Chapter 49
Warnings: Sexual Content, Language, & Sensitive Situations.
Friday morning I woke up refreshed, after a long night at Madison Square Garden to watch the Flyers lose to the Rangers in game 7, we decided that going back to the hotel to just relax was the best option and I was starting to thank myself that I didn't have a massive hangover, like yesterday.
We had our first house show tonight at MSG, and then we were off to New Jersey for another show tomorrow evening and then Extreme Rules was on Sunday. I had my first big radio show to do tomorrow morning, and then I had another radio and an interview before heading to the arena in the Meadowlands.
"Are you just going to lie around all day?" Dean asked as he walked out of the bathroom with a towel snug around his waist and another wiping through his hair to dry it.
"Well clearly I can't do that… how was media this morning?" He shrugged and sat down on the edge of the bed.
"Got a lot of questions about you" He said and I smirked.
"Oh yeah? What kind of questions?" I crawled over to him and wrapped my arms around his waist and kissed the middle of his back sweetly.
"Are we married? Are we living together? Are we together at all? Are you pregnant?"
"Well those are some interesting questions, what did you say?"
"I said that we were together and that was the end of it. I'm sure Steph would have my ass if I said we already got married, you already got us in some shit with her and Hunter…" I rolled my eyes and pulled away from him.
"Yeah because that was my entire fault" I stood up and walked into the bathroom and shut the door, seeing his wedding ring on the sink's counter and I picked it up. As I looked at his silver band, I looked at my diamond cut ring and deeply sighed as I slid it off of my finger and threaded them through my silver thin necklace I always wore. This would have to do for now until Monday Night.
After washing up, I pulled my hair up into a tight bun on the back of my head and exited the bathroom to see him pulling on a black Las Vegas t-shirt. "I'm going to hit the gym" I said and he nodded.
"Yeah I figured… my other radio show shouldn't take too long; wanna just meet at MSG?" I nodded and wrapped an arm around the back of his neck before he put on his baseball cap.
"I love you, thanks for last night. It was fun meeting some of your other friends from the Indies" He smiled from the corner of his mouth and then kissed me.
"They loved you, Brian won't stop texting me about how much he loved you" I grinned while he scowled a bit "Don't make it a habit to flirt with my friends all night, alright?" He said as his placed his hands on my waist.
"We weren't flirting; he wasn't that interested in the hockey game so we spoke about other things"
"Other things" He mumbled with a shake of his head and I kissed him again before letting him go because he was probably going to be late for his waiting car outside of the hotel. "Don't work yourself too hard, love you" He said before leaving the hotel room and I looked at the messy bed with a sigh. Even though I knew a maid would be here after we checked out, I always cleaned up after myself and this time was no different. So before changing into my spandex pants and work out tank top, I made the bed and threw away papers and the food we ordered late last night.
Before getting to the gym downstairs in the hotel, I was stopped by a fan and gladly took a photo with him and signed his Dolph Ziggler blue shirt he was wearing.
"He's been waiting out there all day" I heard from the side of me as I walked inside of the busy room.
"The boy? Well I'm glad he's not waiting for nothing" I said as I set myself up on the treadmill and started myself on a slow jog.
After the treadmill, I found Paige and Rosa over by the dumbbells and tossed my water off to the side as well as my towel. "Hey…" Paige said as she looked me over "How are you doing?"
"Why so formal all of a sudden? I'm fine, you?" I asked with a raised eyebrow of confusion. Finding the ten pound weights, I started on lifting squats.
"Um… no reason. Ready for tonight?"
"Of course, what did you pick as a stipulation?" I asked her
"Falls count anywhere" She said and I stopped my squats and let my arms drop to my sides.
"I thought we were saving that for Sunday" She shook her head with a frown line appearing on his forehead.
"Stephanie did a rewrite; she said she was going to talk to you about it on Sunday but whatever… She wants a street fight on Sunday because apparently your crazy side needs to come out more if you're going to get married to Dean on screen"
"A street fight?" I mumbled, remembering the last time I was in one of those and I cringed.
"The fans are going to pick it but it's gonna be a street fight" I nodded and started to brainstorm what we could work with.
