Come Out and Play

Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I only own Alessandra.

Ali Giordano hated being the one to try to make amends, especially when she wasn't the one who did anything wrong to begin with. She didn't want to be in this place. This plane was not where she belonged. She wasn't the one who was supposed to be putting the effort into this poor excuse for a relationship. She didn't want to deal with any of the people that she would have to see. Just the mere thought of having to travel to her destination made her want to scream at the top of her lungs. But she was trying to do what most would consider "the right thing to do". She wanted to try and let bygones be bygones and be a mature person. She wanted to stop hating the man with whom she'd avoided having a relationship since…well…for as long as she could remember. Hell, for as long as she was alive, Ali had never had a relationship with him. She didn't understand why she had agreed to start working on it now. Truthfully, she believed it was too late to forge this relationship.

Michael Cole had never been around for his daughter. It was that simple. She was twenty-five years old already, and he had never met her. Not even once. When she was born, he was just a kid of only seventeen. He wasn't ready to be a parent. He had aspirations. Michael wanted to go to college and get a degree in journalism. He wanted to make a career and a life for himself before even considering having a family. It was a tough situation, but he had completely abandoned his responsibilities as a father to the newborn and went on with his education and career. Ali was raised by her mother and grandparents, though Michael's own parents took an interest in their first grandchild. She knew them very well and had a really great relationship with them.

It was the sperm donor she didn't have any type of relationship with. At this point in her life, she really didn't have much of an interest in getting to know him, either. She'd spent twenty-five years, a quarter of a century without him. Why in the hell would she need him now? Easy answer. She didn't. But when her paternal grandparents had mentioned his interest in wanting to know his only daughter, Ali had immediately laughed it off, as if it were nothing more than a sick joke. After all of this time, he wanted to know her now? Who did he think he was? Good luck with that one.

But after a couple of weeks of considering the idea, Ali had finally decided that maybe she should really just let the hostility go and meet him. Maybe she'd find that he wasn't such an asshole, as she believed him to be. They could be friends or something. She wasn't exactly looking for another father figure or anything like that. When she was seven years old, her mother got married to the man she considered her real father. He'd raised her as if she was his own child from the very day he met her, and because of him, she never felt like she was missing the protective male influence in her life. That was no thanks to the so-called man whose DNA she shared.

Being the kind of person who gave people more than one chance, Ali had finally called her biological father. She got his number from her grandparents. After holding onto the number for a few more days, she had picked up the phone and spoken to the man that she had been avoiding for quite some time. The conversation was fairly short, but he apologized to her for not trying to see her…ever. He told her he wanted to meet her. He wanted to get to know her. Michael said that she was his flesh and blood, and he wanted her to come out on the road and meet him. She promised to get back to him.

And she did. Ali had agreed to fly out to meet her father, while he was working. She wasn't planning on traveling with him or anything like that. She just thought that meeting him and getting to know him a bit couldn't really hurt her. She was stable enough mentally and emotionally that she didn't think meeting Michael could really do any harm to her. But it was possible that it could help her to let go of her anger towards him, of which there was some that had always existed within her. After all, who could turn their back on their infant child and never look back? But she was willing to try and let go of that. Hence, the plane she was uncomfortably shifting in.

"Attention passengers, we will be landing in Little Rock within the next twenty minutes. Please take your seats, as we will be making our final descent shortly. Thank you," the pilot spoke over the intercom system.

Ali gripped the arm rests, unsure of how she felt being so close to the place where she would be meeting her biological father. It was quite an intense time for her. She didn't know how to deal with her feelings, mostly because she was still unsure of how she really felt about the current situation. Was she nervous? Was she afraid? Was she just really mad at him? Was she excited to meet him? Ali was unsure of how she should feel and how she should be reacting to what was going on. But she knew that she would have to figure it out quite quickly because she was about to come face to face with this man.

Arriving at the arena for the evening's Monday Night Raw taping, Ali was moments away from where she would see her father for the first time in her entire life. She had been watching the show since she was a young child. Ali was a fan of wrestling when she was a kid. When her father became a backstage interviewer, she became totally addicted to watching everything WWE-related that she could. She was unsure if she watched it just because she truly loved wrestling, or if it was because she did want to know her father in some subconscious way. She didn't think so, but seeing as she had made the WWE such an important part of her life, she knew it was a possibility.

Ali's mother had never uttered a negative word about her father and encouraged her to speak to him when the opportunity arose. She could never understand how her mother could still be so kind when speaking about him. He had abandoned her when she was sixteen and pregnant. That was one of the things that both aggravated her and inspired her, when it came to Eva Giordano. Somehow the woman was always so forgiving and always wanted everyone to be happy. It didn't matter who had wronged her, she was always very quick to let go of her anger. Though it frustrated Ali, she really thought it made her mother a better person than she was. This was her attempt to be more like her mother.

