Here Without You
DISCLAIMER:
I do NOT own any of the drivers in this story, nor do I own NASCAR
((*how I wish*)). I only own myself, Rayvin. Rach owns herself. 3 Doors Down owns the title and the song.
I also do not own Mutant X; the characters and the show are copyrights of Tribune Entertainment and UPN Networks.
A hundred days have made me older
Since the last time that I saw your pretty face
A thousand lies have made me colder
And I don't think I can look at this the same
All the miles that separate
Disappear now when I'm dreaming of your face...
-*-
Jimmie Johnson pulled his Chevrolet Monte Carlo into his assigned garage at the Homestead-Miami Speedway
for the last time in his 2002 rookie season. To tell the truth - he was glad it was all
over. Not that he'd had a bad season, that wasn't it at all! Jimmie knew he'd had an excellent season.
To come away with fifth in the points standings in his rookie season was amazing in and of itself, but
to be able to say that he'd led the points in his rookie season was one hell of an act! He still couldn't
believe that! All of that was amazing, but he was aching to get home.
Jimmie shut off the overworked engine and glanced at the picture he kept near his left hand on the
dashboard of the race car. It was a picture taken about six months earlier af both he and the love of his
life, Rayvin Miller. In the picture Rayvin's hair was a golden color, straightened to perfection, her hazel
eyes lined with a dark black eyeliner, and accented with a dark purple eyeshadow. The tips of her
layered hair were flipped out so that she somewhat resembled her favorite character from the television show Mutant X, Shalimar Fox. She had on a black corset top with a dark purple vertical stripe that
went the width of the bust, and a matching ankle-length skirt. She wore combat boots that travelled the
length of her calves, and her smile radiated happiness. They had been at a park in Charlotte when the picture had been taken by an elderly couple that just happened to be passing by at the time. Jimmie
was sitting in a swing on the playground in the picture and Rayvin was standing behind him with herarms around his shoulders.
They were so happy that day, just being together, but over the course of the racing season
Jimmie had grown worried that she'd turned from him. He felt terrible being away from Rayvin for so
long, it felt good knowing that he'd soon be going home to the person he most longed to be with:Rayvin.
Jimmie slipped out of the car and headed off to the shower.
He was going home.
-*-
...I'm here without you baby
But you're still on my lonely mind
I think about you baby and I dream about you all the time
I'm here without you baby
But you're still with me in my dreams
And tonight it's only you and me...
-*-
Tony Stewart stood in his motorcoach's bathroom trying to avoid all the press.
He was NASCAR's Bad Boy...he wasn't supposed to win. At least not the Championship. He wouldn't admit it during the season, winning the Championship really and truly was important to him...but not more inportant than being with the woman he loved.
He smiled when he thought about Rachel; the way her eyes glistened, and her skin glowed with happiness everytime they were together, they way her long blonde hair fluttered in the North Carolina breeze, teasing and tantalizing Tony down to his very soul, the way she smiled, and with that smile could light the grandest and largest of rooms. There was no sense in even trying to deny it: Tony was in love with Rachel McCluggage.
He stared into the mirror and fantasized about his return home to her loving arms. Hell, he would be content just to hold her for the night, and then the next night have the two of them fall into love's arms and passion's embrace.
God, he missed her.
Tony knew that if he could get home right then, he would, and he would prove to her how much he'd truly missed her with two dozen red roses, an aged bottle of red wine, and a finesse that a man could only show the woman he truly loved. But despite his wishes, he knew that fantasy wasn't going to come true today. They still had to drive all the way from Miami to Charlotte before he could see her again, and Tony was just hoping and praying that he could hold out that long.
He cursed being away from Rachel for so long as he gazed in the mirror and saw how tired he looked. Tony sighed, shut off the bathroom light, and walked back to his sleeping quarters after begging his crew chief, Greg Zippadelli, for some peace and quiet. Even if he couldn't have Rachel by his side, he knew he would always have her in his dreams...
-*-
...The miles just keep rollin'
As the people leave their way to say hello
I've heard this life is overrated
But I hope that this gets better as we go...
-*-
Jimmie stepped out of the shower and picked up his cell phone that lay on the bathroom counter. He scrolled down the list to check his voicemail to find that he had a message. Jimmie held the phone to his ear.
