Title: Courting Destruction

Authors: Luna and Maggie

Feedback: Loved and appreciated.  Send it to either [email protected] or [email protected]

Distribution: Tainted Fiction, Maggie's Mad Maze, Luna's Night Moves...anyone else please just ask before you take it...I promise we'll say yes!

Disclaimer: The WWE owns the rights to all the names you recognize. This is being done purely for fun and entertainment. We are not making any money off of this. If you sue us all you’ll get our student loan debts.

Rating: PG-13 for now for language and violence. It will probably move to R in later chapters though due to more graphic violence and sex so if that is going to be a problem you might want to steer clear of this story.

Notes: This is going to be a story that is largely based in the WWE with some paranormal elements.  We are playing a bit loose with time lines of past WWE events and ages of stars as we see fit and will be trying to remain true to the characters in some cases rather than what we know of their real personal lives.  If that is a problem, stop here.

 

Courting Destruction Chapter 12/?

 

Rose and Solie headed down the hallway away from the party room. They were hoping to cut off their dads before anyone saw them with the intimidating pair of men. The question was could they find them and get them someplace private before that happened. Neither man was likely to take a suggestion to disappear well. What the heck did they want anyway? It wasn’t like they hadn’t had a busy day already.

 

Rose for one had experienced enough excitement. She was fairly certain that explaining her lineage to her new friends would fall under the category of too much stress for one day. Hunter may have said that people needed to know and in theory she may have even agreed with him. That didn’t mean she wanted to be the one to ruin their chances before they got out of the gate. It wasn’t that she or Solie were ashamed of their fathers, quite the opposite was true in fact. But they didn’t want to have to live up to some preconceived notions about themselves based solely on heritage. Rose figured if they at least made a good impression with people first that their fathers’ reputations might not be as big of a factor in how people treated them later.

 

The strawberry blonde was so intent on her own thoughts that she didn’t even see where she was heading until her cousin whispered her name. Unfortunately the warning was a second too late as she literally walked right into someone. Looking up from the large hands that grabbed her arms to steady her she saw her own father towering over her. She thought she caught a smile but it was gone before she could call him on it.

 

“Hi daddy,” Solie chirped leaning up on tiptoes to dutifully place a kiss on her own father's cheek.

 

The platinum blonde's father grunted in response, which didn't seem to faze his child one little bit.  She looked cheerful if a bit worn down around the edges.  Then again, maybe that was just him projecting because he had spent the majority of the day worrying about her and her cousin.

 

“What's got you so distracted,” Rose's father asked as he scanned the pair.  He was relieved to see that they had apparently been able to stay out of trouble.  Of course they had been here less than twenty-four hours.  It was entirely likely that they hadn't had a chance to stir up anything...yet.

 

“For a first day I wouldn't have expected it to be so busy,” Solie inserted when it looked like Rose wasn't going to respond.  “I think if I have to hear, 'You're new here aren't you?' one more time I'm liable to go postal,” she finished crossing her arms under her ample chest.

 

“Now Lee, it wasn't that bad,” Ro interjected finally managing to draw herself out of her stunned silence.  “We did meet some very nice people,” she said flashing her father a brilliant smile.

 

“Uh-huh, now is one of these nice people the reason your head was in the clouds,” the redhead's father asked frowning fiercely.

 

“Could be,” Rose couldn't help but reply knowing that it was killing him to think she might have some kind of crush on one of his coworkers already.

 

Taking a deep breath the older of brothers looked down at his daughter before glancing over at her platinum blonde cousin, “So Lee, are you going to tell me who I need to kill? I doubt my daughter will.”

 

Grinning at the obvious concern in her uncle’s voice she couldn’t help telling him, “Well nobody yet but there is always tomorrow.” At her own father’s groan shrugged telling the pair, “honestly there is no trouble you need to take care of. Hunter has been doing a good job of imitating a parental unit in your absence. When did he get so old and stuffy anyway?”

 

“Hunter huh,” Her father asked. “Seemed to me you thought he was anything but old and stuffy a few years ago.”

 

Waving away the reference to her former crush, Lee told the pair, “That was before he married Steph. Now he’s downright parental. I’m surprised he hasn’t rubbed off on Shawn even more that he has. At least HBK still knows how to have some fun.”

