Disclaimer: Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose, and various other superstars are the property of the WWE and/or the actors / sports entertainers / superstars that portray them. This story is intended as tribute only and is not intended to infringe on any copyrights.
Original characters are the property of me, and the children of my own imagination. Any resemblance to any real persons, living or dead is purely coincidental.
By Any Other Name
Payton Caldwell had never had a party before, or at least not one she could remember. Her mother had told her that she'd had a couple of birthday parties when she was very young, but sometimes she wondered if that was true. She knew though, that she had not had a party in her honor ever since her brother Preston had been born. The moment Preston had been born, almost everything became about Preston. When Preston got sick, it was even worse, then absolutely everything became about Preston and trying to keep Preston alive.
Then, Preston had died. Payton still missed Preston. He was a brat who'd been so spoiled he insisted on always getting his own way, but Payton could forgive him for that, when you always got your own way, it was hard not to expect it. And boy, her Mom and Dad had sure given him his own way. Preston got lots of parties. Birthday parties, finishing up treatment parties, being brave at the hospital party, almost every excuse you could come up with for a party, Preston got one. Some of these parties were pretty simple, a cupcake in a hospital room or a cake at home, but they were still parties. And some were pretty lavish, too. Preston's sixth birthday party had been huge, even though at the time, her parents were (as she overheard them saying) "Up to their ears in debt!"
Payton never had a party. She never wanted one either, or at least that's what she told herself. Even last year, when her birthday came, and she was living with Uncle Seth and Aunt Kayla by then, her parents were dead, but the adoption wasn't official, they had offered to give her a birthday party, but she had refused. They did have a cake though, and candles and she got presents. But nobody called it a party. Her grandparents came over for dinner and cake and brought her a present too, but again, nobody called it a party.
Payton Caldwell died without ever having a party she could remember.
Payton Rollins, on the other hand, was having her first party. It was two weeks after they went to court and the judge had said the magic words that pronounced them a family. That was when Payton Rollins figured that Payton Caldwell died. She didn't tell Uncle Seth and Aunt Kayla that Payton Caldwell had died, she wasn't sure they would understand that. Because death was supposed to be all sad and stuff and she didn't feel sad at all. She was happy to let Payton Caldwell die. It was a weird death, because she still had Payton Caldwell's memories, but she tried to see them now as a TV show or something. Something she watched, something she knew by heart, but not something that happened to her. At least the bad parts. The good parts? She figured had really happened, like meeting Uncle Seth and Aunt Kayla and all of that. That was real. That had happened. Even the bad stuff that had happened once she had met them, that was real too. Maybe the day that Payton Caldwell had taken Seth Rollin's hand and let him lead her to the catering area back stage of the WWE show, maybe that was the moment Payton Caldwell had died, and Payton Rollins was born, she just didn't have the right name.
About a week and a half after that court date and the birth certificate had arrived in the mail. The one that was official, the one that listed Seth Tyler Rollins as her father and Kayla Springer Rollins as her mother. It listed her name as Payton Caldwell Rollins. Uncle Seth and Aunt Kayla had told her she could pick any middle name she wanted, but she decided to keep Caldwell as a middle name. Not for Payton Caldwell's parents, but for Preston, who she still considered her brother, even if Payton Caldwell was dead. It was complicated.
The arrival of the birth certificate was when Aunt Kayla decided they should have a party. Payton was told she could invite any of her school or church friends she wanted, but she didn't want them there. They had been weird enough about her name change, she didn't think they would understand why this party was so important. Shannon thought she should have kept Caldwell as a last name to honor her dead parents. Shannon would never understand and Payton didn't want to explain it to her. Besides, Uncle Seth had invited Uncle Dean, Uncle Roman, Aunt Jessica and Aunt Cinnamon, which of course meant that Neil and Leah would be there and that's what mattered to her. They were two kids who really did understand why this was so important.
