Second Chances
5 years have passed since they last met, now it's time for life to unexpectedly bring them back together.
Is that only a second chance for work or for love as well?

Edge/Ashley

It's been so long since I've written anything... I hope you may find this at least decent. English is not my first language, so bear with me for that as well. I'd love to hear what you think :)

Chapter 1: "Opportunities"

There are some opportunities that happen only once in a lifetime and that's pretty much a fact universally and unanimously acknowledged.

So what are you supposed to do when instead, by some unexpected and totally unpredictable chain of events, you get a second chance? What are you exactly supposed to do when luck deliberately chooses your door to come knocking on for the second time, furthermore when you had indeed been the one closing and locking that same door 5 years before?

Easy, you embrace the opportunity with open and welcoming arms, no questions about it. Right?

Right, at least in theory. When it comes to actually go along with said plan it becomes a decision a little less certain and lighthearted to make.

Ashley Massaro could tell you everything about it while she stood before the dresser in her room, staring at her own reflection in the mirror. Long had been gone the hot pink and black streaks in her in-meanwhile-almost-platinum blonde hair, along with skull printed bandanas and snake bites at both corners of her fully glossed lips. Or at least that had been the general sobered up situation for the last 5 years of her life and up until 3 hours ago. Now, suddenly, her newly tri-colored hair fell perfectly straight on her shoulders under a black baseball cap once again while a single piercing adorned the corner of her bottom lip.

Wow, talk about freaky… Ashley's eyes widened registering the image staring back at her. It was so long since she had sported that look that now it was almost surreal seeing herself like this… and yet in a way it felt as if she had never given it up in the first place. Heck, at any moment she was half expecting either her brother to pop up from behind in her old room in New York or a partially dressed Trish Stratus rushing her for a match in one of the numerous locker rooms they had once shared. The young woman was almost tempted to reach over with one hand and touch the glass to see if anything weird would happen like in a Disney movie or something.

"Ash, here's the last group of— oh. Wow."

Stopping the reaching hand in mid-path (thank God she hadn't actually been surprised fully touching the reflecting surface yet, talk about embarrassing) Ashley turned to face her apparently equally stunned mother with a knowing grin.

"Freaky, ain't it? Seems like going back in time."

"Crikey, honey. I would be very happy to put on some clothes and instantly look 5 years younger as well." Susan Massaro quickly recovered from the unexpected sight and proceeded to place the pile of freshly ironed clothes on her daughter's double bed.

"Mom, you don't look older than you truly are." Ashley somewhat helpfully offered coming to sit cross-legged on the bed next to the half filled suitcases.

"Well, thanks for the generous compliment, darling." Susan rolled her eyes at the unsuccessful praise. "This whole wardrobe thing seems to give flashbacks of all sorts as well, huh?" She added a few moments later in a sweeter, caring tone.

Ashley slowly ran a hand over a top she hadn't worn in for ever, her eyes cast down. "What if I'm making the wrong choice, mom?" She almost pleaded.

"You're doing what you think it's best for both of you, honey." Susan responded in a soothing tone while folding more clothes dated back at her daughter's last diva run. "And that's really the only thing that matters, the reason behind it."

"I can't help but feeling selfish, though." Ashley sighed. "It's like I'm running away."

"Ashley Marie Massaro." Her mother briskly said "I've known you all your life and you've never run away from anything… not even when maybe in some cases it would've been the most sensible choice." The sudden parental note of reproach didn't last long as the middle aged woman went back to a gentle tone. "You didn't quit 5 years ago and you've dove every little thing you were able to since then… you've given up on your dreams and on your private life—"

"That wasn't a sacrifice I regret, that's what mothers do." Ashley chimed in, the hint of a smile curving her lips. Sometimes it still felt surreal to acknowledge she was a mother herself.

"Yes, that is." Susan softly agreed. "But you're not turning your back at Grace; you're doing this for the both of you. You know financially this will be much more than you could reach in any other field to provide for her future… and where's the harm in that if you can achieve it while doing something you're evidently still passionate about? She's starting pre-school anyway and it's not like you'll be away all week long every single week… besides there are flights and states reachable by car…and anyway she'll be perfectly fine with us, thank you very much, I can manage after bringing you and your brother up."

"Oh, I know that." The single mother attempted a smile, starting to feel a bit more relieved by Susan's encouragement.

"And keep in mind that it's not for ever, darling, if it can help. It's just another little sacrifice to add to the list… in life you have to give to take. You'll try… if it doesn't work out you'll find something else like you've always done, you still have the perfect body for modeling… just maybe this time with your clothes on if you don't mind."

Ashley fully laughed at the last remark. Yes, her Playboy shoot was still a sensitive subject in her house. "Alright ma, promised."

"Oh, and by the way, while we're at it…" Susan casually added "If this time we could also avoid finding a boyfriend who wrestles for a living…"

"Mom!" The diva protested with an eye-roll; seriously? Now she felt like a pre-teen ready to leave home for her first summer camp.

