Unforgettable Voyage

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*banner done with help from cooltext.com*

*story used with permission from Ladycat*

Katie worked long hours for a law firm in New York. She was in her late 30's, average height, dark hair and light colored eyes. She did a lot of research and leg work for the lawyers who were doing various cases. There were many nights when she wouldn't get home until after midnight. She had been doing this for close to a year now. She was starting to get headaches and become nauseous. Nothing she took or did would get rid of them. Finally, a co-worker, noticing how she was acting, told her maybe she needed to get a check-up. She had been under the gun lately and felt like she had nothing to lose. She made an appointment with her physician. The results came back negative.

"The x-rays show nothing physically wrong. It could be you need to get away from everything, at last for a week or two. From what you're telling me, you're under constant pressure. The symptoms are a sign telling you to slow down. I suggest a cruise, doesn't have to be to anywhere in particular. Just forget about the office, co-workers, everything. Just concentrate on yourself."

Katie was doubtful about a cruise curing her headaches or nauseous. But it probably would do her some good to get away from work as she hadn't taken a vacation in almost 2 years. She called and asked about a possible cruise. The only one available was a Princess Cruise. She was informed the liner was being booked by the WWF for a "Cruise with Your Favourite Wrestler" type thing.

"Just what I need. A bunch of stupid jocks on board," she thought.

She booked anyway. A week later she was on board.

After unpacking, she changed into a blouse and knee pants and decided to go for a stroll on the deck. She soon learned that going out on the deck was a big mistake. When she came out, there was a bunch of wrestling fans crowding around one part of the deck, waiting for the wrestlers to come out. She hurried to find a spot far enough away from the mob.

She looked at the mob waiting. "What is the big deal?" she asked herself. She didn't care for wrestling, thinking it rather boorish and phoney. She looked out over the blue-green water, noticing some dolphins swimming along side the ship. There was something fascinating about them, about being carefree to swim wherever you wanted.

She had become so engrossed watching them that she failed to notice the crowd was heading her way. If she hadn't step back from the railing toward some deck chairs, she might have ended up overboard as a couple of zealous fans pushed her out of the way. As it was, she ended up on the deck on her backside. The crowd had seen a few of the wrestlers come on deck.

Some of the wrestlers had come on deck - Kane, Hardy's, Edge, Rock, and Taker. Security kept the crowd from mobbing them as they went to their spot to sign autographs. They had also seen Katie get pushed to the deck. She was still sitting there with a somewhat dazed look on her face.

She saw a pair of black boots. Continuing upward she saw tree-trunk legs in black tights, a big chest then a rather handsome face that held emerald green eyes and long reddish-black hair. Then she saw a huge hand in front of her.

"Are you okay?" a low voice asked, helping her up.

"I'll be fine," she answered irritably, "no thanks to you," and walked off.

"What was her problem?" Kane asked.

"I don't know. She acted as if we were to blame for this." Taker looked at her as she walked away.

Katie spent the rest of the afternoon over by the ship's pool. About 5 o'clock she went to her cabin. A note had been left saying she was invited to sit at the captain's table and to be there at 7 o'clock in the Princess' Castle Restaurant. At 6:45 she headed toward the restaurant, grateful she had thought to pack an evening gown.

She showed the maitre'd her invitation, who seated her immediately. After ordering her drink, she waited. Katie noticed place cards by each plate. One was next to hers. It said "Undertaker." She was thinking who would have such a name. She didn't have long to wait.

"Oh no!" as she thought back to the afternoon.

"Well, I see we meet again. Hope you don't mind," he said with a smile. She noticed he sat at the name card next to her - Undertaker.

She looked at him as he sat, wondering how she ended up sitting by him. He did have a nice smile. No, she wasn't going to let that get to her.

"How did you get a name like Undertaker? Sounds rather morbid."

Taker chuckled. "That's not my real name. It's just a name I use when I wrestle."

"Just as I thought, as phoney as wrestling."

