A/N: Well folks this is the end, the final chapter of DFTB. Thank you for the reviews, they have meant a lot. I can't believe this story is at it's end. When I originally started this a few years ago there wasn't much interest but upon taking it down, reworking it and reposting it there has been so many nice things said. I never thought it would evolve into this.
This is bitter sweet for me as I have enjoyed writing this story so much but I am happy that I can finally end it. I hope you have all enjoyed it.
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Disclaimer: I own nothing but the OC's.
The song is 'Never Gonna Be Alone' by Nickelback.
Chapter 35: Forever & Ever.
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I was still sitting with Maryse in the Diva locker room, catching up. She had been filling me in on everything that had happened since I had taken time off.
"Nattie and I were going over some things with her wedding planner. She needs to know if you plan on changing your hair again after the baby is born so she can put together bridesmaid colours or something. She is beginning to go Bridezilla on us." She laughed.
"Oh my." I giggled running my hand through my long blonde hair.
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Since I had become pregnant I had stopped dying my hair which was weird. I had had red hair since I was seventeen, being back to my natural colour was weird, but at least it amused Randy. He would always bring up the 'Dumb Blonde' thing.
"I can't believe Nattie's getting married." I said.
"Tell me about it. I still can't believe you're married." Maryse turned to me "And for a year now. Everyone is becoming so boring." she said as she nudged me.
I still couldn't believe it myself. This very day last year I became a wife, I married the love of my life.
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Flashback
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"Where are my shoes?" I yelled as I ran about the room, throwing cushions about the place.
"Roxanne, calm down. They'll be here somewhere." My aunt Kathy said.
"I can't calm down. I'm getting married in less than an hour and I can't find my shoes!" I said in a panicked tone.
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Suddenly the door flew open and Maryse rushed in with a pair of white stilettos in her hand.
"I found them, I found them. They were in the kitchen under Nattie's big bag of crap." She said handing them to me then shooting off again in the same manner she had arrived in. With the shoes now in my possession, I rushed up the stairs to my bedroom.
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I slipped my foot into the shoe and stood upright taking a good look at myself in the mirror.
The dress was beautiful, long, white and fitted. The top part was corseted and sprinkles with a few sparkling diamonds. It emphasised my figure beautifully and came out at the hips slightly before flowing to the ground elegantly. My red hair was curled and pinned at the back of my head, slightly to the side with a few curls cascading down my neck and my fringe was side swept. My make up was light and simple, with dark eye shadow and eye liner to accentuate my big, blue eyes. On top of my head was a tiara with a veil attached and currently hanging down the back of my hair.
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"You look beautiful Petal." A voice spoke from the doorway.
I turned to see my father, dressed in a charcoal suit with red cravat and handkerchief. He moved towards me and kissed me gently on the forehead before wiping a few tears from his eyes. He turned me back towards the mirror before taking something from his pocket and reaching around my neck.
I brought my hand up to my neck where sat a simply white gold pendant with a butterfly hanging from it. I held it tightly as I tried to blink away the tears. My dad had bought it for my mother the first year they were married. He had kept it all these years after her death, one of the many memories he hung on to.
"I thought it was only right you should have it today." He said sadly as he stoked me arm.
"Thank you." I whispered, trying my hardest not to break down.
"I wish she could be here."
"Petal, she is here. She is always with you. Your mother loved a good wedding, there is no way she would miss her own daughter's." He said with another kiss to my temple.
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We stood in silence for a few moments before Aunt Kathy yelled up the stairs that the cars were here.
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My father led me down the stairs as my aunts, cousins and friends gasped and welled up. They all told me how amazing I looked, a few even commenting that I looked like my mother.
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We travelled in Bentley's to Belfast Castle where the wedding and reception was taking place. It was a idyllic setting. Shrouded in greenery and full of history. This was surely the perfect venue.
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We arrived and made our way inside. My father kept hold on my hand the entire time as I began to shake with nerves. I stood outside the doors, nervously with my bridesmaids, pageboy and flower girls. Maryse and Nattie dressed in satin crimson coloured dresses with a cream sash around the middle. My cousin's son Darren dressed in a little suit and Alanna and my soon-to-be niece Molly in cream coloured dresses with a red sash.
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The music began to play and the door opened as my bridesmaids set off down the aisle.
"I don't think I can do this." I whispered.
"Sweetheart. Do you love him?" My dad said as he looked at me.
"Yes, with all of my heart. I've never loved anyone like I love him, ever." I replied looking him in the eyes.
