Chapter 7

Halfway to the arena, Kinsley received a call from her Aunt asking to join her for lunch. They hadn't spent a lot of time together since Kinsley joined the company and Renee felt guilty about it. Working for the same company didn't mean they had free time to catch up since both were incredibly busy with their positions in WWE. Learning commentary in such a short span of time wasn't easy and Renee had to spend a lot of her time prepping for interviews, mainly remembering lines and practicing.

"Come on, there's a cute local deli down the street from the arena with sandwiches and stuff. We can stop there, grab a quick bite to eat and jet to the arena afterwards." Renee inveigled, already waiting at the deli and knew her niece couldn't resist joining her. "I don't wanna eat all by my lonesome, Kins."

Did Jon call Renee after she specifically asked him not to? This was too coincidental and Kinsley vowed to strangle the Lunatic Fringe if he didn't keep quiet about what happened with Seth Rollins. Kinsley sighed at her Aunt's entreaty, hoping she wasn't walking into a trap and this was simply a friendly lunch with her Aunt.

"Fine, give me the address."

Renee squealed excitedly, quickly rattling off the address and they hung up once Kinsley had the location in her GPS. The rental vehicle came with it. A few minutes later, Kinsley pulled into the deli Renee told her about and shut the ignition off, not getting out right away. She was still somewhat shook up by her confrontation with Seth Rollins and his promise of continuing it later on sent shivers of dread down her spine. The last thing Kinsley wanted to do was succumb to the likes of Seth Rollins, but he was high on the totem pole of WWE currently.

So was Jon and Joe, however.

In fact, the plan for Royal Rumble in January was to have Joe win it since he'd been screwed over the previous year due to Dave Bautista returning for a brief amount of time. Kinsley did her research thoroughly and didn't think it was right to pass over such a hardworking man for Hollywood scum. Luckily, Bautista was now gone back to Hollywood and Joe's opportunity was on the horizon. Maybe Maura could help her deal with Seth Rollins somehow, Kinsley thought, taking a deep breath before stepping out of her rental to walk inside the deli.

Renee spotted her niece instantly, waving her over and they embraced tightly, Kinsley holding on just a little tighter to her Aunt than normal. She didn't seem to notice, both taking their seats and ordered beverages to start off while sifting through the menu. Kinsley ordered a half lemonade, half iced tea while Renee stuck with a cherry limeade.

"So, how are you liking the company? Everyone treating you right?" Renee asked, stirring the straw in her drink with a smile.

It was an innocent question and Kinsley maintained her calm demeanor, nodding with a smile of her own. "Yes, Auntie. No problems thus far and everyone seems really nice." She lied smoothly, leaning back against the chair and looked around the deli, admiring how cozy it felt.

"Good. If anyone bothers you, though, you need to come to me immediately. Some of the people we work with can be a little…rambunctious at times and I don't want you feeling uncomfortable." Renee voiced her concerns, wanting to do it before any more time passed by. "I promised my sister I would take care of her little girl."

Rebecca was an incredible mother with a heart of gold and married to a wonderful man, Marvin, having 4 children between them. They met shortly after Rebecca's divorce from Kinsley's father, Daniel, who took off and now lived in Hawaii with a bleach blonde bimbo. Marvin was Rebecca's divorce attorney and he fell in love with her throughout the 2 year proceedings, finally asking her out the moment her divorce from Daniel was finalized. Kinsley was 4 years old when her father took off, so she thought of Marvin as her actual father and simply referred to Daniel as a sperm donor. Marvin had one child, Malcolm, when they first started dating and Rebecca had Kinsley and her older sister, Reba. It took a while for the kids to adjust to everyone, but eventually they all became one big happy family. Then, Rebecca ended up becoming pregnant at age 40 and they brought little Hayden into the world, who was turning 5 in a couple months. Somehow Rebecca and Marvin managed to love their children equally, but Hayden was special to their heart since he was the only one created by both of them.

