Remember the saying..

"What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger?

It's true!

 

The evening had come to a winding calm.  Cassie and Lily were preparing meals for everyone.  Colton, William and Sammy all sit in the living area watching Forged in Fire.  Sammy's little eyes are lit up by the making of the huge swords.  "Daddy, Can I have a big knife like he is making? I can cut down a lot of stuff with it."

Colton and William chuckle. "When you are older maybe, it depends on what your mom has to say." William looks at Colton and then at Sammy. "Colt, you have a good kid here. Lily seems like a really lovely person also. Seems like you have something good going on now. I am really happy for you man." Colton just looks at Sammy. "Yeah, he and his mom are the best things that have ever happened to me. I really lucked out Billy. The two of them really changed my life."

From over in the kitchen, Lily and Cassie can be seen chopping up carrots and potatoes.  There is a huge pot roast resting in a Dutch oven with bits and pieces of onions and peppers.  Cassie has everything ready to put in the pot when she looks over to Lily. "It's been one hell of a day, hasn't it?  I wonder what Mom and Dad are doing?"  She proceeds to dump all the chopped goodies into the pot and Lily searches through the grocery bags for seasonings. "Ya, it's been pretty crazy."  She looks up and over to the guys watching tv.  "I hope things are never like that with Colton.  I don't know what I would do."   She finally finds a small box of salt and pepper.  Shaking some inside the pot, Lily smiles as she watches Sammy carry on with Colton and William.  "Can I ask you something personal?"  Cassie looks up, "Sure."  She grabs the pot and puts the lid on it and into the oven.  "How do you plan on handling things with Damon and William?"

The two girls lean on the counter, Cassie looks over to William and begins to sigh, "To be honest Lily, I don't know.  There is nothing between Damon and I now.  Not after all this.  I do still have to confront him.  It won't be an easy task.”  She leans up slowly.  "William keeps asking me about Vanity too.  I'm not sure how to handle that just yet."  Lily puts her hand on Cassie's shoulder.  "You know Colton and I are here if you need us.  You don't have to handle this all on your own."  Cassie smiles.  "Thanks girl.  right now, I just want this day to be over with.  I'm more worried about Mom.  She and Dad haven’t come out of that room since all this went down.  I have never seen my dad act like that before, it was almost as if he was someone else."  Cassie nearly breaks out in a half smile.  "Guess the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree after all."  Lily looks on and shakes her head. "Do you think they are ok in there?"  They both look towards the bedroom door.  "I sure hope so!" Cassie replies.

Inside the bedroom Hunter sits in a chair. He looks over at Summer who is sitting on the edge of the bed. "You know how sorry I am for that. After everything that happened back then it just hit me hard. You know I would never hurt you." Hunter stands up and walks over to Summer. He sits down next to her and holds her hand. "I was scared you would try something and get hurt. I know you can handle yourself, but you just got out of the hospital. You know what she is like, and she would have gone for a head shot first thing. I almost lost you once and I am not going to let that happen again. I love you and I will protect you from everything, even if I have to protect you from yourself."

Summer turns her head, holding on to Hunter's hand.  "Steven, don't start apologizing now. "She sighs, " This was Megan..not you.  She still gets under our skin, even after all those years.  I know it's silly, but I just go back to all that wasted time.  All the time she took away from me..from us..and I went right back to those rafters again.  I will never forgive myself for that.  A huge part of me died inside that night. I don’t know what got into me, all I heard were the voices.  When I saw your body hit the floor, I thought I lost you!  We may not have been together then, Steven." She takes her hand and brushes the side of Hunter's face."  "But you held my heart in your hands."

Hunter leans over and kisses her. "None of that matters anymore. That is all in the past. We know what we have, and no one can get between that. We have too much going on now to worry about it or get distracted. Now we must keep our little girl safe. That boy she found seems like a good kid. I told him to run and get away from this mess and he basically told me to F off. He cares for her and will not leave her for anything.”  Summer smiles, "Sounds familiar doesn't it."  She nudges him in the ribs. "I think she is in good hands, Babe, and it wouldn't hurt to get a little distracted."  She smiles and winks at him.  "If I remember correctly, you sir, you have a night to make up for."