 

Her uncle looked over at her asking, “Why do you keep saying parental like it’s something bad Lee? In case you haven’t noticed Hunter is one now. I just hope Aurora doesn’t give him as many gray hairs as you two give us.”

 

Rose laughed as her cousin reached up to touch her dad’s bald head searching for gray hairs, “I don’t see any there Dad. You must be taking them all. Is that why you dye your hair?”

 

The older man just shook his head and sighed. Looking down at the pair of girls, he asked, “What sort of fun have you two been getting into today with Shawn that has Hunter doing a poor imitation of me anyway?”

 

“Uh-uh, now that would be telling and if there's one thing I've learned from you two it's that it only counts if the ref catches you in the act,” Solie replied blowing a raspberry at both men.

 

Lee's father crossed his arms over his chest.  “Well you know that we're going to hear about it eventually so you might as well save yourselves some trouble and tell us now.”

 

“If you're going to hear about anyway why should we bother to tell you,” Rose asked unable to resist teasing her father and uncle.  The expressions on their faces made it too much fun.

 

The brothers turned to one another sharing a look.  In unison they faced their children again.  The expression on their faces told the girls that the time for fun and games had passed.  “Girls, we appreciate that you feel comfortable here but we'd really like to know if there's something going on now rather than have to hear about it from someone else.”

 

The girls sighed; they knew that they had been careful about not saying who their fathers were.  Most probably believed that they were in production or part of the ring crew.  Yet they knew how their fathers would react to hearing some of the stuff that had gone on tonight second hand.  The girls shared a telling look of their own.

 

“Okay, but two things first,” Lee said stubbornly.

 

“That would depend on the requirements,” Her father answered the frown on his face lessening a bit.

 

“One, let's get out of here; we're both feeling the strain of the day,” Solie said beginning to show just how tired she really was.

 

“Fine, what’s the other,” the redhead's father asked.

 

“That you don't yell,” Rose said putting an arm around her cousin starting to feel the strain of the all the excitement.

 

“We can't promise the latter but we can head back to the hotel if that would make you both more comfortable,” her father allowed.

 

“Thank you,” the girls murmured in unison.

 

The quartet managed to get back to the hotel without further incident. The ride was a quiet one. The girls really were tired from all the excitement. Their fathers shared a few concerned looks at the usually bubbly duo’s silence but otherwise kept their peace. They did intend to find out what exactly they were hiding from them when they got back to their rooms though. If there was one thing the brothers had learned over the years, is was that ignoring prolonged silences from their daughters usually resulted in something blowing up.

 

Grabbing their gear the men led their daughters in a back entrance to the hotel and up their rooms. They didn’t need the hassle of the fans camped out front tonight.

 

Reaching the girls’ room Rose’s father pointed at their door then told the pair, “Get comfortable while we put away our gear. We’ll be back to hear how exactly your first day went in fifteen minutes.”

 

“Okay,” the strawberry blonde smiled, opening the door.

”Rose Elizabeth, don’t even think of finding a way to weasel out of this talk,” turning to his niece he added, “That goes double for you. Honestly we’re just concerned, girls.”

The younger man added, “Yeah so if you don’t want us stalking your every move to find out exactly what is going on tomorrow, I’d be prepared to fess up.”

 

Crossing her arms over her chest, the platinum blonde told the pair, “Fine but you two worry too much.”

 

Her uncle nodded giving the pair a brief smile, “Only where you two are concerned. We’ll be back.”

With that the men headed down the hallway as the two cousins entered the room.

 

As soon as the door was shut the strawberry blonde plopped down on the bed, her arms out to the sides in a crucifix pose. “We are so screwed. How much can we get away with not telling them?”

Solie tapped her chin thoughtfully as she paced the floor between the two queen sized beds.  Sitting down on the bed opposite her cousin she began unlacing her Docs then pulled off her socks.  “Well I think we can leave out abducting Aurora , for the moment,” she added at Rose's disbelieving look.  “We're going to have to fess up to both incidents with Orton,” Lee said her upper lip peeling away from her teeth.

 

Rose looked pointedly her cousin's wrist where the leather covering was still in place.  “And do you think they're really going to buy, after tellin' them about a confrontation, that you're just wearing that to avoid tipping off the normals,” she asked folding her arms over her chest.

 

“Look, I didn't say it was a fool proof plan, but we stick to the bare bones facts and there isn't much they can do,” Solie said bristling a little at having her plan of attack ridiculed.