So, there were a lot of adults at this party. Not just Uncle Roman and Uncle Dean and their wives, but Mr. and Mrs. Helmsley. Not their kids though, which was kinda sad, Payton liked them, but they weren't best friends like Neil and Leah were. Dolph Ziggler was there too. Dolph had been closer to Preston than to her, but that was okay too. Her grandparents were there, which was nice too. Adults were better at keeping track of lots of people, and this party was also for Uncle Seth and Aunt Kayla too, to celebrate that she was now their daughter. But if Payton had invited her school and church friends, she would have had to keep track of all of them and make sure they were having a good time. Just having Leah and Neil there was great. She liked them the best of her friends anyway, because she had met them at a time when she had no friends. She had been home schooled then, which really meant she wasn't schooled much at all. Her friends from her old school had stopped being her friends pretty quick, because the only thing she could do was email with them and even that was spotty. When she met Leah and Neil, that was pretty much all they could do, along with the occasional weekend at a PPV wrestling event. But that didn't seem to bother them at all. They were happy to keep their friendship going with email and Skype. They were experts with Skype.
At the beginning of the party, everyone had been together and there was lots and lots of hugging, which was really nice. People kept calling her Payton Rollins, which was awesome. And admiring her new birth certificate, which was passed around, except that it wasn't the one that came in the mail, the original, this was a copy, so the original one wouldn't get messed up. She wanted to frame that one, or maybe frame a copy and hang it on her wall. But she was afraid if she asked if that was okay, people might think that was lame. Payton Caldewell's parents hadn't even framed Preston's birth certificate, and if anyone was going to frame a birth certificate, because the it represented the existence of someone who was massively important, it would have been the Caldwell's.
But, after awhile, everything got mellow and the adults were talking. The three kids had gotten tired of all the adult talk, mostly about wrestling, but not cool stuff about wrestling, mostly about who was going places and who needed a "boot to the behind," boring stuff. Payton, Neil and Leah must have been looking bored too, because Uncle Seth suggested Payton should show them her tree house. Neil and Leah both said they didn't even know there was a tree house, so Payton took them to see it.
The tree house had been built by the people who owned the house before Uncle Seth and Aunt Kayla had bought it, and it was in a huge tree, towards the back of the huge back yard. It was a great tree fort too, it really looked like a small house built in the trees with a sloping roof and windows that really went up and down and were real glass. When she first started living there, Uncle Seth had checked to make sure it was safe and fixed the ladder leading up to it, and told Payton she could use it to play. She hadn't though. She didn't know why, but it just seemed wrong to use this great tree house unless she really lived there. The tree house went with the house and it seemed wrong for a child to use it alone who didn't belong with the house. So, she hadn't played in it, pretended it didn't exist. But when the adoption went through, she told Uncle Seth that maybe she would like to use it.
Uncle Seth had checked it again to make sure it was safe. Then, he asked Payton if she liked the color. It was painted a bright red. Payton said that maybe it should be painted green because it was a tree house. Aunt Kayla agreed and they'd even taken a leaf from the oak tree it was in, and brought it to the paint store where they were able to get paint the exact color of the leaf. They bought a brown paint for the door and the balcony around the little house. The inside of the tree house had a bench built in that ran around three sides of the walls. They painted the bench white and the walls a blue that was the color of the sky. They painted the floor a deep, navy blue. Aunt Kayla had bought some heavy fabric that was navy blue and sky blue stripes and some foam. She made cushions for the benches, so they were a lot more comfortable to sit on. Uncle Seth had built two little cabinets that went along the wall that didn't have the bench, so she could keep things in them. Then, he put a pole that you could grab on to and slide to come down, if you didn't want to use the ladder. They had worked on that tree house most of the days since the adoption was final.
The three kids climbed up and went inside. Neil and Leah thought it was great and told Payton how lucky she was. Payton agreed.
"Maybe we can have a sleep over here sometime?" Leah wondered as she looked out of one of the small windows. The little windows even had tiny blinds that Aunt Kayla had been able to get cut to size somewhere.
"Maybe," Payton agreed, thinking that would be fun. Maybe a little scary too, but with the three of them, it wouldn't be that scary. "I'll ask Uncle Seth and Aunt Kayla if we can do that some time."
"Why do you call them that?" Leah asked, changing the subject abruptly.
