Chapter 11
"What can I do for you, Mr. Williams?" She asked, trying to cool herself down, but having a hard time doing so.
"Well maybe an explanation?" He asked, stepping in the room fully, leaning against the wall, hooking his thumbs into the belt loops of his tight blue jean shorts. "You ran out of the cafeteria like a scalded dog honey, what happened?" He was truly concerned about how this woman acted toward him earlier and couldn't stop from wondering what she'd said to him.
"Nothing, I just had a lot of work to get done." She replied nonchalantly, looking over his script since he was in there, and finally slid it across the desk. "This is done for you. I did the changes Vince wanted as far as your return and whatnot." She explained, the professionalism kicking into high gear, and raked a hand through her black hair before moving onto the next one. "Sorry if I offended you, Mr. Williams."
Steve picked it up from the desk, reading through it, his blue eyes reading the lines carefully. Finally nodding, he offered a half grin. He cleared his throat, studying Nicoya thoughtfully, and couldn't help himself any longer. "What'd ya mean by 'if I knew who ya were, I'd hate ya'?" He asked curiously.
Nicoya froze as she swallowed hard, stopping in mid writing, and mentally cursed her mouth for running away with her. She looked over at Alyssa, who was busy coloring, and sighed with relief before finally looking up to meet Steve's eyes. "It doesn't matter anymore, Mr. Williams. It was a long time ago and I really don't want to get into it." She stated, finally managing to drop the pen that was in her hand, and scrubbed her face with her hand in frustration. This work load was going to kill her, especially now that both rosters were clashed together again.
Steve arched an eyebrow at her, wondering if this woman was off her damned rocker. "Honey, beg to differ, but if somehow along the line our paths crossed and I did somethin', rubbed ya the wrong way, I'd like to know." He said gently, but in a firm tone, his eyes mirroring it.
"It's sad that you can't even remember or even recognize me, Steve." She finally said bitterly, deciding she'd had enough, and snapped her fingers. "Alyssa, get ready now. We're leaving." She ordered, no room for argument in her voice, and unplugged her laptop hastily from the wall, wrapping the cord up. "If you don't even remember who I am then there's really no point in you knowing, Mr. Williams. Now if you'll excuse me, my daughter and I are getting ready to leave for the evening."
Steve blocked her path, preventing her from leaving. "Look, Ms. Harris, I'm really sorry, but when ya take as many knocks as I have, it's rather hard to remember every face. Even one as pretty as yers." He studied her thoughtfully, obviously trying to place her. For the life of him, he couldn't do it. "We didn't date or anythin' did we?"
"No, that would be pretty sick, especially since we used to be related." She replied evenly, no humor in her tone of voice, and stared back into his blue eyes before tearing her gaze away, sighing deeply, and placed her laptop in her case, zipping it up. She'd already said too much and knew she was either going to end up going off on him or just flat out telling him the truth about who she was.
"Used to be related?" Steve echoed her words, raking a hand over his bald head, and looked more confused than ever before now. The wheels in Steve's mind were obviously going a mile a minute now, some sort of slow comprehension dawning in his eyes.
"Huh? Related?" Alyssa echoed along with Steve. "How were you related?" She asked eagerly, obviously she'd been paying attention to the conversation. "MOM! How are you guys related?" Alyssa pressed when her mother didn't answer her right away, too intrigued to pull back now.
"Alyssa, don't worry about it." Nicoya stated, staring down at her daughter hardening, and pointed to the rest of her toys. "Pack up. We're leaving now." She ordered, turning her back to Steve, and grabbed the paperwork off of her desk, stuffing it in her briefcase with her laptop.
Alyssa stared at Steve openly before packing her own toys up, letting her mother pull her from the room when she was ready. "Mom, who is he? What's going on? Why can't I worry about it?" Her mouth was firing questions left and right at Nicoya, her interest at its highest by now.
"Because it was a long time ago, Alyssa. He's not even apart of my family anymore." Nicoya reasoned with her daughter, dragging her down the hallway, and groaned when Alyssa stopped. She picked her up and kept on walking, her heels clicking against the arena floor rapidly, and headed toward her car. "No more questions about it, Alyssa Marie. You're giving your mother a headache."
Steve watched them walk away, leaning against the wall, shaking his head and muttered to himself, "Crazy ass woman…" The gears in his head were spinning, trying to think of who she could be, and decided he had to get to the bottom of this before it drove him nuts.
"Yeah, but I finally get to hear something interesting and you're telling me not to worry about it." Alyssa grumbled, her eyes widening indignantly when Nicoya clamped a hand over her mouth, but continued talking on anyway.