 

“Chill Lee,” Ro returned soothingly knowing exactly what her cousin was thinking by the tone of the other girl's voice.  “I'm not criticizing; I'm asking you to be logical about this.  They're going to know something's up if you're never with out that thing until that bruise fades.”

 

The platinum blonde rubbed her face tiredly sighing harshly.  “I'll just have to cross that bridge when I come to it, but for now we stick with the bare bones and hopefully it shouldn't get them too riled.”

 

Rose rolled her eyes at her cousin's continued optimism; even so she couldn't help but hope that the other girl was right.  She toed off her sneakers doing the same with her socks uncaring of where they fell.  It really had been a long day and if their fathers didn't hurry up, the girls were more than likely going to crash before they got a chance to tell the two men about the events of the day.

The strawberry blonde closed her eyes and lay back on her bed. She must have fallen asleep because the next thing she knew she heard her cousin closing the door to their room and the steady trod of their visitors’ feet right before the bed dipped next to her as one of the men sat down.

 

A large calloused hand gently brushed the hair back from her face as she heard her father sigh, “Come on Rose. You haven’t tried playing possum in a long time with me. It can’t be that bad.”

 

She heard her cousin teasingly call from the other bed, “Yeah and you aren’t leaving me to do all the explaining alone so get your lazy ass up now.”

 

Green eyes opened as the young woman turned her head to see her platinum blonde cousin wearily smiling as the younger of the two men sat down beside his daughter.

 

Turning back to her own father sitting beside her, Rose smiled as she sat up and scooted up the bed to lean on the headboard.  “I really had fallen asleep Dad. It’s been a long day…. Though I admit I woke up when I heard you walking in.”

 

“Uh huh. Now are you ready to tell me what happened today,” the older man asked his daughter.

 

The strawberry blonde looked from her father over to the other bed and her uncle and cousin sitting there. At the platinum blonde’s shrug the other girl began hesitantly. “Well the day started out okay for both of us. Steph put me in Security,” raising a hand before he could object she added, “With the understanding I would mostly be an extra set of eyes and a liaison between security and production.” When her father nodded she continued, “Solie was put in an accessory role to the magazine. Pretty cool for her as she might get an interview written with her by line if she can swing it.”

 

She smiled over at her cousin who picked up from there. “Yeah I ran into Edge and was trying to talk him up for an interview when Rose found me. She mentioned that she thought Randy Orton was looking for Edge and he left shortly after that…”

When the platinum blonde stalled at that point her father asked, “Why do I think there is more to that story?”

 

“Because you're paranoid,” Solie responded waved him off.  “Anyway, after he took off Ro and I wandered around for a bit before going back to our jobs though we met back at catering.”  She turned to her cousin silently asking if they should even bring up the confrontation with Orton or not.

 

The redhead floundered for a moment unsure of just how much they should relay.  If they told their fathers everything, the young women knew they would be home faster than you could say dynamic duo.  Sighing she realized that they would have to confess to the altercation between Solie and Randy.

 

“Look girls, we understand how difficult this is for you but for our peace of mind tell us what happened.  You know that if you don't tell us now we're going to hear about it sooner or later.  If you tell us now we're less likely to have an adverse reaction,” Rose's father patiently explained.

 

“We understand that, we really do,” Solie told her uncle.  “It's just that some things we have to take care of on our own.  The last thing we need is for people to think that either we can't take care of ourselves or that if there's a problem we're going to come running to you.  That isn't the kind of impression I want my coworkers to have of me.”

 

The platinum blonde's father ran his fingers through her hair gently.  His heart melted a little as she turned her face to rest her cheek in his palm just like she had done when she was younger.  “We can appreciate that so we won't push for full disclosure,” he said with a pointed look at his brother who rolled his eyes crossing his arms over his chest.  “Just give us the outline, because you know that we're going to hear it one way or another.  Better from you than one of the guys backstage, don't you think?”

 

Rose grimaced at Solie then turned to face the two men. “Okay, okay. But promise me you won’t go crazy and go off looking to finish our fights for us.”

 

Her father shook his head, “Not without knowing what is involved. I can’t promise that.” At the silent pout that greeted that pronouncement the older man sighed adding, “We can promise to listen to what you have to say and stay out of the situation if we feel you can best handle it yourselves. Now what fight am I not going to finish?”