Ali knew her father's on-screen persona was that of a douche bag. She hoped he wasn't like that in real life, but she had no way of really knowing for sure. Today was the day that she would be finding out, though. Ali was also hoping she wouldn't have to cross paths with the one and only Michael Mizanin. Judging from how cocky and arrogant he was on-screen, he was not the kind of person Ali wanted to know. However, seeing her father seemingly unwavering from his devotion to the WWE Champion, she had a feeling that she would be crossing paths with the self-proclaimed awesome one.

Ali, or Alessandra as she was legally named, made her way into the arena, immediately checking in with security. Her name being on the guest list allowed her to receive her all access pass. She kindly asked one of the men where she could find Michael Cole's personal dressing room. He quickly pulled out a map of the backstage area and gave her directions. She thanks him before walking off.

Rounding corners and reading the names off of the numerous doors, Ali found her destination and for the first time since agreeing to have any sort of contact with Michael, she was aware of exactly how she felt. And she was nervous. She shut her eyes and took a deep breath, reminding herself that he should be the one who was nervous. Not her. But that didn't help. Not in the least. Her heart was pounding in her chest, and she felt a knot tightening in the pit of her stomach. But regardless, she brought her balled fist up to the door and knocked softly on the wooden surface. Her hand quickly dropped back to her side, moments before the door opened. Ali stood face to face with the one and only Michael Cole.

The two stood there for a few minutes, just looking at each other. He knew who she was. And she, of course, knew who he was.

"Alessandra?" he finally spoke.

She nodded slowly. "Sperm donor?" she replied, a twinge of hostility lacing her harsh, though deserved, words.

He nodded, in reply. "I guess that would be me," he answered. "It's great to finally meet you."

"Yeah…"

"Well, come on in," he invited, moving out of the way, so she could walk in. She did so, and he shut the door. She made her way over to the couch and sat down, feeling completely awkward. Michael sat next to her. "You're so beautiful. You look exactly how I remember your mother looked. You're what now? Twenty…five?" he asked.

"Yup."

"I'm really happy that you're here," he said, clearly being able to tell how uncomfortable she currently was.

She nodded. "Yeah."

"I know it's kind of weird to finally be meeting each other," Michael pointed out the pink elephant in the room.

"It is," she agreed.

"And I'm sorry that this is the first time we're meeting each other," he apologized. She didn't believe him, though. If he was so sorry, he wouldn't have waited so long to actually meet her.

Ali turned towards him. "Are you really?" she asked.

"I am. I was young and stupid when I found out your mother was pregnant, and I reacted in an immature way," he continued.

"So, the show starts soon, doesn't it?" Ali changed the subject.

Michael nodded. "It does. You have a radio show, don't you?" he asked.

"Yup."

"Maybe you'd like to come out on commentary tonight or something?"

She shrugged. "I dunno if that's a good idea."

"Well, I think you should."

"Maybe."

"I could at least introduce the world to my daughter," he said.

"I don't really consider myself your daughter," she bluntly pointed out.

"I can understand that, but I'm gonna try and change that. I know it's late, but I want to be a father to you."

"Michael, I have a father. He might not share his DNA with me, but he's always treated me like I was his kid, even when my own father didn't care enough to know me. He never treated me any differently than my half-sisters and half-brother. So, excuse me if I don't exactly come here with open arms calling you daddy and trying to forge a close, loving, bullshit relationship with you."

"I understand that completely, Ali. But I want to get to know you. I want to be a part of your life," he honestly told her.

She shrugged. "Well, I guess we'll see what happens."

He nodded. "If that's the best response I can get, I'll take it."

Ali rolled her eyes. "Well, I can assure you, it's the best response you could hope for from me." She couldn't help her hostility towards him.

Michael understood her response towards him. He knew it was his own fault. He had made his bed when he abandoned his daughter and spent twenty-five years pretending she didn't exist. This is what he deserved. But he was determined to fix it and have a good, close relationship with his only child.

Ali wasn't so sure she could let that happen. Not after the years she'd spent without him in her life. But only time would tell.

A/N: It's not enough that I posted a new story less than 24 hours ago, but I get wayyyyy too excited when I've got new material to post lol So, this is yet another new story, and it's also kayfabe like the other new one lol. I hope you guys are at least slightly interested in what's to come because I promise it's gonna be crazy! Please let me know what you think, and I'll update soon. Love you all! XoXoXoXoXoXo