Sorry this one took a little while to get out, I wanted it to be perfect and I am finally happy enough with it to post. Going home in the next chapter, currently writing some more Shield interaction! Hope you enjoy :)
Chapter 11 - Broken Chain
Lara's family home - Chelsea England.
It was the day before Lara's Mom's Funeral. They had been in the UK for five days. He was yet to hear from Renee, he glanced at the clock, 19.00. Taking the plunge he hit call on her number in his phone. He was certain it was going to ring out when she finally answered. "Hello." Jon tried to judge her voice, not easy on one word.
"Hi, you alright?" He asked testing the waters.
"Listen Jon, I should apologise. I was out of line. I'm not saying I fully understand why you felt the need to go with, her, but everything before that. I am sorry." Jon didn't miss the way she said her when speaking about Lara. If he didn't know any better he would be inclined to think she was jealous.
"I came because it was the right thing to do. That and I wanted to keep up my recovery schedule. I wanna get better and Lara is the person that is gonna get me there. For that reason, were she goes I go. I'm sorry too." He explained, a silence on the other end.
"How is she?" Renee asked genuinely.
"Not great, I think shes the strong one in her family, so she is trying to keep everyone elses spirits up... but I'm pretty certain she will crash and burn."
"Poor girl, I can't imagine what shes going through, did Susie show up?"
"Who?" Jon asked confusingly.
"Her girlfriend..."
"Oh, no. She couldn't get out of work or something." Jon lied, Lara hadn't mentioned Susie, why would she? They were casual friends at best.
A knock at the door followed by "Jon dinner" pulled him from his thoughts.
"Was that Lara?" Renee asked.
"No, Leah. Her sister. I better go. Call you later?"
"Sure, I love you."
"Me too, bye" With that he hung up.
Making his way downstairs just as the doorbell rang. Watching as Lara's Dad walked in front of him to answer it. To say he was surprised about who was on the other side of the door would be an understatement. He realised he was staring but he was beyond shocked. The fact that Lara's Father leaned forward and pulled him into a tight hug confused him even more, "Thanks for coming Son." Paul said, smacking the straight edged man lightly on the back, "Lara." He shouted for his daughter.
"Whats up.." her eyes widened slightly as she observed Punk, "Well aren't you a sight for sore eyes." She flung her arms around him as he held her placing soft kisses on the top of her head.
"I am so sorry L, why didn't you call me?" he questioned her. L? Their familiarity with one another irritating Jon.
"Well I shattered my phone for starters, that and I knew you would come and I knew it would cause problems for you." She shrugged her shoulders slightly.
"That would of been for me to worry about, being here for you and your family is the priority." Almost as if he noticed Jon for the first time Punk turned to him, "Hey bro" he offered his hand which Jon shook. "Thank you for being there for her, I'm sure you have realised by now shes stubborn as fuck." This earned a small laugh from Jon and a smack to the arm from Lara.
There was a brief silence before Leah's voice caught there attention, "Dinner, we are waiting for you..." Punk moved over and hugged the older sister, "Good to see you Punky, thanks for coming."
"I wouldn't of missed it, honestly. Chlo was like a Mom to me." With that he followed Leah to the dining room.
"You coming?" Lara asked Jon. He silently followed her, feeling something bubbling in the pit of his stomach he blamed on hunger.
The following day they were all in the lounge of the Lovell family home. Lara had been surprised when Jon had come down in a suit, she was grateful he had gone to the effort for her Mom. She had worn a navy wrap dress with a pair of black wedges, her hair pulled back into a loose braid. Making her way outside for a cigarette she found Jon already out there. "You doing okay?" he asked her.
"For now, it just doesn't seem real, ya know? My Mom is gone. Like really gone." She felt a tear in the corner of her eye and quickly brushed it away with the back of her hand. "I'm supposed to say something, I just don't know if I can."
"That's understandable, you wrote it down?" he asked her, receiving a nod in response. "Okay then, well you do your thing and if at any point you are struggling, give me a nod and I'll come help ya."
"Thank you.. not just for that, for coming and being amazing." she said genuinely, giving his arm a squeeze.
"Cars are here." Leah's voice broke the moment, taking a deep breath Lara stood and brushed imaginary wrinkles out of her dress. It was then she realised her feet weren't moving, feeling Jon's hand on her lower back she allowed him to guild her slowly through the house.
The funeral was underway and it was time for Lara to speak. To say Jon was concerned would of been an understatement, she sat between him and Punk, a blank expression on her face, he hadn't even seen her blink. She rose to her feet and made her way to the podium, clearing her throat. "I want to say something really heartfelt but f I'm honest I'm not sure I would of gotten through that. My Mom is, was," She swallowed hard as she corrected herself. "an amazing woman, she was a Mom to everyone that walked through the door, just the kind of person she was." She caught Punks eye, he offered her a small smile. "So I found this poem, called the Broken Chain and it just felt right, so this is for you Mom." She cleared her throat and began reading from her page. "We little knew that morning that God was going to call your name, in life we loved you dearly; in death we do the same. It broke our hearts to lose you, you did not go alone. For part of us went with you, the day God called you home. You left us peaceful memories, your love is still our guide, and though we cannot see you, you are always at our side. Our family chain is broken, and nothing seems the same, But as God calls us one by one, the chain will link again." She put the paper down and dabbed a few tears from her eyes, "At the airport on the way here we met this girl, she comes over to us and told us about how her Mom had died. She read this beautiful letter than her Mom had written for her, and.. and.."Tears were rolling her cheeks now. "I am certain that my Mom sent her to me, I have never been so moved and given such clarity by a few words. Anyway I'll miss you Mom, love you." She almost ran back to her seat, clasping a hand each of Jon and Punk.