 

Shrugging at her cousin the strawberry blonde bit her lip before beginning. “Okay there was a bit of an incident. Randy found us in catering. He was rather upset with me for telling Edge that he was looking for him…. I guess they haven’t had the most trusting of tag team relationships of late.” When the two men nodded in agreement she went on, “He was rather rude to me though he didn’t touch me and Lee got a bit upset about that. In defending me, Randy ended up getting thrown into the wall by her.” Blushing, the green eyed girl added, “We had developed a bit of a crowd but Randy had to leave right then and it was over almost before it began.”

Rose turned to her cousin silently asking if she should tell them about the incident at the baby shower as well. Since there were no witnesses she wasn’t worried about them hearing about the hallway encounter that did the real damage.

 

“What?  What is it that you two are leaving out,” Solie's father bit out, turning to look at his daughter who had crawled up the bed and was currently leaning against the headboard staring darkly out the window.

 

Turning to look at both her father and Uncle, Lee gave a negligent shrug.  “There was another altercation with him again at Steph and Hunter's baby shower deal,” she confessed know that there had been enough people there that it was bound to eventually get back to them.

 

“How bad,” her uncle growled not at all happy to hear that the cocky young man was already targeting his niece.

 

“Bad enough that both Shawn and Jeff felt the need to step in and help her,” Rose admitted when Solie had gone back to staring out the window.  She raised her hands when both men opened their mouths.  “You promised to let us finish first,” she reminded them.  “Besides, it seems that Jeff has taken it upon himself to be Lee's protector.”  A soft smile was on her face as she recalled just how nice he had been to them both without really knowing much about them.  “He seems really nice,” she added at her father's scowl.

 

“I'm sure he only has the best of intentions,” her uncle said darkly watching as his daughter turned her attention from the window.

 

“Oh please daddy,” Solie ground out irritably.  “Not every man who shows me the slightest bit of interest is trying to get in my pants,” she pointed a finger at him when he would have interrupted.  “Besides even if that is the case I don't know him from Adam.  I'm not about to jump into bed with someone I barely know.”

 

Lee's father looked only slightly mollified by her vehement response.  Logically he knew why he and his brother had agreed to bring the girls into this world but logic held no reason where his only child was concerned.  He didn't have to look over at his brother to know that the other man's thoughts were running along similar lines.

 

Rubbing his eyes, Rose’s dad asked his niece, “Okay so Shawn and Jeff helped diffuse the situation. Was it resolved or do we need to worry about the young man continuing to be a problem?”

 

Shaking her head, her multicolored tresses bouncing as she did, the young woman frowned before turning to look at the two men. “Honestly I don’t know.  I would hope that having gotten the worst of it two times with me, he wouldn’t be stupid enough to try it again. If he does though, I’ll be ready for him. It’s not like I haven’t already proven I can hold my own.”

 

“Lee,” her father started in a warning tone. “You know fighting is not a good option for us. Besides it sounds like the first two times you were lucky that you weren’t alone with him. There is no telling what he might try one on one if he’s so inclined.” Nodding at the girls surprised looks he told the pair, “yes we know he’s one of us.”

 

Rose interrupted before her uncle could continue. “Which is why we’ll make sure that Solie isn’t alone with him until we’re sure this has blown over,” at the scowl from her uncle she added, “Or ever. There’s no reason for Lee to ever be alone with him. Me either, what would I do with alone time anyway with him or any of the other guys around here?” She smiled sweetly at her father.

The older man just shook his head. “The innocent look hasn’t worked well on me since the first time I caught you scaring a babysitter with the mysterious disappearing black kitten Rose.  But I guess if the situation was handled for now it would look rather bad for us to go after Orton at the moment.”

 

His brother shook his head, “I’m not so sure a good warning would be amiss regardless.”

 

“You will do no such thing,” Solie said sharply, a bit more sharply than she had intended.  She now had both her father and uncle's undivided attention.

 

The platinum blonde's uncle having risen to his feet now turned to scowl at the young woman.  “And why exactly is it that?  A father has every right to look out for his daughter.”

 

Lee couldn't bring herself to look at either man as she fidgeted nervously with the ugly floral print comforter under her.  She knew how badly they would react to hearing that the girls had studiously avoided mentioning to anyone who their fathers were.  It wasn't that they didn't love their fathers, they did!  They just knew that once that little bit of information was out people would begin to treat them differently.  It was something they were trying to avoid for as long as possible.