"Wrestling isn't all phoney. We have some realism. I take it you've never been to a match before."

"No I haven't and don't care to."

"How can you call it phoney when you've never been to a match?"

He looked at her place card. "Tell you what. Some matches are being put on tomorrow in the evening. Why don't you come and see for yourself, Kathleen."

"I prefer Katie. I'll think about it."

For the rest of the evening she didn't say another word to him or even look his way.

The next morning Katie went for a walk around the deck. Whenever she could, she used to go for walks first thing in the morning. They usually got her energy going for the day. Back at the cabin, she changed into a bathing suit. She didn't swim much but she felt like getting a little sun in. Wearing a thin wrap-around skirt over it, she went to get some breakfast. She was looking over the buffet trying to decide what she wanted. A low voice said, "I understand the eggs benedict is good."

Katie turned. There he was. She finished getting what she wanted and sat down. No sooner had she sat down when he came over and sat with her. She looked at him as if asking "why are you sitting here?" Taker was smiling to himself. "I'm going to have some fun with this one."

"You didn't ask if I would have minded. Of course, one would expect that from the likes of you."

"What do you mean, the likes of me?" Taker beginning to take exception.

"A stupid jock." With that she got up and left for the pool area.

He was wanting to have some fun but her last comment cut to the bone. He had been called a lot of things, but "stupid jock" was not one of them. Kane came over and sat down. He saw Taker was looking cross.

"Remember the woman I helped up yesterday afternoon?

"I was seated next to her last night at the captain's table. I thought maybe she had softened up. We had managed a few civil words. I was going to have a little fun with her this morning. She comes out of a bag when I sat next to her. Called me a stupid jock because I didn't ask her if I could sit at the same table."

"Sounds like she has a real bitchy attitude."

"I've invited her to come watch the matches this evening, wanting to show her wrestling wasn't all phony. She does have a real bitchy attitude. She needs to be taught a lesson."

"Why don't you leave it alone. Remember, you're here because you wanted to be here instead of at home. To think over your marriage."

Taker didn't want to be reminded. For some time now he and his wife hadn't been getting along. She wanted a divorce, citing irreconcilable differences.

The matches started around 6 o'clock that evening in a special arena built just for that purpose. Taker put the incident out of his mind, concentrating on putting on a good show for the fans. He did, however, tell the ring people to leave a seat empty. He thought that maybe she would show up.

Katie had gone back to her cabin at noon and spent the rest of the day reading one of the novels she brought along. About a quarter to six she went for a walk around the deck before going to dinner. She heard some noise and went to see what it was. She saw a ring had been set up and people were watching two guys in the ring. Then she remembered that he had said there would be matches and had invited her. She thought about going in but decided not to. After this morning, she wasn't going to waste her time and went back to her room to change.

Taker looked at the chair. It remained empty the entire 2 hours. For some reason, he was disappointed she hadn't come.

Katie showered and changed to a pant suit. She decided the Princess Lounge was out and went instead to one of the bars that offered a small buffet. After being seating she ordered a glass of wine as it usually helped to relax her. She wasn't really hungry so decided on just eating a small salad. She was going to pay her tab but was told it was paid for. Katie asked who paid for it, but the waiter said the party didn't want to be identified. She left, still wondering who it could have been.

A full moon was out and as she wasn't tired, decided on a small walk, stopping near a set of steps to look at it.

"It's a shame to look at a full moon alone. Someone should be with you," a low voice said.

Katie jumped, not having heard footsteps. She turned and saw Taker. She was going to leave but he grabbed her hand.

"Why don't you like me?" he asked, still holding her hand.

"It's not who you are, but what you do. I don't care for wrestling. I told you last night, its phoney."

"Why didn't you come to the matches? You might have changed your mind. I had a seat for you."

"After this morning, I felt it wasn't worth my time." He was steadily pulling her closer.

"I apologize for that, but you owe me too. I'm not a stupid jock, nor are the others who are here. They are well-educated men who happen to enjoy wrestling and are proud of it. In fact, I'm going to take you to meet them right now."