"But, what if I'm not a good wife?"
"Nonsense. He knows you. He won't expect anything more than what you are. That boy is crazy about you. And I know I was never a fan of you being together but you two were made to be together." He smiled giving my hand a gentle squeeze and pulled my veil over my face as the bridal march sounded and we started our walk down the aisle.
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I looked at all the people in attendance, our families, friends and even the McMahon's had come to join us on our special say. I began to feel self conscious with all these eyes on me. So I kept my eyes focused a head of me. I kept my gaze on him. As I saw him standing at the alter with his grooms men, a smile broke out across my face. He looked so handsome in his suit. He brought a hand up to his face and discreetly wiped away a few tears as I approached him.
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We reached the alter and my father handed me over, kissing me on the forehead and trying to hold back a few tears of his own.
We stood side by side, hand in hand as the priest began the service.
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It came to the vows. We had written our own, he unfolded a piece of paper from his pocket and began.
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"Roxanne. You are my everything. Without you my life would be empty, worthless. You are so smart, kind, sweet and amazing. You light up a room every time I see you. Our life together has been a bumpy one, there have been many up's and downs, but now we stand here today, having come through it all. I pledge today that I will love you forever. I will do everything in my power to make sure you are happy and safe for the rest of your life. I love you Roxanne." He whispered the end bit as he began to cry a little.
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I blinked away the tears that were building in my eyes as I began my vows.
"When I think of love, I think of you. When I think of my future, I think of you. There is no one on this earth I would rather be with. You mean the world to me. There isn't a word strong enough to describe how I feel about you, love just isn't enough. You are every breath in my body, every beat of my heart belongs to you. We have been on a long journey, it wasn't always pleasant but it brought us to where we are today, standing here before God and our families, pledging our love to one another. I promise that I will love you for the rest of my life, or until Johnny Depp returns my calls. I joke. Who needs Captain Jack Sparrow as their ship mate when I've got you. My soul mate. Forever and ever." I croaked as I let the tears flow down my cheeks, I didn't care about my make up any more. It wasn't important.
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The ceremony went on, the priest asked if anyone objected... there was silence. I breathed a sigh of relief. Apparently Phil was not at all happy when he heard I was getting married and had ranted that he ought to crash the wedding and ruin it. Luckily it seemed he was all talk.
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"Roxanne, do you take Stephen Farrelly to be your husband? Do you promise to be true to him in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, to love him and honour him all the days of your life? "
"I do." I beamed.
"Stephen, do you take Roxanne Siobhan Finlay to be your wife? Do you promise to be true to her in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, to love her and honour her all the days of your life? "
"I do." He said as he smiled and looked me square in the eyes.
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We exchanged rings as the priest declared us husband and wife. I began crying tears of joy upon hearing those words. Stephen held my hand tightly, stroking the back with his thumb.
"I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss your bride."
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Stephen pulled me close, wiping a few tears as he planted a sweet yet passionate kiss on my lips.
Everyone clapped and I cried again. I had never felt such joy in my life.
At our reception it all still felt so surreal, like a dream. My father said some beautiful words before breaking down in tears which left everyone choked up too, it was rare to see such a quiet, strong willed man cry.
After the speeches Stephen and I made our way to the dancefloor for our first dance as husband and wife.
'Never Gonna Be Alone' By Nickelback began to play through the speakers as Stephen wrapped his arms around me.
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Time, is going by, so much faster than I,
And I'm starting to regret not spending all of it with you.
Now I'm, wondering why, I've kept this bottled inside,
So I'm starting to regret not telling all of it to you.
So if I haven't yet, I've gotta let you know,
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I looked deep into his green eyes as the lyrics echoed in the background, I thought about how far we had come, how much we had been through to end up back in each other's arms.
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You're never gonna be alone from this moment on.
If you ever feel like letting go, I won't let you fall.
You're never gonna be alone. I'll hold you 'til the hurt is gone.
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Stephen mouthed along with the lyrics as he smiled softly at me, his eyes telling me everything he wanted me to know.
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And now, as long as I can, I'm holding on with both hands,
'Cause forever I believe that there's nothing I could need but you.
So if I haven't yet, I've gotta let you know,
You're never gonna be alone from this moment on.
If you ever feel like letting go, I won't let you fall.
When all hope is gone, I know that you can carry on.
Were gonna take the world on. I'll hold you 'til the hurt is gone.
