Title: Broken Heart, Mended Heart
Characters: Shawn Michaels, Triple H, John Cena and other wrestlers with minor roles. OCs are Skye Blake, Rachael Michaels, Matt Blake, and Steve Pierce. Few others with minor roles.
Disclaimer: I own nothing or anyone associated with WWE. I own only the original characters. I am merely a person that writes fan fiction for entertainment only.
Summary:
It's been about three years since Shawn's wife, Raven died in childbirth. Now he is faced with raising his daughter, Rachael Michaels. He tries to throw himself into his work to forget his problems only to discover that Vince McMahon has other plans. He informs Shawn that he will be given an indefinite amount of time off after No Way Out when he is "fired" on Raw. Shawn soon discovers that the real reason he threw himself into his work was to avoid Rachael. She is the spitting image of Raven and he knows he can't handle being around his daughter much for that very reason. He decides to hire a caretaker to work long shifts to take care of his daughter while he wallows in self pity. He winds up hiring fiery-haired Skye Blake to take care of Rachael, a young woman that works the nursery at their church, after he hears that she is having troubles at her current job. That's when his world turns completely upside down.
He can't help but notice how kind and tender Skye is to his daughter. How loving and…maternal she is. Which leads him to seeing her beauty, her kindness, and her heart. And when troubles start to fill Skye's life, Shawn must make an important decision. A decision that could change his life. Or a decision that could ruin his life. But also a decision that could make his life. If he can just take a leap of faith…

Chapter One

Skye Blake finished wiping her share of the tables at the little corner café known as Joe's Coffee Shop and tossed the towel down on the counter.

"Joe, I'm out. See ya on Monday morning." She called out as she signed the clock out sheet.

"Huh-uh." The owner said, "Check the schedule again, Skye."

She rolled her eyes, "Joe, I'm exhausted. I have been here nearly fourteen hours with a sorry excuse for a break. I have to go home and rest. How can I get enough rest to work in the first place if you keep adding hours to my shifts?"

Joe looked at her and glared, "You are off as of now, but you do have a day added to your scheduled hours." Skye groaned and scanned down the list of crew till she came to her time slot. Sunday afternoon.

"No way, Joe!" She called, "Can't do it. You know I don't work Sundays. I have church."

Joe shot out of the office, "I'm the boss. I tell you when to be here not the other way around."

"We had an agreement when I started here, I do NOT work church days." Skye said, putting her hand on her hip.

"Be here…or you're fired." Joe said, and disappeared into the office.

Skye groaned angrily, "Creep." She muttered under her breath as she pulled on her jacket and walked out to her car. Frustrated she sank down into the seat and jammed her key into the ignition.

Minutes later, she was driving down the street to her home only blocks away. It was already two in the morning and she had to be up at eight to get ready for church.

And no doubt Matthew will want me to do something for him, she thought.

She lived with her older brother Matthew who was in actuality older than her by 8 years but acted much younger. He had moved his way in on her life, because he apparently was not capable of taking care of himself. And being the nice person that she was, Skye couldn't turn him away. So he moved into the little house that she rented and never offered to pay rent or anything. She often got angry at him for taking advantage of her but he always seemed to find a way to make her feel guilty.

Well, Daddy loved you more than me. He never spanked you. Mom always let you have your way. You always got better breaks than I did.

"Yeah." She thought out loud, "Working at Joe's Coffee Shop is my dream career alright." She said sarcastically.

She saw Matthew's friend, Steve's car parked in her driveway. She rolled her eyes, and settled for parking in the street in front of the house and killed the car. She got out and slowly and made her way up to the porch. She could already hear loud rock music blaring. Once to the front door she took a deep breath.

Many people wondered why she put up with him. Even she did sometimes. She detested him, but she loved him at the same time and couldn't bring herself to kick him out. She'd feel terrible. Even if it meant her peace of mind.

She finally opened the front door to be greeted by Metallica's Enter Sandman. Not that she didn't like rock music herself, but after two in the morning was a bit much.

She stepped inside and saw Matthew sitting on the sofa with Steve beside him, both playing a video game on the Play Station 2 Matthew had bought, instead of helping Skye with rent.

"Hey sexy." Steve eyed her slender body in her form-fitting waitress uniform. One of the many reasons she hated wearing it. She glared at him and turned her attention to Matthew.

"Guys you are going to have to turn that stuff down. I have church in the next few hours." She said as gently as she could, knowing Matthew's temper. And Steve's for that matter.

"Whatever." Matthew scoffed, "This song rocks."

"That may be, but nonetheless, I need sleep." She said, growing irritated.

With that, Matthew threw down the controller to the video game, stomped over to the stereo and turned it down a tiny little fraction, and sat back down.

Faintly she was aware of the washing machine coming from the laundry room.

"Tell me you aren't doing your laundry right now." She said, warily touching her forehead.

"Uh, yeah." He said belligerently, not taking his eyes from the video game.

"Matt, I have church not very far from now. I have to wash some clothes."

"Too bad. I got it first." He smirked. Tears of frustration and exhaustion filled her eyes.

But she could do nothing but go to her bedroom and wait for Matthew to finish his laundry. She didn't want to say something to set him off. She really didn't care to see how bad his temper could get.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Shawn Michaels stepped into his church and carried his daughter, Rachael toward the nursery. He could hardly look at Rachael sometimes, he hated to admit. Ever since Raven… She just looked so much like her, it nearly killed him. She had her long thick, jet black hair, and blue eyes. And her smile. He loved his daughter of course. But at the same time, just looking at her caused an ache in his heart. But he still tried to be her dad as much as possible. Or so he thought. Others tended to think he avoided her. His co-workers all thought he should take time off to get through the grieving process of Raven, so that he could be a better father to Rachael. But he was in so much denial that he couldn't realize what damage he was doing to Rachael in the long run.

"Here we go sweetie." He said, "You want to see Miss Skye today?" He asked. The little girl looked sadly at her father, and nodded. He knew that she wanted to stay up front with him like a big girl but he needed his time to himself.

"By this time next year you'll get to go to Sunday school with the other little kids." He said, trying to lighten her mood. It did somewhat. A hint of a smile touched her lips.

"Okay, go on." He said, gently setting her down, "I'll see you soon." The little girl walked into the nursery and ran right to Skye.

"Hi, Rachael!" Skye greeted her with a big hug, "Good to see you here today." She glanced up at Shawn in the doorway, "Hi, Shawn." She smiled, and hoped that she wasn't blushing, "Glad you made it today." She had to admit that Shawn Michaels was one of the most handsome men she'd seen. Even if he was quite a bit older than her.

"Hi Skye." He said, "It feels good to be here." He said genuinely, "That's the only thing I regret about my work is I don't always get to be here."

Skye nodded, "I imagine." But inside she was asking him, So you don't regret not spending much time with your daughter?

"Well, I'd better get up there." He said, as the piano player began the morning service's music, "I'll be back later to get her." He said, motioning to Rachael.

Skye nodded, "No problem."

Shawn headed to the auditorium and sat down in a pew, preparing himself for the morning's services.

Back in the nursery, Skye was coerced into playing with Barbies with Rachael and the two other little girls, and the four little boys had taken to playing with army action figures, and the little nine month old baby slept in one of the cribs. This was the time that Skye truly enjoyed. Being with children and becoming part of their world.

Rachael always struck her heart the most. She could tell the little girl worshiped her father and yet Shawn would not give her what her little heart needed most. Himself. She knew Shawn loved her, but he seriously needed to learn to put her first. She sighed, and shook her head, resuming the Barbie beauty contest with the little girls.