Disclaimer: I only own Noel & the kids.
A/N: I was bored and decided to write a one shot about this. It's based off the song Mine by Taylor Swift. Therefore, I do not own the song. Enjoy & review!
"Mommy, Daddy, can you please tell me a story?" A five year old Taylor asked her parents.
"I'm sorry honey, you have to get to bed." Noel smiled down at her young daughter. "Tomorrow's your first day of school and we still have to tuck Nate in."
"He can wait three minutes." She smiled, holding up two fingers. "Please, just one story."
John wrapped his arms around his wife's waist, resting his chin on her shoulder. "Baby, tuck her in and I'll go see to Nate. When I come back we'll tell her a story."
"She's starting school tomorrow. I don't want her up too late." Noel pointed out, leaning into her husband's embrace. "I want her to be awake and refreshed."
"Please, mommy, can you tell me a story? Daddy is barely home to ever tell me one." Taylor folded her arms across her chest, pouting.
"One story, Elle." John whispered to her. "She has a point."
Noel looked down into her daughter's big blue eyes and felt her heart melt. While, she really wanted to tell her a story, she couldn't. She had already been up too late and she knew it would be hard for her young daughter to wake up in the morning.
"She has a big day tomorrow."
"I leave a little bit after she gets back from school." John pointed out. "Come on, just tonight."
"Come on, Mommy." Taylor begged. "If you don't tell me a story, I'll..I'll.." She was trying to find something to say. "I'll hold my breath until my face turns blue."
"Sweetie, can you wait two minutes? Daddy and I just need to go tuck your brother in and we need to check on Anthony. We'll be back to tell you a story."
Five minutes later, the couple returned to their daughter's room. John sat on one side of the bed, while Noel sat on the other.
"What story did you want us to tell you?"
Taylor tapped her index finger on her chin as she thought about what she had wanted to hear. She had already heard The Three Little Pigs, Little Red Riding Hood, and The Twelve Dancing Princesses. Come to think of it, she had heard them all. Tonight, she wanted to hear something that wasn't written, something that nobody knew.
"How did you and daddy meet?"
John and Noel exchanged a glance. Smiling at each other, they nodded their heads, deciding that they would tell their daughter their story. Luckily, they had known this day was going to come soon, so they had a rated G version already planned out.
\\
You were in college working part time waiting tables
Left a small town, never looked back
I was a flight risk with the fear of fallin'
Wonderin' why we bother with love if it never lasts
She was typing away on her laptop. School had been killing her lately and she really needed to step her game up. She was close to being thrown out because of all the partying she had been doing. There she was, at a tiny restaurant catching up on her assignments.
"Can I get you anything else?"
Noel had been so into her work that she had barely noticed the waiter standing before her. Tearing her eyes away from the screen in front of her, she looked up at the man standing before her. When she set eyes on him, her mind went blank and her breath got caught in her chest. Standing before her was a handsome man with a nice smile and blue eyes.
"A bottle of water." She said, stumbling over her words.
Meanwhile, John stood there staring at the girl sitting before him. He had seen a lot of hot girls come and go, but this girl, there was something different about her. Maybe it was because she wasn't hot, but rather beautiful. There was something about her and John was intent on figuring out the mystery behind her.
"I'm sorry, I didn't catch that. What did you want?" He asked, realizing that she had said something.
Noel giggled and repeated her order. When he was gone, she decided that she would come back again, just to see him. With a smile, she returned her gaze to screen, anxiously awaiting his return.
Seconds later John returned with her water and set it on the table. Without saying anything else, he walked away, getting back to his other tables. He just hoped she would come back. She was somebody he wanted to get to know.
\\
"That's it, that's how you and mommy met? Taylor pouted, looking at her father. "I thought it would have been more cute. All you did was look at each other."
"Sweetie, sometimes a look is all it takes." Noel smiled, resting her hand on her daughter's leg. "Love has a funny way of coming around."
Taylor looked at her mother strangely. She didn't understand what she meant. "Mommy, you're talking funny."
"You'll understand when you get older, baby." Noel replied, thinking back to the day she had met John. That was the day she began to understand life. "One day, you'll find somebody who'll make you feel like a princess."
"Boys are gross."
"At a girl." John smiled, patting her hand.
"John." Noel shot her husband a look. "Let her grow up."
"She's five, she has time to grow up."
"Can you finish the story?"
\\
I say "Can you believe it?", as we're lying on a couch,
The moment I could see it, yes, yes, I can see it now.
"You were so corny that day." Noel laughed. "You wrote your number on the water bottle."
John wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to him. The space between them closed and he held her tightly, taking in her scent. She smelled like cotton candy.