"Well I guess tonight we can test the waters, how do you feel about tables and chairs?" A wide grin spread over her pale face "Wanna put me through a table? We won't have too much time to rehearse it but…"
"I know how to put someone through a table, we'll go over it all before bell time" I nodded and then she started to smile wider and I looked behind me as my two toned haired friend and her boyfriend walked in through the doors.
"Hey…" He kissed Paige quickly and gave me a side hug so I wouldn't feel weird that I was sweating all over him. "Doing good?" He asked me and again, I was confused.
"Yeah, I'm fine… why are you two being weird around me today? Did I do something on Wednesday night?"
"No, it's just that today is…" His eyes looked away from me to look at Paige behind me and I turned my head around and she put her hand down from whatever motion she was doing.
"Today's Friday" I said "Okay, what am I missing?" I asked
"Nothing, I'm gonna go see if Cesaro needs a spot" He said and quickly left us before I could grab his arm to stop him.
"Paige... what am I missing?" I asked and she shook her head.
"Nothing, he was being weird, right?" She let out a small laugh "I'm all sore, gonna go grab a shower and I'll see you at the arena, yeah?" I nodded slowly with narrowed eyes as she quickly left.
After another fifteen minutes of hitting the weights and being extremely confused, I wiped my face with my towel and left the gym to head upstairs to shower. I was missing something big obviously; if they both knew then it had to be something big. But what was it?
While I showered it finally came to me what I was missing. Today was the first of May. That's why they were so concerned about me, because they had both seen me on this day. I would usually crawl into my bed and just stay there all day hoping that the day would pass and I would sleep through it until it was the second of May.
It had been 11 years since I found her in the kitchen and that memory would always be seared into my brain even if I wished for it to erase every day. How Ironic was it that I was at Madison Square Garden tonight, the place where I was when my parents got married on screen during SummerSlam of 1991. The one place I last remembered my parents ever being happy together. I should have been dreading this day; I should have known what day this was.
As I ran my fingers back through my wet hair and then wiped my face that wet with the faucet water and my tears, I leaned down and turned the knobs until it shut off and I stepped out. I shook my head a few times, trying to will the memories to the back of my head and then started to dry my body off and then dry my hair with my small portable hair dryer that I carried with me all the time.
"It's just a day" I muttered to myself as I changed into blue faded jeans and a solid black V-neck tee. Today was just a regular day. I had work to do, I couldn't just crawl into bed and hide and wait for this day to end.
I packed the rest of my clothes and made sure the room was spotless before grabbing Dean's suitcase and rolled it alongside mine behind me. After checking out, I headed around the back of the hotel into the garage and tossed our bags into the trunk and hopped into the driver's seat. It didn't take that long to get to Madison Square Garden, and I found a spot in the almost empty parking lot. I had to be one of the first people here other than the staff.
I chewed on a few Honey Oat's bars and drank down some water while I sat Indian Style on the floor in front of a mirror doing my hair up in fine curls. Then I did my makeup and as I was changing into my black ring gear jeans, the door opened up and Paige walked in with her suitcase rolling behind her.
"Hey" I said as I finished up pulling and zipping The Shield spandex crop top on my body and flipped my blonde, silvery hair onto my back.
"Been here a while?" She asked
"Forty-five minutes give or take"
"Wow, you put being punctual to the test" She said while she pulled her suitcase open on the bench. "Did you wanna go out there and work on a few things?"
"I know what today is" I said, ignoring her question for now "And I'm okay." She looked up from her suitcase and ring gear and took a second but nodded.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I was just thinking that it was pretty ironic that we're here at MSG, where my parents got married on screen and stuff and it's the same day as my mom's death anniversary" I tossed my folded jeans into my suitcase and sat down on the edge of the opposite bench. "I was there with them, I was two at the time but I was there and now I'm back and it's sort of blowing my mind that this is my life now…" I looked at the Diva's title peeking from under the jeans I just put in my suitcase and took in another deep breath. "Let's go out there and work on a few things."
"Abs…" She started to say but I stood up.
"I'm okay, really. I just wanna have a kick ass falls count anywhere match with you tonight, and I wanna have an amazing two out of three falls match with you tomorrow, and then a show stopper street fight on Sunday"
"We can do that" She offered me a small smile and then started to change. "Go on out there and scout some spots, you're the brains behind these matches" I nodded and headed out towards the stage and looked around the building while I walked down the ramp. It was amazing. This is where my dad got his big break, this is where my parents rekindled their marriage, and this is where I was performing what I loved to do most in this world tonight.
