Love Sick

Paige Brewster- 24 year old mother of twins.

Kasey and Kody Brewster- Paige's almost ten year old twins.

Mark Calloway (The Undertaker)-Retired WWE Superstar. Knew Paige when she was a kid.

Summary- Paige Brewster was 14 years old when she was practically banished to North Carolina in 1998 after becoming pregnant now she is returning home to the small town of Willow Oaks, Texas for the first time in ten years to attend her mothers funeral.

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Chapter 1

"Mom, Kody is hogging the DVD player. We already watched one of his movies tell him it 's my turn to pick one." Kasey whined from the back of the car.

Paige knew she should have splurged and bought two of those portable DVD player's but money was tight and she really couldn't afford it. She hated living paycheck to paycheck but since she was doing everything on her own it was her reality.

"Kody it's your sisters turn to pick a movie. Be fair or I will make you both sit there in silence for the rest of the trip." Paige told them.

"Fine! But she's just going to pick some girly movie." Kody said handing Kasey the player.

Paige sighed as she thought about the previous two years of her life. She had been married and divorced all before she was even twenty -four years old. She thought that Cooper would love her forever, but forever only lasted a year and a half. The twins never really liked Cooper anyway. They had actually begged Paige not to marry him, but he was handsome and he made her believe that he would take care of her and her children and he did until he got a new assistant and started screwing her. Paige was devastated when he told her that it was over, she thought that she was doing everything a good wife should do to keep her husband happy. She cooked, cleaned, and satisfied her husband every night, even when she wasn't in the mood.

"I'm sorry Paige, but you just don't make me happy anymore." Cooper had said to her.

"Did I do something wrong?" Paige asked as tears poured from her eyes.

"No, it's just that when we got married I thought I was in love with you."

"And now?" Paige sniffed.

"I know that I'm not." He said sitting down beside her.

"What about the kids? You're their father." Paige said getting angry.

"I'm their step-father and they never liked me anyway. Look I know that this is the worst time to do this, but I want a divorce. I know that you are only working part time right now and I am going to keep taking care of you and the twins. I bought this house for you so I am going to move out. You don't have to worry about anything."

"Dammit Coop, I don't want your money! I want you, I want us to continue being a family!" Paige cried.

"I'm sorry Paige. I will leave tonight after we talk to the twins. I don't want you to have to tell them about this alone. I will make them understand that I love all of you, but this is for the best." Cooper said and walked out of the bedroom.

"Earth to mom!" Kody said knocking Paige out of her daze.

"Yeah sweetheart?" Paige asked.

"How much longer before we get there?"

Paige knew the twins were probably bored out of their little minds. Paige had been driving for almost nineteen hours only stopping for food and potty breaks for the kids.

"Just two more hours Kody."

"Two more hours! That's forever." Kody complained.

"Hey, I'm the one that's been doing all the work here. You and your sister are on easy street. You get to sit back there watching movies and listening to music. I'm the one that hasn't slept in almost two days so we could be in Texas before your grams funeral." Paige said.

"I told you we should have took a plane." Kody said sitting back in his seat.

"Yeah well mommy couldn't afford three plane tickets since your dad didn't come through for us yet again." Paige said with a frustrated sigh.

"Step-dad." Kody corrected.

"Look we will be in Texas soon just sit back and relax and enjoy the ride."

The rest of the trip was quiet until the twins started arguing over the last bag of Doritos. Paige just sighed and continued to concentrate on the rode. She was dead tired and just wanted to get to her mothers house where she could shower and take a much needed nap.

"Mom look!" Kasey squealed as they passed the Recreational center.

They were finally in Willow Oaks but still about fifteen minutes away from the house.

"I bet there are kids in there." Kasey said hinting to her mother.

"We are not stopping guys." Paige said.

"Come on mom, just drop us off. Please! We have been in this car for two days straight we need fresh air, we need human contact!" Kody pleaded.

Paige was hesitant; yes they had been stuck in the car for days, but should she let them hang out at a place she knew nothing about, even if it was a community Rec. center she didn't know who ran the place or what kind of kids hung out here.

"We are begging you mom, please!" The twins said in unison.

"Okay, but I am going in with you so I can check this place out for myself before I just leave you here." Paige said turning into the parking lot.

"Thanks mom you're the greatest." Kody said as he and Kasey jumped out of the car and ran inside.

"I'm never going to get any sleep." Paige sighed as she walked slowly inside.

By the time she got inside the rec. center both of the twins were already playing with the other kids. Paige looked around for an adult so that she could talk to someone about who was in charge, and who would be watching her children. She saw a tall skinny man sitting in a little office looking out at all the kids and figured he was the man to talk to. Paige walked over and knocked on the door.

