Chapter 36 – The Show Goes On
Kimber did decide to watch RAW. She was not surprised to see that Seth seemed a little frazzled-looking, even though he acted like all was going well whenever they were on the phone, she knew their separation was just as hard on him as it was for her. She smiled to see three replays of her announcement, and Seth's proposal, including one of the segment in its entirety, followed by the social media responses from fans and wrestlers alike.
The next morning, she got a call from Stephanie McMahon. WWE wanted her and Seth to do a three-part special on the network, documenting the progression of her pregnancy, and the birth of the baby Kingslayer. Also, her visit to Renee would coincide with a taping of Total Divas. She was going to be offered a contract, guest appearances for the remainder of the current season being taped, and the next one, too. Although she had never wanted to be part of a reality show, especially one that labeled her a diva, at least she wasn't part of the main cast, and she knew it was what was best for her career, because it was best for business. Seth's pregnant fiancee, who had to give up Money in the Bank, who had ruined months of booking and story lines, who was out of action until at least early next summer, was still a draw. The fans were behind her. Kimber actually loved the thought of doing the documentary with Seth. It would allow them time together they may not have had otherwise, and it really made her feel special that so many people in the world saw her as something special, and wanted to share in her journey to motherhood.
Seth agreed, so when they went to her ten-week appointment, the day before she was to fly to Vegas, and he to London, it was in the company of a camera crew. They had been with her the day before Seth arrived, and with him on the road off and on for two days before that, left them alone after documenting his arrival and their reunion, and returned early this morning, ringing the bell at the ungodly hour of four. Kimber was so furious she refused to let them film anything until she and Seth had showered and had breakfast; they had originally wanted to film them waking up, and as a result, she and Seth had gone to bed clothed for the first time in at least a month. She finally extended an olive branch by asking one of the crew to take her ten-week no-bump-yet pic (though her breasts were already stretching out the six red stripes that ran down the right side of the top of her unused ring outfit) and Seth joined her in the shot for the first time since the week seven pic. Afterwards, the couple sat down in the living room, and talked about the pregnancy and their relationship, and how excited they were about hearing the baby's heartbeat in just a little while.
Just a little while later, Kimber was lying on the exam table, giddy with anticipation as the crew set up. She'd already had the rest of her exam, and everything still looked great. Seth was told to move from Kimber's side over behind the table, and embrace her. She tilted her head to kiss him.
"All set," Steve told the couple and their doctor.
"Finally," Kimber said.
Dr. Sportiello squeezed some clear jelly below Kimber's belly button, and applied the fetal doppler. She slid it down, and a whooshing sound came from the speaker. She smiled at the couple. "Steady, strong heartbeat."
Seth held her tight, and buried his face in her shoulder, and Kimber began to cry, too. "It's the most beautiful sound I've ever heard." She took off her glasses, and wiped her eyes. Dr. Sportiello handed her a box of Kleenex.
Seth lifted his head and kissed her. "I love you." He turned to Dr. Sportiello. "What's the baby's heart rate?"
"About one forty, which is right in the middle of the normal range of one twenty to one sixty," the doctor told him. She turned off the doppler, and handed Kimber a towel to wipe off her abdomen.
After recording her and Seth outside of the car, to get their feelings about the appointment, the crew saw fit to leave them alone for a few hours while they got ready for their respective trips. Since they'd already gotten everything in order, they used the time to snuggle, make love, and talk about the future. For the first time, they talked about wedding plans, and he told her he wanted an outdoor wedding, and to share the day with as many family members and close friends as they could.
"I know we won't get a honeymoon," he added, "unless I get injured again, or sick, and if that were to happen, we still wouldn't get a honeymoon. But, I hope that one day we'll be able to take a Mediterranean cruise, or rent a private island in the Caribbean."
Kimber stroked his hair. "You're so romantic. I love it. When should we have the wedding?"
"I'm thinking between Christmas and New Year's, the off time."
"This year?" She asked. "Darling, I'm not sure I can handle wedding planning while pregnant and doing this documentary, and Total Divas. I've heard it's very stressful."
"That's what wedding planners are for." Seth smiled, and gave her a squeeze and a peck on the nose. "And, I promise to deal with all of it if you don't feel up to it, or just don't want to. I've already got lots of ideas."
"Like?"
"Well, we can't very well have an outdoor wedding here in December, so we'll have it someplace warm, a destination wedding. I'm thinking of asking John if we can get married at his place in Florida."
Kimber chuckled. "Yeah, darling. I'm sure the man whose nose you broke would be happy to turn his place over to you over the holidays. Not like he might have plans or anything."
"Ah, that was years ago. But, you're right. Getting married over the holidays is kind of selfish, but honestly, what other time will we get a chance to do it? We might be able to squeeze it in during Wrestlemania Week."
"Oh, no, not then, I'll be freaking huge by that time."
"Then a holiday wedding it will be," Seth decided. "Yeah, I know some people just won't come, because they've already made plans, but the important people will be there, like our parents, my brother, your sister."
"We'd better get rolling on this now, because of the travel arrangements involved. Florida still sounds nice, I'll bet we can rent a whole house out, maybe we could even find something on the ocean, and have the ceremony right there. Formal or casual? Should we have bridesmaids and groomsmen? What's our wedding color?" Kimber asked, as she realized all the stuff they had to figure out right now.
"I think the seaside ceremony sounds wonderful, and casual. And, getting married over the holidays, we should use holiday colors, like red and green, or dark blue and silver. My brother will be my best man, and your sister your maid of honor, as far as other friends, we should find out who can attend. I don't think Marek, Dean, and Renee would miss it, even though maybe Dean and Renee don't want to have baby's first Christmas at our wedding, but I don't know about your friends out on the West Coast."