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I felt my heart flutter as I saw how much he loved me. The man had waited years for me to realise what he had known all along - we were meant to be together.
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You've gotta live every single day,
Like it's the only one, what if tomorrow never comes?
Don't let it slip away,
Could be our only one, you know it's only just begun.
Every single day,
Maybe our only one, what if tomorrow never comes,
Tomorrow never comes?
Time, is going by, so much faster than I,
And I'm starting to regret not telling all of this to you.
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He pulled me closer to him and laid my head on his chest as he whispered in my ear "I love you Roxx. Forever and Ever Sweet Pea!" I smiled softly replying with, "I love you too and I'm holding you to that promise." before I pulled his face down to meet mine for a sweet, loving kiss.
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You're never gonna be alone from this moment on.
If you ever feel like letting go, I won't let you fall.
When all hope is gone, I know that you can carry on.
We're gonna take the world on. I'll hold you 'til the hurt is gone.
I'm gonna be there all of the way.
I won't be missing one more day.
I'm gonna be there all of the way.
I won't be missing one more day.
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End of Flashback.
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Now here we were one year later, happily married and expecting our first child. Things had come full circle for the pair of us.
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There was a time when I knew this is exactly where we would end up, when we were together for those five years I always imagined that I'd end up Mrs. Farrelly but then so much happened and we separated, I met Randy and fell in love and got pregnant with Eva. Although I did love Randy, we were never going to work out. We were already starting to show strains on our relationship when I found I was pregnant. I think the only reason we stayed together was for the baby. We have discussed this and both come to the conclusion we were never going to have a future, I guess that's why we can be such good friends now.
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Although saying all that I never regret Ellie. She is my daughter and always will be and I'm grateful to Randy for giving her to me, a reason that I will always love him in some sense.
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All these years I had been trying to convince myself I didn't love Stephen any more, that I had moved on when I hadn't. I was still crazy about him. That day I sat in my dad's house going through all those memories, all the feelings I had been bottling up inside came flowing out. I was head over heels for the man, always had been. He was the love of my life and nothing was ever going to change that.
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The hardest part of it all was not rushing into his arms and declaring how I felt. I knew that my dad had been right, I had jumped into relationships too quickly, so I needed to give myself a break. I couldn't tell Stephen I loved him until I was positive that these feelings were real and not just induced my the memories.
Then one night, while we were out at a club Stephen confessed again that he loved me. He never asked me to get back together with him, he just wanted to let me know that no matter what he would always be there for me whether it was as a friend or more. That's when I blurted out that I loved him too. I told him the whole story. How he was the love of my life, etc.
We decided to try again. A few weeks later he proposed. He said the he had waited so long to have me back in his arms and he didn't want to waste any more time. I couldn't have agreed more. Three months later on Valentine's Day, we got married. And a few months after that we found we were pregnant. This is what Stephen had always said would happen. We would get married, have babies and live happily ever after. He was right. Though I'll never admit that. Much like his new best buddy my dad, he would gloat til the end of time.
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I looked at the monitor as the triple threat match ended and Stephen, Randy and Christian made their way backstage. I bid goodbye to Maryse, promising to catch up with her later as I waddled my way down the hallway to find my husband.
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I knocked on the door and Randy appeared. He smiled at me before yelling to the rest of the room. "Everyone we've got a female on the premises, cover yourselves up." Once everyone was decent he opened the door to allow me to enter. I saw Stephen standing at a locker with his back to me. I walked over and slipped my arm around his waist before putting on an American accent and speaking.
"Hey hot stuff, do you come here often?"
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He turned around startled before a smile spread across his face.
"Roxx! Baby what are you doing here?" He asked throwing his strong arms around me and pulling me close before pulling back with a look of worry on his face. "Is everything Ok?"
"Yes, everything is fine. I thought I would surprise you."
"I was actually going to get the red eye to Florida to surprise you." He laughed. "Happy Anniversary Sweet Pea." He smiled as he leaned down and kissed me sweetly.
One Month Later
17th March.
Dublin, Ireland.
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"I hate you so much." I screamed throwing a plastic cup across the room.
"Roxxi, please. You're going to kill me."
"That's the idea." I snapped.
"Sweet Pea..."
"Don't you 'Sweet Pea' me. This is all your fault." I cried.
"Petal, don't you think you're being a little harsh?" My dad spoke from his chair a safe distance away from me.
"Don't you start. You men are all the same. A big bunch of useless idiots. You should all be castrated at birth." The two men began to chuckle before I hurled a pillow at them.