Sighing heavily, Nicoya shook her head as she placed her daughter in the car, buckling her up, and got in the driver's side before peeling out of there. She turned on the radio while her daughter kept ranting, groaning, already feeling a headache coming on. "He's nobody you need to worry about now clamp it shut, Alyssa Marie!" Nicoya shouted, finally having enough, and stopped at a red light.
Alyssa crossed her arms over her chest, staring out the window. "You always tell me not to worry about things." She muttered angrily. "Can we at least stop somewhere for something to eat? I didn't get breakfast or lunch today." She rubbed her poor, growling stomach.
"We'll get something to eat at the hotel." She told her daughter, mentally cursing herself again for not taking care of her, and sighed heavily as she shook her head. They arrived a few minutes later as Nicoya put the car in park and walked up the back staircase of the hotel, her bag over her shoulder, and headed up to their room, already having the key card. "Come on, we'll order some good stuff and watch a movie."
"Oh boy." Alyssa muttered sarcastically, falling backwards when she overshot the next step, and found nothing, automatically panicking. "Mom!" She screeched, falling back.
"Got you." John said, having been behind them, though he hadn't been following, just returning from a workout in the gym, catching Alyssa before she could topple.
Nicoya gasped when she seen her daughter almost fall and immediately ran down the stairs, dropping everything, and snatched her away from John's arms, holding her close. "Are you okay, baby girl?" She instantly asked, worry evident in her voice, and ran her hands over her arms and face, making sure nothing happened. She pressed a hand over her heart as it beat furiously in her chest before lifting her up in her arms, backing away from John, not sure what to say as she held Alyssa close.
"Mom, mom, mom…I'm alright." Alyssa assured her, scowling slightly, though she still looked really shaken up from almost falling.
John raked a hand through his hair, hi eyes fastened on them. "Good thing I was there." He said, no trace of smugness or anything vicious in his tone.
"I coulda went splat." Alyssa agreed solemnly and began trembling as the possibility washed over her.
"Thank you, John." Nicoya softly said, her voice full of appreciation with a hint of confusion mixed in it as she held her daughter tighter to her. "You're definitely going to be the death of me, child." She half joked, trying to stop her heart from beating viciously in her chest, and kissed her head repeatedly as the tears began sliding down her cheeks.
"You're welcome, Julia-" John's blue eyes widened when she flumped back, darting up the steps to catch her, scooping her into his arms.
"Mom?" Alyssa asked nervously, looking up at them, knowing her mom didn't want anything to do with this man even though he was being nice and had saved her.
"You're overworking yourself." John said softly, slowly setting her on her feet, shaking his head with a sigh. "You look stressed." He was pointing out the obvious.
"Um hello? You guys forget I'm here?" Alyssa asked, feeling neglected since it was HER who almost fell to her death, not her mother.
Nicoya pressed the back of her hand to her forehead, trying to blink a little, and stumbled back from him, causing Alyssa to go with her as she pressed her other hand to her shoulder. "Stay away from me, John." She softly stated, shaking herself mentally some more, and looked down at the worried expression on her daughter's face. "I'm fine sweetheart." She assured quietly, gripping the railing of the staircase. "Just go away, Cena. I'm fine, I don't want nor need your assistance." Her voice grew cold, not forgetting what he almost did earlier to her in her office that night at the arena. If her daughter hadn't gotten Mark when she had…Nicoya didn't even want to think about what might have happened.
John's eyes widened for a moment before nodding, brushing past them. Though he reached out to pat Alyssa's head. "Stay safe, kid." He grunted, his footsteps echoing on the steps as he hurried up to his hotel room.
"Mom…come on." Alyssa tugged on her hand. "Let's just get to our room. Then you can breakdown." She hugged her mother tightly, still terrified from what just happened.
"I'm not going to breakdown, Alyssa." Nicoya assured her, though she already knew it was going to happen after her daughter was asleep that night as the headed up the rest of the staircase. Once inside, Nicoya immediately sent Alyssa to change into her pajamas while Nicoya kicked her heels off and ordered them some food. Along with some well deserved ice cream for her daughter. She then changed into a sky blue nightgown that was spaghetti strapped and went just above her knees, hugging her every curve, and her black hair was down. "Aly, what movie did you wanna watch, sweetheart?" She called out from the front room.
"Um…" Alyssa was in her bedroom, changing into her pajamas, having no intention of getting a bath if she could possibly avoid it. She walked out, pulling down her top over her belly and grinned, showing off her fuzzy slippers. "Garfield?" She suggested, a movie she watched as often as humanely possible.
"Again?" Nicoya groaned out loud and sighed heavily as she raked a hand through her hair. She suddenly remembered needing to give Alyssa a bath and stood up from the bed, knowing she wouldn't like this. "You need a bath, Alyssa Marie and if you argue with me, no ice cream." She threatened, crossing her arms in front of her chest, and dared her daughter to defy her.