Hunter smiles at her as he pulls her in for a deep passionate kiss. He lays her back on the bed and softly starts to kiss her neck as he slowly rubs her mid-section. Out in the dining room the rest of the family is sitting down to eat. Before they start, Cassie asks Lily to check on Summer and Hunter. Lily nods, gets up and heads to their bedroom. Before she knocks on the door, she can hear some quiet talking and heavy breathing coming from the room. She turns right around and walks back to the table. She sits and just starts eating, not saying a word. Colton looks at her. "Are they coming babe? Why is your face so red?" Lily just keeps eating. Just then, sounds from the room got a bit louder. Cassie, Colton, Lily and William look at each other. There is an awkward silence as Sammy speaks up. "Dad, it sounds like they are fighting. I am going to go stop them." Sammy gets up from the table. As he passes William, William scoops him up and looks at Colton. Cassie with a slight smile on her face, "It is such a nice night out. Why don't we eat outside?"

As the evening sky approaches, everyone sits back relaxing after their meal.  Stepping out from the room, both Hunter and Summer make their way into the kitchen.  Hunter begins to make the plates, as Summer fixes the drinks.  They looked around the room for everyone and noticed the porch light was on.  The two make their way outside and everyone stops and stares.  Lily's face gets blood red, and she lowers her head, trying not to look at them in the face.  William turns his vision to Cassie with a smirk on his.  Colton stands slowly, looking at Hunter and begins to clap his hands together.  Cassie smiles and shakes her head looking at Summer.  Hunter looks to everyone confused.  "Damn, I am hungry. "He puts the plates down on the makeshift table and Sammy walks up to him, kicking him in the leg.  "Grandpa, why did you hurt my Sassy?  That was not very nice. We heard her screaming. You go to bed without your dinner."  He walks over to Summer and gives her a huge hug.  "It is ok Sassy, grandpa won't hurt you anymore."  Hunter's eyes grew wide as he turned to Summer.  "I told you to keep it down, woman."   Summer smiles, taking her seat next to Hunter.  "That was all you, Babe."  Summer winks and takes a bite of her food as everyone looks on smiling.

The conversation was light that evening.  The events from earlier, were still on everyone’s mind, however, nobody wanted to speak about it.  Sammy’s eyes were getting heavy; Lily stood from the table, scooping him up in her arms.   “Let’s give you a bath and then off to bed.” Lily leans down, giving Colton a kiss.  "Give Daddy a hug and tell everyone night, night."  Sammy's eyes were fading fast, Lily leans him over to Colton, as he gave him a kiss on the head. "Good night, Buddy, see you in the morning."  Everyone at the table says their good nights, as Lily walks into the cabin.

Colton looks around. He looks across at his parents and then at Cassie and William. "Hey William, can we have some time? We need to discuss some family stuff.”

Cassie looks over to William, and then over to Colton.  She stands and walks behind William's chair. "Anything you have to say Colton, can be said in front of William.  He is about as much family to me as Lily is to you."  Cassie began to wrap her arms around William's neck.  She gives him a soft kiss on the cheek as she turns towards her parents.  William reaches his hands up to Cassie, softly removing them from around his neck.  "Cas, Colton has every right to ask me to leave. It is alright."  He brought her hand up to his lips, gently kissing the top of her hand.  "Excuse me."  He stood from the chair and walked into the cabin, giving Cassie a wink before he enters.

The look on Colton's face gets serious. "Pops, what was all that back there? Who was that woman and what did she want. You looked different for a minute, and you hurt mom. I have seen you pissed before, but I have never seen you act that way towards her."  Hunter lowers his head looking at Summer's bruised arms. Hunter looks at Summer with pain in his eyes.

Summer reaches for Hunter’s arm, looking over to Colton.  "Son, these marks mean nothing.  That Bitc..." She turns to Cassie. " That woman was once a friend of mine,  when I first got into wrestling."  She looked at Colton. "Johnny Hawke sent me to train with her."  She turns to Hunter.  "Everyone knows I wasn't there to become a wrestler.  I was there for Kirk."  She looked at Cassie.  "Remember me talking about him to you?"  Cassie nods.  "Hawke saw an opportunity, told me the only way I would come close to Piper again was to do it in the ring.  He saw dollar signs in a heated love triangle with Piper and Cheri.  Mind you, I was only nineteen at the time."  She turns her eyes to Hunter.  "I was sent to learn how to fight.  Hawke introduced me to Megan."

Hunter staring down takes out his phone. He sends a quick text message to Kami "Need an old video. IWF wrestling. Last man standing match. Me verses a guy named Cade. Send the video to Colton. Thanks." Hunter looks up and lets out a long sigh. "Megan had done a lot to your mother and I. Things that cannot be taken back or made up for." Just then Colton gets a ping on his phone. He looks at the message. "Your Father wanted me to send you this old wrestling video." Colton looks at Hunter with a puzzled look. "Pops, Kami sent me a video. It is called IWF most dangerous matches. This one is a Last man standing match. "The Icon of Hardcore" Hunter Hurst vs. Cade "The Dark One" Sardonic." Summer snaps her head towards Colton. Hunter stands up. "Boy, do you know how to get that on the TV." Colton looks at Hunter. "Yeah, Pops I can do that." Hunter gets up and walks to the door. "This will answer some questions."