"Call who, what?" Payton asked, frowning. She was sitting on one of the benches, sitting at the end, so she could have her feet up and her back to the wall.
"Call your parents Uncle Seth and Aunt Kayla," Leah flopped on the bench running along the back wall, treating it like a couch she could lay on. She rolled over onto her stomach and propped herself up on her elbows. "They're your parents now, you should call them Mom and Dad."
"Maybe she doesn't want to," Neil disagreed, frowning at Leah. He was sitting along the other wall. The inside of the tree house was big enough that the three of them felt comfortable, but small enough that they could sit each on their own bench, and still talk and not feel like they were shouting. "She had parents before the Rollins'." Then he frowned and looked upset. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't talk about that, should I?"
"It's okay," Payton said, and it was. Her parents from before, when she was Payton Caldwell, were dead. Taking or not talking about it didn't change things. Everyone thought that being reminded that she had dead parents would make her fall apart, but it didn't. They weren't her parents anymore, and in some ways they never had been. Uncle Seth and Aunt Kayla had been more like parents to her, even when they weren't her parents. "They kinda sucked at being parents," she finally admitted.
Leah gasped and covered her mouth as if she had said something wrong. "Payton!"
"What?" Payton grinned. "It's true. And I won't lie either. They loved Preston a lot, but they didn't love me very much." She sighed, hoping this wouldn't lead into everyone feeling sorry for her. She was tired of people feeling sorry for her, because Payton Caldwell had parents who didn't love her. Payton Rollins had parents that did, so really, wasn't it just a case of what was done was done? "That's why I don't know if I could call Uncle Seth and Aunt Kayla, Mom and Dad," she admitted. "Because I had a Mom and Dad and they didn't do so great. I-I just feel like to call them that would be... disrespectful."
"Oh," Leah nodded, as if everything was clear now, and deciding that Payton didn't want to discuss her parents who were gone. "Well then, you can call them Mother and Father."
"That's dumb," Neil said with a roll of his eyes.
"Not it's not!" Leah shot back, rolling onto her back and then shifting into a sitting position and glaring at Neil. "Don't you call me, dumb."
"I didn't!" Now Neil rolled his eyes, annoyed at Leah's sensitivity. "I said that's dumb, meaning Payton calling Uncle Seth and Aunt Kayla Mother and Father. It's too formal." He lifted his head, putting his nose in the air, looking as if he were some rich, prep school kid. "Mother! Father!" he exclaimed using a horribly fake British accent, "may I take the yacht for a spin around our private ocean? It would be so pleasant! Perhaps Muffy and Biff can join us!" His mockery was good enough, the horrible accent comical enough, that both Leah and Payton giggled, which made Neil look pleased with himself.
"I think Neil is right," Payton said, when the giggles stopped. "Mother and father is too formal sounding for all the time."
"How about Ma and Pa then?" Leah suggested. She had been reading the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder and Laura always called her parents Ma and Pa. Even on the TV show, which was old, but shown in reruns on one of the cable channels.
"Too 'Little House on the Prairie'," Payton said, shaking her head. She too, had read the books and watched the TV show. "I'll feel like I have to wear a pinafore and sun bonnet."
Leah frowned as she thought about it, then finally nodded. "I guess you're right."
This was actually something that Payton had wondered about herself since the adoption was finalized, so she wasn't too surprised her friends had thought of it too. It did seem wrong to keep calling Seth and Kayla Uncle and Aunt when they weren't that anymore, they were her parents. But if she didn't want to call them Mom and Dad what did she call them? She had put herself to sleep many nights trying to think of decent substitutes, but so far had no luck. She had already thought of Ma and Pa too, and dismissed it for the same reason she gave Leah. She had thought of Mother and Father too, and dismissed it for the same reasons Neil had given. She could refer to them as her mother and father, that wasn't a problem, but it would sound too stiff to call them that.
"I suppose you could call them Mommy and Daddy," Leah pondered.
"If she does that they'll never let her stay up past nine o'clock at night." Neil's nose crinkled in distaste. "Mommy and Daddy are fine if you're sick or stressed, but they're little kid names. Might as well tell her to call them Mama and Dada."