"I had to get you to notice me somehow." He whispered. "Besides, it worked. You called me and look at where we are now."
"You seem to forget that I didn't call you right away. It took months for me to call you and even longer for me to consider going out with you."
"But you did come in everyday." John pointed out. "I knew even then that you wanted me."
"No, I was holding out for the cute blond waiter." She laughed, pulling away from him. "But, in the end I settled for you."
John ran after her when she bolted from him. She was fast, he'd giver he that, but she wasn't fast enough. After a few seconds, he caught her from the waist and pulled her to him. He gently threw her on the couch and hovered over, his face inches from hers.
"I think you settled with me because you wanted to not because you had to. Face it, despite all my flaws, you're falling for me."
Her breath was nearly taken away. How did he know? She had realized that she was falling for him months ago, but she never said anything to him. It wasn't obvious to her that she had made him so aware.
"It's written all over your face." John smiled, looking into her eyes.
"John-"
"You're falling for me." He taunted her. "But guess what?"
"What?"
"I'm falling for you too."
It seemed as if all time stopped. Her breathing hollowed out and her heart started racing. She stared into his blue orbs, trying to get her mouth open.
"Do you mean that?" She came out with instead.
"From the day that I met you." He admitted. "I just don't give my number to anybody."
"I'm falling." She laughed, kissing him.
\\
"Yuck, you kissed daddy, mommy?" Taylor said disgustedly, scooting away from her. "Get off my bed, you have cooties."
"Where did you get that idea?" Noel laughed. Sometimes the things her daughter said made her laugh.
"I'm not telling you." The five year old replied, zipping up her mouth and folding her arms across her chest.
"John Felix Anthony Cena." Noel looked over at her husband, arms folded her across her chest. "What did you tell her?"
John knew how much it meant to Noel that Taylor had a healthy outlook on life so that she would know what to look for when she got older, but he just didn't want her to learn too much to soon. All he wanted to was protect his little girl from the things other girls went through, including Noel.
"Nothing." He shrugged.
"Okay, be that way." She smirked. "No hugs for you tonight."
"Oh no, mommy! You should hug daddy." Taylor exclaimed, not understanding what was going on. "He was only trying to teach me something."
Noel looked at her daughter, trying hard not to laugh. At that moment she was really thankful that she didn't understand what she meant. Otherwise, if she did, their would be a lot of trouble in the Cena household.
"What did Daddy tell you?"
"He told me that all boys had cooties." Taylor said with wide eyes. "He told me that after Billy down the street asked why Ken and Barbie didn't look the same."
Making a mental note to talk to her husband about everything later, Noel decided it was time to get back to the story. The faster they finished, the faster Taylor would get to sleep.
\\
Do you remember we were sitting there by the water,
You put your arm around me, for the first time.
You made a rebel of a careless man's careful daughter.
You are the best thing, that's ever been mine.
"Just jump!" John coached his girlfriend of eleven months. "I promise nothing bad will happen. I'll be here to catch you."
She was hesitant to do so. There were a lot of times where people promised to catch and they never did. It always left her with a sense of abandonment and she didn't want to feel that with John. Especially after admitting that she was falling for him.
"You promise."
"I promise." John said. He knew what the problem was and he really wanted her to see that he would never leave her.
Nodding her head, Noel closed her eyes and jumped into the water. When she came up from underneath the water, she felt him wrap his arms around her waist. "I told you I would catch you."
Opening her eyes, Noel nodded, mentally screaming at herself for doubting him in the first place. John had been there for her from day one, he would never leave her. She knew that and he no doubt knew that too.
"I love you." She said without even thinking. As soon as she said it, she really wished that she could disappear. What if he didn't feel that way? The thought of coming across as stupid had just crossed her mind. She should have thought twice.
"I love you too." He said without thinking about it.
\\
"Did you and mommy hug after that?"
"We didn't hug until we got married." John lied.
He glanced at his wife to see her trying to hold her laughter back. The situation amused her and he hated when that happened. She would never help him out at times like this.
\\
Flash forward and we're taking on the world together.
And there's a drawer of my things at your place.
You learn my secrets and you figure out why I'm guarded,
You say we'll never make my parent's mistakes.
But we got bills to pay, we got nothin' figured out,
When it was hard to take, yes yes, this is what I thought about.
She looked on wide eyed at the wonder before her. When she had first started seeing John, she had never understood his passion for wrestling, but now that she was live at one of his shows, she finally understood. There was a rush that she even caught from being in the crowd alone.
Watching her boyfriend fulfill his dream before people made her heart melt. He was like a kid in a candy store and that made her love him even more. Everything that he was getting and would get he worked hard for and that made her proud of him.
