Rion Paige Hickenbottom was terrified. She was seated in the back seat right between Murphy and Rory; both of them preoccupied with the episode of Spongebob playing on the DVD of the Escalade. Little Vaughn was asleep in her car seat, snuggling a purple monkey.
The two Adults in the car were talking about business with the company, and weren't concerned with the anguished teen who was staring out of the window as very familiar sights flew past her. Lincoln High School, Jamison and Son's Boxing Club, the park she'd run in to train. The tree she'd been under when Q'd kissed her for the last time. Cammie's house.
Finally, they pulled up to the ranch style house that she'd spent the happiest hears of her life in. Dutifully helping to unload the fussy and squirming 2, 4, and 6 year olds, She stood aside awkwardly as everyone headed towards the front door.
"You ok, Kid?"
"Uncle Paul…I just – "
"Take all the time you need," he smiled at her, ruffling her hair and completely ruining her ponytail. She scowled at him, half-hartedly throwing a punch at him in retaliation. She used her fingers to scrape her hair back into a tight pony, and then took a deep breath.
She was scared he'd reject her because she'd stayed away for so long. With a heavy sigh, she gripped her duffel and walked to the open front door.
Everything looked the same. The walls were still an off white color, the floors were still wood in the halls. There were still pictures everywhere. Ri sighed and stuffed her bag in the hall closet before walking into the kitchen. No one was in there.
Except for her mom.
Becca Hickenbottom was filling a bowl with her homemade potato salad. When she heard footsteps behind her she immediately began spouting off orders.
"Cam, grab those burgers out of the deep freeze, your dad's about ready to put them on the –"
She froze when she turned around.
The girl standing in front of her was wearing a pair of knee length black shorts and a white sleeveless top with the American flag stamped on it. She had on black flip flops that showed off her black painted toenails, and the light caught on a silver hoop in her lip. Her hair was red and pulled off of her face, and showing no less than three silver studs in each ear.
But the red hair and piercings couldn't do anything to hide those cautious brown eyes, the fact that her right arm was clutching the left right at the elbow, and that her face was a perfect mask of blank.
She looked exactly the way that she did when she was 11 years old, and afraid to be rejected.
"Oh my dear Lord. Darlin? Is that you?"
"H-Hey, Ma." She smiled weakly, the lopsided grin never quite reaching her eyes. The bowl was placed on the counter and the woman immediately pulled her into a tight hug.
"My baby," she murmured in her ear. Ri's face was burred in the woman's neck and soon, there were two people crying in the kitchen.
It felt like she'd never left; her Ma's hand was stroking her hair, smoothing the ponytail down. When she finally pulled back they shared a smile.
"Look at how tall you've gotten! And your hair!" she exclaimed, the two of them still not quite letting go of each other.
"Ma, Dad wants me to bring those burgers out –"
A 14 year old Cameron Hickenbottom was standing in the doorway. His shaggy dirty blonde hair was a little darker than she remembered, and his brown eyes were wide, not quite believing what she was seeing.
"Cam!" Ri screamed running to the younger boy. He'd finally caught up with her in height like their parents always predicted. He squeezed her back as tight as he could. As much as he tried to deny it, He'd missed his big sister. She'd been his protector against bullies, and she'd taught him to stand up for himself.
"I knew you'd come back," he grinned widely. "I never had a doubt that you would come back."
"I missed you, little brother."
When they pulled back from each other, Cam wiped his eyes of a couple of stray tears, and grabbed her hand.
"Dad's gonna flip, come on!"
Before she could protest, Cam's surprisingly strong grip had her at the sliding door leading out to the backyard that was full of people there to celebrate Gracie's 2nd birthday. Ri vaguely recognized people from the church with their kids, and plenty of other toddlers were running around the back yard. Sitting at a picnic table off to her left she found Gracie's godfather towering over all of the other guests. His green eyes locked with hers, and he tapped a smaller dark haired woman sitting beside him.
Hugging her Uncle Mark was always the same. You wrapped your arms as far around his middle as you could, buried your face in his chest, and as soon as those huge arms were wrapped around you, locking you in place, you noticed his smell; he always smelled like leather, horses, and whiskey. After you noticed his smell, his deep voice would wash over you, and you felt like a little kid all over again. When Uncle Mark hugged you, everything was going to be okay.
"You look good, Darlin', a little too pierced for my tastes, but good." He smiled.
"I only have my ears, my lip and my navel. I'm hardly a walking hardware store." She teased.
"Has Mike seen you yet?" he asked as she hugged Sarah.
"No, I was on my way over there to him now. I just saw you first." Ri looked over to her right, seeing her father standing at the grill talking to a man who was holding a little dark haired girl with curly pigtails.
"Get on over there; we've missed you something terrible around here, Darlin." he added with a kiss to her temple.
"I know; I've missed you guys just as much."
She took a deep breath and walked over towards her father. He was wearing jeans and a white linen button up to combat the heat. One of his straw cowboy hats kept the sun out of his eyes.
"You better not burn those hot dogs, I hate when you do that." She said when she knew he was close enough to hear him.
He froze. He set down the pair of tongs he was using to move the hotdogs and Italian sausages around on the fire. Then, and only then did he turn around.
His girl, his baby was standing not 5 feet from him. Her hair was red, and she had a couple of piercings, but that was irrelevant. He hadn't seen her since she'd yelled out "I'm going to Qua's and then to the Gym! I've got my cell; love you!"
She had a small smile on her face, she looked a little unsure of herself, but nothing changed the fact that she was there.
"Oh my God, Darlin'," he smiled.
"Hi Daddy." She smiled back, her right arm latched on to the left right at the elbow; she always did that when she was unsure of herself.