"May I help you?" The man asked.

"You can if you are the man in charge."

"You know you look mighty familiar, do I know you?"

"It's possible. I lived here when I was a kid." Paige told him.

"Paige Brewster?" The man asked a little unsure.

"Yes, and you are?"

"Tommy Waller."

"No way! I remember you." Paige said as a huge smile covered her face.

"Yeah you lived two blocks from me over on Mayhew Dr."

"How have you been?" Paige asked.

"Great, married straight out of high school to Pamela Sawyer. We have four kids. Our oldest just turned six and the triplets are three."

"I remember Pam. I can't believe you have four children."

"Whatever happened to you anyway? You disappeared right before we started high school."

"Went to live with my auntie in North Carolina. Haven't been back since then either."

"I take it you're here for you mom's funeral."

"Yeah." Paige said sadly.

"I'm really sorry to hear about her passing, she was a good woman."

"Thank you Tommy. Listen let me get to the reason I'm here. You see the two black hair green eyed misfits over there?" Paige asked pointing to Kasey and Kody.

"Yeah?"

"Well those are mine, and I need to know that if I leave them here for a while they will be okay."

"Well to answer your question I run this place and I make sure that every child that comes through those doors are looked after."

"Glad to hear that because I have had them crammed in a car for two days and they really need to run around and have a little fun."

"I'm sure they will love it here. We are about to play dodge ball and I'm sure they will enjoy themselves, so you go and do whatever it is you need to do and don't worry about your kids they will be fine." Tommy said reassuring Paige.

"Thanks. I will be back in a few hours. It was good seeing you after all these years Tommy, tell Pam I said hello and would love to see her while I'm here." Paige said as she wrote down her cell number and handed it to Tommy. "Call me if you need to."

"I'm sure things are going to be fine."

"Kasey and Kody Brewster get over here please." Paige called to the twins.

"Yes mom?" They asked running up to her.

"You two behave yourselves and I will be back in a few hours to pick you up, okay?"

"We will behave mom don't worry." Kody said as they ran back over to the group of kids they had been talking to.

Paige waved goodbye before walking back out to her car. Paige stopped at the Quick Save to pick up groceries before heading to the house. Paige got to her mothers and that's when everything hit her. The tears welled up in her eyes as the memories crept back up in her mind. Paige and her mother didn't have the greatest relationship and after her father left and her mother turned to the bottle things got worse. Paige became rebellious, sneaking out almost every night and hooking up with boy after boy just for the fun of it. The only consistent thing in her life was her fantasy that she had built up with her neighbor, Mark Calloway, being the object of her affection. She day-dreamed about her and Mark being totally and completely in love with each other and he would come and take her away from the hell she was living in and make her his wife and they would have lots of babies together. Paige knew that would always be just a fantasy though. Here she was a thirteen year old girl and Mark was a grown man. He had already been married and divorced and she was just hitting puberty.

Paige shook the memories from her head and went inside. She put up the groceries and then got dinner ready. She was making a homemade chicken pot pie and for desert a Oreo cookie pie or a dirt cake as the twins called it. Once she had the pot pie in the oven she made her way upstairs. She was going to shower and take a quick power nap before going to pick up the twins.

Paige had just laid down and closed her eyes when she heard something downstairs. It startled her because her mother lived alone and no one should be in the house. Paige got up and walked towards the stairs when she heard a male voice utter a few choice words.

"Fuck!" Mark cursed. He had promised Mrs. Brewster that he would fix her sink weeks ago but he had reluctantly agreed to do a month's worth of appearances for Vince who was in a bind, even though he was officially retired, and had been out of town for weeks. Mrs. Brewster was nice about it, she told him that she understood and that he could do it when ever he got back in town. He had got home late last night and was now ready to get to work.

"Who's down there?" Paige yelled form the top of the stairs.

"Who the hell is up there?" Mark yelled back.

"This is my mother's house, there is nothing valuable here and if you don't leave now I will call the police."

"Punky Brewster, is that you?"

An instant smile spread across Paige's face only one person ever called her that.

"Mark?" Paige asked running downstairs.

"Hey baby doll, what are you doing in town?" Mark asked picking Paige up and swinging her around.

"You don't know?" Paige asked pulling back and looking at Mark.

"Know what?"

"Mark, momma had a heart attack. She died in the hospital two days ago."

"Oh Darlin, I'm so sorry I didn't know I just got back in town last night."

"I just got in myself; drove all the way from North Carolina."