Summer stares over at Hunter with a shocked look upon her face.  "Hunter... why?"  She lowers her head sitting in the chair as everyone quickly darts inside the cabin to watch.  She slowly stands to her feet, staring through the screen door looking on as everyone gathers into the room with their eyes on the screen.  Hunter turns around noticing her standing there with a sadden look upon her face.

He walks over to her and takes her by the hand. "Babe, they need to know, and they need to know everything. This is the past and it means nothing between us. We know what happened then and after. If this had not happened, we would not be where we are. This is what brought us together. They need to know that even during the worst possible thing that can happen to a person, the best in the world can come from it. This brought you to me and I know you hate it, but I don't. You came to me when I needed you most and never left. I love you, punk." He leans down pulling her close and kissing her deeply. As they pull back from the kiss Hunter puts his arm around Summer as they walk into the house together.

In the house they all sit down. Hunter and Summer sit on the couch, as Colton sits in a chair with Lily on his lap. Cassie and William sit on the floor in front of her parents. Hunter looks at Colton. "Ok, boy you can start it." Colton starts the video and casts it to the TV. They watch the old footage. The first to come out is Hunter. He is a lot younger. He is walking down the ramp smack talking. He stops and grabs a beer from the fan and slams it down. He gets in the ring and sits on the top turnbuckle waiting.

Lily turns her head to Colton's ear with a smile. "You know, I would have sworn this was you."  She leans in closer. "But you looked alot better in your tight pants."  Colton's face lights up with a cheesy smile.  William nudges Cassie in the ribs and nods in their direction.  Colton leans up in the seat and whispers back in Lily's ear.  "I still have those pants too."  Lily blushes as Cassie smiles looking over to William.   "Damn Dad, you did not have any gray hair then!"  Everyone lets out a slight chuckle.  Hunter turned his attention over to Summer as she slowly began to smile and wipe a tear from her face.  "If that man right there only knew how bad I wanted him."

Hunter sits back and thinks back in time to all the little signals that Summer had given him back then that he never realized. The match goes on. It is a bloody hard-hitting match. Barbwire, chairs and bats, fly around. There is one part that shows Hunter taking a hard chair shot to the top of the head. Lily lets out an eep and buries her face in Colton's chest. Ten minutes later Hunter and Cade are both bleeding. They trade shots with a deep hatred. On the video screen at the top of the ramp shows the image of Summer up on the catwalk calling out for help from Hunter. Hunter leaves the ring and starts climbing up to the catwalk above the ring. He gets to the top and walks over to her. Summer starts to laugh in his face. Cassie snaps her head around looking at her mother in the video as Hunter walks towards Summer she takes two steps forward and they hear her say, "You really are a dumb mother fucker Steven." Just then, Megan begins wrapping something around his neck as Cade appears pushing Hunter off the catwalk and falling towards the arena floor, but things around his neck stops him about twenty feet in the air. At the top of the catwalk, you see Cade hand Summer a knife. He whispers in her ear. Summer reaches out and cuts the strap that is holding Hunter in the air. His body crashes hard to the concrete floor, just missing the ring. The ref counts to ten as the camera shows the top of the catwalk and all three of them are standing there laughing.  Everyone is quiet for a minute. Hunter takes Summer's hand in his and then with the other wipes the tears from her eyes. " Colton you wanted to know who that woman was. That was my ex wife.

Everyone turns their attention over to both Hunter and Summer with a shocked look upon their face.  Cassie with a dumbfounded look upon hers, stands up in front of Summer with her eyes red as fire.  "How could you?.." She starts to lift and pull back on her right arm, extending it in motion to slap her mother.  William stands to his feet quickly, grabbing her arm and turning her around to face him.  "Cassie, don't!  She's your mother."  Cassie turns to Hunter.  "I am so sorry that happened to you, daddy.”  Hunter reaches for Cassie’s hand, holding it in his.

"Baby girl it is okay. It is in the past. This is what brought us together. I spent months in a wheelchair after this and your mother was with me the whole time. She is the reason I am here. She is the pillar of this family. I would not be here if it was not for her. She brought me out of my darkest time. She stopped me from doing something that would have stopped this whole family from being here. The one to really blame was and is Megan. She set all that in motion just to get at your mother. She came into the picture while your mom was away and started to fan the flames of all this. If you want to hate someone hate her, not your mother." Lily's eyes are filled with tears as she rests her head on Colton. William pulls Cassie close and whispers in her ear. "Look at them, Cas, this whole time they have not let go of each other. That is love. No one can stop that. Please don't be upset at her. There are somethings in life you have no control over."

