A/N: This is my very first story and I'm a little nervous, but, hopefully, you'll like it.
Disclaimer: I only own Ashlyn-Marie.
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Matt watched his lovely wife put away groceries in the kitchen. Their third wedding anniversary was coming up, but he wasn't going to be here to celebrate it. He'd been waiting for the perfect moment to tell her, but he knew deep down that there was no such thing. No matter when he told her, it would end up in an argument. Just when he was going to join his wife in kitchen, she returned to the living room.
Ashlyn sat beside her husband on the couch, "Are you going to tell me what's been bothering you all day?"
"What?" he asked taken aback.
"Matt, I know you. There's something bothering you." Ashlyn took his hand in hers, "Just tell me."
The superstar took in his wife's reassuring smile and, somehow, managed to feel worse than he already did, "I…I won't be here for our anniversary."
The blonde woman blinked in surprise, "Maybe you should repeat yourself, because I swear I just heard you say that you wouldn't be here on our anniversary."
"You heard me correctly," he said with a sigh.
Ashlyn removed her hand from his, "You promised me, Matthew! You promised me that this year you'd be here."
"I know, and I really thought that I would be here." Matt began, "But, there's a show that night and I have a to be there."
"Once again, the WWE is more important than our marriage." Ashlyn said as she stood and started to walk up the stairs to their bedroom.
Matt jumped up and followed her, "Ashlyn, our marriage is the most important thing to me."
She stopped on the stairs, "If that was true than you would be here on our anniversary."
"You knew what you were getting into when you married me." Matt lamented.
"I married Matthew Kaye, a social studies teacher at Benjamin Cardozo High School. Not Matt Striker, a cocky, arrogant wrestler!" she yelled.
"Ash, we're going to have plenty of wedding anniversary's, and I'll be there for them." he tried to reason.
The blonde beauty gave a bitter laugh, "That's what you said last year, and, quite frankly, I'd be amazed if we make it to a fourth one."
"What's that supposed to mean?" he questioned.
"You can figure it out yourself. You'll have plenty of time since you'll be sleeping alone tonight." Ashlyn replied before continuing up the stairs. When she reached the top, she turned to look at Matt, "Use the guest bedroom or the couch. I don't really care, but don't think of even trying to come into our bedroom, because I'm locking the door."
Matt watched his wife's retreating back. He sighed again as he headed back down the stairs into the living room. He walked over to their fireplace and looked at the pictures that adorned the ledge. He picked up the picture from their first date. They were standing outside of the Museum of the Moving Image. He remembered how surprised she'd been.
"How did you know?" she asked in surprise.
"At Jessica's party, you told me and Eric that you'd always wanted to come here, but you didn't have enough time with all the studying you're having to do since you're in law school. " Matt shrugged, "Well, its summer now and you've been here for almost a year. I figured you'd like to come here."
"You remember me telling you that? That was almost ten months ago." Ashlyn stated.
The young teacher smiled at her, "I remember pretty much everything you say to me. I figured every little bit would help if I was going to convince you to go on a date with me."
"You know I would've said yes sooner, but I'm in my first year of law school. Its hard work and I couldn't afford any distractions," the blonde explained.
"I'm sure you are." he answered with a smile as they entered the building.
And she had been. He'd enjoyed getting to know her. He'd fallen in love with the way her eyes had lit up while they had toured the Behind the Screen exhibit. He'd made a promise to himself that night that he'd do whatever it took to make her eyes light up again. Matt put the picture back where it had been. He realized that he hadn't seen that special twinkle in her eyes in a long time. It hurt him to realize that he was the reason why. She was right when she said that she'd married a social studies teacher and not a wrestler. He walked down the hall to the downstairs guest bedroom. As he began to undress for bed, he tried to think of a way that he could make this up to her, but he couldn't come up with anything that could remotely fix the disappointment that he knew she felt.
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Ashlyn resisted the urge to slam the door, but she did lock it behind her. Deep down, she knew that Matt would give her time to cool down, but locking the door made her feel better. It made her feel as if she had a little control over the situation.
She laid down on the bed. As she re-ran the argument that she and Matt had just had in her mind, she knew that she'd been unfair. She couldn't deny the fact that the life they lived now was not the life that she had envisioned for them. Nor was it the life that he had promised her when they had wed. Yet, she recognized that this was his dream, and she couldn't deny him the chance to be what he truly wanted.
Ashlyn turned over on her side and saw the picture of them on their wedding day that was on the nightstand.
Ashlyn held hands with love of her life as the preacher told them that it was time for them to recite the vows that they had written for one another.
Matt smiled at her and gave her hand a light squeeze before he began, "I've finally found where I'm meant to be. I belong in your heart and your life. Loving you is who I am. You made me see that I can love and deserve to be loved in return. With you, I've grown and I know that I will continue to grow into the man that I'm meant to be. I am so happy that you want to spend the rest of your life with me. Ashlyn, today I choose you to be my wife. I promise to love you, honor you, care for you, and be faithful to you, from this day forward and for the rest of our lives."
Ashlyn smiled at Matt, "Where there has been cold, you have brought warmth. Where my life was dark, you have brought light. I used to be afraid of falling in love, of giving my heart away. I could stand here and pledge to give you all that I am and all that I am to become but what can I give you that I haven't already given. Is there anything of me that isn't yours already? My body, my mind, my heart, even my soul. Everything that is me belonged to you long before this, and it shall be yours long after this. I will follow you anywhere. Hand in hand and heart in heart."
She'd meant it then, and she meant it now. Ashlyn knew that she would follow him anywhere, but lately she felt like he'd let go of her hand, and she was lost. The blonde felt like she no longer mattered to him, and she didn't know how much more of it she could take.
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Review? Criticism welcomed.