New Fic: Life Switch 1/?
Author: Tammy (aka Ladie Butterfly)
Title: Life Switch 1/?
Rating/Content: R (just to be safe - may change later)/ language, possibly sex later
Genre: Drama mixed with angst, a little comedy and romance.
Characters: Matt Hardy, Jeff Hardy, a few other wrestlers yet to be determined and OCs
Summary: After being hit in the head at a WWE event, a woman wakes up with a completely new and different life. Is it a dream or something more?
Disclaimer: I don’t own anyone you may recognize. I only own the story itself and my OCs.
Distribution: My ff.net page, the yahoo groups I send it to, my LJ and eventually my website… just wherever I decide to post it.
Tammy’s note: I’m really excited about this fic. I have some great plans for it. I haven’t been this psyched about a story in a very long time, or hell even written one. Please let me know what you think. Feedback feeds the ficcer’s soul, ya know. ;-)
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
“Rain, rain, go away…” Toni said and laughed. “I can’t believe we’re standing in the middle of this downpour just to get into a wrestling show.”
Her husband Mike chuckled and shrugged. “Remember the time we stood in the snow to get into see that house show?”
Toni adjusted the ball cap on her head, pushing back her blond hair and shook her head. “We go through a bunch of shit just to get into see men in tights rolling around all over each other.”
“They’re finally opening the doors.” Mike said.
After they were scanned in, visited the beer cart, and grabbed some things from the souvenir table, they found their seats.
Toni smiled, looking at the ring. “Awesome seats! Be sure to tell your boss thank you.”
Mike nodded and sipped his beer. “He said front row, but I thought he was joking. Damn.”
During the show, Mike and Toni cheered the good guys, booed the bad guys, applauded and laughed, having a great time.
Lillian Garcia, the ring announcer, stepped into the ring. “It’s now time for the main event. This next match is scheduled for one fall and it’d for the WWE Championship!” Music started and she continued. “On his way to the ring, the challenger, weighing in at 250 pounds, hailing from Toronto, Canada - Edge!”
Adam Copeland slid into the ring and posed for the crowd. Another song started and Lillian said, “On his way to the ring, weighing in at 245 pounds, from St. Louis, Missouri, please welcome the WWE Champion - Randy Orton!”
Toni growled, looking at Randy as he stood on the ring corner in front of her. “I could eat lunch off those thighs.”
Mike laughed, shaking his head. “Stop it.”
Toni chuckled and snapped a photo. They sat down and watched the match. During the course of it, Edge slid out of the ring and grabbed a chair. Randy went after him. Toni got up to get closer to take photos. Edge raised the chair to smack Randy and Randy ducked. The chair flew out of Edge’s hands.
“Toni, watch out!” Mike called out, but it was too late. The chair hit her right across the bridge of her nose. She fell down with a thud and Mike raced to her.
“Oh shit!” Adam cried out, his hands going to his face.
Randy looked at the crumpled woman in the floor and yelled to the security guard, “Get some help!”
Medics came running out and they put Toni on a stretcher. Mike ran behind them as they wheeled her to the back.
“Toni…” Mike whispered in her ear at the hospital. She didn’t respond. Her world was completely black.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Pain shot through her head and she winced, her eyes fluttering.
“She’s coming to,” a male voice said in the room.
She opened her eyes slightly and whimpered, clenching them shut again against the harsh bright lights.
“Come on, open your eyes,” the same voice said.
She opened them slightly again and gave her eyes a few seconds to adjust. She looked up and her eyes widened.
“There we go,” the male voice said.
She blinked a few times, looking up at him.
“Are you ok?” he asked.
“I think so,” she whispered and grabbed his arm. “Although I think I’m hallucinating.”
He looked at her with arched brows and stood there letting her get a good feel of his arm. “Yes, I’m really here. You’re not seeing things.”
She rose up a little bit.
“Easy,” he said and helped her into a sitting position.
She looked down at the hospital gown and cringed. Just her luck, she meets Jeff Hardy and she’s in the most unflattering thing imaginable. It made sense that he was there though. Maybe the WWE sent him as a representative of the company.
“Ok,” she said and looked at him again, slightly smiling and looked around the hospital room. “Where’s my husband?”
Jeff arched a brow. “He should be here soon.”
She nodded. “Ok.”
“How are you feeling?” Jeff asked.
“My head hurts,” she winced and rubbed it.
“I’m sure it does,” Jeff agreed.
“I guess you’ve been there, huh?” she asked.