Cassie looks to Summer, she sees the heartache in her eyes; it was a heavy burden to carry all those years, and what William had just said made perfect sense.  All she ever known; all she ever saw was the love between her parents.  The way they looked at each other, the way they carried on, it was the kind of love she knew she wanted as she grew up.  She rested her head upon William's shoulder and closed her eyes.  Summer stood to her feet and walked over to the television.  She stares at the screen as the footage still plays.  She notices a figure standing on the opposite side of the rafters.  The figure is blurred as the camera pans back over to the trio on the other side.  Looking closely she sees an object in Cade's hand which seems to be up against the back of Summer as one of his arms held her against his body.  She turned quickly looking to Hunter, who has a confused looked upon his face.  "That should have been me laying on the floor that night.  I didn't deserve to live after that."  She begins to walk slowly to the front door.  "With everything that is happening, Karma is reminding me of it."  She opens the door, stepping outside."

 

Hunter sighs. "She can't let it go. She will not believe that I do not blame her for anything. All that had to happen. We had to go through that to get here. I blame Megan and Cade. They are trash people and used your mother." Colton gets up and looks at Lily. "I am going to check on mom real quick." He walks past Hunter. "You were married to that huh? If I was mom, I would let you shrivel up in that wheelchair." Hunter looks up at Colton and shakes his head. Lily snaps and points her finger at him. "Colton, you do not talk to your father like that!" William holds Cassie tighter as she tries to lunge at Colton. Colton says nothing and walks out of the front door.

He begins to look around the area, Summer was nowhere to be found. It was dark out. The only visible light was from the lantern that was burning upon the table on the front porch.  Colton looks down at a small box that was placed upon the end of the table.  He looked confused as it were not there before.  He looks inside through the window as everyone stands talking.  Cassie's facial expressions showed she was still upset over the comments he had made to his father.  At that point, he did not care, what he was concerned about was finding his mother, and what she must have felt reliving the event that seemed to be the reason for the drama that had taken place earlier that day.  He picks up the box, walking around the wrap around porch, hoping to spot Summer close by.  He opens the lid looking inside; he lifts the folded piece of paper to see a black double roped bracelet with a sterling silver linked roped knot.  Colton smiles as he begins to unfold the piece of paper.

"Colton, someday when the pages of my life end, I know that you will be one of the most beautiful chapters.  Always keep me in your heart for you are always in mine.  Nothing and Nobody, not even time itself will ever change that.  You are one of my greatest accomplishments, my World Title!  I want you to know just how much you mean to me and how I would without ANY hesitation, burn the ends of the Earth for you.  I love you, son.  Happy Father's Day  - Mom"

Colton swallows hard. He looks around seeing Summer sitting in the front seat of her Hummer. He places the bracelet on his left wrist and slowly walks over to her. He knocks on the window; She rolls down and he stares at her. "Thanks Mom, this means a lot to me. You know no one inside blames you for anything." Colton walks around and climbs into the passenger side. "Hey, you want to go get a drink? I know there is most likely nowhere as nice as Charlie's around here, but we could find a place. I love you, mom."

She begins to wipe her eyes as she leans over the seat, reaching for her son.  She holds him tight and gives him a kiss on the top of his head.  She leans back in her seat, lifting the console between them.  Inside she pulls out a bottle of dark liquor.  She twists the top holding it to her lips.  "One last time..."  She takes a shot and hands the bottle to Colton.  He takes a shot and puts the top back on. "Mom let's just go back in. I think I need to tell Pops sorry for something I said."  Colton opens the door and begins to slide off the seat.  He takes notice as Summer had not yet moved.  “You coming, mom?”  She turns her head in the opposite direction.  “Go ahead son, I’ll be in, in a bit.”  Colton lowered his head, let out a sigh and closed the car door.  He walks back to the porch, looking back once again before entering the key code and walking inside the cabin.  Hunter stands staring out of the window.  “Is she ok, boy?”  Colton looks up, placing his hand on Hunter’s shoulder. “I don’t know, Pops, but I am sorry for what I said earlier.”  Hunter turned his attention to him, patting the top of his hand.  “It is ok, son.  It is all going to be ok.”   “I asked her to come inside with me, she said she would in a bit.”  Colton looks at Hunter as he focused his eyes back out of the window, he lowered his head and sighed.  “She won’t be I’m afraid, not until she is able to get that night out of her mind.”  Hunter walks to the sofa and sits down.  “It is going to be a long night.”