"Mama isn't so bad," Leah said, twisting so she was sitting with her back to the wall, her feet dangling of the edge of the bench. Leah was more of a fidget than Payton and Neil, maybe because she was the youngest of the three of them. "I call my mother, Mama sometimes."
"I might be able to do that sometimes too," Payton admitted. "But Neil is right about it sounding like baby talk. I can't see me using it in front of people, you know? Like saying if we asked about having a sleepover here and you guys were with me, I'd feel dumb going, 'Mama, can we sleep in the tree house?'"
"Yeah," Leah frowned, thinking as hard as she could. Then she grinned. "I've got it!" she exclaimed, "It's perfect!"
"What?" Payton was curious.
"Mum," Leah said, her eyes lighting up. "It's what English people call their mothers. I heard it on TV and I read it. Mum," she repeated the word, emphasizing the "u" sound.
"Mum," Payton repeated, rolling the word around on her tongue. She had heard it before too, but it had never registered that it sounded different from "mom." Not grossly different, it wouldn't be like she was calling Kayla something no one else in the United states ever called their mother, it wouldn't stick out. In fact, most of the time, no one would even notice. But she would know, Payton would know, and know that it was a separate name than the one she had called Adrian Caldwell. And it sounded somehow warmer than Mom. The "u" had a softer sound to it, more friendly. "Mum," she said, tipping her head back, trying to hear how it sounded in her ears. "Mum, can we have a sleep over in the tree house?" she said, trying it out in conversation. "Mum, would you please pass me the peas?"
"Mum, may I have another cookie?" Leah suggested, grinning.
"Mum, you look good today," Neil offered. "Save that for when you want something."
Payton grinned at him, but her mind was coming up with sentence after sentence, trying them on for size. Mum, can I have some grape juice? Thank you, Mum, that's my favorite color! Mum, I need this permission slip signed so I can go on a field trip with my class.
I love you, Mum.
She looked at her friends and nodded eagerly. "I like it. Mum works."
"Yay!" Leah raised her arm in victory. "One down, one to go!"
"This one won't be so easy," Neil said, frowning. "I'm pretty sure they call their dad's 'Dad' in England."
"I think so too," Payton said. "'Mom' and 'Mum' work because O and U sound enough alike. I can't just do that with 'Dad.' I can't do an E, 'Ded' sounds wrong. The letter I would make it 'Did'."
"O would be silly," Leah remarked. "Dod!"
The three of them giggled over Dod, it sounded silly and dumb at the same time. "Dod, sounds like a fish!" Neil said, giggling. "I went to the lake and caught three catfish and a dod!"
"It sounds like a bird!" Payton said, also through giggles. "Look, it's a red breasted Dod!"
"It sounds like something a frog would say," Leah laughed and shouted, "Dod! Dod!"
"Yeah, and U would be 'Dud,'" Payton said, which made the three of them laugh even harder, thinking of calling Uncle Seth, "Dud."
"The Samoan word for father is 'Tama,'" Leah remarked when the giggles had stopped.
"Do you call your dad that?" Neil asked.
"Sometimes," Leah admitted. "Especially when I want something. It makes him get melty."
This made Payton and Neil giggle, picturing Uncle Roman getting 'melty' like a Popsicle or something. But Payton had a pretty good idea what Leah meant. The first time she'd called Uncle Seth, Uncle Seth, when she saw him at that restaurant after they'd been messaging and talking on the phone for awhile, he just grinned and looked pleased and kind of soft too. Melty was a good way to put it. "I like that," she admitted. "Tama, it sounds nice, but I'm not Samoan and neither is Uncle Seth. I just don't think it would fit."
"You could call Uncle Seth Pop or Pops," Neil suggested.
Payton frowned and shook her head. "He's not a Pop or Pops," she said. "It just wouldn't fit him."
"I suppose then Papa wouldn't," Leah said, frowning.
Payton thought about it for a moment, then shook her head. "It's better than Pops, but Papa isn't right either. It sounds too old fashioned."