Jeff furrowed his brows. “Um…yeah.”
“So you’d know how being hit in the head with a chair feels,” she said, chuckling.
Jeff, growing more confused, just nodded and repeated, “Um…yeah…”
They sat in silence for a few minutes. She just gazed around the room and muttered, “I hope he gets here soon.”
A few minutes later, the door opened and in rushed Matt Hardy. He went right up to her. He cupped her face softly and kissed her forehead. “Are you ok, baby?”
She smiled softly. She’d heard about how sweet Matt Hardy was, but this was going above and beyond. “Yes, I think so.”
“Thank God,” Matt said and pulled her close to him.
She pulled back some and smiled up at him. She then looked at the clock. “Where’s my husband?”
Matt looked at her with confusion. “I’m your husband.”
She looked at him with big eyes. “What? No.”
Matt’s jaw dropped. “Lacey! Quit playing.”
“Who’s Lacey?” she asked.
Matt and Jeff exchanged a confused look and Matt looked back at her. “You are.”
“No, I’m not!” she exclaimed and started to get off the stretcher.
“Easy, hun,” Matt said and helped her down.
She jerked away from him, getting angry. What the hell was going on here? She started walking away and realized she was hooked to an IV. She unhooked herself and started to walk away again.
“Where are you going?” Matt asked.
“I have to go to the bathroom!” she squeaked.
“Oh,” Matt said and started in after her.
She turned around. “Where do you think you’re going?”
“In there with you,” Matt said. “I want to make sure you’re ok.”
“Who do you think you are?” she asked angrily.
“I’m your husband!” Matt said.
She shook her head and slammed the door in his face.
“Ok, then,” Matt muttered. He turned to look at Jeff. “What the hell?”
“I think you should speak to Lacey’s doctor,” Jeff said.
Matt nodded, motioned for him to come with him, and they walked out of the room.
She sat down on the toilet and her chin wobbled. “I want my Mike.” She started to grab some tissue to dab her eyes and froze, looking at her hands and arms. “What the hell?” She had long fingernails, polished bright pink. Normally her nails were cut short, filed and clean. She twisted her arm. A rose vine was tattooed all the way around her right forearm. “Huh?” That wasn’t there before. She couldn’t have visible tattoos working in the hospital. The board of directors frowned on the nursing staff looking anything less than professional. She got up and looked in the mirror. A short scream escaped her mouth. Gone was her long golden blond hair and in its place was long mahogany brown hair, curly and highlighted chili red. Instead of her normally bright blue eyes, chocolate brown ones stared back at her from the mirror, both blackened from her ordeal.
“This isn’t right,” she said, tears leaking down her cheeks. She went back into the main room and looked in the larger mirror over the sink. “What’s going on here?” She stripped off the hospital gown and stared. “What the fuck?” Her thin, lithe figure and small breasts had morphed into a curvy, voluptuous body with large, slightly sagging breasts, round hips and thighs and instead of her 5 ft 9 inches, she was 5 ft 4. She saw another tattoo of a dragon on her left thigh and light stretch marks on her slightly rounded stomach. She turned around and looked over her shoulder. Her butt protruded out and she saw yet another tattoo on the small of her back, a tribal design with a star in the middle of it.
“Whoops!” she heard and jumped to see Jeff rushing out of the door. Matt was looking at her up and down with arched brows. She squeaked and grabbed the gown.
“You could have let me know you were there!” she shot at him.
Matt inhaled and said, “Lacey, I’m your husband. I’ve seen it all time and time again.” He smiled softly and said, “But it never gets old.”
She rolled her eyes. “How long was I out?”
“Three days,” Matt said. “I just spoke to your doctor. She’ll be in here in a few minutes to look at you.”
“Ok,” she said and put the gown back on, then sat on the bed. This was crazy. She got knocked out and now she was in some weird alternative plane or something. Maybe it was a dream. Yeah, that sounded logical to her.
Matt sat down and looked at her. “By the way you also have a clit ring.”
She eyes bugged out and she turned hot. Her chin wobbled and tears stung her eyes again. “This isn’t right.”
Matt got up and went to her. He pulled her close to him and kissed her head. “Lacey, baby, we’ll figure this out, I love you.”
Those words just made her cry harder. Matt held her tightly and let her cry all over him. Jeff came in and saw them. He nodded to Matt and walked back out.
A few minutes later, the doctor came in. “Mrs. Hardy, it’s good to see you awake.”
Matt pulled back but didn’t sit down. He stood beside her and clasped her hand.