"North Carolina, huh? So that's where you been hiding out these past ten years?" Mark asked sitting Paige down.

"Yeah momma kinda banished me there after I…" Paige said trailing off. "Would you like a cup of coffee?" Paige asked changing the subject as she walked to the kitchen.

Mark followed her into the kitchen and sat at the table as Paige fixed their coffee.

"She banished you there after you what?" Mark finally asked as Paige sat down his cup of coffee.

"After I got pregnant." Paige said turning her back to Mark.

"Pregnant!" Mark said as he about choked on his coffee.

"Uh-huh." Paige said still not looking at him.

"You were just a baby when you left here."

"Yeah well it was my own fault. After daddy left momma started drinking a lot and most of the time she was passed out and because I was getting no attention at home I started getting it else where. At first it was just shameless flirting with boys in school, when I actually went to school, then one night it became more. I met Seth Armstrong as I was leaving the movies with some of my girlfriends and I guess he had heard that I was easy or whatever and invited me back to his place. He was giving me beer by the glass full and I got toasted real fast.

"Seth Armstrong, I always knew he was a no good little punk. He was eighteen years old what was he doing praying on you young girls for anyway?" Mark asked angrily.

"Yeah well my age didn't matter to him and so I wasn't surprised when he started kissing me but when he tried to unbutton my pants I freaked a little but he said that he would tell everyone I was a tease if I didn't let him do it, so I did. I was fourteen and drunk I didn't even realize that he didn't even bother to use a condom. I found out later that I was pregnant and when I told Seth he said that from what he heard about me that I was a slut and could be anybodies baby. So the only person I told was momma and she decided that the best thing would be to send me to North Carolina to live with my Auntie Barbara to keep me from having to deal with all the small town gossip. So I packed my bags and pretty much disappeared into the night." Paige said.

"I used to ask her about you all the time and she always said that you went away to some fancy private school somewhere."

"No fancy private schools but my auntie was a teacher and she home schooled me. It wasn't that bad and after a while I got used to being there."

"And now you're here to bury your momma."

"Yeah and now I wish that I would have come home sooner to spend a little more time with her; gave her more time with the kids."

"So you have more than one little one?"

"I have two Kasey and Kody they are about to be ten years old soon."

"Twins?"

"Yep and the scary thing is they look just like Seth." Paige said sipping her coffee.

"Do they know about him, I mean that he just abandoned you when you needed him the most?"

"No, I told them that he was older than me and that he went off to college before I had the chance to tell him that I was pregnant. I didn't want to lie to them about it but the truth hurt too much, ya know."

"I know sweetie. So where are they anyway?" Mark asked realizing that he hadn't heard a peep from them.

"I let them at the rec. center. Now that I think about it I really should go and pick them up." Paige said standing.

"If my nose is working correctly I smell something cooking. You can't just leave the house with the oven still on."

"I will just turn it off until I get back."

"I have a better idea, how about I go pick up your kids."

"Mark I couldn't ask you to do that." Paige protested.

"Well you didn't ask me now did you "Punky" I offered." Mark said referring to her by the nickname he had given her when she was ten years old.

"Well I really don't feel like driving anymore today, so yea that would be nice if you would do that." Paige said smiling at Mark.

"I will be back soon." Mark said planting a kiss on the top of Paige's head before leaving.

Paige sank down in the chair and sighed. Mark was even more gorgeous than she remembered him being ten years ago. He wore his hair long and had the most amazing piercing green eyes. His bulging muscles strained against the black tee he was wearing and his arms were covered with tattoos. He still wore the same cologne that he had all those years ago and it assaulted Paige's senses.

"Get a grip Paige, Mark would never be interested in a woman like you." She said as she got up to check on the pot pie in the oven.

Mark made his way to the rec. center thinking about Paige the whole way there. She had grown up a lot since the last time he had seen her. He knew that she had a huge crush on him back then but hell she was a child and he was a grown-up, but now they were both grown-ups and he couldn't help but wonder if the crush Paige had for him then still existed. He had watched her today in the tight jeans that she was wearing and that fitted tee and his mouth watered. He knew that he shouldn't have been having those type of feelings for a woman that was grieving over the loss of her momma but damn he couldn't help himself.

The minute he walked into the rec. center he spotted Kasey and Kody. Paige was wrong those kids looked just like her, especially that little girl. She was in the corner with a group of other girls double dutching and having a ball and Kody was playing basketball with a group of guys.

"Hey Mark, what brings you by today?" Tommy asked walking over to him.

"Here for Paige Brewster's two." Mark said still watching them.

"She didn't say anything about you picking them up?"

"It wasn't planned she was making dinner so I volunteered." Mark said.