"You did great.." Jon whispered.
"Did her proud.." Punk added.
Punk left the following day, Lara had just gotten back from dropping him at the airport when she joined Jon in the garden. "He get off okay?" Jon asked her.
"Yeah, traffic was awful though." She replied taking a seat.
"So whats the story with you two?" He had been wanting to ask her that question for a long time.
"Did he say something?" he shook his head, "It's a long story."
"Then give me the cliff notes.." he laughed a little.
"Okay I'll do you a deal, I will tell you about Punk, but, you have to tell me something I can't google about you." She extended her hand for him to shake, which he accepted. "First."
"So obviously I spoke in promos back in my indie days about my Mom, I mean I love her coz she is my Mom, but everything I said about her is true. I remember this one time I was nine years old. I heard her key in the door, I knew to hide, it was the same every time. She wasn't as desirable with a kid hanging around. I didn't have my own room or nothing so I would hide in the airing cupboard at the top of the stairs." He didn't look at her as he shared his story. "I would get in there and put towels over my head until she would come get me out. Only this one time, the guy just wouldn't leave. I fell asleep eventually and when I woke up, my Mom still hadn't come and gotten me out. I could hear the guys voice shouting at her. The shouting turned to fucking and it went on for two days before he left." He felt Lara take his hand, "She didn't apologise when she came and got me out, I just ran to the kitchen for a drink and a sandwich. She just took her earnings and went out." He shrugged. "That's I think why I spent a lot of years using women. I would hunt for ugly girls, the uglier the better. Now I feel like a dick about it but back then, I treat them like trash. When I met Renee, she was different. She was respectable and kind. As much as I wanted to I just couldn't treat her like shit. She changed a lot after we got married. The WWE started using her more and she became real good friends with Nic and Brie. They are nice girls but Nic especially is so looks obsessed, Renee followed suit. Wont even go to the store for a bottle of milk without a full face on. But yeah, you can't google that... now spill Lovell." Jon looked at her, she was watching him intently.
"So Punk, I met him when I was eighteen. Colt Cabana scouted me from a local promotion to join his Wrestling School. It was good, Punk was a guest Trainer. I didn't have a lot to do with him to be honest, just said hi in passing and whatever. I was there for like two years. Then my parents left. I didn't wanna go, I was a good Wrestler and opportunities were not in the UK. So Colt offered me a job as a Trainer at the School. It was awesome, I earned just enough to pay for a one bed apartment by the School. I would Wrestle for two promotions also and the money from those paid for food and expenses. This is the time I became good friends with Punk, his Schedule at the time was crazy, he was home only one day a week most of the time. After a while he suggested I move into his house, it made sense. I looked after his dog and kept the place clean. Cooked for him when he was home, did laundry and shit. So he would call me his wifey. Everyone at the School thought we were together, people in our neighbourhood thought we were together, my family thought we were together. After maybe six months we went on a date, then we got serious. I was so in love with him, I started travelling with him when I could. I was Wrestling a lot in the Indies and I was being noticed. Through Punk and Colt I faught guys as well as the girls I was pitted against, I was pretty good. Our relationship was incredible, he had gotten his big push in WWE. We were on top of the world. When I got called up for development it was the perfect time. We had all these amazing plans of what we were gonna do." She paused a lit a cigarette, offering him one which he accepted.
"Thanks" he lit his own and motioned for her to continue.
"He told me to deny Sasha a match. He said she wasn't ready, I diidn't listen. I just saw someone that needed a chance and plenty of people had given me chances, I was returning the gestures. I remember him ebing there when I got out of surgery, he looked disappointed. He never said I told you so but I felt like he thought it. I became scared of wrestling, I encouraged him to take time off, I said to keep me company, but in reality I didn't want someone I cared about putting themselves at risk. He obviously twigged on to that, he is a clever guy. He was gonna take early retirement. For me. He loved Wrestling, it was his life. So I took the decision from him. My neck was almost healed, I had started my Degree at this point. He came home and I told him I didn't love him anymore. I did, my heart was breaking, but I couldn't let him give up his dream, his life, because I was afraid. I didn't see him for over a year after that. My Mom invited him to Leah's wedding. We spoke and I was honest about everything, he was dating Amy at this point. He seemed happy, but one thing led to another and we slept together, not my finest moment. He left the following day, I didn't see him again until early 2015, he had married April. I was invited but politely declined, I couldn't watch him marry someone else. He came over here for my parents anniversary party. We slept together, again not my finest moment. Then he left and I didn't speak to him for two years. I started working for UFC, I got Punk, it was an awkward three months. April didn't like me. That was hard, I didn't want her to like me, I didn't really care to be honest, but it made Phil's recovery difficult. The time was good for us though, we cemented a friendship, and while I will always love him, I'm not in love with him anymore."
Jon pulled her into a hug, he had listened to everything she had said and he had shared something with her he had never really told anybody. He looked down at her, her eyes meeting his. His eyes flicked to her lips, almost like they were magnets pulling him in, he moved a little closer, she noticed this her pulse rate increasing, "You don't wanna do that Jon..." She whispered, not making any attempt to move away from him.
"See that's the problem, I really do..." with that he closed the gap, his lips meeting hers, his hand coming up to cup her cheek, their mouths moving against each other in perfect symmetry.
They kissed! eeeeeeeeeek