The three children didn't speak for a moment, each thinking of this problem, realizing that they needed to come up with something. Then Neil sat up straight, shifting so his feet were on the floor. "I've got it!" he said, looking excited. "When I met Sheamus, he told me I looked like my da. Not dad, but da."
"Isn't that baby talk?" Leah asked.
"Sheamus is a tough wrestler," Neil said defensively. "Do you think he'd use baby talk?"
"I don't know," Leah said, frowning. "Maybe. Just because someone is a wrestler doesn't mean they can't use baby talk."
"Yes it does," Neil disagreed. "I know lots of wrestlers. Not just the WWE guys, but the WVW guys too. None of them use baby talk. None of them. Besides, Sheamus didn't say it like a baby, it wasn't like Dada, it had like an 'h' sound at the end of it. Dahhhh," he drew out the word.
"Dahhh," Payton said, drawing out the word, just as Neil had done. She repeated it a few more times, as she had "mum" as if she was tasting the word. It wasn't that bad. Yes, it did have a babyish sound at first, but that was if you said the 'a' in a higher voice. If you lowered the sound of it, added that 'h' sound to the end of it, it didn't sound babyish at all. It sounded softer and kinder than Dad. If Dad was the affectionate word for Father, then Da was the affectionate word for Dad. "Da, do you mind if we have a sleepover in the tree house?" she said, trying the word carefully. "Happy father's day, Da. I saw you last night on RAW, Da, you were awesome!"
I love you, Da.
"So, how is parenthood treating both of you?" Cinnamon asked as she watched the kids running across the backyard, headed towards the tree house.
"Pretty good, I do admit," Seth said, leaning back in the extra wide lawn chair he was sharing with Kayla, drink in hand, feeling remarkably relaxed. He hadn't realized it when it was happening, but something like an emotional spring had taken residence inside him, a coil that had been tightening every single day while the future was uncertain with Payton. Since the adoption was finalized, that spring had slowly been unwinding, and today it felt like it had not only finished, but had then dissolved into nothing. It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon, not too hot, not too cold. Sure, starting Monday, Seth would be back to working full time, instead of the schedule of working just RAW, Smackdown, and the PPV's, but that was okay, too. Summer vacation would be starting soon, which would allow Payton and Kayla to join him on the road more often.
"After all the grief we went through to get this to happen, the actual parenting seems pretty easy," Kayla said, taking a sip of her own drink.
Cinnamon, Jessica, and Stephanie exchanged looks of mild amusement, but said nothing.
"What?" Seth asked, looking from one woman to the other.
"If this is the worst thing that you go through as a parent, then you've possibly got a perfect kid," Jessica finally said, smiling.
Seth laughed. "No, it isn't that easy, we've had issues," he admitted, "She was always almost perfect until her parents died, then she started testing us a bit."
"Testing?" Cinnamon asked, head tipping to one side slightly.
"Yeah," Kayla said, nodding. "She was kind of playing us for a bit, seeing if we'd still love her, even if she wasn't so perfect."
There was silence, as if no one quite knew what to say, then Dean shook his head. "Poor kid's had it rough," he commented. "Losing her whole family, I mean." He ran his fingers through his hair. "I mean, I know they weren't the greatest parents to her. I mean, to be blunt, they pretty much sucked at being her parents." He paused, looking at Dolph. "No offense, man, I know you were fond of Preston and they were good parents to Preston, a little over indulgent, but pretty good. But they were pretty lousy parents for Payton."
"No offense taken," Dolph said, frowning himself. "I was so focused on Preston, I didn't see that they were neglecting Payton. I thought she was just this very shy, quiet, kid." He looked over at Seth. "It took you to realize there was something going on."
Seth shrugged. "To be honest? I didn't realize it until I talked to her that day when I left my coat in the back room and you, John, and Daniel were back there playing with him. I mean, I just went over to get my jacket and saw her, I asked her how she was doing, and then one thing lead to another and I realized she was hungry, so I offered to take her to catering. If I hadn't said hello and lingered for a moment, I don't know if I would have figured it out."
"Thank god you did," Stephanie said and everyone nodded.