"What did you think of tonight?"
"It was great, baby. I'm so proud of you."
"I'm only in the developmental territory."
"That doesn't matter to me." She slid her clothes off, walking over to him. "No matter what happens I'll always be proud of you. Nothing will ever change that."
"You're too good for me." He admitted.
"I think I'm too good for you. You've put up with a lot from me over the last few months. Not a lot of guys would have been patient with me like you were." She admitted, walking over to his dresser. "Now, which drawer are my things in."
"Second drawer from the top." He mumbled looking through the bills. Between the both of them, they could barely pull together enough money for their bills. He knew that something needed to change.
"We'll worry about that later." She whispered, taking the bills out of his hands. "For now let's get to sleep."
Truthfully, she had been worried about the bills. She always was. They were both young and still trying to figure out their way in the world. There were times when she thought they wouldn't make it out alive, but then she would take one look at him and know that they would be fine.
Do you remember all the city lights on the water,
You saw me start to believe for the first time.
You made a rebel of your careless man's careful daughter.
You are the best thing thats ever been mine.
"You want me to what?"
"I want you to move in with me." He looked at her, hoping he wouldn't get this type of reaction from her.
"John, I don't think I can." She looked away from him. While, she didn't want to admit it, a tiny part of was still scared. "We're both so young."
"Bullshit. You practically live here anyway."
"Give me one reason why I should move in."
He dropped down to his knees, pulling a ring out of his back pocket. "I can give you a million reasons. I'll admit it was hard for us to get to this point, but it was all worth it. From day one I've loved you and four years later I still do. We both maybe young, but we can make it. You and I have pulled through before and we can do it again. I promise things will change and I will always take care of you. From now until the day I die, even longer. I want you with me. Baby, I want to be with everyday. I want a family with you. If you move in and say yes, we can have that. Will you marry me?"
Tears escaped from her eyes. They had come so far from the day they met. There were so many ups and downs, but all that mattered was that they stuck together. He was right they could do it.
"Yes." She dropped down to her knees so that she was now at eye level with him. "Yes, I'll marry you."
"Yes?" He was making sure he was hearing right.
"Yes! Yes! Yes!" She smiled excitedly, hugging him to her tightly. "I love you."
"Daddy!" Taylor exclaimed. "You lied to me. You did hug mommy before you got married."
Neither parent acknowledged her tiny outburst. They only laughed to themselves and continued on with their story.
And I remember that fight 2:30 AM, 'cause everything was slippin' right out of our hands.
I ran out crying and you followed me out into the street.
"Damn it, John!" Noel cried. "Why would you do that?"
They had been fighting a lot lately. It seemed like nothing could go right from them anymore. After getting engaged and moving in together, things had gone downhill for them. Noel didn't understand how it could have happened. Everything had been going great for them before.
"It just happened. I'm sorry, baby. Please believe me when I say I never meant for it to happen." John tried to bring her into his embrace, but she pushed him away.
She slid down the wall, her tears pouring from her eyes. He had always promised to never hurt her and he did. It was like watching her parents fight, something she never wanted to happen between her and John.
"You promised!" She screamed. "You said you would never hurt me, John! Yet, you did. I can't believe you cheated on me. My heart is shattered."
"I'm sorry."
"I can't listen to this right now." She got up. Only to have him block her exit.
"We can work this out."
"Can't you see that it's more than that?" She cried. "It's not only the cheating, it's the bills, all the stupid little fights that we've gotten into recently. This isn't working anymore."
"You don't mean that." He said, nearly coming to tears himself.
Noel said nothing as she turned away from him and ran out the house. Being in the same room with him was becoming unbearable. Maybe this was all a sign that things just wouldn't work out between them. She should have known that everything was too good to be true.
\\
Taylor scooted away from John. While, she really didn't understand what they fought about. She did understand that her mommy was crying for whatever reason.
"You hurt mommy?"
Noel blinked back the tears that she felt coming on. That day she would always remember forever. It was the night her and John had almost lost each other forever.
"He didn't mean to." Noel spoke for John. "It was something that happened accidentally."
"What's that mean?"
"When something that happened shouldn't have happened." John replied, looking at his wife. To that very day he was still sorry for what he did. Everyday that he woke up, he was thankful that Noel was his. His family and his life was something he never took for granted. Every second counted and he made sure to prove that to his wife everyday they spent together.
\\
Braced myself for the goodbye,
'cause that's all I've ever known,
And you took me by surprise,
you said "I'll never leave you alone."
He ran after her. Lucky for him, she hadn't gotten too far and he was able to catch in her in the middle of the yard. When he was close enough to her, he realized that she was still crying. Knowing that he was the cause of it only made him hurt more.