Katie didn't have much choice. He lead her back into the bar and over to a table where some of them were sitting.

Kane saw Taker leading a woman over to their table. He noticed she wasn't exactly coming on her own. Then he recognized the face. Kane hadn't seen Taker so bent on showing someone up as when he met her. He just shook his head.

"Guys, remember what I told you about this woman I met, saying we were nothing more than stupid jocks. Well, here she is. This is Katie. Katie, meet Kane, Edge, Matt, Jaff, and The Rock."

The Rock raised his right brow, giving her his "it doesn't matter what you think" look. The rest of the guys, except Kane, started to laugh. Katie tried to squirm away, but he held her hand tight. Kane could see she was thoroughly embarrassed. Taker had achieved what he set out to do.

Finally, Katie got her hand free. She turned and walked away, not stopping til she was in her room. Never had anyone done this to her. Her face was red with embarrassment, tears coming to her eyes. Whatever she had to do, she was going to avoid him as much as possible.

Taker had been laughing with the rest of them. He felt she had learned her lesson. Taker looked at Kane, who had been quiet.

"Well, you taught her a lesson alright. Why were you so bent on doing this to her? You should have just left it alone."

"She needed to be brought down a notch."

"Why? Because she was honest in her opinion or is there something else?"

"How could there be anything else?"

Kane didn't answer, but just sat back. He could tell there was going to be more to this than even they knew.

The next morning, Katie decided she wasn't going to have her vacation ruined. With three days left, there was still time to enjoy herself. She went to the pool to get some sun.

She had the strangest feeling someone was standing over her. She opened her eyes and saw Taker there. She got up to leave but he held her arm.

"Are you going to embarrass me again?" She asked, looking him in the eye.

"No, once was enough. I was just wondering, since we got off on the wrong foot, so to speak, if we could start over and reacquaint ourselves, say over lunch.

Katie thought about it and decided there was nothing to lose. "Okay, the Princess Lounge at 12:00."

"Will see you then."

She watched him walk away hoping she had done the right thing.

Taker arrived a couple of minutes early and was seated in a booth in the corner. Katie arrived promptly at 12 and saw him sitting there.

"I see you like to be on time."

"That's just the way I am. It's part of the kind of work I do. I work for a law firm in New York. I research cases and do a lot of legwork for the lawyers. Some of it has to get to them on time so they can use it in their cases. I put in as much as 10-12 hours a day sometimes."

"Don't you ever take a break from it?

"This is the first break I've had in 2 years. I was starting to get headaches lately. I got a check up, but nothing was physically wrong. The doctor said to get away for a week or so. Said it was stress related and to not think about anything but yourself."

"The tiff we had didn't help any either, did it?"

"Well, I wasn't thinking about my job that's for sure," she said with a slight smile.

Taker placed their order. For the next hour they talked about whatever came up. One thing he didn't mention was wrestling. For right now he was concentrating on getting to know her. He found her to be lively and intelligent, but felt her job kept her from being her true self. Katie found in talking to him that he was not the "stupid jock" she had first thought.

"Are there going to be any more matches?"

Taker was surprised. He wasn't going to mention anything along that line given how she felt about it.

"Yes, we're doing some tonight. Why? Are you thinking about coming?"

"I remembered what you said about watching it for myself."

"The matches start at 6 o'clock. I'll have a chair close to the announcer's table. Is that okay?"

It was another hour before they left the lounge. Katie said she would be there a few minutes early.

Katie arrived 15 minutes before the matches were to begin. Security seated her has Taker had informed them. He came out in his ring attire and sat by her for a few minutes.

"You'll get to see for yourself that what we do in the ring can be dangerous if we didn't know what we were doing. I'm the last match of the night."

Katie watched as the matches progressed. She knew it would take some time before she could get into it. But at least she was giving it a chance.