Staff was still working around the ring but the ring itself was set up so I slid inside and stood in the middle. I filled my head with ways to make this night memorable for the fans all while giving Paige and myself something to have fun with. I pictured the table set up outside of the ring, and then set up inside of the ring. Inside would be best, especially for the fans that weren't in the first few rows.
"So what do you think of this…" I said as Paige climbed into the ring. "We'll start off with a regular ole match, back and forth and then I'll hit you with an elbow and introduce the table. I'll take extra-long to get it from under the ring, and you can either get out and hit me, super kick me, or a suicide dive…"
"Suicide dive and I think I should take the table bump tonight" I looked over at her
"I thought you were going to be going over this weekend leading up to Sunday night?" I questioned
"Yeah well you can take this one tonight, it's Madison Square Garden Abby, you can take the win tonight" I paused but then nodded.
"So an elbow drop from the top rope, you'll be on your back on the table, and then I'll go for the pin" She nodded as I batted away some tears that sprung to my eyes. Hopping out of the ring, I made sure to know where the tables were exactly "I wanna take a chair shot tonight at some point" I told her.
"A chair shot? To your back?" I nodded "Alright, so after the suicide dive I'll grab a chair and hit you… I'll go for a pin, you'll kick out"
"Then you'll pick me up and back me into the apron twice and then roll me back into the ring. You'll grab the chair from the floor and get back in the ring, by that time I'll have recovered and you'll throw the chair at me easily, I'll catch it and you'll super kick the chair at my face"
"Whoa what?" She asked
"What? I mean we do have all creative control over our matches… and I wanna give the fans something special tonight"
"Even if your face takes a chair shot"
"I'll block it obviously… then you go for the pin, I kick out. You do your wild banshee head butts at me, go for the pin again and fail. Grab the table outside of the ring; slide it in, set it up and we'll brawl for a few more minutes, countered suplexes onto the table and whatnot"
"Okay, so how are you going to get me on the table?" She asked
"Dirty Deeds" She raised an eyebrow at me "They're pushing Dean and I together on Monday hardcore so I'll pull one of his moves off, and half carry you and put you on the table, climb the ropes and drop the elbow and bam, 1, 2, and 3" She smiled at me again as she leaned against the ropes.
"You're like a ring architect aren't you?" She asked
"That's your boyfriend, not me. I just have a very vivid imagination" I grinned at her and pointed to the other side of the ring "The chairs are on that side by the way" She nodded.
"Are you ladies done, gotta go over some things for tonight" I looked over at Antonio and nodded. Paige slid out of the ring and stood beside me, letting Antonio and Jack into the ring.
"You go ahead, I think I'm going to watch them practice for a bit; maybe come up with a few ideas for Sunday's match"
"Just don't uppercut me that didn't go well last time" I let out a small laugh and nodded. As she left, I grabbed a steel chair and sat back with my feet up on another chair watching the two largely muscled men scrapple in the center of the ring. They had an elimination match with Rob Van Dam on Sunday night which I was excited to watch.
I avoided being alone all night, and I was glad that once fans started to pile into the arena; the sound wasn't silent anywhere in the building. The Shield was in the main event tonight and Paige and I were up first which was a change. So we'd just have to steal the show before the show even really started.
"I don't want you out there for my match tonight" I said to Dean a he laced up his combat boots. He looked up at me and then went back on tying.
"Why?" He asked
"Because it's a falls count anywhere match and we came up with a few spots you wouldn't like me doing" He smirked as he sat up, leaning his back against the lockers.
"Oh yeah? Like what?"
"Like we're doing some chair and table things tonight" I stood up and clipped the diva's title back around my waist and raked my fingers back through my curly hair.
"Who's taking the chair shots?"
"Me" He hesitated as he stood up
"And who's taking the table bump?"
"Paige"
"And you really don't want me out there for that? I kind of wanna see my hot wife put someone through a table" I turned away from the mirror to look at him.