She looked at her and blinked. “Um, yeah.”
The doctor looked in the clipboard she was holding and said, “I’m Dr. Bing. I’m going to take a look at you and ask you some questions. Do you feel up to that?”
She nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Ok,” Dr. Bing pulled out a small flashlight and looked into her eyes. “Do you remember what happened to you?”
“Not really,” she answered.
“You were in a car accident,” Matt spoke up. “The airbag malfunctioned and you hit your head on the steering wheel.”
She furrowed her brows slightly. “Ok.”
“What was the last thing you remember?” the doctor asked.
“Standing in the rain with my husband to get into a wrestling show,” she said. “Then some of the show.”
“The very last thing,” Dr. Bing said.
“Randy Orton and Edge were near me and Edge swung a chair…” she said and Matt shook his head.
“What the…” he started.
“What’s your husband’s name?” the doctor asked.
“Mike,” she said.
“Don’t you mean Matt?” Matt asked. “Doctor, she’s not making any sense at all. Why would she be standing outside to get into a wrestling show when she could just go in the back with me? I’m a wrestler.”
“I see,” Dr. Bing said and jotted down some things in the chart she was holding. “When is your birthday?”
“November 14th,” she said.
“It’s June 30th,” Matt said.
“What is your profession?” Dr Bing asked.
“I’m a nurse in the geriatric wing of a hospital,” she answered.
“She’s a housewife,” Matt said, visibly upset. “Where is all of this coming from?”
“How old are you?”
“34.”
“She’s 29,” Matt said with tears threatening to spill over his eyelids.
“Calm down Mr. Hardy,” Dr. Bing said. “Getting upset won’t help matters any.” She turned and looked back at the scared young woman on the bed with tears stained on her cheeks. “I’m going to get a CAT scan and a MRI. Then maybe we’ll know more.” She patted her patient’s arm. “Don’t worry; we’ll take care of you.”
She nodded and rubbed her eyes, wincing. “Thank you.”
Dr. Bing smiled at her and walked out of the room. She came back a few seconds later with a cold gel pack. “Lie down, close your eyes and lay this across them. It’ll help.”
She nodded and lay down. Dr. Bing laid the pack across her eyes, patted her arm again and left. Matt sat down beside the bed in a chair and gently grasped her hand.
Jeff came in. “What’d the doc say?”
“She’s going to get an MRI and a CAT scan, and then we’ll know more,” Matt said.
Jeff nodded. “I think I’m going to go home and help take care of the kids. I think it’s the best thing I can do right now. Don’t worry about anything ok, just take care of Lacey.”
Matt nodded. “Thanks, bro.”
Jeff nodded and rubbed her other hand. “Everything’s going to be ok.”
She sniffed and said, “Thank you.” Jeff smiled softly and left.
“I didn’t know he had kids,” she said.
Matt narrowed his eyes and gulped. “Oh God no. Please tell me you remember the kids.”
“What kids?” she asked, removing the gel pack and looking at him.
Matt rubbed his forehead. “I can’t believe this…” He rubbed his eyes and said, “We have 2 children, Lacey. A girl that’s almost 4 whose name is Katie Lynn and a boy, Matt Junior; we call him MJ. He’s 7 months old.”
She stared at him with huge eyes. “Are you serious?”
Matt nodded. “Very.” He frowned and went on. “How could you forget your own children?”
She didn’t respond. She got up and went into the bathroom. She sat down on the toilet and looked around the room wildly. Kids? She never wanted kids. She wasn’t good with kids; that’s why she was a geriatric nurse, so she wouldn’t have to work with them. And Mike was ok with that. He didn’t want kids either. They called their Amazon Macaw Paco their ‘kid’. Yeah, the bird could talk, but at least they could put it in a cage and walk away. Why was she thinking about that? This was insane. Maybe she was insane. Maybe she really was Lacey and this other woman in her head was just a hallucination. She’d seen it before with the dementia that sometimes accompanied old age. What? That was Toni talking in her head again. She got up and paced the short room. If she wasn’t Toni how could she still remember every aspect of Toni’s life and job? What was going on here? She was so confused and extremely scared and she had no clue what to do about it. She looked in the mirror. One thing was for certain, staring back at her from the mirror was Lacey Hardy and not Toni Burgess. Why couldn’t she remember anything about Lacey’s life - her children, her husband and her home…where was she anyway? The last memory she had was her home, her beloved New Orleans; but the Hardys lived in North Carolina - she knew that much. Was she in North Carolina and if she was, how did she get there? How did any of this be happening? It seemed like a voodoo spell gone awry. Maybe it was. She groaned and touched her cheek. Her face was sore. She gulped and dabbed her eyes softly with tissue. Until she could figure this entire thing out, she just had to go with it, and try to do as she was told. She inhaled deeply and walked back into the main room.