"What?" Susan innocently shrugged "I was just pointing out that the previous times—"

But whatever that was remained hanging in the air in between mother and daughter when a 3rd generation Massaro, a little blonde pigtailed tornado to be more specific, came rushing through the door.

"Mommy!" Cried out Grace quickly jumping up and climbing on the bed where she then proudly placed a baseball on top of the duvet with a great display of it. "Touchdown!"

"Really?" Ashley wholeheartedly laughed and wiped the two skillfully applied lines of dirt off her daughter's cheekbones "You sure that's the right sport, baby?"

With a lopsided grin Grace vigorously shook her head and consequently uneven pigtails in negative answer, apparently not really concerned about the lack of certainty she carried on the topic at hand.

"This one's for home run." Ashley explained picking again the ball and handing it over to Grace. "Uncle Ronnie is messing with your head again, huh? He could at least stick to one sport at the time."

As right on cue, a panting uncle Ronnie entered the room in that exact moment. "I certainly am not." The diva's younger brother protested. "Thanks to me she's going to be the most educated kid in sports. You'll see."

"Touchdown." Grace echoed with a happy smile, repeating the exact gesture and thus unawarely proving her uncle wrong.

"Oh well, we'll work on that." Ashley giggled. "Either way I think it's time we get you ready for a bath, you're a mess, little princess."

"Yes, bath!" Grace enthusiastically agreed, arms up in the air. "With duckies!"

"I'll get the dinner started then, don't be late, little duck." Susan announced tickling her granddaughter and prompting her to start giggling before exiting the room; soon Ronnie followed her, leaving mother and daughter on their own.

"Alright," Ashley absentmindedly said, "let's get a fresh pair of jammies and we'll go. Better hurry or uncle Ronnie won't let us find any dinner left."

"Mommy, what's this?"

Turning from the chest of drawers with a pair of Care Bears pj's, the punk diva found her daughter standing inside one of her open suitcases.

"That's my luggage, honey. Mommy told you she's going away for a couple of days, remember?"

"Without Gracie?"

The question was asked with all the innocence of the working of a 4 years old child, no doubts about it, yet it felt to Ashley as if it bore a thousand unspoken accusations within. And in that moment, expectantly staring at her with the same pair of blue eyes, disheveled hair, a t-shirt full of dirt and grass stains, a pair of shorts with one leg somehow tucked all the way up and only one sock (how had she even managed that?!) in her once perfectly white little trainers, Grace seemed to Ashley the most fragile, defenseless, delicate creature she had ever seen. And it was all hers. And she was abandoning her.

It took Ashley all her willpower to stop that cruel inner voice and not bursting into tears right there.

"No, without Gracie this time." She sweetly said picking her daughter up in her arms. "But very soon I'll bring you with me and we'll have lots of fun just like we have at home, promised."

"Really? When?" Grace's eyes widened at the exciting prospect.

"As soon as mommy makes a lot of new friends to play with." She hoped her grin was encouraging enough cause actually the subject was giving her quite a hard time to get adjusted to; 5 years were a dreadful long time when it came to the components of the WWE locker room. She didn't personally know ¾ of the current wrestlers, and most of the divas were probably younger yet better trained than her. Yes, thinking about it she was feeling definitely like a 12 year old on the go for her first summer away from home.

"Alright." Grace agreed, evidently not finding any obstacles in her mother's promising plan. Then, evidently thus reassured, she took Ashley's cap off and placed it on herself… managing to get her eyes out from under it only for half an inch. "I want pink hair too, can Gracie? Please?"

Ashley bit back a chuckle at such messy good manners. "In a few years." She conceded. "We don't want to give grandma a heart attack yet. Now," she quickly changed the subject before Grace could press on it, "ready for your bath?"

"No." The child seriously stated.

"Why? What's missing?" Sidetracked by such firm answer, Ashley took a look around the bedroom.

Opening her little hand, Grace let the baseball she had retrieved after her last exhibition fall once again, only this time inside her mother's suitcase.

"Touchdown." She announced.

Ashley's heart sank in a midst of love, guilt and sadness. "You want mommy to take it with her?" She softly asked.

"Yes." Grace solemnly nodded, causing the skull-printed cap to fall right on her nose.

"Alright," Ashley tenderly smiled as the child clung tighter onto her. "We'll do that, baby punk princess."

x-x-x-x-x

Yes, when a second opportunity comes unexpected the only thing you can do is grasp it with needy hands, feeling blessed for what, evidently, life has still in store for you.

Which is why, after 2 years since his forced retirement, Adam Copeland shook Stephanie McMahon's hand with a newfound energy. His hair was at a medium point from short like it had been seen at his own Hall Of Fame induction and his usual shoulder length style, but that aside, two years away from the road hadn't apparently altered his rock star-like look.

"Adam, it's really a pleasure to have you joining us once again." Stephanie welcomed him.

"Please, Steph, the pleasure is really, really, really, all mine." The 39 years old ex superstar offered a sincere, excited smile in return. "So, what did you exactly have in mind?"

"Well, since you seem so eager to know…"