 

“Because no one outside of the old guard knows that,” Rose said at last without looking up from her hands.

 

“WHAT,” both men demanded at once.

 

Solie jumped from the bed beginning to pace again.  “Calm down,” she cried knowing that this could get ugly in a hurry.  “It's not because we're ashamed of you.  It isn't,” she insisted when they both looked at her dubiously.  “You have no idea what it's like to have people treat you differently just because of who you two are.  Either we're spoiled little rich girls that don't have to work hard to get ahead or they go to the other extreme and treat us as if we can do no wrong!”

 

“Do you realize that you could have most likely avoided any confrontation with Orton if anyone had known to come get one of us,” her father demanded slightly stung by the fact that she hadn't publicly acknowledged their relationship.

 

“And that's exactly what we're looking to avoid,” Rose snapped jumping off her bed as well to join her cousin.  “We don't want to ride your coattails.  Not for anything!  Either we're capable of handling things in our own way or we're not, but if you're constantly running interference then we'll never know!”

 

“Would it really hurt anything for people to know that we're your fathers,” the redhead's father asked quietly.  He knew that it was difficult for the young women to live in their shadows and they were quite long shadows, he could admit to himself.  Though there was something galling about having his own daughter not laying claim to him.

 

“Daddy please try and understand,” Rose pleaded with him.  “We really aren't looking to hurt either of you.  All we want is for people to judge us based on our own merit not because of who are fathers are.  Surely you can both understand that.  Lee is right, if we had come in and started telling everyone that we're your daughters you know good and well what would have happened.  People would have thought that you were the only reason we were hired to begin with.”

 

“It is,” Solie's father told the pair bluntly.  “It was the only thing we could come up with that would allow you to travel with us that wouldn't arouse too much suspicion about why you were around so much.”

 

The platinum blonde looked as if she had been slapped at her father's words. “How could you,” Lee wailed looking very much like she was going to cry.  “You swore up and down that they had approached you about the idea of us working for them.  I really thought that I was being given a chance to showcase my talents and now you're telling me that you twisted their arm until they agreed.  Don't touch me!” She backed away from her father darting around her uncle to stand with her back against the room's door.

 

Rose having suspected as much considering the timing of their hires with the company sighed and shook her head as she moved around the men to stand next to her cousin in a show of solidarity. She understood why her dad and uncle were upset but that was no reason to share the pain as it were. That was what stung the most, that her uncle had said something he had to have known would hurt them and for what? To get even for them not going around the arena today announcing their pedigrees…

 

The strawberry blonde could feel the moisture stinging her own eyes as she fought to keep her voice level. “That was rather harsh though probably deserved.” Her father moved toward the pair but she raised a hand to stop them. “I understand that we didn’t go through the usual channels to get hired and most likely would not be on the staff if not for the two of you. But if the jobs are purely a ruse to keep us close at hand why did Steph bother to find positions she thought were appropriate for us?”

 

Her father sighed, running his fingers through his hair as he sat back down on her bed. “It’s not just a ruse Ro. We did hope you two could learn more than just how to control your new powers on the tour… Some practical work experience never hurt anyone.”

 

“Then can you understand why we need some autonomy,” she asked feeling her cousin glowering beside her. She just hoped she didn’t set off a fire in their room. “How can we learn the ropes and actually prove to everyone that we actually do belong here if the two of you are constantly hovering over our every move ready to strike anyone that crosses us?”

 

The older man stood back up grabbing his brother as the bald headed man headed for the girls, “That’s enough Rose Elizabeth. I don’t seem to recall us hovering today. We didn’t even check in with you until the end of our day. I don’t think it’s unreasonable for us to want your coworkers to know who to contact in case there is an emergency.”

 

Solie ground out, “Then put it in our medical contact files. It doesn’t need to be a grand announcement designed to scare everyone away from us.”

 

The platinum blonde’s father jerked his arm away from his brother asking the girls, “What next then? Maybe you two should think about changing your last names. If anyone notices those on your employee files they might be able to make the connection after all.”

 

There was a moment of perfectly calm silence in which everyone in the room froze.  They all knew it for what it was… the calm before the storm.  No sooner than the thought had crossed their minds than chaos erupted.