"Get in these arms, you little punk."
With a wide grin, she dived into his arms. The hug felt the same, but different. She was more built in some places, softer in others, and now that he thought of it –
"You cut your hair!" he laughed in surprise.
He stroked her shorter hair before pulling her close to him again. His face was buried in her hair, and he could feel her hands fisted in his shirt. He never wanted to let go.
She was home.
Michael let out a breath he hadn't even known he'd been holding as he thanked God for finally bringing his baby home.
The rest of the day was a huge blur. Roque could vaguely remember Gracie and her little friends playing adorable party games. She could clearly see the tiny blonde child blowing out the candles on the birthday cake covered in icing drawings of My Little Pony.
The most vivid memory however was her reuniting with one John Felix Anthony Cena.
He'd shown up with Andy and Baby McKenna about 45 minutes after she'd hugged her dad again. With his daughter in a car seat in one massive hand, and the other claimed by his wife, he honestly couldn't fathom his life being any closer to perfect than it was at that exact moment.
Until he saw an athletically built redhead sitting at the table with little Gracie bouncing on her knee. Sitting beside her, Cam had his acoustic on his lap, strumming lightly while singing to his little sister.
Her hair may have been different, but there was no mistaking that smile. It still lit up brighter than anything around her. His heart jumped a little when her chocolate browns locked onto his cerulean blues.
"Johnny," she smiled brightly as soon as she recognized him. She handed the toddler in her arms over to Cam before jumping up and walking over towards him.
"It's been a while, huh, Johnny?"
"Yeah," he didn't quite meet her eyes.
"How've you been?"
"Good."
"So, your mad at me then, huh? All these one word answers when usually I can't get you to shut up are a dead give away."
"What did you expect?" he snapped, glaring down at her.
"Basement. Now." She replied just as harshly. "We're gonna clear this shit up right now." She muttered already stepping through the screen door that led back into the kitchen.
"John," Andy started as she took the car seat from her husband.
"No, she's right, babe. We need to clear the air quick. She's got a lot of explaining to do, and not just to you."
"I'm just saying that you should calm down a little. She's been through a lot."
"She explained herself to you, Andy, but…as happy as I am to see her here in this back yard, I'm just as furious with her."
He walked away without a word and made his way down to the basement where who he once called his little sister was waiting perched on a low bench usually reserved for pressing.
"So." She said, looking up at him curiously.
"So what? You wanted to talk, so talk." He sat down on the second from the bottom of the basement stairs.
"Why are you so pissy at me? I mean, I expected someone to be upset, but I never expected it to be you."
"Why not me? Who was the person you called when you got away?"
"It was you." She replied softly.
"And who listened to you crying, afraid that you'd killed someone in a fire that you started?"
"You did, Johnny."
"And who did you promise that you would keep in touch with someone, no matter that you didn't want us to come find you?"
"You."
"SO WHY DON'T I HAVE A RIGHT TO BE PISSED AT YOU?" he roared. "Ri, I…I was so scared. I thought you were dead at one point. We had no idea where you were…You know what McKenna's full name is?"
"Andy told me, McKenna Paige Christina Cena."
"I talked Andy into her first middle name. I…I wanted to have a part of you still here in case we never saw you again. I'm so frustrated because you promised me that you would keep in touch. And when you didn't, I was bummed, but I kinda understood."
"So then why are you so upset with me?" she asked him, trying her hardest to ignore the tears in his eyes.
"When Andy found you, she told me that she gave you everyone's number. That was 2 months ago. You called Mike, understandable, and Cam and your mom, and even Paul, I understood that. But in 2 months of having my cell phone number, not once did you call me or even send me a text to tell me that you were thinking about coming home. You didn't call to apologize for not keeping your promise, you didn't even call to just say 'Hey John, I'm fucking alive.' Would that have been too hard for you?"
"John, I'm-"
"Don't even think about apologizing now. I can see that I wasn't even important enough for you to get back in contact with once you had the ability. I'm okay with you keeping it that way." He said, glaring at her even harder.
"Wait so now you don't ever want to talk to me again because I didn't call you? WHAT? Have you ever considered that I was so freaked our about my immediate future that I didn't even consider calling you out of fear of this exact conversation? This isn't the WWE John, it's real fucking life, and in real life, the world doesn't revole the fuck around you! I've wanted to come home for months! In fact, I was there the night you got injured and tried to come home then!" she shouted, standing up from her spot on the opposite side of the room and crossing it in less than 10 long strides.
"You were-"
"Yeah, I was there. Consol Energy Center, Pittsburgh, PA. You were in the dark match at the end of the night in a tag match. You had Seamus up for an FU. I've watched you do that move probably a million times. I knew the exact moment it went wrong. I knew, John because I never stopped thinking about my big brother. I tried to sneak backstage to check on you. I got caught and thrown out of the building. I went to 3 hospitals to see if you were there, and I never found out because I wasn't family according to them. I wanted to come home in December, John. And it really sucks that you wanna throw away everything that we had because you felt left out. I was on my own for 3 years, and I had to grow up really fast. I was just hoping that…at least when you were around, I could try to be a kid who hero worshipped her big brother again."
"Shorty, I..I'm so sorry." The tears that Rion'd been trying to ignore in John's eyes finally fell…only 2 fell, but they were enough to erase any ire left in her system against him. She gave him a watery smile.
"You called me Shorty." She finally let her own tears fall and climbed into his arms hugging her big brother as tight as she could around his neck. "I'm sorry too, John. Are we good?"
John pulled back to look into his surrogate sister's eyes. "We were never bad, Kid."