"Don't laugh at me. I mean every word of what I say. The entire gender is only good for inflicting pain and hurt." I said before screeching as another contraction hit me.
Stephen bolted across the room and grabbed my hand, rubbing the back of it with his thumb as I tried to get through the pain.
"Do the breathing thing." He said.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I must have been doing it wrong all my life. I don't know how I survived twenty seven years on this earth without you telling me how to breathe." I snapped.
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The contraction passed and I looked to my husband.
"I am so sorry. I don't mean any of it, I don't know why I'm saying these things. Take no notice of me. I love you Sugar Puff."
"I know, I love you too Sweet Pea." He smiled before kissing me.
"Hello, her father is in the room." My dad laughed, scrunching his nose up.
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He seemed to forget that we were a happily married couple and had done a lot more this kissing to get me in this situation. The stork didn't bring this baby, though maybe he would prefer to think that.
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An hour later and the midwife came to tell me that it was time to deliver the baby. I went to the delivery suit with Stephen by my side as my dad sat outside with Stephen's mum Bridget, Natalya, Maryse, John Cena, Randy, Tyson Kidd and Miz who had just arrived.
Stephen and I had planned on having our baby in Ireland so for the past week we had been staying in our home in Dublin. At the same time the WWE had been on their European tour and luckily were in Ireland. Maryse and Nattie would have killed me if they had missed this.
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"Come on Roxanne, you can do it. Give me one last push." The midwife said.
I held onto Stephen's hand and gave one final push as I brought our baby into the world.
My heart began to beat as I didn't hear a sound, memories of Ellie's birth came flooding back and I began to cry. Suddenly a loud cry echoed around the room, I looked to Stephen who had a broad smile on his face as the midwife set the little pink bundle on my chest.
"Congratulations, you have a beautiful baby boy."
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I looked down at the tiny naked creature and was overcome with emotion. I timidly stroked his button nose as he opened his eyes slightly. They were a green / blue colour, very big and prominent. I turned to Stephen, he was staring at our son as if he was the most magical thing in the world with tears streaming down his face. I held onto his hand tightly as he sat on the edge of the bed and put his arms around us.
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A short while later I was wheeled back down to my hospital room with my newborn son. He had been cleaned up and dressed in a white baby grow with 'Kiss Me I'm Irish' on the front of it. Quietly my dad and the rest of our friends and family tiptoed into the room. I was holding our son in my arms as everyone crowded round the bed. Stephen took a seat beside me on the bed as he addressed the group.
"Everyone, we would like to introduce you to our son, Dylan Patrick Farrelly."
Everyone cooed over the adorable little red headed baby, my dad had tears in his eyes as he gazed upon his grandson.
After everyone had congratulated us, held Dylan and left, Stephen and I sat on the bed with his arm around me as we looked down on the infant sleeping peacefully in my arms.
I couldn't believe he was here. That I finally had a child. After all the heartache I had felt over losing Ellie, I never thought this day would come. I kept my eyes on my son, taking in every inch of his perfect form, his tiny fingers, chubby cheeks, etc.
"He's perfect." I whispered.
"So.. you've changed your mind about all of the male gender being castrated at birth?" He smirked.
"Hush you." I smiled, "Dylan is a special case, he's to cute. You, Randy, Cena and the rest of the male population on the other hand..." I chuckled as he feigned a hurt look.
"I'm kidding of course. Stay on my good side and I'll never have to use my 'special scissors'."
"Roxanne, you know your humour is the real reason I married you." Stephen said.
"Yep, and your milky skin is the only reason I married you. I love white chocolate!" I giggled.
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"I feel like he's going to disappear, like this is all too good to be true." I whispered.
"I feel the same way. I've never been as happy as I am right now."
"Me neither. I can't believe this is real." I said stroking Dylan's chubby hand.
"It is." Stephen said looking at me. "I love you Sweet Pea."
"I love you too Stephen." I replied as I held my breath, returning my gaze to the sleeping baby.
He kissed me on the temple and whispered into my ear,
"Don't Forget To Breathe!"
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The End?
Well my friends, we have come to the end. I want to take this time and thank each and everyone of you for Reviewing, Favouriting, Alerting and whatnot. All your feedback has meant a lot to me and has had an impact on the story. I hope you have all enjoyed our journey together. Please leave a review and let me know what your thoughts are on the ending and also the story as a whole. It would be lovely to see what you all think now it is complete. Once again thank you for reading, you are all amazing!
Roxxi =)