Matt was still in the chair. He looked at her with sadness. Her heart broke for him, but she wasn’t his wife. Maybe this body was, but this spirit wasn’t. Hopefully some answers would come after the MRI and CAT scan. She lied back down in bed and put the gel pack over her eyes.
Sometime later, an orderly came and wheeled her off. After she was back in her room, she saw Matt was gone. She exhaled a sigh of relief. Finally some time alone. She picked up the phone, dialed 9 and then Toni’s home phone number. She got a message: “Call did not go through. Please check the number and dial again.” She hung up and tried again, only to get the same message. She hung up and lay back in the bed. Tears spilled out of the corner of her eyes, going down her temples, into her hair.
Matt came in and saw her crying. He sat down the bag he carried in and went to her. “Lacey, honey?” he bent down and kissed her softly on the lips. He lifted up slightly and rubbed her forehead with his thumb. “It’s going to be ok. We’re going to figure this out; no matter what it takes or how much it costs or anything else. We will get you better.”
She sniffed and just nodded. “Ok.” She gazed into his eyes and asked, “Will you hold me?”
“Absolutely,” Matt said with a soft smile.
She turned on her side and he got in the hospital bed behind her, getting as close to her as he possibly could and wrapped his arms tightly around her. She inhaled and licked her lips, wiping away the tears running down her nose. She really felt a strong need to be held and comforted. This body she was in seemed to know this man holding her and cried out for his touch. She actually wanted him to hold her, kiss her and tell her everything would be all right. She let loose a contented sigh and closed her eyes, wrapping her hands around his, sliding her fingertips around his fingers and found his wedding band. She looked down at her own hand. Her ring finger was empty. It felt wrong somehow.
“Where’s my wedding ring?” she asked.
“You remember your rings?” he asked.
“No, but for some reason my hand feels like it’s missing something,” she answered.
Matt kissed her temple and moved. He dug into his jeans pocket and pulled out 2 rings. He went around her and slid them on her finger. She looked down and her eyes bugged out.
“Wow…” she said, shocked. On her hand were a 3 carat diamond solitaire and a platinum wedding ring.
Matt chuckled. “That’s the reaction you had when I first gave it to you.” He kissed her cheek and nestled her into his chest.
A nurse came in. “It will be tomorrow before we can get your images read, so Dr. Bing wants to keep you here another night.”
“Ok,” she said. “Um, when do we eat? I’m hungry.”
“Dinner’s already been served,” the nurse said. “I’m sorry, but the cart won’t be back around till breakfast.”
“I’ll go get you something,” Matt said. He kissed her cheek again and got up. “I’ll be back soon. I brought you some things from home if you want to shower and change into some real pajamas.”
She nodded and he left. She got the bag he carried in and looked inside.
“Do you need some help, dear?” the nurse asked.
“No, thank you, I think I can manage,” she said and the nurse nodded and left.
In the bag she found razors, shampoo, soap and everything she needed along with clothes. She pulled out a pair of panties and cringed. A thong with her big butt? Oh well she guessed she had no choice. She pulled out a white tank top with the words ‘Sex Pot’ across the front in green sequins and groaned, then pulled out the matching boxer shorts, the same green as the sequins with words like ‘sexy’, ‘yum’, and ‘baby’ written in white glitter. She looked at the outfit and shuddered. “What kind of mother wears this?” Again, she figured she had no choice unless she wanted another hospital gown. She cringed at that idea and went to get a shower. After a few fumbles, she managed to figure out a way around her new body and showered, shaved, shampooed her massive amount of curly hair and got out. She started to comb out the curls and stared into the mirror. She was a stranger - to herself. It was so disorienting. She sighed and finished combing her new hair and brushed her teeth. A pain shot through her jaw. Just her luck she’d find a bad tooth. She groaned and put on the clothes, then sat on the bed. She turned on the TV just as Matt walked back in.
He sat down the food bag and grinned at her. “It must feel good to be back in your own clothes.”
She didn’t say anything and thought, ‘It’d feel better to be back in my own body.’ She looked down at the tank top. “Sex pot?”
“Those are your favorite pajamas,” Matt said and handed her a burger from the bag.
