Jon was heading back to catering after the Shield had done their thing, he was close when he heard a high pitched scream causing him to stop in his step. He looked between Colby and Joe, each of them having the same question on their mind.
"Was that Holly?" Colby was the one to voice the question out loud.
Jon didn't bother to answer, but took off running towards the catering area. He quickly ran over to where Holly, Phil, and some of the Divas were. Phil had Holly in his arm while she cried into his neck.
"Hey! What's going on here?"
Phil turned around to face him and Holly lifted her head at the sound of her dad's voice. Seeing Jon in front of her made her cry even more as she pushed away from Phil and reached out towards him. Jon took her from Phil, rubbing her back in a soothing circle pattern for a bit before Holly started quieting down. By then, both Colby and Joe had joined up with them.
"Can someone explain to me why my daughter was just screaming her head off just now?" Jon faced Phil first, but Phil turned to face the group of Divas.
"We don't know." Brie Bella answered. "We saw that she was alone and came over to ask what her name was."
"And next thing we knew, she was crying." The other Bella, Nikki, added. "Honestly, we didn't do anything."
Jon nodded, pulling Holly away from him to place her on the ground. She immediately clutched on his pants as if afraid he would leave and stared down at the ground. He squatted down to her level and she looked up at him, her eyes still filled with tears.
"Holly, is that true? Did they only ask for your name?"
She nodded.
"Then why did you start crying? They only wanted to know your name."
Holly didn't answer. Instead, she walked forward and wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face into his chest. Jon sighed, picking Holly up and standing to his full height. After picking up her doll and coloring stuff, Jon turned to face Phil and the Divas.
"Sorry about Holly. She's really shy and I think she got overwhelmed with everyone there. She doesn't handle meeting new people well." Jon turned to face Phil next. "Thanks for the help Punk."
Phil and the girls nodded in understanding. Jon said his good byes and left with Colby and Joe on his heels.
"You know I was just wondering, are kids usually this shy around people?" Colby asked. "All the ones I've ever met around Holly's age are all for meeting people."
"Yeah, Holly just seems a little too shy. I mean crying because a group asked for her name, seems a little strange." Joe added in.
Jon shrugged. He didn't really know either. He knew that Holly was a little off when he first got her over the weekend when she was being reserved from him. Holly's mother didn't know either and this was probably another reason why she gave her up.
"I've been thinking the same things guys. It might be a phrase though. The last time I saw her a couple months ago, she was fine. Chatting up a storm to whoever would listen and now…" Jon trailed off, not sure what to say of Holly now.
The four made it to the locker room. Jon made sure that it was mostly decent before he took Holly in. He set her down on the bench, handing over her doll and placing the coloring stuff next to her. He then went over to his stuff, grabbing a change of clothes. Colby and Joe had already gone to change.
"Stay here, okay? I'm just gonna shower and change first. I won't be as long as last time okay?"
Holly nodded, hugging her doll close to her chest.
"If someone asks you a question, say that you're waiting for me, okay?"
Another nod.
After confirming with Holly to see if she would be okay, Jon finally left to go get ready to leave. When he came back, Holly was playing with Colby. She was laughing at the face Colby was making at her and he couldn't help but smile at the sound of her laugh. Jon walked up quietly behind her, indicating at Colby to stay quiet. When he got to Holly, he picked her and spun her around. She squealed as she clutched onto his arm, letting go when he placed her down on the ground.
"Are you ready to leave yet Holly?" he asked.
She nodded, and grabbed her doll. Afterwards, she placed her freehand into his and looked up at him.
"What, no good-bye for your uncle Colby?"
As if forgetting that he was there, she spun around in shocked. Colby was pouting, his arm wide up. Holly frowned, looking up at Jon before letting go of his hand to hug Colby. Colby quickly engulfed her into his much bigger frame and picked her up.
"I'll head out with you. Joe should be near catering. He went to grab something to eat first."
Jon nodded, grabbing his and Holly's stuff. Colby, with Holly still in his arm, picked up his bag. Together, they headed in out towards catering to find Joe. They found him along with Phil, John and Randy. The four were talking and Joe faced them when he felt their presence.
"You guys leaving?" He asked.
Jon nodded. "Yeah, it's been a long day for Holly. We're gonna head off to the next city so we can get to the hotel earlier."
"You good going alone?"
Jon shrugged. "Done it before. Not much different now. Besides its only two hours at the most. I can make it."
Through their exchange, Jon couldn't help but notice that Phil, Randy and John had gravitated towards Colby and Holly. While Phil and Randy were talking to Colby, John was making faces at Holly. Every face that John made, Holly would duck her head into Colby's shoulder before looking back up. She wasn't laughing, like it had been with Colby earlier, but she still had a small smile at John's antics.
"Hey Holly, say good-bye. We're leaving soon." Jon said.
Holly looked over him, nodded her head. She wiggled around for Colby to let her down and took the few steps over to him.
"Hey, is she traveling with you now?" John asked.
Jon nodded. "It's a long story, but for the time being, yes."
"Great, she's cute." John came up, lowering down to Holly's height. He reached a hand out towards her face, as if he was going to pinch her cheek. Holly shrunk back before he could touch her, hiding behind Jon's leg. John simply smiled, before standing back up to his whole height. "Can't wait to see more of her around."
"Okay, say Holly. We're leaving." Jon said, pushing her gently forward.
Holly lifted a hand, waving slowly before hiding back behind Jon. After saying his byes to everyone, Jon and Holly took off.
The two hadn't been on the road long before Holly fell asleep. Every once in a while, Jon would look back at her in the rearview mirror before focusing back on the road.
"You want to know something Holly?" He asked his sleeping daughter. "I don't know you all that much. When you were born, I was still trying to make it to the main stage. I was in Florida at the time. I remember I didn't even get to see you for the first time until you were almost two months old. This continued for the next couple years, only seeing you every now and then. Guess I wasn't the best dad right? Maybe that's why you seem to bond with Colby so much quicker than me.
"But I promise I'll try harder, okay? So I wish you would tell me what's wrong. I'm still learning this dad thing since I was never really a dad in the first place. I love you Holly, I hope you know that."
Looking into the rearview mirror, Holly was still fast asleep. He sighed, glad that the day was pretty much over and went okay.
Thank you to:
Iremmy, LoveAmbrose08, Dean'sDeadlySin, ladyjade37,
asherandjeanclaude, pleb and msgemgem
for reviewing the first chapter! I really enjoyed reading all the reviews!
Thank you to everyone who followed and favorited!