"Mom worries too much, you know that." Kinsley pointed out, raising her hands when their salads were placed in front of them. It was the start since Renee and Kinsley had ordered the lunch deluxe meal that included a foot-long sandwich, salad, pasta salad, chips and drink. "God, I can't believe Hay-Hay is turning 5 soon. It's hard to believe."

"Is he really?" Renee blinked, not realizing how old her youngest nephew was and shook her head. "That's crazy. I remember when Becky called and announced she was pregnant with him. I couldn't believe it and I think Marv was in shock."

"Hell, he was in shock in the delivery room and ended up passing out." Kinsley giggled at the memory of catching her step-father when he collapsed in the room and she had to take over holding her mother's hand. "After seeing Mom give birth, that made me decide I don't want kids."

That saddened Renee because they came from such a huge family and she wanted the same for all of her nieces and nephews. For some reason, she was closest with Kinsley out of everyone in the family, even Rebecca, and Renee chalked it up to them growing up together since they were only 6 months apart in age. They always had a special connection and now that Kinsley worked for the same company as Renee, it would only grow stronger. She hoped eventually Kinsley changed her mind about having children because Renee wanted that more than anything. She just had to find the right man to make it happen first.

"Anyway, your Mom called me last night asking about you since you haven't contacted her. So you might wanna give her a jingle tonight after the show, if it's not too late."

Kinsley frowned, feeling guilty for neglecting her mother and nodded, taking a bite out of her salad. "I told her it would be a week before I called because I wanted to get acclimated to everything. I'll call her though, I promise."

"She just wants to know you're safe and happy, sweetie. That's all." Renee winked, trying to ease her niece's mind a little and sipped her cherry limeade. "And I'll try to give you more attention now that we're in the same company."

"Auntie…"

"No, I mean it. My job is a lot harder than people realize. I have to memorize countless lines and practice because once we're live, there's no fucking up. I can't stumble over my words or anything. They want a perfectionist and so far I think I've done a good job, but I want to be better. That doesn't give me the right to neglect my family though. So I promise, we'll spend more time together and do this at least once a week, possibly twice." Renee hoped Kinsley realized she wasn't ignoring her on purpose, but while on the road her job had to come first.

Reaching across the table, Kinsley took Renee's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze, smiling warmly. "I admire your work ethic, Auntie. And I'm not worried about us spending time together. Hell, if I'm gonna be on television with millions of people hearing my voice on a weekly basis, I really have to step my game up and focus on becoming a perfectionist myself. I won't settle for anything less than 100% and neither will the WWE. So there will be times I'll have to decline your offers to go out to eat and I hope you don't take it personally."

Renee could not have been prouder of her niece, heart swelling with love and admiration. "No wonder we get along so well." She chuckled, remembering Rebecca referring to her sister and daughter as twins at one point because Renee and Kinsley had the same thought process. "As long as you don't take offense to me saying no, we're good."

"Deal."

They clinked their glasses together and finished eating their salads before the plates were taken away to be replaced with their sandwiches, pasta salad and chips on the side. Kinsley could tell something else was on her Aunt's mind, but didn't push the issue. If Renee wanted to talk to her about something, she would bring the subject up and Kinsley could only hope Jon hadn't mentioned anything about Seth Rollins. Renee was a sweet woman with a kind heart and spirit, but the moment someone screwed with any member of her family, she turned into somewhat of a fighter with a lethal right hook.

Halfway through eating, Renee received a text from Jon and Kinsley saw the worry etched in her Aunt's face, swallowing her bite of food before speaking. "Everything alright?" She asked curiously, setting her sandwich down on the plate to give her stomach a small break.

"Yeah, sorry." Renee was a horrible liar, setting her cell phone on the table. "It was just Jon telling me he finished his workout."

"Oh." Kinsley had to keep reminding herself Renee and Jon were together, forgetting about it earlier when he saved her from Seth at the hotel. "You look worried."