She looked at it and cringed. “I don’t eat red meat.”
“Lacey, yes, you do,” Matt said with a frown. “You love those burgers. It’s your favorite food.”
“I see how I got the big ass, then,” she muttered and opened the wrapping.
“I love that big ass,” Matt said and sat down in the chair beside the bed.
She sighed and took a small bite. The body reacted, and she moaned in pleasure.
Matt laughed. “Told ya.”
“Are you staying with me tonight?” she asked and put some fries in her mouth.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Matt said.
After she ate she buzzed her nurse. “I need something for my head and to help me sleep, please.”
“Be right there,” the voice on the other end said. A few minutes later, the nurse came in and gave her a shot. Soon, she was curled under the covers asleep.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
The next morning her eyes opened and she saw Matt sleeping in the chair. She sighed. She was hoping it’d all been a dream. She went into the bathroom and when she came out he was awake.
“How’s your head?” he asked.
“Still throbbing,” she said and sat down on the bed and buzzed her nurse.
“I’m going to call Jeff and check on the kids,” Matt said and walked out of the room dialing on his phone.
She groaned. She forgot about the kids. This was a disaster waiting to happen.
That afternoon, Dr. Bing came in. “We have, um… a situation with your brain, Mrs. Hardy.”
“Situation?” she asked.
“Yes,” Dr. Bing said. “Your hippocampus, the part of the brain that houses and forms memories, is damaged. It’s swollen. You have developed source amnesia, which is a type of amnesia that makes you have memories, but you don’t know where they came from, and it makes your own formed memories disappear.”
“Is this where the strange memories are coming from?” Matt asked.
Dr. Bing nodded. “Yes, I believe so. The memories may come back in time as the damaged part of the brain heals, but they also may not ever come back.”
“Excuse me?” Matt asked. “What do you mean? She may stay like this? Never remembering her life, our life, me, or our children?”
“She might,” Dr. Bing said. “We don’t know much about source amnesia. How it comes about, how long it takes to recover, if they can recover fully, etcetera.”
Matt rubbed his face. “What can I do?”
“Take her home, show her photographs, introduce her to people that already know her, take her places, and talk to her about your life together. It all may trigger something,” Dr. Bing said. “I want to see her in my office in six weeks.” She wrote something down and handed a card to Matt. “Call my scheduler and set up an appointment.”
“That’s it?” Matt asked.
“There’s nothing else we can do for her here,” Dr. Bing said. “Take her home.”
Matt nodded slowly. “Thank you.”
Dr. Bing nodded and walked out of the room.
“Lacey, get dressed,” Matt said. “Let’s go home.”
She grabbed the bag and went into the bathroom. She got on the toilet and sat there absorbing all of the information Dr. Bing had just given her. It didn’t make sense. She took anatomy in college and she knew the hippocampus was in the middle of the brain, behind the frontal lobe. How could it get damaged from hitting her head on a steering wheel? And if that was even so, how could she know every minute detail of Toni’s life, even down to her college education? No housewife, without an education, could know some of the things that were racing through her mind about the brain, amnesia and dementia. No possible way. How could she, Lacey, know Toni’s training and college classes? How could she know where the hippocampus was located? She snorted. This was all just too strange. This couldn’t possibly be just amnesia, any type of it.
She dug in the bag and pulled out some jeweled capris, flip flops, a tank top with pink flowers on it and a bra. She stared at the bra and then looked down at her breasts. How was she going to wrestle these huge things in this bra? She tried and after 2 flubs she got the bra on. When she was dressed she gazed in the mirror. She shook her head and walked out the door. Matt got the rest of her things together and they left.
In the car she asked, “Where are we anyway?”
“Raleigh,” Matt said. “We live in Cameron, but Raleigh has the closest hospital.”
She nodded. “Ok.” She leaned on the window watching the landscape go by. This world was totally alien to her. She recognized nothing.
As they drove through town, Matt stopped at a small diner. “This was where we had our first date.”
She arched a brow. “Couldn’t do any better than some old greasy spoon?”
“This is a small town,” Matt said and drove out of the parking lot.
“I can see that,” she said. Just last week she was riding in a street car through New Orleans in her uniform going to work and now she was stuck in this god-forsaken 1 horse town with a man she only watched on TV. She missed her city, her husband and her life. Tears stung her eyes and she blinked them away. Crying wasn’t going to help matters. She inwardly groaned. She had to meet her children. This was going to be a disaster, she could feel it.
=-=-=TBC=-=-=