"We should start putting the word out there, see who wants to come, and how much of a part they want to play. So, let's pick a date."
"Christmas Eve. I just think that sounds so romantic. Yeah, it might be selfish, but it's our special day, and-"
Kimber flipped through her phone. "Hate to break this to you, but Christmas Eve is on a Monday."
"I'm working on Christmas again?"
"Looks that way. A very special Christmas Eve edition of RAW," Kimber said, in a TV announcer's voice.
"Oh fuck me running. That's two freaking years in a row. Fuck, fuck, fuck." Seth picked up his phone, to look at the show schedule. "Okay, December twenty-eighth. We can celebrate Christmas with your parents, because RAW's in Anaheim, fly to Florida the day afterwards so we have some time to deal with those final wedding details."
"This is going faster than a Duggar engagement-to-wedding," Kimber said. "I should find out who helps with theirs, and hire them. But, let's do what we can right now. We'll send out messages to the people we want there saying we're planning to get married on December 28th, and I'll jump on finding the rental right away. Once we have it, we can publicly announce we're tying the knot, and find a planner from the area to handle the rest."
"Perfect."
The camera crew came back to record Seth loading their bags into the car, and Steve hopped in the backseat to ride along with them on the way to the airport. Kimber had thought she would cry upon saying goodbye in the ticketing area, but she hadn't. Their parting hugs and kisses were captured not only by the crew, but by a growing crowd of onlookers with their cell phones, many of whom were also clutching merchandise and markers, and she could tell her man was getting peeved. He'd never made it a secret that he hated being trolled at the airport. Kimber had never minded it, but today she wasn't feeling like signing stuff, or taking pictures with people. She just wanted to find her gate, and sit down with her laptop to start planning the wedding.
The film crew parted when the couple did, three men going with Seth, and four with Kimber. Even though she was flanked by two men on each side with a security officer leading the way, a small group of fans walked right along beside them, and one of them, a ratty-looking young man with an emo haircut, boldly shoved between two of the men, and stuck a glossy, Hardcore Wrestling Vixens glamour shot in her face along with a black Sharpie. "Can you sign this 'Britney Melrose'?"
He was shoved away by Billy and Jim, but something awoke within Kimber. It was not the first time she'd been asked to sign a picture from her days in porn. But, something about the way the guy had gone about it infuriated her. "It's okay," she told Billy and Jim. Then, she turned back to the guy. "You want that signed? Give it here."
The guy smiled stupidly, showing rotting teeth, and handed it over, along with the marker. There she was, almost twenty-three years old, in an eight-by-ten, the green ends of her hair covering her breasts, black garter belt, thong, and ripped-up fishnets covering the rest. She rolled her eyes and shook her head. "What's your name, doll?"
"Teddy."
"What the fuck kind of name is that? Teddy," Kimber said, and snorted. "And you want me to sign this as Britney Melrose."
Teddy nodded. "Yeah, but don't put my name on it-"
"Bitch, I'm signing it, I'll write whatever the fuck I want on it." And, she did, starting right at the top of the picture, and going all the way down, reading aloud as she wrote. "Dear Douchebag AKA Teddy... You're not selling this on ebay... Get a job and go fuck yourself. Sincerely, the Duchess of Pain, Britney Melrose. P.S... Stay off the meth." She smiled, and dangled it before him before ripping it up and stuffing it into the pocket of her hoodie, for later disposal. "You're the Teddy nobody wants to cuddle at night. One more time, go fuck yourself. Fucking loser." She stepped into the elevator, and security would not allow him to follow.
"Sorry about that," Kimber said to her entourage. "I don't know if it's the pregnancy, or the stress of planning the wedding, or something else, but that guy really triggered me."
Before parting ways with her camera crew and hopping in line to be screened, she dumped the contents of her pocket into a handy trash can. She'd wanted to flush the shreds of picture down the toilet, but was afraid they'd clog the fixture. By the time she settled down to search for a venue while she waited on her plane, a video of the encounter had already made it online. Of course, it didn't put her in a good light. It started from the point where she said "Bitch, I'm signing it". To the people watching it, she appeared to be laying into a fan. Kimber destroys a fan at Quad City Airport. There weren't many comments on it yet, so she was able to read them all. Most of the comments were understandably awful, calling her all kinds of names, but there were a few posts in her defense, standing up for her right not to be bothered at the airport, when she was clearly in the middle of filming something, and also in a delicate condition. One comment was from someone who'd met Kimber at an appearance during SummerSlam Week, and said that she had been very sweet, and smiled a lot. That made her smile now.
So, before she could start the quest to plan her wedding, she had to deal with the fallout from the video, glad she had caught it before her bosses did. She linked the video in her post, and wrote: This is not a case of me not wanting to be approached by a fan at the airport. I like being approached by fans anywhere, but this guy is no fan of mine. He harassed me, I reacted. Though I believe the situation warranted it, I would like to apologize for my vulgar language. Finally, she could get down to business.
Responses to her latest announcement had come through, both in text and in voicemails, because she'd shut her phone off after sending the bulk message. Everyone was thrilled, no one said they couldn't attend so far, and many people were offering to lend a hand in one way or another, realizing the whole event had to be pulled off in just three months. She responded to as many of the texts as she could while searching for venue, and sending links to Seth, who responded with links of his own, and by the time she had to board her flight to Vegas, they had found a beautiful luxury home available to rent for the holidays, and it was right on the gulf, with a generous stretch of beach.