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Playing the Wildcard


 


{{ Sunday, April 9
New Orleans, LA }}


The fact it was Easter Sunday meant nothing to Amy Chastaine. It's a holiday she's never celebrated, not in the traditional sense. And even if she did, there was too much going on in life right now anyway to have felt like taking the time for a holiday. For the last few months, Amy had been working on a goal only known to a handful of people – her husband Wyatt, her boyfriend Jason, her sister-in-law Bree, her good friend Simon... and her doctor. A week or so before Retribution, all of the subterfuge – workouts after class and kept secret from students, little white lies told in interviews and to fans – and all of the hard work paid off. Amy got full clearance to return to the ring.

The story of how that came to be is one for another day. Right now, Amy's excitement about this major step is marred by the fact her nephew, Bree's son, is very ill and has been in the hospital for a week. That alone would have negated any kind of holiday celebration, had Amy been so inclined to have one.

After getting home from a special Saturday Breakdown in Des Moines. Amy got a request from Jason. He and Aniya had been going back and forth between New Orleans and LA more often the last few months, something to do with one of their clubs out west, so the time Amy got to spend with him outside of the Academy had been less than she liked. But, this weekend the Helms' were in town, and Jason asked Amy to stay over at his house with him. Years ago, when this unconventional relationship started, Jason and Aniya had bought a large house not too far from Amy's, that they renovated specifically for the purposes of their relationships. Amy of course accepted, it had been a few weeks since they had his house to themselves.

Amy arrives just after six PM, as agreed. She lets herself in with her key, and finds Jason in the kitchen, unpacking takeout boxes of sushi.

“You know, when you said we'd have dinner, I assumed you would be cooking.”

Jason turns at her voice and smirks. “Why would I do that? I'm supposed to be showing you a good time.”

Amy laughs as she takes a seat at the kitchen island. “As if you've never cooked for me.”

“True, but I know you love sushi and I can't make this. So... delivery from Sakura it is.”

“I suppose you're forgiven for misleading me.”

“I didn't mislead you. I just wasn't exactly specific.” Jason shrugs. Amy laughs, he loves to play semantics.

They have their dinner right there at the island counter, talking as they eat.

“I watched you on TV last night. You looked good.”

“Thanks. Could you tell I was nervous?”

“Yes. But that's only because I know you. I'm sure no one else was the wiser. You sounded very confident.”

“Did I?”

“Yep, especially when Kandis showed up and tried to give you guys shit. You handled her pretty well.”

Amy shakes her head. “I still can't believe she made a comment about Heath.”

“Didn't surprise me.” Jason shrugs. “She always seemed like the type to reach for low hanging fruit.”

Amy grins. “Takes one to know one?”

“Hey! I wasn't that bad.” Amy raises an eyebrow. “Okay... maybe close.” They laugh. “Look, the point I'm trying to make is, hearing you speak the way you did, no one would know how much you went back and forth about doing this.”

“And they won't, if I can help it.”

It was true that Amy had changed her mind more than once when working to get cleared. At first, she simply wanted to be able to work one match. VWA, Volatile Wrestling Alliance, was running a reunion show, and Amy wanted to be a part of it. But then Simon put his boots back on, and suddenly Amy had two things... her word to keep, and an itch to scratch.

After dinner, Amy and Jason go to the den to relax together on the couch, as usual, or so Amy thought. As she sits and starts to get comfortable, she notices that Jason is anything but comfortable. Sitting up on the edge of the couch, arms resting on his knees. A nervous man's position.

“Is something wrong?”

“No.” He turns his head towards her. “Well, not really... but there is something.” He sits up straight and turns slightly to face her. Amy picks up on the uncharacteristic seriousness and sits up, too. “I didn't just ask you here for dinner to celebrate you going back to the ring. There's a conversation we should have.”

“You sound serious.”

“That;s because I am serious.”

“Oh. Okay.” Amy's first thought is that someone else is sick. “What's going on?”

“Well, for starters, you should know that for the last little while, a few weeks or so, there's been some... issues, with me and Nia.”

Amy sits up even straighter. One of the unspoken rules about this whole arrangement was that they never discussed their marriage relationships with each other. It doesn't surprise Amy that she had no idea that was going on, but she is surprised that Jason is bringing it up.

“I'm sorry to hear that. Is... everything okay?” Amy was almost afraid to ask, this was new territory.

“Everything? No. I know we don't usually speak about marriage things with each other, but I had to. It's the only way the rest will make sense. She and I recently had a long talk about things. What's wrong, who and what is to blame, and... how to fix it. And.... fuck, this is the hard part....”

“Jase? What is it?”

“The result of that talk is that we decided... mutually... that in order to sort everything out and fix things, that we need to focus on only each other, for the foreseeable.”

Amy breaths in, and out, slowly. “I see. What happened? Does it have anything to do with me?” Normally she would have never asked what happened, but this was far from a normal conversation.

