the bedside table's surface from the jostling of the vibration.  Other than Cole, only two other people had her cell number, and she was not in the least surprised when she flipped it open after rushing to retrieve it.  Their house number.  "Hey, Melissa," she answered holding the small device between her shoulder and ear as she returned back to her bag and digging through it.  "Hey," said the other girl's voice through speaker as she spoke thousands of miles away and from across an entire ocean, "Xavier wanted me to call to see how you were holding up after Open Season.  He's pretty pissed and said he'll deal with Curt in his own way.  He'd tell you all this himself, but he's being an ass and all in a rush to yell at someone with the work being done on some club he's opening in Soho.  Probably be open by the time you get back from the tour over there, should come by with Cole so we can meet him properly."

"Yeah," Brooke smiled without actually thinking as she continued, "Would be nice to have something of a party there after the wedding."  "Wait. Hold up.  The what?," the voice on the other end said kind of stunned.  The tone of Melissa's voice told Brooke she was clearly stunned.  No, scratch that.  Floored would be a better word.  Shit.  Brooke did not want to tell them, not yet anyway, but her big mouth kind of forced her to show her hand now.  "Umm, yeah, me and Cole are getting married.  Probably going to do it once we get back in the States."  "Oh my God, Brooke.  I know me and Xavier aren't exactly ones to throw stones at someone else's love life, but I mean... God, you just met him."

Brooke was not surprised by Melissa's reaction.  At least she did not pull out the "You're marrying a McGrath?!" card on her.  Brooke would've just hung up on her for that.  "I know," Brooke looked over the top of the bed, Cole's feet sticking out from under the sheet and tempting her to start tickling them, "But Melissa, I don't know.  There's just something about him.  I love him.  You can understand that right?  I mean, how's Xavier make you feel?"  Melissa groaned a sigh of resignation, Brooke knowing she was admitting defeat, "Alright, well now you're going to have to bring him to meet us.  As for the wedding, don't worry about a thing.  We'll figure something out to do it when you two get back over here.  God, Brooke, I sure hope he makes you happy."

Brooke did not have enough time to answer with the obvious that she could not be any happier as long as she had Cole, the hushed tone of her voice alarming her somewhat.  "Thank God, never thought he'd leave.  Listen Brooke, I need to vent to someone besides my doctor and all that bitch does is just take notes.  You have to promise me you can't tell anyone, not even Cole.  If Xavier finds out, he'll fucking flip."  Whatever Melissa was hiding from Xavier, it obviously had her terrified with the prospect that he might find out.  "OK, shoot," Brooke said, her concern clear.  "I'm pregnant.  Or well, I was until last week when I had the abortion."  "Oh my God, are you serious?," Brooke said stunned, her voice raised slightly and realizing she should lower her tone in case Cole overheard, "I thought you and Xavier wanted that whole big family thing"

Silence.  It felt like it was going to last forever until Melissa finally broke it, "It wasn't his.  We haven't.... done anything since I was raped.  It was the fucker's kid Brooke.  And if Xavier knew I was pregnant, he'd want to DNA from it and start testing everyone in GEW to find out who it was.  I can't do it anymore, Brooke, I really can't.  I just want it to go away and be over with.  It's why I'm going through therapy, to move past it and get on with my life.  I wish I could say more, but I have this appointment with my doctor.  The shit's everyday and can be annoying but I guess it's good to just talk to someone that listens.  Love you cuz."

"Love you t--," Brooke started but the line already went dead.  Wow.  Talk about spontaneous.  At least she had some good news for Cole when he finally woke up.  Even though it was going to be extremely small given their lack ties to either of their families combined with the rushed nature of the event, the were actually going to have a wedding instead of just something in front of a judge saying they were married.