"Jimmie? It's Rayvin. I just wanted to tell you, that was a great race today. Way to go Rookie!" Jimmie heard the smile in her voice and a tear slipped down his cheek. Gods, how he wanted to be with her. Jimmie listened as she went on. "...I always knew you'd make it! I, uhm, I wanted to tell you...I...I love you, Jimmie. I miss you. Call me when you get this, okay? And don't be afraid to wake me up. I'll only be dreaming of you. Be careful coming home. I'll have a surprise waiting for you when you get here. I love you, Jimmie. Bye..."
With that, the message ended and Jimmie checked his watch. 8:00 PM. He had never known time zones too well. He dialed the phone number to his house hoping it wasn't too late to call her. His heart ached already to hear her voice again, and when it came to Rayvin, he didn't have to be told twice...
-*-
...I'm here without you baby
But you're still on my lonely mind
I think about you baby and I dream about you all the time
I'm here without you baby
But you're still with me in my dreams
And tonight girl it's only you and me...
-*-
Tony sat straight up in his bed. He'd dreamt about her again...and now he was restless. Again. Maybe Rachel would have to travel with them this next season, if she didn't he just might have to give up racing. Tony knew he couldn't go on like this. Gods - if the news media ever found out about NASCAR's Bad Boy having this kind of a weakness for a girl...they were sure to have a hey day with it. Tony produced a tiny velvet box from his bedside table and stared at it as if he could see right through the lid.
Tony didn't know how good of a champion he'd make...and he sure as hell didn't know how good of a husband he'd make, but if it meant sharing eternity with Rachel, the love of his life, then he would gladly give it a shot. Tony sprung himself out of his bed, grabbed a pen and a handful of notebook paper before beginning to dictate to himself:
"My dearest Rachel -
"I love you more than life itself..."
-*-
...Everything I know and anywhere I go
It gets hard but it won't take away my love
And when the last one falls, when it's all said and done
It get's hard but it won't take away my love...
-*-
Two days, a few hundred tears, and several hours that seemed like eternities later, Jimmie Johnson and the rest of the Lowe's Racing Team pulled up at the Hendrick Race Shop in Charlotte, where Rick Hendrick and Jeff Gordon sat discussing schematics for next season's race cars.
As far as Jimmie was concerned, it was far too soon to be thinking about next season. He only had two months to share himself with his wife, and by Gods, he was going to spend those two months with Rayvin if it was the last thing he did.
With a wave to Rick and Jeff, he left the Hendrick compound, jumped in his black Camaro, and headed off for the old plantation house he and Rayvin had bought a year earlier: the place the two of them called home. When he pulled up into the driveway thirty minutes later in the waning sunlight, he watched in silence as his soulmate - now with hair as black as a raven's wing - played in the pasture with their three Australian Shepherds. Jimmie shut off the car's engine and stepped out. Rayvin looked up, a smile of genuine happiness on her face radiated out at him. It was then that he noticed the slight bulge in her belly. He saw her speak his name before she and the dogs raced over to him. When she was five feet away from him, he finally realized his dream: he was home...with Rayvin by his side.
-*-
...I'm here without you baby
But you're still on my lonely mind
I think about you baby and I dream about you all the time...
-*-
In close to the same time frame Jimmie made it home, Tony arrived at his home. Rachel had been sitting on the front porch when he pulled up, fanning her freshly painted toenails. She looked up, and her face burst into a smile, where fierce concentration had previously claimed it. Forgetting her painstaking cautiousness she'd taken not to so much as make her coats of nail polish uneven, she leapt over the bushes in the front flower garden and raced over to Tony, tears of joy streaming down her face.
In that instant, Tony forgot that he was a celebrity, an INDY champion, a Winston Cup racer, and the 2002 Winston Cup Champion. Right then he became Tony Stewart, the boy who grew up in Small-town Indiana, and fell in love with a girl from Small-town, Ohio. Right then there was no one other than the two of them, and the ring that shone on her left ring finger was all the evidence Tony needed to see that from now until eternity there would always be Rachel and Tony Stewart...forever in love...
-*-
I'm here without you baby
But you're still with me in my dreams
And tonight girl it's only you and me...
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