Better With Time

Paul walked to the room that he was told his sister was in, fighting for her life. He took in a deep breath and opened the door. Stephanie was sitting in a chair, holding one of Keri’s hands between her own. John and Randy was standing a little bit away from the bed, seemingly so Paul can have room to sit next to Keri. It was obvious that John was fighting back tears. His eyes were bright and getting redder and moor puffy by the second.

Paul’s breath hitched when he looked over and saw his baby sister laying in the bed, looking so pale and helpless. Randy watched as he walked up to her, his hand resting on the part of the bed where her knee would be.

“Damn,” he heard Paul mutter. “I’ve never seen her this helpless, not even when she was a little baby.”

“The doctors didn’t exaggerate the damage,” Stephanie told him. Scratches and bruises covered most of her face. One in particular looked extremely nasty and deep. Paul realized it would most likely leave a thin scar. It would most likely be easy to cover, but the mentality of it being there would be the worst part.

“No he didn’t,” Paul muttered, running his thumb over her chin. Without warning, Paul bent over and let his head rest against her body, his shoulders heaving as sobs escaped from him.

“I’m sorry Kierra,” he whispered to her. “I’m so sorry.”

“I hate to say this, but we need to get back to the hotel,” Randy said to John. John nodded and went to tell Stephanie and Paul that they were going to head back. Paul stood up and accepted the hug from John, knowing how close the other man was to his little sister. Randy walked up behind Paul, looking at the woman in the bed. He couldn’t believe it was just two hours ago he was watching her pack the car to see her brother. Her excitement shone on her face as she talked about seeing her third niece for the first time.

“Randal,” John’s voice cut through his trance. He blinked and looked up, noticing everyone was staring at him.

“She’ll be fine,” Paul said, though he looked like he was still trying to convince himself. “We’ll call the both of you when something changes.” Randy nodded and started to walk out of the room, but was stopped by Paul. “I promise Randy, we’ll call.”

“I know,” Randy said. “Stay positive man, she’ll come around.” Paul just nodded and watched the two of them leave.

“They care about her,” Stephanie smiled up at her husband.

“I know,” Paul smiled back to her. “One of us should go home to give Bethany a breather.”

“I told her what happened, she insisted on staying as long as we needed her.” Stephanie sighed and looked down at Keri again, wincing at the tubes and wires coming from her sister-in-law’s skin. “How are we going to tell Aurora and Murphy? They’ll be devastated, they love her so much.”

“We’ll just have to tell them, there’s no way to beat around the bush with this one. We’ll have to tell them their aunt was in an accident, and she was hurt really badly.”

“What if she doesn’t rehabilitate correctly? She won’t be the same honey and the girls will have to understand that.”

“The best way for that to happen is for us to just tell them. We’ll have to look at them and tell them that their aunt can’t do a lot of things she used to be able to.”

“I think her career in this business is done with too. There’s no way her leg will be able to heal up enough to where she can go back to performing in the ring.”

“Not unless there’s something behind the scenes she’ll be able to do.” Paul pointed out.

“I’ll look into it when I get the chance, for right now, we just need to worry about Keri waking up.”



Two days after the accident, there were still no changes in Keri’s condition. Paul went home with Stephanie after his parents showed up the next day, insisting they go home and rest. Bethany stayed so they could sleep, and she even fixed lunch for Aurora and Murphy. While she was cooking, Paul and Stephanie decided it would be a good time to tell them about their aunt.

“Girls, we have something to tell you,” Paul said as Stephanie sat next to him, baby Vaughn in her lap.

“Wasn’t Aunt Keri supposed to come over?” Aurora asked suddenly.

“That’s just it baby, Aunt Keri isn’t going to show up for a while.” Stephanie answered her.

“Why?” Murphy asked, looking up at her father with eyes just like her mother’s.

“Because sweetie, Aunt Keri was in a very bad accident. She’s been sleeping for the last two days.” He answered her.

“Is she dead?” Aurora asked, her eyes wide with fright.

“No,” Paul said sternly, looking at his oldest daughter. “She’s not dead. But she was hurt very badly. And we want you to know now before it’s too late, but the doctor told us that she might not be the same when she wakes up. She hit her head pretty hard.”

“Can we go see her?” Murphy asked. Paul looked over at Stephanie, who was looking up at him. They didn’t really expect that question to come out.

“I think it’s a good idea,” Stephanie shrugged. “Maybe the girls’ voices will trigger something inside her.”

“That’s possible,” Paul muttered in reply. “After lunch we’ll take you girls to go see her,” he finally answered them.

Back at the hospital, Mrs. Levesque fussed over her youngest child’s pillows for possibly the thousandth time.