"And, yeah, she had bad parents," Roman said, "And that's going to be rough. But, I think we also should look at this as she's got good parents now." He raised the glass he was holding. "To the new parents, Seth and Kayla. Who got their first child without having to go through toilet training and 2:00 am. feedings." Everyone laughed, but they all raised their glasses to Seth and Kayla.
"So, do you think she'll call you dad and mom?" Jessica asked, after taking a sip from her glass of wine.
Kayla and Seth exchanged looks. This was something they had wondered about and even discussed themselves. They knew that Payton was a little old to suddenly forget about her other family. They also knew that Payton loved them both dearly, and saw them as her parents, no matter what she called them. So, did it really matter that she was still calling them Aunt and Uncle? Mother, father, mom, dad, what were they but titles bestowed on parents? Mere words that shouldn't matter one little bit.
But they did matter. More than either of them wanted to admit, to this group of friends, to each other, to themselves.
They had a cookout for dinner, with big chunks of meat cooked on a stick with vegetables in between the pieces of meat. Uncle Seth and Aunt Kayla had told her they were called shish kabobs and they were delicious. For dessert there was a special cake with congratulations written on it. It came from a bakery and Payton was allowed to eat a big piece. It was chocolate with something like pudding in the middle, but lighter and fluffier. Aunt Jessica, who had bought the cake at a local bakery for the party explained that it was chocolate mousse. Payton hoped that every time they had a party they would have a cake like that because it was so good.
The only thing that marred the rest of the party was that Payton wasn't sure when she should start using these new titles for Uncle Seth and Aunt Kayla. Part of her was eager to start, almost wanting to announce it to everyone. She had a vision of her standing up at the dinner table and going, "I have decided that henceforth I shall call Uncle Seth, Da, and Aunt Kayla, Mum!" And suddenly out of nowhere, trumpets would sound and the choir from church would appear out of nowhere singing that song you heard around Christmas, "Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hal-le-lu-ja!" And Aunt Kayla and Uncle Seth, now to be known (at least by her) as Mum and Da, would burst into tears of joy and there would be a wonderful group hug and it would be just like a movie or something.
But she knew it wouldn't happen like that and even if it did, it would be weird. She didn't want that fanfare or fuss. She didn't want this turned into something that was a big fuss. She wanted it to be comfortable, she wanted it to be right.
She wanted it to feel like she'd been calling them this since she was a baby. Even though part of her thought that was pretty silly, that's the way it was. She wanted to feel as if she had known them all her lives, as if they had always been her parents. But that was silly, wasn't it? As silly as pretending she never was Payton Caldwell. As silly as pretending her mom and dad hadn't been her mom and dad. They had been, that was the truth. Even though they had done a pretty bad job at being parents, they still had been her parents and maybe she was just a silly girl to try to pretend otherwise.
So, by the time the party ended she hadn't used the words. She didn't call them Aunt and Uncle, either she just avoided having to use any name at all. It wasn't hard, she was near enough to them that she didn't have to identify them.
Mr. and Mrs. Helmsley, Dolph Ziggler and her grandparents left after the party, but Neil, Leah, and their parents spent the night, which made it like the party didn't end, it just got smaller, which was nice, but it still didn't give Payton a chance to try to use the names. She didn't want to do it in front of Leah and Neil, because she was afraid they'd say something about it and then it would turn into this big deal.
The next day, Sunday, when they were all eating breakfast, Uncle Dean told everyone that they were all going to fly out to California together, where the next RAW, Smackdown, and Main Event would be filmed, so they could all go to that and then Wednesday morning, they would separate, the moms and kids to return to their homes, the fathers to continue on with the WWE. Leah, Neil, and Payton cheered, knowing that even though their father's had to work, they'd at least have more time with them and each other before going home.
By the time they got to their hotel in Los Angeles, Seth wanted to forget about Raw, forget about everything, crawl into bed and not come out until tomorrow. Pretty much everything that could go wrong, had gone wrong from the moment the plane had landed. Fans had mobbed them, luggage had been misplaced and had to be hunted down, the air conditioning in the airport wasn't working very well and it was sweltering, The kids, even Payton were cranky and tired from the heat and demanding soft drinks or water breaks with every concession stand or drinking fountain they passed, which of course lead wanting to use every bathroom they passed.
