Early morning training had become a normal thing for Azalea to do - most times it was because she couldn't find it in herself to fall asleep, sometimes because she needed a way to get rid of the memories, but recently, it was because it was the only way for her release all the nervous energy she had pent up since finding out she would be participating in the most anticipated annual event hosted by the WWE.
For the 4 years that she had been an employee at WWE, there wasn't a time that she had ever felt so severely nerve wracked - and that was really saying something since she always seemed to over think things, psyching herself out as she did so - but, this was WrestleMania, the first and the only one that she was participating in, and that was a huge deal to both her family and herself.
Suddenly, all the experience she had flew out of the window - all the time she spent training with her brother and so many others, all the PPV's she had participated in before, all of them seem to escape her mind - and she was back to being the shy girl who only stepped into a ring to be able to protect herself.
That was the real reason she started training after all. She didn't want to be weak and Randy, well Randy was more than ready to help out his little sister - as always.
It was why, at 4am, the two found themselves across from one another in the gym. The male's blue eyes narrowed on her slumped figure while she tried massaging her ankle to rid it of the pain of her odd landing.
"You're gonna seriously injure yourself if you don't concentrate, Lee."
Releasing a soft breath as the pain faded, Azalea clasped her hands together on her lap and avoided her brother's intense gaze. She did so, not because she was afraid of him but rather because she knew that were she to look into those icy orbs of his that he'd be able to see right through her.
It was both a blessing and a curse, how close the siblings were.
"I know, I'm just-" she cut herself off, uncertain on how to finish her sentence, and just shook her head as she pushed herself up. "I'm just tired."
"How about you actually try looking at me the next time you lie?" Her brother's tone was flat, an indication that he wasn't in the mood for any of the 'let's pretend we didn't hear Randy' games she loved playing so much.
Her eyes moved away from the sneakers she wore - having been tracing the gold Adidas emblem on them - and instead rested on her brother who had moved across the ring to be by her side, leaning against the ropes next to the turnbuckle she was using as a backrest.
"Look, I know that sometimes you like keeping things to yourself, that you think you're burdening me when you always tell me things - don't deny it, Lea, I know you-" He shot her a look when she opened her mouth, a look that immediately caused her to snap it shut again. "but I'm your brother and I care about you, especially when something's bothering you so badly that you could end something you've been working so hard towards. So, I need you to talk to me because there's no way I can help you if you don't."
Picking at her the black strings on the front of her neon yellow and grey 'PINK' leggings, Azalea pursed her lips as she listened to the words her brother spoke, her mind drifting back to when she was younger and he had recited the same sentence to her after her first week of staying with the Orton family.
She had just had a nightmare and had been sitting in the corner of the room she was sharing with Randy until hers was ready. She remembered the way he had carefully and slowly approached her, she remembered how he had made sure to ask her permission before he took a seat next to her yet kept a good distance between the two of them to make her comfortable, she remembered how he asked her what was keeping her up and how she had refused to speak and she remembered his words from that night so very clearly.
"I know that all of this is still new to you, it's still very new to me too, but you're my sister now, Lea and I care for you - I want to help you but you need to talk to me, okay? I need you to talk to me because I can't help you if you don't."
Those words were enough for her to spill her guts to him because it made her feel loved and cared for, it made her realize that there were people who actually cared for her and it made her realize that despite everything, Randy was making an effort - also, it was the first time someone had ever called her Lea and it made her heart swell with happiness.
She remembered how she had crawled onto his lap and how he, without hesitation, had brought her to his chest and they just spoke - she told him about her nightmares and small parts of her past and he told her about school, their parents and their grandparents. It was the night they had began forming the tight bond they now shared and the night that Azalea had first experienced what true happiness was.
It was why she didn't hesitate in spilling her guts again. Its why she simply slumped against the turnbuckle and allowed her thoughts to flow from her mouth - and like always, her brother listened like what she was saying was the most important thing in the world, and to him it probably was.