"I will have to call her and verify all this."

"Do what you got to do man."

Tommy walked away and called Paige. He came back a minute later and apologized to Mark for doubting his story.

"It's alright, I think it's good you double check these kind of things."

"I will go round them up for you." Tommy said.

Kasey and Kody both looked up at Mark in disbelief. They both watched wrestling with their mother and knew exactly who the Undertaker was, so to actually be in his presence was a lot for them to handle.

"Kasey Kody I'm Mark Calloway and I'm an old friend of your momma's. she sent me to fetch you two." Mark said as they stared at him.

"Mom told us one time while we were watching you wrestle that she knew you, but we didn't believe her." Kody told Mark as they drove back to the house.

"Did she tell you what I nicknamed her as a kid?"

"No, what did you name her?" Kasey asked.

"Punky Brewster." Mark said as he chuckled.

"Why did you name her that?"

"You never heard of that show?"

"Nope!" The twins said in unison.

"Well it was a TV show back in the eighties."

"We should call momma that when we get to grams." Kody said to his sister.

"You two want to get me into trouble don't you?" Mark said playfully.

"Hey my sweethearts, did you have a good time today?" Paige asked when the twins came running into the house.

"Yes, can we go back tomorrow?"

"We will see Kody, you know that we are here for your grams funeral so I am going to be very busy, but I will try to get you there."

"I could come by and pick them up if you would like."

"I don't want to keep monopolizing your time Mark."

"Come on Punky please." Kody said.

Paige turned and glared at Mark. "You told them about that?" She asked with her hands on her hips.

"They forced it out of me." Mark said seriously.

"We did not mom." Kasey said.

"I know, Mark is only teasing he does that a lot. You two go get washed up for dinner. We're having chicken pot pie and I made a dirt cake for dessert." Paige said causing the twins to take off upstairs to clean up.

"Well I will get out of here for the night." Mark said.

"You never told me why you came by in the first place."

"I promised your mom that I would fix her leaky sink, guess I'm a little late."

"Well I would appreciate it if you could still fix it, that is if you have the time to do it."

"Sure I will, I can come back and do it after you guys finish your dinner."

"Why not just stay for dinner. I made plenty."

"Are you sure it won be a problem?"

"I'm inviting you Mark, please stay."

"Alright besides the food smells so good I probably wouldn't have left anyway. I would have just looked in through the window and licked at the air." Mark said jokingly. "I do have just one question though."

"What's that?"

"What in the hell is a dirt cake?" Mark asked causing Paige to laugh.

"It's an Oreo cookie pie, don't worry there is no real dirt involved." Paige said as she smiled sweetly at Mark.

"That's good to know." Mark said as he took a seat at the table.

Mark fixed the sink after dinner so there was no reason for him to stay, but he just couldn't make himself leave. He was elated when Kody asked him to help him set up his Wii upstairs in his bedroom.

"Did you ever date my mom?" Kody asked.

"Naw, your momma was just a girl when she moved away from here."

"Would you date her now?"

"Where is this coming from?" Mark asked a little uncomfortable with the conversation.

"She needs a man to take care of her. Cooper hasn't sent her money in almost four months and he knows that she is only part time at the Café."

"Who is Cooper?"

"Mom's ex-husband."

"Your mom was married?"

"It only lasted a little over a year then Cooper cheated on mom, but we're not supposed to know that. Things are getting hard for her, and she doesn't know this, but at night Kasey and I hear her crying."

"So some idiot broke her heart." Mark thought getting angry.

"Well Kody your momma and I are good friends and I don't know if it will ever be more than that but if she needs anything I will be there for her." Mark said honestly.

"What are you two talking about?" Paige asked walking into the room.

"Guy stuff mom." Kody said.

"Yeah, guy stuff Punky." Mark said.

"Well Kody it's getting late so I think you should start getting ready for bed."

"Mom…"

"I'm not budging on this one Kode go have a bath and get in bed, your sister has already had hers."

"Fine mom. See you tomorrow Mark and think about what we talked about." Kody said shaking Marks hand before grabbing his pj's that Paige had bought to him and heading to the bathroom.

"Guess that's my cue to leave." Mark said.

"Thank you for being so nice to the twins Mark. They weren't to happy about having to come here."

"They are great kids just like their momma." Mark said as he leaned down and kissed her cheek. "Now take your own advice go take a hot shower and get to bed, you're dead on your feet. See you tomorrow." Mark said as he walked towards the stairs.

"Hey Punky?"

"Yeah?"

"It's good to have you home."

"It's good to be home." Paige said as she watched Mark leave.