Then the rental car messed things up and while Roman and Dean got SUV's with plenty of room, he had to settle for a sub compact. Thank god Payton wasn't a huge child, or she would have been miserable in the back seat. It was a little Ford Fiesta, but it failed to put any of them in a party mood.
While he was hoping he'd have a couple hours to relax, get his bearings, maybe take a 20 minute cat nap when he got to the hotel, all the annoyances cost him time. By the time they checked in and got their suite, he had about 45 minutes before he had to report to the ring.
"At least you won't have to worry about taking that sardine can on wheels, disguising itself as a car to the arena," Kayla remarked as the two of them flopped on the couch together in the common room of their suite. Even the air conditioned car and hotel lobby hadn't cooled them down from the heat in the airport. "You can get a ride from Roman or Dean to the arena."
"You're not going in with me?" Seth asked, feeling slightly relieved. Normally he loved it when Kayla and Payton tagged along right from the start, because it meant that when he had free moments, he could spend it with them, such as when he went to grab something to eat from catering. But right now, he would rather go alone and let Kayla and Payton sort themselves out and get some rest before coming to the show.
"Nope, not today," Kayla said, leaning back and closing her eyes. "I need a little time to regroup from the airport disaster and I'm betting our daughter does, too."
"Our daughter," Seth repeated, loving the sound of that. He supposed there would come a day when it didn't seem so new and exciting, that he would say, "Our daughter" and it would feel perfectly natural and comfortable. But right now it was like discovering a new word. Yes, he knew the word daughter, he wasn't stupid, but it never had applied directly to him. Now it did, at least when he spoke of Payton. "Speaking of our daughter, where is she?"
"She's over with Roman, Jessica and Leah," Kayla said, leaning so she could put her head on Seth's shoulder. "Jessica said she'd keep an eye on them."
Payton and Leah were sitting in the hallway, leaning against the wall that lead into the suite Leah and her parents were using, talking. The WWE usually made sure all wrestlers were on the same floor at a hotel, preferably, that the whole floor was only WWE people. This allowed them to block off that floor with security to keep an eye on things. As a results, the floors where the wrestlers were staying had a much more relaxed atmosphere and the hall almost became just an extension of the room, no one worried about children in the hallway together, as long as they were being well behaved as Payton and Leah were.
"The airport was so hot!" Leah was saying, shaking her head. "Bletch! But the car was cool."
"Our car wasn't so cool," Payton said, glumly. "It was like the cold air didn't want to get into the back seat. Da was saying that we got the worst car in the world. Mum said it was like driving around in a can."
Leah grinned and put her arm around her friend, pulling her into a half hug. "You're calling them Mum and Da now! That's great! I'll bet they love it!"
Payton gulped. She hadn't had the chance to start using the names and she felt both bad and awkward about it. But she was trying to think of them that way, to make it seem more real, more natural. Mum and Da. She found she liked it too, thinking of them as being more than Aunt and Uncle, more even than Mom and Dad. "I-I haven't called them that, yet," she admitted.
"Why not?" Leah asked, looking surprised.
"Because-" Payton started to say, but was interrupted by the elevator doors opening and Neil rushing out, holding up his badge to identify him to security, who he rushed passed. Fortunately, they knew who Neil Ambrose was and didn't need to question him.
"Pay! Leah!" he called out, rushing up the hall to them. "You're not going to believe this!"
"Believe, what?" Payton asked. Aunt Cinnamon was also getting out of the elevator, but she seemed a lot more sedate than Neil.
"The pool!" Neil exploded almost dancing in his excitement.
"So?" Leah shook her head in a 'boys-are-so-silly' way. "Every hotel has a pool, pretty much."
"Not like this one!" Neil exclaimed. "It's awesome! Mom and I just checked it out. It's huge! Much bigger than normal. And instead of a diving board, it has three water slides! Really! Three of them! And it's got like a water fall thing! And fountains! Right in the middle of the pool! And they have all sort of things like inner tubes and beach balls and stuff you can play with in the water. It's awesome! It's the best pool I've ever seen!"