"This is goodbye, John." Noel broke away from him.
He gently grabbed her and held her close to him. He was determined to fix things between them. Losing her wasn't a risk he was going to take. She was his life. It's been that way years and he didn't ever see that changing. Letting her walk out and losing everything in the process wasn't worth it. It would be a stupid thing to do.
"It's not goodbye." He whispered. "Don't you realize that we're never going to say goodbye to each other? For years, you're all I've wanted. You're all I've been looking for. Yes, I'll admit, I had a moment of weakness and I take full blame and responsibility for it. But, don't think that for one second I'm going to let you walk away from me. I love you too much to do that."
"I have to go."
"I'll never leave you alone."
Her emotions were all over the place. She wanted to hug and kiss him. She wanted to scream at him some more. Part of her wanted to go back inside and fix things with him. While another part of her wanted to walk away forever and wonder what could have been.
"I love you."
"Don't say that!"
"It's the truth!"
When she looked into his eyes, she didn't see any hint of deception in them. He knew he made a mistake and he regretted it. His face was a mix of emotions. Sighing, she hugged herself to him. After everything they had gone through together, she knew she couldn't leave him.
"We'll make it through this." She whispered.
You said, "I remember how we felt sittin' by the water.
And every time I look at you, it's like the first time.
I fell in love with a careless man's careful daughter.
She is the best thing, that's ever been mine."
"How does it feel to finally be a daddy?" Noel questioned, watching as John held their newborn daughter.
"It feels great." He smiled, not tearing his gaze away from the tiny newborn. "She's beautiful."
"She looks like you."
"I think she looks like you." John gently placed the infant in the hospital crib. "I can't believe she's finally here. It feels like yesterday that you told me you were pregnant."
"She's here." Noel smiled. "I want to thank you."
"No, I should be thanking you."
"For what?"
John sighed, gently sitting on the hospital bed. "For making me a husband and a father. Those are always going to be the best days in my life. Nothing I achieve at work will ever top those moments. It'll never top us meeting for the first time. I've learned a lot in life and it's all because of you, baby. You're the best thing to happen to me."
Hold on, make it last.
Hold on, never turn back.
Taylor was now three, Nate was for two and half, and a new baby was on the way. The years had flown by since John and Noel had first met. Life had changed dramatically for them and they wouldn't change any of it for a minute. They loved each other and their kids.
\\
"I love happy endings." Taylor yawned. "They always make me so happy."
"I'm glad, Cupcake." John said, patting her on the leg.
\\
You made a rebel of a careless man's careful daughter,
You are the best thing, that's ever been mine.
Do you believe it?
We're gonna make it now.
And I can see it,
"I can't believe she's five now." Noel fell into the couch, next to her husband. "The years have gone by."
"Tell me about it." John wrapped his arm around his wife. "But, I wouldn't change anything about it."
Noel smiled and snuggled into his embrace. Being in his arms was the safest feeling in the world for her. No matter how many years went by, she would always feel that way. Having John in her life made her feel great. He was really the only man she ever loved and she was happy about that.
"I can't believe we made it." She looked at their surroundings. "I feel like any moment, I'm going to wake and we're going to be in that tiny house again."
"I always promised that we would be fine, didn't I?" John asked, kissing the top of her head.
"You did." She smiled.
\\
"That was a great story." Taylor mumbled, her eyes half closed. "It was better than any fairytale. Can you tell me another story."
"No, sweetie." Noel got off the bed and brought the blanket up to her daughter's chin. "It's a little after ten. That's late for you. After all, you have a big day tomorrow."
"Daddy, please can you tell me another story?" She whined.
"I'm sorry, sweetie." John apologized. "But, it's time for bed."
"Will you be home when I come back from school?"
"Of course." John smiled.
"I love you guys."
"We love you too, sweetie."
The two parents continued to tuck her in and by the time they kissed her goodnight, she was already asleep. The image of their young daughter sleeping, made the proud parents smile. Walking out the room, they closed the door behind them and went to their own room.
Noel wrapped her arms around John and held him close. "I love you."
"I love you too."
"I really love you. You've really opened up my eyes over the years, John. I don't think you realize it, but you gave me my fairytale life. I have my prince and my family. You helped fulfill my dream and I love you for that even more."
John gently picked up his wife and carried her over to the bed. Carefully, he put her down and hovered over, pressing his lips to hers. He didn't want to say that he loved her, he wanted to show her. Breaking his lips away from hers, he looked down into her eyes. The same ones that he's always loved like the first time.
Noel kissed him back lovingly, knowing that he was the best thing that was ever hers.
I can see it now.
A/N: So what did you think? Review.