Taker's match had him going against Kane. She looked at the moves Taker did. She had to admit that some of them could do some damage if he didn't know what he was doing. After the match was over, security told her she was to wait there for him. About 15 minutes later he was there. They decided to go to the lounge for a nightcap.

"Well, what do you think?"

"I could see the danger in some of those moves. It would take me some time to get into it, but I did enjoy myself."

They stayed for about an hour. He asked her if she would like to take a walk. The moon was out, looking like a huge white diamond reflecting on the water's surface. She was looking at the water, hearing the waves lap at the boat. She felt fingers turn her face and tilt her chin up, a pair of green eyes looking into hers. Then a pair of lips came down gently on hers.

Taker's lips were gently caressing hers. His arms were around her, pulling her close to him. Her arms went around him of their own accord, her lips returning his kiss. When they parted, they looked into each other's eyes for what seemed like forever. Katie lowered her eyes, leaning her head against his chest. Taker held her tight. Neither one said anything, letting the moment speak for itself.

Kane watched all this. This is what he knew would happen. How they were going to handle it would be up to them. He wondered though if what Taker felt at that moment was real or would it be just a shipboard romance, and how much would it affect his decision about his marriage. Kane went on to his room.

Katie looked into his eyes. He began kissing her again. A soft moan escaped her lips. When he pulled away, Katie's eyes were still closed. Taker wanted to make love to her, but this was not the right time.

"I'd better take you to your room," Taker said shakily.

After kissing her goodnight at her door, Taker walked back to his room. He was no sooner in his room when there was a knock on his door. It was Kane.

"I saw you two on deck. You haven't told her you're married, have you?"

"I don't intend to. I'm getting closer to making up my mind. As far as I'm concerned, she can have the divorce."

"How do you really feel about Katie? This is the first time you've really gotten to know her since she came on board. Are you sure this isn't a shipboard romance?"

"I don't know. It will take time, which is something neither one of us has. In three days the boat docks and I may never see her again. I don't want to think about it now. I just want to enjoy whatever time we may have."

Kane went back to his room. Taker laid in bed thinking about what he and Kane talked about. He had only 2 whole days and nights to be with her. Katie was thinking in three days the boat would dock. She knew she probably would never see him again. But whatever time they would have she would make the most of.

For the next couple of days, they spent every available moment they could together. Katie would attend the matches, enjoying herself very much.

Came the night before they would dock. After they had walked around the deck slowly, making every moment last, they ended up at his room. As soon as they were in his room, he kissed her, not wanting to think this was it.

They slowly undressed each other, touching each other's skin, as if committing it to memory. He carried her to the bed, gently laying her down. He began kissing her again, parting her lips with his tongue, drinking in her perfume as he kissed her neck. His hands were gently caressing her breasts, her tips springing to life at his touch, his lips coaxing them. He went further down, following his fingers to the center of her desire. Katie was in another world, arching her hips, begging him for more, her fingers entangled in his hair.

She felt his breath near her face, her hand encircling him, feeling him grow with desire. He moaned as he entered her, taking his time. She moved with him, loving the feel of him inside of her. The faster he moved, the closer the both of them came to total release. Katie could feel her whole body begin to tense, her nails scratching his back. Taker couldn't hold back. Katie felt the warmth of him spill inside of her, crying her name as she buried her face in his shoulder.

He laid on top of her, not wanting to move. He rolled beside her, kissing her, holding her close. Soon they both were asleep.

Taker woke up the next morning, the boat having docked a couple of hours earlier. He turned to see Katie was gone, a note on the place where she had laid her head. He could see splotches of wet marks on the paper.

What you see are tear stains as I write this note. Time flew by all too quickly for us. The few days I had with you has given me a whole new meaning to life. I have to go back, but the memories of our time together will always be with me. If fate allows, one day we will meet again. You will be in my heart forever. Please don't forget me.

Kane came in the room and saw him sitting on the bed, his eyes closed, holding the pillow that she had laid on. He spied the note and read it. He saw tears in his friend's eyes.

"No matter what I have to do or where I have to go, I will find you."