"Really?" Payton asked, starting to understand the excitement. Water slides? Water slides were the best! Much more fun than diving boards!
"Yeah, and it's not that crowded right now!" Neil said, nodding eagerly. "Mom says if you guys want, we can all go together and she'll keep an eye on all of us, so you guys wanna go?"
"Yeah!" Leah said, jumping to her feet, followed by Payton. By this point, Cinnamon had caught up to Neil. "Is what Neil is saying, true, Aunt Cinnamon?"
"Yes," Cinnamon said, nodding as well. "The pool is huge and it does have three water slides as well as everything else Neil was saying. And if your parents say it's okay, I'll be happy to take the three of you there. I know your dads have to head off to the arena soon, but we can have some fun and join them later."
"Super!" Leah exclaimed. "Lemme ask Mom an' Dad and get my swimsuit."
"Me too!" Payton exclaimed. She had learned to swim at a Christian Day Camp she once attended and loved it. And the idea of the water slides and all the other things Neil spoke of made it seem like more of a water park than a pool. She loved water parks more than just regular swimming! Mum and Da had taken her to a water park a few times last summer and she was hoping they'd go again this year. "Let me make sure it's okay!"
"All right," Cinnamon said. "You girls go, get permission, and get your suits on, we'll meet you out here in the hall in a few minutes."
"Cool!" Payton turn and ran to the room she was sharing with her parents. Pulling her key card out of the pocket of her shorts, she put it in the slot. When the little light went from green to red, she ran into the room. "Da! Mum!" she called out, forgetting in her excitement, that she hadn't quite settled on when was the best time to start using these titles.
Seth and Kayla were still sitting on the couch, having hardly moved, just enjoying the air conditioning. But when they saw her, they looked at each other, then at her. "Pay, is everything okay?"
"Everything is great!" Payton exclaimed, running over to them. "Neil says they have the best pool he's ever seen! It's got water slides and fountains and toys and stuff you can use and Aunt Cinnamon says she she'll take us there, like me, Leah and Neil. Please can I go? Please Mum? Please Da? Can I? Can I?"
Again Seth and Kayla looked at each other, almost as if in shock, which made Payton wonder what was going on here. Why were they so surprised? But, they didn't look angry, which was a good thing. "Did you pack your swimsuit?" Seth finally asked.
"Yeah!" Payton nodded. "I knew they'd have a pool here, I didn't know it would be a cool one!"
"Then of course you can go," Kayla said.
"Thanks!" Payton raced off to the bedroom she was using. She had already put her suitcase on the little stand the room had for luggage and opened it up, so it only took her seconds to find her bathing suit. As she was changing, she realized that she had done it, she had called Seth and Kayla Mum and Da, not in some formal way, she called them that in a natural way.
As if I've been calling them that all my life!
Out in the common area, Kayla looked at Seth. "Did-did she just call me, Mom?"
"Mum," Seth said. "I think it was Mum. Did she just call me Da? Like she was Irish?"
"Yeah, she did," Kayla agreed. "I wonder why Mum and Da?"
Seth thought for a moment, then shrugged. "Maybe because the Mom and Dad she was born with did a pretty lousy job?"
"Maybe," Kayla agreed, but grinned. "But I don't care! She can call us Ma and Pa if she wants, even if it does sound way too 'Little House on the Prairie!'"
"I know," Seth held up his arm and he and Kayla did a fist bump. "Parenting!" he said.
And Kayla joined in with him, "We're nailing it!"
The End.
Author's Notes: This was something I wanted to include in The Girl Who Lives, but it didn't seem right to have it before the adoption took place and I did want to end it with the adoption, so I decided to do it as a companion short story.
I'm not sure if I should have put this in Between the Lines. I thought about it, but I think I have that so firmly established as a place for the Cinnamon/Neil stories, that I was afraid folks who were only reading The Girl who Lives would overlook it. So, I let it go on its own.
I hope my readers enjoyed it, and I hope you'll take the time to let me know. I would really appreciate it.
Peace Out
Willow