Renee couldn't hide anything from her niece and nodded, reluctance flashing in her eyes. "I love the man, but sometimes he doesn't know the limits of his body and he pushes himself too hard." She recalled the last pay-per-view event WWE had – Hell in a Cell – and the wild move that happened in the match, shivering at the memory. "He recently hurt his knee and he won't let the doctors examine it. He keeps telling me its fine, but I know he's lying and working through the pain. It kills me seeing him limping around, but he keeps telling me it's the nature of the business and it'll get better. What if he tore something and he's too stubborn to find out? I just…I just wanna strangle him for not taking care of himself."

The word 'love' registered in Kinsley's mind and it broke her heart because she now knew there was no chance to be with Jon. She had to let the fantasy go and stop thinking about him for the sake of her relationship with her Aunt. Renee was happy, the amount of worry and care in her eyes for Jon crystal clear. Kinsley couldn't hurt her Renee and refused to be a home wrecker, truly happy her Aunt finally someone who completed her.

"Have you talked to him about how you feel?" Kinsley wanted to help her Aunt if possible.

"Countless times, sweetie. He doesn't listen and keeps assuring me he's fine. It's the same shit he pulled a few months ago with his shoulder. He wrestled for over a month with it heavily taped up and every opponent in the ring targeted it. Then he left for 32 days to film a movie for WWE Studios called 'Lockdown' and I'm glad for it because it gave him time to heal the damn shoulder, at least partially." Renee had missed having her best friend on the road during that time, but Jon had called her every day to check in and boasted about how surreal it was to be the main guy in a movie. "I know it's still bothering him, but he won't show weakness."

"If he's injured though, can't the company stop him from getting in the ring?" There had to be some kind of policy preventing the wrestlers and Divas from performing, surely.

A frown crossed Renee's face and she shook her head, lowering her eyes to the table. "Not lately because of so many injuries happening. Daniel Bryan – his actual name is Bryan Danielson – was a huge star in the company until he had to take time off to have surgery on his neck. He came from the Independent circuit like Jon and his body took a beating prior to coming to the WWE. So it was needed, but required him to take time off and he's still gone. It's been months. Then Joe had to have emergency surgery on a hernia and I still can't believe he's traveling with the company after only 2 weeks of recovery time. Fans are itching to see him, but medical staff won't clear him until they feel he's ready to get back in the ring. So there's two top guys the WWE relied on and they are both out right now, so now Jon is taking over for one of those spots. He's overworking his body and I'm afraid it's gonna give out on him one of these days while he's in the ring. I don't want him to get hurt."

All Kinsley could do was nod in agreement, not sure what to say to Jon's stubbornness. Obviously the man thought he could handle wrestling with injuries, but Renee didn't want him doing it. Understandable in Kinsley's eyes considering this was sports-entertainment and most of the moves were choreographed, yet it didn't make them any less hurtful. Every time a wrestler or Diva hit the mat, it was like their body was going through a car crash. Renee couldn't stop Jon from doing what the man wanted and in the end it was his ultimate decision on whether he couldn't handle wrestling injured or not.

They finished lunch, parting ways to drive separately to the arena and Kinsley immediately tracked down Michael Cole and John Layfield. They were friendly enough towards her, though Kinsley didn't appreciate the way Cole spoke to her as if she was a 5 year old child. They went over a few scenarios with her and Layfield was impressed with her knowledge of the business, nailing every move to near perfection. Her voice was a little shaky, but that was too be expected during the trial runs. They gave her a few pointers, mostly how to stem the nerves and told her to keep studying. Layfield wasn't leaving for another month or so, but they hoped to start Kinsley on the broadcast team soon.

Kinsley left the office feeling great about the job, but her mind kept reverting back to what happened at the hotel with Jon and Seth. What was she going to do? Throughout the trial run and meeting with Michael Cole and John Layfield, Kinsley couldn't stop thinking about it. She had to get a grip on her nerves if she planned on sticking around the WWE. Otherwise, she would have to pack her bags and be sent home with a pink slip. Shaking her head, Kinsley forcefully pushed Jon and Seth in the far recesses of her mind, finding a spot near gorilla position to watch Raw from and to continue studying.