“Patty, her pillow is fine,” the woman’s husband assured her. Patricia sighed and sat down in a chair, not being able to tear her eyes from her daughter.

“I can’t help it, I feel so helpless.” she admitted. “Our poor little girl.”

“She’s going to be fine. The doctors keep telling us she’s sedated to keep the pain away. She’ll wake up when the sedatives wear off.”

“But she’ll be in pain if they wear off,” Patty said, panic in her voice.

“That’s why they keep them up, so she won’t be in pain. It just happens to make her sleep while she’s on them.”

“I want my daughter back Paul,” Patricia sighed to her husband. “I want our daughter to wake up and be whole again.”

“We all do, but we have to give it time.” Mr. Levesque said, wrapping his arms around his wife’s shoulders. They watched their daughter on the bed for a few minutes before the hospital door opened. Lynn walked in carrying a cup of coffee for her father and hot tea for her mother.

“Did anything happen?” Lynn asked, sitting in the chair beside her mother.

“Nope, we’re still waiting.” Lynn nodded, watching her little sister with sad eyes. “Please wake up Ker, please wake up soon.”



“Has Paul called you?” Randy asked John as they walked around the arena.

“Not lately,” John replied, stopping and leaning against a wall. “It’s been two days and she hasn’t woken up once. This isn’t good.”

“No it’s not,” Randy said as someone walked up to them.

“Heard anything new?” Ted asked, looking between the two of them.

“No, she’s still out cold.” John informed him. Ted just nodded and walked down the hallway, toward the locker rooms.

“He told me he was trying to talk you into going on a date with her,” John commented to Randy.

“Yeah he tried, he failed, but he tried.”

“Why won’t you think about it?”

“I’m still married to Samantha for one,” Randy groaned. “And for another, Paul Levesque is her older brother. You know just as well as I do how protective he is over her.”

“Yeah, but she’s not a little kid anymore. She’s a woman with a mind of her own.”

“John, you’re sitting here trying to convince me to go on a date with Keri Levesque, and there’s one problem with you doing that. She’s in a coma.”

“She’s not in a coma. They’re keeping her sedated because of the pain Randy.”

“I don’t care what you want to call it. She’s in a coma right now, with no signs of waking up anytime soon. Just forget it, you and Ted both need to forget it. Nothing is happening between the two of us.”

Randy’s cell phone rang at that point, and out of agitation, he pulled it out, flipped it open and answered it with a short “What?”

“Randy, it’s Paul, she’s awake. She just woke up.”

“Aunt Keri! Wake up!” A little girl’s voice shouted into Keri’s ears. She inwardly cringed at the pain shooting through her brain, seemingly coming from everywhere on her body.

“Aurora Rose Levesque, don’t scream in her ear like that.” A woman’s voice scolded the little girl. Aurora whimpered something, and Keri felt a hand on her own. On instinct, she squeezed the hand, and felt the person tense up.

“What?” a male voice asked, almost alarmed.

“She squeezed my hand,” the woman from before said. “Keri, if you can hear me, squeeze my hand again.” Stephanie felt her sister-in-law squeeze her hand again, and a thrill shot through her.

“She’s waking up,” Stephanie informed her husband.

“Sis?” Paul asked, grabbing her other hand. Paul watched, his heart flying with relief as his baby sister opened her eyes and looked around.

“Kierra!” Patricia exclaimed, throwing her arms around her daughter.

“Mom, give her room.” Lynn smiled, tears swimming in her eyes.

“W-where am I?” Keri asked, looking around at everyone again.

“The hospital, you were in a car accident two days ago.” Paul answered.

“I-I was?”

“Don’t you remember the accident?” Stephanie asked.

“No, uhm, I’m sorry, but I don’t think I know your name.” Keri admitted sheepishly, considering everyone here obviously knew her very well.

“Ker, it’s me, Stephanie, you’re sister-in-law.” Stephanie replied, confused.

“My sister-in-law?” Keri asked, looking around the room. Her eyes fell onto a large bulky man with long blond hair. “So, who are you?”

“Keri, what’s you’re full name?” the man asked her suddenly.

“Uh…uhm…I don’t know,” she answered slowly.

“Fuck,” the man muttered under his breath, letting his head hang.

“Aunt Keri woke up!” Aurora shouted, jumping on the bed.

“Rora,” Stephanie started, but it was too late.

“Aww you’re a cutie. What’s your name?” Keri asked the little girl. Aurora looked over at her parents with confusion and hurt in her eyes.

“Rora, remember how we told you Aunt Keri might not be herself when she woke up?” Paul asked his daughter. When the girl nodded, he continued. “She can’t remember us sweetie. She hit her head hard enough to where it knocked out her memory of all of us.”