“No, it's nothing to do with you at all. I want that to be perfectly clear, okay?” Amy nods her understanding. “We did however agree not to talk about the details with others. I'm sorry.”

“No, I understand that.” Rule number one: Spouse comes first, always. “I just... fuck... The last word comes out as a whisper.

“I knew you'd be upset and I'm sorry for that. I guess I'm just hoping not so much that you're angry, too.”

Amy scoffs, rubbing her forehead. “Of course I'm upset, Jase, this just came out of nowhere. Maybe not for you, but for me.”

“I know it did, and I'm sorry for that, too. I wish I could better explain, but I made a promise.”

Amy nods. “That's fine, I'm not going to push you to tell me more than you can. We've always agreed that the marriages come first, and if this is what you need to take care of yours, I have to respect that. I don't have to like it... but I'm certainly not going to fight you about it.”

“I don't like it either, trust me” Jason scrubs his face with both hands. “This... right here, what I'm having to do to you, is the only thing I hate about it. I don't want you hurt, I do love you. That's not going to change.”

“I didn't think it would. I know from experience it isn't just a switch.”

“No, it's not. And listen, this isn't meant to be a complete break, our friendship will still be there... if that's what you want.”

“Of course it is. It's not like this is happening because we fought. You have a valid reason. I... might need some time. But...”

Jason looks down at the floor with a sigh, and scratches his cheek as he looks back up. “Yeah. About that. You'll have time. The last thing is... we decided to go back to LA to stay for a while. We think it'll be easier to sort things out there.”

Amy closes her eyes, a dry half grin on her face. She looks back up at Jason, he appears almost afraid of her reaction. “So... you're leaving me, and the Academy.” Jason had been a near-full time trainer there for the last year or so, since he recovered from his last knee injury and decided not to go back to active competition.

“When you put it that way, you make me sound like a jackass.” He smirks, and Amy can't help but laugh. She always called him that. “But unfortunately, yes, I'll have to leave that, too. I hate to put you in a bind with the students, but-”

“Don't worry about that. We'll manage.” Amy isn't sure how – she'd already lost her friends Kara and Shane as trainers a few months ago; they moved back up north for family reasons. Now she was down yet another trainer. But that wasn't her main concern at the moment.

“I know you will. You always do.” Amy has no reply to that, she just grins weakly. “There's another thing Nia and I agreed on. Since we won't be here, there's no reason for this house to sit empty. You and Wyatt have keys. You're welcome to use the house whenever you like, for whatever you need.”

“Sounds like you thought of everything, huh.”

“We tried. We wanted to make something that's difficult for everyone as easy as we could.”

“I can tell, and I do thank you for that.” Amy leans one elbow on her knee, resting her head into her cheek. She's trying her best to be an adult about this, be reasonable. But it's getting harder to keep her emotions in check. It's been a long time since she was broken up with, even if it is the most gentle one she's ever experienced. Her fingertips brush under her eye, in what she hoped was an unnoticeable motion. If Jason saw, he doesn't mention it. Amy forces herself to take a cleansing breath, and sits up straight, as if about to get up. “I suppose I should probably go, then.” She starts to get up, but Jason stops her, grabbing her hand.

“Wait. There's one last thing we agreed on.” Amy sits back down slow, not pulling her hand away. “For us both to have one more night with whoever we chose. Nia is out meeting with her guy at his place, and I'd like you to stay over tonight.” Amy's first instinct is to immediately agree, but then she questions to herself if doing so would make this easier, or harder. “I understand if you'd rather not. But I'd really like you to stay.”

Forcing herself to look up at him, it hits her that this is just as hard on him as it is on her. Maybe more so because he's the one who had to make the difficult decision. Staying the night one more time would be just as much for his comfort as it would be for her. Giving Jason's hand a small squeeze, she smiles.

“Okay. I'll stay.”




The next morning, Amy gets home and finds Wyatt awake already, in the kitchen making breakfast. She walks in, and sits down at the island.

“Hey there.”

“Morning.”

Wyatt sets a cup of coffee down in front of her. “How did it go?”

The tone of her husbands voice gives him away. Amy snaps her head up, looking him in the eyes.

“You knew.”

“Yeah. Aniya called last night after you left.”

Amy nods once, looking down into her coffee. That made sense, as he and she still met up on occasion. Or, at least they did until yesterday.

“Well, it's not the easiest thing to digest, but at least we left things on a good note.”

“That's good. I'm glad it wasn't too hard.”

“I didn't say that.”

“Are you okay?”

Amy stands up, picking the mug up. “I don't know. I think I want to go lay in bed for a while. Alone. Is that okay?”

“Of course it is. I have to get to the gym anyway, but if you need anything, call.”

Amy just nods, and takes her coffee upstairs.

In the span of less than twenty-four hours, half her life had changed.