 

Solie's grey eyes clearly showed the tears that were flowing freely down stricken cheeks.  An animalistic scream torn from her throat showed the pain and grief she was feeling.  Without realizing she'd done it she knocked Ro away in her haste to leave the room.

 

Rose experienced a moment of being weightless as she was shoved none too gently from the door.  She braced for the impact of hitting the ground.  She wasn't angry with her cousin only surprised that the other girl hadn't hauled her along behind her.  Green eyes were squeezed shut as she waited for the inevitable.

 

Both men moved towards the girls only succeeding in being able to catch the redhead before she fell to the floor.

 

They checked the young woman to make sure there were no injuries.  The younger man was moving toward the door to follow after his extremely upset child when Rose's voice stopped him.

 

“If you go after her now you'll only drive her further away.”

 

“So I should what...stay here and hope she comes around,” he growled glaring at his niece.

 

“Actually, that's exactly what you should do.  Right now she's… we're both hurt and angry.  The last thing she is going to want is for you to prove me right by going after her.”

 

“She's in an extremely vulnerable state,” Rose's father reminded her gently.  “Anything could happen to her while she's out there alone.  Hell, that little prick Orton could come up on her like that.”  The meaning behind those words hung hauntingly in the air.

 

The redhead didn't pretend that she didn't understand what her father was so carefully trying to say.  “Yes he most certainly could and given her state she'd let him,” she told her family bluntly.  “She has always used physical pain to express the emotional.  Why do you think she has so many piercings and tattoos?”

 

“I thought it was to piss me off,” her uncle confessed sinking down on the bed.  His hands rubbing his bald head in frustration as he realized he really had managed to fuck this up royally.

 

Small warm hands touched his shoulders gently.  He lifted his mismatched eyes to meet her emerald gaze.  The pain and misery etched on his handsome face tore at her heart but didn't lessen her own feelings of hurt.  “When she calms down she will realize that you didn't mean to lash out like that,” she told him. Bending down she wrapped her arms around him hugging him tightly for a moment.  “She'll come around, eventually,” she promised her uncle before withdrawing.

 

The pair watched as she moved around the room grabbing a clean pair of socks, stuffing her key card in one back pocket, snatching up her cell phone to put in the other, and finally sat down to put her shoes back on.

 

“Where are you going,” her father asked trying not to sound as worried as he felt.

 

“To keep an eye on Solie.  I'm no more eager to leave her alone when she's like this than either of you are,” she answered getting to her feet.  “Do either of you happen to have Jeff's number?”

 

“I think I do,” the older man said reaching into his pocket pulling his cell out.  “But how does that help you?”

 

“Because he may be able to find her if I can't,” she explained as she entered his number into her phone.

 

“But you've always been able to find her,” her uncle sputtered panic beginning to consume him.

 

“Normally I just call her and she tells me where she's at.  In case you haven't noticed the only time Lee is without her phone is when it's charging,” Rose confessed with a bit of a blush coloring her cheeks.  “I'm not entirely sure she'll answer her phone for me right now.”

 

Her father looked at her in surprise, “But it’s not you she’s angry at.”

 

Shaking her head, she wasn’t sure how to make the pair understand, “No but when she gets like this she doesn’t want anyone she cares about around her, especially not someone she might hurt or someone that might stop her from lashing out and hurting herself.”

 

The worried look in the strawberry blonde’s father’s face become distinctly more pronounced, “Maybe you should let me go after her Ro…”

”No it will be much better if it’s me. At least she knows I’m feeling the same hurt she is,” at his stricken look she hugged her father before moving to the door, “I’ll be okay Daddy. Solie won’t hurt me. I know how to deal with her when she’s like this. Just give it some time.”

 

Her uncle grabbed her hand before she could leave. “You’ll call us to let us know you’re both alright when you can.”

 

Rose nodded, “When I can. Just don’t freak out if you don’t hear from me tonight. I’ll do my best but I can’t make any promises.”

Her father walked over and pulled her into another hug whispering in her ear, “I’m so sorry Rosie Beth. Be careful for me.”

 

She pulled away and gave him a teary cheeked smile, “Always Daddy.”

Kissing his cheek she headed out the door, leaving the two men to stare at each other.

The older man shook his head as he led his brother out the door. “How do we get into these messes?”