"Seriously? Bad media day or something?" He shrugged and grabbed his small gel can and started to dap it onto his fingers and put it into his hair so it would stay straight back.
"Nope, just wanna see you put someone through a table" I let out a laugh
"Okay well then hurry up cowboy because I'm up in fifteen minutes" He nodded and shot me a wink "Oh before I forget" I unclasped the necklace from around my neck and handed it to him "Hold onto these will you?"
"Got it" He slid them into his pocket and I tugged at his Shield dog tag necklace and kissed him quickly before leaving the room.
The fans were being polled in the audience just as Paige was being announced, and then I came out to a series of cheers with Dean walking casually behind me. Instead of having Paige grab a steel chair from under the ring, I grabbed one from where Justin Roberts and the ring crew team were and popped it open. I pointed to it, playing off of what happened Monday Night and how he distracted me for my first loss.
"Come on baby" I patted the seat and he sighed. I gave him a quick kiss as he sat down and then I climbed into the ring. Paige wasted little time, even hitting me hard with an elbow before the match even started. I grasped my bearings in the corner and took in a deep breath. The referee made sure I was good to compete and then Justin Roberts read the results, once it was declared that this was a falls count anywhere match, I ran at Paige and knocked her hard into the turnbuckles. The ref pulled me by my waist and I backed off with my hands up in the air.
"What? Can't take the heat Paige?" I asked her as she checked her mouth for blood again. I backed up enough and then the bell rang and we locked up.
Everything was going perfect, there weren't any noticeable botches and no one was hurt. The two chair shots weren't stinging my back anymore, and I blocked the shot to my face. It was a grueling fifteen minute match, a match where I hadn't worked so hard in my life and I was glad we were doing these this weekend leading up to Sunday's event because I didn't want to be gassed on live television.
Paige set up the table inside of the ring as I started to recover from the chair shot to my face. Holding my jaw, I stood up slowly by using the ropes and she hit me in the middle of my back and I dropped down to one knee. When she came at me again after a few seconds, I dodged her attack and tripped her so her face went into the second turn buckle. Rolling away from her, I looked up at the bright lights and listened to the crowd's reaction around the arena while standing up. Raking my fingers back through my curly hair, I waited for Paige to stand up and then I turned us around as I cupped my hand under her chin with my arm securely around the back and side of her head. Pointing at Dean who was now standing up near the apron, I blew him a kiss and hit his finishing move Dirty Deeds on her and all he could do was chuckle outside of the ring.
I didn't go for the pin though, I crouched down and tossed her up onto my shoulder and walked over to the table to lay her down. She hit me with her shin but I caught it at my side and hit a few punches at her head so she would stay down. I went through the ropes and climbed up to the top turn buckle and looked around the arena. Then I looked up at the ceiling once I had myself balanced out and raised my arms up high and pointed towards the sky and jumped, landing my elbow against her rips. The sound of the table cracking in half was louder than I thought it would be, and the pain that flared up in my own rips and hip from colliding with the table so it would break correctly had me at a loss of breath.
Pressing her shoulders down on the mat with my limp body, the ref counted to three and I was declared the winner. "Thank you" I said down to Paige and then rolled away from her as she struggled to get up as well. That had to be the best match we ever had together, and that included all of our fights in NXT. I felt someone trap my foot and I started to be pulled out of the ring and once I was on my feet, Dean wrapped an arm around my lower back to keep me up.
"That was amazing" He said as he wiped his hand against my sweating forehead to brush away the blonde hair from my face. "You fucking killed it" He whispered against my ear and then kissed me. He then kneeled down and I flopped over his shoulder and then he stood up and walked with me like that until we were backstage and I let out a huge puff of air.
"Way to make everyone step up" Seth said once I was put back on my feet and he hugged me.
"Well someone's gotta do it" I mumbled as Paige was helped to the back by John, our referee. He let her go once they were behind the curtain and I hugged her tightly "Thank you so much."
"Are you kidding? I should be thanking you" She said as she pressed a hand to the back of my head and another to my back as she hugged me back.
"That was incredible" I whispered as I pulled back and she smiled while wiping her fingers over my right cheek. "Sorry" I laughed.
"Don't be, c'mon let's go ice our ribs" I nodded as we both helped each other get to the trainer room for some much needed rest time.