"This is my first ever WrestleMania, my first ever real title shot." She chewed on her bottom lip, glancing around the performance centre that was vacant of people except for the handful of superstars that had the same idea as she did. "It's a great opportunity, one I'm completely grateful that Paul and Stephanie gave me, but I'm so damn nervous."
She let go of her pants' drawstrings and instead brushed her fingers over the tattoo on her hand, the Ying & Yang symbol one of the few pieces of ink that decorated her skin.
"I'm not really sure why I'm so nervous but I think it's all the expectations that are resting on my shoulders, you know? People are already coming to me and saying 'You're an Orton, we expect you to bust your ass like only an Orton can.' and all I could think was, what have I been doing these past 4 years? I know I didn't get much spotlight and I know I was never really given the main storylines but do people really think that I've been doing nothing to earn my place in the company? Do they honestly think I'm riding off of the Orton name?" Her hands curled around the ropes on either side of her as she shook her head, her ponytail coming to rest over her shoulder as she did so. "I don't know, I guess I'm just really feeling the pressure to impress everyone, to show them that I deserve to have Orton as a last name instead of Cooper, to show them that I work for every opportunity I'm blessed with instead of it being handed to me on a silver platter."
Silence fell over the two after her confession and Azalea glanced over at her brother only to flinch back when his middle finger met her forehead, and not gently. It was something he always did to her as a kid, a sign that he found whatever she had said to be the craziest, or stupidities, - sometimes both - thing she could ever said. As a kid, not a day went by that the man wouldn't flick her in the forehead - it was almost a ritual in their house - but as she grew, it became rare that her brother would do so and not just because he was barely home - but, it seemed like their little ritual was back again.
"You're an idiot." Randy shook his head, his arm wrapping around his offended sisters shoulders and tugging her against his side gently. "You have nothing to prove to anyone, Lea, no matter what they think or say. I know you busted your ass to get where you are, dad knows, mom knows, Paul, Stephanie and even Vince knows this - you've proven to all of us that you deserve to be exactly where you are. It took some time for you to get here, it took you longer than me but that's a good thing because you are not me. You are Azalea Cooper Orton, my sister who fought tooth and nail for each and every thing she has in life and you have no idea how proud I am of you - how proud all of us are of you."
"You have nothing to prove to anyone but yourself so here's some advice. On Sunday, when you kick ass in that Fatal-Five-Way match and become champion, go out there and do it for yourself. If you wanna kick ass, do it for yourself and no one else. You wanna win? Do it for yourself. You wanna prove that you deserve the name Orton? Do it all for yourself because you are your worst critic and anyone else's opinions should mean absolutely nothing to you."
"So I should ignore everything people say?"
"No, you should remember everything people say and I can promise you that while you're down and the crowd is chanting your name and you feel like you can't go any further, those words will enter your mind and it'll give you the strength that even you didn't know you had - and when you feel it coursing through your veins, use it to show all those son's of bitches that they had, that they have absolutely no right to judge you. You know why?"
"Because I'm an Orton?" She looked up at him with a small grin
"Damn right."
Accepting the kiss her brother pressed to her head with a soft laugh falling from both their lips, Azalea could actually feel some of her nerves drip away as she really allowed her brothers words to sink in. He believed in her, her family believed in her and that was enough - she had nothing to prove to anyone but herself and on Sunday that was exactly what she would do.
She would prove to herself that she deserved to enter the ring with 4 of the most amazing wrestlers the company has to offer and she would leave it all in the ring - hopefully, it would be enough to get her that red title everyone's been saying she didn't deserve to hold.
Thank you so much to those of you that have given this story a chance, I really appreciate it and for those of you that left a review - you have no idea how much it much it means to me.
TJ should be making an appearance next chapter and I hope you're as excited as I am.
Anyways, I'd really like it if you left some feedback for me, it would mean the world. Hope you enjoyed reading this chapter of the siblings as much as I enjoyed writing it.
-Lauren