Alyssa groaned just like her mother, not wanting to take a bath. "I almost have a near death experience and now you're trying to drown me?" She whined, sighing under the look she received before heading towards the bathroom. "Can I at least have a Sprite?" She asked hopefully, halting in the bathroom doorway.
"Get your butt in that tub while I go get it." She ordered, compromising somewhat with her daughter, and smirked when Alyssa stuck her tongue out at her before starting the water. Nicoya sighed as she slipped on her black robe that went to her knees and tied it before grabbing a dollar and her key card, heading out of the room. She closed the door behind her and went down to the pop machine to grab the Sprite Alyssa asked for.
Mark was staring at the vending machine, not in the mood for coffee or water, which is what was in his room's fridge. His normal drinks though tonight he needed something not so bitter. Something to go with his Jack Daniels. He sighed, flexing his back and winced, wearing nothing, but a pair of black pajama bottoms. Fresh out of a very interesting shower. He'd discovered he couldn't let water anywhere NEAR his back and had to even keep it on a semi-cold temperature. It hurt him WAY too much to put it on even Luke warm. "Hello darlin'." He greeted when he heard someone behind him, turning around quickly to see Nicoya.
"Hi, Mark." She greeted softly, raking a hand through her black hair, and took a dollar out of her robe pocket, sliding it into the machine, and pressed the Sprite button. She cringed when Mark winced, knowing his back hurt, and felt that guilt gnawing at her insides again, but pushed it aside. She'd dealt with enough shit that day and just wanted to get back to her room with her daughter and fall asleep crying after Alyssa went to sleep. She bent down and retrieved the pop from the machine, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, and sighed again.
Mark heard her sigh and couldn't help himself. He took a quick glance at her ass. Very nice. He put his own money into the machine when she stepped away, getting himself a Coke. "You look like you had a rough night, darlin'." He commented softly, reaching out to absentmindedly push a stray lock of hair back away from her face.
"I did…" She admitted softly, biting her bottom lip, and stared back into his emerald green eyes, holding the cold Sprite in her hand. "How's your back?" She quietly asked, crossing her one arm in front of her chest, right under her breasts, the robe clinging to every curve of her body like her nightgown did.
"Nothin' I can't handle." Mark replied, trying not to become distracted by the sudden view, finding Nicoya very attractive. Though it was easy not to think about it with her firecracker daughter around. "What happened? The guys give you a hard time tonight?"
"You could say that." She replied, raking a hand through her hair, and decided not to mention anything to Mark about John catching Alyssa before she fell down the staircase, since there was a hole in it. "Just keep that burn ointment on and take cold showers for the next few days. It shouldn't take anymore than a week to heal." She assured him softly, the guilt in her eyes, and sighed as she closed her eyes, feeling sick to her stomach. "I'm so sorry about that, Mark. I honestly didn't mean to do that." She quietly apologized again.
Mark arched an eyebrow, personally wondering just how the Hell he was supposed to apply the ointment before mentally reminding himself that's what the trainers were for. Might as well make them earn their keep right? "Don't worry 'bout it, Nico. Accidents happen." He said just as quietly, raking a hand through his damp hair. "The angel asleep?"
"No, actually she's in the tub." She smiled a little at the thought of her daughter not liking baths particularly, and waved the Sprite in his vision. "She demanded I get her one or else she wasn't taking her bath." She rolled her eyes and sighed in mock exasperation. "We're gonna watch Garfield." She groaned. "For the umpteenth time." She raked a hand through her hair, shaking her head. "That kid needs to get a new favorite movie cause I'm not sure if I can watch it again without breaking the DVD in half."
Mark cocked his head to the side, arching an eyebrow. "Garfield? Ain't that a comic strip?" He asked curiously. "When'd they make that into a movie?"
Nicoya started laughing at the look on his face and shook her head, patting him on the arm. "If you want, you can come watch it with us. They made it two years ago I think." She was still giggling, not believing the priceless look on his face, and thought it was adorable. "It's up to you though, Mark. Though, I'm sure Alyssa would love to see her hero again." She smirked, crossing her arms in front of her chest.
Mark rolled his eyes at that. "Ya ever goin' to quit harassin' me bout that woman?" He demanded gruffly, though there was a twinkle in his green eyes. "I don't know…I don't want to intrude on yer time with her. I know ya get precious little as it is."
"You're not intruding, but if you don't want too, I'm not going to force you." She smiled back at him reassuringly, patting his arm, and winked. "If you change your mind, the offer is still on the table. Have a good night, Mark." She then walked away from him, Sprite in hand, and hoped her daughter hadn't flooded the bathroom again.
Mark watched her walk away and shook his head before slipping back into his own room, which was right by the vending machine, forgetting about his drink all of a sudden.